The English Travel Book Club : a trip around the world

A reading effort between :
Laurence Dubourg
Caroline Guépin
Roger Palmer
and Susan Palmer

We meet in the lovely surroundings of La Marmoire, a B&B in Soudan, France.
With charm and beauty, it welcomes us every 4 to 5 weeks.
http://www.lamarmoire.com/fr/ 

We read and speak in english, whilst traveling to a new country through each new book.

So far the travel has been wonderful : Cyprius, Malaysia, Botswana, Mexico, England, Australia. Next time we shall embark in a trip to a new land.

NEED TO KNOW by Karen Cleveland

Book N°7 - Englishtravelbookclub's meeting of the 8th Of April 2018

A suggestion of Roger Palmer

Need to Know follows the journey of Vivian Miller, a counter-intelligence analyst at the CIA. Incredibly skilled at what she does, Vivian has risen through the ranks and has landed a coveted job in the department that investigates all things Russia.  When the novel opens, Vivian and her department have been looking for Russian sleeper cells in the U.S. and Vivian has developed an algorithm that can identify Russian operatives who handle the sleeper cells.

One morning, while remote accessing the computer of a suspected operative, Vivian locates a secret dossier containing information about deep-cover Russian agents who are currently living in the United States.  What she finds makes her realize that, if true, most of her life has been a lie, and it threatens not only her job but also her husband and even her children.  Vivian has taken a vow to defend the U.S. against all enemies, whether foreign or domestic, but now she finds herself in an impossible situation, one that could get her imprisoned and even charged with treason!

What will Vivian do? How far is she willing to go to protect her family? Is there anyone she can trust to help her or is she on her own?

From https://thebookishlibra.com/2018/01/22/book-review-need-to-know-by-karen-cleveland/

My place by SALLY MORGAN

Book N°6 - Englishtravelbookclub's meeting of the 11 February 2018

A suggestion of Laurence Dubourg

Sally tells her childhood story as an aboriginal child in a city.

Her grandmother is in tune with nature and tries to adapt to the white society whilst fearing administration and her home owner. Along with her daughter, Sally’s mum, too aware of aboriginal discrimination, they decide to say they are of Indian descent.

The four of us had a different feel about the book. Reading it for the second time, I enjoyed the descriptions of Sally’s family. Susan felt the construction of the book was interesting (telling the same story from the perspective of a different character) however, she felt it was thus a bit repetitive. So, did the other readers.

We all found it very sad that it was necessary, still in the seventies, to say you are Indian rather than aboriginal.

Finally, when Sally obtains a study grant, we thought it was a fair turn of events. The living conditions of this aboriginal family was a learning to many of us and we were all bemused by the dog biscuits fed to the owner of the house, when he came get the rent.