Sacred Hearts

Sarah Dunant

American Wife

Curtis Sittenfeld

In the year 2000, in the closest election in American history, Alice Blackwell s husband becomes president of the United States. Their time in the White House proves to be heady, tumultuous, and controversial. But it is Alice s own story – that of a kind, bookish, only child born in the 1940s Midwest who comes to inhabit a life of dizzying wealth and power – that is itself remarkable. Alice candidly describes her small-town upbringing, and the tragedy that shaped her identity; she recalls her early adulthood as a librarian, and her surprising courtship with the man who swept her off her feet; she tells of the crisis that almost ended their marriage; and she confides the privileges and difficulties of being first lady, a role that is uniquely cloistered and public, secretive and exposed. In Alice Blackwell, Curtis Sittenfeld has created her most dynamic and complex heroine yet. American Wife is not a novel about politics. It is a gorgeously written novel that weaves race, class, fate and wealth into a brilliant tapestry. It is a novel in which the unexpected becomes inevitable, and the pleasures and pain of intimacy and love are laid bare.

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The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Muriel Barbery

Half of a Yellow Sun

C Ngozi Adichie

The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini

Hosseini is a truely gifted teller of tales!!

The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini

Hosseini is a truely gifted teller os tales!!

Girl With A Pearl Earring

Tracy Chevalier

Shakespeare

Bill Bryson

The Shakespeare Almanac

Greg Doran

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Chasing Windmills

Catherine Ryan Hyde

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When We Were Younger

Members choices of significant childhood reads

Hetty Feather

Jacqueline Wilson

London, 1876 and Hetty Feather is just a tiny baby when her mother leaves her at the Foundling Hospital. The Hospital cares for abandoned children but Hetty must first live with a foster family until she is big enough to go to school. Life in the countryside is hard but with her brothers Jem and Gideon, she helps in the fields and plays imaginary games. Together they sneak off to visit the travelling circus and Hetty is mesmerised by the show, especially Madame Adeline and her performing horses. But Hetty s happiness is threatened once more when she is returned to the Foundling Hospital. The new life of awful uniforms and terrible food is a struggle for her. But now she has the chance to find her real mother. Could she really be the wonderful Madame Adeline? Or will Hetty find the truth is even more surprising? Jacqueline Wilson will surprise and delight old fans and new with this utterly original take on a historical novel. Set in Victorian times and featuring a brand new feisty heroine, Hetty Feather, this is a Tracy Beaker-esque tale that will thrill young readers. Warm, moving, funny and totally fascinating, it’s the perfect gift for girls of eight and older.

Rating by our members: 4

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While England Sleeps

David Leavitt

While England Sleeps

David Leavitt

A Single Man

Christopher Isherwood

In this brilliantly perceptive novel, a middle aged professor living in California, is alienated from his students by differences in age and nationality ,and from the rest of society by his homosexuality. Isherwood explores the depths of the human soul and its ability to triumph over loneliness, alienation and loss.

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A Single Man

Christopher Isherwood

In this brilliantly perceptive novel, a middle aged professor living in California, is alienated from his students by differences in age and nationality ,and from the rest of society by his homosexuality. Isherwood explores the depths of the human soul and its ability to triumph over loneliness, alienation and loss.

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Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Stieg Larsson

Rating by our members: 4