The Aunt Who Wouldn't Die by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay

This delightful book tells the story of Somlata, a resourceful eighteen-year-old who marries into the Mitras family. Once the family was noble and grand but now they find themselves in straitened circumstances due to their ability to spend and their inability to see the need to work in order to produce the income to support their habits.  Their grand house is divided into apartments for the various family members and upstairs lives her husband's irascible and formidable widowed aunt.  It is Somlata who discovers the body of Pishima and also her ghost, who tells her to hide her jewels from the rest of her avaricious relatives, and Somlata is an obedient girl.

It also tells the story of Somlata's daughter, Basoma and how she finds her identity and destiny.  As strong and principled as her mother, Basoma is a feisty delight.

I enjoyed this window onto a slice of Bengali life.  There are a number of levels to this story and so it is a rewarding book for both the individual reader and the book club.  I just wish there had been a glossary for all the titles of various family members, although with perseverance I got the hang of it in the end.  Nonetheless, it was a good read.

Stop at Nothing by Tammy Cohen

An enjoyable book, though I did sometimes get impatient with Tess, the main character.  When her daughter is threatened with a serious attack on her way home from a night out, Tess is outraged on her behalf and wants her to feel safe in her neighbourhood.  So far so good, but while she initially co-operates with the police, when they fail to find the culprit and stop actively pursuing the case, Tess decides to take the law into her own hands.  Her friends and her estranged husband fail to dissuade her from this crusade, and she comes close to getting into trouble with the law herself in consequence.  What saves the story is that Tess is a fundamentally sympathetic character who has been having a very hard time since the breakdown of her marriage and she desperately needs to start taking charge of her life in a constructive way, move on and rebuild it anew.  She has a secret, which is eventually revealed to us.  Meanwhile, she has a new friend in Frances, the woman who witnessed and saw off the would-be attacker.  She appears to be highly supportive to Tess and her daughter, Emma - but is she all that she seems?  Can Tess get justice and make her family's world safe again? There are some interesting plot twists and suspense, and it is an entertaining read.

The Poison Garden by Alex Marwood

A beautifully written, extraordinary novel which is an engrossing and haunting read, The Poison Garden is one of those rare books you finish reading and immediately want to read again.  It is the story of Romy, an engaging character who is taken by her mother to live in a commune in deepest Wales, which gradually reveals itself to be less a power-sharing group and more a patriarchal cult.   Everyone has their role, and children are expected to acquire life skills from an early age and play their part in community life.  However, as power struggles begin, who can resourceful Romy trust?  And, when she escapes the confines of the community, how can she and her siblings learn to live in the world the rest of us know?  You may be able to take the girl out of the  commune, but can you take the commune out of the girl?  This is a thoughtful and intelligent story which raises many question about how we raise and protect our children, and being an Alex Marwood book, there are strong psychological themes and twists to entertain and surprise the reader.  I thoroughly recommend this superb read.

Beneath the Surface by Fiona Neill

I just finished reading this compelling, original story and was blown away by it.  Set in the fen land around Cambridge, it features a family which outwardly seems cohesive and strong, but who knows what goes on beneath the surface?  Grace married Patrick in the hope of love, security and a happy family.  Many of us do this, but who knows Grace's motivation, and how her own upbringing will shape her adult life?  Is Patrick as safe and sensible as he seems?  Their two daughters, Lilly (17) and Mia (9) are intriguing characters.  Lilly is very intelligent, popular, beautiful and stylish, while Mia is a creative and curious soul who struggles to write out her ideas but gives her all when subjects catch her imagination.  Everyone has their secrets, and struggles to keep them shut into their boxes but the pressure increases.  When Lilly is taken ill in class at school, is she grievously sick, the first victim of an epidemic or is something else at play?  Can the lid be kept down on what lies beneath the surface?  What is the truth and can they survive?  An intriguing, intelligent and topical book which rewards the reader and would be an excellent book group choice, it really deserves to be widely read.