Kathryn's Inbox

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The winner of the Booker Prize in 1984 Hotel du Lac stands up just as well now as it did when it was first released. Set during the 1950s Edith Hope is a disgraced romance novelist who is forced to exile herself from England following a scandal. She finds herself in a hotel in Europe where each of the guests has their own reasons for wanting to retreat from the world. When the charismatic Mr Neville offers Edith the chance to escape from the humiliation of her recent scandal, however, it forces her to ask some important questions--chiefly are there worse things that being unmarried and, perhaps, lonely. Short and beautifully written, the author captures the tensions of the era and raises questions about a woman's role in 1950s England, her lack of agency and the double standards for wealthy men. Not only is wealthy Mr Neville allowed to behave badly, but the same behaviour from an employee at the hotel raises alarm bells through the supposedly genteel community. Everyone in the gr...

After enjoying Pip Drysdale's twisty novel The Next Girl how could I resist picking up another of her novels, especially when The Paris Affair is set in the art world? Born in London, Harper Brown has moved to Paris to take up a job as an arts writer for a popular online journal and dreams of becoming an investigative reporter. After being used and cruelly dumped by an ex who is now an international rock star, Harper has sworn off love and romance and has employed a number of tactics that will keep her safe. From now on her primary focus will be her career and the chance to investigate the possibility that a serial killer is on the loose. But that becomes incredibly complicated when Harper meets artist Noah X, particularly when Sabrine, his wannabe girlfriend and an aspiring artist, winds up dead, the latest victim of the serial killer. Noah and his former wife each have their reasons for wanting Sabrine gone. But are they capable of murder? What happens when Harper starts taking ...

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I Am Enough is the story of writer, speaker and broadcaster Sheridan Stewart's personal ninety day challenge to slow down and focus on self care. Constantly busy, the author found that she had little time to focus on the things that would help her to be content. Consequently, she came up with a personal what it means to have enough--by spending less, eating less and to stop overworking. The challenge became so life affirming that she decided to write it down to encourage others to undertake their own personal challenge. I picked this one up at my local Big W after what had been a challenging few months for me personally. Initially I was hesitant. After everything I'd been through did I really need to be considering a title like this one? Was it something I could blog about or would it become too personal. And what if this was really just a tell--all biography about the author's time in broadcasting, disguised as a self help book? (Spoiler, it truly isn't.) Anyway, I de...

Written in the Stars was such a hit that Alexandria Bellefleur just had to write a sequel. This one focuses on Brendon, the younger brother of Darcy. Brendon is also an entrepreneur ... and a hopeless romantic who has secretly been crushing on his sister's best friend for years. When Annie makes a surprise visit to Seattle and discovers that Darcy is away, Brendon offers to show her around the city ... and Annie soon finds herself falling for Brendon. But that might be a little inconvenient, considering that she has just taken up an offer of a new job in London. Can Brendon convince Annie to stay? Or will she follow her head and not her heart? This was an entertaining read. Although it isn't quite as comical as Written in the Stars there are some amusing moments, particularly when it seems every time that Brendon and Annie go somewhere things go terribly wrong. (Including a somewhat awkward adventure on a Ferris wheel.) The writing is fluffy and fun, with a couple of steamy sc...

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Magical, beautifully told and a little dark Fed to Red Birds is a story of acceptance and belonging. Elva is an Australian girl living in Iceland, the country where her mother was born and where her grandfather is the author of an extremely famous novel. When Elva's grandfather has a stroke, she is forced to confront the brutal realities of her childhood, ones that have cast a deep shadow over her present ... When this one arrived in my letterbox, beautifully wrapped and at Christmastime in Australia (and Jolabokflod in Iceland,) I was instantly intrigued. For those of us who have grown up in Australia there is often a sense of romanticism about Iceland, a place that seems so distant both geographically and in terms of climate and landscape. And this, it turns out is one of the central themes of the novel. Elva is struggling to come to terms with her new home--the customs, the language, the people--and the deep shadow that has been cast by her mother and by her grandfather's b...

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The Buendia family are a doomed lot, all of their grand plans always seem to come to nothing or, more often than not, end badly. Filled with magical realism, One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of generations of the family and the time they spend in a small settlement with limited contact with the outside world.  I purchased a copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude because it was one of those books. You know the kind. It constantly appears on lists with titles like Books You must Read Before You Die and is one that many authors and avid readers seem to mention in interviews. Apart from that, I knew little of the story. Consequently, the first quarter dragged quite a bit. Initially I made the false assumption that the actions of the Buendia family was a metaphor for human nature, but some of the themes started to feel a bit too oddly specific and I finally caught on that the author was, in fact, discussing Columbian history. After that, it felt more like the kind of book ...

Writing duo Nicci Gerrard and Sean French are back with a chilling story of a good deed turned back. Everything in Jude's life is falling into place. She has a good job as a doctor--the career she always wanted--and she is about to marry the man she loves. Then Liam, the bad boy she briefly dated the summer before she started university, and who was driving the car in a terrible crash that Jude survived, appears and asks her for a favour. When Jude completes the favour--keeping it secret from her fiancé--she suddenly finds her life thrown into turmoil. Liam is dead, people are pointing the finger at her and who was her ex, really. Unable to let go of recent events, Jude finds herself in increasingly dangerous circumstances, while she discovers what she really meant to Liam ... The Favour certainly was a twisty novel. However the storytelling is let down a little by the slightly unbelievable premise, coupled with the protagonist's misplaced sense of guilt. It becomes increasing...