Amanda and Dawson are teenage sweethearts in the town of Oriental, North Carolina. He's from the wrong side of the tracks, with a violent and lawless family, she's from a wealthy and well connected family. When family pressures intervene to keep the lovers apart, Dawson gives in and tells Amanda that she must go to make the future that's within her grasp and leave him behind. So far, so standard.
After Amanda has left Oriental for college, Dawson is involved in a road accident that changes his life for ever. Unable to forgive himself he, too, leaves Oriental and makes a life on oil rigs until he receives a summons to return to Oriental for the funeral of the one mentor who stood by him in the dark days. When he arrives, he finds that Amanda has also been summoned. Neither of them has forgotten their young love but Amanda is married, with a family.
What happens next is mostly love story and partly ghost story. Are the lovers reconciled? Well, you'll have to read the book!
Nicholas Sparks is, arguably, that rare male author who can write about love authentically. I would guess, from both his writing and his dedication to his wife on the fly-page, that he's a true romantic and not simply writing about love because it sells. Still, although love themes sell books, it's difficult to incorporate excitement or action into these stories so they can seem a bit tame. For lovers of love stories, this is for you; for readers who prefer a bit more pace, you probably won't like this.
'The Best of Me' is published by Sphere Original, ISBN 978-1-84744-321-2.
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
The Secret Son by Laila Lalami
Laila Lalami was born in Morocco and this is her story of a boy growing up in the slums of Hay an Najat, in Casablanca. Youseff has dreams of a better life and he studies hard to gain the qualifications that will, he hopes, earn a more prosperous life for himself and his mother, a widow. But his hopes are fulfilled in a way he can't even imagine in his wildest dreams.
Transported into a life of luxury, he leaves his old life behind until fate again intervenes and he has to return to the slums. Disillusioned and disengaged from his old life, he is drawn into a world of fundamentalism where friends can be enemies and enemies are still enemies. He discovers, too late, that sometimes innocence is no protection and lives can be lost in other ways than death.
This is a short book, only a little longer than a novella, but Laila Lalami has a way with words that packs much meaning into each sentence, yet leaves the reader able to fill in any blanks from their own imagination without realising that this is what they've done.
A thoughtful story of rich and poor, of how poverty and thwarted dreams can warp minds and how faith, even to the faithless, can be used to promote evil. Laila Lalami writes simply, with understated passion and sadness. Recommended.
The Secret Son is published by Penguin, ISBN 978-0-141-04273-2
Transported into a life of luxury, he leaves his old life behind until fate again intervenes and he has to return to the slums. Disillusioned and disengaged from his old life, he is drawn into a world of fundamentalism where friends can be enemies and enemies are still enemies. He discovers, too late, that sometimes innocence is no protection and lives can be lost in other ways than death.
This is a short book, only a little longer than a novella, but Laila Lalami has a way with words that packs much meaning into each sentence, yet leaves the reader able to fill in any blanks from their own imagination without realising that this is what they've done.
A thoughtful story of rich and poor, of how poverty and thwarted dreams can warp minds and how faith, even to the faithless, can be used to promote evil. Laila Lalami writes simply, with understated passion and sadness. Recommended.
The Secret Son is published by Penguin, ISBN 978-0-141-04273-2
The Agincourt Bride by Joanna Hickson
Set in the mid-15th century, this is a fictionalised version (first part of two) about the life of Catherine de Valois, daughter of Charles VI (the Glass King) of France and Queen Isabeau. The tale is told through the eyes of Guilluamette (Mette), who was brought in to the Royal Court on the death of her own first baby, and appointed Catherine's wet-nurse.
Mette stays with the royal children, in the nursery where they are neglected and poorly fed, until the children are removed by their mother to further royal and political ambitions. Mette and Catherine are reunited later, when Catherine returns to the Royal Court as a teenager. Her future prospects veer from poor to excellent and back again as her parents arrange various alliances, and prospective marriages, using Catherine as a pawn and bait. Eventually, however, she is married to Henry V of England.
Fiction can always only be imagination but, built on the wealth of historical fact that we have about this period, this story brings vibrancy to a rich period of English and French history.
Joanna Hickson was originally captivated by Shakespeare's history plays and began researching the story of 'fair Kate' as a result of that infatuation. Part 2 of this story is called 'The Tudor Bride'.
At 559 pages, I thought this was book was a tad longer than it really needs to be and there are patches where the author seems to have either lost her way a little or has spent longer building bridges between key parts of the story than were strictly needed. However, it flows quite nicely and provides an insight into the Court of France, at this time, from a French angle rather than the more common English viewpoint.
Recommended to historical novel readers, the book is published by Harper Collins, ISBN 978-0-00-744697-1.
Mette stays with the royal children, in the nursery where they are neglected and poorly fed, until the children are removed by their mother to further royal and political ambitions. Mette and Catherine are reunited later, when Catherine returns to the Royal Court as a teenager. Her future prospects veer from poor to excellent and back again as her parents arrange various alliances, and prospective marriages, using Catherine as a pawn and bait. Eventually, however, she is married to Henry V of England.
Fiction can always only be imagination but, built on the wealth of historical fact that we have about this period, this story brings vibrancy to a rich period of English and French history.
Joanna Hickson was originally captivated by Shakespeare's history plays and began researching the story of 'fair Kate' as a result of that infatuation. Part 2 of this story is called 'The Tudor Bride'.
At 559 pages, I thought this was book was a tad longer than it really needs to be and there are patches where the author seems to have either lost her way a little or has spent longer building bridges between key parts of the story than were strictly needed. However, it flows quite nicely and provides an insight into the Court of France, at this time, from a French angle rather than the more common English viewpoint.
Recommended to historical novel readers, the book is published by Harper Collins, ISBN 978-0-00-744697-1.
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