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  Matthew Griffin has written this beautiful novel, and here I am struggling to string a few sentences together to express how good I feel about it.  It's a love story that endures through many difficult decades, but it's also the most wonderfully observed description of what it's like to get old together when everything is wearing out, but the only option is to keep going. Wendall Wilson and Frank Clifton have been together since the end of the Second World War, so their relationship has endured through times when they could have gone to prison for their love, even though they never caused any harm to anybody.  The only option they had was to buy a run down old property a few miles out of the nearest town, and never leave or arrive anywhere together so as not to arouse suspicion.  Even as they grow older and their type of relationship becomes legal and commonplace, they can't shake off the need to be cautious, so when Frank is taken to hospital they still pretend th...

Another American novel that has a lot going for it.  It has been a number one New York Times bestseller and also been featured in Reese Witherspoon's book club, so seemed like a safe bet when I was choosing a book in the library. It's about a husband and father who suddenly disappears, and shortly afterwards a few things happen that suggest to his wife that he may not have been the man she thought she married.  Hannah is Owen's fairly recent second wife, and also step mother to his sixteen year old daughter Bailey, so there is a whole section of both their lives that she knows very little about.  They have all been living together on a house boat in Sausalito, Northern California, and before that Hannah had been making a living as a wood turner making bespoke pieces of furniture for wealthy clients in New York.  She made the move over to California just before her marriage to Owen, and he told her that before he moved to the houseboat he and Bailey had been living in...

  A family saga that stretches from 1920 through to the early 1950s and covers the lives of a farming family from a remote area of Idaho.  It has a slow start, as the author has chosen to record the life of Frank Langdon right from his time in the cradle, and as this is written from his own perspective the early pages seemed a bit surreal.  No matter, it picks up quickly, and as the book extends to over six hundred pages there is plenty of time to get to know the family. Walter and Roseanna Langdon are Frank's parents and they married after Walter returned from fighting in France during the First World War.  They came form a generation that did not question the need for hard work and discipline, and those values were impressed upon their children.  Young Frank had a will of his own from a very early age and Walter sees it as his duty to take his belt to him on occasion, as was common practice at the time.  Frank is only just a toddler when he has his first ...

You could not make this novel any more Irish unless it came with a free pint of Guinness with a shamrock stuck in the top.  It was even awarded the Irish Novel of the Year by the Kerry Group earlier this year, and they are only interested in books written by Irish authors so they know their subject. It's beautifully written in that slow and moving lyrical style of classic Irish literature, so if you are looking for something to skim read on the plane you had better put this down and move on to a wodge from David Baldacci.  The plot in this book will not be hurried, but I promise you it is worth hanging on in there as you will feel the cold and rain along with the community of Faha gathering around you. Set in 1962 during the run-up to Christmas, it centres around Dr Jack Troy who is the much respected village doctor.  Back in the early sixties there was only one doctor for each village, and they stayed in post long enough to see several generations and knew everything the...

  This is a work of fiction that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2021 but the story is based on the life of the author's grandfather who was a North American Indian who stood up to the the government and did his best to protect the rights of his people. As a prize winner, it goes without saying that this is a very accomplished piece of writing, and as with many Pulitzer Prize winners, it not only makes a good read, but teaches the reader something as well.  There can't be anyone out there who isn't aware of the injustices heaped onto the Indian population by the American government over many years, but what really surprised me was the intention to take away their cultural identity as recently as the mid 1950s. The Indian population had once roamed the plains of America with tribes dotted all over the land, but starting from the 1700s more and more land was taken from them until, by the middle of the last century, they were left with tiny patches of farmland where the soil was too...

  There is just too much to chose from in the library so I like to make my life easier by narrowing my selection down to one of two areas.  When I first arrive I look at the new publications on the shelves opposite the doors and then, if I don't find anything there, I move onto the Recommends table right in front.  There are not many weeks when I can't find anything of interest from those selections and it helps to have a little nudge in the right direction. I was attracted to this one as there were three big piles of it on the Recommends table and I assume they were expecting a lot of interest.  Although it is billed as an International Bestseller, I hadn't heard of it but the theme must have something going for it as this one is the first in a series of eleven. The theme is history, and you need to bring to mind the styles of Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones where modern day lives crash into ancient history.  The series is called The Chronicles of St Mary's and...

Whenever I notice a book that has been either short or longlisted for the Booker Prize, I will always give it a go as it is often a way into the type of books that I wouldn't normally pick up.  This falls very neatly into that category and without the mention of the Booker Prize along the top I would probably given it a miss. It's set in the ever expanding metropolis of  São Paulo, and the story takes place in the glass tower blocks populated by the wealthy business classes and also the shanty towns that crop up all around the edges of the city.  The lead character, Ludo, has connections with both sides of the city as he was born into poverty but, not long after he was born, his mother was offered a job as a cook on a farm that belonged to a very wealthy man and that bought a better quality of living for both of them. The wealthy man is Ze Fischer Carnicelli, who avoids getting down to street level by using a helicopter to navigate around the city.  The only time he ...