AYRSHIRE MAGAZINE Virtual Book Club
Sarah Skelton
We are delighted to relaunch the AM Virtual Book Club in partnership with The Book Nook, Stewarton.
The nights are short now, so what better way to spend a cold, dark evening than curled up with a book?
The two book choices for November/December are both favourites of mine and have been very popular with customers of The Book Nook.
The Eights by Joanna Miller
Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its 1000-year history, the world’s most famous university has admitted female students. Giddy with dreams of equality, education and emancipation, four young women move into neighbouring rooms on Corridor Eight.
Dora was never meant to go to university, but, after losing both her brother and her fiancé on the battlefield, has arrived in their place. Beatrice, politically-minded daughter of a famous suffragette, sees Oxford as a chance to make her own way – and her own friends – for the first time.
Socialite Otto fills her room with extravagant luxuries but fears they won’t be enough to distract her from her memories of the war years. And quiet, clever Marianne, the daughter of a village vicar, arrives bearing a secret she must hide from everyone – even The Eights – if she is to succeed.
But Oxford’s dreaming spires cast a dark shadow: in 1920, misogyny is still rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of the Great War are still very real indeed.
As the group navigate this tumultuous moment in time, their friendship will become more important than ever.
Hardback £16.99 (free p&p for AM Book Club members)
My Verdict:
This captivating historical novel focuses on four new female undergraduates admitted to Oxford University in the first permitted intake of women. Not only did I become totally absorbed in the fictional stories of these women, I was also fascinated by the historical detail of this watershed time. In fact, I was so fascinated that I went off and researched more about it and loved seeing photos of the first ever degree-conferring ceremony that took place at Oxford.
Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd
An accidental spy. A web of betrayals. A mystery that will take you around the world…
Gabriel Dax is a young man haunted by the memories of a tragedy: every night, when sleep finally comes, he dreams about his childhood home in flames. His days are spent on the move as an acclaimed travel writer, capturing changing landscapes in the grip of the Cold War. When he’s offered the chance to interview a political figure, his ambition leads him unwittingly into the shadows of espionage.
As Gabriel’s reluctant initiation takes hold, he is drawn deeper into duplicity. Falling under the spell of Faith Green, an enigmatic and ruthless MI6 handler, he becomes ‘her spy’, unable to resist her demands. But amid the peril, paranoia and passion consuming Gabriel’s new covert life, it will be the revelations closer to home that change the rest of his story.
Paperback £9.99 (free p&p for AM book club members)
My verdict:
In this, the 18th novel of the accomplished author William Boyd, the storytelling sweeps us into the early 1960s, bringing the world of shadowy espionage authentically to life through the eyes of Gabriel Dax, a travel-writer who unwittingly gets caught up in it. Gabriel’s handler is a complex and elusive character, and the power she exerts over him causes him to be ever-more emotionally and physically enthralled by her.
The depth of storytelling and characterisation draws us ever deeper as the book explores themes of memory, identity and betrayal.
I was thrilled to read the second in this trilogy, The Predicament, immediately after Gabriel’s Moon, and now just can’t wait for the third book!
Whichever book you choose, let me know your thoughts on the Ayrshire Magazine Virtual Book Club Facebook page.
To purchase either of these books from The Book Nook, visit www.booknookstewarton.co.uk/shop/ayrshire-magazine-virtual-book-club and remember to use code AMVBC at checkout for free p&p.
