Some essential reading, recommended by Hastings Book Chat:
Set in a Yorkshire town in 1945, Isabel Carey and her doctor husband Philip are new arrivals. When Philip is out making his rounds, Isabel is left alone and lonely. Finding an old RAF greatcoat in the cupboard, Isabel wraps it around herself - it's a cold winter after all - and is suddenly beset by dreams and weird visitations from the coat's original owner. A delightful and original ghost story.
No Second Chance by Harlan Coben
The latest novel by NZ author, Tina Shaw, is about a different kind of virus - a computer virus which brings the world to a standstill, closing airports, halting electricity supply and broadband. People are suddenly in survival mode. Ruth is a collector of ephemera for a museum and is desperate to find drugs to treat her sister’s potentially fatal illness. Her search takes her on a journey up the Waikato River by steamboat – of course, how else? This is a brilliant read, well written and engaging.
This collection of New Zealand stories gathers a range of well-known authors, including Eleanor Catton, David Eggleton, Vicnent O'Sullivan, Briar Grace-Smith, and Albert Wendt. The stories riff off ambiguity of understanding - how we read and misinterpret each other to reveal the diversity and richness of our society. Plenty of humour as well as poignancy and some superb writing. A book for the bedside table.
The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley
The latest instalment in the series that started with The Watchmaker of Filigree Street takes us to Japan, to which Thaniel Steepleton escapes, away from the London fog which threatens his health. He has been tasked with finding out what is happening at the British Legation in Yokohama, where staff have been seeing ghosts. We have been enjoying this series immensely for it's original mix of fantasy, historical and mystery fiction. Best read in order.
A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom by John Boyne
This unusual story journeys across fifty countries through time to a futuristic new world. In each an unnamed narrator tells his story of growing up, his relationships with his family - a father with violence in his blood, his mother with the skills of an artist - and how the family changes over time, the story picked up in different settings moving through the centuries. This is quite an unusual book, and also quite an achievement - 'far reaching and mythic' says the book's blurb.
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Aristocratic Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced by the Bolsheviks to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel near the Kremlin. Not used to any kind of work, he must live in an attic, while outside, the most defining years of Russian history unfold. What seems like impoverishment in a material sense soon turns to riches in terms of emotional connection with the people he meets at the hotel. A lovely story with both humour and sensitivity that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.
The History Speech by Mark Sweet
Local author, Sweet, has created a wonderful character in young Callum Gow the schoolboy who must write a speech for homework. It's 1960's provincial New Zealand in an ordinary middle-class household, but there are family secrets to do with abuse, suicide and the past. Caught up in it all is a young man coming to terms with his own sexual identity. A novel that works on many levels - you'll find The History Speech in the Young Adult section of the library, but older adults will also find it a rewarding read. Mark Sweet is a speaker at this year's HB Readers and Writers Festival (Magpies in Our Garden; Friday 16th October at 6pm at the Paisley Stage - book at hbaf.co.nz).
Posted by Hastings Library Book Chat
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