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A Great Deal Of Ingenuity by Ruth Leigh

Jan30

Re-Imagining Characters

A Great Deal Of Ingenuity: A Collection Of Pride And Prejudice Stories by Ruth Leigh is a wonderful collection of short stories surrounding Pride & Prejudice.

Ruth Leigh has clearly immersed herself in the world of Jane Austen. She has cleverly imagined the background stories of the minor characters in the famous novel.

In the original book, these characters are just mentioned in passing, nothing is known about them – until now. Ruth Leigh has developed all the characters into fully-rounded individuals.

The stories are all written in the first person, enabling us to really get to know them. We see their interactions with some of the more well -known characters in Pride & Prejudice.

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The Spa Break by Caroline James

Jan21

New Discoveries

The Spa Break by Caroline James is a really fun contemporary read that entertained me from the start.

The reader joins four friends in their sixties on a weekend spa break to celebrate a seventieth birthday.

Not shackled by the confines of daily life, it is a journey of discovery for each one of the four.

It is a time of new opportunities. Life is for living, and the four ladies certainly expand their horizons as they try out new activities.

Caroline James writes with much lightheartedness and wit. Her observations, as well as her dialogue, create the comedy.

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The Secret Jewish Sisters by Tikva Rager

Jan13

Internal Struggles

The Secret Jewish Sisters by Tikva Rager is a compelling historical novel. It is the first book in Unforgettable World War II Stories and can be read as a stand-alone. Each book in the series is written by a different author.

The book is fictional but is based on facts as we follow two young German Jewish sisters through the war years and beyond.

Smuggled out of Nazi Germany to Belgium, the two sisters are eventually hidden in a Catholic orphanage. They are physically hiding and they are also hiding who they really are. For the youngest sister, she believes she is Christian as she has no recollection of ever being Jewish. It is more complicated for the older sister as she remembers her Jewishness but makes a personal decision to become a Christian.

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Not Until Christmas Morning by Valerie M Bodden

Jan10

But Even If…

Not Until Christmas Morning by Valerie M Bodden is the most charming contemporary Christian Christmas novel that I absolutely loved. It is the fifth book in the Hope Springs series but can be read as a stand-alone.

This is a novel about love. There is the love of God for us. “The one she always needed… was the love of God, His agape, never-ending love.” No matter where we are in life, whether on the mountain top or in the valley, God loves us with an everlasting, unchanging love.

We witness love between humans as we follow three characters who have loved and been let down. It seems easier to push others away than to let them in and risk heart ache.

Twelve-year-old Jackson has been through many foster homes – everybody hands him back again until he meets foster mum Leah who loves him with an unfailing love. Jackson pushes her away but her love is faithful.

A character has pushed God away after an IED in Afghanistan robbed him of a limb and friends. “Anyone who could still believe in God after the things they’d seen in battle was crazier than him.” Austin pushes God away but God is faithful and waits for the prodigal to return home.

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