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The Daisy Picker by Roisin Meaney,
Just THE book to read in wet miserable weather, or when you are feeling a bit down. The Daisy Picker is a funny and sweet book with some sad and serious bits - jusy enough to stop it from being sickly sweet.
While not too deep the "journey" both physically and emotionally, made by Lizzie is inspiring. I reckon that it might give hope to other people who are stuck in a rut and want to climb out of it.
The pictures that Roisin Meaney draws of her charecters is first class The conversations are often very amusing. The descriptions of Merway were appealing, in fact - I want to visit there.
I would read the story again, especially when life seemed to be getting too serious.
P.S I want to meet the gorgous Pete - have already got a list of things that he can do for me.
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Kingmakers daughter by Philippa Gregory
There is no way I would ever have wanted to live in the days of the Plantagenets. you would never know if you were talking to friend or foe. Life was so cheap and dangerous. And everyone changed sides so often even they must have wondered who they followed.
Another good book by Philippa Gregory which I enjoyed very much. I always learn or relearn a lot about history from these books so they are well worth reading and I see she has the next one lined up.
Weavers daughter by Elizabeth Jefferey
An easy read, a romantic saga really but with some very good historical information.
Anna, who is Dutch, whose father intends to marry her off to a wealthy elderly man to pay his debts, runs away to England with her boyfriend. Is directed to Colchester where many of her fellow countrymen have fled, to avoid the Spanish who are trying to enforce the R Catholic religion on them. Before she leaves her Mother tells her about her birth and that her real father is in England. She stays with the Dutch Methodist minister who turns out to be not all he seems and she leaves there to live with a wealthy clothier. Various things happen including the plague, and a threatened hanging for witch craft.
It is a good story, a good read and I learnt a lot about the Dutch clothiers and how they were hated by the English Clothiers, weavers, spinners and dyers, although they were forced to work together in the trade. There were also interesting pieces of information about the actual trade, how some of the spinners were still using distaffs and other spinning wheel, how they were fined if the cloth was not good enough in any way and the thread spun on the spinning wheels was finer and smoother than that on the distaffs so the latter incurred more fines because their masters wouldn’t pay out on new equipment.
I would certainly read more books by this author as she seems to have thoroughly researched her subject and I enjoy books that are informative as well as entertaining, while not being dry.
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The Daisy Picker by Roisin Meaney
Lizzie loves to bake, engaged to Tony but something is missing. She works in his family restaurant. At the dentist she reads in a magazine about a 85 year old woman who says 'if I had my life again these are the things I would do differently. '
I would ride more merry go rounds
I would take more chances
I would pick more daisies
I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans
I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets,
I would start bare foot in spring and stay that way later in the fall.
Lizzie decides to take her advice, end her engagement and go on an adventure. Which she does.
It is a good story nothing very deep but it held my attention and I loved the idea behind it of not being too 'safe'.
The characters were well thought out and believable. I liked it and would read more of hers.
River of Destiny by Barbara Erskine
I have never read a book by Barbara Erskine that I have not enjoyed. But this one was one of the best I have read I didn’t want it to end yet I was desperate to know what happened.
The story is told on three levels, AD865, AD 1865 and today. Not really a time slipping novel as the stories are told separately but merged by the ghosts of the past.
And over all a love story in the present day.
The characters were all so very well written. The ones who made the most impression were Lady Emily the imperious wife of the squire in 1865 who was so selfish and who had no idea of the repercussions her actions would cause. And Daniel the gentle smith.
And in the present day Rosemary, the rambler determined to ‘do right’ about rights of way no matter who or what she trampled on. There are actually people like her amongst ramblers.
Ken, another one wrapped up in what he wanted from life with no thought for what his wife Zoe wanted. I liked Zoe’s character and the fact that she was scared of sailing and admitted it, despite the derision of her husband. And Leo, the hero I could almost fall for him myself, an intriguing character.
Loved the Watts family with all their aggravating traits, despoilers of the peace of the little community, but likeable with it, except Jackson. Jade so believable as the pre teen from hell who was so desperate for love that she misunderstood kindness for it.
Loved it, sorry I’ve finished it!
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The Internet went down I will add mine later.
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From Helen
Mr Brigg's Hat.
Oh dear, I'm very sorry to whoever suggested it but I was soooooooo bored. I read it on my Kindle and, when I first got tired of it, I was
horrified to see I was only 14% of the way through. Luckily a lot of the ending was acknowledgements and so on so I skipped them.
To begin with I was interested in the historical period (I love history) and the fact that all this technical, detailed detective work was going on at the same time that Scarlet O'Hara was marrying her various beaux in "Gone With The Wind" in the US Civil War. The forensic details and the development of the case against Mueller is very carefully laid out. But the story goes over all this intricate stuff very often - probably just like a real court case - and this is when I started losing interest.
If you haven't read it I won't divulge whether Mueller was guilty of murdering Mr Briggs or not, but on the Kindle there were photos printed which gave the game away. Suffice to say at the beginning I thought one thing and at the end I had revised my opinion, but as soon as I learn how to manage books on the Kindle I am going to delete this one. Sorry, girls.
The Daisy Picker.
This was sweet. I was in Ireland at the time and, having Irish in-laws, I recognised some of the characters!! An older daughter, looking after her parents, goes off for a bit of a life and has a great time. What's not to like! It was all lovely and I really want to visit the little town our heroine ended up in! Kind of a Beach Book but I really liked it.
The Kingmaker's Daughter.
This was great. I am a bit Philippa Gregoried out these days but I loved this one about Anne Neville, who became the wife of Richard 111, and I also loved the books the Red Queen, the White Queen and the stories of the Plantaganets and hooray!! there is a series coming up on TV very soon that encompasses all these books! I think I said before as a family we have visited the places in Leicester where Richard 3 turned up fairly recently, and his battlefields and so on (my daughter's friend works for the Leicestershire Tourist Board, who'd have thought there was one, lol). I loved the way the story brings all the other threads together and makes sense of it all. It was a very dangerous time to be a Celeb, our latest wannabes don't know how lucky they are.
Also I am beginning to understand how all the Royals of the time linked together, for example Bradgate Park in Leicester belonged to the Grey family, the first husband of Elizabeth Rivers, the White Queen. Her deceased 1st hubby's ggg grandaughter (or maybe even more greats) was Lady Jane Grey, which explains her fatal claim to the throne. Anyway.
So, to get back to the novel, Anne starts out as a fairly minor noblewoman who marries a younger son who ends up as Richard 111. Her family and in particular her father, were great supporters of the monarch, hence the title. I realise I'm not explaining this very well but the story is full of court intrigues, murder, unkindnesses, worry, terror, short lives and an awful lot of travelling in the rain and mud from castle to castle. Do read it if the Plantaganets fascinate you. What a wicked bunch of turncoats.
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Please review the books that you have read this time.
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