The Eastern Regional Library Show

Library staff member Lesley Conway runs a radio show each Wednesday 12:05pm-12:45pm on Eastern FM 98.1 called The Eastern Regional Library Show. Tune in next Wednesday for a great show.

On Wednesday's show


It's hard to believe that a good detective novel author has slipped under Lyn Baines' radar, but so it is! Today she brought along Missing by Cath Sinclair who has written for TV as well as novels. Her main character is a private investigator, Sal Kilkenny, who lives in the English Midlands city of Manchester, and spends a lot of her time tracing missing persons. The novels tell you a lot about what is happening in Sal's own life too, and makes for relaxed and intriguing reading.

An interesting non-fiction book which has just arrived, titled Can any mother help me? by Jenna Bailey is about British women who supported each other for decades by producing a private magazine. They wrote letters about the trials and tribulations of their lives, received advice back from others, and wrote articles about a wide range of subjects. The important thing was that the magazine was just for the women, it was not shared with the family, and many children of these women who were interviewed for the book said that they were wildly curious about their mother's 'secret' reading.

If you are a self-confessed Helen Mirren fan, as Lyn is, you will enjoy her autobiography In the frame : my life in words and pictures. There are wonderful photos of her grandfather's Russian family, and many personal photos from fim set and theatres. I first came across Helen Mirren in the fim Gosford Park, but as Lyn pointed out, she has a huge body of work behind her, including the TV series Prime Suspect and Elizabeth I, and is the only actor to have played both Queen Elizabeths, having recently filmed
The Queen, about Elizabeth II. All these movies and series are held in the ERL collection.

Finally, if you are in the mood for a good ghost story, The man in the picture by Susan Hill should fit the bill. Lyn says this author is capable of some truly eerie writing, and that this slim novel is ideal for an evening alone(with candlelight, and possible ominous rolls of thunder in the background).

---- Lesley