February and March 2020

 Reading books about people and their homes and sorting out their lives.

I was on holidays in March and when I went back to work mid March the library where I work was shut but staff were able to keep working. We were working with reduced staff but were able to get lots of work done. We did lots of cleaning, and discarding of old and grubby books. 

We were at Dorrigo, NSW early in March and loved our walk through the National Park.

After Dorrigo we went to Moree, NSW and had a few days soaking in the thermal pools.

Maggies' Going Nowhere by Rose Hartley

Set in Australia in the present time. Maggie and her boyfriend split up leaving Maggie homeless. Maggie's mother wants Maggie to get a job, find somewhere to live and become independent but Maggie buys a vintage caravan gets a volunteer job and struggles to manage on her own without electricity or a bathroom.

Lots of humor, friendship, families and volunteering work.

I really loved listening to an audio book from RB Digital.

The Girl At The Window by Rowan Coleman

I loved this book. It had everything that I love to read about. An old house near Howarth, conectioins with Emily Bronte. A romance, hauntings and lost souls.

Set in 1600's, 1800's and the present time. Agnes from the 1600's hides her life story in Ponden Hall. Years later Emily Bronte finds the hidden information in the library at Ponden Hall and in turn she hides her secret writings at Ponden Hall.

Trudy takes her young son home to Ponden Hall on the Yorkshire Moors after her husbsand went missing after an accident.

Trudy and her mother have a difficult relationship and together they work at providing a home for Trudy's son Will. 

Ponden Hall needs repairs and Trudy discovers the secret hidden in the old house and learns about her family and the people who used to live at Ponden Hall.

I loved every bit of this love story.

It Will Just Be Us by Jo Kaplan

This was a ghost story about people who lived in an old house – Wakefield Manor on the edge of a swamp in Virginia. What got me interested was the locked room. Why was it locked and what was in the room?

The family living in the house were haunted by their past and kept seeing ghosts of their life and the people who lived in the house before them.

Sam and her sister Elizabeth live with their mother at Wakefield Manor. The old house has many rooms haunted by memories.

The story and the house reminded me of a nightmare that I have had where I have wandered around and things change. I loved the creepiness, the feeling of being in a nightmare and always wondering what was in the locked room.

The Clutter Corpse by Simon Brett

Ellen Curtis lives in Chichester in the UK. Ellen’s job is to help people declutter their living spaces.

Ellen has two grown up children. Ellen is constantly concerned about her son Ben’s wellbeing while she juggles her homelife and working life.

Ellen tries to help her clients understand why they hoard as she helps declutter and clean their houses.

A friend of Ellen’s asks her to help declutter a house of her client, while surveying the extent of the job Ellen discovers a corpse under a pile of clutter and gets involved in trying to help with the murder investigations.

This was a murder mystery about family relationships, friendships, drug dealing and depression.

The Other You by J.S. Monroe

Set mostly on the coast of Cornwall and London and Britany.

Kate had been working for the police and a Super Recogniser until an accident left her with a brain injury. Rob has been trying to help her recover. Her ex-partner Jake is sent a CCTV film that starts him looking into who the mystery Rob really is.

This is full of twists and turns. It is about friendships, relationships, identity and murder. It was fast paced and creepy.

Truths I never Told You by Kelly Rimmer

This was set in the 1950s and 1996. Four children tasked with the care of their dying father Patrick. Patrick has dementia and heart disease and is put into an aged care facility. His four children are Tim, Jeremy, Ruth and Beth, they are all very close and regularly get together with their father for weekly family dinners

Beth the youngest child starts the task of cleaning and sorting their father’s house. Beth struggles with being a new mum and her family members urge her to reach out and have counselling.

Beth discovers the door to the attic is locked, when the door is unlocked, she is shocked by what she finds. In amongst the jumble of possessions and rubbish Beth discovers strange paintings and handwritten notes that appear to have been written by her mother.

Beth struggles to piece together the information she finds with what she remembers about her mother Grace.

This was about family relationships, post-partum depression and secrets.

I loved the way it was written switching back and forward between Grace,

Beth and Maryanne. Each telling their story.

January 2020

On New Years Eve 2019 our peace and quiet on a dead end road near the beach was disturbed by hundreds of cars, vans, mini buses and taxis driving past looking for a place to park so that people could attend beach party on the beach. There were people camping on the side of the road and no toilet provisions. The next day many of the people who had been dropped off by taxis or mini busses had no transport to get back to the nearest town. They had to walk or ring for a taxi. It was really hot and they had no water. Lots of people stopped at my house asking for water and wanting to sit in the shade on my veranda while waiting for a ride home.

New Years Day 2020, cars and vans parked near our house on side of road.

Was able to do a lot of reading in January, too hot to do anything else.

Seven Letters by Sinead Moriarty.

A very sad book. A mother writes a letter to her young daughter every year on her birthday and keeps them in her journal.

Stalked. The Human Target by Rachel Cassidy

A non-fiction book about people's experiences of being stalked.

The Garden of Lost and Found by Harriet Evans

I love the way Harriet Evans writes her stories. This one was set in London in a house overlooking Highgate Cemetery and Nightingale House not far from London. It is about artists, architects, family relationships and a lost painting called The Garden of Lost and Found.

A Million Dreams by Dani Atkins

Beth Brandson owns a flower shop and makes a decision that will change her life, Izzy Vaughan's life and all she believes will be tested. this was about families, relationships, IVF and infertility.

 The Girl In the Letter by Emily Gunnis

An old house that used to be a home unmarried mothers is about to be demolished when secret letters are found. Samantha Harper tries to find out the secrets of the old mansion.

Snowdrops on Rosemary Lane by Ellen Berry

Lucy Scott is a married to Ivan and has two children. Lucy works for an online lingerie retailer. When she is offered a redundancy, she buys a cottage that she remembered as a child in a small village where she used to spend holidays with her grandmother.

Lucy and her family move to the small village to set up a bed and breakfast.

This was about families, friendships and village life.

The Forbidden Promise by Lorna Cook

This was set over two time periods 1940’s and 2019 at Invermoray House in Scotland. Constance McLay is a young woman living at Invermoray House she is not happy with her lot in life and wants to help with the War effort by working but her family won’t let her, they expect her to marry Henry but Constance is not ready for marriage.

Constance secretly helps a pilot who crashes in the lake near Invermoray house which upsets her family.

In 2019 Kate leaves London and goes to Scotland to work at Invermoray House to help Mrs Langley-McLay promote Invermoray House as a holiday destination.

Kate discovers old photographs of Constance McLay and other family members and tries to discover what happened many years earlier.

This is a romance about families and family relationships, the Second World War and Invermoray House. I loved the way it switched back and forward between Constance in the 1940’s and Kate in 2019.

Fresh Water For Flowers by Valerie Perrin

Violette Toussaint has had a difficult life and is finally at peace working at the cemetery. Violette first worked as a level crossing attendant with her husband before being given a job of a cemetery caretaker at Brancion-en-Chalon Cemetery in Burgundy.

This was about a woman who is a caretaker of a cemetery. She opens the cemetery gate each morning and locks the gate at night. Through the day she helps people find graves, removes dead flowers, waters flowers and helps to keep the cemetery tidy.

Violette tends to the graves and is a friend to the cemetery workers. She feeds the cats that live at the cemetery and sells flowers to cemetery visitors. Violette has many favourite epitaphs one of them is – “Death begins when no one can dream of you any longer”

(I can really feel how Violette feels because many years ago I spent months transcribing all the inscriptions in a local cemetery near me and after a while I started feeling that I knew everyone in the cemetery).

As Violette tells the story of the people who visit the cemetery and the people buried in the cemetery, she gradually uncovers the mystery of her life.

This was about relationships, families, grief, cemeteries and secrets. I loved the way this was written and how Violette’s story was revealed.

November and December 2019

 Too hot to go anywhere, bush fires and smoke everywhere. Somedays the power was off and could not use air conditioner or fan. Did lots of reading and cooking. Cooked an easy tomato soup using lots of tiny tomatoes were are growing.

My tomatoes cooking.

Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica

A good mystery. Set in USA mostly in present time with flashbacks to earlier years.

The Family Upstairs By Lisa Jewell

A family living in a large house in Chelsea, London invited a few people to move in to help pay household expenses. Sinister things begin to happen. A very creepy novel.

Star-Crossed by Minnie Drake

I loved this novel. It was full of humour with some laugh out loud moments. I loved the characters and the situations that they were placed in. It was set in Australia mostly in Alexandra Park in a large city.

It is about Nick Jordan and Justine Carmichael they were best friends when in Primary School in a small country town called Edenvale. Justine was a Sagittarius and loved words, reading and spelling. Nick was an Aquarius and totally believed in his stars.

Years later Justine is living in Alexandra Park in a city close to where she grew up and working for Alexandra Park Star a local newspaper. Justine’s job was to run and fetch as required and she was hoping to eventually be offered a cadetship in journalism.

Nick was between jobs and thinking about getting back together with an old girlfriend. Nick has been offered a part as Romeo in a small company and decided to take up the part based on what his horoscope predicted.

Justine is offered a promotion and one of her jobs is to transcribe the monthly horoscopes sent in by fax from a correspondent who lives on an island. Justine decides to slightly adjust the horoscope for Aquarius in the hope to get Nick to change his mind about getting back with his old girlfriend. Things don’t go as planned and the lives of many Aquarians who regularly follow their stars are set off on alternative courses.

This is a wonderfully constructed plot and follows the life on many different people who are affected by the changes that Justine makes in the monthly horoscope. I loved the way it all comes together.

Postscript by Cecelia Ahern

This was a sequel to PS I Love You and a sampler of 37 pages.  It is set in Ireland. Holly Kennedy works for her sister in a second-hand shop called Magpie. It has been seven years since Holly’s husband Gerry died from cancer. Before Gerry died, he left ten letters for Holly to open each month after his death. Each letter ended with “PS I love you”. Holly is asked to speak about how the letters helped her get her life back together. She speaks to an audience of friends and family in her sister’s shop and the interview is broadcast in a podcast.

Many people listen to the podcast and a small group of people suffering from cancer or other terminal illness form a group and call themselves “The PS, I Love You Club”. They want Holly to help them write letters so they can leave something for their families.

Holly does not want to get involved but she gives in and helps after meeting the club members.

This was only a small sampler of Postscript but I loved it and I have since read the book and fully enjoyed the book, I loved the humour and the sadness, Holly’s family and friends and the stories of the members of the “PS, I Love You Club”

 

A Long Time Coming by Robin W. Pearson

Beatrice Agnew known as Granny B to her family has lived in the same house since she was a young woman. She brought up seven children. Their life was difficult. Her husband walked out on them many years ago. She has kept her secrets about her life well hidden until one day when her granddaughter Evelyn comes to visit and accidentally finds a box full of letters.

Evelyn is not happy in her marriage but is trying to get all the family together for her mother’s birthday, but Granny B wants nothing to do with it.

This was about families and family relationships and identity. I gradually got to like the family members as their life was revealed.

The Butterfly Room by Lucinda Riley

Posy Montague lives with her parents in a large house in Suffolk during the 2nd World War. Posy's father is a pilot and Posy has many happy memories of collecting butterflies with her father. He dies in 1944 and Posy is sent to live with her grandmother in Cornwall. Years later Posy returns to her family home in Suffolk and spends all her time creating and working in her garden. The home has been in her family for 300 years. When Posy turns 70 and trying to decide to sell the home she discovers family secrets.

This was about secrets, families and family relationships.

Miss Austen by Gill Hornby

This is an historical novel. It is about Jane Austen and her family members. Their life is told through letters written by Jane and her sister Cassandra to family members. I loved the way their life was revealed and how different members of the extended family viewed Jane Austen’s writing ability.

Jane’s older sister Cassandra is getting old and is concerned about letters Jane and Cassandra wrote to their relative at Kintbury Vicarage over many years. In 1840 Cassandra travels to Kintbury Vicarage to help her relative pack up in preparation of leaving the Vicarage. Cassandra is on a mission to find the letters.

 

The Tenth Muse by Catherine Chung

I loved it, all about numbers, theorems, mathematics, identity and women wanting to be recognised for their contribution to science.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow

January Scaller lives with Mr Locke while her father travels the World looking for unusual artefacts. This is about families, greed, identity and belonging. It is a fantasy where January's father came from a different world and time through doors between paralel places.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Mary Catherine Blackwood called Merricat lives with her sister Constance and Uncle Julian. Her sister was acquitted with murdering their parents, brother and Julian's wife. A very disturbing family unliked in their community.

The Girl in the Painting by Tea Cooper

An historical mystery set in Australia mostly between 1906 to 1913 with flashbacks to the 1860’s and 1870’s.

Jane Piper was left at an orphanage when she was a baby. Jane likes numbers and learning. Michael Quinn and his sister Elizabeth organise a scholarship so Jane can further her education.  When Jane gets older, she helps Michael and Elizabeth in their business.

An artist visits Maitland and some of her work is displayed in a gallery. Elizabeth Quinn visits the gallery and her life and everything she believes is suddenly changed as she regains long forgotten memories to an earlier time. Jane and the artists son help Elizabeth.

I loved the way Jane Piper was helped by Michael and Elizabeth Quinn. I also liked the way the history of Michael Quinn and his sister was told. Gradually revealing all their secrets.

This is about families, identity, immigration and early Australian history set in gold rush town of Hill End, Sydney and Maitland.

October 2019

 The Painted Castle by Kristy Cambron

A mysterious painting by an unknown artist turns up at Framlingham Castle Estate in East Suffolk County in England. Keira Foley is commissioned as an Art Historian to research the history of the painting. Keira’s research takes us back through history to the Parnham Hill Estate in Framlingham in the 1840’s and to the 1940’s during World War two when the castle was home to officers from the nearby airbase and small group of children evacuated during the war.

The novel tells the story of the different people living at the Parnham Hill Estate.

It is a romance about artists, art dealers, World War Two. I loved the way the story was woven around the castle and Parnham Hill Estate and the lives of the people who loved there.

Lake Season by Denise Hunter

Set in a small lakeside town called Bluebell in North Carolina in the present time with flashbacks to the 1960’s. Levi, Molly and Grace Bennett are trying to fulfill their parents dream of renovating their family home into an Inn. Their parents were killed in an accident.

Molly gives up her dream of taking up an internship in a hotel in Italy to help run the Inn with her brother and younger sister.

Their house was historic and in earlier days had once been a post office. The builders find a letter that had managed to get caught between the post box and the timber cladding.

Molly sets out to find out about the sender of the letter. She is helped by a resident staying at the Inn. I loved this story.  It was written in the present time and the 1960’s. It is a romance about families, grief, relationships, secrets and identity.

We Met In December by Rosie Curtis

This was a slow-moving romance about ta group of people living in a share house in the present time in Notting Hill.

Jess moves to Notting Hill to live in a share house owned by her friend Becky. Becky inherited the house and invited four friends to live in the house with her.
Jess has a job in publishing. She loves taking photographs of interesting views for Instagram so she can share her life with her grandmother Beth who also has an Instagram account.
Alex also lives in Becky’s house, he gave up being a lawyer and is training as a nurse, on his weekends off he takes Jess on walking tours around London.
This was a nice romance about friendships, relationships and families.

 

All Good Things Come to An End

Books I was reading in September 2019

 Finished my holiday at end of August and worked a week and then was on another two weeks holiday. We did try to make a booking to go to Binna Burra Mountain Lodge in Queensland but there were bush fires everywhere and our favorite holiday destination was burnt to the ground and everything destroyed. Looks like we will just stay at home instead of travelling too many bush fires.

Enjoying a glass of wine at sunset on the terrace near dinning room at Binna Burra, Queensland, in May 2018

 

Welcome sign at Binna Burra Mountain Lodge in May 2018

At home most of September 2019 so I did a lot of reading.

Heart's Ease by Sarah Harrison

This was about a family and their house. Set between 1977 and the present time with a hint of history about earlier times and families who previously lived in the house.

Marguerite and her husband Hugh and their children live in a happy house called Heart’s Ease by the seaside near Salting Bay in the UK.

Their children grow up happy in their home surrounded by love. It is about families, family life, relationships and a house called Heart’s Ease. I loved the way the family members interact with each other and new relationships.

You Don't Know Me by Sara Foster

This was set in Australia and Thailand in the present time with flashbacks to earlier times. It is about two young people who both have secrets. They meet in Thailand and fall in love.

Noah is on holiday in Thailand having some time out before his family need to attend an inquest about the disappearance of his brother’s girlfriend Lizzie twelve years earlier. Noah and his brother do not get on. Noah’s parents work hard running a restaurant and need Noah to come home and help but Noah wants to stay in Thailand to get to know Alice.

Alice is in Thailand trying to escape memories of a tragedy in Australia involving her family.

This is full of tension. Alice is afraid of returning to Australia, Noah wants to stay with Alice but needs go home to help his parents.

The tension builds up and secrets are revealed. Can Noah and Alice get together?

This was about families, relationships, murder and secrets. I loved the way the secrets were gradually revealed.

Still sitting at home sorting out stuff. We went for a drive and had lunch at Eltham Pantry at Eltham, NSW. Lunch was delicious. Went for a drive through Booyong and Nashua and back through Clunes on Bangalow Road.

Finished reading a few more books in September.

The Memory Tree by Linda Gillard

I loved this book. The history of a house, the people who lived in the house and an old Beech Wood tree that stood for years and witnessed heartache and secrets. Set in the present time, during World War 1 and 1934. Ann is trying to remember something. Phoebe has kept a secret and Connor is trying to find out what secret his grandmother Ivy discovered. Phoebe is an artist who struggles to paint and look after herself. Her daughter Ann tries to help. When the old beech wood tree falls over in a storm a hidden box is found in the trunk containing mysterious empty seed packets.  Ann, Phoebe and Connor try to solve the mystery of why Ivy tried to destroy her family’s archives. This was about families, relationships, identity and romance.

House of Trelawney by Hannah Rothschild

 Set in 2008 in Cornwall. This grabbed my interest because it was about an old crumbling castle that had been owned by the same family for 800 years. The Earl’s of Trelawney had been very wealthy and owned extensive properties. The Castle Trelawney was enormous with many rooms. Over the years the Earl’s had to sell off land and assets to pay their debts and eventually the Castle fell into disrepair and the present Earl had no money to repair the crumbling castle.

This is about Jane and Kitto Tremayne and their family who are living in the castle that is falling down around them. They might have titles such as Earl, Viscount or Viscountess but they have no heating in their rooms, no staff to cook and clean.

Everything is a drudge for Jane, Viscountess Tremayne and very different to the days when she was young and friends with Anastasia and her sister in-law Blaze.

Jane Tremayne looks after the vegetable gardens, does all the cooking and cares for her in-laws, her husband and three children. The family are tired of eating cottage pie.

Everything changes when a letter arrives from an old friend of Jane’s. Anastasia is dying and asks Jane to provide a home for her daughter, Ayesha.

Blaze lives a comfortable life in London and makes a living from financial markets. Blaze also receives a letter from Anastasia and is financially able to provide a home for Ayesha.

Not everything is as it should be, someone is scheming against the Tremayne’s and Blaze.  Ayesha is also scheming to get what her mother wanted.

This is about families, relationships, stock markets and revenge.

The Secret Hours by Santa Montefiore

 I really enjoyed The Secret Hours. It was the 4th part of a quartet but was still a complete story and able to be read without the first three parts.

I loved the beginning when in a dream Faye sees herself in a castle walking up a stairwell and opening a door where she sees a woman who looks like her. 

I have had similar dreams and they feel so real, like your ancestors are trying to tell you something.

The novel was mostly set in Ireland in 1969 and the 1890's. It switches back and forward to tell Faye's mother's story.

Black Swan Rising by Lee Carroll

This was a fantastic novel about artists and dealers. Garet James opens an old silver box and her world changes. This was fast paced and full of danger for Garet.

Music and Macabre by Sarah Rayne

Another Phineas Fox mystery set in London in the present time and the 1880’s/1890’s. Phineas Fox is researching background for a music biography on a Franz Listz a music composer.

In an old bookshop near St martin’s Lane Phineas finds some interesting books with references to a music hall performer who had some connections with Listz. In one of the old books there was a mysterious sketch that leads to further research.

Phineas is helped by his friends Toby and Arabella as he sifts through evidence. The documents they find go back to the 1880’s and the time of Jack the Ripper, Music Halls and a performer called Scaramel.

The story is fast paced as it switches between the present time and the 1880’s/1890’s. I loved the way the evil was portrayed in the present time and back in the time of Jack the Ripper. This was a historical murder mystery about composers, music and music hall performers. I have loved reading Sarah Rayne mysteries for many years.

House of Brides by Jane Cockram

My attention was grabbed the moment Barnsley House was mentioned. Many years ago, I saw a picture of Barnsley House in a country gardens book and wanted to know more about the house.

I loved the descriptions of the house and gardens and the people living in the house. Miranda lives with her domineering father and stepmother and two half- sisters. Miranda was very young when her mother died and she only fleeting memories of her mother.

Miranda’s mother lived at Barnsley House as a child and wrote a book about the woman who married into the Summer family. Miranda’s father will not talk about Barnsley House and Miranda knows nothing about her relatives on her mother’s side of the family.

When a mysterious letter arrives from Barnsley House, Miranda decides to go to Barnsley House to find out the family secrets against her father’s wishes.

This was set mostly on the coast of England’s West Country.

I loved the way Miranda stumbles into the developing mysteries of Barnsley House and poses as the advertised Nanny while she tries to find out about the family secrets.

August 2019

 I was reading lots of good books in August. Early in August I was called up to do Jury Duty. I was there half a day but was not picked. The process is very interesting. 
Finished reading Good Girl Bad Girl by Michael Robotham
Evie Cormac is in care and wants to be released but can not prove she is 18 because she can't tell anyone her name or date of birth. Cyrus Haven a psychologist tries to help her.
I love books by Michael Robotham, I met him a few years ago at Bryon Bay writers Festival, a friend of mine was taught by his father at Casino High School.

We were on holiday at the end of August went on a long road trip, had lots of dramas and needed to do some repairs to our campervan but we had a good trip and stopped at some of our favorite places.

There are some good walks at Cania Gorge near Moto in Queensland.

A book I enjoyed reading while on holiday was Through the Wall by Caroline Corcorun

This was about two women. Harriet lives on her own and Lexie lives with her partner Tom in the flat next door. The walls are thin and they can hear what happens next door through the walls.

Harriet envies Lexie’s life and is convinced that Tom should be her partner. Lexie is envious of Harriet’s life. They both spend time using Google to find out about each other. It was creepy and scary and you never knew what was going to happen next.

The story switches between Harriet and Lexie and their insecurities. It is about relationships and stalking. Every new chapter reveals a bit more about Harriet’s life and Lexie’s insecurities working from home.

I loved the way the tension built up and the description of the characters.

Another book I finished reading was Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams

This was a romance with lots of humor. Set in the present time. Nadia Fielding is always late for work and is planning to start a new routine of being more organized. She has two best friends and works in artificial intelligence developing new technologies.

Daniel Weissman is getting over the death of his father and lacks confidence to talk to a woman he admires so he places a notice in the local paper under “Missed Connections” in the hope that she would see it and maybe speak to him one morning on the train.

Nadia’s friends are certain that the notice is about Nadia and they try to convince Nadia to reply to Daniel’s notice.

I loved this romance and the way Nadia’s friends try to set up romantic connections. This was a fun romantic story with lots of twists and turns that will keep you guessing. I loved the ending.