The Collaborator

Vivienne lives on Guernsey island with her two daughters and her mother-in-law who has dementia during the World War 2. She makes the decision to stay on the island instead of fleeing to London like many locals have. She has made the decision to stay telling herself everything will be OK.... then the Germans came.

Curfews, food shortages and the impending winter are the least of Vivienne's worries after she starts to have feelings for an officer living next door. Vivienne must decide to either give into her feelings or do the "right thing" and shun his kindness.

This novel by Margaret Leroy captures the struggle of not only Vivienne and her family but those around her as they face uncertainty of the war. In a island cut off from England and with no hope of the British coming to save them, they must all make a decision of whether to comply with German rules or stand up and do what's right.

This was a heartrenching story about the horrors of war seen through the eyes of a wife, mother and friend. This is not just a love story, but a journey of discovery for one woman to find the courage she needs do what she thinks is right.

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Luce sees things, shadows that make her skin crawl and bad things can happen when they come. That is why Luce is sent to Sword & Cross Reform School after a terrible accident at a party where a boy, Trevor, was burnt to death. Everyone thinks Luce had something to do with it.

On her first day she meets Daniel, who she is instantly drawn to. She has this feeling that they have meet before. After some mixed signals from Daniel, Luce and her friend Penn decide to do some investigation into Daniel’s family. They bring up more than they bargained for.

It seems Luce and Daniel meet every seventeen years and are destined to fall in love. Unfortunately it always ends badly with Luce always ending up dead, but something is different this time.

Lauren Kate's book was very different from what the cover indicates but I was not disappointed. It features it all, murder, romance, action and mystery all with a supernatural twist. This is a great teen supernatural romance and the best thing…no vampires.

Fallen is also availble in spoken word.

The Help

I went to see the movie “The Help” on Saturday night. It is about a woman living in Mississippi in the 1960’s, named Skeeter who gets a job as a ghost columnist for home help in a very racist era of American history. Skeeter decides to write a book about what life is like being the help. Even though it is against the law and very dangerous, Skeeter gets some maids to tell her about the hardships and triumphs of being a African American maid in a white household. Skeeter is trying to hide her writing from her sick mother, her new boyfriend and her best friend, Hilly who is leading a bill that all houses should have a separate “coloured toilet” for the help.

This movie is a heart moving story full of humour. Based on a novel by Kathryn Stockett, I was disturbed by how Skeeter’s friend treated her maid, just for using the toilet. This is a good view of what went on behind the closed doors during the 1960’s in some states in America. Great cast featuring Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard. Watch out for Sissy Spacek who is very funny as Hilly’s mother who has dementia.

If you haven’t watched it yet I urge you to. If you would like to read the book the movie is based on follow this link to our catalogue or click the book cover. I have since placed a hold on the novel and am looking forward to reading it.

The debut novel of Christopher Ransom “The Birthing House”

The author, Christopher Ransom, lives in a birthing house and after having a strange dream decided to write a novel based on the history of his house.

The Birthing House is a psychological horror about a husband and wife who are having marital problems. Conrad and Jo move into an old birthing house to work out their problems. Jo however announces that she wants to leave town and do job training soon after they move in. When previous owner gives Conrad a photo album of the birthing house staff, one of them looks the splitting image of his wife. She even has the same scar on her face. After this things get stranger and stranger inside the house and you find yourself asking if the house is haunted or if the Conrad is slowly going crazy.

I love how Christopher Ransom plays with the idea on sanity in this novel. The reader is never quite sure whether the events are really happening or just in Conrad’s mind. I will definitely be reading more books from this author.

I was having a look at the author’s website a saw that the famous birthing house is for sale. Follow this link to see details and photos of the real birthing house.