Steve King

For Love Of The Desert

The Secret Life of Laszlo Almasy: The Real English Patient

By

Viking 288pp £16.99 order from our bookshop

JOHN BIERMAN IS a journalist and military historian with a knack for turning complicated events into gripping narratives. His short biography of the Hungarian explorer Laszlo Almasy is no exception. The story rattles along at a spanking clip, even when the fact-trail goes cold (a serious problem where Almasy is concerned). Although parts of Almasy’s life are well documented, others, especially his politicaI leanings, are much harder to pin down. One senses, too, that the existence of two brilliant but historically inaccurate versions of his life, Michael Ondaatje’s novel The English Patient and Anthony Minghella’s film adaptation of it, is an extra nuisance that Bierman could happily have done without.

Follow Literary Review on Twitter

  • Last Tweets

    • 'The breadth of Clarke’s knowledge and experience, coupled to a conspicuous absence of pomposity, makes for easy an… ,
    • In this month's Silenced Voices, Lucy Popescu shines a light on Myanmar's persecution of writers and journalists, p… ,
    • Lecture on war and peace in 19th-century Europe by Professor Sir Richard Evans, Thurs 25 Oct, 6.30pm Europe House… ,
    • 'Why, throughout the world, are so many people fascinated by the fiction and reality of espionage? And why of all p… ,
    • . here on books, Muriel Spark and life's tangled dance ,
    • RT : There aren't enough aggressive subtitles these days: ,
    • Churchill's on the cover of the October edition of the magazine. Piers Brendon reviews two new books about the Brit… ,
    Follow Us