Wednesday, August 3, 2011

New Book Assignment

Hello Ladies! Book Number TWO is: John Dollar, by Marianne Wiggins



Charlotte Lewes, a young Briton newly widowed by the Great War, departs for colonial Burma in 1917 to escape the ruins of her life. As a schoolteacher in Rangoon she is rejuvenated by the sensuous Oriental climate, and meets John Dollar, a sailor who becomes her passionate love and whose ill-fated destiny inextricably binds her to him.On a festive seafaring expedition, the tightly knit British community confronts disaster in the shape of an earthquake and ensuing tidal wave. Swept overboard, Charlotte, John Dollar, and eight young girls who are Charlotte''s pupils awake on a remote island beach. As they struggle to stay alive, their dependence on John overwhelms him, and an atmosphere of menace and doom builds, culminating in shocking and riveting scenes of both death and survival.


Its been called the female "Lord of the Flies." A study into human nature when it is put under the most dire and desperate circumstances.

"One of eight young girls stranded alone on the island with paralyzed John Dollar, she--the only Indian--and the rest “learned to do things . . . they’d never done before, things that marked them out as creatures, beings in the wild.” Indeed, how well they learn to be creatures in the wild will determine how long they survive. Without becoming predator or prey." E-notes.com


The meeting will be Sunday, September 11th at a brunch location TBA. Post any ideas on where to meet! This gives you a little over 5 weeks to get through the book and hopefully enough advanced notice to pencil the date into your calenders! Happy reading! Feel free to post any interesting points or excerpts along the way!