All together now by Monica McInerney

This is a collection of eight fictional short stories written by Monica McInerney. The titles of the stories are:
Hippy Hippy Shake
Spellbound
Just Desserts
Sweet Charity
The Long Way Home
The Role Model
Wedding Fever
Odd One Out
It is a very easy book to read and I would recommend it to Monica McInerney fans, although sometimes I felt a bit disappointed that the stories had ended so soon. The shortest of the stories is only four pages long and the longest story, Odd One Out, is 139 pages long. A good read if you don’t want to think too much before going to bed.
Cathy.

The forgotten garden by Kate Morton. Allen & Unwin 2008

On the eve of the first world war, a little girl is found abandoned on a ship to Australia. A mysterious woman called the Authoress had promised to look after her but has disappeared. A kindly family adopt “Nell” and it is not until her twenty-first birthday that she learns the circumstances of her arrival in Australia. Decades later Nell embarks upon a search for the truth which leads her to Cornwell. On her death Nell’s granddaughter continues the search which will finally uncover the truth about the family and solve the mystery of the little girl lost.
Spanning several generations the author Kate Morton skillfully interweaves the different periods in which the novel is set.
The forgotten garden is an historical saga with mystery, passion and tragedy.
SC

My sister's keeper by Jodi Picoult

This book is about a young girl who was brought into this world for the purpose to help save the life of her terminally ill sister. This book raises many issues and certainly makes you think. It has everything a great book should have, drama, humour, despair, hope and tragedy. This book keeps you interested throughout and has a number of twists and turns.
Kim