In My Mailbox #2


Well, I had such a busy weekend that I ended up not reading at all. That rarely happens to me! So I've fallen about two weeks behind on my library books, but since they only hold books for me for one week, I had to go and pick up more! Here is what I brought home this week:


Late Night Shopping by Carmen Reid (2008)
As ultra stylish personal shopper Annie Valentine is about to learn there are some things the man in your life doesn't need to know: The price of your delicious new handbag (...and shoes.) The fact that you've reached the limit on all your credit cards. You're planning to start a retail business of your own (and there are 500 imported accessories in the spare room.) Then there are a few things you may have to mention: You've booked a 'surprise!' romantic holiday to Italy (but your relatives are coming too). You seem to have put the house up for sale. A gorgeous Italian has fallen madly in love with you. Could this be one challenge too many for Annie and Ed?



The Long Song by Andrea Levy (2010)
Told in the irresistibly willful and intimate voice of Miss July, with some editorial assistance from her son, Thomas, The Long Song is at once defiant, funny and shocking. The child of a field slave on the Amity sugar plantation in Jamaica, July lives with her mother until Mrs. Caroline Mortimer, a recently transplanted English widow, decides to move her into the great house and rename her "Marguerite." Resourceful and mischievous, July soon becomes indispensable to her mistress. Together they live through the bloody Baptist War and through the violent and chaotic end of slavery. Taught to read and write so she can help her mistress run the business, July remains bound to the plantation despite her "freedom." It is the arrival of a young English overseer, Robert Goodwin, that will dramatically change life in the great house for both July and her mistress. Prompted and provoked by her son's persistent questioning, July's heartache and resilience are gradually revealed in this extraordinarily powerful story of slavery, revolution, freedom and love.

The Point of Rescue by Sophie Hannah (2008)
Sally is watching the news with her husband when she hears a name she ought not to recognise: Mark Bretherick. Last year, a business trip Sally had planned was cancelled at the last minute. Desperate for a break from her busy life juggling her career and a young family, Sally didn't tell her husband that the trip had fallen through. Instead, she booked a week off and treated herself to a secret holiday. All she wanted was a bit of peace - some time to herself - but it didn't work out that way. Because Sally met a man - Mark Bretherick. All the details are the same: where he lives, his job, his wife Geraldine and daughter Lucy. Except that the man on the news is a man Sally has never seen before. And Geraldine and Lucy Bretherick are both dead.


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