even though the heroine is remarkably self-centered! I read this book, and promptly re-read it; it was that good. The basic plot has been outlined by other reviewers. What made this work for me was

1) seeing the characters grow up, fall in love, mature, and resolve their difficulties. I don't usually like childhood sweetheart stories, but this was fantastic.

2) the remarkable hero and heroine. Yes, Jane is sometimes headstrong and almost always self-centered. But you can really feel her love for David, even as she herself realizes it. And the hero? Well, a gorgeous man is always fun to read about, especially when he is not conceited about it. Joan Wolf is also shrewd in that she portrays David having an affair with a married woman; he is not perfect, but he doesn't want Jane to know about it.

3) the stunning authenticity. I am not a horse person, but I felt that I was there in the stables, on the training grounds, and at the races. The same thing with the London season. And Wolf's awareness of the tremendous obstacles between hero and heroine is realistic, as is the initial solution planned for the couple. [This book, I should warn, has some surprises about people].

Find this book, if you can, and read it please. Actually, I would recommend nearly all of Wolf's earlier novels. She packs so much into a thin little Signet Regency, it is simply unbelievable. In terms of intensity of feeling, she reminds me of Carla Kelly, Mary Jo Putney (who writes longer books), and Mary Balogh. But her heroes are not usually angst-ridden, and the poignancy in Wolf's stories (if any) is well under control.

I just loved this book. I am completely amazed at what a captivating love story she could weave in a book length most authors could not do in a book twice it's size!

If you like strong heroines, you will love Jane as much as everyone does including her David and me. I've read hundreds of books but never read of a heroine that is stronger than Jane.

I also adore love stories about a H/H who are sure of themselves and Jane and David definitely fit that mold. There are no words to express how deeply this book affected me. I could easily put it at the top ten of all the books I've ever read. I could not put this book down once I started. If you can find a copy, get it. It took me months to find a very used copy.

Here's the basic story but it's the way Ms. Wolf draws the love story that is more breathtaking than anything else: Jane's parents die when she is six. By this time, she's into ponies and riding since her parents ignore her to hide their disappointment because she was born a female. When her father's title goes to her Uncle in England, she has to go to him too. She doesn't cry for her parents but she does for her pony since she's told she'd have to leave her pony when she leaves her Ireland for England.

Her Uncle gains her favor by giving her two ponies as a welcome gift. The ponies are cared for by a stablehand David who is a year older than Jane at seven.

Jane and David become inseperable. She has finally found someone who loves ponies as much as she.

The complications come once David reaches sexual maturity but Jane stays ignorant of everything but the few people she knows and of course, her horses. The class distinctions, Jane learning to ride astride and her being given a London Season are all woven just wonderfully by Ms. Wolf.

It's a wonderful book to lose yourself in. I know I will. Again and again.

Jane and David were raised together at the best racing Stud in regency England. They share their love of horses, racing and each other. It would be a perfect match, except Jane is an heiress and David is a horse trainer. Joan Wolf's masterful prose and characterization is evident from the first page to the last. Although the plot is simple, the characters keep this from being a run-of-the-mill regency. Jane, in particular, stands out among regency heroines. Instead of telling her readers how strong-minded Jane is, Wolf lets us see for ourselves.

I think it's good that Joan Lingard continued her series. She didn't finish with Across the Barricades. Other authors might not have had the courage to continue and show the realities and the hardships that people like Kevin and Sadie had to face. When I was younger I didn't like this book as much as others in the series, probably for that reason, but now I love the way that they managed to stay together despite all the obstacles.

Unable to find any other way of tracking down a copy of either the film or the soundtrack of the film /play, Oh! What A Lovely War. Could someone please put me out of my misery and e-mail me with any information that might help me to obtain a copy of the film or the soundtrack. Failing this could someone please tell me how to get in touch with Richard Attenborough so that I can check with him to see if he has a copy that I could obtain a copy of.

Joan London's GILGAMESH is an understated and engaging novel of physical and emotional adventure, and the unknowable and invisible bonds that unite some people in life. It is 1937, and seventeen-year-old Edith has lived her whole life on the wild Australian coast on a bit of land her father has tried to tame for years. After her father's death, the land grows harder and harder to maintain; she, along with her mother and sister, soon slip into complacency and solitude.

The arrival of her cousin Leopold and his intriguing Armenian friend Aram brings Edith back to life. The two young men, having just returned from an archeological dig in Iraq, challenge her to think about the world beyond southwestern Australia. They fascinate her with tales of the places they've traveled and the worlds they have seen. With Aram, Edith shares a special attraction and, after he and Leopold leave, she finds out that she is pregnant with his child. With new confidence, Edith decides to keep the baby and, after her son Jim is born, the two set off on a journey to find Aram.

Her love and longing for Aram, a man she hardly knows in any conventional sense, take Edith and her son from their isolated home to Soviet-ruled Armenia and then to the Middle East before returning to Australia. This journey brings her closer to Leopold and makes her more aware of her own needs and desires. It instills in Jim a sense of Armenian identity, as well as a wanderlust similar to that of Leopold and his father.

All of London's characters seem lonely. They come together under often dramatic or dangerous circumstances and then share the ordinary details and events of their lives. Despite the subtext of espionage, war and world affairs, this is a quiet novel as shy as Edith but still as bold. London's subdued tone belays the strong emotions of the characters, the urgency of Edith's need to find Aram and the drama of the story. The loneliness of the characters manifests in passionate relationships and these relationships compose much of the novel.

Edith's restlessness drives the plot, but the friendship and adventures of Aram and Leopold underscore the action. Their relationship parallels that of the mythical Gilgamesh and Enkidu. But by the end of the novel, Edith, Leopold and Jim are all like Gilgamesh, living life as best they can in the absence of Aram, their Enkidu. When he grows up, Jack becomes a figure like Edith, journeying far, with the assistance of Leopold, to search out the legacy of Aram.

The pace of GILGAMESH is slow, sometimes drowsy, but the novel is well written, a uniquely told yet classically understood take on the themes of friendship, longing and journeying. While no knowledge of the myth of Gilgamesh is required to understand, appreciate or enjoy the novel, it would certainly enhance the reading. Spinning from a myth of universal themes, London has created a novel just as evocative and universal.

Like Gilgamesh, Edith must leave home, test herself, love and lose much in order to learn her true strength and worth. Like Gilgamesh, she comes home weary and wise. And the reader, invested in the brutally real lives of Edith and Jim, gains much from this emotional and honest tale.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman

Gilgamesh is an excellent, excellent novel, well-written and interesting. The story, while not exotic or outlandish, still has a crisp, new, fresh feel to it. The novel concerns, mainly, Edith, a young Australian woman who is 17 in the late 30s. Her British cousin Leopold and his Armenian friend Aram, visit Edith's family farm for an extended stay. Aram and Leopold's travel stories spark Edith's imagination and after they leave, she decides, for various reasons, to follow them and seek them out in their home lands. Despite the war raging on around her, Edith manages to leave Australia and makes it to Armenia. Edith's life is interesting, her story, engaging. Ms. London writes extremely well and has given us a superb, engaging and compelling novel. Enjoy.

Gilgamesh is a lyrical and engaging book, and especially impressive considering it is the author's first novel. The loneliness of the characters is very aptly described, and it helps you to admire what must be the vast beauty of Australia. I found the characters to be flawed and believable, and I am looking forward to the author's next novel.

Sister Joan is given permission to go into London for a reunion with 9 of her classmates from art school. Unfortunately 3 of them are dead and the untimely deaths seem to be more than a coincidence. The group then agrees to come to the convent which Mother Dorothy has opened for retreats. Several of the members of her class seem to have changed since their school days, and Sister Joan is curious about this as well as the deaths of her classmates. She finds that some of the reunion group have lied to her about their past, so she does her usual amateur sleuthing to find out what ties the deaths together. This is a bit of a departure in that people from the outside are brought into the cloister and is a nice change of pace.

This is a fair-to-middlin' cozy mystery about a reunion of the art class students from the school Sister Joan had attended twenty years previously. There's not much to separate it from your average British cozy mystery, and therein lies the problem. The first couple of Sister Joan books by Ms. Black were striking and memorable, with their description of Sister Joan's internal struggle to maintain a balance between her spiritual obligations and her worldly curiosity. That issue has been given short shrift in the last couple of books, including this one. I fear this series is running out of steam. I would have given it 3.5 stars if that were allowed; Amazon needs to provide more flexibility in its rating system.

The mystery of Sister Joan's is amazing. As she reunites with her classmates, Sister Joan tries to solve the mystery of why out of 10 only 7 people came up.
The story is amazing and well written, you will love Joan from beginning to end.

Billed as the 2nd in the WOLVES chronicles, this book proves a great disappointment after the delightful WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE--at least to an adult audience. Kids will enjoy it though--lots of action, evil plotters lurking everywhere, spunky heroines, and a determined hero. But there are too many coincidences involving related families and mistaken identities to be realistic for adults to swallow. You really have to be a kid at heart to enjoy this 239-page adventure/soap opera.

If you are expecting wolves to be running rampant in London itself, well, they Do get around, both in the city and back in the northern wolds. Simon, the former gooseboy, arrives in London eager to study painting--only to discover that his friend and mentor, Dr. Field, has mysteriously disappeared. With the aid of kind and resourceful Sophie, whom he knew from the Poor Farm, and a feisty brat named Dido Twite, Simon undertakes to: --find his lost friend --save a Ducal family from murderous plots --prevent a King's assassination, during the era of the Hanoverian conspiracy for the throne.

Aiken's style is definitely humorous; she seems to invent many words and clever slang. She obviously relishes quaint vocabulary (keep your dictionary handy), as she spoofs the British establishemnt from Scottish accents to Art and Philanthropic institutions. It's a fun read featuring the Impossible in an amusing vein. TRUST NO ONE!

This book is an awesome addition to the Wolves of Willoghby Chase. Although, Bonnie and Sylvia Green have a very small part in the story, this book is even more suspensful than its predecessor. Simon returns to study Painting with Dr. Field at an art academy in London. In London we meet many new and exciting characters, Dido Twite, a poor child who craves adventure and Simons's affection, Sophie, the lady-in-waiting for the Duchess of Battersea, and many others. There are other books besides this one. Make sure to read them all. An excellent series to read aloud to a Fifth or Sixth Grade class. They just die when you stop right before the climax of a part. It really captures their attention.

This book in the Wolves/Dido series is probably amoung the best. It would be because of A.outstanding characterization B.amusing dialogue C.beautiful British humour. While The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and Nightbirds on Nantucket are both worthy of accolades, Blackhearts in Battersea is the funniest. As most Scottish readers would know, in real history Bonnie Prince Charlie tried to wrest the throne from the Georgians. Aiken's use of twisted history is superbly amusing. Also, the large pair of trousers cracks me up. My only complaint is that Sophie was too perfect and not enough human.

I was very excited to get this book, having been to London several times and hoping that I would now be given information about the really great stuff that I had, heretofore, missed. I was vaguely disappointed. Though I would not say this book was a total waste, neither did I use it very much on my next trip.

The book has a chatty, friendly syle but it is not very substantive, which is frustrating because one has the feeling that Ms. Cornblath knows more than she is letting on. It is rather as if you are getting advice from a knowledgeable friend who is rushing out the door.

Some establishments are recommended but hours and phone numbers are not given. A good index.

I would use this book as a supplement. It might perhaps even serve as a preamble to your trip, using it to establish an itinerary. But it would not be an adequate guide on its own.

OK, so, as one reviewer said, this is a no-brainer book and we need that sometimes.
Predictable...yes, but this book has enough twists and turns and even an occasional surprise to actually make you want to continue to the next chapter to see "What happens next?"
As I titled it, "A Beach Book," a book to enjoy along with the sand and surf.

I am a huge Joan Collins fan, all the way back to her Dynasty days. However Star Quality was boring, and predictable. Joan should stick to acting, her sister though, Jackie Collins is a great author check her out.

A number of the reviews below have been very critical of this novel and of Joan Collins's writing abilities. First things first: JC can write very well and very wittily - read her entertaining, thrice-yearly diary pieces in UK magazine "The Spectatator" and her wonderfully enjoyable second volume of autobiography "Second Act" if you need proof of that.

Secondly, let's just keep in mind that "Star Quality" is not meant to be anything more than it is: popular fiction. We all need "no-brainer" books sometimes.

Yes, the story is fairly predictable (although I would never have predicted the lesbian angle - credit where it's due people!), and, yes, the whole thing does read a little like a treatment for a glossy miniseries, and, yes, there are a few gaping holes (I would have thought specific details given early in the book about a birth certificate could have prevented a later development involving incest, for example), but all the same the book is diverting, enjoyable fun and I think that is all it is was meant to be.