We discussed this on 1st February at The Kino, Hawkhurst as we were going to see the film Never Let Me Go.
We all read the book really quickly. Good book but one for the girls again.
Never Let Me Go as a film was ok as we had read the book but we were not sure we would have understood some parts otherwise.
Reviews from Amazon
'So carefully and originally constructed that it's both hard to put down and profoundly affecting . . . Donoghue has crafted a narrative that moves as breathlessly as a thriller while convincingly portraying how a boy might believe a room is his whole world.' --Sunday Times Book of the Week
'The Man Booker shortlisted novel about an imprisoned child, with horrible intimations of the Fritzl case.' --The Times
'an extraordinarily plausible account of the deprivations of life in a domestic dungeon' --Guardian
'Beautifully written, this moving and ultimately uplifting novel is Donoghue's masterpiece.'
--Gay Community News
Product Description
Jack is five. He lives with his Ma. They live in a single, locked room. They don’t have the key.
Jack and Ma are prisoners.
‘This book will break your heart . . . It is the most vivid, radiant and beautiful expression of maternal love I have ever read’ Irish Times
‘Startlingly original and moving . . . Endearing and as utterly compelling as THE LOVELY BONES’ Scotsman
‘I’ve never read a more heart-burstingly, gut wrenchingly compassionate novel . . . As for sweet, bright, funny Jack, I wanted to scoop him up out of the novel and never let him go’ Daily Mail
‘This is a truly remarkable novel. It presents an utterly unique way to talk about love, all the while giving us a fresh, expansive eye on the world in which we live’ New York Times Book Review
About the Author
Born in 1969, Emma Donoghue is an Irish writer who lives in Canada. Her fiction includes includes the bestselling Slammerkin.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
61 Hours - Lee Child
We discussed this on 9th December at The King William, Benenden. This was our Christmas meal but we had to take our own crackers as we did not want to set Christmas menu. Food was good but again the service poor.
Pippa's book. The boys will enjoy this one too. It is set in very heavy snow which was great to read as we were too engulfed in snow at the time. Good choice for the weather.
Amazon.co.uk Review
There was some excitement recently at the offices of Transworld, publisher of the British thriller writer Lee Child, who has so successful conquered America with his Jack Reacher adventures. Child usually produces only one novel featuring his tough ex-army action hero each year, but the latest book, 61 Hours, will be followed up with a speedily issued second new Reacher-related novel this autumn. 61 Hours -- admirers will, of course, have to have both. Sales of such Child novels as Gone Tomorrow have exceed 74,000 copies – and he continues his upwards ascent, singularly unimpeded. But the new book has Jack Reacher in the most extreme danger of his career.
South Dakota is shivering under an icy winter, and the roads are particularly treacherous. As a snow storm gathers force, the tyres of a bus skid and there is a crash, stranding the bus and its passengers. And if you think that this atmospheric set-up sounds like the perfect introduction to a Jack Reacher novel, how right you are: Lee Child's granite-tough hero has hitched a ride in the back of the bus, and finds himself (like the other passengers -- a particularly ill assorted group) facing the problems of surviving in sub-arctic weather. Needless to say, Jack is able to draw on more resources in such a situation than many of his fellow passengers. Some 20 miles away from the crash is a small town, where a key witness is being guarded against sinister individuals bent on murder. And another elements in this combustible mix includes an omniscient figure who is to have a crucial role in the dramatic events that follow -- even though this figure is many miles from the frigid landscape that Jack Reacher is marooned in.
All of this is typically suspenseful fare (in fact, the real surprise would be if it weren’t -- Child is one of the most reliable writers on the face of the planet). And there’s an ending quite unlike any other Jack Reacher novel you have read. Lee Child aficionados need not hesitate. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Book Description
The heartstopping new thriller starring today's most admired action hero, the gallant and enigmatic loner Jack Reacher, by No.1 bestselling author Lee Child.
Product Description
GET READY FOR THE MOST EXCITING COUNT-DOWN OF YOUR LIFE
HOUR SIXTY-ONE
Icy winter in South Dakota. A bus skids and crashes in a gathering storm. On the back seat: Jack Reacher, hitching a ride to nowhere. A life without baggage has many advantages. And disadvantages too, like facing the arctic cold without a coat.
HOUR THIRTY-ONE
A small town is threatened by sinister forces. One brave woman is standing up for justice.If she’s going to live to testify, she’ll need help from a man like Reacher.Because there’s a killercoming for her.
HOUR ZERO
Has Reacher finally met his match? He doesn't want to put the world to rights. He just doesn’t like people who put it to wrongs.
From the Back Cover
GET READY FOR THE MOST EXCITING COUNTDOWN OF YOUR LIFE
HOUR SIXTY-ONE
Icy winter in South Dakota.
A bus skids and crashes in a gathering storm. On the back seat: Jack Reacher, hitching a ride to nowhere.
HOUR THIRTY-ONE
One brave woman is standing up for justice.
If she’s going to live to testify, she’ll need help from a man like Reacher. Because there’s a killer coming for her.
HOUR ZERO
Has Reacher finally met his match?
He doesn't want to put the world to rights. He just doesn’t like people who put it to wrongs.
About the Author
Lee Child is one of the world’s leading thriller writers. His novels consistently achieve the number one slot in hardback and paperback on bestsellers lists on both sides of the Atlantic, and are translated into over forty languages. His debut novel, Killing Floor, was written after he was made redundant from his television job in Manchester, and introduced his much-admired maverick hero, the former military cop Jack Reacher. Born in Coventry, he now lives in America.
Pippa's book. The boys will enjoy this one too. It is set in very heavy snow which was great to read as we were too engulfed in snow at the time. Good choice for the weather.
Amazon.co.uk Review
There was some excitement recently at the offices of Transworld, publisher of the British thriller writer Lee Child, who has so successful conquered America with his Jack Reacher adventures. Child usually produces only one novel featuring his tough ex-army action hero each year, but the latest book, 61 Hours, will be followed up with a speedily issued second new Reacher-related novel this autumn. 61 Hours -- admirers will, of course, have to have both. Sales of such Child novels as Gone Tomorrow have exceed 74,000 copies – and he continues his upwards ascent, singularly unimpeded. But the new book has Jack Reacher in the most extreme danger of his career.
South Dakota is shivering under an icy winter, and the roads are particularly treacherous. As a snow storm gathers force, the tyres of a bus skid and there is a crash, stranding the bus and its passengers. And if you think that this atmospheric set-up sounds like the perfect introduction to a Jack Reacher novel, how right you are: Lee Child's granite-tough hero has hitched a ride in the back of the bus, and finds himself (like the other passengers -- a particularly ill assorted group) facing the problems of surviving in sub-arctic weather. Needless to say, Jack is able to draw on more resources in such a situation than many of his fellow passengers. Some 20 miles away from the crash is a small town, where a key witness is being guarded against sinister individuals bent on murder. And another elements in this combustible mix includes an omniscient figure who is to have a crucial role in the dramatic events that follow -- even though this figure is many miles from the frigid landscape that Jack Reacher is marooned in.
All of this is typically suspenseful fare (in fact, the real surprise would be if it weren’t -- Child is one of the most reliable writers on the face of the planet). And there’s an ending quite unlike any other Jack Reacher novel you have read. Lee Child aficionados need not hesitate. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Book Description
The heartstopping new thriller starring today's most admired action hero, the gallant and enigmatic loner Jack Reacher, by No.1 bestselling author Lee Child.
Product Description
GET READY FOR THE MOST EXCITING COUNT-DOWN OF YOUR LIFE
HOUR SIXTY-ONE
Icy winter in South Dakota. A bus skids and crashes in a gathering storm. On the back seat: Jack Reacher, hitching a ride to nowhere. A life without baggage has many advantages. And disadvantages too, like facing the arctic cold without a coat.
HOUR THIRTY-ONE
A small town is threatened by sinister forces. One brave woman is standing up for justice.If she’s going to live to testify, she’ll need help from a man like Reacher.Because there’s a killercoming for her.
HOUR ZERO
Has Reacher finally met his match? He doesn't want to put the world to rights. He just doesn’t like people who put it to wrongs.
From the Back Cover
GET READY FOR THE MOST EXCITING COUNTDOWN OF YOUR LIFE
HOUR SIXTY-ONE
Icy winter in South Dakota.
A bus skids and crashes in a gathering storm. On the back seat: Jack Reacher, hitching a ride to nowhere.
HOUR THIRTY-ONE
One brave woman is standing up for justice.
If she’s going to live to testify, she’ll need help from a man like Reacher. Because there’s a killer coming for her.
HOUR ZERO
Has Reacher finally met his match?
He doesn't want to put the world to rights. He just doesn’t like people who put it to wrongs.
About the Author
Lee Child is one of the world’s leading thriller writers. His novels consistently achieve the number one slot in hardback and paperback on bestsellers lists on both sides of the Atlantic, and are translated into over forty languages. His debut novel, Killing Floor, was written after he was made redundant from his television job in Manchester, and introduced his much-admired maverick hero, the former military cop Jack Reacher. Born in Coventry, he now lives in America.
Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese
This was Sarah's book. I loved it but then I like the medical bits. Am a fan of Casualty too.
Product Description from Amazon
Marion and Shiva Stone, born in a mission hospital in Ethiopia in the 1950s, are twin sons of an illicit union between an Indian nun and British doctor. Bound by birth but with widely different temperaments they grow up together, in a country on the brink of revolution, until a betrayal splits them apart. But fate has not finished with them – they will be brought together once more, in the sterile surroundings of a hospital theatre.
From the 1940s to the present, from a convent in India to a cargo ship bound for the Yemen, from a tiny operating theatre in Ethiopia to a hospital in the Bronx, this is both a richly visceral epic and a riveting family story.
From the Inside Flap
Transporting the reader from the 1940s to the present, from a convent in India to a cargo ship bound for the Yemen, from a tiny operating theatre in Ethiopia to a hospital in the Bronx, Cutting for Stone is a thrilling epic of conjoined twins, doctors and patients, temptation and redemption, home and exile – and a riveting family story, irresistibly charged with strange happenings, humour and pathos, that grabs you from its harrowing opening and never lets go. Marion and Shiva Stone, half-Indian and half-British, are twin sons of a secret union at ‘Missing’, a hospital run by nuns in Addis Ababa. Born in extraordinary circumstances, the brothers couldn’t be more different – Marion, introspective and eager to please, Shiva, a loner with fewer scruples and a photographic memory – but are bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared passion for medicine, and cricket. They come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. The Italians have left behind in Addis cappuccino machines and Campari umbrellas. But they've also left a nation crippled by poverty, hunger, and authoritarian rule: Ethiopia in the 1960s and 1970s is both bolstered and trapped by its emperor, Haile Selassie. Yet it will be love, not politics – their passion for the same woman – that tears the twins apart and forces Marion to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as a surgical intern at an underfunded, overcrowded hospital.When the past catches up with him, in a stunning twist, Marion must trust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world. Cutting for Stone is both an unforgettable story of lives cut in half and a gripping evocation of the power, intimacy, danger and curious beauty of the art of medicine. A masterly debut novel, it is visceral in its power, heartbreaking in its tenderness. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From the Back Cover
‘This huge, rich, ambitious tapestry of a novel makes insomnia a pleasure … tremendous’ The Times
‘Verghese’s achievement is to make the reader feel there really is something at stake – birth, love, death, war, loyalty’ Guardian:
Marion and Shiva Stone, born in a mission hospital in Ethiopia in the 1950s, are twin sons of an illicit union between an Indian nun and British doctor. Bound by birth but with widely different temperaments they grow up together, in a country on the brink of revolution, until a betrayal splits them apart. But fate has not finished with them – they will be brought together once more, in the sterile surroundings of a hospital theatre.
From the 1940s to the present, from a convent in India to a cargo ship bound for the Yemen, from a tiny operating theatre in Ethiopia to a hospital in the Bronx, this is both a richly visceral epic and a riveting family story.
‘A sweeping saga of family life, love, betrayal and redemption…driven by the author’s natural storytelling ability as well as the charm and believability of his characters’ Psychologies
‘This is a big book and, along with Naipaul and Waugh and Dickens, there is also a strong flavour of William Boyd …In Verghese’s lovely book, there is a heart to be uncovered’Independent
About the Author
Born and brought up of Indian parents in Ethiopia, Abraham Verghese qualified as a doctor in Madras and is currently professor of medicine at Stanford University, California. He is the author of My Own Country, an NBCC finalist made into a film directed by Mira Nair, and The Tennis Partner, a New York Times Notable Book. His essays and stories have appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, Esquire, Granta, New York Times Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. He lives in Palo Alto, California.
Product Description from Amazon
Marion and Shiva Stone, born in a mission hospital in Ethiopia in the 1950s, are twin sons of an illicit union between an Indian nun and British doctor. Bound by birth but with widely different temperaments they grow up together, in a country on the brink of revolution, until a betrayal splits them apart. But fate has not finished with them – they will be brought together once more, in the sterile surroundings of a hospital theatre.
From the 1940s to the present, from a convent in India to a cargo ship bound for the Yemen, from a tiny operating theatre in Ethiopia to a hospital in the Bronx, this is both a richly visceral epic and a riveting family story.
From the Inside Flap
Transporting the reader from the 1940s to the present, from a convent in India to a cargo ship bound for the Yemen, from a tiny operating theatre in Ethiopia to a hospital in the Bronx, Cutting for Stone is a thrilling epic of conjoined twins, doctors and patients, temptation and redemption, home and exile – and a riveting family story, irresistibly charged with strange happenings, humour and pathos, that grabs you from its harrowing opening and never lets go. Marion and Shiva Stone, half-Indian and half-British, are twin sons of a secret union at ‘Missing’, a hospital run by nuns in Addis Ababa. Born in extraordinary circumstances, the brothers couldn’t be more different – Marion, introspective and eager to please, Shiva, a loner with fewer scruples and a photographic memory – but are bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared passion for medicine, and cricket. They come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. The Italians have left behind in Addis cappuccino machines and Campari umbrellas. But they've also left a nation crippled by poverty, hunger, and authoritarian rule: Ethiopia in the 1960s and 1970s is both bolstered and trapped by its emperor, Haile Selassie. Yet it will be love, not politics – their passion for the same woman – that tears the twins apart and forces Marion to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as a surgical intern at an underfunded, overcrowded hospital.When the past catches up with him, in a stunning twist, Marion must trust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world. Cutting for Stone is both an unforgettable story of lives cut in half and a gripping evocation of the power, intimacy, danger and curious beauty of the art of medicine. A masterly debut novel, it is visceral in its power, heartbreaking in its tenderness. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From the Back Cover
‘This huge, rich, ambitious tapestry of a novel makes insomnia a pleasure … tremendous’ The Times
‘Verghese’s achievement is to make the reader feel there really is something at stake – birth, love, death, war, loyalty’ Guardian:
Marion and Shiva Stone, born in a mission hospital in Ethiopia in the 1950s, are twin sons of an illicit union between an Indian nun and British doctor. Bound by birth but with widely different temperaments they grow up together, in a country on the brink of revolution, until a betrayal splits them apart. But fate has not finished with them – they will be brought together once more, in the sterile surroundings of a hospital theatre.
From the 1940s to the present, from a convent in India to a cargo ship bound for the Yemen, from a tiny operating theatre in Ethiopia to a hospital in the Bronx, this is both a richly visceral epic and a riveting family story.
‘A sweeping saga of family life, love, betrayal and redemption…driven by the author’s natural storytelling ability as well as the charm and believability of his characters’ Psychologies
‘This is a big book and, along with Naipaul and Waugh and Dickens, there is also a strong flavour of William Boyd …In Verghese’s lovely book, there is a heart to be uncovered’Independent
About the Author
Born and brought up of Indian parents in Ethiopia, Abraham Verghese qualified as a doctor in Madras and is currently professor of medicine at Stanford University, California. He is the author of My Own Country, an NBCC finalist made into a film directed by Mira Nair, and The Tennis Partner, a New York Times Notable Book. His essays and stories have appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, Esquire, Granta, New York Times Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. He lives in Palo Alto, California.
Mudbound - Hilary Jordan
Discussed on 7th October 2010. We ate and discussed at The Swan in Wittersham. Can't remember much about the meal, maybe the others will be able to help me out here.
This was my book and recommended by a bed and breakfast guest. We liked it but did not quite believe some of it. Some rather unpleasant characters.
Reviews from Amazon
This is storytelling at the height of its powers: the ache of wrongs not yet made right, the fierce attendance of history made as real as rain, as true as this minute. Hillary Jordan writes with the force of a Delta storm --Barbara Kingsolver
Blatant injustice is heartbreakingly brought to life by Hillary Jordan in her debut novel...A tale that has echoes of the novels of John Steinbeck and Alice Walker...The varied viewpoints allow for an intimate insight into each character's thoughts and motivations that enriches the novel --Glasgow Herald
Book Description
When I think of the farm, I think of mud…There was no defeating it. The mud coated everything. I dreamed in brown.
Product Description
When Henry McAllan moves his city-bred wife, Laura, to a cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta in 1946, she finds herself in a place both foreign and frightening. Henry’s love of rural life is not shared by Laura, who struggles to raise their two young children in an isolated shotgun shack under the eye of her hateful, racist father-in-law. When it rains, the waters rise up and swallow the bridge to town, stranding the family in a sea of mud.
As the Second World War shudders to an end, two young men return from Europe to help work the farm. Jamie McAllan is everything his older brother Henry is not and is sensitive to Laura’s plight, but also haunted by his memories of combat. Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black sharecroppers who live on the farm, comes home from war with the shine of a hero, only to face far more dangerous battles against the ingrained bigotry of his own countrymen. These two unlikely friends become players in a tragedy on the grandest scale.
From the Back Cover
WINNER OF THE BELLWETHER PRIZE FOR FICTION
‘A page-turning read’ Observer
When Henry McAllan moves his city-bred wife, Laura, to a cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta in 1946, she finds herself in a place both foreign and frightening. Henry’s love of rural life is not shared by Laura, who struggles to raise their two young children in an isolated shotgun shack under the eye of her hateful, racist father-in-law. When it rains, the waters rise up and swallow the bridge to town, stranding the family in a sea of mud.
As the Second World War shudders to an end, two young men return from Europe to help work the farm. Jamie McAllan is everything his older brother Henry is not and is sensitive to Laura’s plight, but also haunted by his memories of combat. Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black sharecroppers who live on the farm, comes home from war with the shine of a hero, only to face far more dangerous battles against the ingrained bigotry of his own countrymen. These two unlikely friends become players in a tragedy on the grandest scale.
‘Jordan builds the tension slowly and meticulously, so that when the shocking denouement arrives, it is both inevitable and devastating…A compelling tale’ Glasgow Herald
About the Author
Hillary Jordan grew up in Texas and Oklahoma and received her MFA in fiction from Columbia University. Mudbound is her first novel. She lives in Tivoli, New York.
This was my book and recommended by a bed and breakfast guest. We liked it but did not quite believe some of it. Some rather unpleasant characters.
Reviews from Amazon
This is storytelling at the height of its powers: the ache of wrongs not yet made right, the fierce attendance of history made as real as rain, as true as this minute. Hillary Jordan writes with the force of a Delta storm --Barbara Kingsolver
Blatant injustice is heartbreakingly brought to life by Hillary Jordan in her debut novel...A tale that has echoes of the novels of John Steinbeck and Alice Walker...The varied viewpoints allow for an intimate insight into each character's thoughts and motivations that enriches the novel --Glasgow Herald
Book Description
When I think of the farm, I think of mud…There was no defeating it. The mud coated everything. I dreamed in brown.
Product Description
When Henry McAllan moves his city-bred wife, Laura, to a cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta in 1946, she finds herself in a place both foreign and frightening. Henry’s love of rural life is not shared by Laura, who struggles to raise their two young children in an isolated shotgun shack under the eye of her hateful, racist father-in-law. When it rains, the waters rise up and swallow the bridge to town, stranding the family in a sea of mud.
As the Second World War shudders to an end, two young men return from Europe to help work the farm. Jamie McAllan is everything his older brother Henry is not and is sensitive to Laura’s plight, but also haunted by his memories of combat. Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black sharecroppers who live on the farm, comes home from war with the shine of a hero, only to face far more dangerous battles against the ingrained bigotry of his own countrymen. These two unlikely friends become players in a tragedy on the grandest scale.
From the Back Cover
WINNER OF THE BELLWETHER PRIZE FOR FICTION
‘A page-turning read’ Observer
When Henry McAllan moves his city-bred wife, Laura, to a cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta in 1946, she finds herself in a place both foreign and frightening. Henry’s love of rural life is not shared by Laura, who struggles to raise their two young children in an isolated shotgun shack under the eye of her hateful, racist father-in-law. When it rains, the waters rise up and swallow the bridge to town, stranding the family in a sea of mud.
As the Second World War shudders to an end, two young men return from Europe to help work the farm. Jamie McAllan is everything his older brother Henry is not and is sensitive to Laura’s plight, but also haunted by his memories of combat. Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black sharecroppers who live on the farm, comes home from war with the shine of a hero, only to face far more dangerous battles against the ingrained bigotry of his own countrymen. These two unlikely friends become players in a tragedy on the grandest scale.
‘Jordan builds the tension slowly and meticulously, so that when the shocking denouement arrives, it is both inevitable and devastating…A compelling tale’ Glasgow Herald
About the Author
Hillary Jordan grew up in Texas and Oklahoma and received her MFA in fiction from Columbia University. Mudbound is her first novel. She lives in Tivoli, New York.
The Very Thought of You - Rosie Alison
Discussed on 16th September. We went to The Raja in Biddenden. Food was good but was it just that we were four girls with no man in tow that they did not look after us very well. Good thing Kath has a loud voice.
Kath's Book. Great read but one for the girls.
Product Description
Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2010. A haunting coming-of-age novel with a love story at its heart, for anyone who has ever loved L.P. Hartley's The Go-Between. England, 31st August 1939: the world is on the brink of war. As Hitler prepares to invade Poland, thousands of children are evacuated from London to escape the impending Blitz. Torn from her mother, eight-year-old Anna Sands is relocated with other children to a large Yorkshire estate which has been opened up to evacuees by Thomas and Elizabeth Ashton, an enigmatic childless couple. Soon Anna gets drawn into their unravelling relationship, seeing things that are not meant for her eyes and finding herself part-witness and part-accomplice to a love affair, with unforeseen consequences. A story of longing, loss and complicated loyalties, combining a sweeping narrative with subtle psychological observation, The Very Thought of You is not just a love story but a story about love.
From the Publisher
Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2010
Shortlisted for Amazon's Rising Stars award 2009
Longlisted for the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year 2010
Longlisted for Le Prince Maurice Prize for Literary Love Stories 2010
About the Author
Born in 1964, Rosie Alison read English at Keble College, Oxford. She spent over ten years working in television, as a producer-director of arts documentaries (her director credits include The South Bank Show, Omnibus and Grand Designs). Currently Head of Development at Heyday Films in the UK the production company of the Harry Potter film series she has recently co-produced two feature films (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Is There Anybody There?).
Kath's Book. Great read but one for the girls.
Product Description
Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2010. A haunting coming-of-age novel with a love story at its heart, for anyone who has ever loved L.P. Hartley's The Go-Between. England, 31st August 1939: the world is on the brink of war. As Hitler prepares to invade Poland, thousands of children are evacuated from London to escape the impending Blitz. Torn from her mother, eight-year-old Anna Sands is relocated with other children to a large Yorkshire estate which has been opened up to evacuees by Thomas and Elizabeth Ashton, an enigmatic childless couple. Soon Anna gets drawn into their unravelling relationship, seeing things that are not meant for her eyes and finding herself part-witness and part-accomplice to a love affair, with unforeseen consequences. A story of longing, loss and complicated loyalties, combining a sweeping narrative with subtle psychological observation, The Very Thought of You is not just a love story but a story about love.
From the Publisher
Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2010
Shortlisted for Amazon's Rising Stars award 2009
Longlisted for the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year 2010
Longlisted for Le Prince Maurice Prize for Literary Love Stories 2010
About the Author
Born in 1964, Rosie Alison read English at Keble College, Oxford. She spent over ten years working in television, as a producer-director of arts documentaries (her director credits include The South Bank Show, Omnibus and Grand Designs). Currently Head of Development at Heyday Films in the UK the production company of the Harry Potter film series she has recently co-produced two feature films (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Is There Anybody There?).
Twisted Wing - Ruth Newman
Reviewed on 28th July 2010. We ate at The Castle, Bodiam, East Sussex. Food was reasonable but I would not go back as there was an odd atmosphere. Service not that great. What is it with service in our pubs?
Pippa'a book. A murder mystery book. A real whodunnit? Pippa always guesses correctly from the first hint.
Amazon Reviews
'I absolutely loved TWISTED WING. It was so gripping, and I was both desperate and reluctant to get to the end. I found it scary, tantalisingly unpredictable and very, very hard to put down'
-- SOPHIE HANNAH
'A gruesome series of murders at Ariel College, Cambridge, leaves everyone baffled. Psychiatrist Matthew Denison thinks the culprit's identity is known by troubled student Olivia Corscadden - but can he get her to reveal all? Horror fans will love this thriller. 4 stars' --Star Magazine
Product Description
Cambridge is home to 18,000 students, 1,500 academics - and one serial killer. The discovery of the headless, mutilated body of a female undergraduate in her bloodsoaked college room heralds the start of a series of bizarre and extremely violent murders. For the students of Ariel College, a siege mentality has developed following weeks of media interest in the 'Cambridge Butcher'. University life has become not about surviving their exams, but surviving full stop. Forensic psychiatrist Matthew Denison is sure that his traumatised patient, student Olivia Coscadden, has the killer's identity locked up in her memory. That within the little clique she belonged to lurks someone with a grudge. Someone who has yet to finish settling their score. In order to get to the truth, Denison must delve into the secrets hidden within Olivia's subconscious. Secrets that are about to lead him into a nightmare beyond imagining.
About the Author
In her early thirties, Ruth Newman lives in Cambridge where she works as a Web editor for the University Business School. TWISTED WING is her first novel.
Pippa'a book. A murder mystery book. A real whodunnit? Pippa always guesses correctly from the first hint.
Amazon Reviews
'I absolutely loved TWISTED WING. It was so gripping, and I was both desperate and reluctant to get to the end. I found it scary, tantalisingly unpredictable and very, very hard to put down'
-- SOPHIE HANNAH
'A gruesome series of murders at Ariel College, Cambridge, leaves everyone baffled. Psychiatrist Matthew Denison thinks the culprit's identity is known by troubled student Olivia Corscadden - but can he get her to reveal all? Horror fans will love this thriller. 4 stars' --Star Magazine
Product Description
Cambridge is home to 18,000 students, 1,500 academics - and one serial killer. The discovery of the headless, mutilated body of a female undergraduate in her bloodsoaked college room heralds the start of a series of bizarre and extremely violent murders. For the students of Ariel College, a siege mentality has developed following weeks of media interest in the 'Cambridge Butcher'. University life has become not about surviving their exams, but surviving full stop. Forensic psychiatrist Matthew Denison is sure that his traumatised patient, student Olivia Coscadden, has the killer's identity locked up in her memory. That within the little clique she belonged to lurks someone with a grudge. Someone who has yet to finish settling their score. In order to get to the truth, Denison must delve into the secrets hidden within Olivia's subconscious. Secrets that are about to lead him into a nightmare beyond imagining.
About the Author
In her early thirties, Ruth Newman lives in Cambridge where she works as a Web editor for the University Business School. TWISTED WING is her first novel.
Come Thou Tortoise -Jessica Grant
Reviewed on 3rd June 2010. We ate at The Great House in Hawkhurst, Kent. Good meal but not a lot of it. We like our food.
Sarah's book. I love this book but it is an unusual read and a bit whacky.
We are going through an interesting selection of books at the moment. Keep it up girls.
Review from Amazon
'Extraordinary, original and simultaneously both deep and lightheartedly charming . . . Jessica Grant has an engaging, wry and forthright style, which echoes Don DeLillo, Lewis Carroll and Kurt Vonnegut Jr . . . A delight' GLOBE & MAIL-- 'Jessica Grant's debut novel is one of those rare books that manage to entwine humour in this case, even outright silliness with poignant insight and a captivating plot.' QUILL & QUIRE -- --*
Product Description
When Audrey Flowers learns that her father has been hit on the head by a Christmas tree and is in a coma, she knows what she must do: leave Winifred her tortoise behind, fly home, make a moving speech at his bedside and wait for him to wake up. However things don't quite work out that way. Instead, Audrey finds herself embarking on an extraordinary journey: one full of puzzlement and pain- but one that could also light up her life. Jesica Grant's debut novel is a warm-hearted, funny and wise book that unfolds in a world that is not quite our own; a place where you might just live forever if you can avoid the dangers (cliffs when you are lonely, staircases when you are tired), and where the truth can be hidden in the armrest of your airline seat.
Sarah's book. I love this book but it is an unusual read and a bit whacky.
We are going through an interesting selection of books at the moment. Keep it up girls.
Review from Amazon
'Extraordinary, original and simultaneously both deep and lightheartedly charming . . . Jessica Grant has an engaging, wry and forthright style, which echoes Don DeLillo, Lewis Carroll and Kurt Vonnegut Jr . . . A delight' GLOBE & MAIL-- 'Jessica Grant's debut novel is one of those rare books that manage to entwine humour in this case, even outright silliness with poignant insight and a captivating plot.' QUILL & QUIRE -- --*
Product Description
When Audrey Flowers learns that her father has been hit on the head by a Christmas tree and is in a coma, she knows what she must do: leave Winifred her tortoise behind, fly home, make a moving speech at his bedside and wait for him to wake up. However things don't quite work out that way. Instead, Audrey finds herself embarking on an extraordinary journey: one full of puzzlement and pain- but one that could also light up her life. Jesica Grant's debut novel is a warm-hearted, funny and wise book that unfolds in a world that is not quite our own; a place where you might just live forever if you can avoid the dangers (cliffs when you are lonely, staircases when you are tired), and where the truth can be hidden in the armrest of your airline seat.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)