The Lake House - Kate Morton

I hadn't read any of Kate Morton's books, prior to starting the Lake House, so I really wasn't sure what to expect. Although I read this as part of a mystery reading group that I'm part of, there was a lot more going on here than your usual murder mystery.

The story was spread across a number of different times and locations. It focused on the mysterious disappearance of the young son of a local family after their midsummer night celebration. The disappearance had a huge impact on the family, the effects of which are still felt decades later, with the two surviving sisters, who were in their late teens at the time, now being in their eighties.

Sadie Sparrow, a police detective, stumbles upon the mystery while holidaying with her Grandfather. She has been sent on enforced sabbatical after causing issues at work, she finds herself with time on her hand, and once she finds out about the story, she starts to investigate. 

The story switches between the inter-war years when the disappearance happened and modern day, with more details of what happened and why being revealed slowly. Although the sisters have had their own ideas about what happened all of those years ago, it becomes clear that there was far more happening than they first realised.

I loved this book as I read it, the detail and description were lovely. It painted a clear picture and feel of the time. There was a slight downfall towards the end of the book. Although I like to see all of the various threads tied up, this one was a little too neat. Everything seemed to weave together, even though there was no obvious connection before hand. For me, it was all a little bit too neat and convenient. There were sub stories that either became part of the main story, or in one case just glossed over and barely mentioned. It was a shame as I'd really loved everything that had come before, and then end just stopped it from being a really good book. Still worth a read though.

Blood from Stone - Frances Fyfield

I was interested to read Blood from Stone by Frances Fyfield when it was chosen as book of the month, for a crime novel reading group that I'm part of. Fyfield is not an author that I have come across before, but the premise for the novel sounded interesting.

The story opens with barrister Marianne Shearer 'winning' her latest case, although not perhaps in the way that her client would have liked. Rather than having him found not guilty, there was simply not the evidence to proceed. Shortly afterwards she jumps from a hotel window, killing herself, and leaving her colleague, Peter Friel to find out what has happened and why.

As the story progresses we find out more about her final case and the impact it had on those involved in it. Peter discovers more about Marianne and her life, than he ever suspected before. He also meets Henrietta, the sister of the main complainant in this last trial. It soon becomes clear that there is more going on here than was first apparent and that Marianne has very carefully and cleverly set everything up to be revealed as he looks into her life and what she has left behind.

One of the real joys of this book is the descriptions of vintage clothing. Marianne was, in her other 'hidden' life, a lover of fine clothing and had an immense and expensive collection. Henrietta (Hen) works as a dry-cleaner and preserver of vintage clothing, with work rooms where she mends and creates new pieces from the old. The descriptions of these items is fascinating, and it's easy to picture these beautiful items. (Just out of interest, should you read the book, the cape at the V&A, which is described as being similar to the skirt that features is this one.) This lively description of beautiful outfits and dresses really adds to the depth of the book.

One of the other lovely parts of the story are the characters of Hen and Peter, to begin with I wasn't sure where the book was going, or if I actually liked any of the people within it. But I quickly warmed towards these two and their developing relationship. 

I'm not sure that I'll be in a rush to read more of her works, but I certainly enjoyed it, although it did take me a few chapters to get into it to begin with. 

Company of Liars - Karen Maitland

I've had this book sitting on my to be read shelf (aka the pile of books on my beside table) for about a year now. For some reason I was finding it hard to pick up and read. Not that I knew anything about it, I'd been bought it for Christmas last year, and hadn't even heard of it before that. The problem was, that I am a historian by training, that is, I studied history at University. More to the point, this is more or less 'my' period. I'm always hesitant to start reading fiction set in the past, more often than not, it's so far removed from anything that I've studied that I can't cope with it.

Having said all that, it's now some time, (we don't need to go into how long) since I was at university, and while I still retain an interest, my knowledge isn't what it was, I've moved on from the days where I struggled to even watch TV history programmes. 

In any case, whatever my fears, I picked up Company of Liars and started to read a week or so ago. Once I'd got started I was hooked, I loved the unfolding of the story and the development of the characters, all with their secrets to hide and their past to conceal.

Although the setting was 1348, in many ways it was more a mystery or a thriller than a straight historical novel. There were a few aspects that didn't really fit, for me, with the period, but taking it as a dark novel, rather than something that was strictly historically accurate, made that easier to cope with. 

I have noticed that other people have complained about the ending, obviously I won't go into details of that here, but I think that I should comment on it. Was it what I was expecting? Not really. Was it the right ending? I'm not convinced. It seemed a little forced, to be honest almost as if she reached the end and suddenly decided that she couldn't just fade the story out. On the other hand, let's not forget that the whole theme of this book was liars and the lies that they tell, perhaps we should take everything that we're told with a pinch of salt.

If you're interested in a quite dark, set in the past thriller, and aren't too concerned about historical accuracy (although much of this does feel fairly authentic, just not all of it) and a slightly unexpected ending doesn't distress you too much, then you'd do well to give it a go.

A book share that actually works

Every so often Facebook statuses pop up about book swaps or book shares. All you need to do is send off one book, pass the details on to your friends, and then in a few weeks you'll magically get lots of books in return. Except of course, you won't, because these things never work. I won't go into the details of why not, but if you want to know more there are heaps of explanations around, like this one.

But what about a book share that actually will work, won't cost you much (if anything) and will introduce you to some new books and authors. Interested?

How the book share works

My book share idea is simple, all you need are a group of people who want to take part. You can have as many or as few as you like, but 12 is a good number to work with. You don't have to find them all yourself, you could ask one person and ask them to find someone themselves and so on until you have your 12 and then take it from there.

The book share

• Choose your participants, 12 works well if you want to do it over a year, 6 if over six months and so on.
• Each person picks a book that they have enjoyed. If you choose a book you already own, then it won't cost you anything, or you can buy a copy of the book (it doesn't matter if it's second hand). 
• The book you choose can be any genre of book you like, just so long as you enjoyed it. Choosing something less well known can make things more interesting as people are less likely to have read it.
• It might be a good idea to choose people with different interests so that you get a wide range of books, or decide that everyone needs to pick from the same genre, so have a murder mystery book swap, or romance book swap for example.
• Once your book is selected, pass it to the second person in your group, they pass their book to the third and so on, all down the chain. If there are 12 people in your group then you should receive your book from person 12.
• You then have a month to read your book, which means those who don't read much have time to get through it, but people who read lots can read other things while they wait for their next book.
• On a set date, when the month is up, you pass the book you have been reading onto person two, they pass the book they've been reading onto person three and so on.
• This continues until the end of the challenge, when you should get the book you picked back.
• You've then had a year of introducing a book you love to 11 other people, and discovering 11 other new books.

Inexpensive

Other than the cost of your initial book, there isn't really any other cost to this. If you want, you could post the book to the next person in the chain. This way you can make it an international book swap if you want. Or you can find someone local and pass it on in person. It doesn't actually have to cost you anything and you get your own book back at the end of it.

There are no rules to the book swap as such, but it might be worth having one person to oversee it all and make sure that everyone is sending their books on when they should. 

Book reviews

You don't need to do anything but read each book that comes along each month. If you want to take things a bit further though, you could set up a group on Facebook or somewhere similar. Each book could have a 'file' and after a person has read it, they could comment with their thoughts. Another idea would be put a sheet or two of paper in the back of each book, for people to add their thoughts too once they've read their book. When you get your book back, you'll see what everyone else thought of it.

I'd love to hear how you get on with the book share idea, let me know in the comments section. If you want your friends to join in, then feel free to share this post around to tell them all about it. Have fun.