Reviewed by Tony Pratley.
According to my well-thumbed copy of ‘Popular History for Dummies’, there are a few basic rules to follow. A potential blockbuster must be long enough for the summer holiday and short enough for the beach. Five hundred divided by 50 is a publisher’s basic rule of thumb. Five hundred pages divided into 50 easily digestible chapters. Unremitting action and a host of compelling characters, good but better bad, is also to be encouraged. As for prose style, a breathless simplicity is best with an occasional authorial nod and a wink. The reader ought to be left in no doubt about the happy ending.
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