April always makes me think nostalgically of bluebells. A strong childhood memory is of entering a bluebell wood, and feeling I was in the presence of magic. The stillness, the shade with the carpet of blue flowers all around me. The subtle scent of the massed flowers. Of course, I’d pick some, although I knew I wasn’t taking the magic home with me. Clutched in my hot little hand they would wilt almost as soon as we left the wood.

Now here in Australia I can still get nostalgic, remembering my childhood. This month reinforcing my nostalgia, I’ve been reading about London and Ireland

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‘Dating in your 60s? This is what you need to know.’ The Telegraph

At sixty, Sophia Stone outdoes Bridget Jones in this deliciously daring romcom!
Sophia is determined to grow old disgracefully and refuses to be invisible. She craves fiery passion and steamy romance, not targeted ads for funeral plans. After a heart-shattering breakup, she ditches love to date a new man each week for a year.
As she flirts, fumbles and sips fizz through an array of encounters, from an opera buff in a cape to an orgasm whisperer, she discovers it’s never too late to rewrite your own love story, even if it’s not the one you expected…

My Review .

As someone who has dipped her toe into the online dating pool, I found this interesting, but a tad unrealistic. But of course, London, England, is totally different from Australia. At first, I thought it was an amusing concept but inevitably it became a bit repetitive.  Her goal to meet a new man each week is pretty well unachievable as you get older. So, it’s good for light reading, but don’t take it too seriously!

The Guest House By The Sea by Faith Hogan

    People come to the guest house for fresh air and views across the Atlantic.      But if they’re lucky, they might just leave with the second chance they didn’t know they needed…
      Esme has run the guest house for as long as anyone in Ballycove can remember. But in her declining years, her sight is failing, and when she has a fall on the eve of the summer season, she is forced to take a back seat for the first time in her life.
      From her chair in the entry hall, not much passes Esme by. There’s Cora, the wife visiting indefinitely… without her husband; Niamh, the city professional       with a life-changing decision to make; and Phyllie, the grandmother whose family is slipping away from her.
      Esme’s guests provide the colour that helps her keep her grip on the world. All of them have something they want to escape – or to hold on to. But can Esme help them find their way before the summer is over?

    My Review

    Reading this it almost felt as if I was staying there with the guests but with the added bonus of being privy to everyone’s thoughts and feelings. Each woman is facing some crisis or personal dilemma. Even Esmee who is incapacitated and forced to direct operations from her chair in the entry hall.  Many women will relate to Cora who has finally realised how lack lustre her marriage is. Can it be redeemed or should she start again? Niamh is seeking both emotional distance and clarity. While Phyllie wishes things could just stay the same. As with many Irish writers’ this book is filled with ‘heart and empathy.

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

   In #1 of series, Jackson Brodie PI follows three 30-years cold, unconnected Cambridge family cases:
      1 A little girl disappears in the night.
      2 A beautiful young office worker falls to a maniac’s attack.
      3 A new mother is overwhelmed by demands from her baby and husband – until  a fit of rage creates a grisly, bloody escape.
Result : Startling connections and discoveries emerge. . . .

389 pages, Paperback First published September 1, 2004

My Review.

In many ways an unsettling book. Events happen seemingly at random, and I kept reading through interest and wanting to discern a pattern. Can events from thirty years ago still resonate? They can, they do. If you want things neatly solved and explained this isn’t the book for you.

The Girl I Used to Know by Faith Hogan

A beautiful, emotive and spell-binding story of two women who find friendship and second chances when they least expect it. Perfect for the fans of Patricia Scanlan.

Amanda King and Tess Cuffe are strangers who share the same Georgian house, but their lives couldn’t be more different.

Amanda seems to have it all, absolute perfection. She projects all the accoutrements of a lady who lunches. Sadly, the reality is a soulless home, an unfaithful husband and a very lonely heart.

By comparison, in the basement flat, unwanted tenant Tess has spent a lifetime hiding and shutting her heart to love.

It takes a bossy doctor, a handsome gardener, a pushy teenager and an abandoned cat to show these two women that sometimes letting go is the first step to moving forward and new friendships can come from the most unlikely situations.

My Review.

For me , it was a more emotional read than the previous Faith Hogan book. I read The Guest House by the Sea. And enjoyed it. Perhaps because there were only two major characters in The Girl I Used to Know , that  enabled me to feel more closely connected to them

 It was easy to relate to Amanda,  gradually aware that the surface perfection of her marriage is a façade.

Tess, alone, a bit bitter and lonely with spiky energy. Long held in hurt can hide in anger, I loved how her heart softened first towards the cat, then young Robyn, and gradually other people. Recommended.

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I’ve not managed as much reading as I would have liked this April. I was midway through another book which I will post about next month. I have been continuing working on my memoir and the end is in sight. It has taken me about two years and I find it intriguing how one memory can spark another. Some of my memories are painful and it’s given me a deeper understanding and allowed me to let them go.