The weather in France being somewhat mixed, including heavy driving rain, a few sunny , warm days and ending with a light snowfall on the day before leaving for England, quite a lot of reading got done, that is, in between rushing round buying things for the house that the occupying builders should have bought or collected months ago. However, builders now finally kicked out and the house , unfinished as it is, is now ours to finish and use as we wish.
Reading included Lloyd Jones 'Mr Pip', a fascinating tale set on the island of Bougainville at the period of the rebellion in the early 90's, written from the point of view of a young girl. This was a well-written book, and had me in its grip from the beginning. The theme about the importance of the imagination and how that is enhanced by reading resonated strongly with me.
I also read Margaret Forster's The Memory Box, about a box with an intiguing mix of items left to a young woman by her mother, who had died when the daughter was only six months old. The young woman, a photographer, finds the box after the death of her father and her step-mother, who effectively brought her up as her own daughter. The theme of the loss of a parent and its possible consequences on a life, even if apparently successfully replaced, was very absorbing, and for me an interesting contrast to Margaret Forsters latest novel, Over, which deals with the loss of a child.