The Undomestic Goddess

Sophie Kinsella
Beach Read

Samantha is a high powered lawyer in London. She works all hours, has no home life and cares only about getting a partnership. She thrives on the pressure and adrenaline.

Until one day she makes a mistake. A mistake so huge it will wreck her career.

She walks right out of the office, gets on the first train she sees and finds herself in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big beautiful house, she is mistaken for the interviewee housekeeper and being offered the job. Her new employers have no idea that they have hired a Cambridge educated lawyer with an IQ of 158-Samantha doesn’t even know how to work the oven!

This is one woman’s discovery that there is more to life than work and more importantly finding herself. This happy book is perfect for a holiday read as you can’t put it down.

The Crows are Crying

Marie Campbell
Semi Autobiography

This wonderful story is about Bridgit Ryan and her younger sister Elizabeth, who heard the screams of their mother, dying in childbirth. Their broken-hearted father sent them to a convent, to be raised by nuns, because he couldn't look after them. Soon the sisters where fostered out the Hebridian island of Fada, due to their father dying in war.

Once they were teenagers, Elizabeth went to live with a family in America and Bridgit went to find work on the mainland, where, young and innocent, she had many trials.

This is a heart warming story that conjures up the magic of the Hebridian Islands in a bygone era at the turn of the century and follows Bridgits adventures and trails in Glasgow and on a farm before returning to Fada where her life unfolds with a surprise ending.

Madeline’s in Manhattan

Collette Rossant
Autobiography

Madeline’s in Manhattan is the journey of Collette Rossant. From young housewife and passionate cook to acclaimed food writer. From the romantic early days of marriage to grand-motherhood, all the tales told with the writer’s unique ability to bring magic to her memories through food.

In 1955, Collette Rossant was only twenty-two when she had just married and arrived in New York, America. Being a Frenchwoman, she was highly bemused by American customs and more importantly, the food-the limp sandwiches, the ubiquitous mayonnaise, the iceberg lettuce . . . . . but New York is humming and Collette and her husband Jimmy discover a whole new world of theatre and avant-garde cinema, farmers markets, Jewish deli’s, Chinatown and the Italian patisseries.

Madeline’s in Manhattan is one for the foodies. Though it might not be content sitting on the kitchen shelf with the rest of the cookbooks, is would be very happy on a bed side table. It is such a charming book to read!

Things I Want My Daughters to Know

Elizabeth Noble
Fiction

Barbara must say a final farewell to her four daughters. But how can she leave them when they have so much growing up still to do?

Barbara’s answer is writing each daughter a letter, finally expressing the hopes, fears, dreams and secrets she could not voice. These words will touch the girls in different-sometimes shocking ways, unlocking emotions and passions to set them on their own journey of discovery through life.

This is a heart warming story of a family rediscovering themselves and their relationship with each other. This book might come across as not the most perfect beach read but it is one of those books that you need a holiday just to be able to read.

The Island

Victoria Hislop
Fiction

On the brink of a life changing decision, Alexis Fielding longs to find out about her mothers past. But Sofia, Alexis's mother, has never spoken of it. All she admits to is growing up in a small Cretan village before moving to London. When Alexis decides to visit Crete, however, Sofia gives her daughter a letter to take to an old friend and promises that through her, she will learn more.

Arriving in Plaka, Alexis is astonished to see that it lays a stones throw from the tiny, deserted island of Spinalonga: Greece’s former leper colony. Then she finds Fotini and at last hears the story that Sofia has buried all her life: the tale of her great-grandmother, Eleni, her daughters and a family rent by tragedy, war and passion. She discovers how intimately she is connected with the island, and how secrecy holds them all in its powerful grip.

This is one beach book that has a heart and brain. It is such a wonderful read, once you are done with it; you want to give it to friend to read it!

The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho
Philosophy/fiction

This is the story of Santiago, an Andalusian Shepard boy who dreams of travelling the world in search of a treasure as extravagant as any ever found. From his home in Spain, he journeys to the exotic markets of Tangiers and then into the Egyptian desert, where a fateful encounter with the alchemist awaits him.

This is the smash hit by Brazilian story teller, Paulo Coelho. A lot of people aren’t the biggest fan of the book because of the ‘philosophy waffle’. I love this book; it is such a wonderful story and it could be anyone following in this boy steps. I completely agree what this book tries to say, that you should live your dreams because you don’t know where the treasure is or when it arrives. Though it is very like marmite, you either love this book or hate it.

Intro!

I live and work in and around Stow-on-the-Wold. A small town at the heart of the Cotswolds, in the English countryside.

I have been brought up on the stories of witches, hob-goblins, prince’s and princesses, pirates, giants, talking animals and whatever else that my family could conjure up between themselves and local folklore to keep us entertained. And when they couldn’t think of anything else, they turned to books.

So you could say that I’ve been brought up with the magic of imagination and splendour of books.