Michelle Barker’s — My long list of impossible things *****

In 1945 when Soviet troops arrive in Muttt’s German town and kick her and her two daughters, Hilde and Katja, out of their house, they begin to leave with other refugees. Not long into their journey on foot heading to Fahlhoff, Mutti is shot by a Russian soldier and the two girls are left to fend for themselves. When they reach Fahlhoff, they learn that their mother’s friend has a reputation for being a mean hag. Will they be allowed to live under her roof, or will they be forced to remain homeless the way they had been on their long journey?

Tim Winton’s — Breath *****

Bruce is on an ambulance team, but his co-workers sense something is not quite right with him. Travelling back to his teens when he met the thrill seeking Sando and his wife on the West Australian coast, we learn of the devastating event that transformed Bruce’s life.

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Janie Chang’s — The Library of Legends *****

With the invasion of the Japanese into China in 1937, students at Minghua University leave their campus and escape on foot inland. Each student carries an original volume of the Library of Legends — a 500 year old collection of Chinese myths. Among them is Lian who learns from a letter that her mother is headed to Shanghai, but it is safer for her to stay with her professors and students. They walk mostly at night to avoid being spotted by enemy aircraft and while she walks, Shao and Sparrow befriend her. When they start out, it seems like a adventure, but soon they encounter starving refugees, Japanese bomber planes and death.

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Susan Morgan’s — Bombay Anna *****

This is a fascinating biography of Anna Leonowens who pretended to be British, covered up her past, even from her children, and became the nanny to the King of Siam’s children. She travelled the world, then settle in Canada to raise her family during the Victorian era when women stayed at home.

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