Short review of A Place of Secrets by Rachel Hore

A Place of Secrets

Recently, I was browsing for books to read (I mean fictions) at Amazon.com and since I do not have any idea what types of fiction I am looking for, I just browse randomly. There's such a wide variety of choices to choose from and the downside of this whole thing is, I couldn't 'really' browse the inside of the books, if you get what I mean. So, all I can do is to rely on the cover page, title of the book, author and the synopsis at the back of the book.

As I came to this book, A Place of Secrets by Rachel Hore, I was immediately attracted to the title. After all, secrect are always interesting aren't they? So I click on it and read more about the book cover. And decided to buy instantly. I know I will not regret.

And I did not. I'm still reading the book at the time I'm writing this but I thought such a lovely book should be shared among my friends. I wouldn't do any spoiler here but just so random excerpt from the book to see whether would it capture you interest.

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"A flash of childhood memory. Where are you, Maman? I can't see you. Waking up in a small London bedroom, streetlight shining through pale curtains and an insect buzzing away at the inside of the window."


"Sleep didn't come. She lay puzzling for a while over the story Gran had told her, about the gypsy girl in the forest at Starbrough. There was a folly. They'd played near the folly, she'd said. She'd have to look for that tomorrow."


"Returning to Starbrough Hall, she spent quite a few hours in the library there, cataloguing, then started in earnest the cumbersome job of transcribing Esther's memoir. The section she'd already read was an easy job, but when she came to the next part it took longer, not least because she kept stopping to think about the story evolving beneath her hand. Esther's voice, timid and formal at first, was growing in strength and confidence as she proceeded."


"At this, Jude practically lost her power of speech. Esther had written about the gypsy's scarf and it was poppy red. An obvious choice of colour perhaps, but it was Summer's certainly that was bothering Jude, and the fact that so many coincidences were stacking up."

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There.. does it peak your interest? I hope I'm not giving away too much spoiler. Haha.. But I'm sure your mind must be turning since these excerpts come randomly inside the book and it doesn't give you an idea what to read.

I'll just explain a little then.

The main character, Jude is a auctioneer which had a terrible experience. She lost her husband to a mountain-climbing accident and she is struggling with life without him. As time pass, Jude began to continue with her career but when the job to value a collection of Wickham's collection, a 18th-century astronomer, stories begun to unfold lots of stories. Why did her childhood nightmare return now? How did her niece, Summer, had the similar nightmares? What had the past got to do with the present? Does it relates to the Starbrough folly?

There's a lot of questions to answer and you can only get it through the book. Jude is finding the answers with the help from Euan, local naturalist. Do you want to be part of it?

Go grab the book now! 

The Boy Who Changed The World by Andy Andrews

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are purely my own.

Have you ever wonder whether anything you do make a changes to the world? Well, this children book The Boy who Changed the World tells you that it does. This is a children book so don't expect details but reading it really make me realise that every decision I made is actually important as it does not only affect me but everyone in fact.

This short story tells you of what one people decision could led to another people decision in life and in the end save billions of hungry people. The story begins with how young Norman decision to indulge in his interest of plants and leads to Henry who learns a lot about plants that he grows up to become vice president of USA who later hire Norman (yup the Norman who I mentioned earlier) to develop seeds that grows into plant to fed billions hungry people. However, it was George who teaches Henry his interest in plants who in turn who nurture by his dad, Moses.

I like the storyline of this book. Before reading it, I never realised that all the people are connected. But they are. It's like revealing a mystery. A mystery of how 1 person is connected with another and so on. It make me realised that if Norman did not study plant, Henry would never hired him and there would be no invention of seeds for good plants to fed people. One small decision had decide the world fate. How important are our decision? Haha..

Anyway, eventhough I agree that this is a good story with a good morale behind it, I wouldn't exactly suggest it to children under 8 or those without a good understanding of English. The language used here isn't bombastic but the storyline is a bit confusing. For example, it is like telling a child that the most important alphabet is 'A' and then change your mind and telling him is 'B'. Before going off, you turn your head and tell him, no.. the most important alphabet is 'C'.. and the next day telling him it is 'D'. That's how the story goes on. If I am a child I wouldn't be able to link them together as it is not following the time sequence.

Oh, and I love the illustrating done by Philip Hurst. The colours are attractive and I am sure children would love them. But if you expect pretty faces or cute faces you would be disappointed as the faces there doesn't look cute nor pretty. Haha..

Pretty recommended for children aged between 8-10years as the morale is very strong behind it. However, I would recommend parents to read with your child to explain to them as well as letting them understand the whole story. Besides enhancing your child vocabulary you would also be enhancing your imagination and bonds with your child. Haha..

I would rate this book 3 starts out of 5.