Hobbies and Crafts

This time one book PLUS the book you have read and reviewed for us. Please repeat your review on this thread as well as the review thread.

Review date is 17th March :-) :-)

The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley
First of all from the cover.
Mais D’Apliese and her five sisters gather at their childhood home of Atlantis – a fabulous secluded castle situated on the shores of lake Geneva – having been told that their beloved father, the elusive billionaire they call Pa Salt, has died.
Maia and her sisters were all adopted by him as babies and, discovering he has already been buried at sea, each od them is handed a tantalising clue to their true heritage – a clue which take Maia across the world to a crumbling mansion in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Once there she bgins to put together the pieces of where her story began.....
80 years earlier in the Belle Epoque of Rio, 1927. Izabel Bonifacio’s father has aspirations for his daughter to marry into aristocracy. Meanwhile, architect Heitor da Silva Costa is working on a staue, to be called Christ the Redeemer, and will soon travel to Paris to find the right sculptor to complete his vision.
Izabela – passionate and longing to see the world – convinces her father to allow her to accompany him and his family to Europe before she is married. There, at Paul Landowski’s studio and in the heady, vibrant cafes of Montparnasse, she meets ambitious young sculptor Laurent Brouilly, and knows at once that her life will never be the same again.
Review:
From the very first page, I was hooked as the story unfolded bit by bit firstly with the gathering of the sisters, the description of their home and the background of their lives. Then the realisation that there was a possibility of tracing where they had come from.
The sisters are close but, of course, being adopted, all have different characteristics and personalities. Two of them are extremely close which causes some concern to the others as one dominates the other. We have Maia’s story first as she is the eldest.
The story has many layers, many mysteries to be solved and, besides being a good saga, it is part travelogue, part history book. Rio in Brazil, Paris in France, all come alive with the wonderful descriptions. Then also the description of how the statue of Christ which stands above Rio was thought of, designed and sculpted. The story has fictional characters interwoven with real characters.
Along with all the above it is two love stories as we move from 2007 back to the 1920s
I was really immersed in this story and even more thrilled to realise at the end of the book that there was more to come, if I am right, each sister will have her own book. I loved it.
I have read books by Lucinda Riley before (eg the light behind the window) and she never fails to grip me with her story telling.

2nd suggestion

Greaders suggestion (2) Feb-Mar 17
First suggestion is The Seven sisters by Lucinda Riley this is the one I have read and reviewed. See above
Meridon by Philippa Gregory
Meridon, a desolate Romany girl, is determined to escape the hard poverty of her childhood. Riding bareback in a travelling show, while her sister Dandy risks her life on the trapeze, Meridon dedicates herself to freeing them both from danger and want.
But Dandy, beautiful, impatient, thieving Dandy, grabs too much, too quickly. And Meridon finds herself alone, riding in bitter grief through the rich Sussex farmlands towards a house called Wideacre – which awaits the return of the last of the Laceys.

This is the third book in the Wideacre trilogy but it is a stand- alone read.

One critic says: In other hands this would be a conventional historical romance. But Ms Gregory uses her historical knowledge of the haves and have-nots of those times to weave a much more subtle and exciting story.

Will be back later this evening with a full description of my suggestions.

Meanwhile, letting you know that my suggestions are -

The Venetian Betrayal, by Steve Berry

and

The Mayor of Caster bridge, by Thomas Hardy.

Greaders have read The Mayor of Casterbridge Tess but that may be before everyone on hers time. Can others say please.

My first suggestion is also the one that I reviewed on the review thread.

The Venetian Betrayal. by Steve Berry.

( from the back cover).

For e field agent Cotton Malone the stakes have never been higher: a deadly virus that could wipe out civilisation as we know it - and a fire that lies in the past.

A secret international coalition has created a le5hal biological weapon. Whoever developed the fire will control the future of global warfare. Yet that cure could also exist, buried many centuries before with Alexander the Great.

When Malone hears about it, he joins the hint for Alexander's long- lost tomb. His quest soon becomes a harrowing fight for truth that has unimaginable repercussions......

***************

My second choice is a book I found in a cha4ity shop, however I believe it can be bought cheaply on line. And it might even be free with Kindle.

A classic which I have yet to read, but i have read some of the authors other books.


The Mayor of Casterbridge, by Thomas Hardy.

Michael Hencharc, two years married, sees his wife and young child as hindrances to his ambition. One evening in drunken auction at a fair, he sells them for five guineas to a sailor.

But he cannot rid himself of the past so easily. Though he rises to become the rich and respected Mayor of Casterbridge, his guilty secret remains.
One day his wife and daughter arrive in Casterbridge, and long forgotten events begin to stir ........

T.

Reviewing for This month.....

The Secret Wife - Gill Paul

I finished this book last night...so thought I would put this one
down as a choice.....

1914

Russia is on the brink of collapse, and the Romanov family faces a terrifyingly uncertain future. Grand Duchess Tatiana has fallen in love with cavalry officer Dmitri, but events take a catastrophic turn, placing their romance - and their lives - in danger . . .

2016

Kitty Fisher escapes to her great-grandfather's remote cabin in America, after a devastating revelation makes her flee London. There, on the shores of Lake Akanabee, she discovers the spectacular jewelled pendant that will lead her to a long-buried family secret . . .

Haunting, moving and beautifully written, The Secret Wife effortlessly crosses centuries, as past merges with present in an unforgettable story of love, loss and resilience.


I adored this book, such a moving story and had me so touched in places.
Full of love and touching moments the pages just could not turn quick enough
for me.
Both timelines of the story literally flowed in the story, it actually reminded
me of something I had watched before but it certainly did not put me off.One
of those books I did not want it to end. I had read one of the authors books
before "The Affair" but will say it has no comparison to this one..."sighs"



2nd

The Lost Soldier - Diney Costelloe

1921.

In the sleepy village of Charlton Ambrose, eight ash trees stand as a timeless memorial to the men killed in the Great War. On a dark and chilly night, a ninth tree appears. Who planted it and why? And who was 'the unknown soldier' for whom it is marked?
2001.

Eighty years later, the memorial is under threat from developers. Local reporter, Rachel Elliott, is determined to save it, and to solve the mystery of the ninth tree. The trail will take her into the dark heart of her own family history; to a great, but tragic, love; and to a secret that has been kept since the war to end all wars.

From Perse
What happened to my Mother by Pamela Moriarty.

A true story of family war and reconciliation.

At age six, I was living with my mother just outside Birmingham, England. The world was at war. I was surrounded by men and women in uniform, anti-aircraft guns poking up through trees, air raid sirens going off day and night, skies filled with planes hurtling bombs at us, and never enough to eat. My father wasn’t there to protect my mother and me. He was in France with the rest of the British Army trying to repel the German advance. The one thing that made living in the midst of all the chaos and destruction bearable was the watchful, loving presence of my mother. So long as she was there, I knew I would be all right. Yet, a year later, to my shock and bewilderment, she took me over to Ireland where my grandparents lived and left me, without explanation, not with them but at a boarding school filled with strangers. I never saw her again. When I asked my family why she didn’t come for me, all they would say was that she was dead and I was to stop asking about her. I’d attended no funeral, seen no grave, so I didn’t believe them. No one in the family would speak about her. I was left to flounder alone with my unresolved rage and grief over my beloved mother’s seeming abandonment of me until a personal crisis compelled me to confront my family’s silence about her and force them to tell me what happened to my mother.

Part psychological thriller, part wartime flashback, "What Happened to My Mother" maneuvers its way with panache through the aftermath of the tragic death of a mother in England in WWII. With every turn in this spellbinding memoir, Pamela Moriarty's deft storytelling induces suspense, anger, hope, and finally, deep satisfaction. Employing a wry and quiet aplomb, the author narrates how, as a young girl, she overcame neglect and worse by her caretakers in the wake of her mother's death. Moriarty manages to carefully and skillfully probe the denial that lasted long into adulthood and to chronicle her final coming to terms with the shocking reality of how her mother died.


The other book I read and this is just a suggestion. I won't reveal the plot, maybe because there isn't really one.

Things I want you to Know by Martina Reilly

It really is as the blurb on the book says:
A story of hope and second chances.... How do you pick up the pieces after the worst has happened? When Nick Deegan's wife Kate dies, leaving him with two small children to raise alone, he has no idea how he'll manage. But on the day of her funeral he discovers a book Kate had left him. Things I want you to know. Her instructions for raising Emma and Liam, without her to give him comfort but her other plans for him seem much more daunting.
Five dates with five different women: Nick isn't sure his heart is in it ... but as he tries to follow Kate's instructions he slowly realises that it's not romance Kate wanted him to find, but something fare more important. Will Nick find the courage to take second chances?

An aside: the chapters are alternately Nick and then Emma (mostly) and some of Emma's ideas and understandings can be quite humourous. I quite liked it, it was sticking out of the bookshelf in the library when I picked up Mistletoe Murders and noticed it as I walked past so thought must be for me. It didn't fail.

Just waiting for Pammy now then.

Sorry me last again :-D

First suggestion

Under the Eagle by Simon Scarrow

UNDER THE EAGLE is the gripping first novel in Simon Scarrow's bestselling EAGLES OF THE EMPIRE series. A must read for fans of Bernard Cornwell.

It is AD 42, and Quintus Licinius Cato has just arrived in Germany as a new recruit to the Second Legion, the toughest in the Roman army. If adjusting to the rigours of military life isn't difficult enough for the bookish young man, he also has to contend with the disgust of his colleagues when, because of his imperial connections, he is appointed a rank above them. As second-in-command to Macro, the fearless, battle-scarred centurion who leads them, Cato has more to prove than most in the adventures that lie ahead.

Then the men discover that the army's next campaign will take them to a land of unparalleled barbarity - Britain. After the long march west, Cato and Macro undertake a special mission that will thrust them headlong into a conspiracy that threatens to topple the Emperor himself...


Second suggestion

Handle with Care by Jodi Piccoult

Blurb from back of book
It was meant to be the holiday of a lifetime.
But instead of a hotel, the O'Keefes spend the first night in jail, their youngest daughter in hospital, and her sister in care.
Willow O'Keefe has brittle bone disease, and without a doctor's note the breaks in her body look like the worst kind of abuse.
Back home, still reeling from their ordeal, her parents know something must be done. So when a lawyer offers to take their case, it feels like a lifeline.
Even though it means suing their closest friend - and claiming they wish Willow had never been born . . .

My review

I won't reveal too much more about the story as I don't want to spoil it for any one who chooses to read this.
The story of how the O'Keefes decide to sue over the birth of their child is told by each of the different characters involved, from Willow herself to the lawyer taking the case. It impacts on each character in various ways, a situation designed to make life better bringing moral dilemmas and conflicts. Jodi Picoult develops the characters well so that you feel for their worries and insecurities. I'm not sure I would describe it as an enjoyable read but it is definitely engrossing.

Thanks all, vote thread up tomorrow.