Synopsis
When Emily Kingsley arrives at the church, late and sad, for her Great Aunt Mary's funeral, she has no idea that her life is about to change completely. Still grieving for her broken relationship with the vain, mean and unfaithful Ted, and trying to come to terms with the cracks which seem to be appearing in her parents' marriage, she sobs her heart out in the church. At the wake afterwards, however, she and her cousin Clemmie are told that Mary has appointed them executors of part of her Will. They are to transport her ashes to Mali, in western Africa and her final resting place is to be Timadjlalen, in the Saharan desert. And so begins Emily and Clemmie's adventure - a journey that will be the most important of their lives.

The book was about an adventure. It was full, though, not just of the adventure, but of intrigue,love,grief,friendship,secrets,mystery and in some ways regret.

Written in a sytle similar to Debbie Macomber the opening chapter is almost scene setting, then each chapter is devoted between Emily and Clemmie, and a chapter periodically from Miss Temmis, who was a life long companion and friend of the cousins great Aunt Mary.

Great Aunt Mary dies and as the family and friends gather at her funeral and then later the wake, Emily experiences the grief at the loss of her aunt, but also that of her boyfriend whom she had recently been betrayed by. During the course of the wake the solicitor tells Emily and Clemmie what their Great Aunt wanted them to do with her ashes. They are to take the ashes to Timadjlalen, in the Saharan Desert. This starts the adventure, why is the first question they ask. Clemmie immediately wants to follow her Aunt's wishes, Emily in contrast is more hesitant, uncertain because of danger but comes round and the two girls embark on their quest and do uncover the reason why they are despositing Great Aunt's ashes in the middle of the Sahara.

Miss Temmis is a woman with a secret. She believes that the girls will not be able to find the exact spot in the Sahara and the name of the person that is given to them by the solicitor, from Aunt Mary, will be useless to them. However, the name is not useless, and although that particular individual is dead his family live on, and Miss Temmis' secret is no more, although it is not until Emily arrives home is she able to complete the entire story.

I read this in one day, and found it be a page turning story, written in a very comfortable style.

Received as a birthday pres from Anglersrest - thank you so much for the lovely book and card. This looks great, just my thing (and how amusing that I have 2 books set in the desert while living in the middle of rainy, green Birmingham!

I remember you reading and reviewing this and thinking I would like it...!

A lovely read; exciting and mysterious but not too taxing. The wry voice was a bit like Victoria Clayton's, so if you like her, you would like this. Enjoyable plot and likeable characters. A jolly good birthday present!

Will probably pass this on to LindyB to read in the first instance.

RELEASE NOTES:

Giving to LindyB28 today. This will be a bookring eventually but thought she would enjoy it.

This is being released as # 57 in this week's Never Judge A Book By Its Cover Challenge: Week 23, double letter in title (cheeky, I know)

I enjoyed the story of this book more than the writing; I don't think that Sarah Challis has captured the voices of Emily or Clemmie very well. However, the plot is enticing and the descriptions of travelling in the desert quite marvellous.

Liz - I'll leave this at home for now because I'm not going to see you this week. Let me know what I need to do with it...

Received back from LindyB28 and will be offered on a bookring one of these days...

RELEASE NOTES:

At the BookCrossing Birmingham meetup today. If it's not taken by someone at the meetup, it will go onto the Official BookCrossing Zone shelves at Hudsons.

was gently pressed upon me by Liz at today's meet up - she assures me I'll like it.

Oh I loved this book. It is a hugely readable page turner with an intriguing mystery at the heart of it. The descriptions of Mali and it's people were wonderful, it was obvious that the author has a deep knowledge and love of that country. Fantastic memorable characters, made this a lovely book to spend time with. As I finished this bok last night in bed - I was rather sorry to be saying goodbye to Emily, Clemmie, and all the wonderful people of Mali they met on their adventure.

RELEASE NOTES:

If you have found this book, thank you for taking the time to look it up on the internet. Now please tell us what you thought of the book and what your plans for it are.

Passed on the me by Heaven-Ali at the Convention. It has already been read by the other 'usual suspects' so it HAD to come to me.

Oh my I thought I'd made a JE for this ages ago. So what do I remeber about the book.Well I enjoyed it & I fairly raced through it. I recall liking the characters of Emily & Clemmie, cousins but very different people. The way the book was written; chapters from Emily & Clemmie interspersed with back details from Miss Temmis made it very readable.