Notes to Self is a collection of chapters written by Emilie Pine covering key moments from her life. These aren’t cheerful memories from a happy childhood, but important recollections of life changing periods with social commentary. The reader learns of an alcoholic father, a troubled teenager, trying for a baby, births, deaths and some outright... Continue Reading →
Leopard at the Door by Jennifer McVeigh @vikingbooksuk @mcveighauthor
Leopard at the Door is set in Kenya in 1952, just before the Queen's coronation and during an important time in the fight for independence from British rule. Rachel returns to the family home after 6 years away in England. Her mother had died, leaving Rachel to spend the rest of her childhood in boarding... Continue Reading →
Before The Rains by Dinah Jefferies – Blog Tour
Before The Rains follows Eliza as she moves to India to begin her first assignment as a photographer in 1930. She is stationed at the castle to document a year from the perspective of the Prince and his family. India is also where her father died when she was a child, so the assignment brings... Continue Reading →
Calm by Michael Acton Smith
Calm is a collection of short exercises for you to complete, quotes for you to contemplate and ideas to help you take a step back from a busy life. It is easy to pick up and put down at any time. You can start with any part of the book and just pick a page... Continue Reading →
The Silk Merchant’s Daughter by Dinah Jefferies
Nicole is half Vietnamese and half French, but she has been bought up by her French father since her mother died. It is at her 18th birthday party in Hanoi in 1952 that she meets Mark, an intriguing and handsome American friend of the family who works with her father. He is much older than... Continue Reading →
After You by Jojo Moyes
After You catches up with Louisa eighteen months after the end of Me Before You. She has a terrible accident and is forced to move back to her parents house while she recovers. There you are reintroduced to her quirky and loveable family. It is clear that Louisa hasn't fully dealt with everything that happened... Continue Reading →
When We Were Friends by Tina Seskis
A group of six friends have grown up together. After 25 years of friendship they still meet every year for a picnic, even if it is a little forced at times. This year the picnic doesn't go to plan and their friendships are changed forever. I struggled to like any of the main characters as... Continue Reading →
The Tea Planter’s Wife by Dinah Jefferies
Set in the 1920's and 1930's The Tea Planters Wife is a beautiful, tragic and heartwarming tale of life in Ceylon. Gwen travels there to meet her husband Laurence and begin their life together on his plantation. Her cousin Fran, and his sister Verity visit them. Fran is trustworthy and loyal, almost the opposite of... Continue Reading →
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Don Tillman is a scientist through and through. Everything he does is measured, calculated and precise. He isn't particularly successful with relationships as a result and so decides to set up The Wife Project. A questionnaire is compiled to evaluate applicants as potential wife material for Don. Only the best will do; they must fit... Continue Reading →
Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
I've gone. I've never seen the water, so I've gone there. I will try to remember to come back. Etta's greatest unfulfilled wish, living in the rolling farmland of Saskatchewan, is to see the sea. And so, at the age of eighty-two she gets up very early one morning, takes a rifle, some chocolate, and... Continue Reading →