Checking in with Tea with Tales

In today’s meeting we shared our earliest school memories while enjoying a cuppa and a cheese scone.

After listening to a short extract from Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell we talked about the books we had read in the last month.

Historical novelist Joanna Clague’s The House of Hope was a good read. Described as well written and pretty realistic, it tells the story of the House of Help for Friendless Girls.

George Harrison: the reluctant Beatle by Philip Norman was an interesting read about this misunderstood musician.

Two readers read and enjoyed Terr Gerritsen’s Rizzoli and Isles series. The Surgeon is the first book in the series featuring this detective and pathologist pairing, with The Apprentice coming in at number two. Described by both as very graphic but definitely worth reading.

Another reader enjoyed some early romance novels by Janet Evanovich, including Grand Finale, Foul Play, Love Overboard and Back to the Bedroom. Realistic and compelling mystery novels were Isle of Dogs by Patricia Cornwell, From Doon with Death by Ruth Rendell, the first Inspector Wexford mystery dating from 1964, and the much more recent Close to the Bone by Stuart MacBride.

Captain Eric Brown’s life from shooting down Luftwaffe bombers to setting world records as a test pilot are all documented in Winkle: the extraordinary life of Britain’s greatest pilot by Paul Beaver.

Catherine Robertson’s The Hiding Places was an enjoyable read for one of our readers as was the latest Kate Quinn novel The Briar Club.

Tea with Tales next meets up on Monday, 3 March.

7 February 2025

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