June Books

Here are my three good reads from June:

Lesley Pearse - Survivor
This is the third book in the author's Belle series, following a young woman through her adventures through the early twentieth century. The final instalment is the story of her daughter, Mariette. Like her mother, Mariette is a strong and wilful character who loves with passion and is not content with staying meekly at home. From New Zealand where she has grown up, the heroine travels to England, where she finds a totally different way of life, enduring hardships, experiencing love and loss, and learning courage through World War II. True to the title, this is the story of a real survivor, and like all Lesley Pearse's novels, it is impossible to put down until the final words have been read.

Marcia Clark - Blood Defense
This is the first in a new series by the American crime writer. Fans of U.S. police dramas will find themselves in familiar territory in this new thriller. The author is an ex-attorney of some fame, and the reader is gripped with many twists and turns in the course of the novel. The heroine is a young lawyer trying to make her name, but when she takes on a seemingly impossible murder defence job, she finds herself embroiled in a case which becomes not only important for her professional future, but for her personal life, too. 

Corina Boman - The Moonlit Garden
The Moonlit Garden is the title of an anonymous music manuscript which comes into  Lilly's possession  when she is given a special violin by a stranger. The novel follows Lilly as she travels from her home in Germany to her friend's house in London, where the the two women embark on a search to discover the identity of the composer and why Lilly was given the instrument. The story also takes the reader to Sumatra in historic times, and we learn about two other women who have owned and played the violin, Rose and Helen. The exotic setting is well-captured, and the mystery deftly handled as the book proceeds to its conclusion. I liked the musical subject, but am convinced that a non-musical reader would find it just as satisfying to read. Translated from German.