If you are staying with us immerse yourself in a book on the beach or your terrace. If you are back home and dreaming about the Mexican Caribbean, curl up in a comfy armchair with a good read and let your imagination take flight. You’ll soon be here. In the meantime, here are some recommendations. Why not write to us and let us know what’s on your bookshelf or Kindle right now?
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Dr. Marina Singh embarks on a perilous journey into the Amazon in search of her former mentor Dr. Annick Swenson, a scientist working on a new drug who has stopped sending reports to the pharmaceutical company funding her research. Her journey has two reasons as she is also looking for clues about the death of her colleague Anders Eckmann at the request of his wife who refuses to believe the news.
This is a gripping yarn of Amazonian tribes, the beauty of the forest and its hidden dangers, a miracle tree and a deaf mute boy who touches the lives of all who know him. It is also a journey of discovery for Marina, as she unveils the truth she has to confront and accept her own memories of loss.
Dark Tides by Philippa Gregory
The second book in the Tidelands trilogy follows the fortunes of Alinor and daughter Alys who are London merchants with a warehouse on the banks of the Thames. They keep up correspondence with Ned, Alinor’s brother who fled Restoration England for a homestead in New England, and anxiously await news of her son Rob who is in Venice.
They receive two visitors, one from the past, James Avery, Alinor’s long-lost lover who wants to make amends, and Livia, a mysterious Italian beauty who claims to be Rob’s widow and the mother of his child. Alinor, who has the second sight, feels that something is not right and that Livia is not what she seems. She refuses to accept that her son is dead and her granddaughter Sarah shares her belief.
The family is plunged into confusion as Livia weaves a web of intrigue and entrapment in London and Ned tries to keep the peace between the settlers and the First Nation peoples that had welcomed them and now complain that they are seizing their land.
Sarah makes a dangerous journey to Venice to look for answers carried on the dark tides.
Children of Jocasta by Natalie Haynes
From the author of A Thousand Ships, this is a retelling of the Oedipus and Antigone myths from the perspective of two female characters Jocasta and Ismene. They have powerful voices in this atmospheric story of the cursed House of Thebes, full of mythical creatures, gods and mortals.
If you run out of books remember that there is a bookstore on the main square in Puerto Morelos. Alma Libre stocks new and secondhand books and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
