Happy February ladies!! Lovely to have you here with us.
Here are the choices for this month’s read. Have a read through and see what you think. You can then cast your vote on the pinned post on our Facebook group HERE
We will then get together online in the group at the end of Feb to discuss the chosen book.
THE RAPTURES – JAN CARSON 
When several children from the same village start succumbing to a mysterious illness, the quest to discover the cause has devastating and extraordinary consequences.
It is late June in Ballylack. Hannah Adger anticipates eight long weeks’ reprieve from school, but when her classmate Ross succumbs to a violent and mysterious illness, it marks the beginning of a summer like no other.
As others fall ill, questions about what – or who – is responsible pitch the village into conflict and fearful disarray. Hannah, ever the outsider, is haunted by guilt as she remains healthy while her friends are struck down. Isolated and afraid, she prays for help. What happens next will force her to question everything she believes.
Bursting with Carson’s trademark wit, profound empathy and soaring imagination, The Raptures explores how tragedy can unite a small community – and tear it apart. At its heart is the extraordinary resilience of one young girl. As the world crumbles around her, she must find the courage to be different in a place where conforming feels like the only option available.
THE MAID – NITA PROSE
Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by.
Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life’s complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.
But Molly’s orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what’s happening, Molly’s unusual demeanour has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black—but will they be able to find the real killer before it’s too late?
A Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heart warming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different—and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.
THE TWYFORD CODE – JANICE HALLETT
Forty years ago, Steven Smith found a copy of a famous children’s book, its margins full of strange markings and annotations. He took it to his English teacher, Miss Isles, who became convinced it was the key to solving a puzzle – that a message in secret code ran through all of Edith Twyford’s novels. Then, Miss Isles disappeared on a class field trip, and Steven’s memory won’t allow him to remember what happened. Now out of prison after a long stretch, Steven decides to investigate the mystery that has haunted him for decades. Was Miss Isles murdered? Was she deluded? Or was she right about the code? And is it still in use today? Desperate to recover his memories and find out what really happened to his teacher, Steven revisits the people and places of his childhood. But it soon becomes clear Twyford wasn’t just a writer of forgotten children’s stories. ‘The Twyford Code’ has great power, and he isn’t the only one trying to solve it.
FEMLANDIA – CHRISTINA DALCHER
The explosive new thriller from the bestselling author of VOX and Q
Welcome to Femlandia… It’s no place like home.
The United States has sunk into total collapse.
Men in positions of power have wrecked the economy and left women to suffer and pick up the pieces.
Miranda Reynolds has lost her husband, her job and her home. There’s only one place left that she and her daughter Emma can go. Femlandia.
Femlandia is a female-only community. A utopia for women. There’s a reason Miranda never joined before. Now she has no choice.
With what Miranda knows about Femlandia’s founder, she’s right to be wary. While life outside the gates is fraught with danger, there’s something just as sinister going on within.
MAGPIE – ELIZABETH DAY 
She has almost everything. The rest she’ll take.
Marisa may have only known Jake a few months, but she has never felt this certain about anyone. When he asks her to move in with him and they start trying for a baby, she knows she has finally found the steadfast love and support she has been looking for all her life.
But their relationship is tested when they take in a lodger, Kate, who has little regard for personal boundaries and seems to take an uncomfortable interest in Jake – as well as the baby they are hoping to have.
Why is Kate so obsessed with the couple? And, more worryingly, why doesn’t Jake share Marisa’s concern?
In her determination to find the answers, Marisa risks losing everything she holds dear…
Magpie is a tense, twisting, brilliantly written novel about mothers and children, envy and possession, and the dangers of getting everything you’ve ever dreamed of.
