Finished John Valiant’s novel, The Jaguar’s Children, 2015. It’s very good but so hard to read because the transient Mexican’s are soldered into a water truck and stuck there for the whole book. It’s such a relief when the main character tells all his stories about what happened before that truck but you don’t find out til the very end what happens. Well written book, timely issues; genetically modified corn, corrupt govennments, poverty, bad government laws, criminals.

Started the Booker winner by Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, 2014. Hard to take as well, as prisoners are abused and killed building the impossible Burma railway. Good writing, will probably keep going.

Really liked Helen Macdonald’s H is for Hawk, 2015. It is truely about Mabel the hawk but about so much more. Intersting to learn about goshawks historically and now in the UK, well researched. But more interesting to read about how the training of Mabel helped Helen recover.

Mabel