Archive | June 2024

The People On Platform 5 by Clare Pooley

Jun7

Be More Iona

The People On Platform 5 by Clare Pooley is the most charming contemporary novel that I absolutely adored and read it in just two sittings. It was a book I never wanted to end.

Clare Pooley has created a wonderful set of eclectic characters, all totally unique but with one thing in common – they all catch the train into London at the same time. As we meet them, the reader warms to them all. It is easy to envisage the characters and their train carriage setting. They all give each other nicknames in side their heads which is believable as I do that too!

Each day is identical to all the others – until one day and a grape! This is a pivotal day on which everything changes.

Iona is a social, brightly coloured butterfly in a world of grey. Her personality lights up a room. She is also very wise, having a lot of life experience. At fifty seven years old, this beautiful butterfly is invisible at work, passed over in favour of the younger generation. She is not the only one for whom work is important. “If he were no longer a trader, then who would he be?” Our identity should not be tied up in our jobs, we are so much more than what we do for a living.

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The Lie Maker by Linwood Barclay

Jun7

Exciting & Compelling

The Lie Maker by Linwood Barclay is a gripping contemporary crime suspense that I became totally engrossed in.

Linwood Barclay knows how to weave an excellent tale. His plotline is complex and well executed. I hung on for dear life as the tale twisted this way and that.

We see that people and life are not always black and white. More often than not, people come in varying shade of grey.

Family is important. Sometimes in order to protect the family, tough choices have to be made. Sacrifices are the order of the day. In contrast, a warped sense of loyalty sees a character determined to get revenge, and will stop at nothing in order to achieve it.

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The Golden Gals French Adventure by Judy Leigh

Jun5

Leaves The Reader Smiling

The Golden Gals French Adventure by Judy Leigh is a most charming contemporary novel that I absolutely loved. I sank into the tale like a cosy bathrobe. It was a pure delight.

Life is for living. Too often our lives are caught up with work and duty. As we get older, we have choices to make. In the tale we meet characters who are approaching seventy and at crossroads in life – to continue as they have always done? Or to take a new direction?

The two main characters are chalk and cheese – Fliss has had a successful business and a life that revolved around networking, spending money and drinking. Her life is lonely in retirement. Those whom she thought of as friends, turn out to merely be acquaintances who do not want to meet up, seeing as she is now serving no useful purpose to them.

The other character, Shirl, is Fliss’ cleaner. She is approaching sixty. She is more than just a cleaner, she is a true friend to Fliss. Shirl is a family woman. She still looks after her grown up daughter and granddaughter. Shirl is a kind hearted soul, taking pleasure in the simple things in life.

The unlikely pairing of Fliss and Shirl take a holiday to France, staying in the coastal house of a friend of Fliss. Here, the fresh air opens up more than lungs, it opens up both the women’s lives.

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Nisha’s War by Dan Smith

Jun4

Look For The Light

Nisha’s War by Dan Smith is a terrific children’s historical novel, for ages ten years and over. It is a book that will educate you as you read, whilst also entertaining.

The novel is set in 1942 on Barrow Island in the north east of England. There is a secondary location of a rubber plantation in Malaysia in 1941. We ‘hear’ of events in Malaysia and Singapore as the Japanese invaded. These are written down in Nisha’s journal.

Nisha and her mother left their lives behind, fleeing with only the clothes they wore. We hear how terrifying it was as Japanese planes strafed civilians and the chaos at the docks in Singapore. The welcome from Nisha’s paternal grandmother is rather cold.

Life in Malaysia was bright and colourful. In contrast, life on Barrow Island is cold and grey. There is a veil of heaviness that has nothing to do with Hitler’s bombs.

Fear has imprisoned characters, along with its’ partners, guilt and regret. Nisha has a terrible guilty secret weighing her down. She learns that she is not alone. “Children weren’t the only ones to have worries. They weren’t the only ones to have fear and guilt and pain and sadness.” Lives are burdened and grey.

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