September and October Busy Busy Busy

 

Learning how to use Zoom and saving backgrounds. I used this photo of artwork provided by a local school for a background on Zoom. 

Did lots of reading and also listened to a Podcast from the NSW State Library - The Gatherings Order. This was about the Influenza Pandemic of 1919. Spanish Flu. 

The Forgotten Sister Nicola Cornick

A historical mystery set in the present time and Tudor England. Lizzie Kingdom is able see back into the past when she touches certain objects.

A Keeper by Graham Norton

After her mother's death Elizabeth Keane travels to Ireland to the house she grew up in ready to clean out the house so that it can be sold. In the house she finds a small bundle of letters that send Elizabeth off in search of the secrets of her mother;s past.

A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville

317 pages. This only took 2 days to read. It was fiction about the possible life of Elizabeth MacArthur. Set in the late 1780's and 1790's mostly in Australia.

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

Loved it. It was written in 2011 and set mostly in 1920's and 1930's. Molly is in Foster Care and while doing Community Service meets Vivian an elderly woman in her 90's. Molly helps Vivian sort out a stack of boxes in her attic.

While they sort the boxes and decide what to keep Vivian tells her life story to Molly.

The Animals of Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey

An old sprawling house - "four floors, six sets of steps, and ninety-two rooms" - my favorite type of house, how could I not read it. Set in 1939 Hetty is in charge of the safe keeping of a large collection of mammals from a Natural History Museum in London.

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon

A ghost story. 555 pages.

Letters From the Past by Erica James

Set mostly in 1962 with flashbacks to earlier years. A story about families and secrets.

The Outcast Girls by Alys Clare

Set mostly in the 1880’s in England. Lily Raynor runs a Private Enquiry Agency with the help of Felix Wilbraham. Lily is asked to investigate the disappearance of girls from a girl’s boarding school – Shardlowes in the Fens.

Many of the girls in the school are from orphanages or disadvantaged in some way. Lily travels to the school and takes a position as school nurse to try and out what is going on at the school and who is responsible for the disappearances of students.

This was about family relationships, boarding schools, charity organisations and secrets.

Cartographer's Secret by Tea Cooper

Set in Australia, mostly in 1911 with flashbacks to 1880. Lettie Rawlings is getting over the death of her older brother Thorne, when an opportunity to travel to Yellow Rock in the Hunter Valley of NSW to visit her Great Aunt Olivia. Lettie’s mother wants Lettie to inform Olivia of Thorne’s death and introduce herself in the hope of inheriting the family properties that would have went to Thorne.

Lettie spends time at her Great Aunts property and gradually learns about her family history and passions of her Grandfather and the disappearance of her mother’s sister Evie.

Lettie pieces together Evie’s notes, maps and paperwork in her grandfather’s study.

I loved the way the characters interacted and how the family secrets were revealed.

I particularly liked the way Lettie was able to sift through the contents of her Grandfather’s study and discover information about early Australian explorer’s.

This was about family relationships, rural life, exploration and secrets.

The Healer by Alison Butler

This was an historical romance novel set in 1402 on the border between Scotland and England. Lynelle has been an outcast from her father and family at Fenwick Keep. She lived with a healer where she was able to learn some healing skills. Her half brother Thomas is captured during a raid and Lynelle tries to rescue her brother, hoping that she will be welcomed back into her family. Lynelle offers herself as a healer in exchange for the return of her brother.

William Kirkpatrick wants to return to his family Castle on the Scottish border. His young brother has been injured and is need of a healer if he is to survive the journey. William does not trust healers but takes up Lynelle’s offer.

 This was a fun easy to read historical romance.