Sue Fairhead's Blog

(Amazon UK link) In the last couple of months, I reread the first two ‘Undercliff’ novels by Wendy K Harris, and thoroughly enjoyed them. So I was looking forward to rereading the third, ‘Rocken Edge’, which I last read in 2008. I had entirely forgotten what it was about, but knew I would meet, again, some of the people I had got to know in the earlier books, ‘The sorrow of sisters’ and ‘Blue slipper bay’. 
However, this book opens with a new character, a teenager called Clare. She is struggling t...

(Amazon UK link) I have so enjoyed re-reading the ‘Casson family’ series of books by Hilary McKay over the past few months. They’re intended for older children, but are the kind of books that can be of interest to people of all ages, and I feel quite sad that I have just finished the final book in the series.
I last read ‘Forever Rose’ in 2012, so had almost entirely forgotten the storyline. The family feel quite familiar to me, however, and particularly the youngest, Rose. She is eleven in this b...

(Amazon UK link) I suppose it was more than thirty years ago that I picked up and read Sue Townsend’s first (and best-known) book, the 'diary of Adrian Mole'. I recall being unimpressed, finding it somewhat sordid and dull rather than amusing. I read a couple of her other books shortly afterwards, and didn’t much like them either. 
So I’m not entirely sure why I decided to pick up her novel ‘Number ten’ at a church bookstall seven years ago. There are newspaper quotations on the front, saying that...

(Amazon UK link) I have been rereading my collection of novels by Erica James over the past two-and-a-half years, and mostly liking them very much. I wasn’t going to reread the ones I had read in the years since about 2020. Instead, I was looking forward to reading two new ones that I have recently been given. 
But then I noticed that ‘Letters from the past’, which I read in June 2021, is a sequel to ‘Coming home to Island House’, which I reread last month. The characters in this family saga, set ...

(Amazon UK link) In my slow re-reading of the Chalet School series by Elinor M Brent-Dyer, I reached the one numbered 42 in the original series. It follows straight on from ‘Trials for the Chalet School’, which I reread last month; unfortunately I still haven’t been able to find a reasonably priced full edition of that, but it was still enjoyable in the abridged Armada.
However, I managed to buy a full ‘Girls gone by’ paperback of ‘Theodora and the Chalet School’ about six years ago. I must have r...

(Amazon UK link) I decided it was time to re-read my books by Jane Aiken Hodge. I first read some of her historical novels as a teenager, and have gradually acquired others, over the decades. Sadly most of her books are now long out of print, but some of them are lurking in charity shops, and can sometimes be found second-hand online.
It’s over twenty years since I read ‘Maulever Hall’, and I had entirely forgotten everything about it. It’s set in the early 1830s; part of the focus of one of the c...

(Amazon UK link) On the whole I have enjoyed Anne Tyler’s novels, and re-read several of them a few years ago. I hadn’t planned to acquire any more. But this month’s reading group choice was ‘Redhead by the side of the road’, one of Tyler’s more recent book. It was first published in 2020. I was able to buy it used earlier in the year, and looked forward to reading it.
I was surprised at how short the book is - less than 200 pages - and I finished it in just a couple of days. The main protagonist ...

(Amazon UK link) I do like Titia Sutherland’s novels, and am very pleased that I decided to reread them after over two decades. I last read ‘A friend of the family’ in 2003, so did not remember anything about it - not even the final outcome.
Kate is the main character. I don’t think her age is mentioned anywhere; it isn’t really relevant, but I suppose she must be in her early thirties. We learn quickly that she is having a trial separation from her husband Matt. She misses him, but quite apprecia...

(Amazon UK link) I have liked everything I’ve read by Adrian Plass, and reread his books regularly. I decided to delve into ‘Cabbages for the King’ in the past few days.  I last read it in 2015, so had forgotten most of the contents.
The overall theme of the book is that God uses inadequate people, and yet there are many wonderful things happening in Christian homes and gatherings. Unfortunately, most of us see what is wrong or boring rather than what is right and pointing people towards Jesus. 
Th...

(Amazon UK link) As a child and then as a teenager, I read the Narnia series by CS Lewis fairly often. I then read it aloud to my sons when they were young, and enjoyed it all over again. I’ve dipped into one or other of the books from time to time in the decades since then, but it took until this year for me to decide to read the whole series, in chronological order. 
It’s over twenty years since I last read ‘The silver chair’, which - as an adult - is one of my favourites of the series. I found ...