The Latest Reading Recommendations from Flaxmere Library Book Chat

Book Chat shared a good variety of fiction, with the usual strong turnout of mysteries and historical novels. One book that was a bit different was The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso. It’s difficult to categorise, combing history, space and time in an original novel – fantasy grounded in fact. It’s about Lisavet who is ten living in Nurenberg in 1938. Her Jewish watchmaker father saves her life by sending into another dimension as the Nazis close in on Kristallnacht. She finds herself in the ‘time space’, a magical library where memories of the past are stored in books. But there are those who are determined to destroy selected memories and so rewrite history.  A clever and engaging read.

Picture Imperfect is a novel for adults by popular children’s author Jacqueline Wilson. Talented artist Dolphin Westward is stuck in a rut, living in a bedsit, working for a tyrannical boss at a tattoo parlour and collecting her alcoholic mother from police stations at night. If only she could escape. Three people throw her a lifeline: her sister in Scotland who really needs a babysitter; Lee, a gardener with a young daughter who offers a chance at family life, but then there’s Joel, a roguishly attractive actor. Will she end up being a bit part player in someone else’s story? Another really enjoyable read.

Jo Morey’s novel Lime Juice Money takes us to Belize in an atmospheric jungle setting. Laelia brings her family here from London, her father lying in a coma in a Belize hospital. Laelia’s an interesting character in that she has limited hearing, but she’s also a chef and falls in love with Belize. Her husband, Aidrian, who her father warned her against long ago, isn’t so keen. A twisty story about love and betrayal, money and corruption.

Nick Trout’s novel The Wonder of Lost Causes got a rave review for its description of a relationship between a boy and a dog. Kate is a vet at an animal shelter whose son Jasper has cystic fibrosis. She would do anything for Jasper, except get him what he wants most: a dog. An ugly old dog turns up at the shelter and he and young Jasper make an instant connection. Somehow the two seem to speak to each other – something our reader could really identify with. A lovely, heart-warming read.

Let Me Go Mad in My Own Way is by Booker long-lister Elaine Feeney. Despite the glowing blurbs on the cover, this was a disappointing read, the best thing that could be said of it was that it was very Irish. It follows Claire, who breaks up with Tom and returns to Ireland to care for her dying father. When Tom moves nearby for work, she questions whether he has turned up again for her or for himself. Altogether too sweary and rather boring was the verdict.

Jenny Colgan’s new Christmas book is The Secret Christmas Library, and it’s a joy. It follows Mirren Sutherland, an antiquarian book hunter hired by Jamie, laird of a Highland clan with a castle falling to bits. Finding a priceless book in the family collection might save the estate. There’s a spanner in the works when rival book hunter Theo turns up on the same train. It’s a race against time to follow clues left by Jamie’s grandfather, as snow cuts the house off from the outside world.

We heard about some excellent crime fiction, including We Are All Guilty Here, a new book and first in a series by Karin Slaughter, set in North Falls, a small town with secrets. It’s one of those stories where one thing leads to another before the inevitable terrible thing happens which causes an upheaval. Officer Emmy Clifton didn’t help out when her friend needed it and now her teenage daughter and another girl are missing. What were the secrets those girls had that someone was willing to kill for? A really good mystery was the verdict.

We love Linda Castillo’s Kate Burkholder mysteries set in Amish country – not only are they good mysteries, but the Amish background adds a fascinating element. In her new book, Rage, three Amish children discover a dismembered body, a young and successful businessman. When his best friend’s body is later found, stuffed into a barrel and dumped in a ravine, Kate has her work cut out to get people to talk. As she uncovers some dark secrets, her own life may be in danger.

Another in the series, The Burning, also begins with a grim discovery, the body of a man burnt at the stake. The victim was Amish but also a nasty piece of work, sadistic in how he treated his family, but no one deserves to die in such a manner. When her brother is suspected, Kate is asked to stand down. But it’s only her determination that will lead to the truth, while once more putting herself at risk, as well as probing into the beliefs of a conservative branch of Anabaptists.

One reader was excited to learn that there are more than a dozen books in Rhys Dylan’s DCI Evan Warlow detective series, having just enjoyed Burnt Echo. What stood out was the way Dylan got into his characters heads so well, their thoughts, their lives and experiences. In this book a corpse discovered in a mine shaft turns out not to be an accidental death, but a missing person with connections to events from the past.

The Stolen by Vikki Petraitis is in this case about a stolen baby, reported to the police by her distraught mother. Detective Antigone Pollard and her police dog Wozza are on hand at the Deception Bay police station to find who took the baby. She also has a run-in with an abusive husband who won’t leave his ex-wife alone. Our reader was particularly taken with a scene where Antigone stands up against the abuser and puts him in his place. An altogether great Aussie Noir read.

Historical fiction is always popular at Book Chat. Lindsey Hutchinson’s novel, The Orphan’s Promise follows Rose Hamilton, who having been orphaned at a young age, barely remembers her parents. Instead she’s had to put up with the cold-hearted rule of her Aunt Win, who for mysterious reasons, seems eager to see Rose married off before her twenty-first birthday. But Rose has promised herself that she will only marry for love. A great family saga, well-written.

The Boy with the Star Tattoo by Talia Carner is a dual time-frame novel. First we're in German occupied France and the hunting down of Jews. Then it's1968 with the search for orphaned Jewish children sent away during the war. It’s a sweeping historical story, with two very personal and emotional stories connected over time. A beautifully told historical novel.

There were also a couple of books where present day characters look back into the past to discover family secrets. The Paris Daughter by Soraya Lane continues the Lost Daughter series. It’s about Evelina in Paris, 1939, and present-day Blake, who is left a clue to her biological identity – a designer’s signature. Blake leaves for Paris to discover the truth about her talented great-grandmother and hopefully rekindle her own talent as a designer. A forbidden romance, a devastating choice and the most romantic city in the world add up to a breathtaking read.

Lucinda Riley’s The Butterfly Room was a book that kept you up at night reading just one more chapter. It’s about Posy Montague who at nearly seventy fears she must sell her wonderful house and garden, where she grew up and in turn raised her own children. Then an old flame from the past turns up which brings the past back with a rush. An intergenerational story set between the 1950s and the present, there’s also as a devastating secret which helps keep the plot ticking along nicely.

Flaxmere Library Book Chat meets every second Tuesday morning at 10:30 - visit the library website for more details.

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