Best Summer Read 2018 – The Travelling Cat Chronicles

“The Travelling Cat Chronicles” by Hiro Arikawa (Japan) Review The four shortlisted books for this year’s Summer Reading Group varied greatly in style of writing and author’s experience, from the seasoned writer to the relative newcomer. When it came time for voting for Best Summer Read 2018, two books tied for first place: “The Travelling Cat Chronicles” and “Warlight”. One reader commented on this result saying how … Continue reading Best Summer Read 2018 – The Travelling Cat Chronicles

Best Summer Read 2018 – Warlight

“Warlight” by Michael Ondaatje (Canada)  Review The four shortlisted books for this year’s Summer Reading Group varied greatly in style of writing and author’s experience, from the seasoned writer to the relative newcomer. When it came time for voting for Best Summer Read 2018, two books tied for first place: “The Travelling Cat Chronicles” and “Warlight”. One reader commented on this result saying how she couldn’t quite … Continue reading Best Summer Read 2018 – Warlight

Best Summer Read 2017 – The Golden Legend

“The Golden Legend” by Nadeem Aslam (Pakistan) One of Nicola’s 100 Best Books for Inspiration in the 21st century! Review Distinctly historical fiction or with a clear taste of history both past and present, the four shortlisted books for this year’s Summer Reading Group were all of excellent calibre making it tough to settle on just one favourite. Our readers also noticed a recurrent theme … Continue reading Best Summer Read 2017 – The Golden Legend

The Chosen Maiden

“The Chosen Maiden” by Eva Stachniak (Poland) Review “The Chosen Maiden” by Eva Stachniak (Poland), a close runner-up, was chosen as the Summer Reading Group’s Coup de Cœur Summer 2017. It was the longest of the four books, and masterly mixes fact and fiction to tell the story of the Nijinsky siblings from the point of view of the sister, Bronia. Readers loved their story, … Continue reading The Chosen Maiden

The Underground Railroad

“The Underground Railroad” by Colson Whitehead (U.S.) Review “The Underground Railroad” by Colson Whitehead (U.S.) is set in the pre-Civil war era in the southern states of America and tells the story of a slave’s journey to freedom using the eponymous route. There were mixed reactions to this book with most readers liking it whereas some found the subject matter too hard to handle for … Continue reading The Underground Railroad

The Woman Next Door

“The Woman Next Door” by Yewande Omotoso (South Africa) Review “The Woman Next Door” by Yewande Omotoso (South Africa) is set in modern-day Cape Town and is about the strained relationship between two elderly neighbours, one black and one white. Readers found this an easy story to get into, and to some extent it was a light relief compared to the other three. They liked … Continue reading The Woman Next Door