THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES by Sue Monk Kidd

This is a charming book that deserves attention. Set in the 60's against the backdrop of racial struggle in American south, this book reminded me of "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. The main focus of the story, however, is a 14 year old girl's quest to reconnect with her mother who she accidentally shot dead at the age of 4 during a family dispute. Having been raised by a harsh and unyielding father who harbours resentment towards his dead wife and punishes his daughter because of it, Lily yearns for love from her mother. She is convinced that learning all about her will connect her with this love and grant her forgiveness for taking her life. When racial tension reaches it's peak one summer afternoon involving Rosaleen, the black servant who has served as a surrogate mother to Lily, an opportunity presents itself for Lily to embark on a journey of freedom. Running away from home, Lily and Rosaleen find refuge in the home of three beekeeping sisters where the mystery of her mother unfolds and where Lily finds the nurturing that she has missed out on since her mother's death. This is an engaging story of prejudice, forgiveness, discovery and acceptance, cleverly paralleled with complicated and fascinating life of bees. If you like honey, you will crave it the entire span of the book!

BITTERSWEET by Colleen McCullough

I loved this book. I was half way through it when I heard Colleen McCullough had passed away. I was terribly sad that there will be no more books coming from her well trained pen. Lucky for me she has written quite a few, the several of which I have in my possession. My two favourites are 'Thorn Birds' and 'The Touch'. 'Bittersweet' comes third so far. Whenever I choose a Colleen McCullough book, I know I am going to learn something significant. Her research is impeccable and her stories are closely aligned with historical places and events. This is true of Bittersweet, a novel set in rural NSW in 1920's and 30's. This is a charming story of four sisters who happen to be two sets of twins, at the forefront of professional nursing becoming the first registered nurses in Corunda. Even though the town is fictional, one gets a very realistic feel of rural Australia and love of the land. The book offers a very informative insight into women's lack of professional opportunities at a time when marriage was their primary option in a patriarchal society. It is hard to believe that only 80 years ago women were forced to choose between marriage or work. The book also leads the reader through the Depression and its devastating effects on families and in particular men, who were main providers. Colleen McCullough has a talent for incorporating the reader into the time and place she has chosen as a setting for her story. I appreciate this about her books more than the stories she weaves around places and points in history. This is an excellent book that highlights women's ability to deal with their limitations and tragedies and should make women of today more grateful for many opportunities and choices they are faced with.

WHAT ALICE FORGOT by Liane Moriarty

I loved this book. I always like discovering a good writer and tend to read all their books. I also love books that deal with family dynamics. "What Alice Forgot" is one of those books. It is charming, clever and insightful. It allows the reader to see how false perceptions can change people, relationships and outcomes. It makes you to wonder if there is such a thing as truth and if people's perceptions is all there is. As Alice sustains a head injury in gym class she loses her memory of the past 10 years. She goes back to the time of her first pregnancy when her love for her husband was new and fresh and 'exhilarating and light and bubbly'. What Alice has forgotten is 10 years of three children and a marriage that hasn't survived its' challenges so well. Instead of 1998, it is 2008 and Alice is in the middle of a nasty divorce, the only problem is that Alice has forgotten that she hates the husband she is divorcing and loves him like they are newlyweds. Because the theme of the book is 'lost memories' Liane Moriarty uses the medium of reflection by three main characters to piece Alice's story together. Alice puts events of her life together through snippets of memory, her sister Elizabeth reflects on their relationship through the diary she is writing for her therapist and Alice's adopted grandmother Franny writes a blog. The rambling of these three women makes the characters very real and true to life. The diary Elizabeth keeps chronicling struggles of her infertility is both fascinating and heart wrenching. It shatters the inadequate perception you might have of women whose bodies betray their longing for motherhood. The ending of the book is extremely fitting with characters stepping up to the maturity that the situation asks for. This book is true to complexities of family dynamics, devoid of unnecessary sentiment and highly entertaining.

THE PAYING GUESTS by Sarah Waters

This book was very well plotted and executed. It was recommended to me by our book store's sales assistant. She said she loved all the books written by Sarah Waters. What I didn't know is that this author is known for novels set in Victorian society and featuring lesbian protagonists. She has won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction. The story was incredibly clever and the characters very believable. Despite my aversion to lesbian sexual encounters I appreciated the authenticity of the period the book was set in and the dynamics of a lesbian relationship within it. Set in early 1920's, following the Great War, a mother and daughter left without male support in middle class England find themselves obliged to rent spare rooms in their house to keep them financially viable. The rooms are rented to a young married couple who transform Wray's lives forever. A love affair blossoms between Frances Wray and the married Lilian Barber which not only leads them to the dangerous and uncertain future but also to crime. What starts off as a view into hardships of a genteel family slipping into demise ends with suspense and reflection on complexities of a lesbian relationship in a society that offers no recognition of such liaisons. Sarah Waters is an excellent writer who has found her niche in the literary world and for that I admire her.

THE RETURNED by Jason Mott

This book irritated me no end. I wanted to read it because I follow the TV series "Resurrection" which is based on the book. I had hoped to get some explanation of 'the Returned' but that explanation was not to be found. What I did find out was that the TV series is way better than the book. The book explores the possibility of having our dear loved ones who had once graced this earth return to life, not as zombies, but as real live people in exact same state as when they passed away, or maybe not. There was one returned who came back with dementia that she had before she died, so did the sick return too? The publisher's review states they returned in the exact same state that they died in, so what of cancer suffers and those who had been chronically ill for years before death and those who had been mangled in car accidents? The author never addresses this possibility and portrays all other Returned as able bodied individuals roaming the countryside. One Returned had died in a car accident but she was perfect in her form when she came back so I see this as a major flow of the story. And what of criminals and murderers and rapists? The story presented too many questions and not enough answers. What irritated me the most is that there was no rhyme or reason to this phenomenon. The dead people were merely all of a sudden coming back as if from a sleep, not remembering how they got there and when they came back they served no purpose; they didn't mend any relationships, they didn't speak any words left unspoken or finish any business they had left undone before they passed away. All they did is create chaos and mayhem among those that didn't want them back, just by their presence. They were the Returned without a voice and depicted as innocent victims. Even those that accepted them didn't believe they were really their loved ones but some unnatural carbon copy and endeared themselves to them because of memories they kept close to their hearts. In the end, no explanation, rhyme or reason, just as the dead started to outnumber the living, they simply started vanishing and thank goodness for that! I did not see the point to this story and considered 'the Returned' the most bizarre concept. The author explains at the end of the book that he once had a dream where he found his dead mother in his kitchen and he related to her all his doings since she had passed. As he told his friend about this dream, his friend asked him: "Can you imagine if she actually did come back, just for one night? And what if it wasn't just her? What if it happened to other people too?" From this was born the idea of The Returned. The story would have endeared itself to me much more had the author focused more on how the three principal characters resolved their issues with their dead instead of treating those resolves as a sideline of the story. What should have been the central theme of the novel got lost in the problem of overpopulation. This was Jason Mott's first novel and even though his publisher calls him 'a unique voice' I am not certain that I would read his succeeding work.

NIGHTINGALE by Fiona McIntosh

If you like popular romantic fiction, you will like this book which will take you from Gallipoli to England to Turkey and to Australia. Fiona's depiction of Gallipoli and the horrors of the Great War from the perspective of an English nurse was mindfully realistic and evocative. It inspired me to watch "Gallipoli" again, the movie which I had seen in the early 80's. Even though the movie was a visual depiction of the same event, it did not match the book in the portrayal of Gallipoli's devastating carnage. I guess this is so because the book was written from the perspective of the medical profession who fought to save shattered lives and bodies. Amidst the  horror of this war, a romance is born for Claire Nightingale, an English nurse and Jamie Wren, an Australian Light Horseman. Even though this story is fictional, it stands as a tribute to many real life romances which no doubt sprang up during the madness of warfare. As the reverence for life ignites the romantic notion between a wounded soldier and his nurse, this book intends to prove that love can defy most dire circumstances and endure across years of separation and uncertainty. The love component of this book, however, went beyond reality for me and I found the ending laced with over-abundance of sugar and spice. The most enjoyable part of the book was getting to know the 'enemy' beyond the ANZAC trenches of Gallipoli and learning about Turkish culture. In the end, we are all just people, with same hopes and desires going through this strange experience called life.

NIGHT MUSIC by Jojo Moyes

This is one clever story. A light read that doesn't tax the brain cells but makes you look forward to picking it up every day. Anyone that can spin a good story around an inanimate object such as a house is in my opinion a good writer. This is not my favourite Jojo Moyes book but I absolutely relished reading it. This story is very well written with realistic but favourable outcomes. Even though it is a 'woman's read', it is devoid of excessive sentiment and sugar and spice. It is filled with tragedy, passionate humanity and triumph of spirit. When a professional violinist is suddenly made a widow her perfect world crumbles around her but what appears to be an end of her idyllic world proves to be the beginning of a new life of self-discovery, newly found awareness of what really matters and a greater love than the one lost. I have read three other books written by Jojo Moyes and would recommend my favourite, Me Before You, and The Girl You Left Behind besides the delightful Night Music which I consider a good read indeed.