Dear All,
I hope that all of you with winter cold/flu/Covid are tucked up somewhere warm with a good book. In spite of many succumbing to illness and the weather, we had a jolly meeting and it was great to see both regular and new members.
Members rarely agree about the chosen books, even if most like a book, we usually have some who really dislike it, but 'Kings of Shanghai' proved a rare exception. The lowest score was 3/5 and the average was 4.5/5- I think this is our highest score to date? Members generally agreed that this book provided fascinating insight into a part of history with which most of us were unfamiliar.
February's book is local author Sarah Pearce's gothic thriller, 'The Sanatorium'. Here is the book publicity blurb:
'Half hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, Le Sommet has always been a sinister place. Long plagued by troubling rumours, the former abandoned sanatorium has since been renovated into a five-star minimalist hotel.
An imposing, isolated getaway spot high up in the Swiss Alps is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But Elin's taken time off from her job as a detective, so when her estranged brother, Isaac, and his fiancée, Laure, invite her to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, Elin really has no reason not to accept.
Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge--there's something about the hotel that makes her nervous. And when they wake the following morning to discover Laure is missing, Elin must trust her instincts if they hope to find her. With the storm closing off all access to the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.
Elin is under pressure to find Laure, but no one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she's the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they are all in...'
Richard Osman certainly liked the book: 'Pearse's The Sanatorium will keep you checking over your shoulder. This spine-tingling, atmospheric thriller has it all: an eerie Alpine setting, sharp prose, and twists you'll never see coming. A must-read.'
If you wish to read ahead, here are the books for the next few months:
March: Rory Stewart, 'The Places In Between'
April: Audrey Niffenegger, 'The Time Traveller's Wife'
May: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 'No One Writes to the General'
June: Bridget Collins, 'The Betrayals'.
The books are all chosen by members-I merely place them in order, so that we get a good variety of reads. My list is getting a little short, so please do suggest books!
I hope that you all have a germ-free January and hope to see you soon!
Happy New Year!
Best Wishes
Tracey
