Families, relationships and lost souls

Taking a chance to catch up with books I have been reading.
Going back through my reading journal to August and September 2018 I was reading some good books and enjoyed spending time at a family get together to celebrate my Aunties 80th birthday. (She had not long retired from being a nurse). In September my reading turned to grief, ghosts 

Desert Nurse by Pamela Hart

I enjoyed this book and recommended it to a few library patrons  and some family members.
This was a romance set mostly during the First World War. In Taree, Sydney and Egypt.
Evelyn Northey wants to become a doctor but her father refuses to let her have the education she needs and also her inheritance that will help pay for her education.
Evelyn gains nursing skills helping her father who is a doctor in his country medical practice.

The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes by Ruth Hogan.

This was another book I really enjoyed in August 2018.
Masha can not move forward or enjoy her life. Her young child was lost and presumed dead twelve years earlier. Masha spends her days trying to drown herself or talking to the souls in the local cemetery.
One day she meets an old woman and befriends another woman who has lost a child. Both woman help Mash mend her broken heart.

My reading in September took a turn to murder, secrets, ghosts and lost souls a library patron recommended that I would love a book, she kept reminding me about the book so I eventually read

Before I Let You In by Jenny Blackhurst

It was about friendship, relationships, stalking and murder. Karren is a psychiatrist, she has a deep secret from her childhood and a lover who has a secret. Her two best friends Bea and Eleanor have troubles. Bea has trouble committing herself to a relationship and Eleanor struggles to juggle being a mother and housewife and caring for her school aged son,

Karren takes on a new patient who knows too much about Karren and her life.

Song of the Damned by Sarah Rayne

A Phineas Fox Mystery published by Severn House 2018.

Phineas Fox is a music historian and researcher. He was asked to visit Cresacre School and help authenticate an Opera that was written by Gustav Tulliver. As well as investigating the opera Phineas also investigated an old mystery about the Creasacre Convent that was previously the site of the Creasacre school and the disappearance of a group of nuns in 1790’s.

This is a psychological murder mystery.  About the Chandos family that previously owned the land where Cresacre School is located, the Convent at Creascre and an old cottage in the grounds of Creasacre School. An old diary reveals some of the history of the Chandos family. It is set mostly in the present time and 1790’s.

Another book I enjoyed was about ghosts, families and inheritance

The Ghost Tree by Barbara Erskine

One of my favorite authors this one had every thing I love to read about. History, old diaries and ghosts.
Mostly set in London and Edinburgh, Ruth returns to her family home in Edinburgh, her father is dying and Timothy Bradford is living in the house caring for her father. After her father dies Ruth has trouble getting Timothy to leave.
Ruth discovers old diaries, letters and papers that had belonged to her ancestor Thomas Erskine.
As Ruth unravels Thomas Erskine's life story, she has to deal with evil Timothy and an evil ghost from her family tree who haunted Thomas and is now haunting Ruth.

Still reading books about people and their struggles Mary Kubica and Sharon Bolton  books hit all the right spots for me.

When the Lights Go Out by Mary Kubica 

This is a novel about two women. Eden in the late 1990's and Jessie in the present time. It is set mostly in Chicago in the present time. Jessie is a young woman whose mother is dying. After her mother's death Jessie tries to enroll in a college course but is told the Id she is using is the Id for someone who has died.

Jessie struggles to find out who she is. She can'r find her birth certificate or any papers that prove her identity.

Jessie sells her mother's house and finds somewhere else to live, all the while suffering from sleep deprivation.

There are flashbacks to the late 1990's to Eden, another young woman who is desperate to become a mother.

I loved the characters and how they interacted with others. I loved the ending.

Every Lost Lie by Mary Kubica

Clara's husband is killed in a car accident, Maisie, her four year old daughter was in the car and following the accident Maisie has a deep fear of black cars and a bad man.

Clara is convinced that her husbands accident was not an accident and tries to uncover the cause.

In the process she discovers her husband Nick had secrets. This was about grief, secrets and family relationships.