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    OVERVIEW The invasion begins! Pint sized soldiers are storming your country - do you have what it...

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ClareR (5726 KP) rated Soul Sisters in Books

Feb 25, 2022  
Soul Sisters
Soul Sisters
Lesley Lokko | 2021 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Romance
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Soul Sisters by Lesley Lokko is the story of Jen and Kemi. Jen is from a wealthy Sottish family, and Kemi comes to live with them as a child. She is from a political, black South African family, at a time when it was dangerous to be. Kemi has been sent to Edinburgh for her own safety.

Jen and Kemi become ‘soul sisters’, perhaps closer than real sisters would be. Even thought their lives are very different (Kemi becomes a surgeon, Jen works in the art world), they never lose that bond. Until, that is, a man comes between them.

Solam Rhoyi. He’s a black South African financier who wants to go into politics - and he wants to be really successful.

The feelings of Kemi and Solam were conveyed really well, and their need for identity as ‘exile kids’; the political aspect was interesting and it didn’t have too much romance (which is just how I like it: some, but not an overwhelming amount!). Other themes were family, secrets, race and power.

I really enjoyed the background to this story, and the hints as to why Kemi and Jen’s family had such a close bond. I loved the South African setting, and how, as the reader, I got to see a little of what goes on in hospitals and in politics. I wish we’d got to see a little more of the consequences of some of the huge events, both personal and political. There was a bit too much of jumping years ahead for me. Perhaps it would have been better as a duology (as some other reviewers have said). I absolutely would have read it!
  
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ClareR (5726 KP) rated The Unravelling in Books

Feb 23, 2022  
The Unravelling
The Unravelling
Polly Crosby | 2022 | Fiction & Poetry, Mystery
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I absolutely adored this thoughtful, beautiful story of a young woman, Tartelin, going to live on the island of Dohhalund as an assistant to Marianne Stourbridge, and elderly lepidopterist.

Marianne is a difficult woman to get to know: she’s short tempered, doesn’t really want to share any of herself with Tartelin - and she has a lot of secrets to share.

Tartelin is mourning the death of her mother. She’s a young woman, alone in the world. She probably chooses the job with Marianne because it’s somewhere so different from her childhood home and her mother’s art studio.

I do think that Dohhalund goes some way to helping Tartelin begin the grieving process. It sounds like a stark, beautiful place. At one end is a military base, and at the other is Marianne’s house and land. Her family had lived on Dohhalund for generations, until the military had ordered them to leave. After her return, it’s evident that many of the buildings have started to fall into the sea. This reflects to some extent, Marianne’s physical and Tartelin’s mental states. Both women are deeply affected by what has happened in their pasts.

This is such an emotive, beautifully descriptive book. It’s a slow burner, a story of friendship and love, where secrets are revealed, people are reunited and new friendships forged.

This gorgeous book had me in tears by the end, with characters I really cared for. As the Pearl Women in the book often said: “The sea is made up of unspeakable sadness”, and whilst this novel was sad, there was also hope.
Highly recommended (as is Polly Crosby’s first book “The Illustrated Child”).