Literary Brooding

My Life on the Road Gloria Steinem Hardcover, 304 pages Published October 27th 2015 by Random House I knew of Gloria Steinem but not about her and this book is my introduction to the woman and her work.  My Life on the Road is a highly quotable memoir full of observations, anecdotes and pearls of wisdom. Steinem starts with the simple question of what makes me want to keep on the road travelling from place to place and for Steinem it starts with her Father.  As it was her Father that pack the family in the car to go travelling with no end date to the journey. I loved the descriptions that evoke life on the road ‘we see an acre of motorcycles around each isolated diner and motel’ and ‘stopping to cool off in shallow streams or find shade in groves where chai and steamed rice cakes called idlis were sold from palm-roofed shelters.’ Her years as a journalist have given her a wonderful skill to simply and quickly catch the beauty and the ugliness of situations. The sectio...

The Secret Heiress Luke Devenish Paperback, 422 pages Expected publication: April 1st 2016 by Simon and Schuster Australia In this Australian gothic novel two young women 17 years apart, find themselves entangled in the mystery that surrounds the inhabitants of Summersby House. The story is told in alternating viewpoints and we start with Ida Garfield in 1886.  Young and naïve she is employed by the mistress of Summersby House, Matilda Gregory as a housemaid. Yet Ida is not being employed just for her labouring skills but also her natural curiosity. Full of excitement for the start of a new job Ida’s hopes are crushed when Matilda Gregory is found is dead in circumstances that leads to an exodus of staff and a lot of town gossip. Undeterred Ida commences work and soon discovers that there are mysteries to be discovered in Summersby House including unravelling her attraction to recently widowed and handsome Samuel Hackett. The second point of view is by Biddy, some 17 y...

Depraved Heart  Patricia Cornwell Hardcover, 480 pages, Published October 27th 2015 by William Morrow The last time I read a Scarpetta novel was back in 2013 and it was book 16 in the series. I have come back to the series at book 23 with Depraved Heart. Scarpetta is called to investigate an apparent suicide but as she begins to examine the clues all is not what it seems. Yet her investigation is side-tracked as she receives a series of text messages with a video feed that suggest her niece Lucy is in trouble. Once again Scarpetta finds herself in a race to sort out fact from fiction.   Coming back to a Scarpetta novel is like catching up with old friends. You come in visit their lives, discover what a mess they have made, where they have been successful and that you still find Lucy annoying. What I did find to be a significant change in this book is that no one seems to trust anyone anymore. Scarpetta does not trust Lucy, Benton or Marino. Marino does not trust...

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend - Katarina Bivald Kindle Edition, 384 pages, expected publication: January 19th 2016 by Vintage Digital Every now and then you come across a gem of a book that is gentle, interesting, engaging and feel good novel that makes you want to crawl between the pages and reside there. ‘Readers of Broken Wheel’ is that book where you find captivated by the personalities that the author has created. Out of work Sara has travelled from Sweden to visit her elderly pen-pal Amy who lives in the small dying town of Broken Wheel in Iowa. Unfortunately for Sara her arrival is not the triumph she expected as she soon discovers that Amy has recently passed away. The town people embrace Sara and encourage her to stay as that is what Amy would want. What Sara soon realises is that Broken Wheel is a town hanging on to its existence by the slightest of threads, the shops are empty, there are no jobs and people are just getting by. Sara tries to thank the people for...