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Showing posts from March, 2019

The Way to Paradise by Mario Vargas Llosa: book review

The Way to Paradise (2012) is set in France in the 1840s and Tahiti in the 1890s.  The novel begins in 1844 with Florita Tristan, aged 41, in France, with a vision of changing the world. She had travelled from France to Peru to collect her inheritance after her wealthy Peruvian father died. Now she was back in France, about to take a year-long journey throughout the countryside to campaign for better conditions for the poor. She has copies of the book ‘The Workers’ Union’ with her.  Was she crazy, a subversive, an anarchist, a revolutionary? Why would anyone give a part of their salary to be a member of a union? Was she after fame of some sort? No, she wasn’t seeking fame; she was after effectiveness. What she did, she did for others. She dies young, aged 41. Almost fifty years later, in 1891, Florita’s grandson Paul Tristan, aged 43, is in the French colonial island of Tahiti to imitate the life of Paul Gauguin – he wants to be an artist and to paint his masterpiece

Sunday Walk: wall and flowers

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author of:-  Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Pigeon at the water edge

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author of:-  Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

The fountain flows

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author of:-  Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

🌻A Night with Vincent: The Way of Van Gogh 🌻

🌻 "The way of Van Gogh"  🌻 is a book about Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890).   The author, Seldon, launched his book with a question and answer session at the Paris book store, Le Renard Dor é  (The Golden Fox  🦊 )  on Friday 29 March.   The book was released on 14 March 2019.  MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author of:-  Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).