Books & Banter

Next we travel to Eurasia and visit Turkey!

A love letter to tolerance and friendship. And to the city of Istanbul.

'In the first minute following her death, Tequila Leila's consciousness began to ebb, slowly and steadily, like a tide receding from the shore. Her brain cells, having run out of blood, were now completely deprived of oxygen. But they did not shut down. Not right away...'

For Leila, each minute brings a sensuous memory: the taste of spiced goat stew, sacrificed by her father to celebrate the long-awaited birth of a son; the sight of bubbling vats of lemon and sugar which the women use to wax their legs while the men attend mosque; the scent of cardamom coffee that Leila shares with a handsome student. Each memory, too, recalls the friends she made at each key moment in her life.

Friends who are now desperately trying to find her. . .

Thru Leila's evocative recollections, this novel extracts the value of a fully-lived life from its untimely ending.

320 pgs

• Booker Prize (2019) - Shortlisted
• Blackwell’s Book of the Year (2019) - Fiction
• RSL Ondaatje Prize (2020) - Shortlisted
• Dublin Literary Award (2021) - Longlisted

Our last stop has us visiting both France and England.

In the chaotic aftermath of WWII, American teenager Charlie is pregnant, unmarried and her very proper family is not happy about it. She's hoping Rose, a cousin who is like a sister to her, might help. So when Charlie's parents send her off to Europe to have her "little problem" taken care of, she breaks free and heads to London, determined to find Rose.

1915. A year into the Great War, Eve burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she's recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she's trained by the "Queen of Spies," who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy's nose.

1947. Haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth. No matter where it leads.

503 pgs

(The Alice Network is under discussion to become a TV Miniseries)