Every month, GWL team members and volunteers share what we’ve read at our Book Picnic. A smaller group met this month but with no less enthusiasm for our current reads. Here’s what we’ve been reading recently:
Selected Poems by Kathleen Jamie
Aileen has been reading this collection of poems. She really appreciated the sense of place and the appreciation of the natural world that Kathleen Jamie brings, and felt she could recognise the landscapes that were being described, and feel she was there. Nature is really valued for itself as it is, and not for the resources that can be exploited. Aileen has also enjoyed Kathleen’s essays on the natural world in books such as Findings. She has a way of describing things that expresses what is difficult to articulate about nature and our connection to it and why it is important.
The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle by Kirsty Watt
Joyce has been reading this novel by journalist and broadcaster Kirsty Watt and has really enjoyed it. The novel is set on the Isle of Arran and tells the story of Elizabeth, Anna and her daughter Martha. Anna used to take Martha on holiday to Arran when she was younger and having passed by the cottage of Elizabeth Pringle, she wrote to Elizabeth asking her to contact her if she was ever thinking of selling the house. Years later, Elizabeth leaves the house to Anna in her will, but since Anna now has dementia, the house passes to Martha who is managing her financial affairs. But Anna’s dementia means that Martha now has difficult decisions to make.
Prize Women by Caroline Lea
Elaine recommended this historical novel, which is based loosely on the incredible true story of The Great Stork Derby, a competition which ran in the 1920s which offered a fortune to the woman who could have the most babies in ten years. Two friends – one rich and one poor – decide to take part in the contest, but it takes its toll on their friendship and their lives. The battle finally ends in the courtroom – but who will eventually win the prize?
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
Elaine also recommended this historical novel about women code-breakers during World War II. Most of the accounts of Bletchley Park are by men, although more women were also there, so it’s good to have a story which centres the experience of women. As the war progresses, the women realise there is a spy in their midst. This novel tells the story of female friendship during the war, the race to break the code, and the betrayals that tore them apart.
