Thursday, July 30, 2020
Thursday, July 23, 2020
Book Review: The Museum of Forgotten Memories
Title: The Museum of Forgotten Memories
Written: 2020
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
The cover of this book said “Gripped me utterly... Superb”, Kate Furnivall. I agree with this. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and I had a deep emotional agreement with Leo. He was, in the novel, born with Downs. I had worked in Taupo (New Zealand)’s IHC a few years ago where a young man died from his Downs. I also had an uncle, many years ago, who was epileptic and died during his seizure. I could relate to Cate a lot. If you’ve ever been to a museum and found it so full of information and history, then this tale is certainly about that, but it’s also about Cate and Leo and surviving after husband and father.
Cate and Leo are the family of Richard Lyons-Morris (pronounced Lee-on Morris: they used to get upset when people called them Lions Morris). That was why Leo, their son, was named Leo – people should pronounce his surname correctly. Except Richard didn’t like his surname, just used Morris.
Richard had what could be called a DNA problem – he became very depressed, lost a lot of weight, and killed himself. Just as his own father had done. Cate found out a lot of history about Richard from the woman who looked after the museum, Araminta Buchan – not particularly good at the start; Araminta was, Cate felt, stuck up with herself.
After Richard had died Cate and Leo were left homeless – or would have been, if they weren’t given a home at Richard’s family museum. It was supposed to be for a “real descendant”, and that was Leo, even though the Trust didn’t think he was “real” because of his Downs. Cate, and eventually Araminta, supported Leo and kept them there.
At the start Cate didn’t really like the museum, but, because it was her home now, she helped Araminta to get it ready to re-open. Unfortunately there were some protestors that same day who threw paint around in the diorama, covering the glass and the floor. Later that same night a fire burns inside, not caused by protestors yet almost as devastating. Curtis, a new friend of Leo’s, calls out many neighbours who come and help lift things out of the library and the diorama and other areas of the museum, but Cate burns herself, quite seriously. Many volunteers come and help them to clean and get everything back inside, where it needs to be.
Araminta Buchan tells Cate stories of the family and how she fits in. Her job is to keep this museum running, her admiration of the person who started it, Colonel Hugo Lyons-Morris, and her love of other people in the family. Why?
Cate’s love tales include Richard, Simon and Patch. Read the excellent novel and feel sad, feel happy, feel involved with Cate and her son, Leo. It’s a wonderful novel by Anstey Harris.
Book Review: The Good Turn
Author: Dervla McTiernan
Written: 2020
Publisher: HarperCollins
Dervla McTiernan is Irish, but now lives in Australia. This book is her third novel, and all are written in Galway, in Ireland. The Good Turn is about police corruption and an investigation into that which causes too many more crimes and death.
Cormac Reilly is a detective sergeant running a serious crime investigation team in Galway, but his team has been stripped down to a skeleton team as Murphy, the Commissioner for the area, is running a drug crime team. Reilly is informed of a 12-year-old child who was abducted and he calls Murphy for more men, but Murphy turns him down. Reilly is left with Peter Foster, a new detective, Mulcair, a young and inexperienced garda, and Deidre Russell, the only woman, treated as the police receptionist. Foster is sent to an interview of a young boy, Fred, who is home sick. He says he had seen the abduction from his bedroom window – and, more importantly, he had taken a video of it.
Foster reports back to Reilly, and is sent back out to look around the area for anyone who might know the abductor. One name crops up, and Foster tries to find him. He is informed that the vehicle in Fred’s video is seen heading out of town, and he knows that, without other officers, he has to follow it. He rings the station and speaks to Russell and find that Reilly is at the house where the girl lives, and can’t be spoken to. He knows he needs more men, he knows he needs a helicopter, but he knows that he can’t order it: he would have to wait for Reilly.
Frustrated, he follows the vehicle down a non-road, towards the lake. He has to stop his own car, and walks the rest of the way. He sees the vehicle and sees the person who was driving it. He calls to him to stop the vehicle, but the driver drives towards him, forcing him backwards towards the lake. He fires, three times. That man is now dead – and no young girl.
Back at the station Reilly says the girl is at hospital and isn’t talking. His office is overtaken by Inspector Reynolds, with no explanation at all. Reilly is dumped and Foster is sent to Roundstone in the country to work with his father – something he never wanted to do. His father is a garda, but doesn’t think Peter is any good. Foster visits his grandmother, Maggie, and meets another woman, Anna Tilly, who was staying there with her daughter. She is looking after Maggie. Foster finds out of a couple of murders in Roundstone, investigates them and finds more clues. What would he do? What would he tell Reilly? And what would happen to Murphy and Foster’s father?
McTiernan wrote very well. Readers who enjoy detective and crime novels need to read this.
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