Author: Anne Tyler

Anne Tyler books never disappoint. They are easy to read and the characters feel like people you might know.

Willa Drake hasn’t had an easy life; her mother often left and then came back, her husband dies in a car crash and leaves her with two teenaged sons. She remarries but has never really settled into her life. But when her son’s ex-girlfriend is shot and a neighbour calls on her to come and look after her nine-year old daughter Willa finds a life full of meaning.

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Author: Camilla Gibb

When I picked this off the bookshelf in the room where we had our recent summer quilting retreat the title sounded familiar. When I got home I took a quick look at my books and didn’t find a review so thought maybe it was just one I wanted to read.

Although I could never say for certain that I had read it parts of the book seemed familiar. I’ve just checked some files from a previous version of my website and sure enough, I had read it before.

I don’t think I can improve on what I said before, and this time around everything held true.


Lilly, a young English child, traveled the world with her parents until they died suddenly while in Ethiopia. Lilly, left in the care of an Ethiopian teacher, becomes a devout Muslim. Due to her remote connection to Emperor Haile Selassie, Lilly is forced to flee Ethiopia when his rule comes to an end. Once in London, Lilly begins working with other refugees in their struggle to find lost family and friends. The story alternates between her time in Ethiopia and her work in London. Both parts of the story were fascinating.

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Author: Sabin Willett

This was another thrift store find. The story bounces between a couple of timelines but features the same characters in each.

Roy Murphy is from the Park (as in trailer park) and Emma Herrick is the daughter of wealthy parents. During the summer before they enter high school Roy and Emma form a bond which Emma’s mother sees a dangerous and sets out to break. After that summer they each go their own way until the night of the Senior Prom when Roy makes an unexpected appearance and sweeps Emma off her feet. But it is just a summer romance as Roy joins the Army and Emma heads to college. When Roy comes home from Afghanistan he walks back into his home town causing much speculation about his motives.

There is a sinister undercurrent running through the story that isn’t revealed until the very end.

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Author: Guy Vanderhaeghe

A visit to a favourite thrift store in Courtenay always provides me with reading material. I’d heard of the author’s award-winning The Englishman’s Boy but I’d never read anything by him. Guy Vanderhaeghe was born in Esterhazy, SK and, according to the book cover, currently lives in Saskatoon.

Alec Monkman is estranged from his daughter Vera when, after the death of his wife, he forces her to quit school to take care of his younger son. Vera resents her father for this and, after a stint in the Army, she settles in the East. But when her son, about to become a teenager, seems to be getting out of hand she returns to her home town to live with her father. You just know that things aren’t going to go well.

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