This book is in complete contrast to the book we all read as it makes China’s cultural and political history more accessible. It is an account of the lives of three generations in twentieth-century China.  There are passages about ‘big’ events surrounding Mao’s impact and yet also the more intimate accounts of how women were treated, including descriptions of foot binding.  The author paints a vivid picture of the violence meted out on her own family and on millions of others.  It’s not always an easy read but it is well worth persevering.

Gerard is twelve, hates his name and likes hanging out with his gang. He's bright, but school is a struggle and he never seems to get anything right.  His home life is chaotic, with no Dad and a Mum who is addicted to drink and drugs.  Gerard has to look after his younger siblings and on a foray to get food and fuel credit, he causes an accident. His life is then controlled by courts, social workers, foster care and he is separated from his brother and sister. Will he get to meet the victim of his crime? How is she coping with what happened and can Gerard get a better chance in life?  This is such a good read, with laugh out loud moments, moments that made me angry and some that made my eyes leak.

It’s lockdown and Dalton, a political writer, has left London for the countryside. I think this is a beautiful book about how the author rescues a leveret that been chased by a dog. She decides to take it home, find a way of raising it and then release it back into the wild. But nature won’t let that happen as the leveret now smells of human.  Instead, the baby hare becomes Dalton’s companion. At night it sleeps on her bed and by day it is in the fields and woods but would return to the house at the call of her name.   The amazing thing is that two years later, the now adult hare, gives birth to her own leverets in Dalton’s study. There are beautiful pictures in the book and if you want a ‘feel good’ factor read, then this is it!

World War II Italy and Mussolini is in power but beholden to Hitler.  His son in law is the foreign minister and he has been keeping records and personal diaries on how Il Duce has taken the country to the edge.  The Nazis want the documents, Mussolini wants them too and after many a twist and turn, many of them end up in Italy with Mussolini’s daughter.  Three women have put themselves at risk of state sanctioned killings but they know that the documents are vital as the end of the war nears.  The author has done his research and also interviewed people who were there and in so doing he has given a detailed and interesting look at a relatively unknown piece of history. The papers and documents became the cornerstone of the trials and convictions at the Nuremberg Trials.  I enjoyed this book, it was a very interesting read and I learned more about the history of World War II.

Hollingdrake is one of the authors that I met and spoke with at the crime fiction event at Leigh Library. Set in Liverpool, it's about characters scarred by their abusive childhoods,  drug dealers and people living on the streets, making it a gritty read. It is the first of a series set in Liverpool, featuring the same cop characters, so made me wonder about how they will develop.

This is the story of three people who live along two rivers and at different points in time That’s all I’m allowed to say as other members of the group have this book on their TBR (To Be Read) pile.

Civil war is imminent as two young people meet and conduct a secret love affair.  She is fiery and he is a gentle soul and together they decide they have to get out of their city.  There are bombings and check points to negotiate and the only way to escape is to follow the whispers about doors that take you to another place, but it’s risky and you have to pay a heavy price.  They find themselves in an alien place and an unknown future. They have to keep a sense of self and each other as the story unwinds and their love, loyalty and courage come to the fore.  I found it an easy book to read but felt like it was missing something but I can’t decide what!

Set in Ireland, the novel tells the story of a woman in a coercive marriage who has finally had enough.  Who knows what you need to put in a bag but as she leaves with her two children, that quick decision has to be made. Adding to the difficult situation is that she has learnt that she is pregnant again.  They are in a hotel room and she knows that she needs to get back on the job ladder, find a nursery and a school and try to rebuild their lives.  In the meantime, the husband is pretending to be more than he actually is and is conning people.  I thought the book was a way of showing how hard it is for women to walk away from bad relationships, knowing that they have no money, maybe no job and nowhere to go.

This is a beautifully written book that follows the author’s dementia journey.  She is an active woman , a single parent bringing up two daughters and was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s at the age of 58.  The writing is insightful and highlights her resourcefulness and determination not to let her illness win for as long as possible.  She has won an award for her role as an ambassador for dementia and has been on Radio 4.  I think she is an inspiring woman and her book helps others to understand a bit more about what it is like to have this illness.

Some time in the not so distant future there are private institutions around the world where specialists of various types look at DNA and genetics. In the USA a post doctorate student needs money to fund her further studies into what it is that made homo sapiens the dominant group.  She answers an advert from a lab in London, run by a multi billionaire who wants to push the boundaries of ethics.  The American agrees to be a surrogate for a couple, using their ova and sperm.  However, there is a secret medical intervention and the experiment is going to change how we see evolution. The baby is born but he shows differences that make him stand out and as he gets older and is publicly named, his life becomes a game of cat and mouse in a bid not to be caught.  The book makes you think about what it is that makes us human and ask the question, ‘Just because it’s possible, does that mean you should?’

This book has been reviewed at earlier meetings and I chose to read it because it had been recommended by people in the group. I liked the book, even though it’s a bit strange and doesn’t really go anywhere. Fascism is on the rise as experts in anthropology arrive on a Welsh island.  The experts are very middle class and this shapes the way they see the local people.  They have a condescending attitude and think it acceptable to steal some of their homemade artefacts.  There is a good sense of the time in which it was set.

This trilogy features a female cop Tamara Sullivan, who's a detective with the Metropolitan Police, but she is in disgrace after disobeying the chain of command. She gets shipped out on a six month secondment to observe the Gibraltar police force and gradually comes to like it there.  She wins the confidence of her new colleagues and decides to stay on as a cop in Gibraltar.  They're decent stories, but not the most original themes. Irritatingly, there are a lot of typos and errors in the text, which diminishes it for me. Who has done the proof reading and editing?

There were some really good bits in this book but really it was over long, rambling and needed better editing.  A young David Win is clever 13 year old and poor and was born dual nationality in Indonesia.  After arriving in the UK, David wins a scholarship to a public school, later goes to Cambridge and becomes an actor.  The story also looks at Win’s gay relationships over the years.

This is a political memoir that follows Stewart from being unknown to standing against Boris Johnson for the leadership of the Conservative Party and then being sacked from the Party.  He was a diplomat in the Middle East, helping to reconstruct Iraq and Afghanistan but later said it was all a failure. He says he went into politics in order to make a difference but he reached a point at which he did not recognise his Party.  He was disillusioned, seeing politics and politicians as being hollow.  As I read the book, I began to see politicians in a different light and noted that David Cameron does not come out well.

Seana Smith seemed to have it all, including a degree from Oxford, working at the BBC and on a TV channel in Sydney and a happy marriage. She uses her intelligence and humour to tell the story of what is really going on.  A long battle with alcoholism after living with an abusive and drunk father, the loneliness of motherhood and conversations she has had with herself are lifted from the pages of her diary as she writes a book that highlights addiction and recovery.  I didn’t find it an easy read but it is a good one.

The novel is set at a time when Elizabeth I seems to be losing her rule over her kingdom.  Shelby, a physick, thinks he has uncovered a serial killer as a number of bodies he examines have the same markings.  He is assisted by Bianca who runs a tavern and who can’t be an apothecary due to her gender. Their investigations are noted by a powerful man and Shelby is faced with the decision of saving himself or saving Bianca.  I enjoyed this book as I learnt about the politics of the time and how the Queen was a puppet, sitting in the middle of the powerplay being carried out by the men surrounding her. The book is based on real people and Perry has built up a story around them.  This is the first of seven books and I’m aiming to read them all.

In Chinese folklore, a fox can become a person and food would be left out to feed them.  A detective called Bao is investigating a series of murders and a woman called Snow seems to be breaking an age old curse held over a family.  But all is not as it seems and Snow and Bao are hunting the same prey.  Some say that the myths about foxes are rubbish and that people should turn to Buddhism.  I found it to be a good mix of fantasy and history.

Students in an American university learnt about all things Shakespeare related. In their first year there is a general introduction to theatre and the years that follow include focus on scenery, the comedies and then the tragedies of Shakespeare, with the focus on King Lear. Ten years later, a narrator tells the story of a group of seven students, from various walks of life, who played roles such as villain, temptress and hero both on and off the stage. How did one of them die and who really was the killer?  I thought this was an interesting book, set out like a Shakespearean play and although there are a lot of quotations, you do not need to have much knowledge of the bard’s works. The style was different and that added to the enjoyment.