Book Summary:
Irene Stanley thought her world had come to an end when her teenage son, Shep, is murdered. Daniel Robbin, who had spent his teenage years in and out of trouble, gave himself up to the police and was given the state's harshest sentence: death by lethal injection. Now, nineteen years later, as the state penitentiary prepares to execute Robbin, Irene Stanley must reveal what she has been hiding from her family. That in order to survive the anger and grief she had at loosing her so, she not only had forgiven the man who killed him, but had come to be his friend. Her revelation stuns her family and cracks open the secrets that had been surrounding her son's death. Secrets that reveal how little she understood Shep, her husband, or herself. Dramatic, emotional, and ultimately uplifting, "The Crying Tree" is an unforgettable story of love and redemption, the unbreakable bonds of family, and the transformative power of forgiveness.
Book Summary:
He had always been scared of flying. Now, the fear is real. A plane crash. The water is rising over his mouth. In his nostrils. Lungs. As Daniel gasps, he swallows; and punches at his seat-belt. Nancy, the woman he loves, is trapped in her seat. He clambers over her, pushing her face into the headrest. It is a reflex, visceral action made without rational thought...But Daniel Kennedy did it. And already we have judged him from the comfort of our own lives. Almost a hundred years earlier, Daniel's great-grandfather goes over the top at Passchendaele. A shell explodes, and he wakes up alone and lost in the hell of no-man's-land. Where are the others? Has he been left behind? And if he doesn't find his unit, is he a deserter? Love; cowardice; trust; forgiveness. How will any of us behave when we are pushed to extremes?
The Book Summary:
1920. The Great War has been over for two years, and it has left a very different world from the Edwardian certainties of 1914. Following the death of his wife and baby and his experiences on the Western Front, Laurence Bartram has become something of a recluse. Yet death and the aftermath of the conflict continue to cast a pall over peacetime England, and when a young woman he once knew persuades him to look into events that apparently led her brother, John Emmett, to kill himself, Laurence is forced to revisit the darkest parts of the war. As Laurence unravels the connections between Captain Emmett's suicide, a group of war poets, a bitter regimental feud and a hidden love affair, more disquieting deaths are exposed. Even at the moment Laurence begins to live again, it dawns on him that nothing is as it seems, and that even those closest to him have their secrets ...
The Book Summary:
'Heddy Partridge was never my friend. I have to start with that. Heddy Partridge was never my friend because I was pretty, popular, clever and blonde and my friends were pretty, popular, clever and generally blonde, too. Heddy Partridge was none of these things.' Laura Hamley is the woman who has everything: a loving and successful husband, two beautiful children, an expensive home and a set of equally fortunate friends. But Laura's perfect world is suddenly threatened when she receives an unwelcome phone call from Mrs Partridge, mother of Heddy - the girl Laura and her friends bullied mercilessly at school. Heddy has been hospitalized following a mental breakdown, and Mrs Partridge wants Laura's help to get her released. As Laura reluctantly gets drawn back into the past, she is forced to face the terrible consequences of her cruelty. But, as her secrets are revealed, so too is another even more devastating truth, and the perfect world Laura has so carefully constructed for herself begins to fall apart. "This Perfect World" is the debut novel from a brilliant dark new voice.
My Report:
I'm so happy I found the following book site just snooping around. It's a UK book shop with a connected book club, and that's my cuppa tea once in a while just for a change of scenery. Alot of what they feature is similar to our best sellers list, but some of their books are new titles to me...ring of English authors and subjects...and are "must haves" for a staunch Anglophile like I am.
The above are my newest purchases which I can't wait to receive. They were on a half-price special right now with a link through "Richard and Judy's Book Club," a snappy and selective couple who review books having much to say and share about their choices. The books are bought through the bookseller WHSmith... I like the easy buying connection for US buyers and the half-price offer. Wonder how often that runs? They did show a bundle offer each season for all of the books recommended by Judy and Richard. But many of their chosen books are those we can find here for our Kindles or at our own bookstores, and aren't practical to buy as a bundle.
Judy and Richard each have a shot at reviewing the books they've chosen, they have author information, pdf excerpts of the books, author interviews, videos and the like. A wealth of information for the discerning reader and purchaser long distance.
All the books have different covers than the American volumes, which are fun as far as I'm concerned, as well.
Check the site out at: http://www.whsmith.co.uk/
Just thought I'd share my MIDNIGHT MARAUDING with you, dear Bookish Friends. Now you know why I stay up all night!
Deborah/TheBookish Stitching Dame
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