Life must be filled up

Not another gardening post but a reference to the number of books around which are about rose gardens. It seems the way to get a book published is to set the story in an old English house with big gardens where roses are grown commercially. My reading of The Rose Garden was followed immediately by The Rose Girls. This was my choice of pre-publication free Kindle book for the month (there isn’t much choice, TBH). Three sisters live in an old, beautiful but crumbling manor house in Suffolk. For three generations their family has run a business from the house breeding and selling roses. Now that their mother is dead, can they keep everything going without sacrificing the house? Each sister had her own difficult relationship with their mother (ghastly woman!) and of course, each has her own love life to cope with. Lots of detail about roses (all named and described, which is nice) and a story you want to know the end of. It will be out on 1st June.

But I’m getting tired of books which are ‘all right’ and went to the library yesterday in search of stronger meat.



Unfortunately, our library is small and the only way to get recent books is to order them. That’s easily done online but then you have to read the book as soon as it’s ready for you, and who knows whether that will be the right time to read it? The pic above shows my little haul. One non-fiction title by an author whose books I’ve enjoyed before; reliable Simon Brett; a Gladys Mitchell because I’ve never read anything by her. I’m on/off, love/hate with Douglas Coupland’s books; let’s hope this is a love. My next read will be Crooked Heart which I snatched off the ‘just returned’ shelf the second I saw it there. I absolutely loved Their Finest Hour and a Half.