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Madcow's Reading 2011


madcow

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Currently Reading:

 

Never Trust Anyone - Keira O'Brady

 

 

 

 

 

Total Read To Date (5)

The Legacy ~ Katherine Webb - 8/10

A Place of Secrets ~ Rachel Hore - 8/10

House of Silence ~ Linda Gillard - 9.5/10

Sister ~ Rosamund Lupton - 8/10

Someone Else's Son ~ Sam Hayes - 8.5/10

Edited by madcow
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The Legacy by Katherine Webb

 

In the depths of a harsh winter Erica and Beth Calcott return to the house where they spent idyllic summers as children.

As Erica sorts through her late grandmother's belongings, strange fragments of family history, and vivid memories, break the surface of the present day...

Memories of their cousin, Henry, who disappeared one summer long ago.

Of their grandmother, a bitter woman, full of a deep, dark hatred.

 

As Erica sifts through remnants of the past, a secret emerges, reaching all the way back to a beautiful heiress in turn - of - the - century Oklahoma. As past and present converge, Erica and Beth must come to terms with two terrible acts of betrayal - and the heartbreaking legacy left behind.

 

 

Started - 02/01/11

Finished - 02/04/11

Marks out of 10 - 8

 

Comments:OMG can't believe it took me 3 months to read it! An enjoyable read once I got into the reading habit.

Edited by madcow
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  • 3 months later...

A Place of Secrets by Rachel Hore

 

 

London auctioneer Jude Gower is dispatched to Wickham Hall near the North Norfolk coast to value a collection of eighteenth century astronomical instruments and manuscripts. As well as the archive, the house itself intrigues Jude: her great-grandfather was gamekeeper on the Wickham estate between the wars. On the drive up Jude stops to visit her grandmother, who alerts her to a mystery involving a folly on the estate, and someone she reers to only as 'the wild girl'. Amidst the cold classical beauty of Wickham Hall, Jude is welcomed by elderly Chantel Wickham. Chantel's husband died a year ago. Jude is deeply sympathetic because she, too, has lost her husband. Chantel's son is selling the collection to pay death duties. Since WWII the farm land has been sold off and Chantel's husband had to sll the woodland, including the ground where the folly stands. Now a developer has plans which involve knocking it down. Though derelict, the folly has strong historical and sentimental meaning to the Wickham family, so they are particularly upset. As Jude catalogues the manuscripts and scientific instruments, she starts to amass a picture of Anthony Wickham, the lonely amateur astronomer who owned the Hall in the late eihteenth century, and his daughter Esther. She learns that the folly was built as an observatory: it stands in a clearing in the woods, its top just visible above the trees. From here Anthony and Esther made their important discoveries. And it is here Jude meets Euan, a local nature writer living in a gypsy caravan. As Jude uncovers the tragic story of Anthony and Esther, Euan reveals to her the healing power of nature and the eternal stars. Gradually Jude learns to leave behind the tradegy in her own life, and to love again...

 

 

Started - 03/04/11

Finished - 15/04/11

Marks out of 10 - 8

 

Comments: A nice easy read not too taxing on the brain, that flows quite well between the past and the present. Look forward to reading more from this author (that's if she has written anything else).

Edited by madcow
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  • 2 weeks later...

House of Silence by Linda Gillard

 

 

"My friends describe me as frighteningly sensible, not at all the sort of woman who would fall for an actor. And his home. And his family."

 

Orphaned by drink, drugs and rock n’ roll, Gwen Rowland is invited to spend Christmas at her boyfriend Alfie's family home, Creake Hall - a ramshackle Tudor manor in Norfolk. She's excited about the prospect of a proper holiday with a proper family, but soon after she arrives, Gwen senses something isn't quite right. Alfie acts strangely toward his family and is reluctant to talk about the past. His mother, a celebrated children's author, keeps to her room, living in a twilight world, unable to distinguish between past and present, fact and fiction. And then there's the enigma of an old family photograph...

 

When Gwen discovers fragments of forgotten family letters sewn into an old patchwork quilt, she starts to piece together the jigsaw of the past and realises there's more to the family history than she's been told. It seems there are things people don’t want her to know.

 

And one of those people is Alfie…

 

Started - 16/04/11

Finished - 01/05/11

Marks out of 10 - 9.5

 

Comments: Fab read, just what the mojo needed. Love the characters especially Hattie. It is maybe not as strong as her other books, especially Star Gazing, but it is still a good book and well worth buying.

Edited by madcow
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  • 3 weeks later...

Sister by Rosamund Lupton

 

When Beatrice gets a frantic call in the middle of Sunday lunch to say that her younger sister Tess is missing, she boards the first flight home to London. But as she learns about the circumstances surrounding Tess's disappearance, she is stunned to discover how little she actually knows of her sister's life - and unprepared for the terrifying truths she must now face.

The police, Beatrice's fiance and even their mother accept they have lost Tess, but Beatrice refuses to give up on her. So she embarks on a dangeroud journey to discover the truth, no matter the cost...

 

 

Started - 02/05/11

Finished - 11/05/11

Marks out of 10 - 8

 

Comments: Thoroughly enjoyed this and was captivated from the first page. Oh and I read it in 9 days which is the fastest so far this year :lol:

Edited by madcow
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  • 2 weeks later...

Someone Else's Son by Sam Hayes

 

 

TV presenter Carrie Kent can't believe the voice on the end of the phone. Surely it didn't just say that her son - her beloved son Max - has been stabbed within his school gates? This sort of thing happens only to the guests on her daily morning chat show. Not to someone like her boy.

But when Carrie arrives at the hospital and learns that Max is dead, she is thrown into a nightmare. No one will reveal what really happened and the only witness, a schoolgirl, is refusing to talk. Carrie must enter an unknown world of fear and violence if she wants to find the truth. But can she live with what she discovers?

 

Started - 12/05/11

Finished - 31/05/11

Marks out of 10 - 8.5

 

Comments: Another great read from Ms Hayes, I have enjoyed all her books to date. I started off reading quite a bit then had a bit of a lull for a couple of weeks then got through the last third in a night :)

Edited by madcow
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  • 3 weeks later...

Never Trust Anyone by Keira O'Brady

 

My dad mad me promise that I wouldn't write about my life until he died, twenty years after he passed away I finally found the courage to write it. This is my true story wrote in my own words and tells how I was left after my mum's death at the age of nine years to suffer physical, mental, sexual and cruel abuse at the hands of my dad and others I thought I could trust.

 

You may find my story alarming, disturbing and tearful but also humorous.....

 

 

Started 03/06/11

Finished

Marks out of 10

 

 

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