Friday, April 8, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
The Jewel of St Petersburg
Kate Furnivall
The Jewel of St Petersburg is set in Russia, 1910. The country is
ripe for revolution. Valentina is the daughter of a government minister and she charms the world with her beautiful piano skills. When she accidentally stumbles upon a Bolshevik meeting, her life is changed forever. Guilt-ridden by the catastrophic consequences, Valentina decides to become a nurse. But in order to do this, she must make a deal with her parents and is pushed into a loveless engagement with a man she despises. At the same time, Valentina falls in love with Jens Friis, a Danish architect determined to make St Petersburg cleaner and healthier for the factory workers.
As Russia edges closer and closer to revolution, Valentina is forced to make decisions that will change her life forever, as she tries her hardest to protect her sister and all those whom she loves, and the life she has always known. This was a very exciting book that had me glued to it from page one. Fans of Kate Furnivall may notice characters from her previous novels.
I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys historical books, particularly Russian history. It shows how Russia changed between 1910 and 1917, as revolution gripped the country.
The Jewel of St Petersburg is set in Russia, 1910. The country is
ripe for revolution. Valentina is the daughter of a government minister and she charms the world with her beautiful piano skills. When she accidentally stumbles upon a Bolshevik meeting, her life is changed forever. Guilt-ridden by the catastrophic consequences, Valentina decides to become a nurse. But in order to do this, she must make a deal with her parents and is pushed into a loveless engagement with a man she despises. At the same time, Valentina falls in love with Jens Friis, a Danish architect determined to make St Petersburg cleaner and healthier for the factory workers.As Russia edges closer and closer to revolution, Valentina is forced to make decisions that will change her life forever, as she tries her hardest to protect her sister and all those whom she loves, and the life she has always known. This was a very exciting book that had me glued to it from page one. Fans of Kate Furnivall may notice characters from her previous novels.
I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys historical books, particularly Russian history. It shows how Russia changed between 1910 and 1917, as revolution gripped the country.
(Reviewd by Jasmine)
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Even silence has an end: my six years of captivity in the Colombian Jungle
Ingrid Betancourt
Betancourt was campaigning for the Presidency in Colombia in 2002, when she was abducted by the FARC, a Colombian guerrilla organisation. For the next six and a half years, she and the other hostages were held captive in the depths of the Colombian jungle. Each time the authorities came close to finding the guerrilla strongholds, the camps were packed up and the hostages were forced to march at gun point (and often chained to each other), through miles of dense rainforest to a new location.
Even Silence … is a gripping account of Betancourt’s captivity, her numerous escape attempts and her relationships with both the other hostages and her captors. Being held in such close confinement it was only natural that petty squabbles and personality conflicts would arise and it is these tensions that contribute to the pace, the realism and the truth of this memoir. An awesome read.
Reviewed by Jill
Betancourt was campaigning for the Presidency in Colombia in 2002, when she was abducted by the FARC, a Colombian guerrilla organisation. For the next six and a half years, she and the other hostages were held captive in the depths of the Colombian jungle. Each time the authorities came close to finding the guerrilla strongholds, the camps were packed up and the hostages were forced to march at gun point (and often chained to each other), through miles of dense rainforest to a new location.Even Silence … is a gripping account of Betancourt’s captivity, her numerous escape attempts and her relationships with both the other hostages and her captors. Being held in such close confinement it was only natural that petty squabbles and personality conflicts would arise and it is these tensions that contribute to the pace, the realism and the truth of this memoir. An awesome read.
Reviewed by Jill
Monday, April 4, 2011
Poetry Wall
The ever-popular Poetry Wall will again be making an appearance in the Library Foyer for the month of April. Submit your original poems (limit 3 per poet, no more than 1 A4 page in size) to the Adults’ Help Desk.
Entries in the Children’s, Teens and Adults sections will be judged by Joanna Preston who is taking a reading for writing workshop on 1 May.
Friday, April 1, 2011
The rapture
by Liz Jensen
An eco-thriller set in the not-too-distant future where global warming is wreaking havoc on the world and scores of people have converted to various forms of religion in the belief that "end times" are coming.
Gabrielle is a psychotherapist who starts work at a facility for disturbed, violent children, where she meets 16-year-old Bethany. Bethany makes garbled predictions about future weather events but has been dismissed because of her mental state. When her predictions start to come true, Gabrielle begins to believe and enlists the help of scientist Fraser to try to convince the world that a cataclysmic event is drawing near.
While fast-paced, the characters in The rapture are vividly drawn and flawed. Gabrielle is confined to a wheelchair after a car crash in which she lost her lover two years ago. She blames herself and no longer thinks of herself as a woman, until Fraser teaches her to love again. This novel pulls no punches and is a thought-provoking exploration of our potential future under global warming.
(Reviewed by Angela)
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