Currently reading
Alex
The Glass Room
Peter the Great: His Life and World
If I Can't Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Children
Skin Deep
The Good Daughter
A Boy in Winter
The Tie That Binds
The Idiot (Everyman's Library, #254)
The Velvet Hours
A Doctor's Sword – How an Irish Doctor Survived War, Captivity and the Atomic Bomb
What an amazing story of survival and humanity of an Irish Doctor who survived war, captivity and the atomic bomb. I came across this book while listening to the author's interview on radio and found the story fascinating and I sourced a copy the next day.
Aidan MacCarthy was from Castletownbere, a small fishing town on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork, he studied medicine and became a doctor and while praticing in England he volunteered and went off to War looking for an adventure. His story is inspirational and uplifting from beginning to end and his suffering,endurance and bravery makes this book quite a gripping read.
Packed full of photos, maps and illustrations this is a riveting and vivid read which I could not put down. Well written factual and educational and I came away from this one feeling I had gained an insight into a horrible time in history.
Aidan MacCarthy's description of the atomic bomb explosion above Nagasaki in August 1945
(Excerpt from inside cover). There followed a blue flash accompanied by a very bright magnesium type flare..... then came a frighteningly loud but rather flat explosion, which was followed by a blast of hot air, All this was followed by an eerie silence.
I really enjoyed learning about Aidan's life before, during and after the war and Christopher Reeve's quote HERO came to my mind on finishing this book.
HERO......is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to presevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.
