The Year in Books Spring Collection

Last weekend was spent Spring cleaning as we are now in the month of March and Spring is all but here.  With the change in season comes my new collection of books to read through over the coming months of Spring.

I had started reading Precious Thing by Colette Mcbeth in the last week of February but I didn't finish it until the 1st March so I am including it in my March reads (just).  Did you have a very best friend in school. Rachel and Clara met when Rachel moved to the area and was the newbie in the class.  They immediately hit it off and became firm friends throughout their lives, or so it seemed.  When Clara was about to turn 18 something happened that would change all that, but still Rachel stood by her friend.  Now in their late 20's they arrange to meet only Clara doesn't turn up she has disappeared and it is feared something has happened to her. Rachel is beside herself with worry after the police contact her wondering what could possibly have happened to her friend.  Appeals are made and an appearance on Crime Watch by the local detective. One name keeps coming up as a possible suspect, what Rachel hadn't bargained for was that it would be her name and that  it would be she they suspected of harming Clara.  This turned out to be a very good read.  I'm not normally one for Psychological thriller type books but there were so many twists and turns in this one that I ended up not being able to put it down. 

As well as all the books you see in the photograph there are quite a few on my kindle waiting their turn for reading.   I had for sometime had a book on there called The Legacy of a Cornish Spring by Chris Wetherell. As we are more or less into Spring mode now I thought it was high time I read this one.  It is based around a small Cornish village where everyone has lived there forever.  Incomer's the Pascoes move into a little cottage which they are going to renovate.  When they start tackling the garden they find an old satchel containing a broken doll and a little broach. They make it their mission to find out who the little broach belonged to with the hopes they could return it to it's rightful owner.  I can't say this one was a page turner but it helped filled the time when sat on a train.

When we returned from our trip in London there on the dining table was my latest acquisition A Mother's Story by Amanda Prowse.  I am a big fan of Amanda Prowse novels since her very first Poppy Day and I can't praise her books enough.  They are always about very real subjects that some of us have dealt with in our lives.  In this her latest novel Amanda tackles the subject of Postnatal Depression, something I have had the misfortune to have experienced first hand with two of my own children.   Her description of how her character Jess feels like she has a black cloak over her is something I can definitely relate to and the more I read the more I could resonate with the story. Fortunately for me my experience of the illness was not as extreme of that of the character within her book but as with most of these types of illnesses I was only a few steps away from being that person. Like any mental health related issues PND  still feels like is a very taboo subject.  I can remember being told by my then  MIL that I just needed to buck up and get on with things. If only it had been that simple.  At the time I felt totally alone and inadequate and a complete failure as a mum and I certainly wasn't going to broadcast the fact.  I'm hoping in writing this story that Amanda will help people to recognise the symptoms within themselves and others and get the help they need.  It is definitely one I would recommend for reading but warn you that a large supply of tissues may be needed. 

Having felt like I had been put through the mangle I decided my next read should be something a little lighter. I picked Benjamin Mee's We Bought a Zoo.  I had seen the film starring Matt Damon based on Ben Mee's book but I wanted to know the real story behind Dartmoor Zoo. In the film version Ben's wife Catherine has already died and he is left to raise his two children alone, (as they do in Hollywood). In reality Catherine, although diagnosed with a brain tumour had at that time undergone treatment and was very much a part of the decision to buy the zoo along with other members of his family, including his elderly mother. The book describes the up hill struggle they went through to turn a run down zoo in Dartmoor into a thriving tourist attraction.  Unfortunately Catherine did relapse and her disease progressed and she lost her battle against her illness within months of the zoo opening.  I have never visited Dartmoor zoo but it definitely left me with a sense that if I should get down that way again that I would definitely have to visit the zoo and see all the families hard work for real.  

I am now reading my way through Rosemary Penfold's A Field Full of Butterflies. I was originally drawn by the title alone but I am enjoying her memoirs of the Romany culture and growing up within a Romany family. 

So here we are almost half way through March already and although the mornings are still a little chilly with the occasional frost at least the mornings are now light and I am beginning to feel less like Mrs Mole.

Happy Mother's Day to all those who will be celebrating this Sunday.

Mx