Dawn Knox’s A Folly in Plotlands

 

A heart-warming story of romance and survival.

Dismissed from a school where she was neve really that happy but that had been home for her for a long time, Samira Stewart cultivates an unlikely relationship with her estranged grandmother. She has to grow up quickly. She takes care of the ailing old lady who doesn’t deserve the attention that is now lavished on her. Then her brother and uncle really start to make life difficult. She falls in love and a childhood illness almost stops her beloved from staying with her.

Expert story-teller Dawn Knox’s A Folly in Plotland is an uplifting read.  Enjoy!                   

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

 

This month I’m recommending another John Steinbeck: East of Eden

This time we are dealing with a man who has plenty of money.

Yet there are still struggles. He has a strained relationship with his half-brother, partly caused by his father’s expectations. His wife flees the family home. She seems to have some sort of personality disorder. He and his manservant bring up the twin sons who have something of Cain and Abel about them; indeed their behaviour rather reflects that.

In the end this is about a dysfunctional family but we can forgive them. Another long text, but John Steinbeck keeps the reader engaged through his well-drawn characters in this classic novel, East of Eden. 

           

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

 

A farming family struggles as the Dust Bowl and the banks put them out of business.  

John Steinbeck creates believable characters with whom we can empathise. He gives us a good sense of time and place. He presents the struggles of the times that in many ways still exist today. As the Joad family move to California they encounter all of the prejudice and fear that migrants face today. These working people struggle to make a living, always with hope but rarely with success. There is a little state aid: special camp sites, help with funeral costs and something almost like our modern day foodbanks. Further drama is added as Tom becomes a man on the run; he has served a jail sentence for man slaughter. As he is out of state he has not met the conditions of his parole – and then he kills again.

A long text, but John Steinbeck keeps the reader engaged in this classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath.           

Still Alice by Lisa Genova.

 

This month I’m recommending Still Alice by Lisa Genova.   

Alice has early onset Alzheimer’s.

We watch her life deteriorate.  It starts with her not recognising a name on a to do list.  Then she forgets to go to a conference.  One day whilst out running she cannot figure out where she is. We follow her downward spiral. It’s terrifying. Do we recognise the symptoms? Unusually we are seeing the point of view of the sufferer rather than that of the carers.    

Lisa Genova has completed an impressive amount of research here.  In some ways this makes the text if anything reassuring about Alzheimer’s.

I confess to not having seen the film but I’ve come across good reviews of it.  

I really was totally absorbed in the book. Lisa Genova’s thorough examination of what an Alzehimer sufferer may go though is very convincing.      

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

 

Sara Nisha Adams does indeed recommend to us a reading list through a character that died before the story began.

And on that reading list are books we all ought to read.  I’m pleased to say that I have read all but two of them and those two are now on my list of books to be read.

We get to know Mukesh Patel and local librarian, Aleisha, really well. Both of them have some sadness in their lives. The reading list brings comfort to them as it also does to some other minor characters.       

The mystery of where the list came from keeps us intrigued.

Adams’ The Reading List is sure to enchant you if you enjoy reading – which you probably do if you are reading this!