General Chat

nudged for people to see synopsis of books

nudged for ann

n for this morning.

thanks CMD

just made it...
sorry to everyone..

was going to suggest sepulchre
but how about these two,,

Chesil beach....Ian McEwan
In july 1962, edward and Florence, young innocents married that morning, arrive at a hotel on the dorset coast, At dinner in their rooms they struggle to suppress their private fears of the wedding night to come....(back cover)

Prisioner of Tehran....Marina Nemat...

Aged 16 Marina was arrested for reasons she did not understand and taken to Evin, Tehran's nootorious prison, Her worl was about to change forever........... tortured and sentanced to death, her prison guard snatches her from the firing squad, the price she pays..... a marriage to him....( back cover)
(true storey)

cmd xxx...

Sounds good to me, Ann.
Have already made my choices.

Alfie.

Still CMD, Cathy and Jill.
The vote will be after lunch tomorrow closing Thursday 5pm come what may.

Anybody not available to vote please PM me your choice and i will enter it for you.

ann
Glos

nudge

nudge

just got in frome work,,,
will come back on this evening
xx
cmd

still looking for CMD, Cathy and Jill.

Ann - you beat me to it with Sepulchre. lol

My suggestions...

ENGLISH PASSENGERS - by Matthew Kneale

"Determined to prove the literal truth of the bible against atheist geologist, the Rev Geoffrey Wilson sets out from England, in the summer of 1857, with an expedition to find the Garden of Eden, which he is convinced lies on the island of Tasmania.
Unknown to him, others in the party have very different agendas, notably the surgeon, Dr Potter, who is developing a revoluntionary and sinister thesis of his own on the races of man.
To complicate matters further, the ship Wilson has hurriedly chartered, crewed by Capt Kewley and his secretive Manxmen, is in fact an ill-starred smuggling vessel, its hidden compartments filled with contraband brandy and tobacco.
As the vessel journeys haplessly southwards, in Tasmania itself an Aboriginal named Peevay recounts his people's struggle against the invading British, who prove as lethal in their good intentions as in their cruelty.
This is no Eden but a world of hunting parties and colonial ethnic cleansing.
As the English passengers near Peevay's land, their bizzare notions ever more painfully at odds with reality, it grows clear that a mighty collision is approaching.
English Passengers is narrated by over 20 different characters, each so distinct that the effect is of a story not so much told as peopled. In a storm of hugely entertaining voices it brings a past age to vivid and memorial life.

THE ROSE LABYRINTH - by Titania Hardie

A riddle to unravel, a legacy to unearth, a heart to mend.
A single sheet of parchment and a silver key.
A secret passed down through generations.
A mystery waiting to be unlocked.
As Lucy awaits heart surgery in London, Will travels Europe attempting to unravel his mother's legacy. It is a search which will leave him and Lucy inextricably linked. But can it bring together the answers he seeks? For Will is not the only one trying to reach the truth at the heart of The Rose Labyrinth.

Sue

n

Maisie is away so unable to give her suggestions, So, just Cathy CMD and Jill although I have a feeling that Jill is also away.

Ann
glos

n

n

Can I suggest the following:

Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir

Lady Jane Grey was born into times of extreme danger. Child of a scheming father and a ruthless mother, for whom she was merely a pawn in a dynastic power game with the highest stakes, she lived a life in thrall to political machinations and lethal religious fervour.


My Forbidden Face by Latifa (true story)

Latifa was born in Kabul in 1980, into an educated middleclass Afghan family, at once liberal and religious. As a teenager she was interested in fashion & cinema and going out with her friends. Then, in 1996 the Taliban seized power. From that moment Latifa 16 yrs old, became a prisoner in her own home...The simplest and most basic freedoms - walking down the street, looking out of a window - were no longer hers. She was forced to cover herself entirely with a burqa.

AL

Hi all,

my suggestions are

Once in a house on fire by Andrea Ashworth.

Although this is an autobiography it reads like a novel.
Andrea Ashworth was born in 1969 in Manchester her story starts:-

"My father drowned when I was five years old. A picture of me framed in gold plastic, was found in his pocket and returned to my mother with a soggy wallet and a bunch of keys. The keys were to our new terraced house, which could now be paid for with his life insurance"
At that time her younger sister is three and her mother, who was prone to depression, was 25.
From then on Anrdea had two, often violent step-fathers. A brief stay in Canada, and a poverty-stricken childhood, much of it spent staying with various relations in Manchester.
Because of the strained circumstances in her home, Andrea often had to look after her younger sister and half-sister, as well as her mother.
She learnt to escape into the world of books, both reading and writing.
This is a memoir of a child's resistance to the crulty of her surroundings. Set mainly in the Manchester of the 70's and 80's, the scene is also set with the music of the time.
A story of childhood, teenage years and growing up.

------------------------------

My second suggestion is:-

Only in America
by
Dominic Holland

This book is sent in the present in England and America.
It is mainly about Milly, who works in Recption of The Shelton Tower (Hotel) in Park Lane, London. Meeting and greeting many well know people
Her dream though is to be a screen-wrtier.
She writes a film-script, which stays in the hands of her agent for ages, phone calls to her agent are not returned.
However a second copy of the script gets lost and somehow turns up in the hands of a Hollywood studio boss.
He loves the script but has no idea who wrote it.
Mitch, an LA movie executive has to cut through all the Hollywood madness, find the writer and get him/her to sign in the dotted line, to save his job.
All without admitting that he knows nothing about the script, what it is about or who wrote it

Will Mitch be able to find Milly in time to save his job? Can he rescue her from obscurity?

How will it all pan out?

This is a funny, light relief book, a magnificent holiday read.


Tess

n

The Alchemist - Paulo Coehlo

Santiago an Andulasian shepherd dreams of travelling the world in search of treasure. He journeys from Spain to the exotic markets of Tangiers and then to the Egyptian desert where a fateful encounter with an alchemist awaits him. 'The Alchemist is a transforming novel about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life's path and above all following our dreams.'

Sheltering Rain - Jojo Moyes

On Coronation night in 1953 the expat community in Hong Kong gathers for a party. While straining to listen to the proceedings on a faulty wireless 21 yr old Joy falls in love. She is engaged within 24 hrs but will not see her fiancee again for a year.
In 1980 18 yr old Kate's rebellion is to run away from Wexford with her illegitimate child.
15 yrs later Sabine leaves trendy Hackney to visit the grandparents she has never known and finds that time in WExford has stood still.
When Sabine, her mother and grandmother are brought together a deeply buried family secret is discovered as well as some fundamental truths about the conflict between love and duty, about women's choices and about mothers and daughters.

Kate x