Those who attended our May session had enjoyed The Distance Between Us, where it is perhaps Maggie O’Farrell’s ability to present a retrospective view of what has already occurred in the lives of her central characters, Jake and Stella, which reveals most to the reader. Initially the narrative, almost in the style of a quality television drama, [...]
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What they say about it: Alice Shoemaker habitually goes to great lengths to avoid telling the truth about herself and her past. After agreeing to help out a friend, by shopping and cleaning for the unknown man staying at Cuckoo House, she soon becomes suspicious that her strange and obnoxiously rude client has something to [...]
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What they say about it: Ex fashion model and successful business woman Laura Ayars’ perfect world is shattered at a time which should have been the happiest of her life. On her honeymoon, her sports superstar husband goes for a swim – and never returns. But what has happened to David – can he really [...]
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What they say about it: Burning Bright follows the Kellaway family as they leave behind tragedy in rural Dorset and come to late 18th-century London. As they move in next door to the radical painter/poet William Blake, and take up work for a near-by circus impresario, the youngest family member gets to know a girl [...]
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Last night, Blackheath’s Reading Group met and discussed Tracy Chevallier’s Remarkable Creatures. This was well liked by all but one of our members. It is the story of Mary Anning, who spends her time looking for fossils on the beach at Lyme Regis in Dorset, and her friendship with Elizabeth Philpott who helps her sell [...]
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The April meeting of the group discussed Katherine Webb’s novel The Legacy. This novel, which appealed to those who attended the session, has an intriguing plot linking characters spanning five generations from both sides of the Atlantic. As Erica and Beth who are sisters living in present day society, with mixed feelings take up residence [...]
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What they say about it: One of the best-loved paintings in the world is a mystery. Who is the model and why has she been painted? What is she thinking as she stares out at us? Are her wide eyes and enigmatic half-smile innocent or seductive? And why is she wearing a pearl earring? [...]
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What they say about it “A comic novel on the grand scale written with tremendous confidence and verve. Mario, 18-year-old law student and radio news-editor, falls scandalously for his Aunt Julia, the 32-year-old divorced wife of a cousin, and the progressively lunatic story of this affair is interwoven with episodes from a series of radio [...]
Filed under: Book review, Culture, Family, Latin America, Satire | Tagged: Mario Vargas Llosa | Leave a Comment »
What they say about it: Gripping from the first page, this immense novel is an intoxicating and deeply satisfying read. Faber’s most ambitious fictional creation yet, it is sure to affirm his position as one of the most talented and brilliant writers working in the UK. Sugar, an alluring, nineteen-year-old whore in the brothel of [...]
Filed under: Book review, Family, London, Women | Tagged: Michel Faber | Leave a Comment »
The February meeting discussed Penelope Lively’s novel Family Album. The novel held the interest of those who attended as it seems to effectively present, through the recollections of various members of a family, a realistic impression of life as it really happens, a series of events, reflecting the dynamics of family life, which although unremarkable [...]
Filed under: Book review, Children, Death, Family, History, New Cross reading group, Women | Tagged: Penelope Lively | Leave a Comment »
