Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

Kath chose this book.

Pippa said it was the best book she had read. I enjoyed it too as did Kath. Sarah not quite so much. So a mixed review from us.

We ate at The Bull in Benenden where the food was good pub food and the most reasonable meal we have had price wise for a long time.



Review from Amazon

A significant departure for Maggie O'Farrell in terms of maturity and style, the paperback publication of THE VANISHING ACT OF ESME LENNOX will be an unmissable event. Set between the 1930s,and the present, Maggie O'Farrell's new novel is the story of Esme, a woman edited out of her family's history, and of the secrets that come to light when, sixty years later, she is released from care, and a young woman, Iris, discovers the great aunt she never knew she had. The mystery that unfolds is the heartbreaking tale of two sisters in colonial India and 1930s Edinburgh - of the loneliness that binds them together and the rivalries that drive them apart, and lead one of them to a shocking betrayal - but above all it is the story of Esme, a fiercely intelligent, unconventional young woman, and of the terrible price she is made to pay for her family's unhappiness. This is vintage Maggie O'Farrell: an impassioned, intense, haunting family drama - a stunning imagining of a life stolen, and reclaimed.

Lessons in Heartbreak

Pippa's choice.

I liked this one. An easy to read book with lovely descriptions.

We ate at The Woodcock which was good food but too expensive.



Synopsis by Amazon
Three Lives. Three Loves. Three Reasons to Let Go - the compelling new novel from the international No.1 bestselling author Izzie Silver left the small Irish town of Tamarin behind for New York. Life is good - until she breaks her own rules and falls for a married man. On the other side of the ocean, Izzie's aunt Anneliese discovers the pain of infidelity for herself. Then Lily, the wise and compassionate family matriarch, is taken ill. At her bedside back in Ireland, Izzie discovers a past her grandmother has never spoken of, while Anneliese feels despair mount. The one person she could have turned to is starting to slip away. The lessons each of the women learns - both past and present - bring joy and heartbreak. And the hardest lesson of all is learning to let go

Cloth Girl

Sarah chose this one.

I liked this book very much. I loved the descriptions of the food.

We ate at The Black Lion



Review from Amazon

'In this vivid and assured first novel, two women meet across a yawning social divide ... Warm, moving, delightful' The Times ** 'Mills offers, through Matilda's eyes, a rich celebration of the country ... This unusual tale of the colonial experience hits the spot' Guardian ** 'Heward Mills deftly captures the ironic pity each feels for the other's situation. Written with fluency and confidence, this is an impressive debut' New Statesman ** 'Mills' first novel is an assured study of Ghanaian life ... She vividly portrays both the black and white communities and mines considerable humour from those Africans who have their feet in both camps ... Above all, in the character of Matilda ... she creates a richly sympathetic portrait of a young woman whose warmth and integrity win the reader's heart along with the hearts of all those around her' Daily Express ** 'Heward Mills deftly captures the ironic pity each feels for the other's situation. Written with fluency and confidence, this is an impressive debut' New Statesman ** 'this is a debut novel of substance that movingly captures the meaning of loss and the cost of gain' Scotland on Sunday ** 'I loved it, I enjoyed Cloth Girl with its huge sense of place and character ... I particularly loved Audrey and the contrast between the two' Alex Hemsley, BBC 5 Live Book Club ** 'The story rattles along and is beautifully told ... Fantastic ... I liked its crisp, spare, romantic but steely prose. It's a hot book for a hot day!' Noel Morris, BBC 5 Live Book Club ** 'What I liked best were the characterisations'. Of Matilda, 'I thought she was beautifully drawn ... you caught the tragedy of ignorance and willfullness ... beautifully carried through' Will Self ** 'a charming, optimistic tale' The Historical Novels Review ** 'utterly engrossing ... a delightfully insightful and entertaining novel' The Works ** 'a cast of vibrant characters' Big Iss

Random Acts of Heroic Love

Hello

This was a book that I chose. I quite enjoyed this and would recommend it but not one of the best.

We ate at the William Caxton. It was steak night but Kath had guinea fowl.



Synopsis By Amazon
1992: Leo Deakin wakes up in a hospital somewhere in South America, his girlfriend Eleni is dead and Leo doesn't know where he is or how Eleni died. He blames himself for the tragedy and is sucked into a spiral of despair. But Leo is about to discover something which will change his life forever. 1917: Moritz Daniecki is a fugitive from a Siberian POW camp. Seven thousand kilometres over the Russian Steppes separate him from his village and his sweetheart, whose memory has kept him alive through carnage and captivity. The Great War may be over, but Moritz now faces a perilous journey across a continent riven by civil war. When Moritz finally limps back into his village to claim the hand of the woman he left behind, will she still be waiting? Danny Scheinmann paints a dramatic portrait of two men sustaining their lives through the memory of love. Cinematic and brimming with raw emotions, it is the magnificent and emotive debut from a remarkable new writer.

The Pact - Jodi Picoult

Hello

The Pact was chosen by Kath and we ate at The Bull in Benenden. Unfortunately I have not written this blog for a while and cannot remember what the food was like.

I enjoyed the book but it is quite disturbing. I did not like the lead female character Emily.



Synopsis From Amazon
For eighteen years the Hartes and the Golds have lived next door to each other, sharing everything from Chinese food to chicken pox to carpool duty. Parents and children alike are best friends - so it's no surprise that in high school Chris and Emily's friendship blossoms into something more. They've been soul mates since they were born. When the midnight calls come in from the hospital, no one is prepared for the appalling truth: Emily is dead at seventeen from a gunshot wound to the head as part of an apparent suicide pact. The gun holds a single unspent bullet that Chris tells police he intended for himself, but a local detective has doubts. And the Hartes and Golds, in a single terrifying moment, must face every parent's worst fear: do we ever really know our children at all?

The Magic Cottage

Hello

Pippa chose The Magic Cottage by James Herbert.

I liked the book but it was an mystical story so rather unbelievable but enjoyable.



Synopsis From Amazon
"We thought we'd found our haven, a cottage deep in the heart of the forest. Charming, maybe a little run down, but so peaceful. That was the first part of the Magic. Midge's painting and my music soared to new heights of creativity. That was another part of the Magic. Our love for each other - well, that became the supreme Magic. But the cottage had an alternative side - The Bad Magic." "What happened to us there was horrendous beyond belief. The healings, the crazy sect who wanted our home for themselves, the hideous creatures that crawled from the nether regions, and the bats - oh God, the bats! Even now those terrible things seem impossible to me. Yet they happened..." 'Beautifully orchestrated crescendo of suspense...Herbert had brought the shivers back to the genre.' - "Washington Post".

We ate at Cafe Rouge which is always good value for money.

A Quiet Belief in Angels - RJ Ellory

Good Day

Be amazed at the speed at which this post has been posted.

This last book was excellent and one we would all recommend you read. There were quite a lot of unanswered questions but I thought this made the book all the more interesting. We did discuss it more than any other book we have read.

Pippa
Would have liked the ending to give more closure.

Kath
If you think you wont enjoy a crime novel, then think again!



Synopsis from Amazon
Joseph Vaughan's life has been dogged by tragedy. Growing up in the 1950s, he was at the centre of series of killings of young girls in his small rural community. The girls were taken, assaulted and left horribly mutilated. Barely a teenager himself, Joseph becomes determined to try to protect his community and classmates from the predations of the killer. Despite banding together with his friends as ' The Guardians', he was powerless to prevent more murders - and no one was ever caught. Only after a full ten years did the nightmare end when the one of his neighbours is found hanging from a rope, with articles from the dead girls around him. Thankfully, the killings finally ceased. But the past won't stay buried - for it seems that the real murderer still lives and is killing again. And the secret of his identity lies in Joseph's own history...

We ate at The Ferry Inn at Stone on the Marsh.

The food was ok. Nice to see the locals drinking in it. Not sure the pudding was homemade as they said as Pippa found a piece of plastic in it which looked very much like packaging - home heated possibly.



Working out the bill...





Love to you all

Kate

Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirozsky

Hello

This was my choice and a bit disappointing. It had great reviews but I did not research it enough and didn't realise it was unfinished which would have made it a great book but horribly long.

I would recommend it but be aware that you will need to make up your own mind about some of the characters as it is not complete. It is worth reading the appendix at the back as this gives quite an insight



Synopsis from Amazon
In 1941, Irene Nemirovsky sat down to write a book that would convey the magnitude of what she was living through, not in terms of battles and politicians, but by evoking the domestic lives and personal trials of the ordinary citizens of France. She did not live to see her ambition fulfilled, or to know that sixty-five years later, "Suite Francaise" would be published for the first time, and hailed as a masterpiece. Set during a year that begins with France's fall to the Nazis in June 1940 and ends with Germany turning its attention to Russia, "Suite Francaise" falls into two parts. The first is a brilliant depiction of a group of Parisians as they flee the Nazi invasion and make their way through the chaos of France; the second follows the inhabitants of a small rural community under occupation who find themselves thrown together in ways they never expected. Nemirovsky's brilliance as a writer lay in her portrayal of people, and this is a novel that teems with wonderful characters, each more vivid than the next. Haughty aristocrats, bourgeois bankers and snobbish aesthetes rub shoulders with uncouth workers and bolshy farmers. Women variously resist or succumb to the charms of German soldiers. However, amidst the mess of defeat, and all the hypocrisy and compromise, there is hope. True nobility and love exist, but often in surprising places. Irene Nemirovsky conceived of "Suite Francaise" as a four- or five-part novel. It was to be a symphony - her War and Peace. Although only two sections were finished before her tragic death, they form a book that is beautifully complete in itself, and awe-inspiring in its understanding of humanity.

We ate at The White Dog Inn at Ewhurst Green. The main meal was good and well priced but the puddings a bit disappointing in their plainess.



Kate

Behind the Scenes at the Museum

Hello my book lovers

This was the choice by Kath and a great book. I have read nothing like it before and loved it.



Synopsis from Amazon
Ruby Lennox was conceived grudgingly by Bunty and born while her father, George, was in the Dog and Hare in Doncaster telling a woman in an emerald dress and a D-cup that he wasn't married. Bunty had never wanted to marry George, but here she was, stuck in a flat above the pet shop in an ancient street beneath York Minster, with sensible and sardonic Patrica aged five, greedy cross-patch Gillian who refused to be ignored, and Ruby...Ruby tells the story of The Family, from the day at the end of the nineteenth century when a travelling French photographer catches frail beautiful Alice and her children, like flowers in amber, to the startling, witty, and memorable events of Ruby's own life.

We had our meeting at Kath's house but got a little distracted from the book by newly arrived Chloe



but we were all there



and we did discuss the book.



I would like to read another by this author

Kate