Stranger in the House - Julie Summers

My husband is coming home after four years in a German prison; I lost my head two years ago and had a baby. I made up my mind that I would keep it whatever happened, but now I have read about the sufferings of prisoners, I feel I cannot face my husband and let him know I was disloyal. He may forgive me in time but how can I greet him, ill and crippled, with this child?

Published by: Pocket Books - Memoir
Year: 2009 - Hardback
Pages: 332
ISBN: 978-0-74329-552-9


Ok so now I am really on a roll with the books yet to be read on the bookshelf challenge.  I am now over halfway with Stranger in the house being number 8.  

Barbara Cartland 

Stranger in the house is the true accounts from wives and family members whose loved ones came back from the war, some of which had been prisoners of war and had been starved, beaten and tortured.   For some it would seem that they had never been away and fitted right back in with the family, but for many they returned a complete stranger to both their wives and their children. 

It was a fascinating book,  what I hadn't realised was how involved Barbara Cartland was as a Welfare Officer.  I only knew of Barbara Cartland as the romantic novelist who wore flamboyant coloured dresses and bright blue eye shadow.   She was instrumental in making sure that the men returning from the war could integrate back within their families. She was one of a few who supported the men and would discuss any topic including how to rekindle marital relations with a man you hadn't seen for five years.   I certainly was left with a very different view of this lady than the one I had had growing up. 

Nella Last with her youngest son

And of course after the tv drama Housewife 49, most of us are familiar with the diaries of Nella Last, who I believe continued to write about her experiences during and after the war right up until her death. 

For anyone with an interest in the war and how families coped with the return of their loved ones. Or if you have a family member who was that wife or mother this is a book they would definitely be able to relate too.   Julie Summers has also written a book entitled 'When the children came home' and Jambusters: The story of the Womens Institute in the second world war.   May be your patents were evacuated during the war I know my dad certainly was.

Happy reading one and all.

Mx

Life, Death and Vanilla Slices - Jenny Eclair

Jean Collins had two daughters. But she only loved one of them. She knew it was wrong, but she just couldn't help herself. Jess was a little sweetheart - everyone said so. Anne was awkward and serious and not much fun, to be frank.

But now the years have passed. Jess is missing - run off long ago, no one knows where or why. So when Jean is left in a coma after a road accident, it's Anne who travels back up north to sit with her mother. And she wonders - why did Jean dash out into the road without looking? And why was she carrying a box of Vanilla Slices, the cream cakes she only ever bought for extra special occasions?

Meanwhile there are secrets waiting for Anne and  Jean, back at the old family home. Secrets that were buried along time ago....


Published by: Sphere - Fiction
Year: 2013 - Paperback
Pages: 343
ISBN: 978-0-7515-4755-9

So here we are with number seven off the book shelf.  I hadn't realised that this Jenny Eclair is the same Jenny Eclair Comedienne, sometimes it can take a while for the penny to drop. This I believe is Ms. Eclair's third novel.  

As stated above Jean Collins has two daughters but when she has a serious accident it is only her daughter Anne who comes to be by her side.  Daughter Jessica has not been seen or heard of in years.  When growing up Anne was always the academic bookworm where as Jessica was the girlie girl much more sedate than her older sister and was always the center of attention.  Jean had never been able to hide the fact that her younger daughter was her favourite and poor Anne was always left trying to please her mother and Jim, Jeans husband was always having to remind his wife they had two daughters both of which were unique.   Whenever there was an extra special occasion to celebrate Jean would buy Vanilla Slices and it was this that got Anne to wondering. What was the special occasion that had made her mother A. go out and buy Vanilla Slices and B. walk straight out in front of an oncoming vehicle.  

The book is very well written as you would imagine it would be. Each chapter is about Anne or Jean.  Jeans chapters are written whilst she is in a coma. She cannot understand why she cannot wake up or in fact move, but her mind however is firmly switched on and whilst she is waiting for her body to behave she reflects on her life and those of her daughter's childhoods. Anne of course is now a grown women with family of her own and her chapters are about the here and now with some reflection to days gone by.

Of course as there is with all good family tales there are hidden secrets that will be revealed within these pages one of which may provide the answer as to why Jean was buying those Vanilla Slices. 

Mx

Book of the Month - February

My February reads have been 

               

Things We Never Say - Sheila O'Flanagan - Fiction

Lord of the Flies - William Golding - Fiction

The Ten Pound Ticket - Amanda Prowse - Fiction

When it Happens to You - Molly Ringwald - Fiction

Reconstructing Amelia  - Kimberley McCreight - Fiction

But I'm sure you will know which of these I am going to have to pick as my book of the month!!!

No you're all wrong it is not William Golding's Lord of the Flies' I know you will all be shocked at this news but for me it has to be................

Reconstructing Amelia  - Kimberley McCreight - Fiction
Book of the Month - February 2014

Mx

Reconstructing Amelia - Kimberley McCreight

Single mother and lawyer Kate Baron is in the meeting of her career when she is interrupted by a telephone call. Her daughter Amelia has just been suspended from her exclusive prep school. When Kate eventually arrives at Grace Hall an hour later, she is greeted by the news that no mother ever wants to hear. A grieving Kate can't accept that her daughter would kill herself. But she soon discovers she didn't know Amelia quite as well as she thought. Who are the friends she kept, what are the secrets she hid? And so begins an investigation which takes her deep into Amelia's private world - and into the mind of a troubled young girl. Then Kate receives an anonymous text: AMELIA DIDN'T JUMP. Is someone toying with her or has she been right all along? To find the truth about her daughter, Kate must now face a darker reality than she could ever have imagined. 

Published by: Simon & Schuster - Fiction
Year: 2013 - Paperback
Pages: 386
ISBN: 978-1471111297


Kimberley McCreight's first novel  'Reconstructing Amelia' is the sixth book from my book shelf challenge. Why I had left it sitting on my shelf for this long I do not know as it is absolutely brilliant.

We all like to think we know our teenagers better than they know themselves don't we but I know having been through that with three of them to date that that is not always the case. 

After the shock of her daughter's death Kate Baron struggles to cope with the verdict of suicide and this is compounded when she receives an anonymous text that says Amelia didn't jump. Kate subsequently starts her own investigation as to what was going on in her daughters life leading up to her death, which forces the police to re investigate what did happen on that fateful day in October. Each chapter within the novel is split into  the story of  Amelia's life up until her death and those of her mothers determination to get to the truth.  It would appear that Amelia was keeping many secrets from her mother but then she wasn't the only one to have secrets as there were some parts of their lives that Kate had been keeping secret from Amelia too. Now would seem the right time for all these secrets to be revealed. 

This is a very well constructed novel and well worth reading.  Nicole Kidman was so taken with this novel that she is now pursuing the possibility of turning it into a film. Ms. Kidman is set to star and executive produce the project, now in development, through her Blossom Film. That being the case I cannot wait for it's release as I will certainly have it on my list as a must see. 

I would recommend anyone with a teenager to read this novel it will certainly make you wonder whether you do know your teenager as well as you think you do. 

Mx

When It Happens To You - Molly Ringwald

A mother grapples with age, infertility and an increasingly distant husband as everything she thought she knew is turned upside down.

An elderly woman mourns the loss of her husband, finding an odd friendship with a young girl who cannot possibly understand her loss.

A single mother finds the strength to protect her flamboyant six-year old son as he finds his way in life.

These stories follow the hazardous terrain of everyday life, revealing the deceptions, heartbreak, and vulnerability familiar to us all.

When it happens to you is an unflinching yet poignant examination of the intricacies of the human heart and an auspicious literary debut.



Published by: Simon & Schuster UK - Fiction
Year: 2013 - Paperback
Pages: 380
ISBN: 978-1-47111-349-9

Molly Ringwald's 'When it happens to you' is made up of a series of short stories.  Each story introduces you to the main character/s and each character  is linked to the previous or subsequent story in someway and ultimately  all characters are somehow linked to all the stories. Hope that makes sense.  

It has been very cleverly written in such a way that you get to meet the main characters within the story, for example in Harvest Moon you meet Greta, her husband Phillip and their daughter Charlotte. Having conceived Charlotte without complication. Six years on they have been unable to conceive a second child and have sought medical help in the way of IVF and all the stresses and strains this can put on the strongest of relationships.  In the second you are introduced to Isle O'Hara Greta's mother who still after all these years grieves for the son she lost in a driving accident. In the subsequent stories you are introduced to Marina a single mother and to her eccentric son Oliver who from around the age of four wants to be a girl. Peter Layton whose longest relationship was with a polar bear called Pooka. Betty who is a widow unable to accept the death of her husband Harry,  and lives next door to Charlotte's family and Amanda, Betty's daughter and her partner.  Throughout all the stories there is a common thread of betrayal, lies and deceit and that through all of this it is hoped that all the lives affected within each of the stories will eventually find harmony and happiness.

Very well written by Molly Ringwald best known as a Hollywood A-lister and fast becoming as well known for her literary talents as well as her acting ones.  I would certainly recommend this as a good read and will add to the list of authors whose work I will look out for in the future. 

When it Happens to You is the fifth book from my challenge to read the 13 out of 26 books that were in residence on my book shelf at Christmas by the end of June so almost but not quite half way. 

Happy reading one and all.

Mx 

Ten Pound Ticket - A Short Story - Amanda Prowse

Australia 1962: Susie has just arrived on the boat from England. She is clutching a newborn baby, but has no wedding ring on her left hand.


The land is dusty and hot, and the work is hard and tiring. All Susie wants is to go home. But with no money, and no hope, how can she turn her life around?





Published by: Head of Zeus - Fiction
Year: 2014 - Kindle
Pages 101
ISBN (E): 9781781859384


Having read LoTF I felt I deserved a little treat and decided to read the latest Amanda Prowse short story released on Kindle. 

For those of you who have read 'Clover's Child' you will remember that whilst Dot Simpson was staying in Lavender Lodge she became friends with Susie.  Susie had given birth to twins, a boy and girl.  She had named her son Nicholas and her daughter Abigail.  She was forced to give up her daughter for adoption by the Nuns, but refused to part with her son Nicholas.  Her only hope of keeping him was to accept a ten pound ticket to Australia.  At this time a ten pound passage and sponsorship from someone in Australia was readily available.  Susie took this opportunity in order to keep her son with her.   Not knowing what to expect when she arrived there she was hoping that she would be able to make a fresh start and give Nicholas a good home whilst always hoping that one day she would be able to be reunited with Abigail.  Things aren't quite what she hoped for when she arrives at the sheep station where she will both live and work.  Her sponsor Mitch Gunnerslake turns out to be an older man with few manners and the liking for alcohol.  He constantly tells Susie that she belongs to him now that he has paid for her passage and she spends her first year out there fending off his advances. All Susie wants is to find away of riding herself of this man and longs to return to England.  When her sponsor Mitch Gunnerslake is found dead and his nephew Philip Gunnerslake inherits the sheep station all Susie hopes for is that she will at last be able to break free from this nightmare, but will the nephew be just as bad as his uncle and will she ever be able to escape. 

In our romantic worlds we would all hope that Phillip Gunnerslake would not be like his uncle and that he would fall in love with Susie and they would all live happily ever after, but of course this only happens in fairy tales doesn't it.  But we all know that Amanda lives in the real world and writes her novels and short stories to reflect the hardships of life. In reality Phillip Gunnerslake is married and according to the terms of his uncles will he inherits everything including Susie as part of the fixtures and fittings. Some how Susie realises she has to get her and her young son away from the hell she has been living for the past year. 

I am a real fan of Amanda Prowse novels and short stories.  Within her novels you get to meet her main character and along the way you are introduced to various other characters who together make for a good read.  What I especially like about some of Amanda's short stories is that she will bring back a character from a previous novel and you can almost build a family tree of her characters and how they are linked.   In this particular short story she brings back Susie from 'Clover's Child' a friend of Dot Simpson who you will remember is the grandmother of Poppy Day. Very cleverly written. Who knows at some stage in the future she may well write a short story that includes 'Simon' or 'Peggy and Max'.

Mx

Lord of the Flies - William Golding

A plane crashes on an uninhabited island and the only survivors, a group of schoolboys, assemble on the beach and wait to be rescued. By day they inhabit a land of bright fantastic birds and dark blue seas, but at night their dreams are haunted by the image of a terrifying beast.

In this, his first novel, William Golding gave the traditional adventure story an ironic, devastating twist. The boys' delicate sense of order fades, and their childish ears are transformed into something deeper and more primitive. Their games take on a horrible significance, and before long the well behaved party of schoolboys has turned into a tribe of faceless, murderous savages. 

Published by: Faber & Faber - Fiction

Year: 2012 - Kindle Edition

Pages: 201

ISBN: 978-0571273577 


I first read this book 35+ years ago for O'level English.  At the time I really didn't get this novel at all.  35 years on all I could remember of it was that following a plane crash a number of little boys were left on a deserted island with the only other inhabitants being pigs and at some stage there was a pig's head on a stick that was known as the Lord of the Flies.  When I started out on this challenge, of revisiting books I had read at school, I knew this one would be my nemesis so I decided to take the bull by the horn so to speak and make it my second revisited book.  

Overall it was exactly as I had expected a lot of little boys running round on a deserted island.  It started off pretty well the plane had crashed and initially they had to establish how many of them there were and they came up with a plan of who would be responsible for what jobs, i.e. collecting wood for a fire and looking for food.  They soon established that there were pigs on the island that could provide them with a source of food and built themselves shelters to protect themselves.  But soon two characters especially became adversaries and tensions grew.  'Lord of the Flies'  is a pigs head that is left on a stick and is referred to maybe twice within the book  and not until about chapter 8 and really didn't have much relevance to the story. What I hadn't remembered was how much bullying and violence was included within it which ultimately lead to murder.  The rivalry between Ralph and Jack reaches a climax and leaves Ralph running for his life.  Had the Navy not seen the smoke of their fire and come to the island on a rescue mission Ralph too would of met his demise. 

Second time around I now get that it is supposed to teach you, independence, team work, leadership skills etc....  but there is a certain amount of bullying and violence and ultimately a murder contained within the pages of this novel.

I had thought that perhaps this was now off the list of acceptable reading material for our young people especially as we are constantly telling them that violence is not the answer, but Jenny over at  the  Urban Cottage tells me she is only in her 20's but remembers reading this at school.  I am glad that my own teenagers were not subjected to this particular read.  I still don't think that most 14-16 year olds would have this novel high on their list of must reads and from my distant memory of being a teenage girl it was definitely more for the male brain than the female.  Certainly my daughter would have been more concerned with where she would plug in her straighteners than keeping the camp fire going.  

I can now say that I have re-visited 'Lord of the Flies' it wasn't as bad as I had remembered and I can now say that I understand it's meaning but I don't think it is one I will be keeping on the bookshelf to read again in another 35 years.  

Have any of you read this novel? If so what were your thoughts?

Meanwhile happy reading time one and all.

Mx