D.J. K

Martin Fletcher has allowed the reader insight into what a war reporter tackles when covering volatile areas of war. This was a new experience for me and I was always expecting duplicity, lies and the horrible to happen to Tom! It began with all of this in the Prologue and so I was chomping through the story, anxiously wondering. . .? Will it or won't it happen again to Tom and Nina?

Expecting, with the end in view, that Tom would settle in and continue to be a lover, a husband and a father. Nina, the love interest, gave the tale a gentle touch and though she and Tom loved each other, had suffered terror together, the question haunted me, and like Tom, would she settle with Tom and become a devoted wife and mother. Is the pull of dangerous reporting greater than a stable life of love and a steady job of just reporting!?

Stories of Africa seem to attract readers who perhaps have not been there! "Circling the Sun" is haunting as I kept waiting for Beryl to get on with her flying! The mix of Karen Blixen and Beryl Markham is emotionally thrilling as one never knows which way either is going.

I fancied Beryl as "the sun". Her life evolved, and thus rotated around herself, her friends and her loves. She went from Child whose mother walked away to Mother who left her son. The difference is in the contrast, as Beryl kept contact with her son a bit more so, than her mother ever did with her.

"Out of Africa" is a compelling movie and thus I'm inspired to read the book by the same name by Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen, as well as :West With the Night" by Beryl Markham. Thank you Paula McLain for opening the early times in Africa to me and to readers. Your descriptions are lovely!

JULIET'S NURSE is a uniquely plausible tale put together in a creative manner. The contrast of the love stories pitting Angelica and Pietro's wedded bliss against Lady and Lord Capelletto's wedded non-bliss by the author, Lois Leveen, is cleverly contrived. Amidst these contrasts we have the open and obvious love relationship between Angelica, the wet nurse, and her charge, Juliet, the daughter of Lord and Lady Capelleto. Juliet grows from new-born to adolescent, growing into her sexual womanhood, as the tale is told.
The character development of Juliet through the eyes and actions of the wet nurse dominate a good portion of the tale. Juliet becomes a beautiful, lovable and sometimes flighty young lady. The reader grows to love her. When we meet Romeo, the reader may be taken aback by his character development. Culmination comes predictable per Shakespearean thoughts, but with a creative twist from Lois Leveen.

Pietro's bees and his meticulous bee keeping habits embellish the tale of constant love. This is the underlying essence of the book and its characters. Bee keeping is fascinating and lends its fascination to this book.

What an entertaining way to present hoarding! It has so often happened in the lives of those we love and the presentation by Lisa Jewell takes it to extremes. Not only does it show the plus side of hoarding (satisfaction on the part of Lorelei Bird) but also the negative side (alienation of her daughter). To the extreme, she eventually loses her family, but in time each come back to realize that Mom loved them dearly. Revolving it around Easter and egg hunts brings the reader to remember their own childhood adventures and were they always fun? The "House" comes full circle and becomes habitable as hard work (always makes for good family relations), love and cleanliness win the day! This is an extremely satisfying tale of family struggles, dysfunction and how one has to overlook oddities in a family in order to meld the family into a happy unit.