Melissa Fu’s—Peach blossom spring *****

In 1930s China, one tragedy after another seems to pursue Meilin. As a young wife she becomes a widow. Then with her four-year-old son, Renshu they are forced to flee the family home when the Japanese army approaches. After weeks of travelling by train, then on foot they arrive at a remote inland town where she believes they’ll be safe. Her brother-in-law and wife join them, but as the days pass, Japanese bomber planes reach their village. When finally the war ends in 1945, they move to Shanghai, until the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek fight for supremacy. Where can they escape to when it seems that their lives are in danger once again?

Geraldine Brooks’—Horse *****

When Theo, a Nigerian art historian, removes a painting of a horse from a discarded pile of junk a neighbour has dumped in her front yard, he is unaware of its connection to a Kentucky slave from the 1800s. He takes the painting covered in soot to a restorer where he meets a Smithsonian scientist, Jess who has been studying the bones of the horse she believes is the same one in the painting. Jarret is a slave in the 1850s with a knack with horses. He forms a close bond with a foal after its birth and grooms the horse to race on the insistence of his master, Dr. Warfield.

What happens to Theo and the painting he has restored? And why did the bones of a horse from more than a hundred years ago end up in storage in a neglected section of Washington’s Smithsonian Museum?

What makes this book an even better read is the author’s meticulous research into many of her real characters and the events that actually happened back in the 1800s.

Denise Chong’s — The Concubine’s Children *****

This is a fascinating tale of Chan Sam who left his wife in China to find gold in British Columbia. In Vancouver, he bought a concubine who worked in Chinatown to support both families.

The memoir gives a deep insight into the early lives of Chinese immigrants to Canada—the hard work they endured, the loneliness they faced, and the deep prejudice they suffered from both the government and the European community.

M. Wylie Blanchet’s — The Curve of Time *****

After being widowed in 1927, Blanchet took off with her children as skipper in her seven metre boat every summer to tour deserted inlets and abandoned First Nation villages. She cruised single handedly from her home on Vancouver Island along the Strait of Georgia between the Gulf Islands braving storms and engine breakdowns.

This is a wonderful memoir—a Canadian classic—that made me feel as if I was on an extended holiday to these beautiful and unique isolated locations.