28 September 2016

The Whispering Road by Livi Michael

Title: The Whispering Road
Author: Livi Michael
Pages: 404
Genre: Young Adult, Adventure, Fantasy
Book Description:
For Joe and Annie, the choice is escape or die. Manchester. That's where Joe's mom went after leaving him and his little sister at the workhouse. That's where you can have adventures and live life on your own terms—free from abusive Masters. Along the way Joe and Annie meet some kind strangers who offer help, but they also meet swindlers who want to control or even sell them. And no matter how hard he tries, Joe can't hide the fact that Annie is different in a way that makes people want to manipulate her for their own gain. 

When Annie is embraced by the traveling fair as if she's family, Joe is resentful. So resentful that he leaves her behind. He loves running with the gang he joins, but evading the codgers who rule the street is dangerous. Joe might not make it long enough to get Annie back and find out what happened to their mother. 


20 September 2016

The Colour Purple by Alice Walker

Title: The Colour Purple
Author: Alice Walker
Pages: 295
Genre: Historical, Classic, Feminist
Book Description:
Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to "Mister," a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister's letters from her and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self.


13 September 2016

Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews

Title: Flowers in the Attic
Author: Virginia Andrews
Pages: 389
Genre: Mystery, Young Adult, Horror
Book Description:
It wasn't that she didn't love her children. She did. But there was a fortune at stake--a fortune that would assure their later happiness if she could keep the children a secret from her dying father.

So she and her mother hid her darlings away in an unused attic.
Just for a little while.

But the brutal days swelled into agonizing years. Now Cathy, Chris, and the twins wait in their cramped and helpless world, stirred by adult dreams, adult desires, served a meager sustenance by an angry, superstitious grandmother who knows that the Devil works in dark and devious ways. Sometimes he sends children to do his work--children who--one by one--must be destroyed....




6 September 2016

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Title: Sense and Sensibility
Author: Jane Austen
Pages: 409
Genre: Classic, Romance
Book Description:
Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her. Through their parallel experience of love—and its threatened loss—the sisters learn that sense must mix with sensibility if they are to find personal happiness in a society where status and money govern the rules of love.