Some tame gazelle by Barbara Pym

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Genre - Fiction


Belinda & Harriet Bede are sisters living in an English village in the 1950s. They’re happily unmarried, although Harriet has an admirer, Count Bianco, who proposes marriage at regular intervals. Belinda has been in love with Archdeacon Hoccleve since their University days but he married the very capable Agatha instead. This is a story of gentle irony & humour as village life brings challenges such as the church fete & what to give the local seamstress for lunch when she comes to make up the new curtains. When Archbishop Theodore Grote arrives for a visit from his African diocese, Belinda finds herself the object of attentions that she suspects Agatha might envy.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The monster in the box by Ruth Rendell

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Genre - Mystery


Inspector Reg Wexford is startled to see a face from the past, a man who he believes has committed at least two murders, but who he never expected to see again. This is the catalyst that takes Wexford back to his early days in the police force, when he was convinced that Eric Targo had murdered young mother, Elsie Carroll. He had no evidence & was too junior to influence the murder investigation, but he knew Targo was guilty, & Targo knew that Wexford knew. So, a strange game developed where Targo would walk his dog past Wexford’s house or stare up at the windows of the police station. Then, he would disappear for years before unexpectedly turning up again. As Wexford tells the story to his deputy, Mike Burden, the evidence becomes more compelling, especially when another murder occurs close to Wexford’s home. The Wexford series has been one of the best police procedurals for over 40 years & this is another great installment. It’s not one of the best, but interesting to see Wexford as a young man, starting his career & meeting his wife, Dora.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The last office by Geoffrey Moorhouse

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Genre - Non Fiction


This is the story of the monks of Durham Priory & their fate when Henry VIII split with Rome over his divorce from Catherine of Aragon & created the Church of England. The Dissolution of the Monasteries was a complete break with religious life as it had been lived for hundreds of years. Henry & his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, were eager to get their hands on the riches of the Church & to have complete control on the religious life of the nation. Small monasteries & nunneries were broken up & the monks & nuns pensioned off or sent to other houses. Gradually it was time for the larger priories such as Durham to be transformed from Catholic communities into Anglican cathedrals with priests rather than monks. Moorhouse describes the life of the Priory before the Dissolution & how the Bishop of Durham & the Prior guided the monks in their care towards an accommodation with the new order.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Love letters by Katie Fforde

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Genre - Romance


Shy Laura is about to lose her dream job in a bookshop where she’s been responsible for organizing successful author events & bookclubs. She finds herself agreeing to help run a new literary festival at the stately home of Fenella & Rupert. When she reveals her admiration for the writing of reclusive Irish novelist, Dermot Flynn, she finds herself on the way to Ireland to convince him to appear at the festival. This is a lovely romantic comedy about first love, literature & friendship. Dermot is an engagingly scruffy, sexy hero & there’s a lot of humour in Laura & Dermot’s growing relationship.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The little stranger by Sarah Waters

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Genre - Literary fiction


This is an atmospheric ghost story set in England after WWII. Hundreds Hall is a crumbling stately home & the Ayres family are struggling to survive with dwindling income & only a couple of servants. Local GP, Dr Faraday is called in to attend the housemaid, Betty, & meets Mrs Ayres, her son, Roderick, who was badly injured in the war, & her daughter, Caroline. Dr Faraday was a working class boy who became a doctor & has never felt at home with the local gentry, but in the post-war world, he becomes a trusted friend of the family. The social changes of the period are obvious as the Ayres are forced to sell off their estate to property developers to survive. The strange happenings at the Hall - the running footsteps in the old nursery, the speaking tubes whistling for no reason, the fires that break out in Roderick’s room – unsettle everyone. Is a malevolent spirit haunting the family or are they tainted with madness? Echoes of Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca are very effective in creating an atmosphere of menace & doom in this beautifully written story of a family in a time of change.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The sisters who would be queen by Leanda De Lisle

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Genre - Non Fiction


Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days Queen, is a well-known figure. Her two younger sisters are not so well-known. This excellent biography follows the three sisters as they are each caught up in the murky world of Tudor politics. Protestant Jane was declared heir to the throne by the dying Edward VI in preference to his Catholic half-sister Mary. Jane was less of a victim of powerful men than has been supposed, & De Lisle shows that she was determined to rule in her own right. However, Mary’s supporters deposed Jane & she was executed when she became a focus for rebellion. When Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1559, Katherine Grey was seen as her heir by the English nobility. She foolishly fell in love & secretly married without Elizabeth’s permission. When she then gave birth to two sons (the second child conceived while both parents were imprisoned in the Tower), the Queen’s anger was terrible, the couple were separated & Katherine died young. The youngest sister, Mary, also married without the Queen’s permission. Her choice was one of her jailers, Thomas Keyes, who was imprisoned in terrible conditions for falling in love with an heir to the throne. This is a fascinating look at the Tudor court & the perils of being too close to the throne.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

A Winter's tale by Trisha Ashley

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Genre - Romance

Sophy Winter unexpectedly inherits her grandfather’s crumbling stately home, Winter’s End. Along with the house, she inherits an eccentric family & a lot of debt. Sophy’s charming but shady cousin Jack thought he would inherit & sets about alternately trying to persuade Sophy to sell the estate to him at a knockdown price or marry him so they can live there happily ever after. Another distraction is gorgeous gardener, Seth, who plans to restore the Elizabethan gardens & doesn’t seem to have eyes for anything else. Then there’s the rumour that Shakespeare spent his lost years at Winter’s End & the discovery of a manuscript in the Bard’s hand. The grand opening of the house & garden to the public is the grand finale to this lovely romantic comedy.

---- Reviewed Lyn, Headquarters

Jane & Prudence by Barbara Pym

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Jane & Prudence met & became friends at Oxford. Jane was a tutor & Prudence her student. Now, years later, Jane is a happy but scatty vicar’s wife & Prudence a researcher in London unrequitedly in love with her dull boss. When Jane & her family move to a country parish, she is determined to find a suitable husband for Prudence. Unfortunately, the available men are a selfish widower who adorned his wife’s grave with a huge photo of himself; and a preoccupied MP who would rather complain about his busy life at Westminster than talk to Prudence at a garden party. When a new young man starts work at her office, Prudence looks set to embark on another unsuitable love affair. Barbara Pym’s novels are full of humour & so perceptive about love & relationships.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The diary of a provincial lady by E M Delafield

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This classic comic novel is the story of the Provincial Lady (we never know her name), her husband, Robert, children & servants, living in an English village between the wars. Our heroine has constant run-ins with the obnoxious Lady Boxe who lives at the Big House & is the sort of woman who always knows best. Cook is constantly threatening to hand in her notice, muttering darkly about the freshness of the fish & the vagaries of the Range. Robert spends the evenings falling asleep behind the newspaper. His only contribution to the household is to complain that his breakfast porridge is cold & the toast burnt. The Diary was originally published in a weekly magazine & the entries are in a breathless, witty style as the Lady rushes from one potential disaster to the next.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Read my heart by Jane Dunn

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Genre - Non Fiction


Dorothy Osborne & William Temple were lovers during the Civil War in England, separated by their families who wanted them both to marry rich partners. Their story is known because they wrote letters to each other for over 6 years before they were finally able to marry. Only the last two years of Dorothy's side of the correspondence survives. They had promised to burn the letters to prevent discovery but William couldn't bring himself to destroy Dorothy’s letters. Even when their families finally consented to the marriage, tragedy was never far away. One week before the wedding, Dorothy caught smallpox & nearly died. Her looks were ruined but William stayed beside her throughout her illness & they married & were devoted to each other for 40 years, although they were frustrated in their desire to have a family. Seven babies died at birth or soon after, & their two surviving children died young. The Temples created beautiful gardens at their homes in England & Ireland & also lived in Brussels where William was a diplomat. Dorothy had an almost equal role in his work as Lady Ambassadress & was even suspected of writing his letters for him. Apart from the great human interest of the story, this is an fascinating look at a period of civil war, Commonwealth & Restoration.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Administration

La's orchestra saves the world by Alexander McCall Smith

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La (short for Lavender) goes to live in the country when her marriage breaks down. She’s a young woman & with WWII about to break out, she wants to do some war work. She helps out at a poultry farm where she meets Feliks, a Polish refugee, who has been a pilot in the RAF, but is now grounded. La falls in love with Feliks, but she has doubts about his background at a time when everyone is looking for spies. La helps to start up an orchestra in the village along with men from the local air base & people from the nearby town. The orchestra provides a focal point for the members during the worst times of the war with their plans for a victory concert when it’s all over. The descriptions of life in the country during wartime are wonderful, the threat of air raids & the reality of rationing. McCall Smith’s gentle style of storytelling is perfectly suited to this story of a woman trying to overcome sorrow & get on with her life.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Becoming Queen by Kate Williams

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Genre - Non Fiction


Queen Victoria was never meant to be Queen of England. Her cousin, Princess Charlotte, daughter of the Prince Regent, was the heir to the throne. Charlotte’s tragic death in childbirth meant that George III’s many children had to scramble to marry & have legitimate children, one of whom would inherit the throne. Although George III & his Queen had fifteen children, when Charlotte died, there were no other legitimate heirs. The royal Dukes had illegally married unsuitable women or kept mistresses & had over 50 illegitimate children. There was an undignified rush to ditch their partners & find respectable princesses to marry. The Duke of Kent married Victoire of Saxe-Coburg & Victoria was born. This fascinating book tells the story of Charlotte & Victoria. Charlotte’s childhood was unhappy as her parents hated each other & used her to score points off each other. Victoria’s childhood was dominated by her mother as her father died when she was a baby. Victoire came under the influence of Sir John Conroy, who ran her household. They were determined that Victoria would not rule alone & made plans for a regency if her uncles should die before she was eighteen. Victoria was equally determined to rule without her mother or Sir John. Her childhood was one of virtual imprisonment as her mother schemed to promote her daughter to the public as the heir to the throne. An interesting picture of the formative years of a Queen.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The headhunters by Peter Lovesey

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Genre - Mystery


Jo & Gemma sit in a café planning ways to murder Gemma’s irritating boss. Friends Rick & Jake join in the game & they’re soon calling themselves the Headhunters. The laughter stops when Jo finds a woman’s half-naked body on the beach, and when Gemma’s boss disappears, & another body is discovered, the game becomes serious. This is an intriguing mystery. I suspected most of the main characters at some point. DCI Hen Mallin, who featured in a previous novel, The Circle, is the investigating officer, but this isn’t a traditional police procedural. Jo finds herself becoming more & more involved with Gemma’s flights of fancy & as the plot thickens, she can’t tell who to trust. Lovesey’s plot is entertaining, wonderfully convoluted & full of red herrings.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The fears of Henry IV by Ian Mortimer

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Genre - Non Fiction

Henry IV is one of the lesser-known English monarchs. Most lovers of English history would know that he deposed Richard II, had leprosy & was the father of Henry V, & most of that was learned from Shakespeare. Actually, he didn’t have leprosy, just a nasty skin disease. He did depose Richard II, but Richard was far from the noble monarch depicted by Shakespeare. He was a paranoid tyrant who planned to disinherit Henry when his father died & threatened the inheritance rights of all the nobility. Parliament virtually begged Henry to accept the crown, but once Henry was king, they thwarted his plans by keeping him short of money. His reign was plagued by rebellions in Wales & in the North of England, wars with France & Scotland, & the struggle with Parliament. In contrast with the glorious military achievements of his son, Henry V, his reign seems disastrous. However, Mortimer’s portrait of the king is a sympathetic one. He had little choice but to depose an unfit monarch, but then had to live with the consequences of an act that was seen to be violating God’s laws.

---- 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