China Dolls by Lisa See ***

This novel traces the lives of three girls, Helen, Ruby, and Grace, who meet in San Francisco in the late 30s. Helen and Grace are of Chinese parentage, while Ruby is Japanese, although she succeeds for awhile in passing for Chinese.  The three girls work as dancers in Chinese night clubs, and two of the girls at least achieve a measure of stardom. Ruby's background is discovered and she spends some time in an internment camp for Japanese, who of course are sworn enemies of the Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. The novel is a good story of friendship with all its ups and downs,  plus a good depiction of entertainment by Chinese people  during the war. Maybe didn't have the impact of Dreams of Joy, or Snow Flower and The Secret Fan, but still held my attention- no mean feat these days with Mike in hospital and our future uncertain!

Language Arts by Stephanie Kallos ***

I read this off and on during Mike's long hospital stay, so it may have been a distracted reading of this novel, because I was never entirely sure what was going on. Plus, it seemed a long time before there was any strong action to keep me reading enthusiastically. For example, Sister Giorgia was a puzzle to me until I was more than halfway through the book, and even after that there were unanswered questions. I enjoyed the two previous novels by Kallos, but this one didn't reach me the same way at all.

The Poldark Series by Winston Graham

The Poldark series of 12 novels - and I'm pretty sure I read them all years ago- is a summer series this year on PBS. I downloaded the first four so I could re read them.

1. Ross Poldark - Ross returns from America and finds an urchin girl, Demelza, and hires her as a servant because she is abused at home. They are married by the end of the first novel.