Guests on show today were: Brian Lowen and Jackie Hoyle, a visitor to the islands staying at Auriga. Jackie is a school librarian in Derbyshire.
Books under the cosh were: The Dark Tide by Andrew Gross, Paradise News by David Lodge and Somewhere More Simple by Marion Molteno (which is set on Scilly).
I read this book in 2008 (see my review).
Jackie normally reads crime books such as Patterson and coben but enjoyed the Molteno book (see her review).
I wondered where I had heard the name Gross before and of course he co-wrote books with Patterson but I am afraid I think Patterson has gone completely off the boil.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Marion Molteno. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Marion Molteno. Sort by date Show all posts
Saturday, 21 August 2010
Friday, 7 November 2008
6th November 2008
Just one guest to-day, Maggie Perkovic, as everyone is away for half-term and the young adults who are still here are attending 'circus skills'. So, just you and me listening then Maggie! Maggie has three books to review, Parky, Camilia and one about the blitz. I have got two to review, The Book Thief and one by Marion Molteno which is based on the Isles of Scilly. We are also looking at the top 10 biographies which are out in time for xmas:
Saturday, 21 August 2010
Marion Molteno - Somewhere More Simple
Review by Jackie Hoyle on show 19th August 2010
Somewhere More Simple is a book I came across by accident a couple of years ago and found myself very moved by.
Set in the Scillies it is a beautifully written and perceptive book about the complexities of love and life in an island setting. It is a story of love, desire, acceptance, loss and forgiveness that I found very thought provoking and moving.
The story is based around 3 main characters:-
Cari is a teacher whose husband is totally absorbed in his studies leaving her feeling excluded and lonely. She spent some time on the Scillies as a child and remembers it as a place of peace, safety and security, where life was simple and untouched by complexities.
When she sees an advertisement for a temporary teaching position on St Marys she sees it as an opportunity to escape her stressful job in a city school and the inner confusions that seem to have overtaken her. But their move to the island exposes marital and emotional issues that Cari had been trying to ignore.
Anna, an artist in her 50’s, also has a past link to the islands. She has had a successful medical career, a family and a prosperous life on the mainland but a tragedy she feels unable to face or even to talk about has exposed the shallowness of her marriage, torn her family apart and led her to a solitary life, with very few possessions, in a cottage at Old Town.
Hugh, brought to the islands by his father as a teenager, tries to raise a family on St Martins, drawn by the beauty of the islands and a taste for self reliance and freedom, but when his wife returns to the mainland, taking their young son with her, Hugh feels abandoned, betrayed, leaving him bitter and isolated.
Gradually throughout the book the lives of these 3 people become intertwined and when, on a school trip to the mainland, a young girl disappears, all three are drawn into the mystery and are each forced to face their own past and follow their heart and reason, making simple choices to resolve issues of identity and commitment.
As a visitor to these beautiful islands I feel the authors descriptions of the people, the places, the ever changing weather and scenery of the islands are so captivating that the reader can really imagine themselves here - whether they are personally familiar with the islands or not.
The author observes very well, as I & I’m sure many others have, the way different people respond to the islands and what the islands mean to them. To some they are a place of calm, peace and serenity - a place to find safety and security - a place of escape, but also of freedom. To others they are enclosing, somewhere they could begin to feel trapped, claustrophobic even - somewhere they are happy to come on holiday to enjoy the scenery, the wildlife and the beaches - but they are glad when its time to go home. These feelings are reflected well in the characters of the book.
The landscape and atmosphere of the Scillies are sensitively captured and the way the peace, the simplicity, serenity and beauty, the spirit of the islands, gives these characters the space and time to find themselves, and accept and make peace with who they are, is a feeling with which I am sure many can identify.
Somewhere More Simple is a book I came across by accident a couple of years ago and found myself very moved by.
Set in the Scillies it is a beautifully written and perceptive book about the complexities of love and life in an island setting. It is a story of love, desire, acceptance, loss and forgiveness that I found very thought provoking and moving.
The story is based around 3 main characters:-
Cari is a teacher whose husband is totally absorbed in his studies leaving her feeling excluded and lonely. She spent some time on the Scillies as a child and remembers it as a place of peace, safety and security, where life was simple and untouched by complexities.
When she sees an advertisement for a temporary teaching position on St Marys she sees it as an opportunity to escape her stressful job in a city school and the inner confusions that seem to have overtaken her. But their move to the island exposes marital and emotional issues that Cari had been trying to ignore.
Anna, an artist in her 50’s, also has a past link to the islands. She has had a successful medical career, a family and a prosperous life on the mainland but a tragedy she feels unable to face or even to talk about has exposed the shallowness of her marriage, torn her family apart and led her to a solitary life, with very few possessions, in a cottage at Old Town.
Hugh, brought to the islands by his father as a teenager, tries to raise a family on St Martins, drawn by the beauty of the islands and a taste for self reliance and freedom, but when his wife returns to the mainland, taking their young son with her, Hugh feels abandoned, betrayed, leaving him bitter and isolated.
Gradually throughout the book the lives of these 3 people become intertwined and when, on a school trip to the mainland, a young girl disappears, all three are drawn into the mystery and are each forced to face their own past and follow their heart and reason, making simple choices to resolve issues of identity and commitment.
As a visitor to these beautiful islands I feel the authors descriptions of the people, the places, the ever changing weather and scenery of the islands are so captivating that the reader can really imagine themselves here - whether they are personally familiar with the islands or not.
The author observes very well, as I & I’m sure many others have, the way different people respond to the islands and what the islands mean to them. To some they are a place of calm, peace and serenity - a place to find safety and security - a place of escape, but also of freedom. To others they are enclosing, somewhere they could begin to feel trapped, claustrophobic even - somewhere they are happy to come on holiday to enjoy the scenery, the wildlife and the beaches - but they are glad when its time to go home. These feelings are reflected well in the characters of the book.
The landscape and atmosphere of the Scillies are sensitively captured and the way the peace, the simplicity, serenity and beauty, the spirit of the islands, gives these characters the space and time to find themselves, and accept and make peace with who they are, is a feeling with which I am sure many can identify.
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Marion Molteno - Somewhere More Simple
Reviewed by show host
The story is based around the 1980's on the Isles of Scilly.
Cari, the main character, is married to Andrew. Cari is a teacher. She sees an advert for a locum teacher on the Isles of Scilly. She is very interested in the post because when she was young she had enjoyed many family holidays there on the sailing boat her father owned.
Cari gets the job so she and Andrew move to St Marys. When two friends come to stay for a long weekend Cari spends days exploring the islands with them while Andrew studies for his 'thesis'. But this makes Cari feel that her marriage is slipping away from her and they are becoming like strangers.
On the last day of their 'friends' holiday the three of them get caught in a sudden squall, on St Martins, and look for shelter which is when she first meets Hugh. Hugh lives on his own, his ex-wife and son live on the mainland.
Cari befriends Anna, who lives on St Marys but is a bit of a loner as she is still coming to terms with the death of her son in a boating accident near the islands. Anna seems to resent Hugh who she blames for nurturing her sons love of the sea.
Cari and Anna become more acquainted when a schoolgirl runs away whilst on a school trip in Plymouth. There is a link with the runaway girl, Anna and Hugh but nothing sinister.
This was a 'nice' read but it didn't really get my attention until the last third. It had a great deal of description about the Isles of Scilly and described that time (1980's) well. I never got images of the characters in my mind, which I presume was because the story for me, didn't create any warmth to them. It was also a presictable read. Someone described it as a 'Mills & Boon' type of book, which I can understand why.
I would not read another of this authors books.
The story is based around the 1980's on the Isles of Scilly.
Cari, the main character, is married to Andrew. Cari is a teacher. She sees an advert for a locum teacher on the Isles of Scilly. She is very interested in the post because when she was young she had enjoyed many family holidays there on the sailing boat her father owned.
Cari gets the job so she and Andrew move to St Marys. When two friends come to stay for a long weekend Cari spends days exploring the islands with them while Andrew studies for his 'thesis'. But this makes Cari feel that her marriage is slipping away from her and they are becoming like strangers.
On the last day of their 'friends' holiday the three of them get caught in a sudden squall, on St Martins, and look for shelter which is when she first meets Hugh. Hugh lives on his own, his ex-wife and son live on the mainland.
Cari befriends Anna, who lives on St Marys but is a bit of a loner as she is still coming to terms with the death of her son in a boating accident near the islands. Anna seems to resent Hugh who she blames for nurturing her sons love of the sea.
Cari and Anna become more acquainted when a schoolgirl runs away whilst on a school trip in Plymouth. There is a link with the runaway girl, Anna and Hugh but nothing sinister.
This was a 'nice' read but it didn't really get my attention until the last third. It had a great deal of description about the Isles of Scilly and described that time (1980's) well. I never got images of the characters in my mind, which I presume was because the story for me, didn't create any warmth to them. It was also a presictable read. Someone described it as a 'Mills & Boon' type of book, which I can understand why.
I would not read another of this authors books.
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