Crooked Pieces - Sarah Grazebrook

London, 1905. Maggie’s new position as a maid lifts her from East End poverty and brings her into the world of the suffragettes, in particular the Pankhursts—icons for a generation of women in search of equality and the right to vote. Before long her life takes another exciting turn when she begins ‘walking out’ with a young police officer, Fred Thorpe. 

As Maggie becomes drawn into an increasingly militant battle with the authorities, she is torn between her loyalty to the man she loves and her passionate belief in the cause for which she is fighting. Is Maggie prepared to sacrifice her one chance of happiness for the sake of a future she may never see?

My Rating 5/5 Loved this book (Fiction)

Gypsy Girl – Rosie McKinley

Imagine being born into a world where communities are constantly on the move, but freedom is not a birthright.

Rosie grew up travelling all over England and Ireland in her family's caravan. She had an idyllic childhood roaming fields and meadows with her younger brothers and sisters - free from the trappings of modern life, but restricted by the expectations of her culture.

When Rosie was 14, the family's happiness was shattered when her grandfather - who was loved and respected by the whole community - was killed in a tragic accident.
Suddenly everything in Rosie's life unravelled and she was forced to abandon the traditional way of life she loved. Her family fell apart in grief and Rosie tried her best to take care of her younger siblings and hold the family together.

This is her story of finding a place to belong.

My Rating 5/5 Easy Read (Non-Fiction)

The Drowning Girl – Margaret Leroy

'She's my daughter, but in some weird way I feel she isn't really my child'.

Young single mum Grace is drowning. Her little girl Sylvie is distant, troubled and prone to violent tantrums which the child psychiatrists blame on Grace. But Grace knows there's something more to what's happening to Sylvie. 

There has to be. 

Travelling from the London suburbs to the west coast of Ireland, Grace and Sylvie embark on a journey of shocking discovery, forcing Grace to question everything she believes in and changing both their lives forever.

My Rating 5/5 Loved This Book (Fiction)

Not the sort of book that I would normally read had I known what it was about. (I only go by the front cover I never read the back as I find it spoils the book for me) It was the haunting image and the question on the cover  - ”What if there was something deeply wrong with your child, and nobody believed you?” That caught my eye.

I could not put this book down. I found it a fascinating read.

Head Over Heels – Jill Mansell

Jessie has kept the identity of her son Oliver's father a secret for years. She's stunned when she discovers that the man in question, actor Toby Gillespie, has just moved in next door. The truth's about to come out.  

One glance at Oliver, and a little mental arithmetic, and Toby has the situation sussed. Meeting the son he never knew he had is the shock of a lifetime. It's a shock, too, for Toby's wife, the beautiful Deborah, though she seems to take it in her stride. 

Would Deborah be so relaxed if she knew just how close Toby wants to get to the mother of his firstborn? As the attraction between them flares up again, Jessie just can't see her way to a happy ending. But no one is quite what they seem, and there are more surprises to come...

My Rating 5/5 Easy Read (Fiction)

I loved this book from the very first page. 

The White Marriage – Charlotte Bingham

Sunny’s mundane country life is changed over night when handsome, stylish Gray’s Bentley breaks down outside her parents’ cottage in Rushington. It seems that he may have fallen in love with her. Although Sunny herself remains unconvinced, her best friend Arietta believes that Sunny is soon to be set on the road to wealth and happiness.

Shortly after meeting Gray for the second time at a local ball, Sunny is invited out by his close friend, the beautiful socialite, Leandra Fortescue, who tells her over lunch that Gray wants to marry her if she will accept certain conditions. Sunny does accept, even as Arietta is leaving Rushington to work in London.

Sunny soon joins Arietta at her cheerfully chaotic lodgings. It is here that she realizes that she can find the sort of contentment that has eluded sophisticates such as Gray and Leandra. Here too she meets Hart and, despite being engaged to Gray, falls in love with him, just as Arietta has fallen for his friend, jazz-playing painter, Sam. By chance Arietta comes into a secret about Gray, but is afraid to tell Sunny, and yet not to tell her might ruin her future.

My Rating 5/5 Easy Read (Fiction)

After the first few pages of this book I thought I was not going to like it, that it was not really my type of book.  I carried on and found it a  real page turner.

Annie’s Girl – Maureen Coppinger

Maureen Coppinger’s earliest memory is of watching the woman she believed to be her mother walk away and abandon her to the care of the nuns at one of Ireland’s notorious industrial schools. She was just three years old. 

She remained in the orphanage until the age of 16, subjected to cruelty and neglect, and starved of love and affection. Throughout these tormented years, Maureen dreamed only of escape, and when she was contacted again by her mammy she believed all her dreams were about to come true. Life in the outside world brought its own challenges, however, and Maureen was thrown into turmoil when she discovered that the truth about her past was more murky than she had ever realised.

Annie’s Girl stands apart as a poignant testimony to the resilience of the human heart. This touching and evocative memoir is the incredible story of an illegitimate industrial school survivor’s profound struggle to overcome a shame-filled past and solve the mystery of her origins.

My Rating 5/5 Heartbreaking (Autobiography)

So sad.  I really wanted it to carry on for a few more years and not end as it did as I felt that I needed to know more.

Maybe there will be a follow-up book.

My Whispering Angels – Francesca Brown

My Whispering Angels is the extraordinary story of an ordinary Irish wife and mother blessed with an incredible gift.

Francesca faced the dawn of the new millennium debilitated by ill-health and despair, without any hope or faith in her future. This was until the loving angels and spirits that she remembered watching over her as a young girl returned to save her in adulthood.

We are taken on a wondrous journey of self-discovery as Francesca describes how her angels helped her to recover from her illness and led her to a profound spiritual healing. The angels taught her how to use her gift to help others and to use her insight to guide them to lives enriched with hope and purpose.

Francesca's remarkable story is a testament to the transformations that can occur if you open your eyes and your heart to hope.

My Rating 5/5 Loved This Book (Non-Fiction)