Girl with a pearl earring by Tracy Chevalier
In seventeenth century Holland Griet is about to become a maid. She is sixteen years of age. Her father was blinded in an accident so the family are suffering financially. She...
30 April 2014
Kindred by Octavia Butler
It is 1976 and Dana and her husband have just moved into a new home. They’ve only been married four years, but both now seem to be making it in their...
18 April 2014
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
At the end of the nineteen thirties in Germany a little girl travelled with her mother and brother on the train. The children were being sent to live with foster parents....
5 April 2014
Year of wonders by Geraldine Brooks
The year is 1665 and Anna Frith is a widow at only 18 years of age. She has two young sons to support and she works hard. Life in a small...
15 March 2014
The Ghost Bride by Yangze Choo
Li Lan is seventeen. Her mother died of smallpox when she was very young, her father was so scarred by the disease at the same time that he withdrew from society....
27 November 2013
The Abominable by Dan Simmons
My final read for this year’s RIP In June of 1924 reports from Everest reveal that George Mallory and Andrew Irvine have vanished, missing, presumed dead in their attempt to reach...
3 November 2013
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Before Ernest Hemmingway was the famous author of hie time he was a struggling writer, trying to figure out how to make ends meet, trying to find his voice. In the...
20 October 2013
Ghost Hawk by Susan Cooper
Little Hawk is about to leave his family and village to go into the woods and live alone for three months, a ritual that will see him in his way to...
9 October 2013
Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
It is 1944 and American pilot Rose Justice is working in England, she has joined the ATA and is hard at work transporting planes for the RAF, and occasionally flying important...
13 August 2013
Things fall apart by China Achebe
Set in pre-colonial Nigeria Things Fall Apart is the story of Okonkwo and his community. He sees himself as a hard-working, important man, he has gained many titles through his hard...
10 August 2013
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Sethe and her daughter Denver live in number 124. Denver’s older brothers have left home. Baby Suggs, her grandmother has died. It is just the mother and her daughter, and the...
9 August 2013
This side of brightness by Colum McCann
In the early 1900s New York’s subway was in the process of being excavated. Working as sandhog was decent enough money, but it was dangerous work. As this book begins four...
25 July 2013
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