These are some of the books read by Elma’s Book Club.

Many are rated on a scale of 1 to 10.

 The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
Maggie O’Farrell, is a British author of contemporary fiction, who brings the world of Renaissance Italy to life in this unforgettable portrait of the young duchess Lucrezia de’ Medici in Florence in the 1550s. The novel begins with a historical note. In 1560, 15 year old Lucrezia di Cosimo de’ Medici left Florence to begin her married life with Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara. Less than a year later she would be dead. The official cause of her death was given as “putrid fever”, but it was rumoured that she had been murdered by her husband. The Marriage Portrait dropped us into the panicked mind of a teenage girl who suspects that her husband is plotting to kill her. It succeeded in escalating suspense, despite the fact that we were presented with the historical facts at the beginning. We journey through good and evil with surprising developments and twists, making this a literary renaissance thriller. The book club members enjoyed the book and gave it eight out of ten.

Review submitted by Jeanette Gray

Anxious People – Fredrik Backman
The author Fredrik Backman, also wrote the well-known novel A Man Called Ove. Anxious People is a poignant comedy about a crime that never took place. A would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, along with eight extremely anxious strangers, who find they have more in common than they ever imagined. The novel is beautifully written, a thought provoking, empathetic understanding of humanity. It deals with the human connection and the impact people have on one another. There is a series on Netflix with subtitles based on this novel. We rated the novel a 7-8/10  Review by Jan Nayor

“Hamnet” is an historical-based fictional story about Agnes, (Anne Hathaway) her three children, twins Hamnet, and Judith, daughter Susanna, and husband William Shakespeare.
Hamnet died in 1596 aged 11 years. Roughly four years later his father wrote a play called “Hamlet” (both names Hamnet and Hamlet were interchangeable at that time). The story focuses on Agnes and her family relationships. It is powerfully alive, a beautifully written, sensual, magical story. Review by Maggie O’Farrell

Netflix Movie – Passing
This past month the Bookworms decided to change their approach and, since most of us have Netflix, we decided to watch a movie. The movie Passing was chosen since some of the themes and issues were similar to those of the novel The Vanishing Half which we read in the Fall.
Set in New York during the 1920’s, the story revolves around two biracial women, Irene and Clare, who had been schoolmates when much younger but who now lead completely different lives. Irene, living in Harlem, completely embraces her African American Heritage, while Clare whose skin has been much lighter since birth, has succeeded in her goal of posing as white and has married a very successful man, John, who is a vile racist. Following a very coincidental meeting their paths cross in an upscale hotel in New York.
Their reunion starts off positive. However, as Clare who has told Irene that she Clare, “has everything she ever wanted in life” begins to insert herself more and more into the lives of Irene, her husband Brian, and their two boys. We see a lonely, lonely woman who desperately wants to reclaim her original heritage.
We see the charming, vivacious Clare quickly embraced by Irene’s family, friends and neighbours. Irene,
however, becomes resentful, angry and the tension between them builds. The reunion that started off innocent and positive now develops into an explosive situation.
We found this story and its issues an interesting discussion. At one point in the story Clare says we all wear
masks at one time or another or pose as something else.
It was also interesting to tie it to a reading from St. Matthew…What does it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Nora Seed is a young woman on the verge of making a terrible choice. She’s lost her job, her best friend, and her brother. Her relationships are in shambles and her cat is dead. She is deeply, irretrievably sad. Living has become nothing but a chore so she attempts suicide and wakes up. Not in heaven, hell or purgatory but in the Midnight Library, which is the place people go when they find themselves hanging precariously between life and death. The library is endless, filled with nothing but books and curiously, Nora’s school librarian, Mrs. Elm. “Every life contains many millions of decisions,” says Mrs. Elm.
The Midnight Library isn’t really a library but a parallel universe theory, philosophy and quantum indeterminacy, a place of regret and possibility because who hasn’t wondered what life would be like if only….Nora certainly has. She is wracked with regret as she revisits her life choices. The story forms solely around the lives she passes briefly through, the choices and their consequences. Ultimately, she takes a straightforward path from suicide to closure, from regret to acceptance. The only question left hanging over all of it is which one she’ll finally choose.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Review by: Jan Naylor
Set in a small town, Crosby Maine, Olive Kitteridge reflects the joys and sorrows, the successes and disappointments, conflicts and harmony of the human condition that could be found in any small town.
Olive, a retired teacher, carries the main strand of this novel. Seen by many others as prickly, stern, and inflexible even cruel at times, she does briefly display kindness and is perceptive to those in need. Olive is fiercely resistant to any form of change, deplores the changes she sees in Crosby and lives in a state of denial. We meet her kind, patient, loyal, sometimes clueless pharmacist husband Henry, and their only son Chris with whom she has a very difficult relationship.
The story follows Olive as she navigates their lives and that of the townspeople while personally experiencing many of the challenges life throws at us while gradually coming to a better understanding of herself. Page by page, chapter by chapter, Strout draws us into the lives of this community. She is masterful in developing the characters and their individual stories. This is a difficult book to put down.
Elizabeth Strout won the Pulitzer Prize for this amazing book in 1990.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Review by: Jeanette Gray
The Vanishing Half may seem old-fashioned but it’s cleverly constructed to both match and critique the conservatism of the 1950s and 60s. It follows the loves of twin sisters, Desiree and Stella, both light- skinned Black girls, who run away from home at the age of sixteen. They live in Mallard, Louisiana, a town solely inhabited by black people who strive to marry lighter, so their children will be “like a cup of coffee steadily diluted with cream. A more perfect Negro. Each generation lighter than the one before.”
One night the twins witness the lynching of their father by a group of white men. As teenagers, this trauma leads them in dramatically different directions. They first flee to New Orleans where Desiree marries a dark-skinned Black man and has a child, while Stella lives her life passing as white – a choice motivated by an understandable desire for privilege, financial stability and, most of all, safety. She has managed to blend into suburban Los Angeles and marries Blake, a white man, unsuspecting of her phenotype. She lives on amber alert in fear of her fabricated story unravelling.
The book tracks their lives across generations, as their lives branch away from each other and yet remain
intertwined. The Vanishing Half ties in a number of characters with contrasting experiences. It also contemplates the things that people must hide from those that they love, the sacrifices they have to make and the things they have to do to keep those identities safe from others who wouldn’t accept them. It’s a story that explores the intricacies of identity, family and race in a provocative but compassionate way.

Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker
Hidden Valley Road is a powerful medical non-fiction novel about the Galvin family, living on the surface, the American post-war dream. The family consists of parents Mimi and Don and twelve children; ten boys and two girls. Of the ten boys, six are diagnosed with schizophrenia. Lindsay and sister Margaret, in telling of their family story, share the horrors as children of their life on Hidden Valley Road. As adults, they explore the medical mystery and research into their family. Schizophrenia was treated with mind numbing drugs. It was also thought to be caused by domineering mothers. The family became an example of hope in understanding the disease. Some of the children are alive today. It was on President Obama’s favourite book choices for 2020.

The Thursday Murder Club

by Richard Osman

Our tale takes place in Coopers Chase, an upscale retirement village somewhere in Kent. Four energetic friends, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron met every Thursday in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved murder mysteries from police files secretly acquired by Elizabeth. When a brutal killing takes place on their doorstep, The Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first real case. While the mysteries are many, it is the characters who make this such a wonderful read. Filled with wit and humour it is just what is needed to lift our spirits while living through a pandemic.

Margaret Anderson

The Giver of Stars

by Jojo Moyes

The Group highly recommends the novel giving it a 9 rating.
A charming, fictional novel about the “Pack Horse Librarians” of the Appalachia in the 1930’s. Based on a program instituted by Eleanor Roosevelt. In the Fall of 1937, “Baileyville” Kentucky was looking for volunteers to join a travelling library, made possible by government funding. These so called “Pack Horse Librarians” were made up of young women from diverse backgrounds, working together to overcome many obstacles in their way to bring literacy to the masses. The challenges are tackled by the Librarians working together. It is a tale of friendship, loyalty, justice and of course books! The novel is a quick read, the prose flows, and the plot moves along at a good pace. The characters are interesting and unique.

by Jan Naylor

Perfume Garden

by Kate Lord Brown

High in the hills near Valencia, Spain, there is an old, dilapidated villa that has not been opened in over seventy years. This novel is a story of war-torn Spain in the late 1930’s; a story of the atrocities inflicted on the Spanish people by Franco during the Civil War. It has been nominated for multiple awards in the Romantic Fiction genre; however, it can also be regarded as historical fiction, due to the author’s extensive research in the writing of the novel.

The themes are comprised of lost loves, family secrets, survival and the art of creating the perfect perfume. The novel takes us from past to present…immediately following 9/11…and introduces us to Emma Temple, a young woman grieving over the sudden loss of her mother, a world renowned perfumer. Her mother has left Emma a large bundle of letters and a key to the villa in Spain, together with continuing the family dynasty as perfumers. As Emma attempts to reinvent her life, she determines to rebuild the villa and find answers to questions that follow the death of her mother. For her British grandmother Freya, however, a nurse who had joined the “International
Brigade” during the war, the house brings back very painful memories. Emma finds herself being
dragged into the past which gradually unravels its secrets and ultimately provides the answers she so desperately needed.

Overall, the group enjoyed this book which was an “easy” read. It opened up  historical  information with which we were unfamiliar. The idea that there was an International Brigade of
well-known photographers and writers documenting Franco’s aggression (Hemmingway being one of these) together with American and British doctors and nurses providing support for The
Republicans was truly a learning experience.
Group rating…..7

Red Notice

By Bill Browder
“Riveting, informative, convincing, shocking, compelling, insightful; Truly a book for, and  about, the times in which we live.”
Bill Browder, born a rebel, is the grandson of the former head of The American Communist Party. Following attendance at many schools where he has difficulty complying with expectations, both as a young student and then as a teenager, he commits the ultimate act of rebellion. “I would put on a suit and tie and become a capitalist. Nothing would piss off my family more.”
Following his graduation from Stanford with a business degree, and while on a business trip to Poland (his grandfather’s background in the east fascinated him), the recent fall of the Berlin Wall makes him aware of the many undervalued properties that were being newly privatized. He proceeds to purchase shares in many of these companies and seeks out foreign investors to follow his lead. While making tremendous amounts of money for himself and his investors, he makes many enemies in Russia by “calling out” the government corruption and the avaricious oligarchs connected with them. He is expelled from Russia, the Kremlin raids the offices of his company, Hermitage Capital, and perpetrates an elaborate financial fraud. Putin puts out an Interpol Red Notice on him, which effectively would have Browder arrested and returned to Russia if he crosses any border globally.
Browder quietly returns most of his staff to their home countries; however, his Russian lawyer, Magnitsky, refuses the opportunity for safety in order to remain with his family. He is arrested, brutally tortured, and ultimately dies at the hands of Putin’s henchmen, since he refuses to give false testimony against Browder.
A guilt-ridden Browder turns his energy towards Human Rights Activism, believing it is his duty to right the wrongs inflicted on his lawyer. We meet a Browder of integrity, courage, compassion, and perseverance; he has since travelled the world to share his lawyer’s story and to ensure it will never happen to other people.
In 2012, Browder is successful in having Congress pass the Magnitsky Act, signed by Obama, which is intended to punish the Russian officials involved in the death of Magnitsky. Since 2012, the Bill, which applies globally, authorizes the U. S. Government to punish human rights offenders by freezing their assets and banning their entrance into the U.S.
As of today, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Australia, the U.K. and many smaller countries in the E.U. have signed this Bill. Nine other countries are in the process of developing their own proposals.
Browder states that he has learned, even since the publication of the book, how many legitimate people and businesses have sold their souls to the Russians to help them in their terrible pursuit for monetary gains. This book is a “must read” for those who want a greater  understanding of global intrigue.
Browder was in Toronto on February 19, 2019, to receive the International Commission of Jurists (Canada) 2019 Rule of Law Champion Award for his work on the Global Magnitsky
Act. He thanked the Toronto Police and the O.P.P. for taking such good care of him during
his visit. Congress recently enacted this Bill against the perpetrators of Khashoggi’s death; however, President Trump refused to sign the Bill.
Overall we rated this as a 9/10

Barbara Ashcroft / Elma Smiley

Educated

by Tara Westover

The Atlantic book review refers to Educated as a “brutal, one of a kind memoir.” Our book club members would agree.
This is the story of Tara Westover’s struggle to break free from an extremely controlling family led by a Mormon fundamentalist father who was convinced that the end of the world was at hand and who led a survivalist life in the foothills of Buck’s Peak in Idaho. Tara, as the youngest child of seven, grew up in an environment where all outsiders were looked upon as sinners and any government institutions were to be considered promoters of socialism and secularism, including public schools, doctors, and hospitals. Consequently, some of the children had no official birth certificate, and were home-schooled. As well, no one in the family was allowed to see a registered medical doctor or to use pain medication other than the mother’s herbal treatments. As a young girl, Tara began to feel that there was something more to learn beyond her family’s beliefs, and she yearned to attend school and pursue her artistic talents. This was the beginning of a long series of family conflicts, especially with her father and his ideology. As Westover relays her quest for independence and education, the reader is taken through many detailed, descriptive, violent family events which on occasion seem almost unbelievable, but which are definitely entrenched deeply and painfully in the author’s mind.
This is a memoir of one’s search to find the answer to the question, as Westover says, “What is a person to do, … when their obligations to their family conflict with other obligations – to friends, to society, to themselves?”
Our book club rated it seven out of ten, as there was some discussion about the validity and exaggeration of some of the events, although the author acknowledged that some incidents may need further clarification. This book was listed as one of the ten best books of 2018 in the New York Times and on Barack Obama’s reading list for 2018.
Barbara Ashcroft

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

by Lisa See

Set in a mountain village in the most remote area of Yunnan Province in China in 1988 (one might think the time frame at least 100 years earlier) Lisa See writes a compelling story of culture, traditions, brutal taboos, cleansing ceremonies, government policies and family ties. We are led through a history lesson including a fairly in-depth look at the growing, gathering and processing of tea. In particular, we are introduced to Pu’er tea, one of the most prized and expensive teas on today’s market.

We are introduced to Li-jan and her family, who are members of a minority Akha people, whose world revolves around tea farming and often brutal traditions and rituals. The arrival of a stranger from the ‘outside’ world, who is specifically looking for Pu’er tea, changes their lives forever.

The novel is fast paced and takes us on travels to other parts of China and other countries, meeting many new powerful characters with their own challenges, obstacles, failures and successes.

It then brings us into the present in the United States where many of the ‘rejected’ orphaned girls of China have been adopted. These young women have their own challenges to contend with especially if they are only children in a highly competitive environment. They express some of their conflicts as “gratitude…..and anger’

Overall, our group were impressed with the depth and breadth of research displayed throughout the novel together with the easy flow of the writing and narrative.

To quote one character from the novel:

“All you can do is live…..life continues whether we want it or not”

Rating:  9 out of 10

Whiplash

by Catherine Coulter

Helmut Blauvelt, a German national, is found murdered on federal land in Connecticut.  It turns out that he’s a troubleshooter for the nearby pharmaceutical company Schiffer Hartwin.  On the night of the murder, private investigator Erin Pulaski was stealing documents from the Schiffer Hartwin’s CEO’S own computer to help prove that the company had been causing an artificial scarcity of an in-demand cancer medication.  FBI Agents Lacey Sherlock and Dillon Savich, a husband wife team are called in to investigate.

When they were summoned, they had been assisting a U.S. senator.  A second supernaturally-tinged mystery involved him apparently being visited by the ghost of his dead wife, while at the same time he seemed to be targeted by assassins.  Unfortunately, this mystery is awkwardly intertwined into the action, and at times it felt as if it had drifted in from an altogether different novel.

Although this is the 14th book in the FBI thriller series, no-one in the group had read any of the previous novels so we were unable to comment on the series as a whole.

Rating:  3 out of 10.

Jeanette Gray

Rush Home Road

by Lori Lansens

Addy Shadd was born in Southwestern Ontario in the first decade of the 20th century in an all-black town settled by fugitive slaves.  Forced to flee her beloved Rusholme as a teenager, the place will call to her for the rest of her life.

Over half a century later, in the 1970’s, a white neighbour leaves her mixed race daughter, Sharla, on Addy’s doorstep and vanishes.  The neglected five year old and the awesomely-functional old woman connect, as Sharla helps Addy to open a door to her past.

The author creates a teeming, forgotten world linked to our own by one woman’s life, laid down across the 20th century.  She interweaves the past and present beautifully and holds the reader rapt.

All of us in the book club enjoyed the book; we gave it a 9 out of 10.

Patricia Woolner

Commonwealth

by Ann Patchett

“This was the pleasure of a long life: the way some things worked themselves out.”

Commonwealth is the story of six children from integrated families who thrive on the dysfunction of their parents. In spite of childhoods, which to some readers would seem inconceivable and designed for disaster, they emerge as adults, except for poor Cal, who lived to soar, in spite of, or perhaps because of their upbringing.

There are ten people in this story: the six Keating-Cousins children and their four parents. Who might we be if our parents hadn’t made catastrophic choices, and we hadn’t responded catastrophically to them? Maybe better-adjusted people with easier days and nights. But maybe the poorer for it.

Commonwealth is about the Keating and Cousins children who forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them. These children who are total strangers are forced into unexpected alliances, a miserable, unremittingly hellish vision of family life, child-rearing in particular.

Commonwealth is also about being human – speaking human words, making human choices, messing up with human fallibility and making amends with one’s hopeful human heart.

The Lightkeeper’s Daughters

by Jean Pendziwol

This beautifully written novel had me in its grip from page one. The story evolves around two main characters, Elizabeth, an almost blind lady living in a retirement home and Morgan, an orphan teenager who has been ordered to do community service at the home.

Elizabeth and her twin sister Emily were raised, with their brother Charlie, on Porphyry Island in Lake Superior where their father was the light-keeper. We have wonderfully descriptive passages throughout of life on an isolated island, relationships between family members and storms and shipwrecks on the mighty Lake.

Elizabeth and Morgan develop an unlikely friendship. Morgan is intrigued by some paintings in Elizabeth’s room as she feels they are similar to some which had belonged to her grandfather.

This begins a journey into the past and to find the answers you must read the book.

Margaret Anderson.

A Gentleman in Moscow

By Amor Towles

Set in 1922 following the Bolshevik Revolution, A Gentleman in Moscow is full of charm and personal wisdom. Towles takes us on an incredible journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow by introducing us to Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, also known as Sasha, born to gentry on October 24, 1889. Although a man of nobility, he is kind, generous and full of love in an era of cruelties that cannot be erased.
The book is full of human emotions, memories and an excellent compilation of Russian history from the end of the Revolution to the introduction of heads of states which came under communist rule (Khrushchev, Malenkov).
The Count and his sister, Helena, had been raised by their grandmother (a Duchess) since both parents had died of cholera. He leads a privileged life until he is involved in a duel where he kills his opponent. Following a court case he is sentenced on June 2 to live out his life confined to The Metropol Hotel in Moscow and assigned a tiny attic bedroom. His path crosses with a young, precocious girl named Nina who, at times, stays there with her aunt. Years pass, Nina marries and her husband is sent to the Gulag in Siberia. Nina decides to go search for her husband and returns to the Metropol with her young daughter Sophia, whom she leaves with Rostov.
Rostov leads a very interesting life at The Metropol despite his confinement. He meets an actress, Anna Urbanova, who becomes his friend and lover and he becomes an invaluable resource to the hotel management when catering to the elite of the communist party.
His life continues to take us on a fascinating journey with Nina, Anna, Sophia and so many other interesting characters. In this “Epic” novel we are constantly introduced to famous quotes, authors, riddles, fine wines and the most elegant, descriptive language that assaults ones senses.
The group rated it as an 8/10 Submitted by Janet Murdock

The Light Between Oceans

By M. L. Stedman

Beautifully written!   This is a story of love and loss and what we might be prepared to do for the happiness of those whom we love – be it right or wrong.

After serving four years in the trenches of the First World War, Tom Sherbourne, a decorated soldier, returns to his homeland of Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on a very small, remote island called Janus Rock. The supply boat arrives once a season since the island is a half- day’s journey from the coast. Tom marries a very young, educated woman from Portuguese on the mainland and brings her back to the island to live. Isabel and Tom adapt to living on this desolate spot and their life together is very happy.

As time progresses, Isabel has two miscarriages and a still birth. A boat washes up ashore with a dead man and a baby, still alive. By law, everything that occurs on and around the island must be reported. Isabel convinces Tom to ignore this requirement and let them keep the baby saying, “It is a gift from God.” Against his better judgement, Tom agrees and they name the baby Lucy.

When Lucy turns two they return to the mainland to visit Isabel’s parents. Here they are reminded that the child has a living parent to whom she should be returned. Decisions have to be made!

A must read.   A question of ethics… What would you have done?

We rated it a 9/10

There actually is a Janus Rock and photographs of the island can be found online.

Janet Murdoch

The Prison Book Club

By Ann Walmsley

In The Prison Book Club, author Ann Walmsley, tells the story of the time she spent volunteering at two prison book clubs, Collins Bay and Beaver Creek institutions in Ontario.

She had been invited by her friend, Carol Finlay, to assist in the selection of books for the inmates. Her first reaction to the invite was one of trepidation as in a previous year she had been mugged outside her home. Throughout the book we find Ann becoming more and more comfortable in the prison environment as she engages the inmates in lively and insightful discussions of the characters and themes found in the literature. She kept the words of her father close at hand, “If you expect the best of people, they will rise to the occasion.”

It was Carol’s idea was to encourage a love of books and to offer men heroes and heroines worth emulating. She hoped that the process of stepping into the shoes of characters in books would encourage the development of empathy in the men, and indeed the research has shown that there is a definite link between reading literary fiction and the growth of empathy.

Walmsley noted that “Reading a book that was newsworthy gave the men a sense of participating in something timely and meaningful. It was also a way of armchair travelling. Here were men who were becoming hooked not on drugs, but on books. The prison book club gave them another little family, another little escape, keeping them from going crazy. Books became their “friends”.

One inmate commented, “It is an oasis we get one day a month. I have watched men in that group realize their potential to analyze and reflect that I don’t know if they even realized they had.” By 2015 Carol had established 17 book clubs in 14 institutions across Canada. In a survey of inmates, 93% reported that the book clubs could help to prevent them from reoffending.

Although our Book  Club felt that some parts of the book were a little repetitive, we were truly inspired by the inmates’ insights, perceptions, and analyses of the novels.  It removed some of our stereotypical thinking of prisoners.  In

In addition, we were amazed at the determination and drive shown by Carol Finlay in initiating these book clubs.

The group rated the book a 7/10.

Barbara Ashcroft

The Golden Son

by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

In 2010, this author wrote Secret Daughter, the story about a girl born in rural India, which sold over one million copies and has been optioned for a movie.

In this novel, set again in rural India but also Dallas, USA, we meet Anil and his family.  He is the first born child, the first to go to a medical college many miles away from his village and the first to receive the offer of an internship at a hospital in Dallas…one of the busiest and most competitive hospitals in America.

When his father dies, Anil is expected to continue his medical studies yet take on the role as the leader of the family as well as inheriting his father’s role as judge/umpire for disagreements in his home community.

We are drawn into a culture clash where Anil works at fitting into the expectations and culture of his new surroundings without losing his own sense of self.

“Not only was it impossible to belong in America but he didn’t fit in here anymore.  He was a dweller of two lands, accepted by none.”

The novel deals with issues continuing to face many people today: differing religions, values, traditions, arranged marriages, the caste system, the effect of higher education on one or more members of a family and the integration of culture.

Overall, the members enjoyed this book and gave is 8/10 as a rating.

Elma Smiley

Requiem

by Frances Itani

Bin Okuma, a celebrated visual artist, has suddenly lost his beloved wife, Lena. He finds himself alone in ways he has never imagined. Trying to pull together an exhibition of his art, he is drawn into painful memories he has avoided for much of his life.
After the attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941, Bin’s Japanese Canadian family is uprooted from Vancouver Island and sent to an internment camp in the mountains. They then spend 5 years struggling against poverty and shame. Many years later, Bin drives across the country to revisit the places that shaped him and to see his estranged father. But does he want to reunite with the man who abandoned him and separated him from his mother? With the persuasive voice of his wife in his head and the echo of their love in his heart, Bin embarks on an unforgettable journey, one that encompasses art and music, love and hope, loss and redemption.
Frances Itani’s Japanese-Canadian husband was interned with his family after Pearl Harbour. Her research proves that, although this is a work of fiction, the historical background is accurate. She confirms that the most important role of the Japanese family was to preserve
household resources and to pass them on to the next generation. Providing an heir was one of the primary duties of family and adoption was approved of, when necessary. Itani probes the complex adjustments we make to live with our sorrows and asks what the generations have to tell one another.
Thanks to Patricia Woolner and Jeanette Gray for this review.
The book club gave Requiem a score of 9/10.

Before I Go to Sleep

by S.J. Watson

This 2011 novel is a debut novel for the writer who is an audiologist with the NHS (National Health Service) at London’s St. Thomas Hospital. It is interesting he wrote the novel between shifts.

The novel is a psychological thriller based on a fascinating neurological condition….a special form of amnesia.  The novel begins: “The bedroom is strange. Unfamiliar. I don’t know where I am, how I came to be here.  I don’t know how I’m going to get home.”

The novel is rooted in the domestic life of Christine, the main character, but moves from everyday life in tiny, terrifying steps. The first chapters fly by as you wonder whom to trust. We are dealing with memories; are they real, false or a bit of both. It is a twisted, haunting story of panic, anger, uncertainty, despair, and hope.

Overall the group agreed it was captivating and suspenseful at times.  Generally we liked the pacing and the twist at the end; some found it difficult to suspend reality and accept several situations as portrayed by the author.  We all agreed the ending was too abrupt.    Overall we gave it a 6.5

I  SEE YOU

by Clare Macintosh

 This book is an intense psychological thriller that revels in surprises and twists. It all starts with a classified ad. During her commute home one night, Zoe Walker is glancing through her local paper and sees her own face staring back at her along with a phone number on a dating website.

Other women begin appearing in the same ad, a different one every day, and Zoe realizes they have all become the victims of increasingly violent crimes. With the help of a determined cop, she uncovers the ad’s twisted purpose. Now, that man on the train – the one smiling at Zoe from across the aisle – could he be more than just a friendly stranger.

An unsettling novel when one considers how easy it can be to stalk people who have consistent routines, and how much information can be accessed through a simple online purchase. To find out how it all ends, you will have to get a copy of the book.

The book club gave it a 7/10

The German Girl

by  Armando Lucas Correa

Set in 1939 Berlin, then Cuba, and finally New York City, this heart wrenching novel is written from the perspective of two twelve-year old girls. First we meet Hannah who has been raised in a privileged life in Berlin, then the story alternates with her great-niece living today in New York.

It is a story of loss, love, terror, hope, and broken promises.

We meet Hannah and her family as they attempt to escape from occupied Germany only to discover that the overseas safe haven (Cuba) they have been promised and for which they have paid out most of their fortune, is nothing but an illusion.  On arrival less than one hundred of the one thousand passengers who boarded the St. Louis in Germany are allowed to disembark, families are separated, and the ship is sent off to seek refuge elsewhere.

Seventy years later, a young fatherless girl and her mother receive a strange package from an unknown relative in Cuba which inspires them to travel to Cuba and search out their mysterious past.

Based on a true story of which many of us are unaware, it is the tragic tale of the St. Louis ship and its passengers who sailed from Germany with such hope for a better future only to be rejected by other countries, including Canada, and sent back to Germany. The Bookworms felt this book was particularly timely given that history appears to be repeating itself.

Although our book club enjoyed this novel since it provided insight into many aspects of the effects of World War 11 previously unknown to many of us, it did leave us with a number of unanswered questions.

We rated this 8+ out of ten.

Interestingly, this book published in 2016, was banned in Israel as a “ threat” to Jewish identity.

Bury Your Dead

by Louise Penny

In February the book club decided to read any book by Louise Penny. She is a Quebec author who has won numerous awards since her first mystery crime novel featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. The first novel was Still Life published in 2006 and the latest one A Great Reckoning published in 2016.

On the whole we enjoyed her books, although with most of the same characters appearing in nearly every book and the same setting a small village in the eastern Townships, they become a little monotonous. Two exceptions include A Beautiful Mystery set in a monastery in Northern Quebec where 24 monks live. One day the musical director is found murdered, and Gamache is called in to find the murderer. The second one Bury Your Dead is set in
Quebec City. A man is found murdered in one of the city’s oldest buildings. Louise Penny’s portrait of Quebec City is as lovingly detailed and evocative as anything she has written.

Girl With A Pearl Earring

 by Tracy Chevalier

This book is historical fiction set in 1664 in the Dutch city of Delft and profiles a short period in the life of the Dutch painter, Vermeer. It deals with the everyday complications of his family and artistic life. However, the narrator and main character, Greit, is a teenage girl of much lower social status than the Vermeer family. In order to help her parents financially, she is employed as a maid in the Vermeer household. The depiction of 17th century Holland in this book generated lively discussion at our meeting. We discussed several of the issues that the book presents: the status of women, the strains and jealousies with the Vermeer household, the value of art, and the controls that religion and social status had over people at that time. Our group found this book to be an enjoyable read.

A House Without Windows

by  Nadia Hashimi

This is the story of Zeba, a loyal wife and loving mother, who has lived quietly in her Afghan Village. Then one day her husband Kamal is found murdered in the courtyard of their home. Covered in his blood and catatonic with shock, Zeba refuses to say what happened. She is thrown into prison and charged with his murder.

As she awaits trial she befriends other women in the prison. They in turn whisper among themselves. Is she really a cold blooded killer, or has she inherited her mother’s powers of Witchcraft?

Into this closed world comes Yusaf, Zeba’s Afghan-born, American-raised lawyer, whose desire to help his homeland has brought him back. With the fate of Zeba in his hands, he discovers that, like Afghanistan itself, his client may not be all that he imagines.

This novel is a moving and often surprising look at the lives of modern Afghan women. Submitted by  Patricia Woolner.

The book club gave it 8 out of 10.

The Little Paris Bookshop

By Nina George

The main character in the novel is a book seller called M. Perdu. From his floating bookstore called the Literary Apothecary, a barge on the Seine, he doesn’t just sell books to his customers, he prescribes them to suit the psychic ills he diagnosis in his clientele. He is, however, unable to treat his own depression caused by the disappearance 20 years ago of his great love Manon – though she did leave him a letter which he has never opened. A new neighbour, Catherine, moves into his building and befriends M. Perdu. Catherine finds the long hidden letter and forces M. Perdu to open it. Stricken by guilt he decides to go looking for his lost love, but instead of buying a ticket for the TGV our friend cast off the mooring lines of the barge and sets sail for Provence. The story unfolds as he travels up the Seine through a series of locks and down to the lavender fields of Provence. Overall an interesting read, liked by some and not by others.

We rated it 7/10.

They Left Us Everything

A Memoir by Plum Johnson

Set in Oakville (the house still sits at 26 Trafalgar Road) this book is the story of family relationships and caring for parents as they age and ultimately pass away. It is the story of a wealthy American Southern Belle married to a British former navy officer, a couple so different that one wonders how the marriage managed to survive. The mother was a total extrovert, spending her time at the Oakville Tennis Club, imbibing large quantities of gin, yet inviting the poor and homeless into their large 23 room home. The father was a highly disciplined man to the extent that he frequently beat their five children even for small infractions.

Following the death of their father and much later the passing of their then cantankerous mother at 93, Plum, together with her three brothers, is left to purge and declutter a home where they had lived for over 50 years. As they experience grief and relief while going through mountains of accumulated stuff, they begin to see their parents through new eyes.

At times very humorous, at other times heart-wrenchingly touching, the book deals with what parents leave behind; the importance of preserving the past in order to ensure we have a future.

The group gave the book an overall rating of 8

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By Rebecca Skloot

Henrietta Lacks was a 31 yr old poor, black woman who died of cervical cancer in the coloured ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951. During her treatment, the doctors at Johns Hopkins took some of the cancer cells from her failing body and used them for research. This was not an unusual thing to have done in 1951, but the cells that came from her body were unusual. They had qualities that made them uniquely valuable as research tools. Labelled “HeLa”, Henrietta’s cells were immortal and they were reproduced by the billions in research laboratories all over the world and may weigh more than 50M metric tons. Today, HeLa cells are sold by the vial for impressive prices. The group discussion covered many areas: patient consent, the important advances which had taken place, such as cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization; and the fact that her family could not afford to see a doctor and have not seen a penny of compensation from the work make possible by these cells.

The group rated the book 7.5

The Heist

By Daniel Silva.

A brutally murdered British spy, a one-eyed Italian police commissioner, a master art thief, a world famous art restorer, a professional assassin from Corsica “… all connected following a terrorist attack in London! Once again Silva, using current world events, brings us into the world of priceless art thefts, espionage involving American, British and Israeli intelligence and computer bank thefts involving Syria. This is a fast-paced, exciting thriller while also being an educational read.

The Bookworms gave it an 8.5 out of 10.

My Secret Sister

Memoirs of Helen Edwards and Jenny Lee Smith

Ghost-writer: Jacquie Buttriss

Helen grew up in a village in Tyneside with her family living nearby but they could not protect her from her neglectful mother and violent father. Jenny was adopted and grew up in Newcastle. Neither woman knew of the other’s existence until, in her 50s, Jenny went looking for her birth family and found she had a sister.

So much of the story is left unstated. Do we really ever know Helen? Is the point of view the ghost writer’s as she puts words into the characters’ mouths? Is Mercia, the mother, the true protagonist? Mercia, after all, in the ghostwriter’s words was “the keeper of the keys and took them with her when she died”.

Rating:  4 out of 10…maybe.

The Forgotten Garden

Kate Morton

This book contains an old book of dark fairy tales, a secret forgotten garden, the secret story of the Montrachet family, a love denied, and a very good mystery. It takes place in England and has captivating secrets and family memories. It is a mystery story with three main characters. Eliza Makepeace who is a fairy tale author. A four year old girl Nell, who was abandoned by her parents and lived to be 97 and Nell’s granddaughter, Cassandra who discovered her grandmother’s secrets after attending her grandmother’s funeral.

The Forgotten Garden is a compelling read with great descriptions of the English countryside and the forgotten secret garden. This is a story of inner and outer journeys and recognizes the power of story telling.

Our book club enjoyed this novel

Rating 8 out of 10

The Age Of Longing

Richard B. Wright

Set in small town Ontario (some people will recognize many of the locations) this novel spans three generations. The main character, Howard Wheeler, returns to the town of his birth following the death of his mother, in order to sell their home and clear up her estate. The book takes us through his journey as the memories come flooding back. He reminisces about the lives of his parents; his distant, serious, teacher mother, his fun-loving town “hockey hero” father, their meeting, marriage, and the ultimate disintegration of their marriage.

Wright is masterful in developing his characters and we quickly engage with them as being ordinary, flawed human beings. The Book Worms decided that, in general, it was an easy read and we enjoyed the novel. We found it provocative, and, at times touching and memorable. We could also relate to some of the Toronto locations that were part of the story.

Rating: NA

The Paying Guests

Sarah Waters

The year is 1922, London is tense with the aftermath of the First World War. Widowed Mrs. Wray and her unmarried daughter, Frances, live in genteel Camberwell. Due to reduced circumstances they are forced to take in lodgers. A modern young couple, Lilian & Leonard Barber, of the emerging middle class, arrive and bring unsettling things with them: gramophone music, colourful clothing, laughter and fun. Frances and Lilian are drawn into an unexpected friendship. Loyalties begin to shift and secrets confessed. It seems the most ordinary of lives can explode into passion and drama.

This novel has nail-biting tension, real tenderness, twists, and surprises. It is a love story that is also a suspense-filled crime story, and a beautifully atmospheric portrait of a fascinating time and place.

Rating: NA

The Orphan Train

Christina Baker Kline

Between 1850 and 1930 some 200,000 thousand orphans were shipped across the US from the eastern seaboard to live with families in the Midwest. This is the story of a surprising friendship that developed between two women, a troubled 17-year old foster child, Molly Ayer and a 91-year old lady who herself was orphaned at a young age.

Niamh, as she was baptized , emigrated from Ireland with her family to New York where disaster struck and the family was wiped out in a fire. Niamh was sent to Minnesota by train and lived with several families before being adopted by the Nielsons.

The Orphan Train is a powerful tale of upheaval, resilience, second chances, and unexpected friendship. Our book club enjoyed the novel and found it an easy read..

Rating: 7 out of 10