Category: Community Groups

Falling in Love (Death at La Fenice)

 

Off The Shelf

Falling in Love (Death at La Fenice)

 

Falling in Love (Death at La Fenice) was this month’s book written by American author Donna Leon. Leon lived in Venice for many years and has written a series of crime novels set in and around the city, featuring her fictional hero Commissario Guido Brunetti.

Flavia Petrelli has returned to Venice and La Fenice to sing the lead in Tosca. Lately, an unknown fan has been sending copious bouquets of yellow roses to the dressing rooms of the international opera houses where Flavia has been singing. In the beginning Flavia was flattered by the thoughtfulness of the anonymous fan but now the growing number of floral tokens have become extreme and Flavia has become disturbed by the attention of what now appears to be that of a stalker.

Flavia is a family friend of detective Guido Brunetti and she tells him of her concerns. When her ex-lover is attacked, Brunetti realises that Flavia’s life could be in danger. The plot grinds on to a never-ending finale.

This was not a popular book with our members. Other than sharing the obvious love the author has for Venice and opera, the story line did not capture our hearts. It was an easy read but we thought that the plot was far-fetched and implausible. We felt obliged to finish the book rather than enjoy it. We gave the book 5/10.

Your contributions

We would love to receive a review or synopsis of a book you are reading during lockdown. Please email your contributions to wenvoelibrary@outlook.com

 

 

The Book Character I Would Most Like to Meet

Page Turners

The Book Character Page Turners Would Most Like to Meet

A survey for World Book Day asked ‘leading lights of literary luminaries’ to name the characters who gave them the greatest reading pleasure. The list included Pip (Great Expectations), Elizabeth Bennett (Pride and Prejudice), Sherlock Holmes (Hound of the Baskervilles etc), Gandalf (Lord of the Rings) and Anne (Anne of Green Gables). The Page Turners were asked to select a character from a book that they would most like to meet.
Sylvia would like a whodunit solved. She would like to meet Mlle de Poitiers, the French Mistress from the book, ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ by Joan Lindsay. Sylvia would be keen to talk with her about the ‘event’ and the pupils involved. The detective Endeavour, from the Morse series by Colin Dexter was Helen’s choice. Helen believes he is a dour, irascible character who has the ability to collate a series of clues. Endeavour also has the prowess to effortlessly complete The Times crossword every day, and Helen would greatly appreciate meeting him to obtain some tips!! Tess would like a walk down memory lane and meet up with Sir Wilfred Thesiger author of ‘Arabian Sands’ and ‘The Marsh Arabs’. Tess spent many years in the Middle East and would like to chat with Sir Wilfred of their shared experiences of crossing the Empty Quarter (Rub-al-Khali) and travels in the Middle East. Babs selected the character Olive Ketteridge from the novel of the same name by Elizabeth Strout. This novel comprises of 13 short stories, highlighting characters living in Crosby, Maine. The common thread in each of the stories is Olive, a retired school teacher, who has impacted in many ways on the lives of different characters. Babs believes Olive is cranky, opinionated, complex and fascinating: and she thinks they would become friends if they ever met! Lynne chose Celie, an African-American woman living in the deep American south, from the novel ‘The Colour Purple’ by Alice Walker. Celie was born into poverty and segregation and spends most of her life being mistreated and abused by the men in her life. Celie eventually takes charge of her own destiny and becomes free of her abusive past. A strong, hopeful and combative character that Lynne believes would provoke some stimulating discussions. Sandra had just completed the ‘The Testaments’ by Margaret Attwood and would like to meet the divorced judge, Aunt Lydia. Aunt Lydia is imprisoned with other women in a stadium and endures weeks of squalid conditions. Aunt Lydia emerges as a woman who accepts that she must do what is necessary to stay alive. She becomes a mole. Sandra wonders why she chose to become a mole and behaved so badly, so cruelly and so stupidly. May would like to meet Miss Marple, a character from Agatha Christie books, including ‘The Murder at the Vicarage’. May imagines she would be good for a gossip and might also chat about some of the crime solutions she has been involved in (minus the gory details!)
Which character in which book would you like to meet?

 

 

Peterston Super Ely

Footsteps

Peterston Super Ely

We parked in St Nicholas, within our 5-mile limit, to do a walk based on Valeways walk no. 37 Peterston super Ely (A ridge and valley walk). The main walk is 2 loops of 3 miles and 4 miles centred on Peterston Super Ely.

From St Nicholas head north past the school where attempts have been made to keep rabbits off the play area with wiring under the fence, but they were running across the grass.

A profusion of brambles edged the path to Cottrell Park golf course, where there are views towards the south. We crossed the 7th tee and headed into the woodland opposite.

We met some people, with colourful bicycles, foraging in the lanes. They were collecting ramson seeds which were to be pickled and then scattered over salads etc. I tasted one, they have a strong garlic taste, much stronger than the leaves in spring. Later we spotted water hemlock growing alongside the road – very poisonous.

Outside Peterston Super Ely is chapel Croes y Parc (1777). We spent some time exploring the churchyard which has some fascinating tombstones; one so high it towered over us, another crenelated like a castle wall. Care was needed as there was evidence of subsidence.

Arriving at Peterston Super Ely we had a quick look at the river from Llanbedr bridge and then walked generally north along the western side of the river Ely.

A large house The Mill was for sale but cannot be seen from the gates; the front garden is large. It is behind the National Trust Lanlay meadows – an SSSI with rich wildlife. This is an area of hay meadow virtually untouched by modern farming methods. There is a Community Orchard which was very tidy with many clumps of comfrey growing and a living willow shelter.

Continuing north a succession of stiles leads over the flat open fields of the river’s flood plain. Understandably the ground can be very wet here, but it was a beautiful summer’s day, and, after all the dry, spring weather, footpaths were firm underfoot. We had an especially early lunch (before noon) so that we could sit beside the river.

At the road running east-west near Dyffryn Mawr farm, we were disappointed to find that we were still in Peterston Super Ely after all our walking. We crossed the river and later the railway where you must phone before crossing as it is so busy.

This section had some interesting wildlife including monkshood (another poisonous plant) and innumerable butterflies, we spotted speckled woods, gatekeepers, tortoiseshell and burnet moths.

Arriving back in Peterston we enjoyed a coffee by the river. Then we crossed the pedestrian bridge to Wyndham Park, a Garden Village development begun in 1909. The Main Avenue is lined with both horse and sweet chestnut trees. It is interesting to walk around this area, we spotted several Polish emergency vehicles parked up. Some of the earliest built houses are the so-called Moroccan houses with tiled frontages and flat roofs.

At the top of Main Avenue, the footpath is to the right, a narrow path leads to open fields and there are soon expansive views to the north from the wind farm in Llanharran to the Garth mountain. At Homri farm you join a track and after a short walk the valley opens to the east. Now the panorama behind includes Castell Coch (which looks tiny from this distance) and Cardiff.

Another day we took a short but enjoyable diversion, east along this valley. It was a delightful and peaceful place no doubt enhanced by the glorious summer’s day. We crossed farmland dotted with sheep and ponds, witnessing idylls such as horses grazing beside a pond. At one point we had to cross a very narrow road (an access road for St Georges and St Bride’s Super Ely) – careful and speedy walking required here. Arriving at the Natural Burial ground, we explored their footpaths admiring the wildflower meadow, with lots of chicory. The arboretum has many interesting trees and once again when we emerged into open space, we had superb views. We ate lunch in a large field with a herd of cows in the distance who edged towards us all the time we were there. Three small aircraft flew above us in formation as we sat. We had great views almost the whole time we were walking, extensive to the north as described above and from the Natural Burial Ground we could even see parts of Cardiff Bay.

Continuing we arrived back in St Nicholas, took a brief diversion to the churchyard to see a grave marked by an anvil and then walked past the war memorial and pump to the cars (in line with Government advice just 2 households participated in this walk).

Walk 7.5 miles( plus extra for the diversion).

 

 

How Lucky We Are To Live In Wenvoe

How Lucky We Are To Live In Wenvoe

Wenvoe Walkers have been unable to enjoy their usual walks in the countryside due to the restrictions in place but most of us have walked around the village and its environs. Initially I was walking alone and enjoying brief conversations with other walkers and friends from the village if our paths happened to cross. More recently it has been possible to walk with one other household and share the experience. This article is a reflection on the many different routes I have walked rather than the usual single route.

How lucky we are to live in Wenvoe surrounded by countryside with a good network of footpaths. The Wenvoe Wildlife group’s Orchid field and Orchards formed the basis of my first forays. The Spring weather was exceptional and I found joy in finding bright marigolds in the Elizabethan orchard in April sunshine, apple blossom smothered in foraging bees in the Welsh orchard with Buzzards soaring overhead and more birds and insects than I have seen for years. For the first time I noticed catkins on oak trees – I expect Bruce has mentioned them in one of his articles – this is the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur). Did I see so much because it was so quiet, wildlife was not disturbed or are there truly more of them this year?

The golf course was a particular pleasure with the access road free of all traffic apart from the few people living and working there or at the farms. The freedom to roam (keeping off the greens of course) and gaze at the views not normally available whilst admiring the range of trees was a real bonus.

Within walking distance, we have so much available to us:

Travel east via Station Road, across the main road via the bridge (or at times stroll across there was so little traffic) and you can do a simple circuit back towards the quarry, or go via Wrinstone ( the footpath through Wrinstone farm was closed) to Salmon leaps, Cwrt-yr -ala and Michaelstone-le-Pit or venture further to Dinas meadows, the Avenue of Beech trees (which I call the cathedral), Cwm George and Casehill woods returning past Dinas golf course and Beauville farm.

Dinas Powys hill fort is on a ridge between Cwm George gorge and the river valley. It is thought to have been built in 450 BC and is the richest best preserved and most fully excavated early medieval settlement in Wales as well as the most important in Europe for this period. Its size and the rich finds, including a rare Saxon horn goblet, point towards this being the residence of a VIP. It might even have been the court of the kings of Glamorgan.

Did you know that Wrinstone farm is on the site of a medieval village? Earthworks around the farmstead indicate quite a large settlement. Wrinstone served as the manor house to Michaelston-le-Pit for many centuries. In the late 13thC it passed to Sir Simon de Ralegh (a relative of Sir Walter Raleigh). Cwrt-yr- Ala House (the court of Raleigh) became the estate seat when the family moved. However, the name was not used until long after the connection had ceased. (information from ‘Wenvoe past and present’ a Wenvoe History Group publication).

To the west we have Burdons hill (have you seen the aeroplane on the side of the garage belonging to one of the houses?), Pound lane, Wenvoe wood, Goldsland wood, Coed Nant Bran, St Lythans church and the burial chamber, Tinkinswood burial chamber, Dyffryn and Dyffryn fisheries (but sadly no access to Dyffryn House and Gardens), St Nicholas, and last but not least all the farmland of our local farms of which there are many.

To the north you can visit Twyn-yr- Odyn, The Downs and the Natural Burial ground (or maybe venture to Culverhouse Cross for food) and to the south the Crematorium.

It has been great to talk to people and be reminded of footpaths forgotten. At times I was aware that I was walking in the footsteps of people long gone and the sense that it was my turn now to tread these ancient paths. The silence created by the loss of traffic enabled me to hear nature’s sounds and helped transport me back in time. My walks have been many and varied (no waterways though apart from Wrinstone and Cadoxton Brooks and distant views of the channel) and range from just a couple of miles to 8 miles. The most joyous moments came from meeting friends and nature: drifts of wild garlic followed by orchids and drifts of bluebells, leopard’s bane, new-born lambs, butterflies and birds taking wing, towering trees. and the whole covered by many scents including garlic, bluebells and lilac. 2020 is definitely a spring to be remembered.

 

 

 

Page Turners Lockdown Travel Dreams

Readers Transported To Another Time, Space Or Place

Another month, another missed Page Turners meeting, as lockdown in Wales continued into June. Part of the restrictions imposed on us all have been travel limitations. However, many books enable readers to be transported to another time, space and/or place and to experience new and different cultures, scenery and people. The Page Turners were asked to nominate a book they had read which had taken them on a journey to a different, exciting or new place. Without stepping onto a train, plane, car or liner, join us on our trips and maybe find inspiration for your next book or holiday choice…

Alexander McCall Smith’s “No 1 Ladies Detective Agency” was May’s choice. Having been a volunteer teacher for 2 years in Botswana, the book brought back memories for May of the warmth of the Botswana people, glimpses of their way of life and the desert scenery. May felt very privileged to be able to spend time in such a wonderful country.

Sandra chose “Four Seasons in Rome” by Anthony Doerr, a travelogue of the author’s time in Rome. Sandra loved Rome when she visited and felt Doerr’s descriptions of Rome were breath-taking, vivid and real. There is also an insight into events on St Peter’s square after the death of Pope John Paul II.

Babs’s choice was “A Fine Balance” by Rohinton Mistry, set in India in 1975. Babs believes the characters were well portrayed, in a country where caste, gender, poverty and corruption made every day “a fine balance” between misery and hope. Subsequently Babs visited India which she describes as, not so much a holiday, as an assault on all the senses: the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and emotions she experienced will never be forgotten.

Another novel by Rohinton Mistry was chosen by Jenny. “Family Matters” portrays the fictionalised life of a Parsi family in present day Bombay. Jenny thought it was a very moving novel, bringing alive the colours, smells and overpowering atmosphere of a frenetic Bombay. Jenny dreams of visiting Mistry’s India to experience his India for herself.

Another novel set in India was chosen by Tess. This is the longest novel in the English language so stamina will be needed if you decide to pick this book up. The novel is set four years after Independence and is Vikram Seth’s “A Suitable Boy”. Tess claims Seth takes you through Indian traditions and culture with charming endearment, as well as laying bare its faults. If we are still locked down for the next 3 months, this is an ideal choice to keep you inside and occupied!

“Clouds from Both Sides” by Julie Tullis was Lynne’s selection. The book tells the story of how Julie, at the age of 45, became the first British woman to climb an 8,000m Himalayan mountain. It’s an exhilarating account of her courage and adventures in various mountain environments around the world. You’re never too old to climb a mountain!

Sylvia chose Barbara Kingsolver’s novel “Las Laguna”, which is set in Mexico City and Asheville, North Carolina. Having been to both places, Sylvia enjoyed this “great read”, reliving the epic journey described in the book. Sylvia particularly liked reading about the enigmatic Frida Kahlo whose work she finds fascinating.

Helen’s nomination was a “coffee table” book, “Antarctica” by Mike Lucas. It is a lavishly illustrated account of the geology, history, climate and wild life which makes up this area. Helen believes the book is totally inspirational and an evocative read. Helen is lucky enough to have travelled to this continent, and although the panoramas in the book are spectacular, she feels they do not do justice to the reality…..but in lockdown to travel to an ice-covered continent, courtesy of Mr Lucas, would be special.

“One should always have something sensational to read on a train,” wrote Oscar Wilde. I hope you will find a “sensational” book in the list above, that will find its way into your luggage when you pack for your next journey….

 

 

Dinner Party Authors

 

This month, the Page Turners were asked to suggest which of their favourite authors they would invite to a post-lockdown dinner party and why.

May issued her invitation to Jane Austen, author of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Emma’, amongst many others. May would ask her if she wrote romances based on her personal feelings, or because they were popular and provided her with an income.

Sylvia’s choice of guests would be Annie Proux, the Pulitzer prize winning author of ‘The Shipping News’ and ‘Brokeback Mountain’. Her latest novel is ‘Barkskin’s’, whose theme is deforestation. Sylvia’s dinner party discussions would centre on the meticulous research undertaken for her books.

Lynne would like Michelle Obama who wrote ‘Becoming’ at her table. Michelle (presumably I would be on first name terms if she was in my house!!) was the first African American First Lady of the USA and has inspired a generation of women. Conversations with her on education, poverty, politics and empowering women would be very interesting.

Helen’s guest would be Sir Thomas More, the 16th century humanist, martyr and statesman who wrote several books, including ‘Utopia’ and ‘Richard III’. He was also a prolific writer of poetry. Helen would like to hear his opinion on Hilary Mantel’s trilogy which makes his nemesis, Thomas Cromwell, a hero. That would be an interesting discussion over a glass of wine!

Tess is hoping to have two guests: C.J. Sansom who has written numerous historical mysteries set in the reign of Henry VIII; Tess is hoping he will be accompanied by the afore mentioned Hilary Mantel who writes about the same period. It seems Hilary is rather a popular choice with some Page Turners. I hope both guests enjoy the Welsh cakes, a Tess speciality, that may be offered to them!

Babs would send her invitation to Marian Keyes who has written numerous novels including ‘Rachel’s Holiday’ and ‘Grown Ups’. Babs started to read her books in the late 1990s when she says she was at her most miserable…A friend told her they would cheer her up, which they did as Babs enjoyed Marian’ s humour. Babs and Marian would hopefully enjoy a happy and humorous conversation about her books together with some chilled wine.

Sandra would invite Victoria Hislop whose novels include ‘The Return’, ‘The Thread’ and ‘Those Who are Loved’. Sandra loves history and feels that Victoria has taught her a great deal about Greece and its people, as many of her novels are stand-alone titles based around historical events in Greece. Sandra wonders whether she should offer Victoria Greek cuisine as they sit and chat about Greece and its history. I’m sure Victoria would love a kebab!

Margaret Atwood would have been one of my choices for a dinner guest. Then I read that she has a note pinned to a board above where she writes and it says: ‘Wanting to meet an author because you like his work, is like wanting to meet a duck because you like pate’. So, I left her off my list….and will ensure I put duck pate on the menu for my dinner guest!

Who would YOU like to invite to your post coronavirus dinner party…do you agree with our choice of guests? We hope this list of authors and their novels has given you some food for thought and tempted you to pick up a book…or two.

 

 

Abercynon to Mountain Ash

Abercynon to Mountain Ash

The aim of this walk was to travel up the Cynon valley from Abercynon to Mountain Ash but keeping about a kilometre to the west of and above the river.

Soon after setting off we came to Abercynon cemetery where there are Commonwealth War Graves. The 29 graves are scattered around the cemetery and marked by narrow upright stones, each with a cross and above that a symbol associated with the regiment of the person buried below.

There were thick clouds overhead but it was a good temperature for walking and we had no rain all day. The route took us northwest past Ynysboeth, Pen-twyn, Perthcelyn and Miskin before descending back to the river at Mountain Ash. Those of us who hadn’t been here before were impressed with the beauty and wildness of the area. We have walked in the Valleys of South Wales many times but this felt more remote than most other places. We were in open moorland with streams accompanying us for most of the walk.

The theme for the day seemed to be ‘Walls’. We saw a long stretch of wall absolutely smothered in moss which glowed green. Not long afterwards we walked along an extensive stone wall which was well made but beginning to show cracks; will anyone have the skill or time to mend it?

For lunch we sat against a wall looking back at where we had walked, while a cow stood the other side of another wall looking at us the whole time we were there. They were sheltering from the wind to which we were exposed as we felt it best not to eat in the company of cows.

Our descent to Mountain Ash was through the woodlands of Craig Abercwm and Fernhill where there were no street names just numbers which were quite large in places, a bit unusual.

We crossed the railway and then the river Cynon to enter Mountain Ash. Here we found a park with an Impressive War Memorial having writing and figures carved into each face. A stone circle is nearby. We followed the footpath alongside the river to the railway station but were hampered by drainage pipes which were still in place following the heavy winter rains.

As the footpath crossed the river Cynon and turned towards the station we encountered a strange wall covered in sculpted heads. An article appeared in Wales Online in April last year about the wall and it was headlined ‘The creepy wall hidden in a Welsh town which hardly anyone knows about’. They also said ‘Once seen never forgotten’ and I agree. I found it fascinating. For the author of the article it looks like something out of Game of Thrones.

It is made up of dozens of stone severed heads, ghoulish grimaces and strange creatures. After looking at it for a while you start to notice that some animals are also included e.g. a rabbit peeks out from a ground level tunnel. It was originally based on Greek mythology and the goddess Hebe and ideas of Welsh folklore and images of miners’ faces underground worked their way into the design.

The ex-landlady of a nearby pub is quoted as saying that ‘they used to joke that the faces were based on some of the regulars as they’d stagger home.’

The artist is Blackpool-born Tim Clapcott, who won a tender in 2007 to transform the area of town now known as Riverside Park. It was part of an EU and Welsh Assembly regeneration project. Tim went to Art College in Cardiff in the 1980s and thinks that that particular bit of land was a former slag heap. It took him about a year from conception to completion of the project. The actual sweat and toil took about 6 weeks with the help of local stone masons and labourers.

The concept went on to win a British Landscape Award. I asked a local about the wall and she said that they represented the miners who had worked in local mines and ‘I don’t know why they put them here. Who is going to see them?’ I found that an interesting idea the miners hidden underground are available for all to see but in a location that most people wouldn’t expect to find them. This piece of public art is definitely worth seeing. Continuing to the railway station we saw mosaics on the ground and then travelled by train back to Abercynon.

Walk 7.6 miles and 1500ft ascent. Map 166.

 

 

Footsteps – Margam Park

Margam Park

Margam Park – We are going back to February for this month’s walk, just a week after storm Dennis. The weather forecast was 40-45mph winds with rain later. This was enough for some of us to think that maybe we should be cancelling but we decided to give it a go. We were lucky – it was dry all day and windy but wind speed was only about 20-25mph.

When we arrived at Margam Park there were two other groups in the small car park near the lake – one was Cardiff Ramblers which included people from Culverhouse X. The car park was very full as a result with us taking the last two places which involved some manoeuvring to reverse down the narrow track and squeeze into small spaces. An impatient driver who was probably upset that he didn’t get a space roared down the track going off-road to pass other vehicles coming in the opposite direction and spraying mud everywhere as well as thumping the bottom of his car quite violently on a large rock which produced a cracking sound!

 

The Margam deer herd roams through approximately 500 acres of parkland. It dates from Norman times, the herd, originally exclusively fallow, is of excellent genetic quality to rival any herd in the British Isles.

The water in the lake was quite high with lots of birds swimming around including at least two swans. Mute swans, coots, moorhens, Canada geese, mallard, tufted duck and pochard inhabit the lakes. Whilst the patient observer may see kingfishers beside the streams, skylarks, stonechats and wheatears can be seen over the grasslands with buzzards, kestrels and the occasional red kite in the skies. As it was February and quite cold we saw little in the way of birds whilst walking. We heard one when climbing but we actually saw just a couple of crows when eating lunch.

Margam Park owes its location to the monastery, which was privatised following the dissolution of the monasteries in 1537. We climbed to a ruin, which still has all four walls standing (at least in part). This was an outlying monastery building, Capel Mair ar y Bryn, (the chapel of St Mary on the hill). It is thought that its purpose was to allow members of the monastic community to fulfil their devotional duties, when engaged in keeping flocks, without returning to the main church. From here we could look down on Margam Castle. The house was built in 1830-40 at a cost of £50,000 using sandstone from Pyle quarry and as a mansion of exceptional quality it is Listed Grade I. The Castle has some spectacular features such as the vast stair hall and octagonal tower.

We followed the edge of a wood to pick up the Wales Coast path taking us towards Brombil. On the escarpment above the motorway is one of a network of early warning radar stations that were built along the coast from 1941 to detect German bombers and shipping during World War II. The Margam station is a scheduled ancient monument. Three flat-topped buildings stand high on the escarpment overlooking Port Talbot and Swansea Bay. They would have housed generators and control equipment, with large antennae on the roof.

Now we turned northwest into Cwm Brombil and crossed a small but fast running stream. The name of the valley and the atmosphere of the place made some of us think of Bilbo Baggins from Tolkein’s ‘Lord of the Rings’.

Climbing quite a steep track we looked down onto the ‘Blue Pool’ so called because the water is bright blue especially in sunshine. There were a group of wild swimmers enjoying themselves and inviting us to join them. They were obviously having a great time but as they left the water their skin looked bright red and raw with the cold. Brrr…

Although swathes of trees had been felled we soon entered the cover provided by woodland and stopped for lunch, half of us perching on tree stumps and the rest on grassy tussocks. It was cold here at the top of our walk and we could see our breath in the air. We spotted tadpoles in a puddle beside the path.

Towards the end of the walk we took a slight diversion to a wider path as we were concerned that trees or branches may block our planned route. The descent through woodland with gnarled and fallen trees was easier and coming into the open we could see our path etched in the hillside above us. It had been firm underfoot throughout the walk which was a bonus after the winter’s rain.

As we approached the lake again we spotted a ruin beside the path – a very posh boathouse? We retired to Pyle garden centre for welcome refreshment.

Walk 8 miles and 1700ft climb. Maps 165 & 166.

 

 

Page Turners Was Cancelled!

Page turners was cancelled!

Due to the coronavirus the April meeting of the Page turners was cancelled. As there was no discussion possible of the latest book, no review is available. However, it was decided that the Page turners would reflect on the 90+ books that have been read by members over the last few years, and each member would choose the best book from the selection we have all read. This list may act as a prompt for people in Wenvoe in lockdown to pick up a book …and compare what you think to our reviews.

Here is the list but in no particular order….happy reading!

May chose ‘Tombland’ by C J Sansom. A detailed historical murder mystery.

Sylvia and Sandra both selected ‘The Poisonwood Bible’ by Barbara Kingsolver. This is the story of a missionary’s life in remote Congolese village and is an incredibly detailed portrait of his family and Congolese society.

Tess suggested ‘Anna Karenina’ by Tolstoy. She believes it is the best love story of all time and even when he unbuttoned her long gloves it was very sensual.

Lynne nominated ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The novel tells the story of the Biafran war through the perspectives of different characters. Very vivid storytelling.

Babs and Helen opted for ‘The Invention of Wings’ by Sue Monk Kidd. Babs thought it was a powerful and revealing historical novel based on the life of abolitionist Sarah Grimke and her slave Handful. Helen believes the lessons of history have not been learned and modern day slavery is still rife in some parts of the world.

Jenny really liked ‘All the Light we Cannot See’ by Anthony Doerr. This is an intricate fable of morality and science set against the backdrop of WW2. Jenny loved the myriad cast of characters and thought it was an exciting and moving novel.

This is a diverse selection of favourite reads, reflecting the lively discussions that frequently take place each month after the Page turners have read the chosen novels. We hope the list may inspire you to curl up with a book, or even one of these books selected by the Pageturners, during this period of lockdown. You’re never alone when you have a book to read

 

 

‘What’s On’ Wants Your Contributions

We Want Your Contributions

Thank you to everyone who has supplied material to help us fill the pages of this month’s magazine. With no group activities or events to report we thought we might struggle for material. (We had a few items we did not have room for, they will appear later)

Why don’t you write something for a future What’s On edition. How are you filling your time, are you having chats and ideas from friends and relations etc. Have you found new tings to do? Why tell us?

Have you something you would like to share with readers in the June edition? Please send your contributions to one of the editors (e-mail addresses are on page 2) not later than the 18th May. You can remain anonymous if you wish.

The Editors

 

 

 

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