This is a very difficult book to describe – it takes place in the San Francisco Bay Area and is billed as a kind of war between nature loving witches and tech savvy hipsters – both 
trying to save the world from falling apart but with very different views of what the end state should look like and how to get there. A great extrapolation from the current bay area residents! The stars of both camps happened to be miserable together as complete outcasts during middle school and may be falling in love even as it all comes to a head. Full of surprises, interesting characters, and tugs of familiarity. I didn’t really enjoy the first few chapters which focussed on the middle school start but loved it once they grew up and had lives and the real (to me) story started. Definitely worth a read.
trying to save the world from falling apart but with very different views of what the end state should look like and how to get there. A great extrapolation from the current bay area residents! The stars of both camps happened to be miserable together as complete outcasts during middle school and may be falling in love even as it all comes to a head. Full of surprises, interesting characters, and tugs of familiarity. I didn’t really enjoy the first few chapters which focussed on the middle school start but loved it once they grew up and had lives and the real (to me) story started. Definitely worth a read.
The latest Maisie Dobbs book (the 12th in the series) is every bit as captivating as the earlier books, after a couple of somewhat disappointing titles. Maisie is back on her home turf, tackling a set of disturbing murders that are rooted in events from the first world war even as England declares itself at war with Germany on the eve of the second world war. Winspear perfectly captures the mood of the time – children being evacuated, schools converted to hospitals and barracks, gas masks always at the ready, and the younger generation excited about enlisting while the older generation, still recovering from the losses of the first war, despair. I love the way the series has progressed through history, drawing from historical events to provide the motivations for crimes and I love her characters who feel like old friends.
Books to look forward to ... 