Here are some of the books we are reading right now if you are looking for a good book. Why not write to us and let us know what’s on your bookshelves or Kindle right now?
The Wolf Border
Sarah Hall
Researcher Rachel Caine is studying the wolf population on an Idaho reservation, far from her Lake District home and estranged family. To her surprise, she is contacted by the Earl of Annerdale who wants to reintroduce the grey wolf to his Cumbrian estate in the United Kingdom where it once roamed wild.
She agrees to a visit and falls under the spell of the landscape of her childhood, finally agreeing to join the biodiversity project. She has to contend with the fears of the community about an apex predator on the estate, the attacks of a saboteur, and government red tape, finally becoming reconciled with her brother and the past in the process.
An interesting story of Rachel, two very different landscapes and the beautiful creatures she is trying to protect.
A Long Petal of the Sea
Isabel Allende
This is another absorbing work of historical fiction by master storyteller Isabel Allende.
Victor Dalmau, is a young doctor caught up in the Spanish Civil War who is forced to flee Barcelona and go into exile in 1939. Sending his widowed sister-in-law Roser on ahead, he crossed the Pyrenees into France, where all arriving refugees were sent to camps in the south of the country. The suffering of the Spanish exiles so moved poet Pablo Neruda that he chartered a boat to bring 2,000 of them to Chile, the “long petal of the sea and wine and snow.” Victor and Roser make the voyage to a new life in South America.
Their story spans decades and continents and four generations of their family in Chile. Uprooted by conflict in their homeland, they live to witness the rise and fall of the dictator General Pinochet in their adopted country.
Isabel Allende’s grandfather was one of the Chileans who welcomed the Spanish immigrants and she heard their stories in her childhood. She actually met one of them, Victor, when they were both exiled in Venezuela during Pinochet’s rule of terror. He told her about his 34 years in Chile and his relationship with Neruda and President Salvador Allende.
Hamnet
Maggie O’Farrell
A tale set in Stratford upon Avon about young William Shakespeare and his love for Agnes (Anne Hathaway), a country girl wise in herbal lore. They begin married life in the house belonging to William’s father John and have three children that they cherish: Susana and twins Hamnet and Judith.
Despite their love for one another, Will is restless and decides to seek a new life for the family in London. He falls under the spell of the playhouse and his letters are full of his writing and the troupe of wandering actors he is part of. His visits to Stratford become few and far between as he finds success in London.
The sudden illness of his son brings him back to Stratford but he arrives too late. The family all grieve for Hamnet in different ways and for William it inspired his finest play, Hamlet.
Maggie O’ Farrell’s vision of Stratford, the mysterious Forest of Arden and of the Shakespeare family makes for compelling reading.
Poldark
Winston Graham
You may have seen the Poldark series on TV but did you know that Winston Graham’s historical saga of the Poldark family in late 18th century Cornwall actually spans 12 books? It follows the fortunes of Ross Poldark and wife Demelza as they run their tin mine and farm, help the local villagers and defend themselves from the plots of rival George Warleggan, all during the turbulent times of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Once you finish the first book you’ll be hooked and ready to read the next one!
