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| BiP staff review by Leonie |
At the Water’s Edge
Sara Gruen
May 2015 | Allen & Unwin | $32.99pb
In the first week of its release in the United States Sara Gruen’s new novel reached The New York Times’ Top Ten bestsellers’ list, which is not surprising. At the Water’s Edge is an engrossing, atmospheric story set in the Scottish Highlands during the last years of World War Two. Madeline Hyde and her husband Ellis, both from wealthy Philadelphia families, have been cut off by Ellis’s father for disgracing his family at a high society party. Unwanted by her own father, Maddie reluctantly accompanies Ellis and his best friend Hank on a hare-brained quest to find the Loch Ness monster. After a harrowing and dangerous sea voyage, the travellers arrive at their destination – a tiny village – in the dark and in the bitter cold. The landlord, Angus, is not welcoming and the inn is shabby, with no lighting apart from a few candles. Used to being pampered all their lives, Maddie, Ellis and Hank find wartime conditions in rural Scotland rather trying. The villagers struggle every day to find food and fuel; three strangers have put an extra burden on them. Ellis and Hank start drinking heavily while out on their search each day with Maddie. When they lose patience with her attempts at sighting the monster, Maddie is left behind. Lonely and afraid, Maddie finally approaches Anna, the dour, long-serving maid, to ask if she can help with the cleaning. She is eventually befriended by Anna and Meg, the barmaid. As she learns about the villagers and their hard lives Maddie realizes how sheltered she has been and how appalling the behaviour of her husband and Hank seems. She realizes she must make some serious changes to her life. If At the Water’s Edge is beginning to sound like a romantic novel it is, but it is much, much more. For all the fans of Like Water for Elephants.
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| BiP staff review by Leonie |
After the Crash
Michel Bussi
Apr 2015 | Hachette | $29.99pb
On 22nd December 1980 an aeroplane crashes in the Jura Mountains of Switzerland, close to the border with France. It is filled with holidaymakers who were returning to Paris from Spain in time for Christmas. There are no survivors except for a baby girl. Two families come forward to claim the baby as their grandchild. The de Carvilles, a wealthy family who live just outside Paris, are certain that the baby is Lyse-Rose, their son’s second daughter. Malvina, Lyse-Rose’s six-year-old sister, had stayed in Paris with her grandparents while her parents and baby sister went to Spain on business. The Vitrals live in Dieppe, a fishing port, and they are sure that the rescued baby is Emilie, whose parents had won a holiday in Spain, leaving two-year-old Marc at home with his grandparents. The decision on the baby girl’s identity is made by a judge from the children’s court in Paris. Eighteen years later, Credule Grand-Duc, a private detective hired by Mathilde de Carville to investigate for her family, has admitted defeat to himself after years of searching. He has written a journal with all of his findings to pass on to both families. As he prepares to end his life he pulls out an old newspaper, dated 23rd December 1980. His eyes fall on an article which changes everything. Before he can tell anyone about this discovery he is murdered. Michel Bussi is a very popular author in France, where he has won fifteen literary awards for his crime fiction. After the Crash is an exciting and intriguing tale which does not let you know what is about to happen until the last few chapters.
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| BiP staff review by Christine |
The Trivia Man
Deborah O’Brien
June 2015 | Bantam | $32.99pb
Available 1st June 2015
Kevin is a nerdy forty-something forensic accountant; his passions are facts, figures and his information notebooks. He is a loner and a one-man quiz champion who is happy with his lot, although he is often bemused by life. When he wins the first round of the Clifton Heights Sports Club trivia competition solo he is headhunted by the other contestants to join their teams. He would prefer to be on his own until he meets Maggie Taylor, a Latin teacher and movie buff, who is good at her job but unlucky in love. Nagged by her friend Carole about getting out and meeting people, Maggie reluctantly joins the trivia team founded by Carole’s husband Edward. Over a season of trivia nights, Kevin, Maggie and her team experience arguments and crises, friendships and romances, heartbreaks and new beginnings. Kevin’s life is upended in an amiable, charming fashion. The Trivia Man is an agreeable way to spend a few hours – entertaining and affable.
