Maidens’ Trip by Emma Smith

I am a Gongoozler and proud of it!  For those who don’t know the term refers to a person who enjoys watching activity on the canals.  Those who belong to ‘the cut’ then add “and that they wish that they were on the canal”.  Sigh! One day it will happen!

 

Now there are many books about World War II but there are not many about the vital role that women played during this time to keep Britain moving.  Most of us have heard about women working in the factories, being spies, doing Admin work and of course there are the Land Girls; but few have been written about the women who kept the supplies moving along the canals.

 

If I had been around during World War II – this is the job I would of been doing!  First published in 1948 as a way of making some money when as the author describes herself as unemployed and broke.  The story is part fiction part memoir taking a snap shot of of a journeys made from London to Birmingham and back again on a motor boat Venus and a butty boat Ariadne by three girls Emma, Charity and Nanette.  It shows a lost world of boating and boating families, the hard work and deternination needed for the job with what seems to be very little monetary reward. It captures a world now sadly lost in the haulage industry. An interesting coming of age tale with many laughs and tears along the way. 

Alison Tyers

Solihull Central Library

 

 

The Gates by John Connolly

Professors, Bishops, disinterested parents and a soppy demon all feature in this farcical stomping comedy of one boy’s adventure to play detective, when suspicious neighbours mix dark art antics on the eve of wider happenings in the universe. Can our intrepid sleuth Samuel and his second in command Dachshund, work together to rescue mankind?

Sarch Millward

The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards

Review written as a Haiku.

Tremors in Japan
light pouring through stained-glass
past secrets revealed

Nicola Thomas
Solihull Central Library

Artichoke Hearts by Sita Brahmachari

May’s a busy month for Mira Levenson – there’s her 13th birthday, her first period, her first boyfriend (with attendant first kiss), joining a writing group….. and her beloved Nana Josie’s dying. An emotional and uplifting tale of grief and love.

Steve Palmer
Children’s Library Service

Smoke Portrait by Trilby Kent

The book is beautifully written with richly drawn characters. For me it was definitely a page turner.

Member of Shirley Reading Group

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman

Pullman courts controversy with a reworking of biblical history in an intriguing tale with many narrative shocks. I was surprised at the twists and turns in plot and characterisation in this well researched novel which reaches a thought provoking conclusion. 

Michael Murray
Solihull Central Library

White Crow

Intriguing and mysterious is how I would describe the beginning of Marcus Sedgwick’s White Crow and then it turns into something more sinister and thrilling and I couldn’t put it down towards the end.

Rebecca is on an extended ‘holiday’ with her father in the village of Winterfold, she is lonely and bored and is worried about the circumstances in which her father has been suspended from his job in the police force.  She meets a girl, Ferelith, who has a mysterious past and some strange views on life and death.  Together they become friends but is the friendship all it seems and is Ferelith hiding the truth from Rebecca.  Running parallel to this plot there is the ‘diary’ of a priest from the 18^th century who becomes embroiled in a very sinister practice with a French doctor who has recently moved into Winterfold.  You know somehow the two stories are connected and the tension builds as tragedy strikes.

Very well written with strong characters I will remember this one for a very long time.

Sandra Foster
Children’s Library Service