Safe House by Chris Ewan

I read Safe House during Manx Grand Prix Week on the Isle of Man, with the buzz of visiting motorcyclists creating just the right setting. It didn’t take me a week, as I raced through the book in a few days.

Rob Hale is called out to fix a boiler at a remote cottage in Arrasey Plantation. He finds two sullen men with a beautiful girl called Lena, and they’re definitely not locals. Lena doesn’t have much trouble persuading Rob to call back and take her out on his motorcycle. He readily falls in with Lena’s plans to give her two male companions the slip.

When Rob wakes up in hospital, he doesn’t remember how he crashed his bike. There’s no trace of Lena, and local police seem determined that she never existed. Is it a cover up, or concern for the family? Rob’s sister Laura had recently committed suicide, and his father was well known and respected on the Island. Or maybe Rob really is delusional after the accident?

Rob’s suspicion grows when he meets Rebecca, a smart and self-assured Private Investigator hired by his parents to look into his sister’s death. Lena holds the key, but she’s left a sinister and twisted trail.

Safe House was addictive reading, and I just had to find out what was happening next. It’s a dark read in places, but that’s offset by humour and the chemistry between Rob and Rebecca. As an islander, I loved the fact that this book was set on the Isle of Man, and the atmosphere and sense of location is superb. I once stayed for a weekend in the cottage that inspired Safe House, which made it all the more intriguing. I hope there will be more along these lines - I’m sure there’s plenty more secrets here on the Isle of Man to go on...

'Safe House' is topping the Kindle charts, and Chris Ewan has just released 'Berlin', the latest title in the award winning 'Good Thief's Guide' series. Find out more here  

Latest news about 'Safe House' - you can watch a brilliant sponsorship trailer here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKUzJJfzCBE for broadcast on the Universal Channel made around Major Crimes.

An Unexpected Party

Chris Caine as Gandalf joined our book group meeting last Thursday to give a brilliant reading from 'The Hobbit'. He read 'Riddles in the Dark' where Bilbo finds The Ring and meets Gollum for the first time, and really brought the story to life.

Thank you to Elizabeth for her special homemade mince pies, and to everyone in the book group for bringing along all the delicious treats for our Christmas Party.

The Library has a Hobbit theme this Christmas - here's the doorway to 'Bagend'. Thank you to Chris for such a wonderful performance.

'The Hobbit' was a 4 star read for our group - reviews coming soon. If you're enjoying 'The Hobbit' and want to find out more about J R R Tolkien, you may like to try these from Colin Duriez.



There's also a 'Hobbit Hunt' around the library with riddles to solve for entry in to a Prize Draw. Thank you to The Lexicon Book Shop for the top prize.

The Light Between The Oceans by M L Stedman

Publshed by Doubleday

This is a beautifully written first novel, and a great choice for book groups.

Janus is the God of gateways, with two faces so that he can look to the future, as well as the past. He’s also associated with light, and is the namesake of the remote Janus Rock Lighthouse, set between two oceans off the South Coast of Australia.

Previous keepers have struggled to cope with the isolation, but after returning from Gallipoli, Tom Sherbourne is craving peace and structure in his life. He meets his future wife Isabel in Partaguese, the small town nearest the lighthouse. They create their own world on Janus Rock, where the supply boat calls four times a year, and shore leave is only granted every year or two.

Tom, haunted by survivor guilt and his family’s past, is lifted by Isabel, his ‘other half of the sky’. But Isabel becomes fragile and grief stricken following her miscarriages, and it’s the start of a distance between them. When a boat is washed up with a dead man and small crying baby onboard, she persuades Tom to keep the child. As time goes on, they begin to learn more about the child’s background, and the dark event that has lead to what Isabel believes to be a gift from God. With every passing day, Tom regrets more and more the choices they’ve made, and the gulf widens.

It’s very much a book about decisions and consequences, and how difficult it can be to see the right action to take. The Janus Light illuminates the way for others, but not for those on the rock itself. It’s not just a novel of light and dark, it’s more about what happens in the shadows. Anyone reading about each of the main characters will struggle to judge, as they are written with such compassion, and their actions seem understandable in each set of circumstances.

I was completely absorbed in the world of Janus Rock, which took on a real existence, and by the sadness of the lives it touched.  This is a book that stays with you long after you’ve put it down. 

If you're interested in novels about the world of lighthouses, why not try 'Light' by Margaret Elphinstone? It's based on our Calf of Man in the early 1830s, so also interesting from the point of view of local history. The lighthouse is being looked after by a woman and her family, and Margaret Elphinstone traced a connection with female lighthouse keepers from 1831 back through the centuries to Saint Bridget. Tensions arise when the lighthouse engineer, Robert Stevenson, sends his surveyors there...

Robert Stevenson's grandson, Robert Louis Stevenson said:

'There is scarce a deep sea light from the Isle of Man to North Berwick, but one of my blood designed it'.

This Month's Reads

Our next meeting is in November, month of remembrance, so we decided to read books themed around war and conflict - old and new. Here's a few of the books the group have decided to try:

The Greatcoat
By Helen Dunmore

Isabel Carey finds herself lonely and isolated after moving to Yorkshire during the winter of 1954. It's austerity Britain, and Isabel is adjusting to married life with her GP husband, who is frequently out on call. She spends much of her time alone, in rented accommodation that has come complete with a dour and creepy landlady.  When Isabel wraps herself in an old RAF greatcoat found in a cupboard, she starts to dream. Woken by a knock on the door, she answers her door to an airman, and starts an intense relationship with him.



The Book Thief
By Zusack Page

This book is narrated by the character of Death. It's 1939 Nazi Germany, and he's watching Liesel, a nine year old girl. She's living with a foster family on Himmel Street because her family have been taken to a concentration camp. Liesel starts stealing books, and both the events of the war and the words on the pages, change her life, and the lives of her community on the street.






Valentine Grey
By Sandi Toksvig

The Boer War is at the centre of this book, and so is the British Empire. When a soldier goes to South Africa to fight, there's not only the conflict of war, but also class, gender and sexuality, because Valentine Grey is a woman.









The Garden Of Evening Mists
By Tan Twang Eng

Elizabeth has read this already, and loved it. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, it's Tan Twang Eng's second novel. It's set in Malaya around the Japanese Occupation in World War II. A young law graduate and concentration camp survivor becomes an apprentice to the only Japanese gardener in Malaya when she sets out to create a garden to the memory of her sister.







A Whispered Name
By William Brodrick
Moving novel of The Great War, highly recommended by Edith. Click here to read her review...

Book Fanatics Quiz Night and More

Manx Litfest

Lots to look forward to this September at Manx Litfest. Tickets are now on sale, and it looks like we're going to be spoiled for choice. Find out more, sign up for a newsletter and keep up with what's happening on the Manx Litfest web site.

We were talking about the Book Fanatics Quiz Night at the last meeting, and some of the group are keen to have a go if we have enough people free that night to make a team. Just a quick reminder that it's on Thursday 27th September @ 8.15 pm. at the Villa, and tickets are £8.00. Please contact Pam if you would like to join in as an Onchan Book Group team.

State of Wonder by Anne Patchett

Research scientist Marina Singh is sent to the depths The Amazon rainforest to find out how her research partner and friend Anders Eckman had died there. He was tracking progress on a new fertility drug being developed by the maverick Dr Swenson, a mentor of Marina's in a former life she would prefer to forget. Marina endures side effects from malaria drugs, insects, snakes and arrows to follow in Anders' footsteps through the rainforest and discover the mystery surrounding Dr Swenson. This book was shortlisted for the Orange Prize 2012, and Anne Patchett's Bel Canto is a former Orange Prize winner.





 

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Howard Fry by Rachel Joyce

Harold Fry seems a most unlikely hero – recently retired, modest and unassuming.
His life is humdrum in the extreme. A letter from a former colleague leads him to undertake a journey on which he will eventually confront his past, and become something of a reluctant media celebrity. Journeying through Britain on foot, wearing only his yachting shoes and without mobile phone or credit cards, he encounters a rich variety of characters along the way, who, despite having their own problems, encourage and help him on his long journey. This is a gentle, amusing and at times heart-breaking novel, which was greatly enjoyed by everyone who read it. Cath

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Howard Fry was a 5 star read for us. It's been selected for this year's Booker Prize Long List:

Nicola Barker, The Yips (Fourth Estate)
Ned Beauman, The Teleportation Accident (Sceptre)
André Brink, Philida (Harvill Secker)
Tan Twan Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists (Myrmidon Books)
Michael Frayn, Skios (Faber & Faber)
Rachel Joyce, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Doubleday)
Deborah Levy, Swimming Home (And Other Stories)
Hilary Mantel, Bring up the Bodies (Fourth Estate)
Alison Moore, The Lighthouse (Salt)
Will Self, Umbrella (Bloomsbury)
Jeet Thayil, Narcopolis (Faber & Faber)
Sam Thompson, Communion Town (Fourth Estate

The Shortlist will be announced on Tues 11th Sept.