February was a very quiet month, so lots of reading! The books we chose to read were a really good mix; not one thriller, which I understand is the most popular genre of book just now.
We had another great lunch earlier in the month when we put the world to rights.
We will discuss the following books at our next meeting on Thursday March 7th. Biggy hopes to be back with us for this meeting, so order will be resumed!
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate is a complex tale about two families, two generations apart, based on a notorious true-life scandal. Georgia Tann, director of an adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country.
Memphis, 1939 – twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shanty boat, but when their father has to rush their mother to hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge. That is when their troubles begin. They are wrenched from their home and thrown into an orphanage. The Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents, but they quickly realize that this is not the truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.
Aiken, South Carolina, present day – born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé and a lavish wedding on the horizon. Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis when a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption.
The Cactus by Sarah Haywood – People aren’t sure what to make of Susan Green, a prickly independent woman who has everything just the way she wants it and who certainly has no need for a messy emotional relationship. Family and colleagues find her standoffish and hard to understand. At forty-five, she thinks her life is perfect, as long as she can avoid her feckless brother. She has a London flat which is ideal for one, a job that suits her passion for logic and a personal arrangement providing cultural and other, more intimate, benefits. Yet suddenly faced with the loss of her mother and, implausibly, with the possibility of becoming a mother herself, Susan’s greatest fear is being realised; she is losing control. When she discovers that her mother’s will inexplicably favours her brother, Susan sets out to prove that Edward and his equally feckless friend Rob somehow coerced this dubious outcome. When problems closer to home become increasingly hard to ignore, she finds help in the most unlikely of places.
The Country Doctor by Vernon Coleman & The Young Country Doctor by Dr Vernon Coleman.
Vernon Coleman has written a series of books about life as a country doctor in Bilbury in Devon. We chose to read book 1.
It’s the 1970s and the village is old-fashioned and, in many ways, cut off from the world. The book includes the usual cast of villagers as well as the doctor and his wife. The book was full of humour and many of the characters would be recognisable in any village.
Next meeting March 7th 2pm in The Social Club, Camposol B.