September books

My favourite reads from September are: 

Jenni Keer - Secrets of Hawthorne Place

This is a dual-time novel which is refreshingly different. Two identical houses, built hundreds of miles apart, that have a strange connection;the secret love of a Victorian architect for a married woman; plus a modern day young woman who seems to be stuck in her teenage persona and unable to grow up, until family hearbreak and an eerie discovery force her to take responsibility for her own life. Molly is a flawed heroine, immature and selfish. But as she learns basic life skills and finds that she's thinking of others rather than herself, she begins to develop her own talents in researching the history of her grandfather's house. Alongside the story the reader also gets a fascinating insight into  Arts and Crafts architecture. It's a coming-of-age story with a difference, with a lot of fun as well as emotional depth. 

Diana Gabaldon - Go Tell the Bees that I am Gone

This is the ninth novel in Diana Gabaldon's 'Outlander' series. I'm including it in my favourite reads because I'm a long-time fan of the books, but I wouldn't recommend anyone to read it without having finished the previous eight novels, as you need knowledge of so much back story to fully appreciate it. Yet again it's full of her vivid historical detail, as Clare and Jamie's story continues during the American War of Independence, while their pre-knowledge of historical facts affects their lives and choices. We also see further development of the lives of the next generation: the families of their daughter Brianna and her husband Roger, plus Jamie's adopted son Fergus and his family, as well as Jamie's son William. Yes, it's a long book, possibly too long as she lingers over so many (amazing) historical details. However, it's sweeping, informative, and somehow magnetic, keeping my attention throughout its 1300 or so pages.

Jen Wheeler - The Light on Farallon Island

A fascinating debut novel from this American author. In mid-19th Century, Farallon Island off San Francisco is a remote place, reached only by a treacherous boat journey. Here the lighthouse is tended by a group of three keepers, who live there with their families. But it's also the site of a bizarre - and lucrative - harvest each year. A group of men called the 'Eggers' arrive from the mainland and spend weeks gathering the eggs of the seabirds known as 'murre' (we call them guillemots). Just before the egg gatherers arrive in 1859, Amelia steps on to Farralon Island to take up the post of teacher to the six children of the keepers. She's assumed her friend Lucy's name, hiding a dreadful secret and hoping to escape the nightmares of her past life. But her meeting with the Eggers' supervisor, Will Sisson, turns out to be a fateful one. As she embraces life on this wild and remote island, Amelia finds that her emotions are stirred, but fear lurks in unexpected places, and she discovers that she's not as safe from her past as she would have liked. Captivating, raw, realistic, full of harsh realities on the edge of mysticism, I found I couldn't put down this novel with all its unforseen twists and turns.