Another Space in Time

     Lily’s Daughter is a well written, deeply engaging memoir of, as she was known then, Zsuzsa Osvath’s childhood in Hungary. The period is 1940 to 1957, a period overshadowed by two European disasters, and one failed revolution. The first disaster was WWII and the second Stalin. The revolution was the crushing of an all too brief Hungarian enlightenment by Soviet tanks.      The domestic detail draws the reader in deep and holds attention with a simply drawn picture of survival in extraordinarily difficult circumstances. The writing is almost too matter of fact at times, avoiding excess emotion, exaggeration, or any sense of self-pity. The facts, the observations of a family, school and social life during that period of Hungary’s history, don’t need embellishment. The drama is automatically there, dancing between the words. I found myself saying, shouldn’t you be crying longer, or describing your hunger, or be really shouting at the system. ...

I feel I have to start with Pitcairn Island rather than the book. This island is one of four lumps of rock and/or coral sticking out of the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Only Pitcairn itself is inhabited, being one of the most isolated communities on Earth. The population of under a hundred is predominantly descended from the Mutineers of the Bounty and a few Tahitians, who voluntarily, or not, joined the group. In 1790 just nine individuals 6 men 11 women and a baby found the then deserted island and settled. Since that date the permanent population has never been greater than 240, and is now only a quarter of that number. In recent times the young have tended to leave, firstly for education and secondly for the benefits of the wider world. This problem is now shared by nearly all isolated communities. The life blood is constantly drained, and often faster than it can be transfused. So what has all this got to do with this fiction novel? Everything! Nadine Christian is the writer in...

This first part of an epic Star Wars type of production is very entertaining, often gripping, and well written. It is also easy reading, which isn’t necessarily the same thing. The characters are strong, and the main ones are easily identifiable and very memorable. There is only one thing wrong, and that is my reason for only giving the book four stars. In the mix are a couple of chapters of unnecessarily graphic sexual and sadistic activity. This may be considered a rather starchy view, but it is more than that. I am all for mixing genres, but not in this particular case SF adventure and “adult” material. Willén writes very well in both genres, the problem is in the mix. Indeed, I could include horror when considering one or two of the very descriptive violent actions. The modern use of the term Space Opera, as used to describe this book by another reviewer, Blagent Jr., is, I think, highly appropriate. This book really is on a big production, dramatic, scale. The themes are familia...