{"id":14931,"date":"2024-12-12T10:58:45","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T09:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14931"},"modified":"2024-12-14T00:31:41","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T23:31:41","slug":"november-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14931","title":{"rendered":"“Midnight Blue” by Simone van der Vlugt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

OFF THE SHELF<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

“Midnight Blue” by Simone van der Vlugt<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The group were all quick to agree that this was an excellent easy read for the month and gave it a score of 8 out of 10.<\/p>\n

The book is set in the Netherlands in the 17th Century and although lacks historical references there is an excellent plot which twists and turns throughout the story. Catrin, the main character of the book, is a strong and ambitious woman who leaves her hometown, after the death of her husband. There is a dark shadow cast over her exodus which gradually unfolds throughout the story and her dark past is forever following her. She first finds employment as a housekeeper in Amsterdam, where the city is flourishing, and it is here that her talents and skills as an artist are discovered. Catrin tries to fulfil this ambition but is thwarted until she leaves for the smaller city of Delft. As a designer of ceramics, she tries to survive life as a widow and finally marriage. The book is written in the first person, and this helps to develop Catrin\u2019s strong emotions and feelings that have been formed by her relationships and hardships in her life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Isobel Davies<\/p>\n

\n
\n

“Hello Beautiful” by Ann Napolitano<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano is an unlikely title, for a book about William, who has great difficulties relating to a real world.<\/p>\n

After a childhood of neglectful love, his parents had lost a baby and were incapable of showing any feeling. William\u2019s one interest in life is baseball and he achieves a scholarship to a college. He meets Julia and her loving family of sisters who almost adopt William. So, the story continues with Julia, a great world organiser falling for William and they get married, later in life, they divorce, and he marries her sister, who through her love of books, understands William and his isolating life.<\/p>\n

The group gave the book a score of 8 out of 10<\/p>\n

Anne Gill<\/p>\n

\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OFF THE SHELF “Midnight Blue” by Simone van der Vlugt The group were all quick to agree that this was an excellent easy read for the month and gave it a score of 8 out of 10. The book is set in the Netherlands in the 17th Century and although lacks historical references there is an excellent plot which twists […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[347],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3SP","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11924,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=11924","url_meta":{"origin":14931,"position":0},"title":"Let\u2019s Not Go To The Dogs Tonight","author":"Alan Williams","date":"8th July 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF Let\u2019s not go to the dogs tonight. by Alexandra Fuller. Alexandra Fuller writes her memoirs of her life as a child in Rhodesia with her somewhat dysfunctional family. It is an amazing childhood, and she clearly evokes that life for the reader. I think we can all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9204,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9204","url_meta":{"origin":14931,"position":1},"title":"The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd March 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"The Long Winter\" by Laura Ingalls Wilder This is an autobiographical children\u2019s novel written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She shares with us the harsh conditions of being brought up as a child in the late 19th century in one of the hardest winters of South Dakota. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/long-winter.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16357,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16357","url_meta":{"origin":14931,"position":2},"title":"“Tell Me Everything ” by Elizabeth Strout","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st December 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"Tell Me Everything \" by Elizabeth Strout \u201cWe match up for a moment - or maybe a lifetime - with somebody because we feel that we are connected to them. And we are. But we're not, in a certain way, because nobody can go into the crevices\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for December 2025"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for December 2025","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=428"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/DecBook.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9745,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9745","url_meta":{"origin":14931,"position":3},"title":"The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st May 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"The Colour of Magic\" by Terry Pratchett \u00a0 (His first Discworld novel) \u2018A fantastic book that is quite absurd and I really didn\u2019t expect to like it at all, in fact I\u2019m furious that I actually enjoyed it\u2019. Quote from a book club member The Colour of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5597,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5597","url_meta":{"origin":14931,"position":4},"title":"Seven Good Reads","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd March 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 This month, we each reviewed a book of our own choice that we had enjoyed. \u2018The tattooist of Auschwitz\u2019 by Heather Morris. This book is based on the real life of Lale Sokkolov a survivor of Auschwitz, interviewed by Heather Morris. It is the love story of Lale and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5942,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5942","url_meta":{"origin":14931,"position":5},"title":"May Update","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st May 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Limerick competition. Congratulations to Ian Moody who won a bottle of Prosecco for winning this year\u2019s Limerick competition. \u00a0 \u00a0 A pig with plenty of zeal With friends was caught trying to steal While questioned at length He mustered his strength And refused to admit or to squeal. \u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Community Hub"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Community Hub","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/author-603x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/author-603x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/author-603x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14931"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14931"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14937,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14931\/revisions\/14937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}