The Chef, The Bird and The Blessing by Andrew Sharp

“Not all who ask for the impossible are refused.”
Swahili proverb

Compelling to the last page, The Chef, the Bird and the Blessing is a story about the power of suppressed memory, of friendship, and of our relationship with the natural world. Set within vivid images of a backwater in an unnamed African country, the novel is both poignant and funny.

Mozzy is a cook in a struggling safari business and dreams of escaping the perilous wilderness and his despised employer to become head chef in an upmarket restaurant in London. Spurred on by his wife, a member of a visionary religious sect, his fantasy becomes reality. But will his sanity and marriage survive in this new world? Can a small bird help him find his way?
Mozzy’s path takes him from Africa to London and back, but it is the painful journey of the heart that ultimately fulfils Mozzy’s destiny.

T8, Jane 8, June 7, Janet 6, Sally 8, C 8, E7

Sally M
Score: 7.4
2023-07-12

The Rumour by Lesley Kara

When single mum Joanna hears a rumour at the school gates, she never intends to pass it on. But one casual comment leads to another and now there’s no going back . . .

Rumour has it that a notorious child killer is living under a new identity, in their sleepy little town of Flinstead-on-Sea.

Sally McGowan was just ten years old when she stabbed little Robbie Harris to death forty-eight years ago – no photos of her exist since her release as a young woman.

So who is the supposedly reformed killer who now lives among them? How dangerous can one rumour become? And how far will Joanna go to protect her loved ones from harm, when she realizes what it is she’s unleashed?

E5, Janet 7, June 7, Jane 6, Trude 5, S 6, C6, R6

Trude S
Score: 6.0
2023-06-14

The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page

She can’t recall what started her collection. Maybe it was in a fragment of conversation overheard as she cleaned a sink? Before long (as she dusted a sitting room or defrosted a fridge) she noticed people were telling her their stories. Perhaps they always had done, but now it is different, now the stories are reaching out to her and she gathers them to her…

When Janice starts cleaning for Mrs B – a shrewd and tricksy woman in her nineties – she meets someone who wants to hear her story. But Janice is clear: she is the keeper of stories, she doesn’t have a story to tell. At least, not one she can share. Mrs B is no fool and knows there is more to Janice than meets the eye. What is she hiding? After all, doesn’t everyone have a story to tell?

Jane 8, T7,June 8, C7, Janet 8, S7,P8,R8,E8

Janet J
Score: 7.7
2023-05-10