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ClareR (6225 KP) rated Dangerous Women in Books

Aug 31, 2021  
Dangerous Women
Dangerous Women
Hope Adams | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Thriller
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book had me in its grip form start to finish - there was so much going on right from the beginning: the woman who tricked her way on board, the murder, the relationships between the women, the relationships between the women and the matron (who was the most in-matronly matron I could have EVER imagined!), and the relationship between the matron and the ships captain.

The dialogue between the women seemed authentic to me. These convicts came from all parts of the British Isles: London, the West Country, Scotland, Ireland. What connected them though, was their crimes all appeared to be the result of their sex and poverty. They were all working class women who had acted out of desperation, and it was really interesting to hear their stories.

I know this is a work of fiction, but the Rajah did exist, as does the quilt that the women were working on. The quilt is now on display in the National Gallery of Australia. I googled it - it’s beautiful. How anyone could have produced it whilst on a ship in the ocean, I have no idea 🤢

The conditions on board must have been appalling. At the start, the Matron instructs the women to scrub their quarters, but they would have been cramped, their toilet was below decks (buckets), and seasickness along with poor food would have made quite some heady aroma! They may have been convicts, but I was impressed by their stoicism in these circumstances.

I felt that I learnt an awful lot whilst reading this, as well as being thoroughly entertained - it’s a fabulous book!
  
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ClareR (6225 KP) rated The Ministry of Time in Books

Jun 4, 2024  
The Ministry of Time
The Ministry of Time
Kaliane Bradley | 2024 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Thriller
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book is everything I love about reading. I read to escape (mainly, but not solely!), and so science fiction/ fantasy has always appealed to me. Now I’ve discovered speculative fiction, and it seems to be like both of these things wrapped up in a package with a label saying: “This Seems Plausible”.

The Ministry of Time is a clever book - it uses time travel and science fiction, with a touch of history that actually happened, and mixes it up with a hefty dose of romance, thriller and literary fiction. It doesn’t sound like it will work, but I’m here to say that it really DOES!

Ok, so a quick, yet vague, synopsis: the British Government has come into possession of a device that can go back in time and find particular people in the past. It’s been decided that the people they take are all in life-threatening situations. Those plucked from their time are placed with a “Bridge”; someone who will facilitate their integration into modern society.

The main pair is that of Graham Gore, a Polar explorer from the Erebus expedition, and his Bridge, a woman whose mother escaped the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Not an easy adjustment for a Victorian man. This Bridge is the narrator.

Graham Gore adjusts quickly to modern life, but is modern life willing to accept him? And what affect does it have on him and his fellow time travellers, to be so out of time?

There was so much to think about whilst reading this - I was completely immersed, and it ended FAR too quickly!