General Chat

As usual 2 books please. vote to be Saturday 17th.

The Return by Victoria Hislop

Beneath the majestic towers of the Alhambra, Granada’s cobbled streets resonate with music and secrets. Sonia Cameron knows nothing of the city’s shocking past; she is here to dance. But in a quiet cafe, a chance conversation and an intriguing collection of old photographs draw her into the extraordinary tale of Spain’s devastating civil war.

Seventy years earlier, the cafe is home to the close knit Ramirez family. In 1936, an army coup led by Franco shatters the country’s fragile peace, and in the heart of Granada the family witnesses the worst atrocities of conflict. Divided by politics and tragedy, everyone must take a side, fighting a personal battle as Spain rips itself apart.

Stolen by Lesley Pearse
Where has she come from? Why can’t she remember who she is – or what happened?
She’s wearing an old-fashioned dress and her hair has been hacked off. She’s obviously been bound by the wrists and ankles. But without knowing her own name or who did this to her, she can’t begin to piece together who she is and what led her to this unfamiliar place.
The police are baffled, but when the doctors examine her they make a shocking discovery: she has recently given birth.
Who is she and where is her baby?
Stolen is a riveting nail biting story of a young woman desperately trying to recover her past and make sense of the woman she used to be.

From Jill

The Visible World by Mark Slouka

In three parts, the first part is a memoir of an unnamed narrator growing up with Czech emigrant parents in New York. This is both charming and dark with shadows that will stretch into the future.
The second part is a brief intermezzo which takes him to Prague as an adult where he meets various veterans of the war who tell a variety of stories that intersect with, but are not, the story of his parents.
The third part, called a novel, is the narrator's fictional imaginging of what might have been his mother's story and her love for a man who wasn't his father, set in the tense years of 1942.

A place called freedom by Ken Follett

In a brutal world, charismatic rebel miner Mack McAsh - a slave by birth - is a man with the courage to stand up for what is right, and the strength to stick by his beliefs. Independent, rebellious Lizzie Hallim, meanwhile, is engaged to Jay Jamisson, the ruthless landlord's son and heir to an exploitative business empire.

Born into separate worlds, Mack and Lizzie are thrown together when Mack becomes an enemy of the state and is forced to flee his homeland. Lizzie aids his escape, and it is not long before passions rage in the old world as well as the new . .

My suggestions:-

Welcome to the World Baby Girl by Fannie Flagg


Sweeping from the gentle confines of the late 1940's small-town America to the tough side of the New York media circus in the 1970's, Fannie Flagg's novel mines golden seams of goodness and gritty determination, prejudice and despair, love and survival, in the story of a youngTV interviewer, Dena Nordstrom, whose future looks full of promise, whose present is an emotional mess, and whose past is marked by mystery.

With a cast of unforgettable characters, from the comic masterpiece that is Neighbour Dorothy (broadcasting home tips and good news to the midwest from her own front room), to the monstrosity that is Ira Wallace, TV network head - Welcome to the World... is a constantly surprising novel that keeps you guessing.

Second suggestion.

The Secret History By Donna Tartt

A misfit at an exclusive New England college, Richard finds kindred spirits , under the influence of a charismatic classics proffessor, and his five eccentric students, who of ancient Greek.
But his new friends have a horrific secret. When blackmail and violence threaten to blow their privileged lives apart, the other students drag Richard iiinto the nightmare that engulfs them.
They go beyond the boundries of normal morality and their lives are changed profoundly forever.

Tess

The Search by Maureen Myant.

Saw this on the recommended shelf at the library – It is 1942, Europe is in the throes of war – Jan a Czechoslovakian lad of ten watches from his hiding place, his father and other men from his village being executed. He is seized and placed with his mother and two sisters only to not long later be parted from them. The books narrative is seen mainly through his eyes as he travels from Germany to Poland and back to Germany again in search of his family. Even with the horror and brutality that he sees he never gives up in his quest. The author handles the story with sensitivity whilst at the same time painting a vivid picture of both the country side and Jan’s journey.






Italy, It Seemed a Good Idea at the Time by Simon Capp. (non-fiction)

Mild mannered Australian (Oz does have mild mannered blokes) Simon is a Japanese Translator and he has the opportunity to go to Italy and work from there. Along with his wife and two youngsters they set off and nothing is easy – their accommodation leaves a lot to be desired, as does their landlord. The telephone line for his computer etc becomes a mammoth task to set up – he needs it for his work but he has to surmount paper work after paper work. But he loves Pizza and coffee and doughnuts etc – if it wasn’t for the food I sometimes wonder if he would not have packed it all in and returned home. The editor of the book offers his little comments from time to time and I would agree with him. But you will have to read it to find out.

Persey

My suggestions are:
To Cut a Long Story Short by Jeffrey Archer

The latest short story collection from the master storyeller. The fourteen -all new- stories show Jeffrey Archer's great skills with a wide variety of character, of subject and of setting, but all with that trademark twist in the tale.

My second suggestion is:-

The Scent of the Night By Andrea Camilleri - An Inspector Montalbano Mystery -


Both farcical and endearing, Montalbano is a cross between Columbo and Chandler's Philip Marlowe with the added culinary idiosyncrasies of an Italian Maigret...... The smells, colours and landscapes of Scicily come to life.

Athabasca by Alistair Maclean
Two of the biggest oilfields in the world, one in Alaska , the other in Canada are simultaneously threatened with sabotage. More than one million barrels of oil a day are at risk. The security teams can only hope for the best and prepare for the worst. The oil companies' best hope lies with the Texan Jim Brady and his team of industrial troubleshooters. Into the ice-bound hell of an Arctic winter inexplicable chaos and violence suddenly strike.

And
Blood Royal by Vanora Bennett
1420, and a young princess is offered in marriage to her country's enemy, her nation's conqueror. She is Catherine of Valois, he is Henry V. Now Catherine must live as queen to a man more comfortable with war than anything else. Alone and friendless she finds the only man who can understand what she feels:a young Welshman called Owain Tudor.

Pam

This Body of Death - by Elizabeth George
While DI Thomas Lynley is still on compassionate leave after the murder of his wife, Isabelle Ardery is brought into the Met as his temporary replacement. The discovery of a body in a Stoke Newington cemetery offers Isabelle the chance to make her mark with a high profile murder investigation. Persuading Lynley back to work seems the best way to guarantee a result: Lynley's team is fiercely loyal.

The Whisperers by John Connolly.
The border between Maine and Canada is porous. Anything can be smuggled across it: drugs, cash, weapons, people. Now a group of disenchanted former soldiers has begun its own smuggling operation, and what is being moved is infinitely stranger and more terrifying than anyone can imagine.

Accused by Mark Gimenez

'Scott, it's Rebecca. I need you.' After years of silence, Texan lawyer Scott Fenney receives a devastating phonecall from his ex-wife. She has been accused of murdering her boyfriend, Trey ? the man she left Scott for ? and is being held in a police cell. Now she is begging Scott to defend her. Scott is used to high-stakes cases, but this one is bigger than anything he has handled before. If Rebecca is found guilty, under Texan law she will be sentenced to death. He will have her blood on his hands. As he prepares to take the stand in the most dramatic courtroom appearance of his life, Scott is forced to question everything he believes to get to the truth ? to save the life of the ex-wife he still loves...

And

Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay

Historical fantasist Kay (Ysabel) delivers an exquisitely detailed vision of Kitan, a land much like Tang Dynasty China. Shen Tai's father died leading troops in battle, so he spends his mourning year burying the bones of soldiers on both sides, laying their ghosts to rest. He attracts the attention of Cheng-wan, a princess of his people sent to wed one of the enemy. As her gifts make Shen Tai wealthy, an assassin kills his best friend. Shen Tai hires a bodyguard, Wei Song, to keep him alive while he figures out what to do with his riches and who wants him dead.

Can I ask if all these are available in paperback or are any brand new hard back only books please?

I have paperback copies of both my suggestions

Welcome to the World and Secret History both available in paperback.

thanks

Both Athabasca (cheapest used copy 1p) & Blood Royal (cheapest £1.07)available in paperback from A****n .