New books for May 2017

It is my turn to host Book Club in May so I bought the new books from Booktopia.  I went through my newspaper cuttings to produce a "long list" of 22 which was reduced to eight.  Click on the link to learn more about the book and read reviews.  I hope we will enjoy them.

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick.  Arthur and Miriam Pepper were happily married for 40 years.  On the first anniversary of Miriam's death, Arthur finds a small box containing a gold charm bracelet with a phone number on it.

Why Did You Lie byYrsa Sigurdardotti, Icelandic queen of Nordic Noir and winner of the 2015 Petrona Award.  A journalist on the track of an old case attempts suicide. An ordinary couple return from a house swap in the states to find their home in disarray and their guests seemingly missing. Four strangers struggle to find shelter on a windswept spike of rock in the middle of a raging sea. They have one thing in common: they all lied.

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith, a story told in three time periods, Amsterdam in 1631 where Sara de Vos becomes the first woman to be admitted as a master painter; New York 1957 where one of her works is displayed in the home of a Manhattan lawyer; Sydney 2000 where a celebrated art historian is mounting an exhibition.

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout, which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2016. Lucy is visited by her estranged mother while she's in hospital.  As they talk she remembers her childhood.

A Hundred Small Lessons by Ashley Hay an award winning Australian (Brisbane) author. The story of a Brisbane home and the two main occupants.  Elsie is forced to move to a nursing home and then a family move in.

Idaho by Emily Ruskovich.  One hot August day a family drives to a mountain clearing to collect birch wood. Jenny, the mother, is in charge of lopping any small limbs off the logs with a hatchet. Wade, the father, does the stacking. Their two daughters drink lemonade, swat away horseflies, bicker, sing snatches of songs as they while away the time. But then something unimaginably shocking happens, an act so extreme it will scatter the family in every different direction.

The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain.  Gustav grows up in a small town in Switzerland, where the horrors of the Second World War seem a distant echo. But Gustav’s father has mysteriously died, and his adored mother Emilie is strangely cold and indifferent to him. Gustav’s life is a lonely one until he meets Anton. An intense lifelong friendship develops but Anton fails to understand how deeply and irrevocably his life and Gustav’s are entwined until it is almost too late.

The Fifth Letter by Nicola Moriarty.  Four best friends since the first day of school. Now in their thirties and real life - husbands, children, work - has got in the way. So, resurrecting their annual trip away, one has an idea, something to help them reconnect. Each will write an anonymous letter, sharing with their friends the things that are really going on in their lives. But as the confessions come tumbling out, will their friendship survive.  Then they find a fifth letter containing a big secret.