Melton Messenger April 2020

36
Book reviews - Books for discussion
The Binding – Bridget Collins
In Emmett Farmer’s world, it’s possible to
forget the pain of your past. All you have to
do is tell your story to a binder, who’ll lock it
away in a book. But as apprentice-binder
Emmett soon discovers, not all stories are
meant to be forgotten. A highly original book
that deftly combines fantasy, historical fiction
and romance into one captivating tale.
The Green Roasting Tin: Vegan and
Vegetarian One Dish Dinners – Rukmini
Iyer
If you’ve been inspired to eat more meat-free
meals, but don’t want to spend hours in the
kitchen, this is a useful reference book to
have on hand. It’s gained numerous positive
reviews in the last two years, and for good
reason. Each of the seventy-five recipes is
designed to make cooking healthy, tasty
meals as easy as possible. In most cases,
each dish takes just ten minutes to prepare.
Recipes include ‘Miso Aubergines with Tofu,
Sesame & Chilli’ and ‘Squash & Gorgonzola
Tart with Figs & Pecans’.
Grandmothers – Salley Vickers
Three different women find their paths
crossing. Wealthy Blanche has developed a
compulsion for shoplifting after being banned
from seeing her grandchildren. Poet Nan is
planning her funeral and isn’t afraid to speak
her mind, but she has a blind spot when it
comes to her grandson. And then finally
there’s shy Minna, who’s in danger of losing
the only person she really cares about. A
beautiful, quiet book that looks at family life in
all its complexities.
Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister – Jung
Chang
While it’s a bit heavy going in parts, Big
Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister is a fascinating
insight into three of the most powerful women
in Chinese history. Ching-ling, wife of Sun
Yat-sen, became Mao’s vice-chair. It placed
her in direct opposition to her two sisters –
May-ling (Madame Chiang Kai-shek), who
was the first lady of Nationalist China, and Eiling,
Chiang’s unofficial main adviser and one
of China’s wealthiest citizens.
Our Planet: The One Place We Call Home –
Matt Whyman and Richard Jones
This children’s companion to last year’s
Netflix hit is sure to prove popular with young
nature buffs. Stunning photography and
illustrations accompany short, easily
digestible paragraphs of text. Our Planet
educates and inspires in equal measure. As
Sir David Attenborough says, ‘You will be
among the next characters who can, if they
wish, tell the most extraordinary story of all –
how human beings in the twenty-first century
came to their senses and started to protect
Planet Earth.’
The Book of Echoes – Rosanna Amaka
A young black man struggles to come to
terms with a devastating tragedy in 1980s
England. Meanwhile, a girl in Nigeria tries to
build a better life for herself against the odds.
As the pair resist following the paths laid out
for them, they’re watched over by the ghost of
a murdered woman. A gripping, thoughtprovoking
debut novel.
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