Memoirs, Mysteries and More from Tea With Tales

On a beautiful spring morning we shared memorable concerts and shows we had enjoyed over a cuppa and cheese scones.

Our book reading was This Much Is True by Miriam Margolyes, English actor, comedienne and documentary maker. This well written biography appealed to several members in spite of the graphic language warning.

Several members struggled through three very good mysteries that would have benefited from a more engaging narrator. Two were written by Australian authors - Jane Harper’s The Lost Man and The Broken Shore by Peter Temple - as well as popular British author Richard Osman’s We Solve Murders.

Continuing on the mystery theme was Rhys Dyman’s The Engine Room. A gripping police procedural set in the wilds of Wales. This is the first in the Evan Warlow series.

Another story that is the first in series is the historical mystery The Unquiet Bones by Mel Starr. Set in Medieval Oxford, surgeon Hugh de Singleton, is tasked with solving mysterious murders.

A standalone thriller from English husband and wife team writing under the name Nicci French, Losing You has the reader on the edge of the seat as the search for missing 15-year-old-Charlie takes a sinister turn.

For more spy than mystery Daniel Silva’s thriller series features art restorer and former member of the Israeli Secret Service Gabriel Allon. In The English Assassin, Allon is involved with art treasures hidden by the Nazi Germany regime.

From fictional Israel to today’s man-made war-torn events, foreign correspondent Robert Fisk’s The Age of the Warrior showcases writings from his newspaper column.

Three memoirs were read and enjoyed this month. Tony Fitzjohn continues the Adamson’s African lion story with Born Wild: the extraordinary story of one man's passion for lions and for Africa. Fitzjohn worked with George Adamson reintroducing big cats into the wild until Adamson’s death.

Writer Andre Aciman tells the story of the year his family were expelled from Egypt to live in Italy in his memoir My Roman Year. An interesting tale from this New York Times bestselling author.

Our last memoir is closer to home and tells the very personal story of broadcaster Alison Mau. In No Words For This: a memoir, Mau shares her own abuse stories as she fights for other survivors of sexual harm.

Tea with Tales, a book group for the vision impaired, meets on the first Monday of the month,10:30 at Hastings War Memorial Library.

Posted by Miss Moneypenny

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