A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve

Margaret and Patrick are not long married when Patrick takes up a post at a hospital in Nairobi.  Seen from Margaret's point of view A Change in Altitude plays on the elison of Altitude and Attitude, describing her culture shock as she becomes a priveliged white ex-patriate in a largely black impoverished society, a target for the simple reasons that she is visible and has whilst thousands have not.  Living in a cottage in the grounds of the large house of another couple - Diana, a native white Kenyan, and Arthur, an Englishman - they are invited to stay in the 'Big House' when their plumbing fails.  As emotions between the four become entangled Diana and Arthur invite Margaret and Patrick to climb Mount Kenya with them and the smallest of actions result in catastrophic consequences which raise questions about fidelity, love and what marriage can survive.  Very well written but very sad, deals with the subjects of ex-colonialism, marriage and love with a light but devastating touch.

Chesapeake by James A. Michener

What an amazing book, one I feel really proud to have finished and that I really learned from.  Chesapeake is the story of Cheseapeake Bay on the Eastern seaboard of the United States, a spit of land split between the states of Maryland, Virginia and Delaware.  The narrative is filtered through the lens of the progress of the fictional town of Patamoke on the Choptank River and the rise of major immigrant families: first the wily watermen Turlocks, the Quaker Paxmores and the Catholic Steeds, joined later by the ex-slave Caters, immigrants Irish Caveneys and German Pflaums .  Michener splits his tale into fourteen journeys, boat journeys that are taken by people relevant to the narrative.  These take place in 1583, 1608, 1636, 1661, 1701, 1773, 1811, 1822, 1832, 1837, 1886, 1938, 1976 and 1978.  In the first we see the Suquehanna Native American Pentaquod come to among the marshes of the Eastern Shore and Michener takes us through the next 400 years until the funeral journey of a son of the area disgraced by his involvement in the Watergate scandal.  In this way Michener narrates the coming of Europe's persecuted to the area, Quakers, Catholics, Irish, and the rise and fall of slavery.  National and world events are touched on but only with relevance to personal history, from resistance in the American War of Independece, fighting in the American Civil War to the north, helping and pursuing runaway slaves on the Underground Railway reach Pennsylvania and the effect of Vietnam and Korea in showing the sons of the area the value of their homeland.  The number of years that Michener places between Journeys allows for history to pass but each new set of people either features an older version of a character seen in a previous Journey or they are still within living memory, allowing the great sweep of years to remain personalised.

Dead Heat by Dick & Felix Francis

Dead Heat opens with Max Moreton, professional chef, once youngest winner of his first Michelin star, facing ruin the morning after cooking a gala dinner at Newmarket racecourse because, like most of the other guests, he is suffering acute food poisoning.  However, this potential career killer is overshadowed by events the next day as he serves a private dinner at Newmarket racecourse and like all of Francis' best novels the reader is pitched headfirst into a breakneck ride of violence and swerving plot that keeps you guessing.

To The Hilt by Dick Francis

Al Kinloch is a reclusive painter living in a remote falling down bothy on his uncle's Scottish estate but then he is dragged back to London by his stepfather's illness, death and the issue of millions of pounds missing from his brewery.  Cue a brilliant fast paced thriller including the usual Francis tight plotting, violence, attempted murder and priceless ancient artifacts.