A Touch of Paradise in Hell by Jan Louagie

 

                                

Hardback:  388 pages                                                                                                

Genre: Non-Fiction, History, WWI

Publisher: Helion and Co Ltd.

Source: Personal Copy

Setting: Poperinge, Belgium.

My Opinion: 

My partner and I purchased a copy of ‘A Touch of Paradise in Hell’ when we were visiting Poperinge last summer. Originally published in 2015, reprinted in 2020, it is a fascinating history of a very special place, Talbot House in Poperinge, Belgium.

Having now read in full I can assure you that having visited for ourselves, the book conveys the atmosphere extremely well. Through the medium of letters, anecdotes and illustrations you will gain a good understanding of its ethos.

If you have an interest in WWI history or just want to learn more about a period in history you know little about, I can highly recommend reading this. Even better if you can read the book and visit Poperinge for yourself it is worthwhile. We were fortunate to have visited during a tour of Belgium and had we known in advance, we could have even stayed at Talbot House as it also operates as a Guesthouse.  

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

Away from the turmoil of battle in the Ypres Salient, the town of Poperinge developed into the nerve centre of the British sector. In the heart of this bustling town, the Army Chaplains Philip ( Tubby ) Clayton and Neville Talbot opened an Every-Man s Club . It was an alternative place of wholesome recreation where all soldiers, regardless of their rank, were welcome. The inspired way in which Tubby ran this home from home , turned Talbot House, or Toc H , into the best-known soldiers club of the British Army a sanctuary for half a million men on their way to or from the Front.The first part, Portrait of an Every Man s Club, paints a graphic picture of Talbot House against the immense background of the waste and horror of war, from its early beginnings at the end of 1915 till the private owner s return early in 1919. The connecting thread is provided by a wide selection of Tubby s letters, mostly to his mother. These are supplemented with extracts from his diaries and other wartime writings, as well as letters and accounts from dozens of other eyewitnesses. Together they provide an intimate, vivid and complete picture of what life at the House was like. They give us a fascinating insight into the lives that Tubby and his guests were living, the kind of thoughts they were thinking, and the visions, hopes and ideals that gripped their minds. Indeed, they tell the authentic history of Talbot House. In the second part, A Home from Home, Tubby shows us around the House so that we get a clearer picture as he passes from room to room, from the lively and noisy gaiety in the canteen to the peace and serenity in the chapel. This guided tour is flavoured with recollections of some 40 officers and other ranks relating how they experienced the unique atmosphere radiating from the various parts of the remarkable building. In A House of People, the focus is first put on the Padre and his batman, Private Arthur Pettifer. Then follows a colourful palette of stories by the innkeeper , each about one particular customer who, for one specific reason or another, stood out in his experience. But also a number of Talbotousians have a tale to tell. Browsing through their memories, five of them relate a significant incident that will forever be associated with Talbot House or Tubby. The final chapter takes us beyond the walls of the Old House. In a few poignant sketches it describes Tubby s visits to his parishioners in the slums of warfare. It portrays the comradeship of shared experiences, the excitements and the miseries, and the triumph of the human spirit over unimaginable suffering. Some rare reminiscences of the short-lived and much-tested daughter-house in Ieper complete the picture. The appendices, all wartime documents produced at Talbot House, shed further light on its early history, management and day-to-day working. "A Touch of Paradise in Hell" can not only be enjoyed by the reader at home but also can be used as a guidebook during a visit to Talbot House and serve as a Talbot House guide to the Ieper Salient and the Somme, as it links people and stories to locations. The annotations contain a wealth of interesting background information. Contains 203 b/w & 68 colour photos, & illustrations

Author Profile:

 

                                                  

                                          Courtesy of OldTalbotHouseFoundation.

Jan  has been working with Talbot House for most of his life and is the House's historian and Secretary to the Talbot House association.

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.

Talbot House - Everyman's Club.    Tubby's Talbot House - Twitter

The Old Talbot House Foundation.     Talbot House Guesthouse

Widowland by C.J Carey

 

If you have ever wondered what Britain would have been like if we had lost WWII, plus you have read and enjoyed other alternative dystopian histories such as 'The Hand Maidens Tale or 'Fatherland' then 'Widowland' is one for you.

It is set over a period of a few weeks in the Spring of 1953 when the country, a part of The German Alliance since 1940 is preparing for the Coronation of King Edward VIII and Queen Wallis. 

Feminist literary slogans are appearing around the country in the run up to this very important event. This rebellion needs to be quashed and quickly. Rose Ransom works at the Ministry of Culture, rewriting literary classics and for this reason she is chosen to try and find the perpetrators.

Although the setting is fictional, many of the characters actually existed, which gives the novel political and emotional strength. 

Recommended if you want to read a powerful feminist story.

Please Mr Postman by Alan Johnson

Paperback:  327 pages                                                                                               
Genre: Autobiography
Publisher: Bantam Press 2014
Source: Tywyn Public Library
First Sentences: It's Christmas Eve 1967.  Four o'clock in the afternoon. I'm waiting for Mike.
Review Quote: the real fascination of this book – which ends in the late 1980s – is its pin-sharp close-up details  Daily Telegraph Review
Main Characters: Alan Johnson
Setting: England
Literary Awards: Specsavers National Book Award for Magic FM Autobiography/Biography of the Year (2014)
My Opinion: Please Mr Postman is a vivid and descriptive piece of social history of England during the 1970's and 1980's. For me personally there is too much information on the inner workings of the post office and trade unions. Subjects that I am not really interested in, to be honest I only read this title as it was a Book Club choice.



Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:


In July 1969, while the Rolling Stones played a free concert in Hyde Park, Alan Johnson and his young family left West London to start a new life. The Britwell Estate in Slough, apparently notorious among the locals, in fact came as a blessed relief after the tensions of Notting Hill, and the local community welcomed them with open arms. Alan had become a postman the previous year, and in order to support his growing family took on every bit of overtime he could, often working twelve-hour shifts six days a week. It was hard work, but not without its compensations - the crafty fag snatched in a country lane, the farmer's wife offering a hearty breakfast and even the mysterious lady on Glebe Road who appeared daily, topless, at her window as the postman passed by ... Please, Mister Postman paints a vivid picture of England in the 1970s, where no celebration was complete without a Party Seven of Watney's Red Barrel, smoking was the norm rather than the exception, and Sunday lunchtime was about beer, bingo and cribbage. But as Alan's life appears to be settling down and his career in the Union of Postal Workers begins to take off, his close-knit family is struck once again by tragedy ... Moving, hilarious and unforgettable, Please, Mister Postman is another astonishing book from the award-winning author of This Boy



Author Profile

Alan Arthur Johnson (born 17 May 1950) is a British Labour Party politician who served as Home Secretary from June 2009 to May 2010. Before that, he filled a wide variety of cabinet positions in both the Blair and Brown governments, including Health Secretary and Education Secretary. Until 20 January 2011 he was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. Johnson was the Member of Parliament for Hull West and Hessle since the 1997 general election. On 18 April 2017, following the announcement of the 2017 general election, Johnson said he would not be a candidate.

More details about his career can be found on Wikipedia


Photographs, Trailer and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.

Amazon Author Page - Alan Johnson      Goodreads Author Profile - Alan Johnson

Alan Johnson - Wikipedia