February 16-22
Long Time Lost
I wanted a gripping mystery for this week, and to a great extent, this served the purpose. I ended up feeling that some of the protagonists were making unlikely choices near the end, to drive the plot, rather than fulfill their own stories. Good story, but didn’t hold me at the end.
We Are Called to Rise
This story made me cry. It brings together stories of unlikely allies. I loved the way the different threads were tied together at the end, bringing real characters, unique, but united in their humanity, together, with a strong message of hope. The Las Vegas background, as an ordinary place to grow up, provided a very interesting perspective too.
“What is most beautiful is least acknowledged.
What is worth dying for is barely noticed.”
The Woman Next Door
This story, by Yewande Omotoso, surprised and delighted me. It is set in Cape Town, and reveals the story of two women who live next door to each other, but despise each other, for a range of reasons. Circumstances lead to changes in their relationship, and the unfolding story of their interdependence is realistic and compelling.
California
Post-apocalyptic fiction, so appealing to me anyway, this story of a young couple struggling to survive in the wilderness was extremely satisfying. The conditions of the ‘apocalypse’ were frighteningly within the realm of the possible, and the subsequent journey also seemed real. This was a debut novel—I’ve downloaded her second to my Kindle and I’m eagerly awaiting her third, set to be released in May.
Their Finest
I’m saving this one for my Mom, who lived through parts of the blitz in London as a young child. This novel tells the story of an aspiring writer, called in to add feminine touches to scripts for screenplays during the Second World War. It’s funny, poignant, and interesting.
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