PURPLE QUEEN FAIRY READS

  Happy Chinese New Year to all

Synopsis:   In 1492 thousands of people of the Jewish faith were leaving Spain.Inquisitors sought out anyone who might not be Catholic. Those accused could be tortured and burned at the stake. In this time of uncertainty and terror, fourteen-year-old Maria finds herself alone and homeless. The Church offers Maria the opportunity to work for a wealthy Converso family. But the church also asks something of her in return.Secrets in the House of Delgado confronts issues of faith and bigotry, loyalty and betrayal, and the secrets that may lie in every human heart. Initially, I wasn't taken by this novel and it sat in my shelf for a couple of months.  The only reason I read it was because it was thin enough to bring with me during a work trip recently.  Surprisingly, it was rather engrossing. The story focuses on Maria and her life in the home of the Delgado after the death of her family.  The church assigned her to work for the family and kinda of asked ...

Synopsis : "I wonder this : If you take a woman and push her to the edge, how would she behave?" The question is posed by Jean, a photographer, who in 1995 arrives on Smuttynose Island, off the coast of maine, to research a century-old crime.  As she immerses herself in the details of the case - an outburst of passion that resulted in the deaths of two women - Jean herself enters precarious emotional territory. The suspicion that her husband is having an affair burgeons into jealousy and distrust, and ultimately propels Jean to the verge of actions she has not known herself capable of - actions with horrific consequences. Everywhere hailed for its beauty and power, The Weight of Water takes us on an unforgettable journey through the farthest extremes of emotion. This is my first introduction to Anita Shreve.  I have seen a few of her titles in the market but I never picked them up.  Although this book was bought in the pre-read book sales, it wasn't bought by m...

Synopsis : Trenton, New Jersey-based bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is the all-American girl stuck in an uncomfortable job, succeeding on luck and tenacity. On her current most wanted list : Martin Munch, a man whose body hasn't had make it out of the boys' department at Macy's but whose larger-than-life brain is the means to his business partner's murderous ends. Usually Stephanie gets her man. This time, she gets Diesel, a bounty hunter whose special sills include tracking en and pleasing women. Now it's up to Stephanie and Diesel to hunt down Munch through the Pine Barrens and face the legendary Jersey Devil - prowling above the treetops in the dark of night - and find a way to survive cranberry bogs, sand in their underwear, too many monkeys to count...and of course, each other. Plum Spooky is the 4th and last of the holiday novella in the Stephanie Plum Series. Trust me to start off the novella reading by reading the last one first.  In terms of sequence,...

Synopsis : Corduroy Mansions is the affectionate nickname given to a genteel, crumbling mansion block in London's vibrant Pimlico neighborhood and the home turf of a captivating collection of quirky and altogether McCall-Smithian characters. There's the middle-aged wine merchant William, who is trying to convince his reluctant twenty-four-year-old son, Eddie, to leave the nest; and Marcia, the boutique caterer who has her sights set on William. There's also the (justifiably) much-loathed Member of Parliament Oedipus Snark; his mother, Berthea, who's writing his biography and hating every minute of it; and his long-suffering girlfriend, Barbara, a literary agent who would like to be his wife (but, then, she'd like to be almost anyone's wife). There's the vitamin evangelist, the psychoanalyst, the art student with a puzzling boyfriend and Freddie de la Hay, the Pimlico terrier who insists on wearing a seat belt and is almost certainly the onl...

Synopsis : When a beautiful and high profile Somali immigrant is found dead - her body gruesomely mutilated - small town detective Kari Vaara fears that exposure to the media will send shockwaves through Finland, an insular nation afraid to face its demons. Haunted by his past, the investigation begins to take its toil on Veera and his American wife, Kate. Pregnant with their first child, she is struggling with the Finnish culture of silence and isolation. Things get too close for comfort when the chief suspect turns out to be someone Vaara would rather forget.  But nothing is as it seems and Vaara knows that the unrelenting darkness and extreme cold above the Arctic Circle could drive anyone just a little insane - perhaps enough to kill.   I don't think I will ever find this book in the local bookstore as I feel European literature is not well represented in the mainstream bookstore in my country.  I enjoyed Snow Angels for the differences that it brought m...