Cosying up with Tea with Tales

09 July 2026

On a very foggy damp morning we shared a hot drink and a cheese scone and talked about our favourite place to read a book. Reading in bed was a clear winner.

Our book reading was from the epistolary novel The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. Sybil Van Antwerp, a retired lawyer living alone in Annapolis, attends to her correspondence most mornings. Through her letters and emails Sybil’s life is revealed.

Non-fiction provided some interesting reading in this past month. Dolly Parton’s biography Ain’t Nobody’s Fool by Martha Ackman was an excellent read and highly recommended. Lee Child’s first book of non-fiction The Hero is a short philosophical look at the origins and meaning of the word hero.  The events surrounding the creation of Israel made for an absorbing read in Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collin’s 1971 book O Jerusalem!

Keeping with a historical theme we had The Shoemaker’s Daughter, the start of Iris Gower’s Cordwainers series. Our reader really enjoyed this family saga told through six books. The Jam Maker and The Chocolate Factory were two great reads from historical author Mary-Lou Stephens. Kate Quinn is a favourite with the book club and The Briar Club lived up to expectations. The story follows a group of women living in a boarding house and ends as a thriller. 

Although reading a book of just letters didn’t initially appeal to our reader, Mary Ann Shaffer’s The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society won her over. A western romance was a big hit with one of our new members. She enjoyed Head in the Clouds by Karen Witemeyer set in the late 1800s in Texas.

A new crime series for our readers was David Baldacci’s King and Maxwell series. She loved The First Family, number four in the series featuring former secret service agents.

Tea with Tales is our book group for blind and low vision readers, meeting on the first Monday of the month at Hastings Library.

Posted by Miss Moneypenny

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