Review: The Boy on the Bridge
M.R. Carey has done it again. The Girl With All the Gifts was a terrific example of post-apocalyptic zombie fiction and this book is (mostly) the prequel. The problem with prequels is that you know…
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Review: The Martian Girl, by Andrew Martin
To be clear, this is not a book about Martians, or even girls. The central character is a woman in her late thirties, Jean Beckett, a writer who lives in today’s London. She is writing…
Review: Just one damned thing after another, by Jodi Taylor
I love time travel stories. And I love history. This book had a lot of promise. The main character, Max (who’s female), is witty and loveable. The book is full of action. There are lots…
100 years later: Lessons of the three South Caucasian republics
This is the text of my presentation to the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Regional Lab held in Kvareli, Georgia. The event was attended by young leaders and activists from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. I have been…
Review: A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
This is one of those books that I started to read, put aside, and then picked up much later and decided to give it a second chance. And it’s a good thing that I did….
Review: The Race to Save the Romanovs, by Helen Rappaport
This week marks the 100th anniversary of the murder of the Russian imperial family by the Bolsheviks. Among those killed were not only the hated Tsar Nicholas and his wife Alexandra, but also their five…
Review: The Killing Habit, by Mark Billingham
It’s not a total mystery why I rate Mark Billingham as the best crime writer in Britain today. He’s created a wonderful lead character, Tom Thorne, with a great supporting cast who you actually grow…
Review: The Kremlin’s Candidate, by Jason Matthews
No, not that candidate. In spite of making every effort to keep up with today’s headlines (references to the Russian seizure of Crimea, North Korea’s nuclear programme and so on), author Jason Matthews never imagines…
The Socialist Delegation to Georgia
Presentation to the International Scientific Forum: “Remembering the Georgian Democratic Republic 100 Years On: A Model for Europe” – Tbilisi – June 2018 There was a time when I would not have had to explain…
Review: Palace of Treason, by Jason Matthews
This, the second of the Red Sparrow books, continues where the previous one left off, and offers more of the same. It’s written by a former CIA officer, so much of it has the ring…