JEWELS
Jewels choice was "Red Mist" by Patricia Cornwell. She said you would need to read her previous book first. Jewels also read "Echoes" by Danielle Steele. Jewels normally does not like her books as most are very predictable love stories. This was different to her normal stories and she found it very enjoyable. The story was about the experiences of some Jewish people during the war, with an intricate tale of a mother and daughter. It was set mostly in Switzerland and other parts of Europe.
CONNIE
Connie read "House of Silk" by Anthony Horowitz who also wrote "Foyles War". The author wrote it as if he was Arthur Conan Doyle. He used the characters from Sherlock Holmes and it was a typical Sherlock Holmes mystery set in 1890 with an original story woven into one of Sherlock Holmes stories. Connie expected it to be modern and didn't think she would like the
story, but she thoroughly enjoyed it.
MARGARET
Margaret is a new member. She read "Once upon a Time" by J Randy Taraborrelli. This is a biography of Grace Kelly, an actress who was born in Philadelphia in 1929 and died in 1982. She became Princess Grace when she married Prince Ranier of Monaco. Its very well researched and a compelling read. It looks at her life as a princess but also as a parent of two difficult teenage daughters. She also read an excellent book called "Presumed Innocent" a crime fiction by Scott Turow.
KATE
Kate read "Prodigal Sister" by Laura Elliott. The book is set in Dublin and is a book about four sisters. There are various intrigues. The parents are killed in a car accident and the eldest sister tries to be the mother whilst still trying to have her own life. There is a betrayal by one of the sisters and after time apart they meet up again in New Zealand twenty years later. Kate said it was a great read, especially for women.
KATHY
Kathy read a psychological thriller called "Before I go to Sleep" by S. J. Watson. The main character wakes up beside her husband but does not recognize him and doesn't know who she is either. Her husband, Ben tells her she wakes up every day not remembering who she is, but is this man really her husband? She has flashbacks. Her doctor tells her to write everything down in a journal at night before bed where she writes "don't trust Ben". Kathy said it was very intriguing.
WENDY
Wendy read "Death comes to Pemberley" by P. D. James. She didn't really like the book. It was "Jane Austen" like. She also read "Brotherhood" by Y.A. Erskine. She did not enjoy this one either and felt if they deleted the bad language you would delete 1/3 of the book. It's a crime fiction. Wendy says it was faction. It is set in modern times and is about the police force in Tasmania. It concerns the murder of a police officer by an Aboriginal. It shows double standards.
ANNE
Anne also read "Before I go to Sleep" by S.J. Watson. It's written in the first person. Anne said it was really well written and you could feel the panic and anxiety of the main character. It was very compelling.
PAMELA
Pamela read the "Surgeon of Crowthorne" by Simon Winchester. It's a story about the life of the surgeon but also his part in the 70 year effort of producing the Oxford English Dictionary, started in 1857. Volunteers from all over the world were involved and it shows what an amazing feat it was to create this dictionary. It's the first descriptive dictionary with quotations illustrating every word. The book is about the two most important volunteers, both American. One was Dr William Chester Minor who was the Surgeon of Crowthorne and Dr. Fitzedward Hall who was an authority on Sanskrit.
KRIS
Kris read "The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul" by Deborah Rodriguez, who married an Afghan man and lived for some time in Afghanistan. Although fiction, some of the book is loosely based on her experiences there. It's a story of five strong women from different backgrounds coming together in a cafe in Afghanistan. Sunny, an American is the proprietor of the cafe. Halajan, a 60 yr old Afghan woman, owns the building. Yasmina, a young pregnant woman is rescued by Sunny after being thrown from a car. The last two characters are Candice, an American, who has an Afghan lover and Isabelle an English journalist. Some parts of the book are a bit frivolous but the stories of life in Afghanistan are very interesting. A good read.
JOAN
Joan read "Clarence Darrow - Attorney for the Damned" by John Farrell. Clarence came from a poor family and always felt shame at being poor. His father thought education was important. Clarence became an attorney and could have been very successful. It was a time of very wealthy industrialists but he chose to represent the poor, the unions and the downtrodden. He was a great speaker and literary person. He came unstuck as he was sent to trial for bribing jurors. There was a question of legal ethics 100 years ago. He got off but there was a cloud over his innocence. He was also a womanizer and hopeless with money. Joan's favourite books are true crime so she really enjoyed the cases of true crime discussed in this story.
JO
Jo read "Deck the Halls" by Mary and Carol Higgins Clark. They are both authors and teamed up to write this christmas story. It is a light hearted story about a private investigator whose father, with his driver, is kidnapped by a couple of amateurs and subsequently locked up in a leaking houseboat. There is also a romance involving the detective from the major crime squad.
SHEILA
Sheila read Briny Cafe by Susan Duncan, an Australian author, who wrote Salvation Creek. Sheila liked Salvation Creek but not this book. She said it was light reading and too saccharin.
She also read "Keeper of the Secrets" by Judith Cutler an English author. It is set in 1810 and the main character is Parson Tobias Campion . He is an aristocratic gentleman in his first parish. Most of the parish is very poor. He doesn't seem to fit in anywhere. One of the maids from the "big house" disappears and the story is about the tracking down of who killed her and why? It is a good story.
