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The Haunting Of Hattie Hastings by Audrey Davis

Mar12

Squeeze The Day

The Haunting Of Hattie Hastings by Audrey Davis is a delightfully fun contemporary fantasy that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The action follows recently bereaved Hattie Hastings. Something is keeping her husband from completely crossing over. Like Clarence in It’s A Wonderful Life, there is something he must do in order to progress.

This is a very charming novel. It is highly amusing too, as the characters break up the sadness with witty one-liners.

We can feel the love shining through. “You and Hattie are my world, and I know it’s a world that’s a better place for you being in it.” The love lasts beyond the grave. We can ‘feel’ the devastation of Hattie Hastings after her beloved Gary dies. “Lost her husband? How he hated that phrase. As if she’d misplaced him.” Well-meaning platitudes are of no help at all, when your world has just collapsed.

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The Way I Loved You by Fiona Lucas

Mar11

Take A Chance On Love

The Way I Loved You by Fiona Lucas is a most delightful contemporary novel that I savoured. I never wanted it to end.

This is a beautifully written novel about love. It is a unique tale, a sliding doors moment as a character gets to re-live her wedding anniversaries up to her disastrous tenth one. Along the way she learns what is really important; and how to listen and make memories that count. Instead of her marriage imploding, there is a chance to fix it.

The leading lady had a tempestuous childhood. We understand her feelings of anxiety, and her desire to withdraw rather than get hurt. “It’s easier not to hope, it’s exhausting to wait and believe.” But love is worth taking a risk because when it succeeds, it is beautiful.

We witness the importance of talking. If we clam up, how will others know what we are feeling?

We need to give others wings to fly, and not throttle the life out of them. “Maybe I need to not hold Luke so tightly because I’m scared of losing him. Maybe I need to let him fly, chase his dreams.”

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The Last Train Home by Marion Kummerow

Mar9

Loving Bonds

The Last Train Home by Marion Kummerow is a powerful historical novel that consumed me from the start.

The action is set in Germany at the start of World War II. This book is all about the disgusting treatment of the Roma people following on from the Nuremburg race laws of 1938. The “gypsy had lost their citizenship and had effectively become a people without civil rights.”

We follow two characters from two different families. One is an orphaned teenage girl, and the other is a father separated from his wife and son by war. Bit by bit their civil liberties are eroded – and still, there are characters who are believing that something better will happen next.

There were some very difficult to read scenes, especially where the Roma were being ‘examined’ by the doctors who were brutal. “The doctors… rose like lions circling their prey.” The people felt vulnerable and exposed.

Eventually the Roma end up in the camps. Every action by the Nazis is designed for maximum cruelty. Newcomers are given a “survival strategy: avoid trouble, don’t stand out, don’t be remembered, and never be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

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First Term At Malory Towers by Enid Blyton

Mar8

Just As Entertaining As In My Childhood

First Term At Malory Towers by Enid Blyton is an entertaining children’s novel and perfect for those aged ten years or over. It is the first book in a thirteen-book series. For those of us, who remember Malory Towers from our girlhood reading, it is a chance to walk down memory lane. I enjoyed it just as much as an adult as I did as a child. I am excited to read the first six books again, and to read the new final seven.

Enid Blyton first penned Malory Towers in 1945. Girls would have needed something to bring them joy as the war was finally over and so far, six years of childhood would have been terrifying. Malory Towers is as entertaining today as it has always been. There are some obvious differences that date the book including references to Churchill, but putting that aside, the book is an engrossing tale.

I originally read the books fifty years ago as an eleven-year-old. This book entertained me then and now, as I still pictured myself in the lead role of Daryll Rivers.

There are an eclectic mix of girls in Malory towers as one would find in any school. We ‘hear’ of lessons, friendships, dormitories etc as the various personalities shine through. Interestingly all the teachers were female and unmarried.

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