Front Cover Friday – 27

This is a book I’ve looked at for months and finally do own it. (Haven’t read it yet, but it’s next on the list) The cover was the first thing that caught my eye. To be honest, I cannot pinpoint what exactly it is about the cover that appeals to me. On the one hand, it looks very crowded and yet, there’s something intriguing about having two cups standing out in the crowd. Almost like it implies that in the crowd of similar people, two stand out most for some reason. And possibly, the story is about these two people. Any way, maybe I’m reading too much into it!

A synopsis of the book according to Goodreads:

Major Ernest Pettigrew, retired, of Edgecombe St. Mary, England, is more than a little dismayed by the sloppy manners, narcissism, and materialism of modern society. The decline of gentility is evident everywhere, from tea bags, to designer sweaters, to racism masquerading as tolerance.

Mutual grief allies him with Mrs. Ali, a widowed local shopkeeper of Pakistani descent who has also resigned herself to dignified, if solitary, last years. The carefully suppressed passion between these two spawns twitters of disapproval in their provincial village, but Pettigrew hasn’t time for such silliness: real estate developers are plotting to carpet the fields outside his back door with mansionettes and his sister-in-law plans to auction off a prized family firearm. Meanwhile, Mrs. Ali’s late husband’s Muslim family expects her to hand over her hard-won business to her sullen, fundamentalist nephew, a notion she finds repellant and chauvinistic.

It’s a testament to Simonson that in this delightful novel, Pettigrew must navigate the tragic, the absurd, and the transcendentally joyful aspects of a familiar life turned upside down by an unfamiliar and unexpected late-life love affair. That two people from opposing and mutually distrusting worlds are able to bridge every gap with unerring respect and decorum serves as a quiet suggestion that larger conflicts might be avoided or resolved in much the same way. Finally, a way forward that Major Pettigrew would approve.

So does it appeal to you? The story and/or the cover?

I’ll put up a review as soon as I finish the book.

Until next time,

Cheers!!!

Front Cover Friday – 26

Letters From Home by Kristina McMorris

Elegant and simple…I fell in love with this cover the minute I saw it. I think I was attracted to it because the ‘letters’ factor…in this day and age when getting a handwritten mail has become a rarity, seeing something like this definitely puts a smile on my face.  And the flowers  – oh they just add more sweetness to the setting, don’t they?

It’s a nice front cover, don’t you think?

Here’s the description of the book from Shelfari –

Chicago, 1944. Liz Stephens has little interest in attending a USO club dance with her friends Betty and Julia. She doesn’t need a flirtation with a lonely serviceman when she’s set to marry her childhood sweetheart. Yet something happens the moment Liz glimpses Morgan McClain. They share only a brief exchange–cut short by the soldier’s evident interest in Betty–but Liz can’t forget him. Thus, when Betty asks her to ghostwrite a letter to Morgan, stationed overseas, Liz reluctantly agrees. Thousands of miles away, Morgan struggles to adjust to the brutality of war. His letters from “Betty” are a comfort, their soul-baring correspondence a revelation to them both. While Liz is torn by her feelings for a man who doesn’t know her true identity, Betty and Julia each become immersed in their own romantic entanglements. And as the war draws to a close, all three will face heart-wrenching choices, painful losses, and the bittersweet joy of new beginnings. Beautifully rendered and deeply moving, Letters from Home is a story of hope and connection, of sacrifices made in love and war–and the chance encounters that change us forever.

Sounds interesting. What do you think?

Do you like the cover? The plot? Do share.

Front Cover Friday – 25

Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth

Came across this book as I was browsing through the store few days ago. The cover caught my attention and intrigued me enough that I bought the book even before reading what it was about. That picture is just so fascinating, I think.

Here’s another cover for this book that I found online…I quite like this one too, although the one above remains my favorite -

Here’s the synopsis of the story -

In Land of Marvels, a thriller set in 1914, he brings to life the schemes and double-dealings of Western nations grappling for a foothold in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire.

Somerville, a British archaeologist, is excavating a long-buried Assyrian palace. The site lies directly in the path of a new railroad to Baghdad, and he watches nervously as the construction progresses, threatening to destroy his discovery. The expedition party includes Somerville’s beautiful, bored wife, Edith; Patricia, a smart young graduate student; and Jehar, an Arab man-of-all-duties whose subservient manner belies his intelligence and ambitions. Posing as an archaeologist, an American geologist from an oil company arrives one day and insinuates himself into the group. But he’s not the only one working undercover to stake a claim on Iraq’s rich oil fields.

Interesting?

I started reading the book yesterday and it’s so far so good. Can’t wait to dive deep into the plot!

Do you like the cover(s)? The storyline? Do share.