The Catalpa Tree by Denyse Devlin

[smileitssunny]

Anyone got any useful insights I can take to my reading group tonight?! Cheeky I know... I chose the book vv last minute as library system failed; now I have to explain myself

Do you mean you have to explain why you've picked it?

Well, I have to start the discussion off, put it that way. And it's a little less highbrow than the usual picks, so I do feel the need to explain myself!

Her books are great for their sense of place - "Like Nowhere Else" and "Overnight to Innsbruck" are both engrossing. Talk about her also being published as Denyse Woods, her background as the child of a diplomat who had to make her home in many places and the way that theme comes into The Catalpa Tree as the protaganist has the same struggle etc. That should lead to some discussion of how the west of Ireland and Spain are respresented in the book and how the place is usually present as another character in her books etc. Love her books.

Hey that's great beachholiday thankyou. I haven't actually read any others.. and probably won't go out of my way to. It was found to be a light read but one that left a bad taste. Some thought it believable, others less so. I didn't find it had much of a sense of place tbh. However it did stay with me for 14yrs after I first read it, and I can't say that about many books!

What do you mean by 'the place is usually present as a character'? I completely missed that :)