Friday 17 January 2014

Stones for Bread

Stones for BreadI review for BookSneeze®
Just read another delightful book from Booksneeze. I had it free for review and was, I thought, the best choice in a relatively uninspiring collection. One of those I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy. It looked a little dull and complicated, with recipes for bread posted at the end of every chapter: too much dough and not enough yeast.

Wrong again.

Stones for Bread  by Christa Parrish is a beguiling story of bread and grief and romance and re-creation. And a rediscovery of faith in the Bread of Life.

Liesl McNamara's life is centred on bread. Centred..on the legacy of the sourdough starter she inherited from her mother, her grandmother...on the bread she bakes to sell in her bakery...and, though she does not recognise it to start with, on the Bread of Life. She wrestles with questions as if kneading dough, bringing them to the surface and then pummelling them back down until they rise, as inevitably as yeast, again. There is a gentle rhythm and cadence to the novel as Liesl's childhood, her present business and her future romance weave together into a glorious challah bread of a story for Sundays and holy days and holidays. And soul hungry days.

Liesl wrestles with life: with the healing of memories, the difficulties of the present and the possibilities of the future. She gathers ingredients while friends and family cluster round her, integrating themselves gently into her life, as yeast permeates a rising dough.

Christa Parrish creates real characters who encounter real life issues. Mystery bubbles up through the rising dough of the plot, so subtly hinted at that it takes a second and third reading to notice the clues. Just as yeast dough seems to rise slowly at first before it bubbles up triumphantly, begging to be baked, so the story gathers momentum, until I found myself turning pages as greedily as if I was taking a bite of oven-warm bread.

This book satisfies the soul, yet leaves it hungry for more. I turned back again to the beginning, rereading and highlighting wonderful phrases with which I long to fill my mind. And then, of course, there are the recipes - so delicious that they will make a bread-maker of me yet...

Saturday 4 January 2014

Lihou


Martyn pointed out that a "shimmying" seagull  results in an airborne bombing run...


Watching Channel TV.......Normal transmission will be resumed as soon as possible, once the repairman gets out of the view.


Force 10 from Lihou, no problems with the wind.


King Canute and the geriatrics at dawn, but the tide wasn't held back.


Moonset


Chasing the rainbow.


The Lihou luggage limousine.


Highest  tide of the year.


Morning prayers or perhaps it should be players?

Friday 3 January 2014

Book review: A December Bride. Because it's December, it's Christmas holidays and it's switch off and read read read time.

I review for BookSneeze®

I was delighted to get a copy of this little novella to review from Booksneeze - for free!  Thank you! I had already read Barefoot Summer, a full length novel in the Chapel Springs romance series, so it was delightful to become reacquainted with some of the characters.

'A December Bride' starts off in time-honoured fashion with a hero (introduced only as 'Murphy', though we soon find out his Christian name is actually Seth) who the heroine, Layla, is antagonistic towards. Then there is a problem - who will be Layla's date at a wedding; and an even bigger problem: the wedding is of an ex-boyfriend who, it seems, she hasn't quite got over. Throw in some misunderstandings (not least, that Seth publicly announces his and Layla's engagement - without her agreement), nasty remarks from the woman who stole the ex-boyfriend and the heroine's striving to change career and you have all the ingredients for a fun read.

And I'm really not giving anything away when I say that the reader knows how it will all end - happily ever after - but just as happily skips through the twists and turns, the acid conversations, the embarassing situations and the romantic encounters to arrive at the ending. Great fun.

This is the first in the 'A Year of Weddings' series by a range of contemporary authors, including Rachel Hauck of 'Once Upon a Prince' and 'The Wedding Dress', both of which were delightful. Denise Hunter is now firmly established in my mind as a similar 'go to' author. Thanks for the introduction, Booksneeze!