An Angel saved my life - Jacky Newcomb

An Angel saved my life is an inspiring collection of true stories from the other side, revealing how our guardian angels intervene in our lives, often in our darkest hour of need.

• Discover the incredible truth behind:


• The 'angel airbag' that saved a man from death in a car accident


• The woman who glimpsed the afterlife and was sent back from heaven


• The family who were 'lifted' to safety when a tornado devastated their house


• The psychic power of children who talk to spirits


• The animals that came back from death to protect their owners.

The book has a little of the authors own story but is mostly a collection taken from ordinary people from around the world - a mix that, as well as having some Angel contact stories, also contains ones of loved ones or pets visiting from the Otherworld.

I found this an uplifting and comforting read that shows that little miracles can occur at any time and in any place and to ordinary people...... sometimes just for the asking....... and that those loved ones who have crossed over are still around us and don't stop caring for us. :0)

This one is going into my collection but I'll be happy to loan it to anyone who is interested. :0)

Mistress Peachum's Pleasure - Lisa Hilton

Mistress Peachum was Lavinia Fenton, an eighteenth-century actress who was the original Polly Peachum in John Gay's smash-hit play The Beggar's Opera and became the Duchess of Bolton.

Raised in a Charing Cross coffee house, Lavinia nearly fell victim to the ambition of her mother, who plotted the sale of her virginity to an elderly gentleman for £200, but Lavinia was determined to live her life on her own terms. She became an actress, and though she was a newcomer to the stage when she was chosen to star as Polly, her combination of a sweet voice, a pretty face and a knowledge of the seamier side of London life made the role her own.

Both Lavinia and the play were overnight sensations, but she enjoyed only a few months of fame before she caught the eye of the Duke of Bolton, a married, indolent and childless aristocrat. The Duke was determined to make her his mistress, and she agreed to elope with him, exchanging the rackety glamour of life as London's most celebrated actress for twenty years of retirement. Lavinia gave the Duke three sons, but when she was left a widow she chose her own way once more, and scandalously threw away their fortunes on her younger lover.

Lisa Hilton's ebullient portrait of Lavinia Fenton's aspirational life is also a scintillating depiction of the age. With a cast of politicians and pickpockets, highwaymen and whores, it illuminates the relationship between the theatre and the social and political climate of eighteenth-century London.



I was expecting to read mostly about the famed Lavinia but, as the author points out, there is actually very little that is known acknowledged fact about Lavinia herself so what little is known about her was bulked out with the history of the times she lived in. Thus, the book was a disappointment when it came to what I expected but it made up for it in the interesting accounts of the times she lived in and the characters who abounded in London at that time.

It was also interesting to make comparisons between then and now: how attitudes to acting have changed completely, so what was once considered on the same level as prostitution is now something that many aspire to; today's politicians expenses revelations are nothing new and actually it's just following on a long tradition of corruption and sleeze within Parliament; today's binge drinkers are nothing new when compared to the gin-swilling population back then etc etc etc It certainly brings home the cyclical nature of Life, and all it encompasses, and how successive generations seem drawn to repeat the same-old-same-old by following in the footsteps of the ancestors. Makes me wonder: will we ever learn and thus develop our full potential?

Normally I would add the book to my personal collection but Life seems to be giving me lessons to encourage me to "let go" at the moment, so it's been registered with Book Crossing and is up for re-homing instead........ just shout if you'd like it. :0)

In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick

The sinking of the Nantucket whaleship Essex by an enraged spermwhale far out in the Pacific in November 1820 set in train one of the most dramatic sea stories of all time. Accounts of the unprecedented whale attack inspired Herman Melville's mighty novel Moby Dick, but In the Heart of the Sea goes beyond these events to describe what happened when the twenty mixed-race crewmen took to three small boats and what, three months later, the whaleship Dauphin, cruising off the coast of South America, discovered when it spotted a tiny boat sailing erratically across the open ocean.

To be honest I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I first started reading this book. I've read a fair bit of non-fiction over the years on a wide variety of subjects, some of which turn out to be those dry, fact and date ridden books that eventually overwhelms your brain so you can't remember what happened when or to whom. In the Heart of the Sea wasn't in that category - though there were still plenty of dates and facts in there, the whole is presented in such an easily readable style it was more like dipping into a good, well written novel.

It isn't always an overly comfortable read though: it deals with the hard facts and realism of the whaling industry in the 1800's and what happens when the crew find themselves stuck in three small boats in the open ocean with limited supplies. Though it shows what depths human beings can plumb when forced into extreme conditions what mostly shines through is how strong the will to survive can be and how resilient, and courageous, some people can be when faced with such extremes and the hard decisions that have to be made. What I liked was that the book didn't end at the point of rescue but went on to recount what subsequently happened to the few survivors.

All told, I feel the author skillfully manages to tell a factual story in an intelligent and readable way, without glorifying the crew members or being overly sensationalistic with the awful events that unfolded. I would definitely like to read more by this author.

This is a Book Crossing book sent to me by a fellow Book Crosser - I would like to pass it on for someone else to read and journal on and who will then pass it on to someone else who will be willing to do the same, to keep this book travelling. Shout if you would like it. :0)