WWRW August 5th

A Town like Alice  by Nevil Shute; I read this as part of the MMD challenge for the category 'a book my mom love' only to find out later that she loves the movie but can't remember if she has ever read the book. Well I have now and really enjoyed it. It's actually three books in one.
A young Englishwoman receives an inheritance and tells the story of her experiences in WWII in Malaya where she was a POW of the Japanese with a group of women and children who trekked from one camp to another and another.  She decides to use part of her inheritance to thank the village women who gave her group shelter when they were left stranded after their last guard died.
She reminisces about another POW, an Australian who is driving a truck, who helped her group with stolen food, soap, and medicine. Their deepening relationship is built on small telling details that grab your heart.
    Sgt Joe Harmon is the kind of hero you'll love and remember for the rest of your life.
After her stay with the Malayan women, Jean decides to visit the outback town where Joe had lived; small and rough, with nothing to offer its young people, nothing at all like Alice Springs, a thriving boomtown. Her story here would be a completely satisfying romance novel by itself.  All of those is told from the perspective of an elderly lawyer back in England who serves as the major trustee to the trust set-up surrounding her inheritance.

Historical aside: This is a work of fiction but based on the actual events that took place on Sumatra during WWII.

Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevemer; I received this book for my birthday and I have already hit up the giver to see if she had the sequel (which she did and I'm happily taking on vacation).  This is a delightful regency mystery told in a series of letters exchanged between two cousins one attending the Season in London and one back at home with just a bit of magic and wizardary thrown in. Sweet, funny, well paced with just the right about of suspense and trepidation thrown in.

Currently reading Fr James Martin's Between Heaven and Mirth, more on which I will say next time.

Now please head over to Jessica's for more WWRW.