Last Thursday Book Group

Book TitleThe Lieutenant by Kate Grenville

The Lieutenant

Book Summary

The Lieutenant is the profoundly moving tale of a young soldier’s arrival in Australia on the First Fleet and the extraordinary friendship he develops with the local Aboriginal people. Daniel Rooke, soldier and astronomer, arrives in NSW in 1788. He sets up his observatory away from the main camp to begin the scientific work that he hopes will make him famous. Aboriginal people soon start to visit his isolated promontory, and a child named Tagaran begins to teach him her language. A genuine friendship forms, and Rooke has almost forgotten he is a soldier when a man is fatally wounded in the fledgling colony. The lieutenant faces a decision that will define the course of his entire life.

Group Comments Continue reading

Staff Pick

behind the sun

Behind the SunDeborah Challinor

Book Summary

Four woman on a perilous voyage to a new world can rely only on their wits – and each other.Friday Woolfe, is in London’s notorious Newgate gaol, awaiting transportation. There, she meets three other girls: intelligent and opportunistic thief, Sarah Morgan, naive young Rachel Winter, and reliable and capable seamstress, Harriet Clarke. On the voyage to New South Wales their friendship becomes an unbreakable bond.

Comments Continue reading

1st Wednesday Book Group

For the first meeting of the year, the 1st Wednesday Group discussed ‘Silence of the Grave’ by Arnaldur Indriason.

silence of the graveAbout the Author

Arnaldur Indriðason was born in Reykjavík January 28, 1961 and writes crime fiction. He is the son of writer Indriði G. Þorsteinsson. Arnaldur graduated with a degree in history from the University of Iceland in 1996. Arnaldur’s first published book, Sons of Dust (Synir duftsins) in 1997, is the first in the Detective Erlendur series. Arnaldur’s books have been published in twenty-six countries and have been translated into Russian, Polish, German, Greek, Danish, Catalan, English, Italian, Czech, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Finnish, Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian, Chinese, Croatian, Romanian and French. He won the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger Award in 2005 for the novel Silence of the Grave. Arnaldur lives in Reykjavík with his wife and three children. (Bowker Author Biography)

Group Comments Continue reading