This is a dramatisation of the famous Dreyfus case in France, set in 1895. A tale of corruption, the scourge of anti-semitism, and the reluctant clearing of a man's name. Part 1 charts the journey of a newly appointed head of the Secret Service, convinced of Dreyfus's guilt, to the realisation that an innocent man has been scapegoated for a crime he did not commit. Part 2 sees this man jailed himself before the truth is revealed. This is a historical fact so we all know the ending, but he is such a good writer that this is still a real page turner. We feel the outrage of the protagonist and his determination to get to the truth. I kept quoting Zola, "J'accuse", very loudly to no-one. The book follows every twist and turn in this sorry tale, showing the huge amounts of research this book required.

Another historical novel in which Harris takes a factual situation and weaves a page turning novel. The Indemnity and Oblivion Act of 1660 was designed to grant a pardon and amnesia for crimes committed during the Civil War, with the primary exception of regicide. The book follows the search for Whaley and Goff by a fictional character, Richard Naylor, and takes us to various parts of America. The book explores the familiar themes of power and ambition, religion, moral courage and cover ups, some of the recurring themes throughout Harris’ novels. Descriptions of life in America for the two fugitives are interspersed with chapters from England and this ability to show multiple viewpoints increase the tension. Harris’ ability to create tension within a novel where we actually know the ending is quite a feat. This particular novel was not one of my favourites but I would still recommend it, being a better read than some other authors within this genre.

Adam Lang and his wife Ruth are clearly based on Tony and Cherie Blair but the action that takes place is not focused around real historical events, making this novel a bit of a departure from the norm. The opening of the book grabs you immediately and you want to know more, especially why being a Ghost writer for ex-prime minister, Adam Lang, was such a bad decision. Turns out it wasn’t the only one and this adds little twists to the plot. However, maybe it’s me, but sometimes the leaps made to gather information and clues just seemed a bit far fetched. The action is fast paced and moves between Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, New York and London, giving a degree of interest and I imagine a way of placating readers on both sides of the Atlantic. I’m always a bit cynical when it comes to thrillers, as they are not my favourite genre, and I usually find that it’s about ridiculous plots and unlikeable characters. In this instance, I quite liked The Ghost and the clever way in which his name is never revealed. The plot wasn’t too complicated and I actually guessed ‘whodunnit’ and why. This book could be an attempt at writing ‘popular fiction’ as it’s not a serious story and lacks the weight of facts normally found in Harris’ writing. I have to say that I preferred Conclave.

The book starts two days before the eruption and gives insight into the corruption of daily life, class division and is tempered with pagan traditions and the intelligent constructions of waterways etc. The four main characters are a water engineer, a former slave now millionaire, his daughter and Pliny. The book is part thriller with the engineer having to die before he discovering the corruption involved in the supplying of water and it is part love story and part historical commentary. The ending is weak, the engineer escapes death and flees the eruption with Corelia, the millionaire's daughter.

I read Conclave. It was the first book I had read by Robert Harris and I loved it, a real page turner with the intrigue and ambition of these “holy” men. The writing and research was superb. I really enjoyed it.

I chose 'The Ghost', a political thriller about a professional ghostwriter, hired to write a former British prime minister's memoirs after the previous man working on this is found dead. The ex-PM has close links to America, presents himself as a major player in the 'war against terror', and has a very politically savvy wife. There were definite hints of Tony Blair. I enjoyed the writing style and the pace. I don't usually like stories written in the first person, but I'll read more of Harris. My favourite extract:
"A book unwritten is a delightful universe of infinite possibilities. Set down one word, however, and immediately it becomes earthbound. Set down one sentence and it's halfway to being just like every other bloody book that's ever been written."

This author was already known to some of the group. This is the tale of what is needed to become a champion. A portrait of women's tennis that rings true on every page. I enjoyed this book and marvelled at the author's ability to see the driving forces, the cost and the utter dedication needed. A good read.

A mother and daughter travel to a coastal Spanish village. Rose is suffering from a baffling illness and her daughter, Sofia, has brought her here to find a cure. They visit Dr Gomez, a controversial practitioner who uses unorthodox methods to ‘cure’ his patients. The hot weather, sensual sights, sounds and smells and the people they meet lead the two women to reevaluate their lives. The mother and daughter represent different aspects of being a woman.

Having read The Beekeeper of Aleppo, I was looking forward to another good read about resilience, hope, loss and love. I was not disappointed. This book, influenced by real events, tells the story of Nisha, an immigrant from Sri Lanka who leaves her own child to care for another as a nanny in Cyprus. When Nisha goes missing, we learn about her through the voices of those her life has touched. Through Petra, her employer, we learn about the insignificance of servants, the lack of interest from the police, how all women migrants are expendable. Through Yannis, her lover, we are introduced to the slaughter of migrating songbirds, symbolic of the migrating women. I thought the characters well rounded and the emotion of the story was beautifully told. A harrowing read but one I would recommend.

Set in Ireland and published in 2023 but not set in any specific time, this novel tells the story of a family that gets ripped apart by the new government regime. Nationalism is running riot and daily decisions are being made to introduce emergency laws. People are being removed from government jobs for disagreeing with the powers that be. Who will survive and who will perish? Who can you trust? It’s a bleak and brutal read but a powerful reminder of many people’s current lived experience.

This is a short and very insightful novel. Pa is left to raise 3 daughters, aged 11,13 and 15, following the death of his wife. He can't deal with his own grief let alone help his daughters with theirs and the daily issues faced by teenage girls. Squash is played at Western Lane sports centre and is one element of normality in their life but even this is fraught with potential conflict.

Leigh is a young Dutch microbiologist who grew up in an unhappy family situation, using the sea as an escape from her abusive father. She becomes almost fixated with the underwater world and this is later brought to her work exploring the deepest vent on the ocean floor. She hopes to find evidence of the world’s first life forms but ends up with more questions than answers. She then becomes involved in the work of a space agency, discovering that there are number of these deep vents situated across the world. She is sworn to secrecy and has to decide whether or not to continue her work or leave and be with her family. What would you do if you had the opportunity to do something not only groundbreaking but that would also throw a light on the origins of our planet?

I am currently listening to book 3 in the Magpie Murders series but would suggest that you read them in order as the solution to book one is in the third volume. The series is a classic crime drama with a twist.

The book is the true story of a group of Mennonite women who discover that the ‘demons’ that have visited them at night to punish them for their sins are actually a group of men from their own community. They realise that they had been drugged, using animal medication, and then raped. The minutes of the meetings they held showed that they had three options, firstly to do nothing, secondly to forgive the men and thirdly to leave the community in order to protect themselves and their daughters from future harm. What do they decide? The book has been made into a film.

The book is set in Wigan between 1899 and 1905 and is loosely based on the writer’s grandparents, who lived in the area at the time; it's a social history as much as a story. There are two main characters called Sam, and Jessie who are working class people. Sam is from a mining family, but he wants to escape from the mines, and better himself. Jessie, who is Sam's niece-in-law, is expected to spend her life in the mill, up to the point where she'll get married, have children and keep house, but she also wants more than this. Their lives intertwine over a long period, with nothing romantic initially. Sam made a promise to try and look out for young Jessie and her siblings, when their mum died, and that's what he does.

Sam's first love is Lydia Holdsworth, an art student from a posh family. Lydia and her brother Daniel befriend Sam and encourage him to get better educated and show an interest in politics. Against his family's wishes, Sam resigns from the mine and goes to work on a drapery stall on Wigan market.
The Holdsworth family like Sam, but not enough to allow Lydia to marry him, and they're forced apart. Lydia's mother offers Sam £50 to disappear from Lydia's life. He refuses to accept the bribe, but leaves her anyway, because he knows it could never be. Sometime later, when Lydia's mum dies, she leaves Sam £50 in her will, which is enough to set him up in business with a drapery shop. By this time he has married the second woman in his life, Agnes. They have four children together, but it proves to be an unhappy marriage. By the time their fourth child is born, Sam and Jessie have started seeing each other in secret, and Jessie has his baby.

It's a very nice description of life in Wigan and local towns at the end of the Victorian era.  

I have read most of Coelho’s books and find them both spiritual and philosophical. Brida is a young Irish girl who wants to learn everything. Magic has always interested her but she wants to know more and so embarks on a quest supported by people who have great wisdom and knowledge. There is a wise old man who helps her to see the goodness in the world and a woman who shows her how to pray to the moon and dance to the rhythm of the world. Brida wants to be a witch but can she give up her need for relationship in order to be successful?

This is the story of Sissey’s life in care as a child. He was under the care of Wigan Metro and the book reads like a factual documentary. It has all the social workers’ write ups of meetings held with him and his carers. He certainly had a raw deal even though his social workers tried their best for him.

The book is set in Wapping, in the east end of London in the early 1900s. It's not a story, but the memories of a woman brought up in poverty and has many similar themes to Kept. It struck me that in Wigan, life for the working classes revolved around the pits and the mills. In London's east end, it was all about trying to eke out a living from the River Thames, the docks, wharves, goods and services related to shipping. As the title suggests, a lot of this was about making every penny stretch as far as possible. There are some detailed descriptions of how thrifty housewives used to stretch the family budget. The writer often comments on things that would be unacceptable today. A good read for anyone interested in that period.

Leela left her home and family to escape a difficult situation but she is now returning from New York to Delhi with her husband. The novel tells the story of two families as threads of marriage bind them together in ways that won’t necessarily strengthen all those involved. The narrative is told and orchestrated by Ganesh, the elephant headed Hindu god, who wishes to save Leela, his heroine, from the clutches of a Sanskrit scholar who could destroy her. The book is an interesting weave of contemporary relationships that cross cultural and religious boundaries and the traditions of the ancient tales that see Ganesh as the supreme and wise remover of obstacles in life. Cwen, by the same author is a great feminist book.

This is a mystery set in a remote mountain village in Canada, introducing Inspector Armand Gamache and his team. An elderly lady is found dead in the woods, shot by an arrow, and initially thought to have been accidentally killed by a deer hunter. But it soon turns into a murder investigation, as Gamache works his way through a number of possible suspects in the village. It’s quite a nice read, with lots of potential for the main characters to develop in subsequent books.

The book examines how computer viruses came about, focusing on Fancy Bear, a Russian Hacker and the use of bots. Fancy Bear has many of the characteristics of being a Russian state associated group as it has targeted NATO countries, the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the German and Norwegian governments and the World Anti-Doping Agency. It’s a good read and not too geeky.