Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
BOOK OF THE WEEK with Linda Jennings. The Paying Guests, Sarah Waters, ISBN 9780349004587 (Virago). BD7.900 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members
‘There came the splash of water and the rub of heels as Mrs Barber stepped into the tub. After that there was a silence, broken only by the occasional echoey plink of drips from the tap’...’Frances had been picturing her lodgers in purely mercenary terms – as something like two great waddling shillings. But this, she thought, was what it really meant to have paying guests: this odd, un-intimate proximity, this rather peeled-back moment, where the only thing between herself and a naked Mrs Barber was a few feet of kitchen and a thin scullery door. An image sprang into her head: that round flesh, crimsoning in the heat.’
It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned, the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. In a large silent house in South London now bereft of brothers, husband and even servants, life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.
For, with the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the ‘clerk class’, the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. And as passions mount and frustration gathers, no one can foresee just how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be.
A love story that is also a crime story, this is vintage Sarah Waters writing at her best: beautifully described with excruciating tension, real tenderness, believable characters, and surprises. I’m waiting for her to win the Booker Prize one of these days.
* Read it now in paperback
Never Say Goodbye, Susan Lewis, ISBN 9780099586432 (Arrow) BD3.900 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members.
How would you cope with the threat of losing someone you love? Josie Clark is a loving wife and mother. She and her husband Jeff don’t have much and it’s often difficult to make ends meet but Josie, like a lot of women, will do anything to protect her family and keep them safe.
Bel Monkton is a successful property developer, living in a beautiful house by the sea. She seems to have everything going for her, but she’s lonely and dwelling on the tragedy of three years ago that tore her life in two.
This story is built around the meeting of these two women, their friendship, love and support as they come to treasure their growing friendship whilst the tragic happenings of one life is relived by the other.
This is a compelling and deeply moving novel of friendship, family and the power of love, from the Sunday Times Top 10 bestselling author of No Child of Mine and Don’t Let Me Go.
* My favourite read-of-the-week
Great British Bake-Off: Big Book Of Baking, Linda Collister ISBN 9781849904834 (BBC Books) BD11.200 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members.
New official tie-in to the hit BBC TV series – featuring 120 recipes from both judges and contenders alike.
This book is for every baker – whether you want to whip up a quick batch of easy biscuits at the very last minute or you want to spend your time making a breathtaking showstopper, there are recipes and decoration options for creating both.
Using straightforward, easy-to-follow techniques there are reliable recipes for biscuits, bread, large and small cakes, sweet and savoury pastries, puddings and desserts.
Each chapter transports you on set and showcases the best recipes from the challenges including Mary and Paul’s Signature Bakes, Technical Challenges and Showstoppers, plus the best bakers’ recipes from the show.
There are step-by-step photographs to help guide you through the more complicated techniques and stunning photography throughout, making this the perfect gift for all bakers and for all those Bake-Off fans.
