Time to 'fess up. For the past two days I've been engrossed in Tim Hanna's new book "Kim: The Kiwi on the König". Following an early delivery of copies, Tim very generously dispatched one to me.
I am barely 100 pages into this weighty tome of 500-plus pages, and Kim and Janeen have only just arrived in Germany. The story is as much about Kim as it is about Janeen, since they met and were together as schoolchildren, barely into their high school years.
But, oh, how this book reveals sad and brutal aspects of their early lives. The opening chapters are a frank and disarming exposé of what life was like for two Kiwi kids in the immediate years following World War 2. It was not what I was expecting.
However, through these dark times of mental and physical pain, for Janeen in particular, they can see a brighter future. Tim gently expands and develops their characters; of how Kim and Janeen find in shy young love and togetherness, hope and ambition.
No, this isn't your usual motorcycle book that you'll knock over in a weekend. Already it is a remarkable read, soundly and painstakingly researched. Now to find some serious quiet time to continue...
Well done, Tim.
Oh, and "the gentlemen of the Motorcycle Racing Nostalgia Forum" get an acknowledgement.
Edited by peterd, 04 December 2010 - 21:39.