FEAST OR FAMINE

  1956, The World in Revolt (2016) is a history of one year set on the global stage.    The year begins with peace talks. Author Albert Camus calls for peace in Algeria; Josep Tito is optimistic about an era of peace in Yugoslavia; and there are peace talks in Moscow to end the Cold War.   They are just talks, for the year 1956 is known for its time of revolt, revolution, independence, and freedom: “1956 saw ordinary people, all across the globe, speak out, fill the streets and city squares, risk arrest, take up arms and lose their lives in an attempt to win greater freedoms and build a more just world.”    The year 1956 was one of the most remarkable years of the 20 th  century.    This book is about “breaking points” where people are on the brink, and enough is enough! The book begins in January 1956 with Martin Luther King in the segregated city of Montgomery, Alabama, in America. In February, Simon Hall discusses France’s new socialist pr...

MARTINA NICOLLS Website Martinasblogs Publications Facebook Paris Website Animal Website Flower Website SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES    MARTINA NICOLLS  is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author   of:  The Paris Residences of James Joyce   (2020), 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).

      MARTINA NICOLLS Website Martinasblogs Publications Facebook Paris Website Animal Website Flower Website SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES    MARTINA NICOLLS  is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author   of:  The Paris Residences of James Joyce   (2020), 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 Ardent Swarm (2021) is set in Tunisia from 2019.   Sidi lives in the quiet village Nawa in Tunisia, tending to his hives of 30,000 bees. One morning, all of them have been murdered, ripped to pieces. All of them. And not a drop of honey was left. The villagers believe that this is a curse. They are all affected – no honey to sweeten their tea.   Times were changing. The country was on the verge of its first free and fair elections, from the city to the rural villages. ‘The villagers were completely discombobulated. Most of them hadn’t even chosen their spouses, and now they were meant to choose who would govern them.’ Now, city politicians were visiting the  villagers, promising them electricity, free clothes, and even running water.     Sidi discovers his bee murderers: a mysterious squadron of vicious hornets. They knew the ‘barbarian art of war.’ Unlike bees that sting once, lose their stinger and die, hornets do not lose their stinger, so they...

MARTINA NICOLLS Website Martinasblogs Publications Facebook Paris Website Animal Website Flower Website SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES    MARTINA NICOLLS  is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author   of:  The Paris Residences of James Joyce   (2020), 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).  

I n the Victor Hugo museum in Paris, there is currently an exhibition, from 10 June to 21 November 2021, called "In the Intimacy of Genius" of his paintings, drawings, engravings, and artwork.  There is also a section dedicated to his friendship with Célestin Nanteuil, showing the artistic influences between the two men. Juliette Drouet had the largest collection of Victor Hugo’s works. He took summer trips with her and set up a studio in her living room in 1850 so that he could paint – these works are said to be his best masterpieces. In the latter period of is life, he painted witches and demons.  He produced more than 4,000 drawings, mainly in dark brown or black pen-and-ink wash. Many of his artworks are in hand-painted wooden frames.   MARTINA NICOLLS Website Martinasblogs Publications Facebook Paris Website Animal Website Flower Website SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES    MARTINA NICOLLS  is an international aid and development consul...