BLACK SILK AND SYMPATHY by DEBORAH CHALLINOR
ROSEMARY S: This is the first in a new series explaining Victorian funeral customs and features Sydney’s first female undertaker. In 1865 17 year old Tatiana comes to Australia wanting to start a new life. She learns the funeral trade, including embalming and after the death of her husband takes over the business. She is well respected. It’s a book about resilience and determination. There are a lot of quirky characters to lighten the subject. Rosemary looks forward to reading the next book in the series.
A ROOM FULL OF LEAVES BY KATE GRENVILLE
ROSEMARY: The story is set in the early days of colonial Sydney. Elizabeth Macarthur is married to John Macarthur who is a bit of a bully. Although he is the most well known she is the clever one. She was a very capable woman in her own right, crossbreeding merinos. It is a fascinating insight into colonial history. Rosemary said it was well written, not great but she enjoyed the story.
FAMILIARIS BY DAVID WROBLEWSKI
JUDY D: This is the follow up story to the New York Times bestselling modern classic The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. It’s the story of John Sawtelle and his wife Mary who set off for Wisconsin in 1919 with their two best friends and three dogs to start a new life. They set up a dog training programme. The story examines love and friendship and the long partnership between humans and dogs. The word Familiaris comes from the Latin name for dog – canis familiaris. Familiaris is an Oprah Winfrey Book Club pick.
THE VIENNESE GIRL BY JENNY LECOAT
KRIS: Hedi is a young Jewish woman from Vienna who escaped from Austria to Jersey in the Channel Islands 2 years before the Germans invaded in 1940. Her best friend is Anton, a young man from Austria who has grown up on the island. He is in love with Dorothea who grew up on the island. Together they perform small acts of resistance until Hedi is discovered by a German officer, Kurt who does not believe in this war. He covers for her and helps her in small ways. It’s a great read, a story of courage and hope and how the dividing lines aren’t always clear. Hedi, Dorothea and Kurt were based on real characters.
THE SPY: A TALE OF NEUTRAL GROUND BY JAMES FENEMORE COOPER
PRUE: The author also wrote the Last of the Mohicans. This story is set during the American revolution in1780. Harry Birch becomes a spy for the American side. Because of the secret nature of his work some suspect he is a British spy. There are descriptions of cavalry and family members are fighting for different sides. There is a romance. Prue said she found the expressions quaint. It got boring after a while, but she is enjoying it and will finish the book.
A HOUSE DIVIDED BY CATHERINE COOKSON
THERESA: The story begins in 1946 after WW11. Matthew Wallingham returns home to his wealthy family. He has been blinded during the war. He studies to become a physiotherapist. While he was recovering from his injuries, he fell in love with a nurse who came from a poor family in the North. He meets with her again when they work in the same hospital. The story is about dysfunctional families. It was long and different, and Theresa said not much had changed concerning dysfunctional families. It was a simple and easy read.
TAKEN IN BY S. G. BRYANT
PAT: This is a murder mystery set in 1896 in Melbourne. Effie was an independent woman, a school teacher and a suffragette. She lived in a boarding house in St Kilda. The landlord is looking after a baby called Alfie whose mother had left him with the landlord while she went home, but would return. When his mother came back to get him, Alfie had been privately adopted. It became like a crime story as Effie helped the mother look for him. It wasn’t a bad read. There was a bit of romance.
A STUDY IN SCARLET by ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
VAL: This is an 1887 novel which introduces Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who would become the most famous detective duo in English literature. There are two stories. In London, two American business are killed. A cabbie is arrested. The second story is in Utah in 1847, where a caravan of Mormons finds a family close to death. The surviving man and young girl are taken in by them on the condition they live under the Mormon faith. As Lucy grows up into a beautiful woman, she falls in love with a hunter, but she is expected to marry one of her two Mormon suitors. Val said it was clever the way the stories were connected.
TOMB OF THE GOLDEN BIRD BY ELIZABETH PETERS
JO: This is part of a series of mysteries whose main characters, the Emerson family, are English archaeologists excavating in Egypt. Howard Carter is looking for the tomb of Tutankhamun. Jo said it’s a beautiful book, over 500 pages long. She said it was very good and she enjoyed the read.
LONG PETAL OF THE SEA BY ISABEL ALLENDE
HELEN: This is a
master work of historical fiction. The story begins in the Spanish Civil War with a young doctor who, with the pregnant wife of his dead brother, sail to Chile to settle. The story ends 50 years later in a Chile recovering from the fall of Pinochet.
PARIS BOOKSELLER BY KERRI MAHER
ED: In 1919 a young American woman, Sylvia opens a bookshop in Paris. It is after World War 1. A lot of Americans are in Paris at the time. Sylvia becomes friends with the Irish writer, James Joyce who wrote Ulysses. When this controversial novel is banned, Sylvia tries to get it published. Ed said it was based on a true story. She said she would recommend it as it was a very good story.
THE FOUR WINDS BY KRISTIN HANNAH
MARGARET: It was set in the depression in America, the dust bowl Era. The first fifty pages were trite. As she got into the travelling she enjoyed it more, but then she read GRAPES OF WRATH BY JOHN STEINBECH. This was a far better book about displacement and poverty, but there were also moments of hope and humour.
MRS HOPKINS BY SHIRLEY BARRETT
KERRIE: In 1871 an idealistic schoolmistress arrives on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour to teach the girls at the notorious Biloela Industrial School. Young women who suffered homelessness, poverty, abuse etc. were sent there to be taught industry and diligence. Mrs Hopkins had a similar history to the girls. The treatment was dreadful. The school ran from 1871 to 1888 and then it was closed. The story is based on true facts. Kerrie enjoyed the parts of Sydney, and she was pleased the girls were given a story. Kerrie said it was a good read.
THE BOOK THIEF BY MARKUS ZUSAK
LYN: This book is set in World War 11. Lyn said it was unusual the book was written from the point of death. It’s narrated by a compassionate Death who tells the story about Liesel, a young girl who is fostered and a Jewish boy called Max. She stole books, learned to read and found comfort in words. Liesel’s foster family sheltered Max. Once Lyn got into it, she didn’t want to put the book down.
MONTANA 1948 BY LARRY WATSON
JUDY A: This a coming-of-age novel, a favourite of Judy’s. This is narrated by David Hayden who is now 52. His mother has recently died, and he reminisces over the year of 1948 when he was 12 years old and over events that changed the course of his family’s life for ever. The powerful and influential family have a housekeeper named Marie Little Soldier. She is a Sioux Indian from the nearby reservation. The family are very fond of Marie. When she becomes quite sick with pneumonia, David’s older brother Frank, is called in to see her as he is the town’s doctor. He is also the apple of his father’s eye. Marie confides in David’s mother that Frank has been abusing girls on the reservation. The aftermath sets family members against each. Judy loves this book. It’s only 168 pages of clean, spare, simple writing. A good story well told.
BOOK OF SHORT STORIES BY RAYMOND CHANDLER
BEV: Chandler was an American-British novelist and screenwriter born in 1888 in America. He moved to England with his mother when he was seven years old. He was considered the greatest pro stylist of all time. He wrote many books about Philip Marlowe, a private eye. Bev said these short stories were easy reads and she enjoyed reading them.
MOTHER OF PEARL BY MELINDA HAYNES
TAM: This story is set in the 1950’s in a small town in Mississippi. The main character is 28 year old Even Grade, a black man who grew up an orphan and Valuable Korner, the thirteen year old white daughter of the town prostitute. Both are trying to discover the identity of her unknown father. Tam read through it to get plot. It was heavenly nuanced to Tam read it twice to understand them.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN LITERATURE EDITED BY MIRAM LICHTHEIM
PAMELA: She read the story of Sinuhe. This tale describes an Egyptian man who flees his kingdom, and lives as a foreigner before returning to Egypt shortly before his death. It explores universal themes such as divine providence and mercy. The oldest known copy of the text dates to the reign of Amenemhat 111, around 1800BCE.
Kris
NOVEMBER WILL BE NON FICTION
