A Mile Of River

A Mile Of River

Thursday 7 July 2011

A Mile of River

A Mile of River by Judith Allnate.

The book is set in the countryside in England in 1976. There is a severe drought and the family farm is already under financial difficulties and the drought just makes the burden even more of a struggle. The father, Henry lives on the remote farm with daughter, Jess and son Tom. Their mother Sylvie walked out on the family years before and the family have heard nothing from her since.

Jess becomes a mother to her younger brother Tom and has a lot of added work given to her helping her father on the farm. Jess wants to do well at school and go to university to study medicine. Jess tries hard to free herself from the restrictive life she is forced to lead. Jess and her mother's life have some parallels, the longing for some independence.  Jess' father is a very controlling man I found him to be such a selfish jealous character and could not help but have sympathy for Jess.

The foreboding increases along with the drought and the reader discovers the mystery of Jess's mother's disappearance.

Easy read with good believable characterisation. 

Monday 4 July 2011

The Long Shadow

Continuing my reading of the Morland Dynasty by Cynthia Harrod Eagles. This months read has been the 'Long Shadow' this is the sixth book in the series and is set in Yorkshire. The book covers the reign of King James 11 during the restoration.
There was a continuation of the characters from the previous book, Annunciata and Ralph Morland. Indeed, Anunciatia is not the most likeable of characters I found her to be very self centred but yet again on the other hand, her character is one of strength, determination and grit which I found compelling to read. Themes in the book are jealousy, betrayal and also the feature of a violent death.
Once again looking forward to reading the next in the series.
I decided to add some photos of my needle work to my blog seeing as how they are bookish. The designs are from littlehouse needle works, This is the first time I have worked on linen.
http://www.littlehouseneedleworks.com/