What I Am Reading?

I’ll tell you first about The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Pratchett, because I enjoyed it the most. Sabine falls into working as an assistant to the stage magician Parsifal. She is devoted to him, even though he has a male lover. She serves as a spectator in their lives. Once he has died she investigates his family background and discovers the painful history that influenced his future. There are no happy endings here, but it is wistfully beautiful.

If you like reading my books, you will enjoy Heidi Swain. She is one of my favourite novelists. I recently bought Mince Pies and Mistletoe as a treat for myself. It wasn’t as good as some of her others as the protagonists experience running a market goes on too long but it is an easy and relaxing read.

I always say that I don’t like poetry but The Wisheddove, a varied collection by Paul Hayes, was a surprise to me. There’s something for every mood: amusing poems, thought provoking poems and invocation of holiday landscapes. The title is an example of his humour as it is a play on ‘I wish I had of.’

In complete contrast, to give support to an A level English student, I re read 1984 by George Orwell. It hasn’t dated and is an apposite warning of that we should be wary of letting dictatorships take hold. I had forgotten how well we are drawn into Winston Smith’s inner world, his clandestine affair with a girlfriend and his incursion into the world of the oblivious people (the Proles) in the town.

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