Bought at the village May Fair.

"In a stark, troubling, yet ultimately triumphant celebration of self-determination, award-winning author A. Manette Ansay re-creates a stifling world of guilt and pain, and the tormented souls who inhabit it. It is 1972 when circumstance carries Ellen Grier and her family back to Holly's Field, Wisconsin. Dutifully accompanying her newly unemployed husband, Ellen has brought her two children into the home of her in-laws on Vinegar Hill - a loveless house suffused with the settling dust of bitterness and routine. Here Ellen must find the strength to endure, change and grow in the all-pervading darkness that threatens to destroy everything she is and everyone she loves."

As I read this book, all I could think was how glad I was that I didn't live there, then, and with those people who have been brutalised by years of hard farm work, and whose devout Catholic faith appears to bring no joy or comfort. Everybody knows everybody else's business - the general atmosphere is stultifying. However, there is a thread of hope to the story, and I finished the book feeling that there was a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for Ellen.

This is one of the books in Oprah's book club.

I've decided to send this book out as a bookray.

Some brief "rules"
* Journal the book when you receive it.
* PM the next person on the list for their address when you receive it so as to try to avoid hold-ups later on.
* If you don't hear from the next participant within a few days, PM them again. If after a few more days you still haven't heard from them, PM me to let me know, and move on to the next person on the list.
* Read (and hopefully enjoy!)
* Journal again when you've read it to let us know what you think of it!

Participants
1. Iagegu, Preston
2. angellica, Worksop
3. purplerosebud, Petersfield

The person at the end of the list decides what to do with it.

Sent to Iagegu on 15 July.

Received yesterday. Will read once I have finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Thanks for the lovely bookmark.

Will pass on to next on list.

RELEASE NOTES:

Posted 14/10/05

Arrived safely at my house today :) Thanks for letting me play :)

I finished this last night and I still can't decide whether I enjoyed it or not.

I mostly enjoyed reading it, but I was let down a bit by the ending and I wanted to find out what happened next.

I have purplerosebuds address so I'll get this in the post today

Thanks for sending on this book and for the lovely bookmark. I have a few books to read first but hope to start reading it quite soon.

I'm sorry this book has been buried in my Mt TBR so I have unearthed it and will be taking it along to the meet up at Park Gate, where I hope it finds a new reader.

Picked up at the Hampshire bookcrossing meeting. Will be back to journal it after I've read it!

sorry it has taken me so long to get round to reading this book. I did enjoy it although I found it very depressing.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Left in local Geocache - I've had a few new joiners from Geocaches so thought I'd leave another one for a new reader.

To the finder of this book:

If you found this book and are not familiar with BookCrossing, thanks for checking the site out. Welcome! Enjoy both the book and the site.

Congratulations! You have not only found yourself a book, but a whole community of booklovers dedicated to sharing books with each other & the world at large. People all over the world are tracking their books through BookCrossing.

I hope that you will write a journal entry letting me know that the book has been found. Feel free to read and keep this book, or to pass it on to a friend or even set it out "in the wild" for someone else to find like you did.

You can always remain anonymous but if you are interested in joining (its free!) please consider using LadyIndigo01 as your referrer.

Happy reading and Happy BookCrossing!

Found in a geocache near Godshill - in a beautiful spot in the Forest. We seem to be following LadyIndigo01 around the area as this is the second book of theirs in a week that we have found!
Have added it to the pile 'to be read!!
Many thanks

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Not normally the sort of book I would read but I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Incredibly well drawn characters and really well written. Hope you enjoy it too.