The premise sounded interesting: an Irish poet's effect on his wife, Terry; his daughter, Carmel; and his granddaughter, Nell. Talented Phil McDaragh may have been, but a family man he wasn't. The reader has to adjust to varying viewpoints from the three women, with sometimes no quotation marks used, and the occasional inclusion of Phil's poetry interspersed with medieval Irish verse. I found this a difficult book: too "literary", and more suitable for the subject of a university course than as entertainment for the average reader.

A good portrayal of the working-class in England, beginning in 1935, dealing with societal attitudes of that time. A hasty forced marriage between a Catholic girl and a Jewish boy dictates Viv's life after the birth of her daughter. A few years later, World War II forces little Maggie's evacuation to life in a village with new guardians: then, she vanishes.
There are different themes in this book: rampant anti-Semitism, the fearsome power of the local priest, struggles of women doing men's jobs while being discriminated against, the strictures of rationing and trying to deal with bureaucracies---many problems. Paramount are the results of the forced evacuation of children, disregarded parents, and strangers acting in loco parentis. Above all, Viv's mother-love gives her the enduring belief that she will find Maggie.

This is a strange book, beginning in 2079, when the narrator is 102 years old, and jumping back to her childhood with three older siblings. The kids' lives take various tangents, as one might expect. The mood throughout is sombre, with the feeling that disasters are inevitable. Although the writing is good, I found the characters unappealing and the plot wandering. I was left feeling frustrated, and wanting more reader involvement somehow. Sort of a bleak read.

Hopping back and forth between 1925 and 2009, with various family members (would-be inheritors) vying for a spectacular piece of jewelry, we read of human frailty,competitiveness,
jealousy, intrigue, and (not to be forgotten), lust! This is an entertaining novel with believable characters and twists of plot. All that is needed is a dust jacket full-color depiction of the necklace, with its diamonds, emeralds, and "sapphire as big as a robin's egg." (Sigh.)

This is a sorrowful novel, hinging upon an actual occurrence: the disinterment of a body when a cemetery is to be closed. The fact that one of the graves holds the long-deceased son of a couple who have never got past his death is agonizing. Told from several viewpoints, without quotation marks, mainly in the present tense (and I think only Damon Runyon handled that style well), and with a lot of chronological catching-up interspersed, this was a slow-moving and unsatisfactory read for me, as though the San Francisco fogs were emanating from the very pages of the book.

This is an interesting novel, replete with evocative scenes of the beautiful country of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and the life of colonials there in the 1920s. The author has done much research into the history and culture of that place and era. Prejudiced attitudes toward race play an important part.
Gwen comes from England to live with new husband Laurence, a much older widower and owner of a large tea plantation. Things do not go smoothly. A strange fluke of atavism in genetics presents the young wife with a dilemma when she bears twins.
There is more than a whiff of "Rebecca" in this book (mysteriously deceased first wife and son, seemingly sinister male friend of hers always on the scene), but there are many different angles which a book club could discuss.
(I'm still wondering about the genetics--but I studied that subject sixty years ago, before we'd heard of DNA, and with only Mendel's theories to go by!)

"The Widow" is a disturbing book. The story is not new--the abduction of a small child--but the psychology of the wife of the perpetrator is of interest. We all wonder how such women could be oblivious to the secrets, or are compliant with the actions, of their husbands. In "The Widow", we see how a husband grooms a wife to become so dependent and so servile that she rarely communicates with other people, and seldom has her own thoughts or opinions. So, in this book, Jean dismisses Glen's "hobby" (watching child porn) as"that nonsense." Almost every time the criminal case of a vanished child is uncovered, there is such a flaccid or brainwashed woman in the kidnapper's life, seemingly blandly shrugging aside clues, while regarding herself as a sentient being; and she therefore slips into the role of aiding and abetting. This novel is not for the faint of heart; it's an unsettling study of how this situation comes about. Readers of true crime novels might appreciate this.

We've all read many novels set during World War I, but what of its aftermath and the effects on British society? At the heart of this story is Ellinghurst, a stately home, with all the attendant concerns about maintenance, inheritance now that the heir is gone, and women acting in ways contrary to their time-sanctioned roles.

As heirs died on the battlefields of Europe, servants concomitantly abandoned their "places", women strove for freedoms, and there was a rise in spiritualism as the living ("We That Are Left") attempted to communicate with the dead.
This is a very atmospheric book,with details about clothing, food, furniture, etc.; the author works on local history projects so gets much of her information about social history from first-hand accounts. Quirky characters
add to the interest. It's a long read, over 400 pages, but holds one's attention; "Downton Abbey" fans especially will appreciate it.

This is a novel that romantics will love! An American pilot stationed in England during the Blitz meets an unhappily married young woman, and despite his foreboding that he won't fulfill his requisite twenty-five missions, these star-crossed lovers immortalize their love in dozens of letters. Seventy (!) years later, a young squatter in an abandoned home becomes fascinated with the discovered correspondence, and the tale picks up with her search for the writers.
Apparently the author, Iona Grey, years ago at the age of thirteen, wrote to a publisher to find out their guidelines for romance novels, and always hoped to write a gripping tale. Here she has succeeded. Her extensive research into life on the Home Front brings those times into sharp focus. The way in which the diffident and timid Stella ultimately comes into her own seems a bit of a stretch, but she is a heroine we want to see triumph. It's not difficult to imagine this story as a movie with roles for many British character actors. Recommended for anyone wanting to read a good love story.

This is a highly atmospheric novel which will transport the reader back to Paris in 1909. Young Englishwoman Maud Heighton struggles to train as an artist at a time when few women were accepted as such. She meets women from many strata of society, and a man, seemingly helpful, who offers her badly needed financial help. The plot contains twists and turns which are unexpected and exciting, culminating in the Great Flood of 1910: imagine structures crashing beneath bridges, and the Seine flowing into Metro tunnels! The reader should sit down with a map of Paris nearby, and get lost in facets such as the art scene, women's precarious place in society, French history, and fascinating characters. There are a few melodramatic bits here and there, but this novel could provide grist for the mill for some book clubs!