I know I seem to say this every month, but I really can’t believe that it is September already! I am not complaining though because it means that summer (my least favourite time of year) is coming to an end. Bring on colder days, roaring fires and snow!! Despite catching Covid and being out of Read More »
Rumours of the “Marsh Girl” have circulated for years in the small coastal village of Barkley Cove. Kya Clark is uneducated, barefoot and wild, not fit for civilised society. So when handsome and popular Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya. But Kya is not what everyone thinks she is.
Abandoned by her family and forced to fend for herself from a very young age, Kya is a born naturalist and learned life’s lessons from the land and wildlife around her. But while she has the skills necessary to survive, as she grows up, Kya feels her lack of community ever more keenly. Drawn to two very different young men from the village, she opens herself to a new and startling world, until the unthinkable happens. Read More »
From the moment Lucy met Diana, she was held at arm’s length. Although Diana is always polite to a fault, Lucy knows that even after marrying Oliver, she and Diana will never have the close bond she imaged and hoped for. Yes, you may get to choose your partner, but you don’t get to choose your mother-in-law. Diana is the matriarch of a loving family, a pillar of her community and Lucy just wanted to please her.
That was ten years ago. Now Diana has been found dead, leaving a suicide note. But things do not add up; the autopsy reveals evidence of suffocation, the suicide note was left concealed in a drawer, and everyone in the family is hiding something… Read More »
How do you find yourself when the world tells you that you don’t exist?
Growing up as an Ahmadi Muslim in Pakistan, Samra Habib learned from a young age that revealing their identity could put them in grave danger. But fleeing the threat of Islamic extremists and emigrating to Canada did not solve any of these problems. Instead, Samra was faced with a whole new host of challenges: racism, bullying, poverty and an arranged marriage.
With their life policed by men, and with their only example of womanhood being a pious and obedient wife, Samra began a journey of self-discovery. A journey that would encompass faith, art, love and queer sexuality, and which would take them across the globe in search of a truth that was inside them all along. Read More »
Another month, another wrap-up post and I am still surprised that it is the end of the month. How can we already be halfway through the year?! I struggled with reading in June. I had a bit of a crazy work schedule so I was very tired and I ended up getting into a bit Read More »
Nobody would have expected a shy young boy called Reginald Dwight from the London suburb of Pinner to become a famous rockstar. But he had a dream and, by the age of twenty-three, he was on his first tour in America, facing his first audience wearing silver hotpants and a “Rock and Roll” T-shirt. Elton John had arrived and the music world would never be the same.
Over the span of an extraordinary career, from early rejection to stratospheric success, his life was always full of drama. From friendships with John Lennon, George Michael and Giovanni Versace, to extravagant parties and ridiculous shopping sprees, and even disco dancing with the Queen. In this his only official autobiography, Elton John lays everything bare, including the drug addiction which threatened to end his career, and his life, and his journey to find happiness and fulfilment through marriage and fatherhood. Read More »
There is a Wild Man who dwells in the quiet green depths of Greenhollow and there are many legends and stories about him in the local village. Tobias lives a perfectly unremarkable life in his cottage with his cat, and his dryads. He listens to the wood and keeps himself to himself. Until, however, Greenhollow Hall acquires a new, handsome and very curious owner in Henry Silver. Old secrets better left buried are dug up, and Tobias must confront his troubled past. Read More »
A cotton plantation in the deep South does not seem a likely place for a tender romance. But amidst all of the horror and hardship, Isaiah has Samuel and Samuel has Isaiah. Separated from the rest of the slaves by their roles working in the barn with the animals, the two men have created a place of refuge, intimacy and hope for themselves. Their relationship is acknowledged but mostly ignored by the rest of the plantation. Until that is, a fellow slave seeks to gain the Master’s favour by preaching the gospel.
Suddenly, Samuel and Isaiah’s love, which was once so pure, is seen as sinful and a danger to the harmony of the wider plantation. As the enslaved begin to turn on one another, the two men’s future on the plantation becomes more and more uncertain. Read More »
Calla Fletcher was born in Alaska, but she has not been back since leaving with her mother at the age of two. Unable to handle the isolation and the extreme conditions of the Alaskan wilderness, Calla’s mother also left behind her husband, and Calla’s father, Wren; and she never looked back. Now 26 and estranged from her father, Calla only knows a comfortable Toronto lifestyle. Until an unexpected phone call and the news that Wren is seriously ill brings the past right back into her life. With time running out, Calla journeys to Alaska to rekindle a relationship with her father.
Adjusting to the living conditions in rural Alaska is hard enough, not to mention the roaming wildlife, sky-high prices and the less-than-ideal plumbing situation. But Calla’s return to Alaska is made even more arduous by Jonah, the proud, stubborn and unkempt pilot who helps keep her father’s charter business afloat. Calla is determined to prove to Jonah that she is not the spoiled city girl he thinks she is, and as their fraught relationship turns to friendship, she begins to wonder if there could be something more there. But she is only in Alaska for a short time, and Jonah will never leave. Would it be wise to venture down the same path her parents tried and failed, many years ago? Read More »
What a busy month! At the beginning of May, I moved to a new town and a new house, and started a new job. It has been quite the adjustment, getting familiar with new surroundings, new people and exploring a new place. Thankfully, though, my new town is part of the same regional library network, Read More »
