Author - John Coyne

  The Tales of Bismuth: Dispatches from Palestine, 1945-1948 By Jamie Kirkpatrick (Tunisia 1970-72) Independently Published March 2024 250 pages $4.99 (Kindle); $21.00 (Paperback); $33.98 (Hardcover) • • •  The Tales of Bismuth is the sequel to Jamie Kirkpatrick’s debut novel, This Salted Soil: The Battle for Tunisia, 1942-1943. In that novel, Kirkpatrick (Tunisia, 1970-72) introduced his readers to Declan Shaw, a young Irish journalist who is based in Tunisia and assigned to cover the Allied North African campaign against Nazi Germany. Upon completion of that journalistic assignment, Shaw goes to Palestine to cover events unfolding there. He arrives in the waning days of the British Mandate and begins to understand the complexities of of life in Palestine, the complexities of relations between Palestinians and Jews, as well as the complexities of the heart. Shaw strives to report on events as a neutral observer, an almost impossible perspective to maintain given the . . .

  The Swans at Tualoa by Julian Quarles (Peace Corps Caribbean trainer) Dorrance Publishing March 2024 540 pages $32.00 (Paperback); $34.44 (Hardback) • • •  And so he had come to the land Tualoa, its tapering mountains a brilliant green. Spoonbill and osprey, sandpiper, heron, the yellow-bellied sunbirds fringing the shore. What except this, this faraway land with the charm of a tale? They spent afternoons at Little Marquis away from the eyes of the elder Su’uni. The nectarine lands dropped into the sea, her blue-run chambers swollen with worm. A series of clouds bunched over the west. He may have remembered a scene from Simoon, the world immense with its moments of gladness. The purposes of heaven lay before them that day. It came on a wind, to the island places, Alisi, Croyenne and Île des pengouins . . . Recovered papers at an eastern university lead to a narrative spanning . . .

  Guyana has made positive impacts in reducing poverty within the country; however, it was once one of the poorest in South America. Due to the discovery of oil production in 2019, Guyana’s GDP per capita is quickly increasing and the country could continue as one of the countries with the fastest economic growth as new oil production begins. The country is rich in natural resources and in addition to abundant rainforests and agricultural land, the country’s natural reserves also include gold and diamonds. Guyana’s proud decline in poverty shows a change from 60.9% of the country’s population living in poverty in 2006 to 48.4% in 2019, according to the World Bank. Accessibility to education and health care still needs improvements since COVID-19 additionally worsened conditions in these sectors. There are five charities operating in Guyana to make positive changes for the people living in Guyana. One of them was started . . .