The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer

 

I have just finished reading The Warsaw Orphan, a brilliant book by Kelly Rimmer about life in Poland in the years 1942 to 1946 for two families living on either side of the wall around the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw.

In a style reminiscent of James A Michener, Kelly Rimmer  has detailed  the hardships and injustices suffered by the Polish people under nazi occupation while at the same time telling the particular story of Roman and Emilia and how their lives connected. They are two brave young people whose love for their families and their country sees them taking risks and facing grave danger, all the while staying hopeful that one day Poland will be free. 

 Kelly Rimmer has made the story of the Warsaw Ghetto both intensely, personally interesting and educational. She writes with great sensitivity and her characters are all too heartbreakingly real. 

There should be a copy of The Warsaw Orphan in high school libraries everywhere!

Published by Hachette Australia 

Duck a l’Orange for Breakfast by Karina May

 

Maxine’s story is in turns funny, sad, light and serious. She is trying to deal with two devastating events in her life at the same time (no spoilers because they are evident from the start): her partner’s infidelity and the diagnosis of a brain tumour. Karina May explains that she is writing from experience about the latter which makes following this thread easy while also being intensely interesting.

Max is unaware of how brave she is, always handy with a one-liner, making light of a couple of potentially disastrous situations. She has loving parents, always there when she needs them, and a devoted best friend, Alice, who probably knows best what Max needs to get her through. To this end, Alice urges Max to open a Tinder account which, according to Alice, is … ‘the perfect solution. You don’t need to meet up with anyone [but] …  some fun, flirty banter with a cute guy … would do wonders for you.’

Max does connect with just such a guy and for reasons explained in the story they begin cooking and exchanging photos of their creations. The recipes they use appear in the back of the book but I think I would have liked them to be interspersed throughout the story.

There are some delightful chapters following Max on a trip to France, adding colour to an already satisfying story. This is a contemporary romance ticking all the boxes: heartache, happiness, a serious issue treated authentically, and, above all, determination and hopefulness.

I read this book in one day, always eager to get back to it from whatever had called me away, which is probably my highest recommendation!

Published by Macmillan

Simply Lies by David Baldacci

 

This is the complicated story of Mickey Gibson, ex New Jersey detective and single mother of two small children, and her search for the ill-gotten treasure amassed by a former accountant for the Mob.

Mickey works from home for a global investigation company tracking down wealthy people who have hidden their fortunes in order to avoid paying their debts. She gets tricked into investigating one Daniel Pottinger/Harry Langhorne and finds herself in a world of intrigue and danger. 

Equal billing in this story goes to a mysterious woman going by the name of Clarisse. Clarisse has involved Mickey in her dangerous treasure hunt and Mickey has no inkling of why Clarisse has chosen her. 

Mickey teams up, loosely, with Detective Wilson Sullivan, and they have to reach conclusions, separately and together, about who killed the man in the old mansion, and why. The story that unfolds is one of greed, cruelty and careless disregard for other human beings, even children.

This book requires concentration on things like the names, both given and assumed, of various characters; on the acceptance that there are some horrible people in the world; and an understanding, to a certain extent, of things like bitcoin (which my brain could not process, I’m sorry).

It was a very good read, and David Baldacci is an enduring, brilliant story teller.

Published by Macmillan

Darren, Andrew and Mrs Hall by R J Gould

 

R J Gould is back with another page-turner. His story telling style is quite addictive, his characters are well established from the start and it becomes interesting immediately (and fun) to follow them on the paths life chooses for them.

Kelly and Darren and Emmy and Andrew meet when they move into their new homes, number 34 and number 38 on either side of number 36. Kelly is a receptionist for a car sales business and Darren, her husband, has a security alarm business; Emmy and Andrew are both teachers and Andrew is a published poet. Although the women are drawn to each other as friends, the men don’t like each other at all; however, in spite of this they try to form an amicable relationship and begin meeting regularly at A Street Cafe Named Desire which readers will remember from a previous book as being owned and operated by the charming Rosemary and Richard.

As usual, I’m trying hard not to throw in any spoilers and I’ll just say that while Kelly and Emma go away together for a short break, taking up a course in weaving in Scotland, something happens to Andrew and Darren which causes them to re-assess their lives in general and their respective attitudes to their wives in particular. This is the main theme of the story.

It’s always a joy to read a new book by R J Gould and this one is terrific! As a man writing in the female-dominated contemporary romantic fiction genre, he has a style of his own, even while making all of his characters, male and female, absolutely believable (well, maybe there’s a tiny touch of male fantasising in this one but it doesn’t get out of control!).

 Congratulations, Mr Gould on your latest lovely, unputdownable novel. You are a master story teller!

Judgement Day by Mali Waugh

 

Don’t we have a lot of brilliant authors in Australia? And I’ve just discovered a new one: Mali Waugh, a lawyer herself, who has written this terrific book about the murder of a Family Court judge. There are always going to be people unhappy with the outcomes of hearings in the Family Court but, as Detectives Jillian Bassett and John McClintock find, members of the legal profession who work within the Family Court are not all happy with each other either.

The characterisation of Jillian as a new mother, obviously (but not, it seems to herself) suffering from post natal anxiety while at the same time trying to put all her energy and concentration into catching the killer of Judge Kaye Bailey, is real and sensitive and perfectly balanced. As a reader, it was clear to me that Jillian’s perception of her partner’s personality was coloured by how she was dealing with her own personal problems. In spite of this they worked very well together in their thorough and relentless investigation.

This is a fast paced story and the interest never wanes. There seem to be so many suspects who fit the crime, as John McClintock keeps assuming, but the story behind Kaye’s murder keeps unfolding until it reaches an absolutely satisfactory conclusion.

Jillian, her husband Aaron and work partner McClintock are beautifully drawn and I would love to see them all again. I hope Mali Waugh has more books planned.

Got to be a five out of fiver!

Published by Macmillan