Serendipity Farm

Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

Serendipity Farm — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:29:06 +0000

Set inMartha’s Vineyard, 1650s: Bethia Mayfield is a young girl growing up amid a small band of pioneers and Puritans. She is denied the education that her brothers receive, she slips away as often as she can to explore the island’s wild landscapes and observe its native Wampanoag inhabitants. At the age of twelve, she encounters Caleb, the young son of a chieftain, and the children form a secret friendship that gradually draws each into the alien world of the other. Meanwhile, Bethia’s minister father is trying to convert the Wampanoag, and when he takes it upon himself to educate Caleb, it will further divide the communities.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Serendipity Farm — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:27:30 +0000

Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a shy twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness when she meets Ernest Hemingway and is captivated by his energy, intensity and burning ambition to write. After a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for France. But glamorous Jazz Age Paris, full of artists and writers, fuelled by alcohol and gossip, is no place for family life and fidelity. Ernest and Hadley’s marriage begins to founder, and the birth of a beloved son serves only to drive them further apart. Then, at last, Ernest’s ferocious literary endeavours begin to bring him recognition – not least from a woman intent on making him her own.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Serendipity Farm — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:26:06 +0000

1986, The Panama Hotel The old Seattle landmark has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made a startling discovery in the basement: personal belongings stored away by Japanese families sent to internment camps during the Second World War. Among the fascinated crowd gathering outside the hotel, stands Henry Lee, and, as the owner unfurls a distinctive parasol, he is flooded by memories of his childhood. He wonders if by some miracle, in amongst the boxes of dusty treasures, lies a link to the Okabe family, and the girl he lost his young heart to, so many years ago.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk-Kidd

Serendipity Farm — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:22:06 +0000

This is is a story about Lily who has grown up believing she accidentally killed her mother when she was four. Now fourteen, she yearns for her mother, and for forgiveness. She has only one friend: Rosaleen, a black servant whose sharp exterior hides a tender heart. South Carolina in the sixties is a place where segregation is still considered a cause worth fighting for. When racial tension explodes one summer afternoon, and Rosaleen is arrested and beaten, Lily is compelled to act. Lily starts a journey as much about her understanding of the world, as about the mystery surrounding her mother.

Lovesong by Alex Miller

Serendipity Farm — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 06:01:56 +0000

Strangers did not, as a rule, find their way to Chez Dom, a small, rundown Tunisian cafe on Paris’ distant fringes. Run by the widow Houria and her young niece, Sabiha, the cafe offers a home away from home for the North African immigrant workers working at the great abattoirs of Vaugiraud, who, like them, had grown used to the smell of blood in the air. But when one day a lost Australian tourist, John Patterner, seeks shelter in the cafe from a sudden Parisian rainstorm, the quiet simplicities of their lives are changed forever. Miller is twice winner of The Miles Franklin Award.

Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olssen

Serendipity Farm — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 06:00:30 +0000

It is a freezing night in March when Veronika Bergman arrives from New Zealand at her rented house north of Stockholm. Bereft after the recent death of her fiancé, Veronika is looking for a place to recover. The house is unwelcoming and unfamiliar, but as the days progress she begins to make it her own. She quickly establishes a routine of rising early, turning on her laptop to work on her novel—though the screen remains blank—and taking morning walks in the chilly, bleak grayness, until finally spring arrives, and with it, a life-changing encounter. Also titled Let me sing you gentle songs.

Snowdrops by AD Miller

Serendipity Farm — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:59:17 +0000

Snowdrops is the first novel by A.D. Miller, formerly the Moscow correspondent of The Economist. It is a fast-paced drama that unfolds during a beautiful but lethally cold Russian winter. Ostensibly a story of naive foreigners and cynical natives, the novel becomes something richer and darker: a tale of erotic obsession, self-deception and moral freefall. It is set in a land of hedonism and desperation, corruption and kindness, magical hideaways and debauched nightclubs; a place where secrets, and corpses, come to light when the snows thaw. A psychological thriller!

Before I go to sleep by SJ Watson

Serendipity Farm — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:58:09 +0000

Christine wakes in a strange bed beside a man she does not recognise. In the bathroom she finds a photograph of him taped to the mirror, and beneath it the words ‘Your husband’. Each day, Christine wakes knowing nothing of her life. Each night, her mind erases the day. But before she goes to sleep, she will recover fragments from her past, flashbacks to the accident that damaged her, and then—mercifully—she will forget. Chilling, exquisitely crafted and compulsively readable, S. J. Watson’s debut novel Before I Go to Sleep is a psychological thriller of the highest order.

Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant

Serendipity Farm — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:56:37 +0000

Sacred Hearts is set in 1570 in the Italian city of Ferrara, and the convent of Santa Caterina is filled with noble women who are married to Christ because many cannot find husbands outside. Enter sixteen-year-old Serafina, ripped by her family from an illicit love affair, howling with rage and hormones and determined to escape. While on the other side of the great walls, counter-reformation forces in the Church are pushing for change, inside, Serafina’s spirit and defiance ignite a fire that threatens to engulf the whole convent. Hidden history brought alive by a wonderful storyteller, Sarah Dunant, renowned for her Italian Renaissance novels.

When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman

Serendipity Farm — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:53:22 +0000

Spanning four decades, from 1968 onwards, this is the story of a fabulous but flawed family and the slew of ordinary and extraordinary incidents that shape their everyday lives. It is a story about childhood and growing up, loss of innocence, eccentricity, familial ties and friendships, love and life. Stripped down to its bare bones, it’s about the unbreakable bond between a brother and sister. Sarah Winman grew up in Essex. When God was a Rabbit is her first novel. She lives in London.