This was one of those books that explain why I prefer a good old crime fiction story. It didn't take long to read and when I got to the end I thought 'Oh....... OK?' But even so I did enjoy it.
I'm not sure how I came to reserve it - perhaps someone on a blog mentioned it.
It is 1938, and Manod is a young girl, just finished school and living on a remote Welsh Island, where life has been unchanged for years. The population is declining as young people move away. The men, including her father, are fishermen who battle the weather and the seas and many have lost their lives. Mamod looks after her father and young sister while wishing she could get to the mainland.
When a whale is washed up onto the beach, the villagers believe it to be a omen for what is to come and then two anthropologists arrive from a mainland university to study the people there and their way of life.
They ask Mamod to be their translator and she thinks they will take her back with them to the mainland.
I won't say anymore about the story - that would spoil it.
These are the plaudits on the back cover.
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The patio here, which I have to walk over every time I go outside for anything, was horribly black and slimey and I stepped down onto it last week and slid - ending up on the ground. Luckily I have inbuilt padding so no damage done apart from bruises.The pressure washer that I have is useless, it only cleans a square inch at a time so I did what I usually do and sent BiL a text because I knew he'd recently acquired a mighty pressure washer in payment for mending something else. Unusually he hadn't got a lot of work on and offered to come over and sort out the slippery patio for me.
It got off the worst of the yuck, although not all of it but I'll feel much safer now. Better make him some Suffolk rusks or cheese straws next time I bake.
He said one of his friends had used a special liquid patio cleaner to clean up their patio and it worked really well. I looked online and read that some of them contain some really nasty chemicals but there are some safer ones to try. They might take off that black mould that's still left which will slow down the return of the slime build up.
Sometimes books don't live up to their recommendations. Glad you got the patio sorted. Slipping on a hard surface is no fun at all.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't really what I thought it was going to be- very quickly read
DeleteThis book has been on my wishlist for some time.
ReplyDeleteInbuilt padding can be helpful ! ;-)
Maguy
Hope you get to read it soon.
DeleteI'm glad I did no damage to myself - it could have been worse.
ReplyDeleteWe need to pressure clean our patio - that's a job for another day.
In the meantime be careful!
DeleteCan you please let us know if you find a good chemical free patio cleaner, we will need on in the spring. We have a pressure cleaner, but it's going to need a bit of help, thanks.
ReplyDeleteWill do - some are very expensive which puts me off
DeleteThanks for the book review, I'll keep a look out for it in the library.
ReplyDeleteSlippery patios are a liability aren't they, glad you're ok.
Alison in Wales x
I was worried for a moment when I slipped and very glad nothing broken
DeleteSue, do you follow Nancy Birtwhistle? I believe she uses washing soda and a bit of eco dish soap scrubbed on wet pavers, and then lets the rain wash it off. I have used several of her other homemade cleaning products and am very happy with them.
ReplyDeleteBonnie in Minneapolis
I'll try that on a black square and see what happens
DeleteI'm so sorry about your fall -- I hope the bruises fade quickly and no leftover aches. I know EXACTLY what you mean about a good crime novel vs. others!
ReplyDeleteGood crime stories have proper endings!
DeleteGlad you didn’t suffer any damage when you slipped. We have a block paved drive and it can be lethal in icy weather and with all the leaves. Almost all the cleaners we looked at had chemicals in so it just got a good power wash and then resanded. Catriona
ReplyDeleteI did plan to have new patio but the man who quoted never got back to me when he said he would be able to do it by which time I'd gone off the idea!
DeleteIt's much better after it's good pressure wash, I'll try some different things to get rid of that black mould closest to the patio doors
Thank goodness for a little bit of natural padding!! The guys that cleaned our two roofs used that chemical cleaner and gave us the leftovers to use on next doors patio it works like magic. But we usually just pressure wash our Indian stone pavers and then throw down a few buckets of soapy bleachy water, that gets rid of any green or black mould left behind. All the rain this summer has made it much greener already than it usually is.
ReplyDeleteI looked at some magic patio cleaner at the local hardware place but it was £26!
DeleteNot sure if you're referring to Patio Magic as that seems pretty good at getting rid of mould, slime and algae.
DeleteNot sure if it has any nasties in it though?
Glad you weren't hurt when you fell, Sue. That's one of my biggest fears.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention of the book. I can get it from my library after I finish the pile I have to read now. ;)
I'm usually very careful when out there wearing crocs but it only took a second to slip.
DeleteHope you enjoy the book - it won't take long to read
Thank goodness you did not get hurt when you slipped and fell.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes get mold on my North facing stone walkway and I pour apple cider vinegar on the mold and then hose it away. This works well. On another patio, I once used bleach, and it destroyed the grout between the blue stone pavers. The bleach removes the mold but damages the grout. I now avoid bleach.
Blitz that patio!!!
ReplyDeleteYikes, so glad you didn't hurt yourself too badly! Hope you got it sorted.
ReplyDelete