Hamm Court Book Club – Page 29 – For the enjoyment of friends, books and wine …

The White Pearl by Kate Furnivall

Malaya, 1941. As the glamorous wife of a plantation owner, Connie Hadley’s life
appears pampered and comfortable. But she is hiding devastating secrets that
could destroy her marriage.

Life is changed for ever on the day of the
infamous attack on Pearl Harbour. As Japanese Zero aircraft attack the town of
Palur, Connie takes the decision to flee to Singapore on the family’s boat, The
White Pearl. She sails with her husband and son, three friends and the enigmatic
boat dealer Fitzpayne, who is the only one who can navigate the islands of the
South China Sea.

In desperation, short of food and constantly in danger,
fear strips away good manners; tensions arise on the yacht and anger causes
deadly divisions between friends . .

Jane B 9
Pauline C 8
Elaine E 5
Rebecca H 8
Janet J 7
Janine J ?
Sally M 6
Cai M 3
Christine P 5
Trude S 2
June T 2

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

When Harold Fry nips out one morning to post a letter, leaving his wife hoovering upstairs, he has no idea that he is about to walk from one end of the country to the other. He has no hiking boots or map, let alone a compass, waterproof or mobile phone. All he knows is that he must keep walking. To save someone else’s life.

Jane B 9
Pauline C 9
Elaine E 8
Rebecca H 7
Janet J 8
Janine J not read
Sally M 8
Cai M 8
Christine P 9
Trude S 8
June T 9

Solar by Ian McEewan

Michael Beard is a Nobel prize-winning physicist whose best work is behind him. A compulsive womaniser, Beard finds his fifth marriage floundering. But this time it is different: she is having the affair, and he is still in love with her.

When Beard’s professional and personal worlds collide in a freak accident, an opportunity presents itself for Beard to extricate himself from his marital mess, reinvigorate his career and save the world from environmental disaster. Ranging from the Arctic Circle to the deserts of New Mexico, this is a story of one man’s greed and self-deception; a darkly satirical novel showing human frailty struggling with the most pressing and complex problem of our time.

Jane B not interested (oops…)
Pauline C 9
Elaine E 7
Rebecca H 3
Janet J not finished (again! oops…)
Janine J 8
Sally M 7
Cai M 3
Christine P 9
Trude S 6
June T 8

Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

The Moonstone, a priceless Indian diamond which had been brought to England as spoils of war, is given to Rachel Verrinder on her eighteenth birthday. That very night, the stone is stolen. Suspicion then falls on a hunchbacked housemaid, on Rachel’s cousin Franklin Blake, on a troupe of mysterious Indian jugglers, and on Rachel herself.

The phlegmatic Sergeant Cuff is called in, and with the help of Betteredge, the Robinson Crusoe-reading loquacious steward, the mystery of the missing stone is ingeniously solved.

Jane B 3
Pauline C 6
Elaine E 2
Rebecca H 4
Janet J not finished
Janine J 8
Sally M 8
Cai M 4
Christine P 7
Trude S 6
June T 3

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

‘What are you thinking, Amy?’ The question I’ve asked most often during our marriage, if not out loud, if not to the person who could answer. I suppose these questions stormcloud over every marriage: ‘What are you thinking? How are you feeling? Who are you? What have we done to each other? What will we do?’ Just how well can you ever know the person you love? This is the question that Nick Dunne must ask himself on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. Amy’s friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn’t true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they aren’t his. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what really did happen to Nick’s beautiful wife? And what was in that half-wrapped box left so casually on their marital bed? In this novel, marriage truly is the art of war…

Jane B 6
Pauline C 8
Elaine E 7
Rebecca H 8
Janet J 7
Janine J ?
Sally M 7
Cai M 5
Christine P 7
Trude S 7
June T 7

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