Set in Canada in the 1800’s, in a (fictional) town called Dunmore, a place at the end of the Underground Railroad where freed or escaped slaves have made a home and give safe harbour. Lensinda is a journalist for the local paper who is tasked with interviewing a woman who refused to flee after shooting …
Set during WWII, this is the story of a child being sent to America to escape the bombing in London, and how that choice impacts the lives of two families forever. 11 year old Beatrix is sent by boat to Boston in 1940, where she stays with the Gregorys, going from her working class parents …
1938 China, Meilin flees the encroaching Japanese with her son and a beautiful scroll embellished with stories, which was a gift from her beloved husband. On the road, sometimes with her brother in law and his wife and daughters, she reads the stories to her son to help him keep his courage. Over the course …
I love witchy reads, and most especially Practical Magic. Or anything by Alice Hoffman, honestly. Her way of writing takes the everyday and the fairytale and blends them. After all, fairytales were created to help us navigate life and avoid danger. I love how she is able to take you on a journey with her …
"A detective story with no detective" says the tagline on this book, and it's a pretty good description. Set in Edinburgh in 2011, Margaret is a middle aged woman whose life has imploded in London, so she flees to her mothers in Scotland. It's one of the coldest Winters on record, and there are a …
Ruby Lennox narrates this story of her life and her family. Funny, startling and often sad, she is the child of a woman who doesn't want kids, and a father who cheats. The book also slips backwards in time to take in the lives of her ancestors and the events that shaped their lives. The …
Continue reading Behind The Scenes At The Museum by Kate Atkinson
I couldn't put this book down, curling up with hot chocolate and reading it in one sitting! One of Hoffman's earlier books, it follows three generations of a family, from the strong Russian matriarch that has managed their lives and finances with an iron fist, to the grandaughter who longs for freedom and to follow …
Although to younger readers, Steinbeck's novel Of Mice And Men might be more well known, this was the book that the author felt was his master work. It's the story of the Trask and Hamilton families, who live and grow in the Salinas Valley in California, the place that Steinbeck hailed from. Originally the book …
Browsing the shelves of the local second hand stores, I came across loads of paperback copies of V C Andrews books. I read Flowers In The Attic as a teen, and thought it might be fun (if reading VC Andrews can be called fun) to dip into one or two of her books. Part of …
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