Australia, 1926. After four harrowing years fighting on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns home to take a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day's journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two mis...[Read More]
The book is set in the early 1900s and tells the story of an ex-soldier and his wife living alone on a remote island. One day a boat arrives on shore carrying a dead man and a baby and this story is about the decisions they make that day and the consequences they discover years later. It’s a story of love, of discovery, of justification, and, perhaps most important of all – moral responsibil...[Read More]
Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the ‘Scriptorium’, a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word ‘bondmaid’ flutters to th...[Read More]
The Dictionary of Lost Words is an insightful tale blending historical figures and timelines with a fictional story. Spanning a century the story covers the life of Esme, a motherless daughter who spends her childhood in her Father’s place of business, learning the ways of the world from a unique perspective. Considering the simple framework it’s truly astounding how many important topics are cove...[Read More]
Set in a rural Australian town the story begins with beloved priest opening fire and killing five locals before being shot by police. A year later we’re introduced to Martin, a troubled journalist tasked with writing a piece covering life in the town a year after the terrible tragedy. Upon his arrival he quickly learns that the coverage of events was less than accurate – providing a slanted view o...[Read More]