General Chat

Please add two books with their sinopsis. If we don't get more than 5 people taking part this month I am seriously considering disbanding Greaders but we will see how we go.
Vote will take place when i have either heard or traced all who took part last month. Books to be read by 4 April 09

Ann
Glos

Red Leaves by Paullina Simons

From the back cover - On a New England college campus, the naked body of a beautiful student is found frozen in a bank of snow. Why had she not even been reported missing by her friends?

Spencer O'Malley, the police detective assigned to the case, is soon drawn into the disturbing world of four friends, Jim, Conni, Albert and Kristina. O'Malley finds that these children of priviledge who played, studied, and occasionally slept together also kept secrets of their own, secrets that must be pieced together to form an entirely new picture.

O'Malley is a stranger in this Ivy League environment, yet he feels an affinity with the victim. In her death, he gradually discovers the truth of her mysterious and complex life, and each revelation is more shocking than the last.

Suspensful, claustrophobic and utterly compelling, Red Leaves puts Paullina Simons in the very front rank of contemporary writers.

The River Knows - Amanda Quick

From Amazon - She didn't mean to kill the man who broke into her room. Especially since he was a member of Victorian England's nobility, a protected class that could, literally, get away with murder. Now Louisa Bryce feels compelled to fake her own death and assume a new identity. Her fine writing skills land her a job as intrepid investigative reporter I. M. Phantom, whom everyone assumes is a man. It was so easy for Louisa to feign her demise, she now wonders if two other recent drownings were actually suicides. Anthony Stalbridge is wondering the same thing about his fiancee's drowning. When Louisa and Anthony run into each other while snooping in the rooms of a likely suspect, he gets off on the wrong foot by assuming a woman has no business conducting a dangerous investigation, while Louisa is annoyed and fascinated by his alpha-male behavior. Louisa is the archetypal Amanda Quick heroine, an adventurous woman full of grit, gumption, and determination. And Anthony is the perfect hero, a man with an edge. The incomparable Quick (aka Jayne Ann Krentz and Jayne Castle) has once again penned a superbly tantalizing romantic suspense, replete with smart and snappy dialogue, witty humor, and fast-paced action

In case anyone is puzzled by the deleted post it was by DET asking what Greaders is.

Shadows of the Workhouse by Jennifer Worth.

When jenny Worth became a midwife in the 1950s she joined an East End where many lives were touched by the shadow of the workhouse. For, although the institutions were officially abolished in 1930, in reality many did not close until several decades later.

In the follow up to Call the Midwife, Jennifer Worth tells the true stories of the people she met. There’s Peggy and frank who were separated in the workhouse when their parents died – until frank’s strength and determination enabled him to make a home for his sister. Jane was a bright, lively child, whose spirit was broken by cruelty, until she found kindness and love later in life. Then there is the match making nun, sister Julienne, and sister Monica Joan who ends up in the High Court…….


The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom

Comment: a stunning debut – swaddling the reader in dread from the very first sentence, and spiralling into a heart stopping climax.

When Conrad and Jo move to the historic Victorian house, it seems like a new start for them. With its fairytale porch, wooden floorboards and perfect garden, it feels as if they have finally come home.
But when Conrad is given an old photo album, he begins to discover what dark secrets the house is harbouring. Looking through the cracked, 100 year old pages, he finds a photo of a group of Victorian women standing outside his house. The women look scary, angry, all dressed in black with their arms folded.
And then his heart nearly stops when he sees that one of the women – raven haired and staring at him with hatred in her eyes – is his wife…..

I have sent out reminders but Mary Jane Sue and Gill have both left us as presumably has Jeanette, one of our loyal long term members who has just disappeared with nothing to say why, I hope it doesn't mean that she is ill but I have tried without success to contact her. This doesn't leave many of us. If we don't get some new blood soon the group is not really viable.

Ann
Glos

Jill's suggestions, she is having trouble getting into GR at the moment.

She has only given me titles so i suggest you look them up on Amzon for a synopsis.


The House of Lanyon by Valerie Anand
The Loop by Nicholas Evans


Ann for Jill

Not left - just in suspension while I try and catch up with my other books. lol Am watching was is suggested - in case I already have one of the winning books.

n

nudge - cos I would hate to see the group fold

a nudge from me too

I'm afraid it will fold if there is not enough interest this time. Trouble is there is no way of knowing if people have pc trouble.
Maisie is not with us this month as she dropped out for two months due to holidays. strangely enough I am always pleased when i have a holiday as I do more reading then.
So there is only Angela, Theresa and A/L that can reply now. If two of them reply we'll be OK for this month, if not it wont work.

n

It's not looking good Ann. I am going on a weeks holiday next month to a lovely pet friendly resort up in the Bay of Island and shall be taking about four or five half read books to finish them off while I'm on holiday, I usually find I never take enough to read on holidays.

Michelle

sad isn't it? what do you think? There are only three of us. shall I abandon it for this month or shall the three of us have a vote for one book? not sure if it will work. I am away from tomorrow Friday until sunday but I will take my notebook and check to see if anyone else has responded. we will make the decision on sunday/Monday.

I'm okay with voting for one book. Hopefully someone else appears before Monday.

Shadows of the workhouse and the Birthing House look like my kind of read Ann.....sorry I can't yet join you but will certainly send off for them to add to my social History collection that is waiting for me when time permits.


Susan
x

I managed to get on.
I Hope this does not fold as Ann has done so much to keep it going.

xx Jill

Killing the Shadows by Val Mc Dermid




Synopsis:
A killer is on the loose, blurring the line between fact and fiction. His prey - the writers of crime novels who have turned psychological profilers into the heroes of the nineties. But this killer is like no other. His bloodlust shatters all the conventional wisdom surrounding the motives and mechanics of how serial killers operate. And for one woman, the desperate hunt to uncover his identity becomes a matter of life and death. Professor Fiona Cameron is an academic psychologist who uses computer technology to help police forces track serial offenders. She used to help the Met, but vowed never to work for them again after they went against her advice and badly screwed up an investigation as a consequence. Still smarting from the experience, she's working a case in Toledo when her lover, thriller writer Kit Martin, tells her a fellow crime novelist has been murdered. It's not her case, but Fiona can't help taking an interest. Which is just as well, because before too long the killer strikes again. And again. And Fiona is caught up in a race against time, not only to save a life, but to bring herself redemption, both personal and professional.
Rich in atmosphere, Killing the Shadows uses the backdrops of city and country to create an air of threatening menace, culminating in a tense confrontation between hunter and hunted, a confrontation that can have only one outcome.



Whispers in the Sand by Barbara Erskine



Recently divorced, Anna Fox decides to cheer herself up by retracing a journey her great-grandmother, Louisa, a renowned artist, made in the mid-nineteenth century - a Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan. Anna carries with her two of Louisa's possessions - an ancient Egyptian scent bottle and an illustrated diary of the original cruise. As she follows in Louisa's footsteps, Anna discovers in the diary a wonderful love story from the Victorian past, and the chilling secret of the glass bottle. Meanwhile, two men from the tour party are showing a disturbing interest in these mementoes, and developing an unfriendly rivalry for Anna's attention.



Bev x

Welcome back Bev, looks like you have saved Greaders for another month at least.

Susan, if you have a \tesco near you they have both those bokks at two for £7.

Ann
Glos

I will put the vote up on Sunday to let any stragglers put suggestions. I thought Angela was still interested but she has not come on the thread yet.