The Warrior's Princess by Barbara Erskine

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Genre - Mystery




Best read from Barbara Erskine, read this book in 3 days. Once again she makes you feel part of the story. I wait with baited breath for the next one. I wish she could write as fast as I read her books.

---- Reviewed by Georgina, Guest

The guernsey literary and potato peel pie society by Mary Ann Shaffer

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This remarkable book is an epistolary novel, a style which went out of fashion around the time of Jane Austen. It consists of letters written in 1946 by Juliet Ashton, a writer living in London, her friends & the members of a literary society on Guernsey. Dawsey Adams has bought a book which Juliet once owned, and has written to the address in the front cover to tell her how much he enjoyed it. The book was the essays of Charles Lamb, and this starts a correspondence which changes Juliet's life. She hears about the formation of the Literary Society during the German occupation of the Channel Islands in WWII, learns what a potato peel pie is, & learns of the harsh conditions of life for the islanders, who were completely cut off from the world & relied on their German captors for news, food, & life itself. I smiled with recognition, laughed & cried. The book is full of the love of books & reading, friendship, & tells a relatively unknown story of WWII. The author worked on the book for many years, and sadly died just before it was published. This is a unique reading experience.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The vows of silence by Susan Hill

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Genre - Mystery


A gunman is killing young women in the cathedral town of Lafferton. There seems to be no connection between the women targeted, and the police have few leads. DCS Simon Serrailler & his team must follow the few leads available & try to anticipate the murderer’s next move. What distinguishes this series from most other series in the genre is the feel & texture of real life which Hill evokes. Serrailler is another in a long line of loner detectives, wary of commitment in his private life. But, he has a family, and for me, this allows us to see his humanity & makes him a believable character. His sister, Cat, has just returned from a sabbatical in Australia with her husband & children. Cat & Chris are both doctors, and this has brought in other characters to the series that reappear in this book. Most significantly, Jane Fitzroy, an Anglican priest, who ran away from the tentative beginnings of a relationship with Simon in an earlier book. Serrailler’s mother has died, & he’s upset by his father’s new relationship. Other characters are briefly introduced, and, in some cases, violently removed, just as the reader has started to get to know them. We also enter the mind of the killer, and understand his motives while the police are still in the dark. There are plenty of red herrings & the solution is satisfying. I read it in an afternoon & can’t wait for the next installment.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Alfred & Emily by Doris Lessing

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This is an interesting mix of fiction & non fiction. The first half is a fictional idea of what the lives of Lessing's parents (the Alfred & Emily of the title) could have been like if they hadn't married, and if WWI hadn’t disrupted their lives. They meet, but marry other people and are fulfilled in different ways. Lessing feels that WWI blighted their lives, and had an effect on her own life as well. “That war, the Great War…squatted over my childhood…And here I still am, trying to get out from under that monstrous legacy, trying to get free.” Her father lost his leg & met her mother when she was nursing at the Royal Free Hospital. They emigrated to Rhodesia, but it wasn't a great success. Alfred really wanted to be an English farmer in Surrey & Emily's great love was killed in the war, and her life after that was really only second best & full of regrets. The second half of the book is a memoir of Alfred & Emily’s real lives. Lessing has written about her African childhood before, in her autobiographies & the Martha Quest series of novels. Here, though, she focuses more on her parents’ experiences of struggle & hardship, & the result is a moving account of two people who could have been happier if world events had left them untouched.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

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Genre - Fairytale



You know how it is sometimes with a book.... your friends and colleagues come up to you and say that this is a book you would really like but for some perverse reason you decide that it really isn't for you and you choose not to read it... and then you come across that book some while later and pick it up and start reading and find that you are totally entranced and wonder to yourself "Where has this book been all my reading life and why hasn't anyone told me about it?" and then you realise that they have and you have just been too obtuse to sit down and just read it!!! Well such a book is Neil Gaiman's "Stardust".

It begins with the line....

"There once was a young man who wished to gain his Heart's Desire."

and then continues to tell you of the many adventures and misadventures of young Tristran Thorn as he discovers what his Heart's desire truly is.

It has undergone several iterations having been a Graphic Novel, then a Novel, then a Movie, then a Movie tie-in, an Audio Book and now a DVD.
I enjoyed the movie, and I know it's a cliche, but the book is so much better. Gaiman went out of his way to write a fairy/faerie story for adults and he has succeeded brilliantly. I recommend that you get the original graphic novel with illustrations by Charles Vess and then as a special treat request the Audio Book read by the author himself.

---- Reviewed by Paul, Administration

Wedding season by Katie Fforde

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Genre - Romance

This book is gorgeous romantic froth & I loved it. How does Fforde manage to make her heroines real women, juggling jobs, families, relationships, and yet, her men are pure fantasy figures? Still single & straight in their 30s, bruised by love but not bitter, kind, helpful & sexy all at the same time. Sarah is a wedding planner who doesn't believe in romance; Elsa, a dressmaker who needs some self confidence; and Bron, a hairdresser with a boorish boyfriend who wants to make some changes in her life. When a Hollywood celebrity hires Sarah to plan her perfect wedding, Sarah is eager to take up the challenge, with help from Elsa & Bron. Then, her younger sister, Lily, announces that her wedding is planned for the same day, and could Sarah help her plan the perfect wedding with no budget at all? Throw into the mix three lovely men – Hugo, the photographer who reminds Sarah of a miserable love affair; Lawrence, the best man at a wedding where Elsa steps in as bridesmaid at the last minute; and James, a gardener with a bruised heart who lives next door to Bron – and you have all the ingredients for a lovely romance.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The dig by John Preston

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The Sutton Hoo ship burial is the greatest archaeological discovery made in Britain in the 20th century. On the eve of WWII, Edith Pretty, the owner of Sutton Hoo House, asked Basil Brown, a local archaeologist, to excavate the curious mounds in the grounds of her estate. As he did so, he realized he had found a ship burial, the largest ever found in Britain. The beautiful gold & garnet jewellery, the helmet, silver bowls & other objects found in the burial chamber inspire awe, envy & greed. John Preston's novel is told in the voices of Mrs Pretty, Basil Brown & Peggy Piggott, a young woman on honeymoon with her archaeologist husband. The Piggotts are invited to help on the dig once the professionals from the British Museum, led by C W Phillips, take over. Mrs Pretty is in ill-health, secretly visiting a London spiritualist, hoping to hear from her long-dead husband and struggling to connect with her young son, Robert. Basil is dismayed as his careful discoveries are taken over by the "real" archaeologists and he's sidelined. As his wife, May, says, "My Basil may be self-taught and not have the right letters after his name...that's no reason to treat him like he's all sappy in the head." Peggy has realized already that her marriage is a mistake, and the discoveries she makes on the dig confirm her feelings. The atmosphere of excitement at the dig overshadowed by the coming war, the mystery of the discoveries, and the effect of all this on the characters is beautifully observed.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Ekaterinburg by Helen Rappaport

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Genre - Non Fiction


The fate of the Romanovs is well known. Many books have been written about the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II & his family – Tsaritsa Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexey & the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria & Anastasia – many of them full of wild speculation that some of the family survived the murders in 1918. Helen Rappaport’s new book focuses on the last two weeks of their lives, imprisoned in the Ipatiev House (known to their Bolshevik captors as the House of Special Purpose) in Ekaterinburg, a small town in the Urals. The book is based on extensive research among Russian sources not generally accessible to Western researchers & this is its great strength. Rappaport alternates between taking the reader inside the claustrophobic atmosphere of the Ipatiev House, as the family’s horizons are narrowed to the few rooms on the first floor, circling back through time to fill in background detail on the inept rule of the Tsar which led to the upheaval of revolution, & moving to Moscow, Petrograd & London as political forces influence the family’s fate. The final chapters are harrowing with the description of the family’s murder & the almost farcical ineptitude of the executioners. A compulsively readable book for anyone interested in the Romanovs or Russia in the 20th century.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Deaf sentence by David Lodge

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Desmond Bates has been going deaf for the last 20 years. He took early retirement from his position as Professor of Linguistics because he couldn’t hear what his students were saying. Now, he faces the frustrations & indignities of deafness every day. His wife, Winifred (Fred), is sympathetic but sometimes irritated. When Desmond meets post graduate student, Alex Loom, he agrees - without realizing it - to a meeting about her thesis on the linguistics of suicide notes. He hasn’t heard a word she said at a noisy gallery opening & doesn’t realize he’s agreed to anything at all. This leads him into a confusing relationship with the manipulative Alex, who wants Desmond to supervise her thesis. Desmond is also worried about his elderly father (also going deaf), living alone in London. This is the most poignant and humorous part of the book. Harry lives in the family home, in increasing squalor, hiding money under the floorboards, and refusing to spend any money on making his life more comfortable. David Lodge has written a beautifully observed novel which illuminates the world of people with hearing loss. Desmond’s theory that blindness is tragic while deafness is merely comic is illustrated by the facts of his everyday life – struggles with hearing aid batteries, lip reading classes, & the funny yet frustrating misunderstandings in everyday conversation. Lodge shows the reader the isolation of the deaf in this absorbing novel.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Still waters by Judith Cutler

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Genre - Mystery


Detective Chief Superintendent Fran Harman is happy in her personal life – she’s in love with colleague, Mark Turner, & they’ve bought their dream home together. If only Mark’s daughter could accept their relationship. Her professional life is more of a problem. Her new boss is a man she once mentored, and his attitude to work – and Fran - has changed for the worse. She’s covering for an ill colleague, is reviewing a potentially unsafe conviction before the case comes to court, & trying to investigate a straightforward suicide which she has a hunch may not be so simple. Her desire to keep working on the investigative side of her job is thwarted by the new boss’ love of constant meetings & committees. Her relationship with Mark takes a potential turn for the worse when his selfish daughter leaves her husband & wants to move back home. I enjoy this series very much. Fran is a middle-aged woman trying to juggle work & family, caught in the trap at work of being promoted away from the parts of the job she loves. There’s plenty of police procedural here as well as the personal lives of the main characters, and the potential for the series to develop in new ways as Fran takes on a new job at the end of the book.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Bad Hair Days by Pamela Bone

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Genre - Non-fiction


This biography was published in 2007 while Pamela was in remission from cancer. Pamela was a well known Melbourne Age journalist, feminist, human rights champion and a passionate advocate for women. This is not a true step by step account of medical intervention but a journey into an extremely interesting and often sad struggle to awake the Australian public about the reality of the happenings to humans in Africa, especially children and women. A moving look at serious illness and how it affects sufferers and their families. Pamela died on 27 April 2007.

---- Reviewed by Julie, Ferntree Gully

La Vie Parisienne : looking for love and the perfect lingerie by Janelle McCulloch

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Genre - Non-fiction

If you have ever visited Paris, this book is a good reminder of the feel of the atmosphere of this city. Janelle has caught the essence of a Parisian in the respect that she has spent many hours studying the culture, especially the female of the species. Being well dressed and wearing high heeled shoes are a must for the women and the men just love females. There are great descriptions of walking in the back streets of Paris and the gazing that happens when sitting having coffee in one of their many wonderful cafes. You will learn about food, wine and local titbits of everyday life. As quoted in her book, ‘An education in style, glamour, gastronomy and grace in a place where even the asparagus spears are exquisite’. I loved the black and white photographs that really complement the style of book.

---- Reviewed by Julie, Ferntree Gully

The Night Ferry by Michael Robotham

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Genre - Mystery

Detective Alisha Barba becomes involved in a sinister world of slavery and people trafficking when she is reunited with her old school friend Cate Beaumont. Cate is pregnant and afraid and her last words to Alisha are about her fears for her baby when she is suddenly killed by a car. Alisha follows a trail of deceptions from London to Amsterdam and discovers a dangerous smuggling ring which exploits orphans from Afghanistan and desperate middle class families in London.



---- Reviewed by Sue, Knox

Things I want my Daughters to Know by Elizabeth Noble

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Genre - Family

Lisa, Jennifer, Amanda and Hannah have lost their mother, Barbara to cancer. Each one of them is going to miss her terribly as they face the trials and triumphs of their life without her. Before Barbara died she wrote letters to her four daughters to help them to cope with their loss and to give them just a bit more of her advice and wisdom. For such a bleak subject this story is full of love and warmth and humour as Barbara writes down her memories of the early years of marriage and children and her thoughts on relationships and love. It is a celebration of life filled with people we can identify with and care about.


---- Reviewed by Sue, Knox