Review of Trace Elements – Donna Leon

A woman’s cryptic dying words in a Venetian hospice lead Guido Brunetti to uncover a threat to the entire region in Donna Leon’s haunting twenty-ninth Brunetti novel.

When Dottoressa Donato calls the Questura to report that a dying patient at the hospice Fatebenefratelli wants to speak to the police, Commissario Guido Brunetti and his colleague, Claudia Griffoni, waste no time in responding.

‘They killed him. It was bad money. I told him no’, Benedetta Toso gasps the words about her recently-deceased husband, Vittorio Fadalto. Even though he is not sure she can hear him Brunetti softly promises he and Griffoni will look into what initially appears to be a private family tragedy. They discover that Fadalto worked in the field collecting samples of contamination for a company that measures the cleanliness of Venice’s water supply and that he had died in a mysterious motorcycle accident. Distracted briefly by Vice Questore Patta’s obsession with youth crime in Venice, Brunetti is bolstered once more by the remarkable research skills of Patta’s secretary, Signora Elettra Zorzi. Piecing together the tangled threads, in time Brunetti comes to realize the perilous meaning in the woman’s accusation and the threat it reveals to the health of the entire region. But justice in this case proves to be ambiguous, as Brunetti is reminded it can be when, seeking solace, he reads Aeschylus’s classic play The Eumenides.

Trace Elements

Donna Leon

William Heinamannn

Supplied by Penguin Random House New Zealand

Reviewed by Jan Butterworth

Brunetti is back!

Commissario Guido Brunetti and Claudia Griffoni are called to a hospice to hear the last words of a woman dying of cancer.  The story intrigues him enough to start digging for more information.

Vittorio Fadalto was the victim of a hit-and-run on his motorbike and drowned in a ditch.  But was he deliberately struck and killed?  He was a by-the-book scientist who worked at the company overseeing Venice’s water supply and testing it was safe for human consumption.  Why would anyone want to kill him?

The story flows well and has wonderfully descriptive wording, such as this description of the tech-genus secretary, Signora Elettra Zorzi.  “She looked at him in surprise, but then her expression changed to that of a leopard seal just noticing a baby penguin paddling in the water above it.”

The ending was a bit disappointing to me – as I enjoy seeing bad guys get their just desserts.  It does point out the difference between differences between guilt and responsibility though.

If you dream of travel in this Covid-19 world, the story is set in Venice in the middle of a heatwave and the richly expressive language puts you there, dripping with sweat alongside the locals, then this is the book for you.  If you just want a good story though, this is also the book for you.

Review of A Perfect Life – Danielle Steel

An icon in the world of television news, Blaise McCarthy seems to have it all: beauty, intelligence and courage. But privately there is a story she has protected for years . . .

Blaise’s daughter Salima, blinded by juvenile diabetes, lives at a year-round boarding school. But when the school suddenly closes, she returns home to Blaise’s New York apartment with her new carer, Simon. As new challenges change the way they see one another, the bond between mother and daughter deepens as never before.

Then Blaise’s personal and professional worlds collide, and the well-guarded secrets of her home life are exposed. Suddenly her life is no longer perfect, but real. Can mother and daughter together learn how to face a world they can’t control?

A Perfect Life

Danielle Steel

Transworld

Supplied by Penguin Random House New Zealand

Reviewed by Jan Butterworth

Blaise is a top notch journalist at the top of her career.  She’s an elegant, quiet woman who everyone loves who has a perfect life.  Then her daughter, Salima, comes home when her school is unexpectedly closed.  A teacher, Simon, comes with her to be employed as a babysitter, though he is determined that she learns to do things by herself.

Simon is drop dead gorgeous, smart, a good guy, cordon bleu cook, and 20 years younger than Blaise.  They slowly become friends… then sparks happen!  They’re happy for a while, then Blaise gets cold feet about the age difference and Simon has to leave while he sorts his feelings for a past lover out.  Will he return?

This is a Danielle Steel novel, so while true love has a rocky path, it wins in the end.  I’m bemused by the author’s view on disability though, which seems to suggest anyone with one is content not to function as independent.  A previous book had a wheelchair-bound woman who had to be carried everywhere.

 In this one being blind means you need to be lead everywhere and helped to bathe, dress, eat food.  The blind daughter is 19 and she lets someone brush her teeth?!  Two days after meeting the hero she’s doing everything for herself perfectly?  Yeah right.  And a school for the blind would let this babying happen by a staff member?

Ignore that and it is a fun read while curled up in front of the fireplace this winter.  A good book to escape with.

Review of Falastin, A Cookbook – Sami Tamimi & Tara Wigley

FALASTIN is a love letter to Palestine. An evocative collection of over 110 unforgettable recipes and stories from the co-authors of Jerusalem and Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, and Ottolenghi SIMPLE.

Travelling through Bethlehem, East Jerusalem, Nablus, Haifa, Akka, Nazareth, Galilee and the West Bank, Sami and Tara invite you to experience and enjoy unparalleled access to Sami’s homeland. As each region has its own distinct identity and tale to tell, there are endless new flavour combinations to discover.

The food is the perfect mix of traditional and contemporary, with recipes that have been handed down through the generations and reworked for a modern home kitchen, alongside dishes that have been inspired by Sami and Tara’s collaborations with producers and farmers throughout Palestine.

With stunning food and travel photography plus stories from unheard Palestinian voices, this innovative cookbook will transport you to this rich land.

So get ready to laden your table with the most delicious of foods – from abundant salads, soups and wholesome grains to fluffy breads, easy one-pot dishes and perfumed sweet treats – here are simple feasts to be shared and everyday meals to be enjoyed. These are stunning Palestinian-inspired dishes that you will want to cook, eat, fall in love with and make your own.

Falastin, A Cookbook

Sami Tamimi & Tara Wigley

Ebury Press

Supplied by Penguin Random House New Zealand

Reviewed by Stephen Litten

Sami Tamimi is a Palestinian cook living in London. Tara Wigley is a food writer, also London based. Both work for noted Israeli Chef Yotam Ottolenghi. Together all three contribute to this cookbook; Sami writes the recipes, Tara writes the story that accompanies the dishes, and Yotam provides the introduction. Sami details over 110 recipes, mercifully light on couscous. And Falastin is the Arabic version of Palastine – there is no “p” sound in Arabic

Falastin may have only 110 recipes, but is 350 pages, so either the recipes are incredibly complicated or we’re getting story to accompany food. And the latter is the case. The recipes are divided into the various mealtimes as well as the trad veggie, fish, and meats. Tara pulls here weight by introducing local characters, colour, histories. There are also colour illustrations for each recipe. And a glossary! Thank god, a glossary, as many of the recipes reference ingredients with Arabic names. The glossary offers useful suggestions if you can’t access the exact item. But the book was published in London, so not quite so many ingredients need substituting there as opposed here.

 My impression of the cookbook is YUM. Unfortunately, it arrived about a week before the Lockdown. Since then sourcing specialty ingredients has been on the back burner. But the recipes read as delicious. And I can avoid couscous if I want to (it’s not my favourite source of carbohydrate). There are also recipes for some of those artisanal veggies, like purple carrots. So if Levantine food interests you, get a copy.

Thanks to Penguin RandonHouse for the review copy.