Author: Zoe Whittall

George, a respected teacher and much-loved family man, has been arrested on charges of sexual misconduct with several minors, and attempted rape of another minor. The incidents in question took place on a school trip.

The remainder of the book focuses on what the arrest, subsequent jail term and, finally, the trial have on the members of his family – his wife, their 16-year old daughter and their adult son.

The author leaves it up to the reader to decide whether or not they agree with the verdict.

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Author: Anne Enright

I hoped for a better book than I got – the title was interesting, the cover appealed, it was based in Ireland, and one of the author’s later books won the Man Booker prize.

Gina takes us through the ups and downs (mostly downs) of an affair she has with Sean, a married man whose family lives next-door to her sister. Although well written the book didn’t appeal.

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Author: Jane Rogers

Set in the future, Jessie Lamb is being held captive. We soon learn that something called MDS (Mother’s Death Syndrome) is killing all the pregnant women. But Jessie has a plan to do at least one thing to ensure the future of mankind.

This was a quick read and a fantastic storyline. It makes me wonder how the library picks the books for their collection.

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Author: Joanna Briscoe

Cecilia and her family moved to the moors as a child. Her life wasn’t dysfunctional but it was a bit unconventional with hippies renting the out-buildings, people drifting in and out and an artistic father who never really brought in any money. Her mother taught at a progressive school where she started a relationship with the wife of one of the teachers, James. Cecilia, although only eighteen, fell in love with James and they had a brief relationship that results in a child. Cecilia’s mother arranged a private adoption and James never knew of the child.

Twenty years later Cecilia, her husband and three children have moved back to her childhood home to take care of her mother. Cecelia has never given up hope of finding her child but her mother refuses to tell her anything. Cecilia is worried when she learns that James is still teaching in the area and his wife is her daughter’s favourite teacher.

How will it end? Up to the last fifty pages I had no clue, but all is sorted out in the end.

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