Category: community
The Forgotten Garden by Sharon Gosling
Budding landscape architect Luisa MacGregor is stuck in a rut – she hates her boss, she lives with her sister, and she is still morning the loss of her fiancé many years ago. So when she is given the opportunity to take on a parcel of land in a deprived area, she sees the chance to build a garden that can make the area … Read More The Forgotten Garden by Sharon Gosling
+ child abduction, childhood, community, fiction, forgiveness, loneliness, loss, love, motherhood, review
Safe With You by RM Ward
It used to be more of a community round here. I was going to say something like this wouldn’t have happened then, but it would, wouldn’t it? Maybe a lot of it was kept quiet. But was it really any safer? Is anywhere safe? Kath has lived on the same London estate for decades. Lately she’s become friendly with the little girl next door, … Read More Safe With You by RM Ward
+ abuse, child abuse, childhood, coming-of-age, community, cult, family, feel-good, female friendship, fiction, friendship, germany, grief, Historical fiction, holocaust, jewish history, jews, lies, List, literature, loss, love, motherhood, murder, music, nazi germany, piano, rape, relationships, religion, review, secrets, sisterhood, suffragette movement, whimsical
My Top 8 Books of 2022 – Part Two
Here are my favourite eight books of the second quarter of 2022. You will notice that it doesn’t include any crime dramas, detective novels or serial killer thrillers. While I love those genres, they rarely bring something totally new to the table and my favourites tend to be feel-good, whimsical or magical realism. Or totally original or make me cry. There are a couple of … Read More My Top 8 Books of 2022 – Part Two
+ community, Devon, fiction, folklore, friendship, literature, music, review, seventies, sixties
Villager by Tom Cox
Tom Cox’s masterful debut novel synthesises his passion for music, nature and folklore into a psychedelic and enthralling exploration of village life and the countryside that sustains it. There’s so much to know. It will never end, I suspect, even when it does. So much in all these lives, so many stories, even in this small place. Villages are full of tales: some are … Read More Villager by Tom Cox
+ community, dementia, feel-good, fiction, friends, friendship, loneliness, love, review, romance
The People on Platform 5 by Clare Pooley
Nobody ever talks to strangers on the train. It’s a rule. But what would happen if they did? From the New York Times and Globe and Mail bestselling author of The Authenticity Project, a heartwarming novel about unexpected friendships and the joy of connecting. Every day Iona, a larger-than-life magazine advice columnist, travels the ten stops from Hampton Court to Waterloo Station by train, accompanied by her dog, Lulu. … Read More The People on Platform 5 by Clare Pooley
+ community, cosy mystery, crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, friendship, private investigator, relationships, review, Yorkshire Dales
Date With Betrayal by Julia Chapman
In the seventh novel in Julia Chapman’s Dales Detective series, Date with Betrayal, betrayal is rife in the idyllic Yorkshire Dales as Samson O’Brien, owner of the Dales Detective Agency, is targeted by a hitman. Can Bruncliffe save him? A brilliantly engaging and witty mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club and M. C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin series. #DateWithBetrayal #DalesDetective … Read More Date With Betrayal by Julia Chapman
+ abuse, community, crime fiction, Detective novel, domestic noir, family, fiction, friends, friendship, grief, India, kidnapping, List, literature, loss, love, marriage, murder, obsession, police drama, police procedural, politics, relationships, revenge, review, secrets, thriller
My Top 8 Books of 2022 – part one
Here are my favourite eight books of the first quarter of 2022. So far I’ve read some good books. Tapestry by Beth Duke “We’re all part of a tapestry bigger than any of us can imagine, weaving in and out and creating a glorious picture. All of us from the beginning of time.” What a lovely thought. My brother had his DNA done and assuming … Read More My Top 8 Books of 2022 – part one
+ Canada, community, crime fiction, cult, Detective novel, fiction, murder, murder mystery, police drama, private investigator, review, secrets, thriller
The Lake Templeton Murders by HS Burnley
An edge-of-your seat murder mystery set in a forgotten, ocean-facing town on Vancouver Island! A body washes up on the shores of Lake Templeton, a small town on the coast of Vancouver Island. Sharon Reese, the victim, was a dedicated government employee. Everyone liked her, but no one knew much about her. Was she hiding something? Maybe a questionable past riddled with scandal. And did … Read More The Lake Templeton Murders by HS Burnley
+ child abduction, childhood, community, family, fiction, kidnapping, motherhood, revenge, review, secrets, seventies, twins
Entitled by Gill Merton
In 1971, Nan Douglas and her toddler twins arrive on the remote island of Inniscuiilin, long-lost family of the eccentric Miss Campbell. For fifteen years they all live quietly up at the Big House, until the twins start planning their future – forcing Nan to confront their past… Because someone, somewhere believes that the twins aren’t twins. That they’re not even Nan’s children. And … Read More Entitled by Gill Merton
+ childhood, community, family, fiction, friendship, Historical fiction, jewish history, jews, literature, love, marriage, memoir, motherhood, religion, review, tradition
Hands of Gold by Roni Robbins
Will Sam purge his guilty conscience before it’s too late? Will he atone for his offences and find solace in the final countdown? Sam Fox spent his whole life running against the hands of time. He is now racing to set the record straight about secrets he and Hannah, his wife of 65 years, have been harbouring from their children and each other. #HandsofGold … Read More Hands of Gold by Roni Robbins
+ childhood, community, family, family drama, fiction, forgiveness, friendship, literature, loss, love, mental health, mental illness, motherhood, photography, review, Scottish Highlands, secrets, sisters, sixties
Little Wing by Freya North
Little Wing is the powerful story of two families over three generations. In the 1960s, a pregnant 16-year-old is banished to one of the remotest parts of the UK. Years later, Nell and Dougie are both at critical moments in their lives when their paths cross. Between Camden, Colchester and the Outer Hebrides, the three story lines collide when secrets are uncovered and answers … Read More Little Wing by Freya North
+ community, crime fiction, dark humour, diary, family, fiction, jealousy, journal, marriage, mystery, obsession, review, secrets, thriller
I Know What You’ve Done by Dorothy Koomson
What if all your neighbours’ secrets landed in a diary on your doorstep?What if the woman who gave it to you was murdered by one of the people in the diary? What if the police asked if you knew anything? Would you hand over the book of secrets? Or … would you try to find out what everyone had done? I Know What You’ve … Read More I Know What You’ve Done by Dorothy Koomson
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