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.