The Lost Wife | Alyson Richman

This is a deeply moving book, beautifully written and incredible to read.

A long time ago, I attended an exhibition in Christchurch (NZ) of the Paintings created by the Children of Terezin, a small concentration camp just outside Prague. Then, a few years later I went to Terezin and it was astounding to be there and see where so many people lived, worked and died. Of the 660 children who were taken there, 550 were killed. Their art lives on and tells their story.

This book is part of their story. We follow chapter by chapter the lives of Lenka and Josef, Jews from Prague. They meet before the war, they are separated at the beginning of the war and spend 60 years looking for each other. Lenka is an artist and is transported to Terezin where she becomes involved with the children's barracks where they are taught and encouraged to paint and draw. Josef escapes to America and searches for Lenka and eventually he is told she died in a concentration camp. Lenka reads that Josef's boat to America sinks and he is drowned.

The story is so well crafted, so beautiful in it's structure and telling that I would be spoiling it if I continue telling you more about it. Just read it. It will not disappoint.

The best book I've read this year.

Come Aboard | Eric Hiscock

This book was written in 1978 about Eric and his wife Susan's third circumnavigation of the globe. They sailed from New Zealand to England via the Indian Ocean and Africa and then home across the Pacific doing a bit of island hopping.

And this was WAY before GPS and all the modern toys used in modern sailing. They spend a lot of time alone at sea and having done this trip three times, their observations about the changes in the oceans, ports and people are very interesting.
There is a lot of sailing detail, more than I was interested about on some pages but these I skimmed through.
A lot about rigging, sail, making stuff on the boat when things break, how to supply your boat while at different marinas... For anyone who has been on a boat or anyone who enjoys long journeys this book is great.
I'm not sure how many people are out there having these amazing adventures nowadays but Eric and his wife make it sound like a wonderful way to live and be truly free.

Really enjoyed reading it.

Navigation | Joy Cowley

Since my children were young I have read Cowley's books. She has many titles used in schools to help children learn to read, enjoy what they read and have stories set in New Zealand rather than foreign settings most can't relate to.

So I was very keen to read this book which is a memoir. Not so much a chronological telling of her life's story but rather thoughts and stories about her life.

The thing that inspired me most about her is her generosity. The way she describes the people in her life, her journey as an author and her thoughts all seem to spill out of a generous, thankful heart.

She has travelled the world promoting children's books, children's reading and their capacity for storytelling themselves. There are many anecdotes where she meets children who struggle with reading, who have no books about their own cultures. Having first encountered this in New Zealand, she encourages them to tell their stories and write them down and read their own stores over and over again.

Cowley runs workshops all over the world and is still writing from her home in New Zealand