Lumen by Ben Pastor - Revision history

Sue at 10:12, 6 September 2020

2020-09-06T10:12:30Z

Sue at 11:26, 12 March 2018

2018-03-12T11:26:34Z

Sue at 15:45, 2 January 2015

2015-01-02T15:45:29Z

Sue at 10:59, 2 February 2011

2011-02-02T10:59:42Z

Sue: Created page with '{{infobox |title=Lumen |sort=Lumen |author=Ben Pastor |reviewer=Luci Davin |genre=Crime (Historical) |summary=A German officer investigates the murder of a nun in Nazi-occupied P…'

2011-02-02T10:58:29Z

Created page with '{{infobox |title=Lumen |sort=Lumen |author=Ben Pastor |reviewer=Luci Davin |genre=Crime (Historical) |summary=A German officer investigates the murder of a nun in Nazi-occupied P…'

New review

{{infobox
|title=Lumen
|sort=Lumen
|author=Ben Pastor
|reviewer=Luci Davin
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=A German officer investigates the murder of a nun in Nazi-occupied Poland, in this unusual historical mystery.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|paperback=1904738664
|hardback=
|audiobook=
|ebook=
|pages=313
|publisher=Bitter Lemon Press
|date=January 2011
|isbn=978-1904738664
|website=
|video=
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904738664</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>1904738664</amazonus>
}}

Cracow, Poland, October 1939: The Germans have recently occupied Poland and are seeking to establish their authority. Captain Martin Bora of the Wehrmacht (the German army) has just arrived in the city from the battlefield to take up a posting to Intelligence. His boss asks Bora to drive him to a convent every day to see the renowned Abbess, rumoured to have mystic and healing powers. A few days later, though, she is found shot dead in the grounds of her convent. Bora is asked to investigate and report back. He proceeds to investigate who shot her and why, but as his investigation continues, there are more questions for Bora and the reader. Where does this case fit in with the priorities of the occupying forces?

This is an unusual historical mystery. We learn little of the character of the abbess or the other nuns – what we learn is reported at quite a distant remove. The most significant religious character in the novel is a Polish-American priest from Chicago, Father John Malecki. Bora and he develop an uneasy friendship. In fact, the mystery plot turns out to be quite slight. The novel is much more interesting in its portrait of a time and place and one man’s reactions to it.

Captain Martin Bora is an intriguing character. Pastor’s approach to creating a sympathetic hero who is a German soldier is to show Bora’s increasing distance from the behaviour and views of his fellow officers, and his growing doubts about Nazi ideology and practice. It becomes very clear in the course of the story that while Bora wants to find out the truth about what happened, his bosses may not share that aim. I enjoyed the witty portrait of Colonel Schenk, who talks at great length to Bora about the importance of fathering racially pure Aryan children, and who is committed to the cause.

Lumen is billed as first in a series, to my surprise as it doesn’t really read as a series novel, and a German military investigator in 1939/40 with doubts about the cause doesn’t seem set for a long career. From my online research, however Pastor has written a second novel about Bora, this time set in Italy later in the war. It’s not available to buy or borrow at the moment but I hope Bitter Lemon are able to bring it back into print and to a wider audience, too.

The author, Ben Pastor, is Italian but has lived in America for some years and Lumen was originally written in English.

Thank you to Bitter Lemon Press for sending a copy of this book to the Bookbag.

Bitter Lemon specialises in crime fiction set in different locations – another of their novels is [[A Shortcut to Paradise by Maria Solana]]. Alan Furst’s [[The Foreign Correspondent by Alan Furst|The Foreign Correspondent]] is a thriller set just before WWII. Another great book about Eastern Europe in this period is [[The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer]], the story of a Hungarian Jewish family.

{{amazontext|amazon=1904738664}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=7914399}}

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[[Category:General Fiction]]

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 The author, Ben Pastor, is Italian but has lived in America for some years and Lumen was originally written in English.
-Thank you to Bitter Lemon Press for sending a copy of this book to the Bookbag.
+Thank you to Bitter Lemon Press for sending a copy of this book to the Bookbag.  We also have a review of [[Liar Moon by Ben Pastor]].
 Bitter Lemon specialises in crime fiction set in different locations – another of their novels is [[A Shortcut to Paradise by Teresa Solana and Peter Bush|A Shortcut to Paradise by Maria Solana]]. Alan Furst’s [[The Foreign Correspondent by Alan Furst|The Foreign Correspondent]] is a thriller set just before WWII. Another great book about Eastern Europe in this period is [[The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer]], the story of a Hungarian Jewish family.

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-{{infobox
+{{infobox1
 |title=Lumen
 |author=Ben Pastor
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 |date=January 2011
 |isbn=978-1904738664
-|website=
+|cover=1904738664
-|video=
+|aznuk=1904738664
-|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904738664</amazonuk>
+|aznus=1904738664
 }}

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{infobox
 |title=Lumen
 |author=Ben Pastor
 |reviewer=Luci Davin
@@ Line 9: / Line 8: @@
 |buy=Yes
 |borrow=Yes
 |pages=313
 |publisher=Bitter Lemon Press
@@ Line 37: / Line 32: @@
 Bitter Lemon specialises in crime fiction set in different locations – another of their novels is [[A Shortcut to Paradise by Teresa Solana and Peter Bush|A Shortcut to Paradise by Maria Solana]]. Alan Furst’s [[The Foreign Correspondent by Alan Furst|The Foreign Correspondent]] is a thriller set just before WWII. Another great book about Eastern Europe in this period is [[The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer]], the story of a Hungarian Jewish family.
-{{amazontext|amazon=1904738664}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=7914399}}
+{{amazontext|amazon=1904738664}}
 {{commenthead}}
 [[Category:General Fiction]]