The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

Hello, I’m John. I’ve been a member of your group for a year now, and believe I’ve failed to introduce myself. An appalling dereliction. I took early retirement and with a large garden/orchard I have become almost self sufficient: my responsibilities at present rest with a small group of not-so-able hedgehogs. The neighbours became aware that I was caring for a hog with one-eye and a hospice seemed to blossom from there. Returning to university, I read history and that led me to such works as: The Great Game - The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia, On Secret Service East of Constantinople - The Plot to Bring Down the British Empire, and the like; all of which gripped me and I class as exceptional thriller/suspense/mysteries. My grandmother on my mother’s side was a White Russian and as youngster she left Russia in 1921, under the care of her father and mother. Her father was killed in Ukraine; and so she made the crossing from France to Blighty with her mother in November of 1923. From their accounts the journey across Europe was most harrowing. My mother has the family book and the the dairies of both her grandparents. I have often thought of creating a manuscript from those, but feel unqualified and not able to do justice to their story. There is no mention in my great-grandparent’s memoirs of escape lines and safe houses, but my grandmother, during her later years with what she excused as her failing memory, often spoke of ‘the kindest of people’ and how they are the only reason she survived. I spend time researching escape-lines, underground networks and life-in-the shadows. I won’t claim a need to find evidence of who might have helped my grandmother, as I am content with a desire to more fully understand the ways and means by which many sought to resist oppression even in the face of the great risk to them and their family. I yearn for well-researched, real-life thrillers focused on 20th Century Europe.

Welcome John. Enjoyed reading your story. Unfortunately our reading tastes are complete opposites so I won’t be able to add much to your reading list, but I will recommend one excellent author, Ben Macintyre.
Cheers & good luck!

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