Tag Archives: Books

In My Hands Today…

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Special Lassi – Amrita Chatterjee

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In the summer of 2011, two bleary-eyed kids, teetering on the cusp of adulthood, decide to drop out of the daily grind and just travel. But once they hit the road, their plans go out the window.

Soon, they are barreling over potholes the size of lunar craters in Nepal, bungee jumping in Rishikesh, waking up to Buddhist chants in Sikkim and cycling down the world’s highest motorable pass in Ladakh.

On the way is a constant stream of oddballs, like the five-second-tea lady, the flute-playing hotel manager, flying Sonam, reggae junkies and many more this journey is all about rolling with the punches.

In My Hands Today…

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The Winemaker’s Wife – Kristin Harmel

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Champagne, 1940: Inès has just married Michel, the owner of storied champagne house Maison Chauveau, when the Germans invade. As the danger mounts, Michel turns his back on his marriage to begin hiding munitions for the Résistance. Inès fears they’ll be exposed, but for Céline, half-Jewish wife of Chauveau’s chef de cave, the risk is even greater—rumors abound of Jews being shipped east to an unspeakable fate.

When Céline recklessly follows her heart in one desperate bid for happiness, and Inès makes a dangerous mistake with a Nazi collaborator, they risk the lives of those they love—and the champagne house that ties them together.

New York, 2019: Liv Kent has just lost everything when her eccentric French grandmother shows up unannounced, insisting on a trip to France. But the older woman has an ulterior motive—and a tragic, decades-old story to share. When past and present finally collide, Liv finds herself on a road to salvation that leads right to the caves of the Maison Chauveau.

In My Hands Today…

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The Word Ghost – Christine Paice

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This is England 1973, and fifteen-year-old Rebecca Budde is in love with Dave. After one glorious summer, Rebecca is forced to move with her family to Brightley, a village with a puddle for a pond, and no excitement at all. If only Dave were there.

Very weird things are going on inside their new house, and even stranger things are happening in the village at night. Someone appears to be living in Rebecca’s wardrobe. Someone else is on the balcony, trying to get in. Things don’t make sense anymore as Algernon Keats steps from the shadows, his sister not far behind him. There’s no Dave, two ghosts, a pub, a dog and Alex March, a dark and brooding artist, living in the Manor House down the road, whose interest in Rebecca is both puzzling and thrilling.

What do Alex and Algernon want from Rebecca? What on earth does any of it mean? Is it possible to love a ghost? And what happens if he loves you back? The lights are out. Welcome to Brightley.

Rebecca thinks love is forever, but sometimes it’s not. And nor, sometimes, is death.

In My Hands Today…

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The Last Word – Hanif Kureishi

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Mamoon is an eminent Indian-born writer who has made a career in England – but now, in his early 70s, his reputation is fading, sales have dried up, and his new wife has expensive taste.

Harry, a young writer, is commissioned to write a biography to revitalise both Mamoon’s career and his bank balance. Harry greatly admires Mamoon’s work and wants to uncover the truth of the artist’s life. Harry’s publisher seeks a more naked truth, a salacious tale of sex and scandal that will generate headlines. Meanwhile Mamoon himself is mining a different vein of truth altogether.

Harry and Mamoon find themselves in a battle of wills, but which of them will have the last word?

The ensuing struggle for dominance raises issues of love and desire, loyalty and betrayal, and the frailties of age versus the recklessness of youth.

In My Hands Today…

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The Flight Girls: A Novel – Noelle Salazar

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Audrey Coltrane has always wanted to fly. It’s why she implored her father to teach her at the little airfield back home in Texas. It’s why she signed up to train military pilots in Hawaii when the war in Europe began. And it’s why she insists she is not interested in any dream-derailing romantic involvements, even with the disarming Lieutenant James Hart, who fast becomes a friend as treasured as the women she flies with. Then one fateful day, she gets caught in the air over Pearl Harbor just as the bombs begin to fall, and suddenly, nowhere feels safe.

To make everything she’s lost count for something, Audrey joins the Women Airforce Service Pilots program. The bonds she forms with her fellow pilots reignite a spark of hope in the face war, and–when James goes missing in action–give Audrey the strength to cross the front lines and fight not only for her country, but for the love she holds so dear.