“Two Daughters” Alison Edwards

“Two Daughters”  Alison Edwards

published by Atlantic Books Australia

If you enjoy books with a difference, then you can’t go past “Two Daughters”… It is the story of two young women, Ava and Laurie. It’s complicated, switching from one chapter to the other, as the life story of each woman is portrayed, in great detail. I tended to reread chapters at times to fully absorb their very busy lives, all the time wondering as to how they are, or would be, connected. 

Both Ava and Laurie seem to be leading quite different lives… but as you get towards the last few chapters, the connections are found between their two families. An unusual, incredibly detailed novel, sometimes hard to believe that this is the initial publication by the author, Alison Edwards. I look forward to further novels of hers.

Thanks to Better Reading and Atlantic Books Australia for providing a copy to preview.

"The Girl With the Violin” Shelley Davidow

 

 

"The Girl With the Violin”     Shelley Davidow

 If ever a book got my whole attention from beginning to end, it was ‘The Girl With the Violin”.. I loved this story. 

Susanna is with her violin teacher,  Stefan Heinemeyer, at one of the most remembered event in ‘modern history’.. the destruction of the Berlin Wall… 

She has come from the Queensland Conservatorium in Brisbane to the International Academy of Music in Berlin having been granted a scholarship. She has longed to be in the country of her departed grandmother, a victim of the pogrom against the Jews. Gramps fled with her mother, then just a baby, after her Oma spoke against the Nazis. No records were available, maybe Susanna would find more while in Germany. Her development as a musician and as a woman is intriguing.

The whole story develops like a perfect composition of music, of frustration, of love, of self awareness.. it entices the reader to want more. Definitely a book to be reread. 

Thank you to Better Reading and publisher HQBooks for providing the the book to review.

"THE RADIO HOUR" Victoria Purman

                                                    

The Radio Hour  

Victoria Purman                                                         

This has to be one of the most delightful books I have read in a while. In an era long gone, women’s work was mainly in the background and not appreciated as much of that of men. They were expected to be thankful to have a job at all. 

 Martha Berry was no exception. She was reliable, hard working, underpaid and accepting of her place in the national radio station.. there to bolster the egos of others. 

Never more so than when a young clueless producer was hired to create a serial to follow the ever popular Blue Hills series. He had no idea, nor interest and was forever absent with a series to be conceived and written.. Martha to the rescue.. with no one any wiser, despite her daringly adding subjects that had never been spoken about on air. 

Historical fiction beautifully portrayed.. it will leave you smiling and grateful to those who led the way.

I look forward to reading more of  Victoria Purman’s novels.