7 Books Like Dr James Barry

This is less the single secret to life than a glimpse into a fascinating one, along with some nudges as to how you might change your mindset to live your own to the full. From her childhood memory of Gandhi on his salt march, to weathering divorce in her 80s, Dr McGarey’s life makes a gripping read. And she has really thought about her audience; chapters are short and each leads neatly onto the next. When I first opened the book, McGarey was a trailblazing 103-year-old who became a doctor at a time when women were still cold shouldered by many in the profession. I finished the book quickly and immediately looked her up; she had just died the week before. It somehow made her insights all the more precious. Quite simply, this book is a page turner, which, for non-fiction, is quite an achievement.

There’s nothing like a letter or diary for whizzing you straight back into someone else’s head and bringing to life the world they inhabited. 14-year-old Julie Manet’s faded exercise books have become a precious art historical document. Julie was the daughter of the Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot and Eugène Manet, brother of the man who brought Paris Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe. Meanwhile, Renoir was like an uncle, the poet Stéphane Mallarmé her guardian, while Julie thought nothing of sauntering around the Louvre in the company of Edgar Degas; this was not a ‘normal’ childhood. Julie’s diary transports us to a high-ceilinged apartment in Paris’s 16th arrondissement, where the muffled scales of a girl’s violin practice overlap with snatches of erudite conversation at the table of the ‘grown-ups’. There’s an exquisite beauty in Julie’s unassuming description of the art world’s most famous faces. Here too we find a daughter’s heartbreaking response… show more.

I loved this book because it blends a more popular style with some serious research.

It hits the spot exactly with the portrayal of Payne Best and, to some extent, his rehabilitation – great new information brought to light about Heidel Nowakowski – first ever photo NB – and Vassily Kokorin, wow!

Also, my take is that what the authors have revealed here (at last) is the true story of how the Americans arrived in time to liberate the hostages at Pragser Wildsee in early May 1945; namely, because two courageous people went through an awful lot in order to persuade them to come!

I was so moved by this fascinating and engaging story of Pippa Latour’s wartime SOE operations.

The number of female undercover operatives who were parachuted into occupied France (and survived) was modest. Pippa somehow had the wit and presence of mind to know how to deceive the Germans. She was not spared terrible suffering.

I also made contact with Pippa when she was aged 100 at a time when much of the interviewing for this book took place, and I am so pleased that a gripping sense of her bravery and determination shines through. 

I loved this book because it represents an extremely enjoyable and thorough account of the work of Secret Intelligence.

One noteworthy aspect of this book is the troubling awareness it brings that what the work involves is, in the main, unknown and goes largely unrecognised.

Another very salient truth that emerges (from this volume) is that the work is thoroughly international in nature. For me, the author also demonstrates in adept fashion that the question of how the peacetime accountability of the work of MI5 is to be assured is a multi-dimensional and deeply political one.

A stunning read!

I thoroughly enjoyed this stylish, unusual book and was instantly drawn in to the author’s pilgrimage story.

The portrayal of the different islands is rich and intriguing – I found myself wanting to go back to those I know and visit those I haven’t yet experienced, as well as thinking more seriously about a pilgrimage!

The writer is a first-rate historian who writes in a very readable, accessible, and lighthearted style. But the easygoing narrative flow also fuses with razor-sharp insight.

The book delivers a compelling account of society’s historical exclusion and maltreatment of women.

I was gripped by this fast-paced and detailed account telling the remarkable story of the RAF’s wooden aircraft and read it over three days.

The book’s insights as to the perils of aircraft manufacturing politics left me with the uncomfortable sense that the whole project almost never happened! In another instance of helpful historical context, the book highlights the (confusing) 3-way split of Nazi rule in occupied Denmark, explaining the story of Danish resistance (and prior collaboration) in the process.

I found it illuminating that the culminating Mosquito raid on the Copenhagen Gestapo HQ, whilst tragically costing many Danish civilian lives, played a significant part in salvaging Danish pride and helping secure a better post-war future for Denmark.