{more} summertime reading

No sewing happening here, it's far too hot! 

Instead I've read a few more books over recent weeks.
It's a mixed bunch . . .

I found "Wearing Paper Dresses" by Anne Brinsden a compelling story about country Australia. The writing style is unique I must admit, everything is humanised (including the tea cosy), but once you go with it, it's kinda endearing.
City girl Elise marries country boy Bill and they end up moving back to (The) Mallee to help with Pa on the family farm. You get to know the characters well, Elise slow descent is heart breaking, and her two children are left to raise themselves as best they can.
Until tragedy strikes, and Marjorie flees to the city determined to leave her family behind. And there she stays, leading a very different life, until the boy she loves draws her back to the land she can't forget..."

'The Alice Network' by Kate Quinn was my favourite read last month. It's a historical novel about how two women are brought together in an amazing story of courage and redemption.

Telling two parallel tales, one of several female spies in Lille during WWI, the other of a pregnant college student looking for her cousin who went missing after the end of WWII.

I hadn't read anything before about women spies during WWI, so this was unique. The characters were great, so well described with lots of depth of understanding of what it was to be them. I loved it!

"Hello from the Gillespies" by Monica McInerney was a fun read. "For the past thirty-three years, Angela Gillespie has sent to friends and family around the world an end-of-the-year letter titled “Hello from the Gillespies.” It’s always been cheery and full of good news. This year, Angela surprises herself and tells the truth...."
Monica McInerney immediately drew me into the lives of this family with Angela, Nick, their three daughters and much younger son, Ig. Again another Australian read, set on an the outback sheep station. I found all three daughters annoying as characters, but I still wanted to find out how things panned out in the end!
So easy on the computer isn't it, to just to push 'send'...

"Big Lies in a Small Town" by Diane Chamberlain is a story about two women born in different times, woven seamlessly together. 2018 Morgan is in a North Carolina prison, she's offered a 'get out of jail free' card and she jumped at the chance. She’s been picked to restore a 1939 mural, designed for the Edenton post office but never hung. The only problem is Morgan is not certain she has the skill set to do the restoration and there is a timeline. Little does Morgan know the secrets she will find as she researches & restores the mural.

Next up to read is a book that all our bookclub are reading over summer, "The Dutch House" by Ann Patchett, and I'm looking forward to it. This is the second book I've read by Ann Patchett, 'Bel Canto' was a novel about a hostage crisis that goes wrong. Where lines of good vs evil are blurred. Where time is suspended. And I couldn't put it down!

Here's a section of Goodreads review -

"The Dutch House is a story of siblings, Danny and Maeve Conroy, their obsessive connection with the iconic family house they lived in as young children and how their lives unfolded over the years. The story is narrated by Danny over multiple non-linear time periods. The various time jumps and reflections back to important events felt like a jigsaw puzzle being built, where there is the uncertainty of the next piece but once it is placed, the complete picture becomes clearer and clearer."

Happy reading, Linda