A Postcard from Hong Kong featuring Sheltering Rain by Jojo Moyles

When I'm travelling, I love to read books associated with the country I'm visiting. On a recent trip to Australia and New Zealand, we stopped over in Hong Kong. I'd just bought Jojo Moyes' first novel, Sheltering Rain, and was amazed to find out that it started right there, so it was the perfect book to read.

Here is Hong Kong, looking down from The Peak: a city bristling with skyscrapers, very different from the sight Joy Leonard would have seen back on Coronation Day, 1953, when she met Edward Ballantyne, a young naval officer.
It is the story of four women: Alice, Joy's mother, disappointed by her own life in the colony; Kate, Joy's daughter, smarting from a string of unsuitable relationships; Sabine, Joy's granddaughter, growing up and discovering love; and of course, Joy herself, and the secret she has kept through the years which has affected all their lives.
The action takes place in Hong Kong in the 1950s; in Ireland, where Joy and Edward have settled; and in London, where Kate and Sabine are living at the beginning of the story.
For a first novel, Jojo Moyles has an incredible writing style, drawing you into the story and involving you with the characters so you feel that you are living right in that damp, old house in Ireland with them.
As in The Horse Dancer, a later novel by Jojo Moyles reviewed here, horses play an important part, especially the relationship between them and the young girl in the story. Here, the character of Sabine, aged sixteen, is captured perfectly, and you are right beside her as she rides to her first hunt clutching the mane of her little grey horse.
As you know, I am a great fan of Jojo Moyes, and I really enjoyed this book.
Have you been to Hong Kong? Do you have a favourite book that is set there?

To celebrate the May Day Bank Holiday weekend, whether it rains or shines, I'm offering a FREE DOWNLOAD of my book of Twelve Super Summer Stories,  Postcards and Suntan Cream from 8am Friday, 3rd May 2013 to 8am Tuesday 7th May 2013, British Summer Time. Just click on the book cover at the top of the page!

The Horse Dancer - Another Wonderful Read by Jojo Moyes

If you've been following my blog, you'll know that I've adored all the books by Jojo Moyes that I've read. However, after devouring her most recent ones, I've had to delve into the past to find some more!
Sheltering Rain, her first novel, was on my list of books to read but as I've been away recently and it wasn't available on Kindle, I downloaded The Horse Dancer instead.
It is a simply beautiful bitter-sweet story about love: unconditional love for your horse; love for your family; love between two people, and the motivation to achieve your heart's desire.
I was totally immersed in the story of Sarah, brought up by her French grandpapa, and Boo, the horse they train together to perform the thousand-year-old manoeuvres of Le Cadre Noir, the elite French school of horsemanship, at the Sparepenny Lane Stables run by Cowboy John.
This sounds like a pony story for girls, but it is equally a story about the floundering marriage of lawyer, Natasha, and her photographer husband, Mac, who through a series of disasters, take Sarah in as a temporary foster child.
I had to keep reading to find out what happened to these characters, and I think you will too!
(You might wonder where I got the picture of the book from. Well, dear reader, I loved it so much, I bought one!)
Have you ever bought a book because you liked it so much on Kindle?

Books on my shelf waiting to be read in 2013!

It's so easy to buy books from Amazon or just in Sainsbury's, and I have now got four paperbacks that are waiting to be read, not to mention the others on my Kindle!
Firstly, Happily Ever After by Harriet Evans. I met Harriet one year at The London Book Fair, and have since enjoyed all her books, so I was pleased to see this one. It's about a girl called Eleanor Bee who doesn't believe in love. Well, I hope that with this title, everything turns out all right in the end!
Next, When I Fall in Love by Miranda Dickinson. I have loved all her books since I read her first,  Fairytale of New York. In the latest, in contrast to Harriet Evans' novel, Elsie's happily ever after is taken away from her and she has to build a whole new life, and see if she's ready to fall in love again. Oh, I can hear Nat King Cole singing the song now!
The third book is The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern, which reminds me of the song from Dirty Dancing! Cecelia is another favourite writer of mine, and you may remember that I read The Gift again this Christmas. According to a friend, if I liked that, I would like this one too, as it's about busy Lucy Silchester who's life's in a rut,  being helped by a 'kindly, rather run-down man in an old suit', rather than a businessman being helped by an angel.
My last choice is Sheltering Rain by Jojo Moyes.  It's a shame that it's not avaiable on Kindle, but I got mine for a amazing £2.99 from Sainsbury's, only 33% of the recommended retail price! It is actually her first novel, which has been brought out to, I expect, satisfy the demand for her books, and I, for one am looking forward to reading it!
What books have you got waiting to be read?