The Right Book at the Right Time

Title: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Author: Rachel Joyce

Publisher: Random House, 2012

Review/Summary: Harold Frye, recently retired, lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does. They have settled into a mundane existence. Then one morning he receives a letter from an old friend who is dying. When he composes a reply letter and goes to post it, he becomes convinced that he must hand deliver it. Thus, begins his quest as he takes off in his tennis shoes to walk 600 miles, because he believes Queenie will live, as long as he walks. Along the way he meets one fascinating character after another. Memories flood him of his wedding day, fatherhood and regrets and losses. Maureen reminisces too and finds herself missing him. This funny, poignant, charming story about an ordinary man on an extraordinary journey will move and inspire you.There also mysteries that will be solved about his friend and son. Fans of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand will embrace another hero in Harold Frye.

Recommended by: Cindy B., Children’s Librarian

Who will like this? Someone who recognizes that sometimes heroes come from the most unlikely of places.  Anyone looking for a story about second – or maybe even last – chances.

If you like this, try this: “The 100-Year Old Man Who Climbed out a Window and Disappeared” by Jonas Jonasson is also about last chances, and what we do with them.  You may also enjoy “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” by Helen Simonson.

This is playwright Rachel Joyce’s first novel, but was named as an Amazon “top book of the month”, so be on the lookout for more from her!

If you would like to see if this book is available, please visit our Fairfield Public Library catalog [Link will open in a new window]

Title: The Invisible Ones

Author: Stef Penney

Publisher: Penguin, 2012

Summary/Review: I have waited a long time for the Stef Penney, the author of Tenderness of the Wolves, to come out with a new book and finally it is here! The Invisible Ones did not disappoint in any way. When we open the book we meet Ray, a troubled private investigator, who is in the hospital with paralysis, and no memory of what brought him there. Ray had been hired by a gypsy family looking for their daughter who disappeared seven years ago; they came to Ray because they knew his father had been raised a Romany and they only trust their own. The other voice in this story is JJ the 14 year old nephew of the missing daughter. JJ’s family has been through much tragedy and discourse and JJ is trying to navigate between the gypsy world and the outside world. Their stories overlap and as they come close to solving the disappearance of the daughter more questions than answers are raised. Penney is a gifted storyteller, she was a former screenwriter, and she has great skill in her descriptions of people and places. This is a compelling story and a good mystery and a fascinating look into the gypsy world.

If you like this, try this: Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

Who will like this? Fans of books that take place in England and mystery fans.

Recommended by: Claudia, Technical Services Librarian

Visit the Fairfield Public Library catalog to check availability of this book and place a hold!

Title: Nick of Time – - An Adventure Through Time

Author: Ted Bell

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, 2008

Summary/Review: This is a swashbuckling adventure with dual plot lines weaving time travel back to the 1805, pirates, WWII, espionage, family values, and love of country into an action-packed story.

Set in England in 1939, World War II and Nazi invasion are threatening the peace of Nick McIver’s homeland. When Nick discovers an old sea chest and the Tempus Machina ( built by Leonardo DaVinci), he is pulled into a dangerous mission which will affect the course of England’s history.

This engaging and suspenseful book is for the stouthearted!!!

Who will like this book?: Fans of historical fiction or fantasy. Children who are ready to go on an adventure

If you like this, try this: This is book 1 of a series. The second in the series is “Time Pirate”, which came out in 2010. “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson is a class action/adventure book. “Harry Potter” is a more modern take on action and adventure.

For those interested in the time travel aspect, “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle is a great choice, and a classic. “Number the Stars” by Lois Lowry is another historical fiction book which deals with some of the same topics. For older readers, “Book Thief” by Markus Zusak might be a good choice, though the topic is more difficult.

Recommended by: Diane Pagnozzi, Fairfield Woods Children’s Department

If this looks like something you or your child would like to read, visit the Fairfield Public Library catalog to check availability and place a hold! [Link will open in a new window]

Title: Call After Midnight

Author: Tess Gerritsen

Publisher: Severn House, 2011

Summary: The book begins with a phone call at midnight, newlywed Kate Fountaine thinks it’s her husband of two months, Geoffrey. When she answers the call-not quite awake- it isn’t her husband: it’s the U.S. State Department. They are calling to tell her that her husband was killed in a fire in the hotel where he was staying in London. She is then asked to come in and answer a few questions. It is soon discovered that the body had a bullet in the head and now she is told he was murdered. She will not accept this and heads to London for answers; there she discovers Geoffrey isn’t the man she thought he was -in fact, he was leading a double life. He has a wife in London and they are both spies. The story takes off from there. It is very fast paced and has a few twists and turns along the way.

Who would like this book: Anyone who enjoys mysteries, a little romance and espionage.  

If you like this, try this: Anything else by Tess Gerritsen- she has written a number of books.  If you like the crime fiction aspect, Lisa Gardner, Karin Slaughter, and Robert Ludlum also write similar crime fiction. If you’re looking for something a little more gritty, try the Stieg Larsson series (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo…). If you’re more into espionage, try Alan Furst, who blends mystery, spies, thrills with an international twist.

Recommended By: Virginia, Circulation Dept.

If this looks like a book you’re interested in, visit the Fairfield Public Library catalog to check the availability and place a hold!

Title: Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand

Author:  Helen Simonson

Publisher: Random House, March 2010

Summary: The dignified and charming Major Pettigrew lives in the small English village of Edgecombe St. Mary.  He is a widower with impeccable manners, a true gentleman who seems to have stepped out of a Jane Austen novel. Major Pettigrew develops a friendship with Mrs. Ali, an educated, cultured, and thoughtful Pakistani village shopkeeper.  They bond over the loss of their spouses and as their friendship develops they commiserate over their difficult relatives. 

Pettigrew’s son Roger thinks his father is stuffy and does not approve of his friendship with Mrs. Ali. The Major feels Roger has no time for him and that “children were no sooner gone from the nest and established in their own homes….than they began to infantilize their own parents and wish them dead, or at least in assisted living.” Mrs. Ali is being pressured by relatives to give up her store to her nephew, who when told Major Pettigrew was taking her to a dance “looked at the Major as if he were a strange bug discovered in the bathtub.”

Written with wit and humor, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand is a charming, touching, endearing love story which will especially appeal to the reader who may enjoy an updated and light version of Jane Austen. 

Recommended by: Paula, Reference Assistant

Summary: I fell in love with widower Major Ernest Pettigrew about six pages in! The story takes place in a quaint English village, where the Major’s brother’s sudden death and the propriety of a family heirloom spark an unexpected friendship with a local shopkeeper, Mrs. Jasmina  Ali.  His quiet world changes as he deals with his growing affection for Mrs. Ali (after all they share a love of literature), his yuppie, shallow son, and the various unattached ladies in the village vying for him.  It is a charming and endearing love story. The Major’s wry, witty humor combined with his chivalrous old fashioned courtesy, yet sarcastic jabs about modern situations had me laughing out loud. There is a gentle humor and a quiet lovely rhythm with a romantic twist that will appeal to both sexes. I kept picturing Sir John Gielgud delivering the Major’s lines! Such a wonderful debut novel!

Recommended by: Cindy B., Children’s Department

Does this look like a book you’d enjoy reading? Click here to visit our catalog and place a hold or see availability!!

Title: The Queen’s Governess

 Author: Karen Harper

Publisher: Putnam, January 2010

Summary: Behind every great queen is a surrogate mother. In her latest novel, The Queen’s Governess, Karen Harper, provides the story of Katherine Champernowne Ashley who brought up the young Elizabeth. Katherine Ashely stood by Elizabeth during the dangerous years before she became queen, and the equally dangerous years after she became queen. Harper’s knowledge of the Tudor period is seamlessly woven into a narrative that keeps the reader in suspense even though we all know that Elizabeth will become England’s greatest queen. If, as the story goes, the great Winston Churchill was saddened when his mother died, but cried when his nanny died, than Elizabeth must also have wept when her Kat died.

 Who will like this book? People who enjoy reading about the Tudors especially about the young Elizabeth. 

If you like this, try this: A Crown for Elizabeth by Mary Luke; The Young Elizabeth by Alison Plowden; Young Bess by Margaret Irwin; and Alison Weir’s The Lady Elizabeth.

Recommended by: Mona, Reference Associate and Library Lecturer

Title: Harry of Monmouth

Author: A. M. Maughan

Publisher: W. Sloane Associates, 1956

Summary: This classic novel brings to life Henry V, the victor of Agincourt. From the loss of his mother as a boy to generational based conflicts with his father, Henry IV, and sibling rivalry with his brother, Tom, the young Harry grows to maturity. All hold their breath to see what kind of king he will make and get their true measure of Harry’s worth when he and the English, with their back to the walls, face the French at Agincourt. But more than his wars with France, will Harry ever succeed in winning his true love, Princess Katherine of France?

 Who will like this book?: Harry of Monmouth is recommended for those who like their medieval kings in a heroic mode.

If you like this, try this: Good King Harry by Denise Giardina, Fortune Made His Sword by Martha Rofheart, and Henry V by William Shakespeare.

Recommended by: Mona, Reference Associate and Library Lecturer

Title: Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Mystery

Author: Eric Ives

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, October 2009

Summary: Lady Jane Grey, granddaughter of Henry VIII’s younger sister Mary Tudor, is probably the most tragic victim of the Tudor dynasty, ending her life on the scaffold at the age of seventeen. Dr. Eric Ives, in this scholarly and page-turning account of the coup that brought Lady Jane Grey to the throne for a brief reign of nine days, provides the who, what, where, and why of a coup that on paper should have had every chance of succeeding but which ultimately failed. Refusing to rely on long accepted accounts of Lady Jane’s story, Dr. Ives offers a reassessment of this episode in Tudor history to the extent that the reader realizes “Jane, we hardly knew ye.”

Who will like this book?: Those who want to know the true story behind Alison Weir’s Innocent Traitor. For if any traitor was innocent, that traitor was surely Lady Jane Grey.

 If you like this, try this: The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Weir; Lady Jane Grey and the House of Suffolk by Alison Plowden; and look out for The Sisters Who Would be Queen by Leanda De Lisle.

Recommended by: Mona, Reference Associate and Library Lecturer

Title:  Little Bee

Author:  Chris Cleave

Publisher:  Simon & Schuster, February 2009 

Summary: Chris Cleave’s second novel is quite an accomplishment.  There are some beautiful moments, and some horrific moments throughout this complex story, told to us by two very different women who have been bound together by a violent event. The publishers of Little Bee are asking readers not to “spoil” the story by revealing too much of the plot.  While I don’t agree that this is altogether necessary (there’s no big secret revelation, really, a la The Double Bindby Chris Bohjalian), I’ll honor their wishes. 

What I can tell you is that I found the voice of Little Bee and her story to be excellently portrayed and very moving.  When we first meet her she’s being released from a British immigration detention center after two years. We learn that she’s originally from a war-torn village in Africa, and has escaped almost certain death by stowing away on a ship to England.  She reaches out to Sarah and Andrew O’Rourke, a couple from London that Little Bee and her sister met one fateful day on a beach in Nigeria.  Sarah, our other narrator, takes Little Bee in even though her own life is in pieces after the suicide of her husband.  As the two women together try to imagine how they can possibly create new lives for themselves, we learn more about the awful truth that connects them and brings the story to its inevitable, heart-wrenching conclusion.

Recommended by: Mary, Branch Reference

Title: Hold My Hand

Author:  Serena Mackesy

Publisher: Constable, October 2008

Summary: All Bridget wants is a safe place to raise her daughter Yasmin. The flat they share in London has become a prison instead of a home. Though Bridget has divorced her abusive husband and the court has ordered Kieran to stay away, he continues to stalk the two vowing to make Bridget pay for leaving him. Bridget struggles to keep a roof over their heads and food on their table as fear and desperation set in. The hope for a new and better life for Bridget and Yasmin comes in the form of a job offer. Bridget is offered the job of housekeeper at Rospetroc, a manor house in a part of the country where no one will know them- where they will be safe. Rospetroc, however, has it’s own secrets and it’s own brutal history. The villagers have their suspicions as to why there is such a high turnover rate for housekeepers at Rospetroc. Bridget has run out of options and must stay at the manor house, even though the move now seems like a dangerous mistake.

Who will like this book?  Anyone who likes ghost stories and a bit of mystery.

Recommended by: Sue, Circulation Coordinator