What I’ve been reading in September

 

I enjoyed reading this book, it was easy to read and I warmed to all the characters. After breaking up with her boyfriend Jo travels to London to look after her uncle’s stationery shop while he recovers from illness.  Intrigued by the snippets of life that her customers share with her,, she finds that she is enjoying her time there more than she expected. She expands the selection of fountain pens and enjoys collecting the short notes that her customers scribble whilst testing the pens.

An unlikely friendship evolves between Jo and two of her customers, Ruth (the Runaway Vicar) and Malcolm. They unite through their quest to help Malcolm research a book that he is writing, which results in them imagining the unlikely relationships that may spring up between the ghosts of the people buried in Highgate Cemetery.

I would recommend this book, I enjoyed the relationships that grows between the characters and looked forward to reading at least one more chapter each evening.

For the first time in a while, I have only managed to read one book this month!  I have started this one, and am enjoying it but still have a quarter to read.

If you have read any Marian Keyes books before, you will already know the Walsh family but you don't need to have read the earlier books to enjoy this story.  

Anna Walsh has returned to Dublin from America and is recovering from the car crash which killed her husband and left her scarred.  Despite living a highly successful life as a PR in the beauty industry in Manhattan she has tired of her time there and to the surprise of her family - I mean, who on earth would walk away from a job which offered so many high end cosmetic freebies - she hopes to find a new beginning back in Ireland.

With no job and no home of her own she agrees to help out her friends who are finding much local opposition to their plans to open a luxury coastal resort.  They ask her to use her PR experience to defuse the anger and vandalism being caused by the locals of the small town.  However, the other person who has been asked to assist her is an old flame, Joey Armstrong. 

There's always a lighthearted storyline behind the main situation and with Anna, it is finding herself in the middle of menopause without easy access to HRT.  Something that was freely available without question in Manhattan is surprisingly difficult to have prescribed by the Irish doctors she approaches.  Needless to say this has an effect on Anna's hormones and they way she feels she is seen as a woman in her 40s.  

Marian Keyes has such a turn of phrase, and such a down to earth humour that she manages to mix the amusing with the serious in a very clever way.  The family drama that accompanies the Walsh family is cleverly done and I'm looking forward to finishing the book to see how Anna's story concludes.

So that's it from me this Monday, I have to crack on with tidying the house and preparing food as we have friends coming for lunch in a couple of hours!

Have a good week!