Cramlington Book Club

Yey! The longest month of the year (it's about 150 days right?) has ended. During those 179 days I was lucky enough to read The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy. A retelling of the classic fairy tale set against the backdrop of occupied Poland during World War Two. It had all the elements of the fairy tale and then some. What a blinder to start the year with! 198 days in and I was reading (devouring) The Sixth Wife by Suzannah Dunn. A historical fiction book about Henry VII's sixth wife that surprisingly didn't include Henry. I really enjoyed it, as I do with most books in this genre. My socks were blown off by the fantastic ending of Changeling by Matt Wesolowski on day 222. My first Blog Tour of the year and book number three in the Six Stories series. Wesolowski just gets better and better. Cull by Tanvir Bush was my last Blog Tour for the month taking me to day 356. This disturbingly believable book featured a blind protagonist, a fabulous guid...

I'm a lucky, lucky girl. I have been fortunate enough to read some really, really good books this year. Changeling with its gobstopper ending, The True Story of Hansel and Gretel one of the best re-tellings of a fairy tale I have come across and now, The Thirteenth Tale. "Angelfield House stands abandoned and forgotten. It was once home to the March family - fascinating, manipulative Isabelle, brutal, dangerous Charlie, and the wild, untamed twins, Emmeline and Adeline. But Angelfield House hides a chilling secret which strikes at the very heart of each of them, tearing their lives apart... Now Margaret Lea is investigating Angelfield's past - and the mystery of the March family starts to unravel. What has Angelfield been hiding? What is its connection with the enigmatic writer Vida Winter? And what is the secret that strikes at the heart of Margaret's own, troubled life?" I loved the opening chapters introducing Margaret who lives and works in a book sh...

'A dystopian satire for our times about the dark deadly side of privatisation' "In a near-future Britain, the furore over the welfare state has reached fever pitch. A  combination of state propaganda and aggressive austerity has divided the nation along  poisonous lines: on one side, so-called freeloaders, crips and fakes; on the other, The Hard  Working British Taxpayer. The government has introduced the Care and Protect Bill, ostensibly to to relieve the economic  burden of the disabled, elderly and vulnerable on society by opening residential care homes where they will be looked after by medical professionals. But Alex – visually impaired and categorised as one of the dole-scrounging underclass – has  stumbled across a troubling link between the disappearance of several homeless people and  the extension of Grassybanks, her local care home… Helped by her guide dog, Chris, this  discovery sets her on a path that leads all the way to the ...

Hands up if tapping, knocking or any unexplained noise now freaks you out? "On Christmas Eve in 1988, seven-year-old Alfie Marsden vanished in the dark Wentshire Forest Pass, when his father, Sorrel, stopped the car to investigate a mysterious knocking sound. No trace of the child, nor his remains, have ever been found. Alfie Marsden was declared officially dead in 1995.  Elusive online journalist, Scott King, whose ‘Six Stories’ podcasts have become an Internet sensation, investigates the disappearance, interviewing six witnesses, including Sorrel and his ex-partner, to try to find out what really happened that fateful night. Journeying through the trees of the Wentshire Forest – a place synonymous with strange sightings, and tales of hidden folk who dwell there, he talks to a company that tried and failed to build a development in the forest, and a psychic who claims to know what happened to the little boy… " For those that don't know,  Changeling is book th...

What is it about historical fiction that's just so addictive? You already know the ending (and if it's anything to do with the Tudors then, lets face it, it's not going to go well.) You already know the pages will contain lust filled, powerful men, Court intrigue and treachery and women at the mercy of a good marriage. Even though I know all of this I still find myself sucked in and in true 'non named crisp stylie' once I have read one page, I can't stop until I've read them all.  The Sixth Wife is all about Henry VIII sixth and last wife, Katherine Parr. Henry is dead, Katherine (Kate) is finally free and celebrates by remarrying at the first opportunity Thomas Seymour, the brother of Henry's third wife and Uncle to the new King. Who needs Channel 5 when you have Tudors! I have read endlessly about Henry, his wives and his children and this didn't break the mould. Told from the perspective of Kate's best friend the Duchess of Sussex ...

And first read of the year goes to.......... The True Story of Hansel and Gretel . OK so I started it in December but I finished it in 2019 so it counts. "In the last months of the Nazi occupation of Poland, two children are left by their father and stepmother to find safety in a dense forest. Because their real names will reveal their Jewishness, they are renamed "Hansel" and "Gretel." They wander in the woods until they are taken in by Magda, an eccentric and stubborn old woman called "witch" by the nearby villagers. Magda is determined to save them, even as a German officer arrives in the village with his own plans for the children. Louise Murphy's haunting novel of journey and survival, of redemption and memory, powerfully depicts how war is experienced by families and especially by children." Billed as a retelling of the classic fairy tale all the elements are there: the forest, the breadcrumb trail, the witch, even the oven but tw...