Author: Marilynne Robinson

One of my favourite books is Housekeeping by this author. When my Facebook group suggested a book by her I quickly added it to my list. I went looking at the library for the suggested book and I realized it was part of a series. I wasn’t able to get the first book but I borrowed this second book because the cover said I didn’t need to know what happened in the first.

The book tells the story of the Boughton family, but specifically Glory, Jack and their father, a retired minister. Glory has come “home” to Gilead (the title of the first book) after a long relationship ended and Jack has come “home” after being absent for almost twenty years. The family dynamics are interesting and as the father’s health fails he isn’t able to let bygones be bygones.

Goodreads Rating: * * * *

Author: David Benioff

Another book from the Facebook group I belong to.

In the first chapter the author talks of his grandfather and grandmother who were Russian immigrants. At the author’s request the grandfather has finally agreed to tell the story of their lives in Russia during the siege of Leningrad. When pressed on some of the details, the grandfather tells the author “You’re a writer. Make it up”.

What follows is the story of two young men, Lev and Kolya, who were caught out after curfew and thrown in the same cell. Expecting to be executed the next morning they are surprised to be shown to a powerful Soviet colonel. He will grant their reprieve if they can bring him a dozen eggs in order that a cake can be made for his daughter’s wedding – an almost impossible task.

Goodreads Rating: * * * *

Author: Roddy Doyle

In this final book of the trilogy, Henry is back in Ireland. Everything has changed, but nothing has changed. Henry is soon drawn back into the fight for freedom, although by now he is an old man. He meets a woman who he thinks might be his wife but she is widowed and has only one child. Eventually the woman admits to being his wife and we can catch up on the lives of his family.

I admit to being tired of the whole story by the time I finished.

Goodreads Rating: * * *

Author: Roddy Doyle

I enjoyed this second book in the Last Roundup trilogy slightly more than the first one. Henry Smart has emigrated to the US, without any official documentation. He is determined to make a new start but, in order to survive, he finds himself on the wrong side of the wrong men once again.

Henry, in some twist of fate, begins travelling with Louis Armstrong before finding his wife and daughter; they soon add a son to their family. But riding the rails during the depression is dangerous business and the family are again separated.

At the end of the book Henry has given up on life but in the middle of the desert he meets the director, John Ford, and you see that Henry’s story will continue.

Goodreads Rating: * * *