A family story retold by the descendent of one of the victims of the Salem Witch trials, this follows the story of the Carrier family, capturing the social and political milieu which fostered the conditions for witch hunting mania. The language is passionate and evocative, told through the eyes of the ten year old daughter …
Tag: book reviews
Moab Is My Washpot – Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry has a terribly British way of writing, a bit like Bill Bryson, so fans of his TV work with Hugh Laurie or as host on QI know what to expect. His humour is dry, self deprecating, and apologetic for his privileged background. In this book, he writes the memoirs of his early years, until …
Kate Remembered: A Personal Biography by A Scott Berg
From the Pulliter Prize winning biographer, A Scott Berg's aim is to write a personal account of his time as Hepburn's friend and confidante, as well share many of the stories told in the long interview sessions they had during their twenty year long friendship. In a way, it's an odd sort of biography, untraditional …
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The Girl Who Fell From The Sky – Simon Mawer
During World War II, Britain sent spies into Occupied France, many of whom were women. This book tells the story of what that experience would have been like. Marian Sutro has fled to England with her parents and brother, and finds herself selected, as a French speaker, to go undercover to France to assist …
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American Gods – Neil Gaiman
Stephen King meets Terry Pratchett, this book is a bit of a doorstopper, (I read the “authors preferred text” which has some parts added back in, making it a bit longer). Following a man called Shadow, who gets out of prison to find that his wife and best friend have just died, and takes up …
The Confectioner’s Tale – Laura Madeleine
After reading my first Patrick White, I reached for a book with a pretty cover and a romantic storyline. The Confectioners Tale is a sweet story of romance, cake and Paris just before the war, and a university student in England who finds a photograph in her recently deceased Grandfathers things with a note begging …
Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
Murakami's novels are kind of an acquired taste and are generally a normal story that's a bit weird. In this story, the narrator feels compelled to return to a hotel he stayed in years before, because he feels that someone is calling him back there, possibly a girl he used to be in a …
The Boy Who Could See Demons by Carolyn Jess-Cooke
This was an unusual book, I really enjoyed the mystery of whether the boy could see demons, or only thought he could! The story is about The Troubles in Northern Ireland, and how much that has effected the mental health of the people who have lived through trauma there. Which sounds depressing, but it's actually …
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The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman
A gentle mix of modern life and ancient fairy tale, this book is about memory and childhood, magic and the mundane. Opening on an adult returning to his childhood home after the death of his parents, it soon slips into the half forgotten story of the man as a young boy. Starting with the suicide …
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Legally Blonde/Family Trust by Amanda Brown
I'm cheekily lumping these two books in together because they're kind of short, and often come in a one volume book. I happened to buy them together too. I'm also not usually a huge proponent of chick lit, but actually, I think the covers on these novels let them down in some respects. Yes, these …
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