TV adaptation

The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood

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Offred is a Handmaid and her sole purpose in life is to breed. Her existence is strictly controlled and highly restricted by the totalitarian regime under which America now lives. The birth rate has declined so drastically that certain measures have been put in place. Offred has been assigned to a high-ranking Commander and his Wife, to provide them with a baby.
If she fails or disobeys in any way, she faces a public hanging or exile into the barren radioactive wastelands. But Offred remembers her life before becoming a Handmaid. She remembers her name, her family and the freedom she used to enjoy. Will the threat of execution or exile be enough to stop her from seeking out her family and freedom? Read More »

Small Island, by Andrea Levy

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Gilbert Joseph joined the RAF during WWII, along with thousands of other Jamaicans, to fight for the “Mother Country”. Returning to England after the war, Gilbert finds a changed world and one in which his service to his mother country is not recognised or appreciated. In desperation, he turns to one of his only friends in England, Queenie Bligh. Queenie’s neighbours do not approve of her taking in Jamaican lodgers, but what else can she do? Her husband has not returned from the war, even though it has been over for three years now. She is alone in a big house and needs the money. She also has a secret, one which makes her more inclined towards being kind to coloured people than most of her neighbours.
The war may be over, but at 21 Nevern Street, London, the conflict has only just begun. Read More »

Dragonfly in Amber, by Diana Gabaldon

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After their harrowing escape from Wentworth Prison, Claire and Jamie have travelled to the relative safety of a monastery in France. They cannot stay here, however, especially if they want to succeed in their plan to change the future and somehow stop the Battle of Culloden. To that end, they journey to Paris to join the French aristocracy and befriend the young Prince Charles Stuart. Manipulation, intrigue and danger abound in the French capital and especially at the court of the French King. Claire and Jamie must navigate uncertain loyalties, unfamiliar customs and many other obstacles in the pursuit of their goal. The one constant is their love for one another, but will that be enough to carry them through these turbulent times? Read More »

Firefly Lane, by Kristin Hannah

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Kate and Tully have been best friends since they were both 13 and lived across the street from one another. But even at that age, they could not have been more different; Kate was shy and uncool, with a loving family who embarrassed her at every turn; Tully was the coolest girl in the world, popular and ambitious, but nursing a secret heartache caused by her mother’s addiction and abandonment. Nonetheless, they saw something in each other and forged a bond that would last into the new Millennium.
Tully’s ambition has taken her to the dizzying heights of fame as a TV news anchor and now with her own daytime talk show. Kate realised early on that a life of fame and fortune was not for her. Her ambition was to fall in love and have children. What she did not expect, however, was how achieving this goal would change her forever. Throughout all of this, Tully and Kate have stuck together, supporting one another through thick and thin. But even the strongest friendships can be tested. Read More »

Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon

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It’s 1946 and Claire Randall is in Scotland on a second honeymoon with her husband Frank. After the horrors of the war, both are keen to rekindle their love and start their lives afresh. Frank is busy researching his family history whilst Claire is more interested in the local plants and their healing properties. One afternoon Claire stumbles through a circle of standing stones and finds herself suddenly in 1743! After an encounter with Captain “Black Jack” Randall, her husband’s six times great grandfather, she falls in with a band of Scottish outlaws. Claire is desperate to get back to the standing stones and her own time, but circumstances and people get in the way. Will the familiarity of her life with Frank be enough to leave behind the life that she is quickly building for herself in this new century? Read More »