When Henry McAllan moves his city-bred wife, Laura, to a cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta in 1946, she finds herself in a place both foreign and frightening. Henry’s love of rural life is not shared by Laura, who struggles to raise their two young children in an isolated shotgun shack under the eye of her hateful, racist father-in-law. When it rains, the waters rise up and swallow the bridge to town, stranding the family in a sea of mud.

As the Second World War shudders to an end, two young men return from Europe to help work the farm. Jamie McAllan is everything his older brother Henry is not and is sensitive to Laura’s plight, but also haunted by his memories of combat. Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black sharecroppers who live on the farm, comes home from war with the shine of a hero, only to face far more dangerous battles against the ingrained bigotry of his own countrymen. These two unlikely friends become players in a tragedy on the grandest scale.

Group Reviews:

A – I thought this was an excellent read, well written and absorbing. Whilst the themes of racism and inequality are endlessly written about I felt that, the two main characters experiences in WW2 gave this novel a different perspective. Although they had been changed by their experience they found that entrenched attitudes at home had not changed which ultimately led to tragedy. Very thought provoking. I would also recommend the Film of this book. (Netflix)

L – This was an easy read, short chapters and interesting characters. I don’t think some parts of America have changed that much and still have the same views on racism

This is a debut novel by Quentin Tarantino and is a novelization of his 2019 film of the same name.  Like the film, it follows the career arc of fictional action movie star Rick Dalton and his friend and stunt double, Cliff Booth.

Not a favourite I’m afraid.  I guess if you liked the film you’ll probably like the book.  Unfortunately no-one in the Reading Group was a fan – a lot of hyped up nonsense.

Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met. They came from Fleet Street, Knightsbridge, Wolverhampton, Sweden and Wales. They wrote ballads, ran coffee houses, lived on country estates, they breathed ink-dust from printing presses and escaped people-traffickers. What they had in common was the year of their murders: 1888.

The person responsible was never identified, but the character created by the press to fill that gap has become far more famous than any of these five women.
For more than a century, newspapers have been keen to tell us that ‘the Ripper’ preyed on prostitutes. Not only is this untrue, as historian Hallie Rubenhold has discovered, it has prevented the real stories of these fascinating women from being told. Now, in this devastating narrative of five lives, Rubenhold finally sets the record straight, revealing a world not just of Dickens and Queen Victoria, but of poverty, homelessness and rampant misogyny. They died because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time – but their greatest misfortune was to be born a woman.

Group Reviews:

This book led to more discussion than usual at our meeting.  Everyone enjoyed it.

1.  Surprisingly, I really enjoyed this book and wouldn’t have chosen to read it normally. It was a very clear  insight into the  lives of the five victims killed by Jack the Ripper.   With the author describing  their early years,  how the life path they chose led them  becoming alcoholics, sleeping rough,  perhaps going into prostitution and what they had in common which led to their murders.  It was definitely a different take on all the books about Jack the Ripper.  Although,  very sad at the way these women’s lives were and ended it was written in a very informative and respectful manner.  Well done Hallie Rubenhold.

2.  There were some common themes running through the stories of the five women who were alleged to have been victims of Jack The Ripper – namely their lives were all filled with unfortunate circumstances, there was a reliance on alcohol at various points of their lives, they came from under privileged backgrounds. Misfortune had taken them to a dangerous area of London. It was assumed that they were all prostitutes but the stories showed that only one, Mary Jane Kelly, considered herself a prostitute.

3.  The stories of the women were that of the social history of the time. Each came from a different part of the country with one originating in Sweden.  I felt that the detail of conditions these women lived in was fairly generic and perhaps not altogether relevant for each one. Although the social history for the era was interesting the detail was too much and at times repeated. Women who had received a rudiment of education could still not escape their circumstances. There were also gaps in the knowledge of circumstances of each woman and how they arrived in this notorious part of London so it seemed that without real evidence it was made to fit the overall story.

4.  I enjoyed the book and thought it was well written, an easy read, whilst giving information and being thought provoking.  Although the women prostituted themselves I do not think that was their original aim, it was forced on them by  the times; they had to have a man ‘behind’ them and if they lost the support of one quickly had to find another.  At least today’s women have a choice.  Poverty and alcohol were the major factors in the downfall of the women although lack of family support contributed to their problems.  Nowadays the media can be intrusive but it helps to publish information about available help.  It was interesting to read about the lives of the women rather than speculation as to whom the Ripper could have been.