Tag Archive | One More Chapter

The Saturday Morning Park Run by Jules Wake

Apr26

Leave A Lasting Legacy

The Saturday Morning Park Run by Jules Wake is the most wonderful contemporary novel about love and family and friendship. It celebrates what is most important – family and home.

The main characters are delightful and a real eclectic mix – a septuagenarian, a young woman and man, two children and a stray dog. They all have needs from loneliness to workaholics (“I’d lost some good friends over the years, sacrificed on the alter of my job.”) to feeling unloved and homeless. They are all in need of rescuing from their situations. As individual needs are identified, they are met with much love.

We witness unconditional love in action as each character has the capacity to love and be loved – even a stray dog.

They story revolves around the institution of a park run. It is hoped to bring a park to life and to provide for health needs and community interaction. As people come together, lives open and blossom.

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The Secrets Of Latimer House by Jules Wake

Mar17

The Record Keepers

The Secrets Of Latimer House by Jules Wake is a marvellous historical novel that enthralled me from the start.

The novel is set in 1943 in the Buckingham countryside. It is based on factual evidence but the story is fictional. What happens in Latimer House stays in Latimer House.

Whilst World War II was absolutely dreadful, it did enable women to break out of their traditional roles as they stepped into the shoes vacated by men. “All her life she’d been constrained by what she could do as a woman… The advent of war changed all that.” Women who had previously had little value placed on them, suddenly discovered hidden talents and found themselves in jobs they were talented at. Their roles were vital in winning the war.

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The Keeper Of Stories by Sally Page

Mar7

A Fabulous Debut

The Keeper Of Stories by Sally Page is a delightful contemporary debut novel that enchanted me from the start.

We all have a story to tell. Some we want to share, others we want to keep hidden. As an excellent cleaner, Janice, goes about her job collecting stories along the way. People take her into their confidences and open up to her. Janice has a likable, trustworthy personality that invites people to share their stories – but Janice has a secret and doesn’t want to share it.

Sally Page has written a book that is not only charming and entertaining but full of pathos as we witness lives that are lonely; put upon; or drowning in grief. By sharing their stories, they learn to live again.

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The Red Cross Orphans by Glynis Peters

Nov29

Kind Hearts And Hands

The Red Cross Orphans by Glynis Peters is a marvellous historical novel set during World War II on the home front. I was completely consumed by the whole novel.

The reader follows the main character as she volunteers to be a Red Cross nurse. She journeys from Harwich to Birmingham up to Scotland and back down to County Durham. I loved that she did her training at the Q.E. in Birmingham as I am familiar with that hospital in my home town. None of the Red Cross postings are long term as the nurses go where they are most needed. I admired her bravery, sense of duty and strong stomach as there were some awful scenes during the Birmingham blitz.

There is a wonderful camaraderie between the three young recruits in Birmingham. Bonds formed are strong and friendships loyal.

There is a warmth within the novel as characters pull together to help the injured. Life is to be grabbed as there is no guarantee of tomorrow. This means that whilst there are still strong morals on the whole, there will always be those who play fast and free.

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