A Good Read

February’s selection from Grahame Pearson and Tash Donovan

What Lies Beneath – Peter Faulding

How do you become a human mole, a forensic genius with a bloodhound’s nose for clues?

Recovering bodies, finding discarded remains, identifying unmarked graves and saving people from locations and situations too dangerous for the normal emergency services are all in a day’s work for West Chiltington resident, Peter Faulding. So how did a boy with a love of unmapped systems of ancient disused mines under South-East England find himself, years later, as one of the UK’s most prolific coldcase forensic investigators?

In this gripping and remarkable memoir, Peter tells his extraordinary life story in fascinating detail. From removing environmental roads protesters from dangerous underground tunnels, including the infamous ‘Swampy’, at iconic protest sites, to the scenes of some of the UK’s most notorious crimes, he describes how he has developed into a highly regarded and highly skilled search specialist, whose job is to assist investigators and police as they search crime scenes and bring serial killers to justice.

For the first time, Peter gives new details on some of the country’s most harrowing murder cases, including that of serial killer Peter Tobin, April Jones, Nicola Payne and the search for Helen McCourt, sheds new light on mysterious deaths, including MI6 worker Gareth Williams; and details the incredible lengths he goes to, to help investigators.

Get ready to join Britain’s most extraordinary forensic search expert on his journey through deadly booby-trapped tunnel systems and into dark waters that hold horrific secrets, then onwards through uninviting crime scenes and into the minds of killers.

What Lies Beneath is available from 2nd February from Amazon.

The Midwife of Auschwitz – Anna Stuart Ana Kaminski is a midwife who is taken to Auschwitz with her young friend Ester Pasternak. As they pass through the iron gates and reach the front of the processing line, Ana steps forward and quietly declares her profession, saying Ester is her assistant. Their arms are tattooed, and they’re ordered to the maternity hut. There Ana vows to do everything she can to save the lives of mothers and their infants.

But she soon learns that the SS snatch the blondhaired babies from their mothers to place with German families. In spite of her horror Ana realises that for these children there is at least the hope of survival. With rumours of the war ending Ana and Ester begin to secretly tattoo the newborns with their mothers’ numbers, praying one day they might be reunited.

The novel is fiction, but it’s based on a true story and many of the characters are based on real people at Birkenau (the largest camp in the Auschwitz complex). Ana is a Catholic, Ester is Jewish and Ana was the midwife who delivered her. Ana’s family were part of the Resistance helping Jewish people escape the Nazi enforced Ghetto until Ana was arrested along with two of her sons. Her husband and other son were not home at the time, so Ana does not know what happened to them at the time she arrives in Auschwitz. She and Ester cling to their friendship and each other through the horror and evil around them. When Liberation comes will they find a way to get home together? And what awaits them there?

The voice of women is often absent from history, even quite recent history. Anna Stuart’s sensitive, beautiful novel showcases one woman’s incredible story which is a tribute to those who suffered at the hands of the Nazis.