Before the Storm by Judith Lennox
Twenty year old Isabel Zeale has no intention of letting anyone into her life, due to shameful secrets of her past. Undeterred, the young and rich Richard persists and Isabel marries him. Decades later, through war times and the 1920’s, her world is turned upside down when an old acquaintance emerges from the shadows. To protect her now adult children, Isabel finds courage to confront what came before, and live with the consequences.
The Dark Tide by Andrew Cross
Here we have suspense fiction that has enough facts to keep your brain thinking and wanting more. Andrew Cross’ characters and locations are very well described and the stories well scripted.
Karen Friedman has a happy and loving family until her husband Charles, a highly successful investment banker, was in a commuter train bombing in Grand Central Station. All are in deep sorrow, except for the ones involved in the money laundering schemes that Charles had been performing for many years, all of which his family knew nothing about.
This story line sets the tempo for the twists, turns and suspense to follow when truths and deceptions unravel.
Moving Target by Elizabeth Moon
Moon makes her writing fairly unique through is the fact she has a military background, attaining the rank of Lieutenant with the USA Marine Corps, who she joined in 1968.
This is the second book in a series of 4, which has been described as being “space opera” which is sci-fi with emphasis on romantic adventure. Ky Vatta had been groomed for a career in her family’s interstellar shipping empire, but yearns for the life of a military officer. She becomes a captain, and Ky negotiates an independent contract to supply a struggling colony with agricultural equipment from a nearby planet, but the young woman finds herself in the midst of an interplanetary crisis and must prove her mettle.
Harun Scarum by Felicity Young
The body of the floater in the Swan River doesn’t have a lot to identify it- the face is mutilated, the fingertips gone - but Monty McGuire, head of Perth’s Serious Crime Squad is pretty sure his team is well on the way to identifying it. DS Stevie Hooper thinks it is connected to a paedophile Internet site, the Dream Team. Another murder leads her to think that she might have a vigilante on her hands.
Cyber technology spins at the heart of this thriller. A glossary of internet slang provided at the beginning is useful in interpreting the chat room conversations.
The Last Concubine by Leslie Downer
Downer has written many books about Japan and its culture, but this is her first novel. It is of an epic history and romance in combination featuring the beautiful concubine of the last shogun. The heroine of this story is Sachi, growing up in a mountain village, set apart by her pale skin and fine features and then taken off when only eleven, to the Women’s Palace. This is the home of three thousand women and one man, the young shogun. This world is in stark contrast to the outside world of peasants and farmers. A love story develops, but it is more about the amazing transition of Japan from a feudal to a modern society.
The Girl with No Shadow by Joanne Harris
The eagerly anticipated sequel to the bestseller CHOCOLAT
Five years have passed since the events of CHOCOLAT, and Vianne and her two daughters — Anouk (now Nanou) and Rosette — find themselves firmly ensconced in the Montmarte district of Paris. Once again, the family is working in Chocolaterie shop but finding success far more evasive than the magical impt of their Chocolaterie.
A new character, Zozie, arrives, however, is not what she appears to be on the surface. She is actually a witch but not a “good witch” like Yanne and Nanou. Roux again appears, throwing in a mix of the old with the new.
Outback Heart by Joanne van Os
A powerful true story about life with Rod Ansell, known by many as the ‘original Crocodile Dundee’.
Outback Heart captures the dust, the heat, the struggle and the larger-than-life characters of the Territory. But itsw also a moving and powerful story of a love affair and a marriage and the pain when it all falls apart.
The Orpheus Deception by David Stone
CIA cleaner Micah Dalton returns for another go-around of the international espionage, government cover-ups, and high intensity pursuit that have cemented this series in the best of spy fiction.
This heart-pounding follow-up to “The Echelon Vendetta” opens with an assassination attempt setting Dalton onto the path of a Serbian warlord. He seeks to unlock binding secrets and tries ti uncover links among piracy, the disappearance of a CIA agent and an elusive ship known only as Orpheus.
Dawn French The Unauthorised Biography by Alison Bower
Alison Bower tells the remarkable story of Dawn’s rise to fame and how she has overcome many challenges along the way. These include her unhappy days at boarding school and her father’s suicide when she was nineteen. Also her partnership with Jennifer Saunders, how the two who started out on seven pounds a night at comedy clubs, to their own TV show. Bower describes French’s long lasting marriage to Lenny Henry, a union that endured racially motivated attacks in early days.
Dawn French is a loved comic actress delighting audiences in her role in The Vicar of Dibley.
