Book Choices - November 2013

A Nightingale Sang–  Sally Anderson

The year is 1943. American GIs are pouring into England, bringing with them romance and heartache... 

An American army unit has set up base outside a small Hampshire town in preparation for the D-Day landings. Lieutenant Jack Webster is focused on preparing his men for battle and has no intention of getting involved with a woman while there is a war to fight. But then he meets Samantha Mitchell, a beautiful English nurse whose life has already been shattered by four long years of war, and almost at once his resolve begins to weaken… 

Set against the backdrop of the Second World War and its aftermath, A Nightingale Sang is a heart-warming story that celebrates the triumph of love over the separation of war.

Letters from Skye – Jessica Brockmole

A sweeping story told in letters, spanning two continents and two world wars, Jessica Brockmole’s atmospheric debut novel captures the indelible ways that people fall in love, and celebrates the power of the written word to stir the heart.   

March 1912: Twenty-four-year-old Elspeth Dunn, a published poet, has never seen the world beyond her home on Scotland’s remote Isle of Skye. So she is astonished when her first fan letter arrives, from a college student, David Graham, in far-away America. As the two strike up a correspondence - sharing their favorite books, wildest hopes, and deepest secrets - their exchanges blossom into friendship, and eventually into love. But as World War I engulfs Europe and David volunteers as an ambulance driver on the Western front, Elspeth can only wait for him on Skye, hoping he’ll survive.   June 1940: At the start of World War II, Elspeth’s daughter, Margaret, has fallen for a pilot in the Royal Air Force. Her mother warns her against seeking love in wartime, an admonition Margaret doesn't understand. Then, after a bomb rocks Elspeth’s house, and letters that were hidden in a wall come raining down, Elspeth disappears. Only a single letter remains as a clue to Elspeth’s whereabouts. As Margaret sets out to discover where her mother has gone, she must also face the truth of what happened to her family long ago.

To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

 "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view  ... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." 

Tomboy Scout Finch comes of age in a small Alabama town during a crisis in 1935. She admires her father Atticus, how he deals with issues of racism, injustice, intolerance and bigotry, his courage and his love.

We will be meeting on Thursday 14th November 2013 at 20:00 at The Ashendon Hundred (pub). Sue Lewin has kindly offered to 'host'. We will be discussing Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K Jerome.