Book #10 The Newcomer

The Newcomer by Fern Britton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My third book by Fern Britton and my thanks to HarperCollins publishers and NetGalley for this ARC of The Newcomer. When I have overindulged in thrillers and police procedurals this is my comfort zone. Fern loves Cornwall where she lives part of her time. I too love Cornwall. This time the locale is Pendruggan, a village full of wonderful characters who will soon make the acquaintance of Reverend Angela Whitehorn, her handsome husband Robert, daughter Faith and Angela's aunt Mamie Buchanan. The resident vicar, Simon Canter and his family, are off to Brazil for a year. Pendruggan will be Angela's first parish following her ordination. Vicar of Pendruggan. Vicar for a year. What can go wrong....?

The scene is set for another delicious family saga as Angela works to fit in with the locals, including the local battle-axe Audrey Tipton and her henpecked husband Geoffrey. And then there's Helen and Piran and the delightful Queenie, an elderly, no-nonsense woman who runs the village shop. She and Mamie become close friends and Mamie knows how to sort out Queenie's arthritis with a spliff or two!

So much goes on here. There is love, drama, suspicion and great sadness, but above all this charming tale is uplifting. A lot of fun to read, curled up under a duvet with a cup of hot chocolate.

Thank you Fern. You've done it again!

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Book #9/2019 The Cut Out Girl

The Cut Out Girl: A Story of War and Family, Lost and Found by Bart van Es
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very moving account of one man's investigation into tracing his 'aunt' Lien and telling her story. A searing exploration of two lives and two families. Lien was given away by her Jewish parents in the Hague in the hope she might be saved from the hell of the Nazi death camps. Lien is hidden and raised by a foster family in the provinces during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. She was moved on many occasions - and survived the war only to find out that her real parents had not. Many years later she fell out with her foster family and Bart van Es (the author) - and the grandson of Lien's foster parents - needed to find out why.

He tracks Lien down - now in her eighties - in Amsterdam and forms a lasting bond with her as she recounts the events that occurred since being a 'hidden child'. This is a deeply moving story about the fate of most Jews who lived in the Netherlands during the 2nd World War, a story of love, heartache, despair and misunderstanding - but also uplifting. A necessary story that we should never forget.



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Book #8/2019 The Honey Bus: A Memoir of a Girl Saved by Bees

The Honey Bus: A Memoir of a Girl Saved by Bees by Meredith May
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Everyone should read The Honey Bus, a parable for our time, a beautifully composed memoir of, for the most part, a young girl - Meredith May - who, with her younger brother Matthew, experiences the despair of a broken home, separated parents and a dysfunctional mother. Moved away from their father and Rhode Island to live with grandparents in California. Step-grandpa is a beekeeper, has been for many years. A fount of knowledge about honey bees and their invaluable contribution to life. Uses an old military bus converted for use to harvest honey. Meredith is captivated and comes to learn everything about the husbandry of bees from grandpa, who loves her and her brother, unconditionally. Meredith's personality will be shaped by the life lessons learned in a bee yard. Every child should have that same opportunity to grow.

A story of love, hope, despair, redemption - a wake up call to help honey bees live closer to the way nature intended - bees that are threatened with Varroa destructor and a host of newer diseases such as Nosema gut pathogen and the Slow Bee Paralysis virus.

Meredith does her small part - she owes her Grandpa at least that much to continue his work - and she owes it to the bees...

The Honey Bus has left a lasting impression on me and has been an education about the vital need for us to help honey bees survive. Without them we are lost...

The highest possible recommendation from me. I urge you to read The Honey Bus.

My thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

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Book #7/2019 The Ghost Fields

The Ghost Fields: The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries 7 by Elly Griffiths
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths. The Ghost Fields is number 7 and it really is as well to read them in order as there are threads that run through the series that lock your interest and enthusiasm for the characters.

Dr Ruth Galloway is a professor of forensic archaeology at the University of North Norfolk. She likes cats (an endearing trait for me!), Bruce Springsteen, bones and books. She does not like organised religion. She has a now five-year-old daughter, Kate, fathered by DCI Harry Nelson after a brief extra-marital affair. Nelson is married to Michelle. He leads the Serious Crimes Unit in Norfolk. Michael Malone is a lovable character, also know as Cathbad. Born in Ireland and brought up as a catholic he now thinks of himself as a druid and shaman. DS David Clough (Cloughie) is Nelson's bagman, born in Norfolk - a tough, dedicated officer who dislikes political correctness and graduate police officers. He likes food, football, beer - and his job. And then there is DS Judy Johnson who now co-habits with Cathbad and has just given birth to a daughter. I have followed their lives since book #1 with great fondness.

In a blazing heatwave in Norfolk a construction crew unearth a World War Two plane. The body inside isn't the pilot. A television company discovers bones on their latest shoot on a pig farm. They're human bones... One local family, the Blackstocks, links the two grisly discoveries and Ruth must solve the mystery of the ghost fields. With an inevitability she finds herself in harms way in a finish that has the pulse racing - a fabulous page-turner - that left me quite breathless come the end.

Hats off to Elly Griffiths. You have done it again!



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Book #6/2019 The Boy and His Dog at the End of the World

A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I fear I am about to upset the apple-cart, having read so many good reviews of A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World. It just wasn't for me. This post apocalyptic story (if that is a correct description - it's not dystopian) is depressing. It is very well written but I came close to abandoning before finishing on a number of occasions. After cataclysmic events the tale unfolds around 100 years post 'the event' when the world's population is apparently reduced to around 7,500 (of what used to be 7.5 billion before 'the Gelding'). No electricity, no computers, no communication, no hope.

If this is 'the end of the world' I'll take a rain-check...

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