We had a lively discussion at our December book club meeting. Most of our members thoroughly enjoyed their books.
LESLEY
HOUSEMAID BY FREIDA MCFADDEN
(2022)
This is a psychological
thriller about abuse. Nina, Andrew and
daughter Cecilia live in a beautiful home and life seems perfect. Millie, just out of prison, gets a
housekeeping job there but this is not the dream job she imagined. Andrew seems to treat Nina well, but Nina is
a bit erratic, unhinged at times. Millie
feels sorry for Andrew and starts a relationship with him. When Nina leaves, Millie moves in with
Andrew, but he wants total control. Lesley thoroughly enjoyed this book.
DEBRA
TEA LADIES BY AMANDA HAMPSON
(2023)
This is a “cosy” mystery series
set in Sydney Australia in 1965. It is the same format as Richard Osman’s
Thursday Murder Club, with one character, Hazel, the main solver and gatherer
of her fellow tea ladies to solve the case.
When there is a murder in the building, the tea ladies draw on their
wider network and put themselves in danger as they piece together clues that
connect the murder to a nearby arson and kidnapping. Being tea ladies, they move about with an air
of invisibility. Debra said the books
are an easy read and most enjoyable.
PRUE
THE VALLEY BY CHRIS HAMMER
(2024)
This is the fourth in the
detectives, Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic series. They are sent to investigate a suspicious
death in the valley. The victim turns out to be Nell’s half-brother. There are
so many twists and turns and great characters in the solving of the murder
which they find is linked to an old gold mine in the valley and two other
killings. Chris Hammer has a gift of description – the Australian countryside,
great characters and a sensitivity for emotions in people. Prue found it most enjoyable.
THERESA
LOLA IN THE MIRROR BY TREANT
DALTON (2023)
The author really gets to the core of human’s struggle with life – drugs, domestic violence etc. A mother and her nameless 17 year old daughter are on the run in Brisbane after the mother killed her daughter’s father. They are trying to escape a violent past and a drug lord. The girl dreams of becoming an artist but when her mother drowns, she is forced to find work with a drug dealer. Theresa said it was very sad and quite miserable. She said Boy Swallows the Universe was difficult, but this book was more difficult
MARGARET
MAD MABEL BY SALLY HEPWORTH
This is Sally Hepworth’s latest
book. Margaret said it was fabulous from
the first minute. It was a very good
read. The characters were great,
especially Mabel, a curmudgeonly 81 year old lady living in Melbourne. The story is about her childhood and her
background.
JUDY A.
WILD DARK SHORE BY CHARLOTTE
MCCONAGHY (2025)
The setting is Shearwater
Island, a fictional island but modelled on Macquarie Island, a lonely research
island about halfway between Tasmania and Antarctica. Dominic Salt and his three children Raff
(18), Fen (17) and Orly (9) are the caretakers here. Home to the world’s largest seed bank,
Shearwater was once full of researchers, but with the sea levels rising, the
Salts are the final inhabitants. They’re
packing up the seedbank, because in a couple of months there’s a ship coming to
take them back to the mainland. A body
of a woman is washed up on shore after a ferocious storm. Her name is Rowan, and as they nurse her back
to health, they suspect she is not being truthful with them but after Rowan
discovers sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realises they also have
secrets of their own. Judy loved this
book. She has read all three but thinks
this is the best yet. She writes
“climate fiction” but she’s not heavy handed.
She gave it 5/5
TAM
EVERY LAST SUSPECT BY NICOLA
MORIARTY
Tam said she could not put it down. It had everything in it. The main character, Harriet Osmond, you love her or hate her, is murdered but while she is dying, she is talking about all the people who could have killed her. Lots of friends have reasons, blackmail, bullying, envy, lust, revenge? It’s a suspense thriller. “The question isn’t who killed Harriet, but why did it take them so long to do it?
ROSEMARY
TANGLED WEB BY TEA COOPER
(2025)
The Tangled Web is an
historical mystery by an Australian author.
It is set in 1980’s predominantly in Maitland NSW. After her brother dies of hemophilia, whilst
under the care of their surgeon stepfather, Viola Oswald suspects unethical
medical practices. She disguises
herself as a boy and investigates in Maitland, uncovering a web of deception
involving vulnerable children, who are being lured to Sydney by the surgeon and
being used as “Guinea pigs” as blood donors.
This book evokes social
conditions of the late 19th century, from the harsh realities of
poverty and homelessness to the limited opportunities for women and explores
justice, secrecy and women’s rights.
LYN
ELEPHANT WHISPERER BY LAWRENCE
ANTHONY
WITH GRAHAM SPENCE (2010)
This is non fiction set in
South Africa. In the mid 1990’s Lawrence purchased Thula Thula, a 5,000 acre
game reserve in Zululand. There were
lots of game animals, but no elephants remained, having been poached or killed
for ivory. When offered a herd of rogue extremely traumatised elephants,
Lawrence takes them to rehabilitate them. Lyn said she learnt a lot about the
compassionate and loyal nature of elephants as well as their enjoyment of fun
and games. She found this book
beautifully and sensitive written.
JUDY D
A COUNTRY OF ETERNAL LIGHT BY
PAUL DALGARNO (2023)
Margaret Bryce, deceased mother
of twins, has been having a hard time since dying in 2014. When she is dead, she revisits her two
children, her husband, other people and places, revisiting the past. The story spans 75 years. It is a very witty and interesting book to
read.
SHEILA
MRS SPY BY M.J. ROBOTHAM
This is described as “The Thursday Murder Club for Spies”. Maggie is a widow, mother and spy, (MI5 operative) in London in the 1960’s. There are lots of twists and turns. Sheila said it was funny, well written and easy to read. She thoroughly enjoyed it.
PAT
VERITY BY COLLEEN HOOVER
Pat said it gets you in from
the opening page. An Australian female author is meeting her publisher to get
more work. She is standing behind a man
who gets hit by a bus and she is splattered in blood. The man behind her takes her to a cafe to
settle and get cleaned up. She meets with her publisher, and at the meeting is
the same fellow. He wants to commission her to ghostwrite for his wife, Verity,
a bestselling author who is incapacitated after an accident. This is a dark psychological thriller. Pat said it was easy to read and a real page
turner. She read it in three sittings.
DIMITY
LE CROQUE CHAUSSETTES
Dimity is learning French and
this is one of the Children’s books she reads to practice her French. She has also started SLOW HORSES BY MICK
HERRON
VAL
FOSTER BY CLAIRE KEEGAN
This book is not bright nor
cheerful. A child is taken to live with
distant relatives in rural Ireland. Here
she finds care, comfort and affection which she is not used to, and she begins
to blossom, but summer ends and she must go home for school…… It was made into a movie called Quiet Girl. It
is economically written. Claire Keegan
is a beautiful writer, known for her spare, precise and deeply resonant prose.
JOAN
THE LOST WIFE BY SUSANNA MOORE
(2023)
This book is historical fiction
written by an American author. It is based in part on a true story of a woman’s
experience in a United States frontier settlement and survival of the “Sioux
uprising of 1862. It was a rewarding
read.
JO
A DARK AND STORMY TEA BY LAURA
CHILDS
This is Tea Shop mystery 24. It is a cosy murder mystery set around a Tea shop in an American town. It is very well written in the style of Agatha Christie. Jo said she loves them.
ED
THE GREAT ALONE BY KRISTIN
HANNAH
This novel is a story about a family and domestic violence. A woman has a very jealous husband who would bash her if she looked the wrong way at another man. Ed said she enjoyed the read despite the violence.
KRIS
GO AS A RIVER BY SHELLEY READ
The story is inspired by true
events surrounding the destruction of the town of Iola, Colorado in the 1960’s
to create the Blue Mesa Reservoir but this story begins in 1948. The wild Gunnison River, tributary of the
Colorado River plays a large part in Victoria Nash’s childhood. She is 17 years old and runs an all male
household on her family’s peach farm. Victoria’s mother died when she was young
and she has little idea about what becoming a woman entails. When she meets a
young native Indian man, who has come to town looking for work, she feels a
great attraction to him. Her courage and
resilience shines through as she deals with the prejudices of a small
town. This book is heartbreaking and
unforgettable. It’s beautifully written
and I loved reading it.
Kris
IN JANUARY 2026 WE WILL BE
READING A BOOK WE READ OVER THE FESTIVE SEASON
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