We had a happy assembly of readers on 10th February. The joy of meeting up gives us a chance to share our reads from the previous month and, my goodness, they were varied this February!
Our chosen books were Lisa Jewell’s ‘The Truth about Melody Browne‘ and the latest by our very own Chip Tolson, ‘The Register of Joe’s Trees‘. Chip is an award-winning writer, and this is his fourth novel which several of us read and Chip was with us to hear our comments.
Book One: The Truth About Melody Browne.
Jenn and Sally both loved this book. The shared timeline and life experiences were particularly good. Friendship through adversity.
Liz really enjoyed it as it seemed to be weaving through a jigsaw, not only Melody Browne’s life but the many characters she encountered on the way. Her son was a super young man. The opening with the hypnotist was a clever way into her life.
Ruth started this book, but it failed to appeal to her. Bob thought it good. It concentrates on Melody, a young woman who has spent her life alone since leaving home at 15, after discovering she was pregnant. Fast forward 18 years and a date with a guy for the first time in years leads Melody to a hypnotist show, where she is hypnotised and subsequently passes out. Then the mystery unfolds.
Sharon enjoyed it and mentioned that as a little girl among unusual adults, Melody picked everything up, which she later used to piece together her earlier life.
Siobhan thought it a great story of survival. She felt annoyed at the adoptive parents who did everything right, but it was with the wrong reasons. Melody was an excellent character and, it all ends positively.
Mark listened and will read later when time allows, and Chip did not read this one.
Overall, the opinion was that it was a brilliant read and other Lisa Jewell books will be read in the future.
Book Two: The Register of Joe’s Trees
Liz really enjoyed this novel, as, indeed, she has read all of Chip’s books. The time, settings and characters were wonderful. This is an authentic read if you lived through this timeline. Every situation could be realised by the reader.
Ruth thought it gave a great sense of time and events. Her only suggestion to Chip was that the back cover ‘blurb’ gave too much of the story away. Several of our other readers are yet to read it but, having listened, will do in the future. Siobhan has downloaded it and is at 40% so no spoilers by the rest of us! So far, she established that war is brutal and the nostalgia in this novel is genuine.
Mark really enjoyed it. It ran true of the times. The Civil Service would not progress a woman’s career on merit. Without a degree our protagonist was underused in the service.
Chip said he is ‘no Jane Austen’ but he found writing a woman’s life as a man interesting. His readers thought he did it very well!
Jenn loved it and read it on Kindle. She found it true to the era and thoroughly enjoyed it. Theresa will definitely read it now.
Chip is writing another novel at the moment so we will watch this space! Thank you Chip for an excellent novel in Joe’s Register of Trees.
Other books We Read this Month
We have a dedicated band of LJ Ross readers! Jenn has read them all and is now up to book 8. The latest read is ‘Seven Bridges‘.
Siobhan has also now become a fan after reading ‘Holy Island‘. Having visited Holy Island, she could say the setting was excellent. Liz has decided to join in and will now read ‘Holy Island’. This is the first of the novels and it seems once you have read one, you are hooked and read them all.
Mark read his Secret Santa from last Christmas. Rachel Joyce’s short story collection ‘A Snow Garden and Other Stories‘. Very enjoyable.
Jenn read ‘Death of the White Heart‘ by Chris Chibnall which had a local setting and she really enjoyed it. She also read the Peter James novel ‘They Thought I was Dead‘, which she also said was brilliant.
Chip read ‘A Case of Mice and Murder‘ by Sally Smith KC. He enjoyed it very much. The Inner Temple was well described. It was well written with good characters.
Ruth read ‘A Wildflower Year‘ by Frances Tophill. Her second book was ‘Oak and Ash and Thorn: The Ancient Woods and New Forest‘ by Peter Fiennes. This book has been described as ‘dazzling and passionate nature writing’. She added, David Grann’s ‘The Lost City of Z‘. An old explorer obsessed with the idea of a hidden city in the forests of South America’s Amazon. Based on the ground-breaking exploration by Colonel Percy Fawcett. Ruth really enjoyed this book. She also read William Maxwell’s fourth book, ‘The Chateau‘.
Theresa has read some interesting Library finds. ‘The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens of the Tower of London‘ by Chris Skaife. The Yeoman Warder tells his behind-the-scenes story of the Tower of London. Her second book was ‘Way Back‘ by Sara Cox. Her third book sounds really interesting, ‘The Librarians of Rue de Picardie‘ by Janet Skeslien Charles. It is set between 1917 and 1920 in Northern France.
Bob read four very different books. Firstly, ‘Strangers in the Car‘ by CM Ewan. Chris is a local author and we always await his latest book. Bob thought this one was well plotted if slightly overstated. Second, ‘The Final Wife‘ by Jenny Blakehurst which is an unputdownable psychological thriller, and third ‘Dark Skies’ by LJ Ross. This is number seven in her novels and Bob says she is a very good writer. Fourthm Bob read ‘How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days‘, which he thought was quite good, even though it’s not really Bob’s preferred genre.
Sharon read Marianne Keys’ ‘This Charming Man‘ which she found an easy up-to-date read. Also, one of Deborah Carr’s Mrs Boots series, which is about being married to Jesse Boots who formed Boots the Chemist. A brilliant read!
Alan has been a prolific reader this month. He started with ‘The Colour Purple’ by Alice Walker. He then read the winner of the Booker Prize 2025 ‘Flesh’ by David Szelsy. Next, ‘While Paris Slept’ by Ruth Druart. He read next, ‘Murder at the Black Cat’ by a Japanese writer, but he does not recommend this one. After that he read a Terry Pratchett sci-fi novel ‘The Shepherd’s Crown’. He followed that with Sarah Easter-Collins’ novel ‘Things do not Break on their Own’. Next, was ‘The Long Way to a Small Angry Place’ by Becky Chambers. (Theresa would like to read this one after listening to Alan). The last two were ‘This Motherless Land’ by Nikki May and ‘The Red House’ by Mark Haddon which, Alan thought needed a list of characters to aid reading. What an amazing selection!
Sally read several as well; ‘The Silent Patient’ by Alex Michaelides, which she recommended as there was a massive twist at the end. Next, she read ‘The Locked Door’ by Frieda McFaddon – a psychological thriller. She followed that with ‘The Blue Hour’ by Paula Hawkins about a reclusive artist, ‘London’ by Edward Rutherford, a history of a family in Roman times (a big book but Sally enjoyed it), ‘Cutting Stone’ by Abraham Gazy and an amazing book by Terry Hayes, ‘I am Pilgrim’.
Carol read a good selection: – (1) ‘Slow Horses’ by Mick heron; (2) ‘The Lyme Regis Ladies Swimming Club’, (3) Pat Barker’s ‘Voyage Home’, which is the excellent part three of her trilogy the reimagining of The Iliad.
Mark read ‘Murder Under the Mistletoe’ by Richard Coles, which he thought would be better for a TV programme. His second book was ‘Midsummer Murders’, a series of short stories collated by the Crime Writers Association. Finally, he read ‘The Real Life of Enid Blyton’. There’s an interesting history to a favourite children’s writer.
Liz read Kristen Hannah’s ‘The Women’. This illustrated the horrors of the Vietnam war followed by the injustices of the women who went there as nurses who were excluded from being recognised as a Veteran. A brilliant tale which we can always expect from Kristin Hannah. Her next read was by Charles Cumming, ‘A Foreign Country’. This had been recommended and Liz found it intriguing with the plot chasing a missing first female head of MI6. Her final read which is ongoing as it is fascinating is by Lyce Doucet, ‘The Finest Hotel in Kabul’ – a People’s History of Afghanistan. Lyce came to Yeovil Literary Festival last year and hers is an amazing voice telling of the daily lives of people during changing conflicts. This is a masterpiece.
As you can see, we are a diverse group of readers. Every meet-up reveals written gems.
Next Month’s Reads
Books to read this month are…
- ‘The Silence of the Girls’ by Pat Barker and
- ‘The Nightingale’ by Kristin Hannah.
Our Next Meeting is on Tuesday 10th March at 12noon in the Lounge at Westlands Entertainment Venue.
You will be very welcome.