Olive And Pru
Eclectic Musings of a Woman of a Certain Age
18 March 2024
Shopping and Imbibing
14 March 2024
A Good Read
When a young woman is discovered brutally murdered in her apartment, with an intricate pattern of lines carved into her face, Copenhagen police detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner are assigned to the case. They soon establish a link between the victim, Julie Stender, and her landlady, Esther de Laurenti, who’s a bit too fond of alcohol, and hosts raucous dinner parties with her artist friends. She is also a budding novelist, and when Julie turns up as a murder victim in the still unfinished mystery she’s writing, the link between fiction and real life grows both more urgent and more dangerous.
But Esther’s role in this twisted scenario is not quite as clear as it first seems. Is she the culprit—or just another victim, trapped in a twisted game of vengeance? Anette and Jeppe must dig more deeply into the two women’s pasts to discover the identity of the brutal puppet-master pulling the strings in this electrifying thriller.
10 March 2024
G' Day
The weather was good but we were expecting showers, and when a downpour arrived we sheltered until it passed and then went home. Later, back home my lovely daughters made afternoon tea. Assorted sandwiches - egg mayo, tuna mayo, cheese, ham and tomato, we had wine and delicious cakes.
5 March 2024
Rufus' Diary
29 February 2024
A Good Read
The novel begins in 1981, Juliet Armstrong was 60 years old, and while she was distracted by her thoughts, she was struck by a car when she attempted to cross the street. Her story is told between 1940 and 1950 before landing back in 1981 again.
In 1940, eighteen-year old Juliet was reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MI5 tasked with monitoring the comings and goings of British Fascist sympathisers, the work was both tedious and terrifying. But after the war ended Juliet presumed the events of those years would be relegated to the past forever.
Ten years later, now a radio producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. A different war is being fought now, on a different battleground, but Juliet finds herself once more under threat. A bill of reckoning is due, and she finally begins to realise that there is no action without consequence. Juliet discovers one is never entirely free of the spy business. Once a spy, always a spy.
One of Juliet’s thoughts from 1981: "The Russians had been their enemies and then they were their allies, and then they were enemies again. The Germans the same – the great enemy, the worst of all of them, and now they were our friends, one of the mainstays of Europe. It was all such a waste of breath. War and peace. Peace and war. It would go on forever without end".
This is an ingeniously plotted story, so much so that I initially had difficulty working out what was happening. But I did, and as usual, with Atkinson's novels, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
23 February 2024
Lunchtime Concert
18 February 2024
A Good Read
For her 25th birthday Libby Jones inherits an eight bedroom mansion in London’s SW3 - the heart of Chelsea. Most people would be over the moon to own a house in that area of multi million pound homes, but the house is dilapidated, and has a very sinister past.
Told from the points of view of Libby, Lucy, and Henry, in both the past and present, this disturbing family drama begins with the previous owners of the house. The Lamb’s were a wealthy couple with two children, Henry and Lucy. Martina (the mother) liked helping people and invited a homeless charismatic stranger named David and his family to move into their home. But David wasn’t as charming as he appeared to be. He was malevolent and manipulating and before long he had turned the house into a commune and had the family obeying his every whim, all except Henry - he wasn’t falling for David’s charms, not one little bit!
The story builds slowly and steadily, developing the characters and revealing their roles in the plot. It's a fast compelling read.
9 February 2024
Rain Stops Play
2 February 2024
A Very Good Read
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Kya Clark was barefoot and wild, for years she had been known as the Marsh Girl. As a very young girl Kya watched her Mother walk away without looking back. Soon, all her siblings followed suit, leaving Kya alone with her drunk, abusive and often absent father, who also eventually left. She had to care for their home, learn to shop, to provide food, cook and clean, all while dealing with loneliness, abandonment, loss and prejudice, and always wondering when and if her Mother would ever return. She spent one day at school but was so badly ridiculed she never returned.
But Kya was smart and clever with a curious mind. She knew the marsh and found ways to make money and provide for her basic needs. She learnt lessons in life, through nature and the wilderness surrounding her, and with help from books and her brother's friend Tate she learnt to read and write. The lovely couple 'Jumpin' and Mable showed her kindness and love, and the store cashier helped by often giving her too much change.
I was engaged with Kya’s story from the beginning. It is beautifully written with poetic prose and wonderful descriptions of the marshes. It has a little bit of everything, a likeable main character who tugs at the heartstrings, romance, murder mystery, courtroom drama and lovely characters who are kind - Tate, the cashier who gives back too much change and 'Jumpin' and Mable. I loved it and so did my book group.