Category Archives: Book Clubs

Book Club Book Reviews June 2023

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The Liars by Petronella McGovern

Summary

A wife burning with resentment. A husband hiding the past. Their teenage daughter crusading for the truth. Who can we trust?

The close-knit community of Kinton Bay is shocked when fifteen-year-old Siena Britton makes a grisly discovery near a cave in the national park. Siena believes it’s a skull from the town’s violent colonial past and posts a video which hits the news headlines.

But her parents, Meri and Rollo, think the skull is related to their teenage parties in the Killing Cave back in the 1990s. And a school mate who went missing then.

None of them foresees the dangers that the discovery will create for their family. The dangers of past deceits, silences and lies that have never been resolved.

Comments

Set in a small country town on the coast of New South Wales after Covid 19, this is a story which revolves around the cases of three missing people from the 1990s.

When a skull is discovered, lives and lies begin to unravel; and events spiral out of control, especially in the Britton family around whom the story is focussed. This small community has been keeping secrets for many years and some in the community are haunted by their memories.

Only a few of our group read the whole story, having found the beginning very uninspiring. It was easy to read but ‘ordinary’ and ‘underwhelming’ was the group verdict; we felt that it would be better suited as a young adult read.

4/10 Read by Dundas Readers

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Summary

Welcome to Bascom, North Carolina, where it seems that everyone has a story to tell about the Waverley women. The house that’s been in the family for generations, the walled garden that mysteriously blooms year round, the rumours of dangerous loves and tragic passions.

Every Waverley woman is somehow touched by magic. Claire has always clung to the Waverleys’ roots,  tending the enchanted soil in the family garden from which she makes her sought-after delicacies – famed and feared for their curious effects. She has everything she thinks she needs – until one day she waked to find a stranger has moved in next door and a vine of ivy has crept into her garden…

Claire’s carefully tended life is about to run gloriously out of control.

Comments

Our group quite enjoyed this easy to read, fanciful story of a family of women with ‘magical’ gifts and an enchanted, backyard apple tree. It did remind us of a Hallmark movie and could imagine it also as a miniseries, even perhaps more suited to the young adult genre. There were some aspects of realism and conflict. We enjoyed the references to the language of flowers, the positivity of the environment as a healer and the hope and support that the women provided each other. The character of Evanelle was our favourite. She was eccentric, loving, somewhat ageless but a wise elder. The ending was predictable but satisfying.

Read by MJ Readers

Book Review Girt David Hunt

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Summary

Girt. No word could better capture the essence of Australia…

Girt. No word could better capture the essence of Australia…

In this hilarious history, David Hunt reveals the truth of Australia’s past, from megafauna to Macquarie – the cock-ups and curiosities, the forgotten eccentrics and Eureka moments that have made us who we are.

Girt introduces forgotten heroes like Mary McLoghlin, transported for the crime of “felony of sock”, and Trim the cat, who beat a French monkey to become the first animal to circumnavigate Australia. It recounts the misfortunes of the escaped Irish convicts who set out to walk from Sydney to China, guided only by a hand-drawn paper compass, and explains the role of the coconut in Australia’s only military coup.

Our nation’s beginnings are steeped in the strange, the ridiculous and the frankly bizarre. Girt proudly reclaims these stories for all of us.

Not to read it would be un-Australian.

Comments

Girt by David Hunt is a different approach to presenting the history orfAustralia. There has been an incredible amount of research done by the author but, unfortunately, the style did not resonate with us. We found the writing to be demeaning, negative, flippant and condescending. In an attempt to be comedic or ironic, we felt the author trivialised women and gave no dignity to the people who forged our society. The only people who seemed to be presented positively were the ‘currency kids’ who are portrayed as hardworking and healthier than those who went before them, although they didn’t appear to value their own self worth.

The book felt very self indulgent and is not one that we would recommend.

Read by MJ Readers

Book Review The Marriage Portrait Maggie O’Farrell

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Summary

Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf.
 
Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now enter an unfamiliar court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her new husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appeared to be before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble?

Comments

Set amid the opulence of upper class families in the mid 1500s in Italy, this is the story of Lucrezia and it follows her life from babyhood until her mid teens. She is the child of rich and privileged parents (Cosimo & Eleanora de’Medici) who love each other and all of their many children. Lucrezia is the middle child marooned between her older and younger siblings. She begins life as a difficult, fretful baby and becomes a spirited, intelligent and artistic young girl. When her older sister Maria dies just before her arranged marriage into another prominent family headed by Duke Alfonso II, it becomes Lucrezia’s fate to take the place of her sister. When barely into her teens and against her wishes, she is married to the 27 year old Duke.

Alfonso is a complex character who switches between kind and thoughtful husband to ruthless, cruel tyrant. Lucrezia’s role is clearly to provide a male heir to ensure Alfonso’s family line. She is kept in opulent surroundings in a heavily fortified palace as a virtual prisoner. O’Farrell’s writing is wonderful and she brings her characters vividly to life. Throughout the novel she sustains an air of foreboding and menace.

The female members of our group found this to be a harrowing but enthralling read and found the time period and setting of the story very engaging. Our 2 male members, however, did not enjoy the story and found the manner in which it was told (by changing back and forth in time and place) very confusing.

Rating – 7/10

Read by Dundas Readers

Book Review The Thursday Murder Club

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The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Summary

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.

But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it’s too late?

Comments

We all enjoyed this highly implausible but engaging romp set in a retirement village in England. We felt that it was a fresh, authentic take on a murder mystery story where elderly characters were created with respect and dignity. There was a sense of community and commonality despite each main character coming from disparate backgrounds, each bringing a skill and perspective that allowed them to work cooperatively together. At the heart of the story is Elizabeth, a former spy, who manages the group’s investigation while Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim ably support her. Each character is interesting and sympathetically portrayed with a plot that keeps you guessing. We look forward to reading more books in this series.

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Book Review Lessons In Chemistry

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Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Summary

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing.

But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Forced to resign, she reluctantly signs on as the host of a cooking show, Supper at Six. But her revolutionary approach to cooking, fuelled by scientific and rational commentary, grabs the attention of a nation.

Soon, a legion of overlooked housewives find themselves daring to change the status quo. One molecule at a time.

Comments

Lessons in Chemistry is the story of Elizabeth Zott, a chemist in the 1960s, trapped by her gender in a male dominated industry. She unwittingly finds herself the star of a TV cookery show.

Our book club thoroughly enjoyed this book. Some felt it was like a modern fairy tale but found it fresh with many interwoven layers. The themes of education, discrimination, relationships, love, loss, motherhood, science and protection are some of the complexities in Elizabeth’s life but it is a hopeful story.

Every character has a voice, even the dog, adding humour and a depth of understanding of human nature and how people cope with what they have been dealt with in life. A satisfying, absorbing read that we are happy to recommend.

Read by MJ Readers