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The Light Between the Oceans by M L Steadman

Hauntingly beautiful novel about choices and living with the subsequent consequences.

Sometimes good people make bad choices but it does not determine who they are.

My favourite book is the code book by Simon Singh. A great journey through the history of crypography

The Avenue Goes to War – R F Delderfield

Mix together, stirring well – Foyles War, Home Fires, The Shellseekers, Housewife 49, Mrs Minerver, Cazalet Chronicles. Add a pinch of Dads Army for good measure.

Lovely Bones by Alice Seabold, I recall the lazy afternoons reading this on a lovely holiday in Sardinia with my sister for my 50th birthday

Sophie Kinsella - Shopaholic to the stars. It's full of funny moments set in the current days. It's not as predictable as you may think & probably the only chick lit I've enjoyed until the end

Girl in the Dark - Anna Lyndsey

An amazing chronicle of one woman’s struggle to deal with an increasingly severe allergy to light. No happy ending, frequently a case of one step forward and two back.

My favourite book is quite a new one, A Year of Marvellous Ways by Sarah Winman. An 89 year old woman who lives lives alone on a Cornish Creek and has done for many a year and is waiting for something but she did doesn''t know what. Along comes Drake fulfilling a promise he made to a dying man. Drake is a broken casualty of war and Marvellous shows him how to find the good in every day things and how to cope with grief when it comes and bites you on the bum. A truly uplifting story that although sad in places leaves you with a smile on your face and wanting more. Please read it!!! .

Life after Life, by Kate Atkinson. A wonderful multi-layered book about the many lives of Ursula.

The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes - Funny, warm & heartbreaking. A "real" tale of terminal illness & the impact on a family.

It's still Lord of the Rings. An epic struggle where good triumphs over evil.

Oliver Twist is mine, tears drama and a happy ending plus Dickens amazing descriptions.

I love Dead Famous by Ben Elton. About a murder that happens on a Big Brother style show. Brilliant who dunnit

The Choir by Joanna Trollope - a brilliant book!

Barbara Kingsolvers 'The Poisonwood Bible' , a remarkable story of Missionary Price and daughters life in the Congo in 1959 .I devoured this book and its story will stay wth me forever .

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing was an eye opener in my late teens

So many great books but my all time favourite is Emma by Jane Austen, no prizes for guessing my DD's name

Just noticed I got it wrong the girl in the blue dress is set Victorian Times it's beautifully written about a woman who's husband has just died she is not allowed to go to the funeral as he had turned her out of there home and brought in his mistress I think it is loosely based on Charles Dickinson it tell of how they met fell in love and it all went wrong

It has to be Treasure island, the story telling is superb. I am reminded of Blind Pew every time I hear the click of a walking stick on the cobbles in town. I am back in that barrel and can hear my heart thump as it did 60 or so years ago. It was a great surprise and delightful find to discover this book online when I got my first tablet a year or so ago!

The Blind Assassin. Margaret Attwood writes so well and the story is so compulsive and poignant.

I re-read Jean M Auel's Earth's Children series regularly. I love all the historical detail and Ayla and Jondalar are so well written.

So many books that I have enjoyed, how do you pick a favourite. The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan I really liked when I read it a few years ago, I felt drawn into the story.

Lord of the Rings has been my favourite for over 40 years. The ending is so sad, always makes me cry.

My favourite is King Rat which is about a japanese POW camp and there was a film starring george Segal.

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler gripped me from the opening paragraph. We have all met her characters in our lives and she is an acute observer of our foibles and quirks. Reading her novels is like having a chat with a close friend.

The Secret Garden - it is so uplifting and I return to it again and again