WENDY: THE LOWLAND BY JHUMPA LAHIRI
This is a family saga. It is set in India. There are two sons. Subhash is the eldest. He is academically gifted. His younger brother, Udayan is charismatic. Udayan becomes involved in the communist party in India and get executed. The dutiful older brother who had moved to the U.S. returns to help the family. He marries the brother's widow. Wendy said the pace varies and the characters are well drawn.
JUDY A: APEIROGON BY COLUM MCCANN
This story is based on the true life friendship of two men whose daughters were killed in conflict. One is Israeli and the other Palestinian. Their friendship develops when they join together to try to bring peace. They travel around the world talking to people about peace.
CONNIE: DICTIONARY OF LOST WORDS BY PIP WILLIAMS
This is a novel set around the creation of the Oxford dictionary. The young woman who wrote the Dictionary of Lost Words was fed up with men controlling all the words that went into the Oxford Dictionary. There is a lot of truth in it. The speaker is fictional. Connie said it was fascinating.
JOAN: IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK BY JAMES BALDWIN
This is a love story set against a backdrop of racism in the 1970's. Trish, a young Negro woman is pregnant. She is engaged to Fonny, a young Negro man. Trish is harassed by a white shopkeeper and Fonny tries to protect her. The local police officer hounds Fonny and he is then falsely accused of rape. The family unite in their fight for justice. Joan said it was intense reading. The author is a very good writer and he has a distinctive style of prose.
DIANN: ATONEMENT BY IAN MCEWAN
This is a family story set in Southern England. The family has a get together and when two of the little boys go missing they all go out to look for them. 13 year old Briony witnesses something that she does not understand. Diann said the ending was perfect. It tied up all the loose endings. It was a really good read.
JUDY J: JAMES COOK, THE STORY BEHIND THE MAN WHO MAPPED THE WORLD BY PETER FITZSIMONS
Peter Fitzsimons writes enthusiastically and is very complimentary about Captain cook. Cook was a Yorkshire farm boy who worked his way up to become a Master Mariner. He was a Quaker. He was a genius and a very good leader of men. He had their respect. He made three major voyages. The second voyage goes into his relationship with Joseph Banks who was also intelligent in his own way. Judy said it was a very enjoyable read.
PAT: THE BINDING BY BRIDGET COLLINS
In this fantasy, Emmet Farmer is working in the fields when he is sent to a Binder to start an apprenticeship. If you need to erase a secret etc, the story is placed in a book and set aside so you can forget about it and go on with your life. Emmet discovers a book with his name on it. Pat said it was very interesting, although very different to what she would normally read.
PRUE: THE LOST MAN BY JANE HARPER
Prue said it was absolutely fantastic. The story is about the cattle stations, the dry area and how they survive. It's a fascinating story. It also has a message at the end and an unusual ending. Prue was very impressed and would read any of her books.
SHEILA: ISLAND SONG BY MADELEINE BUNTING
Although the author usually writes non fiction this is a fictional story set in Guernsey during WW11. Helene, who has recently married, has to see her husband return to England with the other men from the island. They are going to enlist. The Germans invade and the story tells how the families survived with the Germans on the island. Forty years later, Helene's daughter Roz learns the truth about her father. Sheila said it was a good read and well written. She also believes it is quite sound historically.
PAMELA: THE LAST KABBALIST OF LISBON BY RICHARD ZIMLER
This is a novel about the actual massacre of about 2,000 Jewish people in Lisbon, Portugal in the 16th century. The Jews were being blamed for all the bad things that that were happening, the famine, the drought and the plague. The narrator is Berekiah Zarco, a 20 year old Kabbalist and manuscript illuminator who is looking for the killer of his uncle. It is a murder mystery. Pamela said it was an interesting read.
JUDY DE: GOOD DOGS DON'T MAKE IT TO THE SOUTH POLE BY HANS OLAV THYVOLD
This is an inspiring novel on friendship and ageing written by a dog. The narrator is Tassen, a dog whose owner, Major Thorkildsen dies. Tassen is left with Mrs. Thorkildsen who is researching Roald Amundsen's 1911 expedition to the South Pole. It is funny in parts as well as sad. Judy said it was a good book and very interesting.
CHARIS; A LONG PETAL OF THE SEA BY ISABEL ALLENDE
This is an historical novel set in 1930's when civil war grips Spain. General Franco and his fascists overthrow the government. Many families flee to the French border. Roser, a pregnant widow unites in a marriage with Victor, an army doctor, brother to her deceased husband. This will enable them to be sponsored on a ship taking refugees to Chile. The couple went back to Spain after Franco but did not like living there so they went to Venezuela.
KRIS: THE YIELD BY TARA JUNE WINCH
In the first chapter Albert Gondiwindi is the narrator. His wife, Elsie's gift of an English dictionary has inspired him to write a dictionary in the language of the Wiradjuri to pass on everything he remembers. In the second chapter, Augustine, his granddaughter returns from England. Her poppy is dead and she is burdened with all she has tried to leave behind. Although it took a while to get into the book it was an enjoyable read. It was quite moving.
BEV: ICE MASTER BY JENNIFER NIVEN
This is the story of the doomed voyage of Karluk in 1913, an expedition to the Arctic. It is based on diaries of those who died and those who were saved. The organiser was out for his own glory and purchased a ship that was not suited for Arctic conditions. It was badly planned. The crew consisted of young sailors and young scientists, both with little experience. They became marooned on the ice. The rest of the story is about how they survived, the starvation, disease and snow blindness. Twelve were rescued after a year. Bev enjoyed the read.
JULIA: THE DYING HOURS BY MARK BILLINGHAM
Tom Thorne, the main character in the series, is back in uniform and he hates it. Patronised and abused by his new colleagues, Thorne's suspicions about the suicides are dismissed by the murder squad he was once a part of and he is forced to investigate alone.
ROSEMARIE: THE WEEKEND BY CHARLOTTE WOOD
This is a novel about three women in their 70's. Their friend Sylvie has died. They have a weekend away staying in a beach house, Sylvie's old house. They have had a lifelong friendship but when Sylvie dies the friendship struggles to keep the delicate equilibrium of their relationship.
Kris
September:
Autobiography or Biography
