The Hush by Sara Foster

Posted on 30 November 2021 by Jody

Sara Foster‘s latest novel, ‘The Hush‘ is one I have been eagerly awaiting from the moment it was announced!

After the long months of anticipation I finally got to experience the joy of walking into the book store & picking up my copy of ‘The Hush’. I eagerly read the blurb to find out what Sara Foster had in store for me this time around and boy was I super surprised and excited! I could instantly tell I would be in for a late night of reading.

Set in England, in the not too distant future ‘The Hush’ was action packed from the very start. After months of otherwise healthy babies being stillborn, the British government has introduced new laws which allow them to monitor a persons every move. Wrist watches are used to track peoples locations, pregnant teenage girls are disappearing without a trace and women’s freedoms are quickly becoming non existent.

For those readers who are long time fans of Sara Foster’s books prepare to be blown away! ‘The Hush’ is completely different from any of Sara’s previous books, but is totally brilliant and a story that is very relevant to our times. Who wouldn’t enjoy reading about strong, intelligent women who support each other and join together to stand up for their basic human rights. This is the women’s thriller we didn’t know we needed. I want more!

‘The Hush’ gets a rating of 5/5 from me. My only advice is read it slowly if you can because once you finish it you will wish you hadn’t.

Anyway enough gushing from me now. I am off to purchase some copies of Sara’s previous books to keep me satisfied while I wait the one or two years before I get to read a new one! I know it sounds crazy but re-reading books by authors you enjoy is so relaxing and enjoyable. I only wish I wouldn’t keep giving my copies away because I am so eager to share.

Happy reading,

Jody

P.S.

If you are wondering why I buy my books when I work in a library it is so our library members don’t have to wait longer for our new releases.

Book Review The Foundling by Stacey halls

Posted on 18 November 2021 by Jody

This month Dundas Library’s MJ Readers Book Club listened to their first eAudiobook, The Foundling by Stacey Halls.

The Foundling explores families, secrets, class, equality, power and the meaning of motherhood.

Two women from different worlds. And a secret that will change everything . . .

London, 1754. Six years after leaving her illegitimate daughter Clara at London’s Foundling Hospital, Bess Bright returns to reclaim the child she has never known. Dreading the worst – that Clara has died in care – the last thing she expects to hear is that her daughter has already been reclaimed – by her. Her life is turned upside down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl – and why.

Less than a mile from Bess’ lodgings in the city, in a quiet, gloomy townhouse on the edge of London, a young widow has not left the house in a decade. When her close friend – an ambitious young doctor at the Foundling Hospital – persuades her to hire a nursemaid for her daughter, she is hesitant to welcome someone new into her home and her life. But her past is threatening to catch up with her and tear her carefully constructed world apart.

Comments

This was our first audiobook and we all enjoyed listening to it. The descriptive writing and characterisations were engaging with power, privilege, isolation, poverty, love and trauma as the key themes. As an example of historical fiction, we each responded differently to how the basic, factual framework was treated. Some felt that the ending in particular was improbable given the time and social mores, others enjoyed the ‘happy ending’, feeling that the characters had developed empathy and understanding. The story touched each of us and led to meaningful discussion.

Read by the MJ Readers Book Club

2021 Booker Prize

Posted on 8 November 2021 by admin

The Booker Prize is the leading literary award in the English speaking world, and has brought recognition, reward and readership to outstanding fiction for over five decades. Each year, the prize is awarded to what is, in the opinion of the judges, the best novel of the year written in English and published in the UK and Ireland.
This winner for this year is The Promise by Damon Galgut. The book is set in South Africa during the country’s transition out of apartheid, and explores the interconnected relationships between the members of a diminishing white family through the sequential lens of four funerals.
Reserve a copy of the winner and the shortlist titles now and see if you agree with the judges.

Recognising IDPwD

Posted on 4 November 2021 by admin

3 December is International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD). It is a United Nations observed day aimed at increasing public awareness, understanding and acceptance of people with disability.
City of Parramatta has created a program of events and resources in recognition of and to showcase people with a lived experience of a disability.

Learn more about the NDIS with our online information sessions;
Unleash your creativity with the art competition (Prizes worth $650/$200/$75);
Join the panel of speakers at Riverside Theatres ‘Stages of Change’ event;
Watch Kay Kerr in conversation with her new book, Social Queue, a heart-warming autistic story (Register here); and
Discover our resources below to help people living with a disability.

In association with City of Parramatta Libraries and Community Capacity Team, Parramatta Artists’ Studios, Riverside Theatres and Text Publishing.