A Few of My Recent Reads

The Road Home (Rose Tremain)

I had a lot of compassion for the protagonist, especially when he had bad luck and had to pick himself up and start again. I envisioned myself emigrating with little command of the language and no support system and I don't believe I would have the fortitude to completely change my life. This book has given me new perspective on those who leave their families to try to earn some money to have a life that is more than subsistence.

Call the Midwife (Jennifer Worth)

I’d watched the series and enjoyed it but the book was even better (no surprise there) as it filled in details that could not be captured in the series.  Call the Midwife is a look at the lives of lower class Londoners in the 1950s; their extended family units (until the slum clearances split families apart) and their cheerfulness in spite of living in appalling conditions and having lots of children.  I admire these young midwives who delivered babies in basic conditions such as no hot tap water and who were on call throughout the day and night, bicycling through eight square miles of East London.

Mrs Queen Takes the Train (William Kuhn)

What would happen if Queen Elizabeth II suddenly decided to walk out of Buckingham Palace Mews, find her way to the cheese shop for a supply of cheddar, and then to Kings Cross Station for the train to Scotland to have one last look at her beloved ship, Britannia.  This is her adventure and the adventure of those who follow her to Scotland to bring her home.

The Tavern on Maple Street (Sharon Owens)

Maeve Binchy has left our lives but Sharon Owens has entered mine.  This is the second of Owens’s Belfast slice of life books I’ve read and I’m enjoying these light and delightful reads.