Month: October 2013

Sold – Patricia McCormick

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sold PM I bought Sold from Pilgrims Book House in Kathmandu for my 24 hour journey back home. I started the book in a courtyard café, where we planned to spend the day before catching our flight in the afternoon. I finished it on the first flight that evening.

Sold is simply, but poetically written and extremely absorbing which is why it took me no time at all to read. However, the topics it covers are by no means easy. Twelve year old Lakshmi lives with her mother, baby brother and step father in a small village in Nepal.

It is a simple life with lots of difficulties, but she is much loved by her mother and together, they find joys in the smaller things in life, when they can get it. Continue reading →

Pilgrims Book House – Kathmandu

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It’s hard to believe that this time last week I was in Nepal. Before we arrived in Kathmandu, where we would spend the beginning and end of our holiday, I dutifully researched bookshops. It seemed like if you were going to visit one bookshop in Kathmandu, it should be Pilgrims Book House.

After hearing all about Pilgrims, I was so excited to visit it. It’s been called an ‘Aladdin’s cave’ with a ‘maze of rooms filled from floor to ceiling with books’. Now who wouldn’t want to get lost in that? I also read that there was a nice café, where I was planning to enjoy breakfast before disappearing between the shelves. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the address written in the Lonely Planet travel guide, this is what I found…

Old Pilgrims Continue reading →

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase – Joan Aiken

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the wolves of willoughby chaseI was ill a few weeks ago and couldn’t concentrate on my current book, so picked up this old favourite of mine from my childhood instead.

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase is packed with all of the right ingredients to make a smashing children’s adventure. When Sir Willoughby and his wife leave for a long trip abroad, they arrange for their daughter and niece to be looked after by a distant relative, the perfectly named Miss Slighcarp. With a name like that, it’s no surprise when the stern governess turns out to be a villainous and scheming woman with a plot to steal all of Sir Willoughby’s money. The two girls, Bonnie and Sylvia suffer much cruelty at the hands of their ghastly governess and later in a nearby orphanage workhouse. However, the girls are resourceful and with the help of Simon, a goose boy who lives in the woods, they plan their escape.  Continue reading →