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THE 8:55 TO BAGHDAD

Name: THE 8:55 TO BAGHDAD
Author: Andrew Eames
ISBN: 1-58567-673-X

FROM LONDON TO IRAQ ON THE TRAIL OF AGATHA CHRISTIE AND THE ORIENT EXPRESS

by Andrew Eames ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 31, 2005

A loquacious, naïve, winning literary treat.

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English journalist and travel author Eames sets off on an ambitious, good-natured, quirkily informative journey on the path of the legendary Orient Express.

Eames follows the route that Agatha Christie took (in 1928, at age 38) when, newly divorced and already a best-selling author, she made her way solo from her dreaded marital home of Sunningdale, outside of London, via train to Baghdad, where she met the younger man who would become her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan. Leaving from Victoria Station, Eames travels on several modern reincarnations of the swanky old trains, including the ultra luxurious Venice-Simplon Orient Express, the longest passenger train in Europe. His delightfully entertaining quest spreads out over many weeks as he changes trains in Venice, then proceeds to Trieste, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Belgrade, Sofia, Istanbul, Aleppo, Damascus and, by bus, to Baghdad. He is personable and open to meeting all kinds of people, though also not above poking gentle fun at them. He accepts invitations wherever he goes, and, as the result of one such in Ljubljana, meets with an elderly journalist who interviewed Christie decades ago in the lake town of Bohinj, which Christie termed “too beautiful for murder.” While at the famous old Baron Hotel in Aleppo, where Christie and Max used to stay between digs in the Syrian desert, Eames has tea with the owner’s haughty mother, Mrs. Masloumians, who socialized warily with the reclusive couple and notes now that the fictional Poirot was a dead wringer for husband Max. In recounting his own journey (on an increasingly faltering rail system), Eames also incorporates details of Christie’s life and work, including visits to some of the digs she and Max worked on, such as those at Nineveh and Nimrud. At his own peril, he even gets to Ur, where the couple first met, now the middle of a NATO target zone.

A loquacious, naïve, winning literary treat.

Pub Date: May 31, 2005

ISBN: 1-58567-673-X

Page Count: 401

Publisher: Overlook

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2005

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.