The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

This was a book sent to me (with several other books) by Jackie at Farm Lane Books who realised very early on my frustration at not being able to find English language books easily here in Sri Lanka. This was pre my Kindle days. I am now blessed in that access to books is so much easier, I very often get the latest books kindly forwarded by publishers and it is only now and then that mainly due to geographical restrictions I do not get to read a book.

The Victorians were great ones for using the language conveyed by each flower to convey emotions and though the commoner ones have survived to this day, the intricacies of this language are immense and convey a whole gamut of emotions, feelings and as this story progresses would even help out emotionally or maybe psychologically situations which need a small push in the right direction.

Victoria is our main character and she is a child not of trust or love but of suspicion and mistrust and she uses flowers in the same way to indicate these negative feelings. She cannot be blamed for her situation - her entire life has been one of betrayal and it is only with Elizabeth and then subsequently Grant, Rebecca and the others whom she meets in her adult life that she slowly, very slowly and carefully tries to learn to trust again. Victoria is prickly, likes her own company and does not know how to be social.

Her learning process and the flowers are the two parts of one story which will keep any reader spellbound. One keeps rooting for Victoria knowing the odds are so heavily stacked against her and this story of Victoria and her flowers is an intriguing read.

Thank you Jackie for this book. It is very late for the review as you sent it ages ago but I am so glad I eventually got to it. 

A Love that Never Tires by Allyson Jeleyne

Shades of Georgette Heyer mixed up with a bit of Far Eastern travel!

A story involving a young girl, brought up by her father in a very unconventional style (for the time). Living her life in archaelogical ruins and coming to London as they are dead broke and he must find a financier for his next trip to discover the temple ruins which beckon so enticingly. Linley knows that her duty is to help her father obtain those finances by hook or by crook and to this end she goes along with his plans in London.

Meeting up with a Marquess seems fortuitous but things are not what they seem as he is not as well heeled as he sounds. His main idea was to find an heiress and marry her to bolster the family fortunes. Meeting Linley puts a spoke in the wheel in that scheme of things!

Covering London with all its conventionality at the times, and then moving across to Northern India almost at the Nepalese border was descriptive enough for me.

I did not like the title though as I felt it was not apt for the very lovely story it covered.

The book was a free download from Amazon 

A Few of the Girls by Maeve Binchy

This collection of short stories deal with human relationships - and it shows that whether at the beginning of the 1900s or coming close to 2016 nothing has changed as far as basics go. We grow up sometimes in difficult circumstances, sometimes in comfortable ones, have careers, some get married, some don't, have kids, don't have children and learn to live, love and be comfortable with each other.

It was a very heartwarming collection of stories, each unique, each very real.

An author I missed reading for a long time so I am glad I got to this one.

Sent to me by Edelweiss.


A post script here - I was away visiting children and grandchildren in Melbourne and returned this morning. A bit jet lagged but thank god for scheduled reviews. It all seems to have gone smoothly!

What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan

It was only after I read the book that I knew that this is a debut novel. What a debut. The pathos and emotion, sadness and anger, joy and hope all come through so very well that you are living the day to day trauma of Rachel, John, Nicky, Katrina and Benedict every minute of it


The story of a mother's worst nightmare - an abduction of a child from a seemingly harmless walk in the woods. Something this mother and son do all the time. No idea of whom, no idea whether it was planned or random and everything going horribly wrong when the focus turns on the mother as the culprit. Why the public would think this was what puzzled me. But the picture did clear though it was so random. The power of the media and to what extent the press would go to keep readers titillated to buy copy, never mind the damage you are doing to a perfectly normal soul.
It was only after I read the book that I knew that this is a debut novel. What a debut. The pathos and emotion, sadness and anger, joy and hope all come through so very well that you are living the day to day trauma of Rachel, John, Nicky, Katrina and Benedict every minute of it.

The story had so many twists and turns - the suspects were hardly any because there was no one who had enemies and so it was an even worse nightmare to try to whittle it down. How a mother's instincts paid off in the long run, and how policing can ignore this to their detriment was also highlighted in this story.

Excellently told. Am looking forward to seeing more from this author.

Sent to me by Edelweiss.

Murder at the Manor - a collection of classic crime stories!

It has to be my colonial history that makes me nostalgic for manors, country lanes, country scenes and characters as well. Lady and Lords abound, vicars and curates, butlers, maids, parlour maids, groomsmen and of course murders most prolific. This was a joy to read as it dealt with all of them and country charan, stable hands the lot. Downton Abbey in all its aspects combined with a hint of mystery and murder. Fabulous collection of crime.


The best crime fiction authors coming together under the theme of country manors. I was in heaven!

Gone girl by Gillian Flynn

I must be the last person on the planet who hadn't read this book. I got this from a friend and boy aren't I glad I did.

The book has got so many many reviews so I am not going down that road. All I can say is that this is a twisted, difficult read which was complicated with so many unheard of and unimaginable turns in the story but it all comes together so beautifully in the end that this author has to be brilliant to even concoct a tale like this one.

The author goes into the psyche of Amy so well that at the end we see the whole, but right through the book you are kept guessing as to what is going to happen next. Brilliant story telling.

Definitely looking out for more from this author.

Death of a Nurse by M C Beaton

If you like droll characters set in quirky villages where the language gets some getting used to, this is the series for you.

We have our Plod, Hamish Macbeth who is very happy in his village and in dread that he will be transferred out to one of the big towns. We have Charlie his sidekick, equally happy and in dread that he will be transferred to Strathbane - the home of drugs and every kind of vice it seems. Between these two and their pets Lugs and Sonsie (incidentally a wild cat) we have our cast of main characters.

The arrival of a pretty nurse, saucy and on the prowl herself provides good entertainment for all the local folk until she turns up dead. 


Hamish is also a ladies man who wonders why he cannot find a permanent partner and is on the prowl all the time when there is a good looking lady around. Unraveling the crime is difficult because the suspects keep changing and it is a merry go round of crime. On top of that sparks fly between our Chief Detective Fraser and our simple Charlie much to Hamish's amazement, and then there is strife and jealousy amongst the upper echelons of the constabulary itself with back biting, corruption and paybacks to just throw in a few things to confuse our reader.

Altogether very enjoyable read of a crime novel of an almost different genre!


Sent to me by Netgalley for review courtesy of Grand Central Publishing.