Reading for pleasure

Michael Ball (Zaffre: £20; e-book £9.99) 

Michael Ball clearly loves the theatre and the life associated with it. That shines through in this, his first novel, telling the trials and tribulations facing The Empire, a provincial theatre during the interwar years. 

There is a vast cast of characters, all neatly named and described in the “programme” in the opening pages. Sir Barnabus Lassiter has died and left his widow, the former Lil Lyons, ownership of the theatre. However, the owner of a neighbouring theatre wants to get his hands on the building, there and then removing the competition. This puts the Empire on the brink of closure. The manager has a back story of skullduggery which is latched onto by a newly appointed reporter from the local paper. 

The main focus remains on the theatre, its staff and the actors. A play turns out, albeit inadvertently, to be a massive hit, and sets in train a course of events which sees a famous director and two stars of the screen come to the theatre to put on a show which will save the theatre. Trouble stirs, both in the ownership of the theatre and amongst the actors. The characters are delightfully drawn and utterly believable. Jack Treadwell has returned from the war and finds a job as doorman at the theatre. Grace Hawkins is assistant to the manager but has a desire to be a playwright. 

Ball brings to life a long lost period of the British theatre, perhaps best epitomised by the Oldham Colosseum Playhouse, which due to withdrawal of funding closed its doors on 31 March 2023. Ball shows us the theatre where raw talent is embraced and “old timers” encouraged back to the fore, realising there is fun to be had, and demonstrates the camaraderie which exists amongst “theatre folk”. This is a gently, enjoyable read and one to smooth away the rigours of the day.

Harriet Crawley (Bitter Lemon Press: £16.99; e-book £8.99)

This is another stunning book from BLP, which is celebrating 20 years of publishing. Clive Franklin is an interpreter who works with the Foreign Office. He is asked to accompany the Prime Minister to Moscow, where he is reacquainted with Marina Volina, who is an old friend and now interpreter to the Russian President.

Marina and her late husband effectively adopted two young boys, both now computer experts of the highest order. Pasha has been killed and his brother, Vanya, seeks vengeance. He holds the forces of the state responsible for his brother’s death. Marina will use her position to assist him. She becomes aware of a plot hatched by the Russian military to collapse the west by use of and attacks coordinated against electronic transmission of information. She cuts a deal with Clive in the hope she can escape Russia. She also takes on those she believes responsible for Pasha’s murder.

There are nods to the war in Ukraine, the deaths of Russian nationals in other sovereign states and the role played by oligarchs in the Russian state. Through Marina, the author shines a light on the vast wealth and corruption within the Russian state and how that is used to gain access to power and, indeed, power itself. This is a fast paced, authentic thriller set in the new Cold War. Believable and prescient.