Stoke book chat - October
We meet on the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 5:30pm at Stoke library. All welcome.
Our next meeting is November 19th 2025.
Frankie is an older lady who is cared for by a young male Irish caretaker to whom she tells the story of her long and eventful life. Norton, the Irish talk show host comes across differently as a writer to his onscreen persona. Our reader enjoys him as an author and his other fiction are also worth reading.
Guilty by Definition – by Susie Dent
A first novel from the lexicographer Dent, this is full of words and puzzles and beautiful writing. It kept us guessing with a challenging riddle at the beginning of every chapter and we didn’t pick the ending at all. It reminded our reader of other books set in Oxford, like Babel by R.F Kuang and Pip Williams’ Dictionary of Lost Words. One to read with a dictionary or your phone next to you so you can Google the meaning of words. A great read, highly enjoyable.
Eleven Hours by Paulina Simons
Should novels come with trigger warnings? This is a very gritty story of a woman who is abducted at 9 months pregnant and subjected to escalating abuse by her kidnapper. Her husband and the FBI are in pursuit, and the story alternates between them. The novel is fast paced and sucks you in, but it is very violent, and this is lots of abuse. Our reader does not recommend it and would not have read it had she been aware of the content.
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
Set in Darjeeling, India at the foot of the Himalaya and in Nepal. Desai has a great style of writing, and this was rewarded with the Booker Prize in 2006. Our reader will report back when he finishes the book!
"In the foothills of the Himalayas sits a once grand, now crumbling house - home to three people and a dog. There is the retired judge dreaming of colonial yesterdays; his orphaned granddaughter Sai who has fallen for her clever maths tutor; the cook, whose son Biju writes untruthful letters home from New York City; and Mutt, the judge's beloved dog. Around the house swirls mountain mist - but also the forces of revolution and change. For a new world is clashing with the old, and the future offers both hope and betrayal ...”
The Light After the War by Anita Abriel
In 1946, two girls, Edith and Vera arrive in Italy, refugees from Hungary. The girls escaped from trains headed to Auschwitz and were hidden by farmers during the war. Sadly, their families did not survive. The girls start new lives in Italy and then in Venezuela, finding love and starting careers. Inspired by a true story of the author’s mother, this book is recommended by our reader.
The Deadly Dispute by Amanda Hampson
Set in Sydney, 1967, Hazel has a new job working at the docks as a tea lady. Her friend Betty has a charismatic new friend, and Irene is still working as a cleaner in a brothel and goes up against the Maltese mafia! Definitely a cosy mystery.
This is the third book in the Tea Ladies mystery series but works as a standalone novel too.
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
The lives of three different women come together in this very powerful story set in WWII. Caroline is a New York socialite, working at the French consulate and has a new French lover. In Poland, teenage Kasie joins the underground resistance during the invasion, and at Ravensbrück concentration camp, young German doctor Herta finds herself trapped in a horrific world of Nazi medical experiments. This is a story of bravery and friendships.
What I ate in one year and by Stanley Tucci
My ‘happy’ book, a joyous exploration of Tucci’s year of food through 2023, lots of pasta and cooking and travelling as he promotes his tv shows and movies. He narrates the audio version which is charming. Overall, an interesting and illuminating read.
