Margot Livesey's The Flight of Gemma Hardy

The Flight of Gemma Hardy has been described as a modern retelling of Jane Eyre and is getting a lot of attention. Truth be told, I barely remember the plot of Jane Eyre but that didn't stop me from enjoying Gemma Hardy's flight.  I believe and hope that it can stand on it's own as a wonderful new classic. It would make a great book club selection as well. 

Orphaned at a young age, Gemma Hardy must leave her home in Iceland to live with her uncle in Scotland. Her aunt and 3 cousins are less than welcoming and make her new life unbearable. She believes that all she needs to escape this hell is to get accepted to a private boarding school. Her aunt is more than willing to make this come true and sends 9 year old Gemma on a working scholarship to Claypoole. As a "working girl" she didn't realize her life could get even worse and is treated poorly by the faculty and paying students, including her fellow working girls. Years later the school goes bankrupt and closes right before Gemma can properly finish her education and take her exams. She is forced to seek a job with room and board and becomes an au pair for a young girl at Blackbird Hall in The Orkneys. Blackbird Hall is owned by Mr. Sinclair, Gemma's student's wealthy uncle, who comes and goes when it suits him. Their age difference is substantial but doesn't stop them from making a familiar connection. Gemma's desire to know more about her parents' history and about where she came from causes her to make some drastic decisions. 

Bond Girl by Erin Duffy

Ever since her father took her to work on Wall Street when she was a young girl, Alex Garrett knew she wanted to follow in her father's footsteps. Her first job out of college, before the financial crisis, is with an elite brokerage firm in bond sales. From day one, Alex becomes the new office bitch and is routinely sent on lunch runs for hundreds of people and is humiliated by her boss and coworkers daily. As one of the very few women at Cromwell Pierce, Alex learns there are three types of women on Wall Street and she's continually pressured to be the type no woman wants to be. If you liked Devil Wears Prada and The Nanny Diaries you'll love the glimpse into the world of high-powered Wall Streeters in Bond Girl. Although I can't say I learned a single thing about the market, I definitely enjoyed the comedy Duffy brought.

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

At times, our memories elude us and it can be quite startling and unforgiving when we truly understand the past, as Tony Webster finds out.  In order to understand an unexpected legacy he dives into his own memories from long ago.  Tony travels back through his recollections of philosophical school lessons to a muddled relationship and a close friends’ suicide.  What Tony realizes is that his actions over forty years ago set in motion a series of events that had an immense consequence for others.  The Sense of an Ending is a quick read with a bleak tone but is full of questions Tony continually asks himself that may leave others to do some of their own introspection.   

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World Book Night, April 23, 2012

I wanted to share this link, www.worldbooknight.org, with you all because I just signed up and I thought others would be interested in the opportunity to be a Book Giver as well.  World Book Night is about reaching those in your community that are non-readers or light readers to share with them the overwhelming joy that is reading.  As a book lover, and sometimes pusher, I always want to bring books to people and spread the love of reading so I didn't hesitate to sign up for World Book Night and to tell you all about it as well.  So please sign up before February 1st!  

Vaclav and Lena by Haley Tanner

Vaclav the Magnificent and the Lovely Lena have been planning their first performance at Coney Island for years.  The magician and his assistant, ten and nine years old respectively, have been best friends since an arranged play date five years earlier.  Although brought together by their shared Russian backgrounds and love of magic, their upbringings couldn't have been more different.  Every day after school Lena comes over to practice magic and eat dinner under Rasia's motherly eye.  She was also walked home and tucked in every night by Vaclav's mother. Unexpectedly, Lena starts to distance herself from Vaclav, is absent from school one day, and then goes missing altogether.  And all the magic in the world can't bring her back to Vaclav.  This is a touching novel of friendship, one in which you truly start to care for the characters and want the best for them. 

The Informationist by Taylor Stevens

In this fast-paced thriller, information specialist, Vanessa Michael Munroe, has been sought after by a wealthy man to locate his missing daughter.  Emily vanished four years ago after an African safari trip and no other private investigator and no amount of money has been able to locate her.  Munroe has spent a great deal of effort trying to forget her horrific upbringing in Africa and is not exactly jumping at the opportunity to be traveling back to a place she fled years ago.  Munroe must face the life she has left behind that has justly shaped the person she is today while looking for a girl who doesn’t seem to want to be found.  With a cold trail and people attempting to kill her, Munroe is suspicious of everyone.  Stevens has created a tough, intelligent and complicated character reminiscent of Lisbeth Salander (I’ll be disappointed if you don’t know who that is), and the setting in Africa is far different than anything else I’ve read.  I'm excited to get my hands on The Innocent.