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Reviews by Cloggie Downunder

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Into the Darkest Corner: A Novel
by Elizabeth Haynes
a brilliant debut novel (1/12/2017)
Into The Darkest Corner is the first novel by British author, Elizabeth Haynes. In 2003, personnel manager Catherine Bailey is confident and carefree, with a full but somewhat risky social life that involves copious drinking and sexual promiscuity. In 2007, Cathy Bailey ismore
The Husband's Secret
by Liane Moriarty
as well as being intriguing and thought-provoking, it is also humorous (12/14/2016)
The Husband’s Secret is the fifth adult novel by Australian author, Liane Moriarty. It is early evening on the Monday before Easter, 2012. In Sydney, widowed secretary of St Angela’s Catholic Primary School, Rachel Crowley, still grieving the daughter she lost nearly thirtymore
Big Little Lies
by Liane Moriarty
a brilliant read (12/14/2016)
“The Blonde Bobs rule the school. If you want to be on the P&C you have to have a blonde bob…..They’re like Mum Prefects, they feel very strongly about their roles as school mums. It’s like their religion. They’re fundamentalist mothers”

Big Little Lies is the sixthmore
The Red House: A Novel
by Mark Haddon
enjoyable and thought-provoking. (12/10/2016)
The Red House is the third adult novel by British poet and author, Mark Haddon. A week after burying their mother, Angela’s brother Richard, with whom she has had minimal contact for fifteen years, offers to take both their families on holiday. Five weeks later, Dominic,more
The Heart of Henry Quantum
by Pepper Harding
could have been a great novel (11/28/2016)
3.5 stars
The Heart of Henry Quantum is the first book by an American author who writes under the pseudonym, Pepper Harding. Four years ago, Henry Quantum’s brief but intense extra-marital affair with (wife and mother of two) Daisy Hillman, ended. Now, two days beforemore
Signs Preceding the End of the World
by Yuri Herrera, Lisa Dillman (translator)
short but powerful (11/27/2016)
4.5 stars
Signs Preceding the End of the World is the first novella by award-winning Mexican author, Yuri Herrera, to be translated into English. Because of her telephone, Makina is an integral part of communications in The Little Town. “Sometimes, more and more these days,more
A Place Called Winter
by Patrick Gale
incredibly moving and completely captivating. (11/19/2016)
“When a thing has always been forbidden and must live in darkness and silence, it’s hard to know how it might be, if allowed to thrive.”

A Place Called Winter is the sixteenth novel by British author, Patrick Gale. In early 20th century England, shy and stuttering Harry Cane,more
The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles
by Katherine Pancol
Funny, moving and highly entertaining (11/13/2016)
The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles is the first novel in the Joséphine series by French author, Katherine Pancol. When she discovers her unemployed husband Antoine (call me Tonio) is having an affair with his manicurist, Joséphine Cortès kicks him out of their Paris apartmentmore
The Girl in Green
by Derek B. Miller
exciting, insightful and entertaining: another brilliant read. (11/11/2016)
The Girl in Green is the second novel by American novelist and international policy specialist, Derek B. Miller. It’s late March 1991, and United States Army Private Arwood Hobbes is at the northern edge of Checkpoint Zulu, “maintaining a vigilant perimeter” in Iraq’s newly-more
Small Great Things
by Jodi Picoult
Moving and thought-provoking (10/24/2016)
“What if the puzzle of the world was a shape you didn’t fit into? And the only way to survive was to mutilate yourself, carve away your corners, sand yourself down, modify yourself to fit?”

Small Great Things is the 22nd adult novel by American author, Jodi Picoult. Ruthmore
This Must Be the Place: A novel
by Maggie O'Farrell
an unadulterated pleasure to read. (10/10/2016)
“She wasn’t going to look at him again, no, she wasn’t….. Then she did look and the same sensations hit again, like a row of dominoes toppling into each other: the towering sense of recognition, the disbelief that she doesn’t somehow know him, the ridiculousness that theymore
Dear Mr. M
by Herman Koch
A brilliant read! (9/25/2016)
“It’s not something that can simply be turned on and off, this constant observing of superabundant detail; he is a writer, he tells himself, but the vacuuming up of details is purely obsessive. Often, after a day in the city, or a meal in a crowded restaurant, he comes homemore
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
by Atul Gawande
Recommended (9/21/2016)
Being Mortal is the fourth book by American surgeon and author, Atul Gawande. Early on in his book, he tells us :“…the purpose of medical schooling was to teach how to save lives, not how to tend to their demise” and that “I knew theoretically that my patients could die, ofmore
Darktown
by Thomas Mullen
Gritty and informative, this is a brilliant historical page-turner (9/20/2016)
“There was a lot that Rake was learning about his new occupation. He had survived against steep odds for years in Europe as an advance scout, had been alone for long stretches and had wisely figured the difference between threats and opportunities, collaborators and spies.more
The Rosie Effect
by Graeme Simsion
A funny, moving and sometimes thought-provoking read. (9/14/2016)
The Rosie Effect is the second novel by Australian author and playwright, Graeme Simsion, and the sequel to his highly popular novel, The Rosie Project. Now married, Don and Rosie are living in a cramped New York apartment while, as a visiting professor at Columbia, Donmore
Cat Out of Hell
by Lynne Truss
highly entertaining (9/5/2016)
Cat Out Of Hell is a novel by British writer and journalist, Lynne Truss. When Alec Charlesworth’s beloved wife, Mary dies, he heads to a cottage on the coast of North Norfolk with their dog, Watson, to grieve privately. Isolation is what he craves, but, finding he needsmore
Vinegar Girl: Hogarth Shakespeare Series
by Anne Tyler
Witty and funny (8/14/2016)
“She had always been such a handful – a thorny child, a sullen teenager, a failure as a college student. What was to be done with her? But now they had the answer: marry her off. They would never give her another moment’s thought”

Vinegar Girl is the twenty-first novel bymore
Carrying Albert Home: The Somewhat True Story of A Man, His Wife, and Her Alligator
by Homer Hickam
Funny and moving, this is a very enjoyable read. (8/8/2016)
“Elsie had always felt her life was like a jigsaw puzzle with no picture on the box to show her how the puzzle pieces should fit together”

Carrying Albert Home: The Somewhat True Story of A Man, His Wife, and Her Alligator is a book with a title that is certainly lengthy-yet-more
Outlander
by Diana Gabaldon
Addictive (7/13/2016)
Outlander (also titled Cross Stitch) is the first book in the Outlander series by American author, Diana Gabaldon. Claire Beauchamp Randall, ex-army nurse, is on vacation in Scotland with her husband Frank, a historian. It’s 1946, and they are combining Frank’s quest formore
The Bones of Grace
by Tahmima Anam
A brilliant read. (7/4/2016)
“You realise, don’t you, Elijah, that this is the way you worked your way into my heart? Not just in those days together in Cambridge, but in the aftermath, when I couldn’t stop talking about you, when every turn of my story included a footnote of conversation as I picturedmore

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