Although I went back to work last week, it’s the “official” end of the summer holidays and I’m gearing up for another year of engaging students to create lifelong readers. Our school is expanding so I made a bulletin board last week that says “Under Construction… Building Readers”, which I think I’ll have lots of fun updating throughout the school year. And since Silver Birch duties are officially over, I’ve been busy reading books for pleasure and will briefly talk about the three I finished reading.
The first is Asha in Her Garden by Canadian author Anita Rau Badami. This novel opens with 70-year-old Asha Mohan and her adult daughter watching as her beloved maple tree is cut down and removed from the garden of her home in Montreal. Her daughter convinces her to throw a small party to celebrate the tree and say goodbye to it, and as she considers the guest list, Asha reflects on her life, from childhood, through her marriage and move from India to Canada, and now her life as a single woman once again. Told in alternating sections and set between Montreal and Bangalore at different periods in her life, this novel sees the the main character contemplate her life and consider the reasons behind some of the choices she made and their consequences, as well as considering who she’s become and whether this persona represents her authentic self. It was very readable and very thought-provoking, as I’ve come to expect from this award-winning author, but it’s also served to remind me that there are a number of Badami’s books that I haven’t read, so I’m putting them on the (ever-growing!) list.
The next book I read was It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell. The main character of this book, 55-year-old Jane Trevally, is a twice-divorced woman who is out walking her dogs in the woods behind her downtrodden family home outside of London when a little white terrier appears. Being a dog person, she immediately calls out to see if she can find any identification, but there’s nothing to indicate where the dog came from She takes the dog to her vet and is able to track his home back to a house in London. As she approaches the house with the intent of returning the dog, she immediately recognizes is as one she was brought to one night decades earlier after drinking in a pub, on the promise of a job, a precarious situation from which she barely escaped. Now a teenaged girl is missing and Jane feels she must launch her own investigation to see if she can piece together what happened and where she might be. This unputdownable book by superstar author Jewell lived up to, if not exceeded, expectation, with twists and turns in every chapter which kept the mystery moving while also managing to address the challenges some older adults may face when they contemplate their life choices and where these choices have led them. Yes, I realize that it’s similar to the previous book, but the books themselves couldn’t be more different, and I would recommend both books, the first if you’re looking for a thought-provoking exploration of life and the second if you want a great psychological thriller.
And the last book I read is A Deadly Inheritance by Canadian author Kelley Armstrong. This YA book is told from the point of view of 17-year-old Liliana Green/Chamberlain, who has been trying to pay the rent and stay afloat after her mother’s death a few months earlier. Her father passed away years before and she and her mother have struggled to pay the rent and the bills, but they’ve always managed to find a way. When a woman calls claiming to be her grandparents’ lawyer and telling her that she actually stands to inherit billions and is an heiress, she doesn’t know what to believe, but when she is packed up and transported to the elite (and very exclusive) Westwood Academy, it all becomes very real. But as she settles int Westwood and meets the other students, she finds herself being drawn into a web of mystery surrounding a contest with fierce competition, one that it seems students will do anything to win. Is she actually in danger or is she just being paranoid? And if she’s in danger, who can she turn to for help? As she navigates the school’s dark history and the complex relationships between students, readers are swept along with her on a Cinderella-themed roller coaster ride of a book. I love Kelley Armstrong’s “Rockton” series, as well as her standalone adult mysteries, and I’ve also read a few of her YA novels. This book certainly did not disappoint. It had everything needed to keep the story going, as well as an interesting love story. I will definitely keep my eye out for more books by Armstrong, both for adults and for young adults.
That’s all for today. Take care and Happy Back to School!
Bye for now…
Julie
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