Kennedy Wives: Triumph and Tragedy in America’s Most Public Family

As a non-American, I did not grow up on ‘The Kennedy’s’. However, nobody can escape their myth completely. This book looks at the wives of the prominent Kennedy brothers, and their mother Rose. As we move through the generations, I... More about these gift suggestions...

Tolkien: How an Obscure Oxford Professor Wrote The Hobbit and Became the Most Beloved Author of the Century

It felt like something of a betrayal when the first Tolkien movies came out. The private world my dad had taken us (my two brothers and I) to on our Sunday walks was suddenly public property. Of course we went – in a revolutionary move, our... More about these gift suggestions...

An Atomic Love Story: the Extraordinary Women in Robert Oppenheimer’s Life

I’ve been looking around for biographies of strong women and An Atomic Love Story caught my eye. However, it is really – and this is significant – a biography of Robert Oppenheimer, the famous (and infamous) physicist who helped develop the atomic bomb and was, in the McCarthy era, accused of communist sympathies.

Shirley Streshinsky and Patricia Klaus take on this biographers challenge in style and with insight into the challenges that women have faced over the 20th century.

We meet Jean Tatlock, Kitty Oppenheimer – his wife, and Ruth Sherman Tolman.

All three were smart. All three loved Robert and only Ruth was happy in herself. Ruth was also the only one with a significant career in her own right. And yes, this review contains spoilers.  Continue reading An Atomic Love Story: the Extraordinary Women in Robert Oppenheimer’s Life

Amy My Daughter: an Amy Winehouse Biography by her father

Amy Winehouse  (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was one of the more notorious female singer songwriters of her generation. Her looks – 60’s inspired as her dad reminds us – her lyrics and her bouts of drunken and drug induced... More about these gift suggestions...

Dear Abigail – Founding mothers of a new Nation

I love reading biographies. I’ve been looking, recently, for biographies of strong women. After all, we do make half the world’s population and our story needs to be known. Dear Abigail: The Intimate Lives and Revolutionary Ideas of Abigail... More about these gift suggestions...