Book Chat Issue #40

There's something in the water

Hello reading friends

I can’t believe we are up to the 40th edition of this newsletter. We should have a party! I know what we would talk about, but what would we eat? Salads and cake are my favourite things.

A party might be difficult to organise since we are all over the world, so instead I will share some book recommendations and a fantastic recipe for a simple butter cake.

Thanks so much for reading this newsletter each fortnight. If you are new here, welcome. I really appreciate having you onboard. If you received this newsletter from a friend, please think about subscribing.

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What I’ve been reading

I belong to a wonderful, but very small, book group. We’ve been reading books together for over 20 years and have a pretty good idea of what we like and don’t like. We each take turns choosing the book for the next month, the only criteria being that if possible, there should be multiple copies available in the local library. Sometimes there aren’t many copies and in those situations, we just share whatever we can get our hands on.

This month’s choice was a cracker. Good choice Lyn!

Still Water by Rebecca Pert is a beautifully written atmospheric story of trauma, grief and redemption. Set in the Shetland Isles, it tells the story of Jane, a woman who has carved out a life for herself working at the salmon cannery and living on her own in a little caravan. She’s happy with her lot, until one day her life is thrown into turmoil by the discovery of something floating in the flooded quarry.

A skein of geese glide overhead, their straggling V reflected in the water. Still the thing floats in the centre of the lake, moving gently with unseen currents. The temperature inches downwards. One night, the quarry freezes, a sheet of ice as thin as the skin on a healing scar.

In the morning two girls come, in their school uniforms. They stand on the shore and smoke thin cigarettes and hurl stones at the ice, relishing the glacial crack and splinter. They toe the edge of the lake, pressing on the surface, shrieking as their boots flood. One of them registers something caught fast in the frozen water. A dead fish? A pale branch stripped of its bark? But then snow begins to fall, and the girls open their mouths to it, and the thing in the ice is forgotten.

Still Water by Rebecca Pert

If you’ve read this book, I’d be interested to know what you think.

Also, if you’d like to be involved in an online book club, let me know. I’ve been thinking it might be fun for us the read the same book and share our thoughts. I’m not quite sure how it would work, but let me know if you’re interested and I’ll work something out. Just hit reply and your answer will come directly into my inbox.

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Another fascinating read

One thing we joke about in our book group is our liking for books that are full of interesting information without being overtly ‘educational’. A well-researched book about a topic you know very little about is a blessing. You can learn a lot and be entertained at the same time.

The Coast, by Eleanor Limprecht is historical fiction at its best. The research is meticulous but it never feels like it’s been shoe-horned into the story.

Here’s a description from Goodreads…

Alice is only nine years old in 1910 when she is sent to the feared Coast Hospital lazaret at Little Bay in Sydney, a veritable prison where more patients are admitted than will ever leave. She is told that she's visiting her mother, who disappeared one day when Alice was two. Once there, Alice learns her mother is suffering from leprosy and that she has the same disease.

As she grows up, the secluded refuge of the lazaret becomes Alice's entire world, her mother and the other patients and medical staff her only human contact. The patients have access to a private sandstone-edged beach, their own rowboat, a piano and a library of books, but Alice is tired of the smallness of her life and is thrilled by the thought of the outside world. It is only when Guy, a Yuwaalaraay man wounded in World War I, arrives at The Coast, that Alice begins to experience what she has yearned for, as they become friends and then something deeper.

The information about leprosy (now called Hansen’s disease) is both gruelling and fascinating, but the book is essentially a love story about prejudice and the triumph of the human spirit, so it’s ultimately an uplifting read, despite the setting. This book was recommended by my sister Bev and is a great read.

The Coast by Eleanor Limprecht

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What I’ve been cooking

I was asked to make a cake for 15 lovely staff members at the local Women’s Health Centre (where I am a volunteer Board member), so I needed a recipe that was not too huge, but big enough for a crowd. I made this Highlight Cake which is super easy and tasted good. I iced it with some buttercream frosting and some edible gold glittery stuff.

Highlight cake

2.5 cups of self-raising flour

2 cups of sugar (seems like a lot but it wasn’t overly sweet)

4 eggs (at room temperature)

230 grams butter (at room temperature)

4 tablespoons of custard powder

1 cup of milk

Method

Mix everything together at medium speed and bake in a tin lined with baking paper for 1 hour in a moderate oven.

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That’s all for now. I hope you all have a great fortnight with plenty of books and laughter.

Keep well and happy reading

Marg xxx