Bernadette Fox is the most talented architect no one has ever heard of. After a tragic incident involving the most resourceful house ever built in its time, Bernadette has suffered from massive anxiety and even agoraphobia. Then, her daughter Bee was born with a rare heart condition and almost didn’t survive to her first birthday….
Category: family secrets
“The Bookshop of Yesterdays” Book Discussion and Orange F.R.O.G. Jam Muffins Recipe
Miranda grew up loving books, especially those she was allowed to take home from her uncle’s bookstore, Prospero Books. On the night of her twelfth birthday, her beloved uncle Billy, maker of riddles and scavenger hunts, finally appeared very late at her house and got into a drunken argument with her mother. That was the…
“The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” Book Discussion and Orange Marmalade Roll Recipe
Lucy is the youngest of four children who have been sent to the English countryside to live in a large, old manor house with an elderly gentleman until the bombings of London in WWII have ended. While exploring indoors on a rainy day, she crawls into a deep wardrobe, and out into the land of…
“Winter Rose” Book Discussion and Apple Blackberry Pie Bites Recipe
Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip “I walked through a storm and fell asleep in an empty house; when I woke there was a dead man beside me…” Two sisters are preparing for harvest to end and winter to arrive, one is engaged to a farmer, and one is as wild as the autumn winds…
“Once Upon a River” Book Discussion and Easy Apple Cinnamon Buns Recipe
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield At winter solstice in the Swan at Radcot, a weathered pub beside the Thames river, where stories are told and retold round the bar and a roaring fire, a man washes up, banged-up and nearly dead, with a very young girl, as lifeless as a mannequin. Until her…
“Jane Eyre” Book Discussion and Orange Almond Cardamom Cupcakes Recipe
Jane Eyre is an orphaned governess who develops romantic feelings for her employer, Mr. Rochester, a man ensconced in tragedy. Sent away to an orphanage as a child by her cruel aunt, Jane’s attachments in life have been few. At Lowood, she gains a friend whose perspectives enable Jane to reign in her anger and…
“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Book Discussion” and Pumpkin Pasty Cupcakes
On 4 Privet Drive, Surrey, a baby was delivered to the most unmagical family that ever lived. He was famous in the wizarding world for being the only “boy who lived” after facing the most wicked wizard of all time. Harry Potter is raised by an unkind aunt and uncle who make him sleep in…
“The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop and Cafe” Book Discussion and Blueberry Streusel Muffin Recipe
A New York lawyer visits her grandmother’s hometown in Maine to deliver a letter. After nearly drowning and several other hilarious mishaps, Ellen unexpectedly finds the possibility of a new life, as well as a new taste for blueberries. An engaged New York lawyer visits her grandmother’s hometown in Maine to deliver a letter to…
“Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier Book Discussion and Blackberry Victoria Sponge Cupcakes
“Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again…” Rebecca is perhaps the greatest and most haunting Gothic novel, the one to which all others written since have been compared. (Image of “Manderley” created with ChatGPT) Set in the English countryside in the 1920’s, in a mansion by the sea, Maxim de Winter lives with…
“The Distant Hours” Book Discussion and Mini Pear Pound Cakes
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton From the first pages of The Distant Hours, imaginations are captured, like Edie’s, by the dark tale of the Mud Man, a haunting fictional book within this one: “Can you hear him? The trees can. They are the first to hear him coming…It is moonless when the Mud Man comes.”…