Unlike most summer holidays, this year I read a couple of
nonfiction books and they ended up as being my favourite books of the holidays.
I would thoroughly recommend both of them even if nonfiction is not your
preferred genre.
Furious: Murder, fraud and the last trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep.
This is a nonfiction tale of a really interesting murder case
in Alabama which Harper Lee tried to write an account of but failed. Revd
Willie Maxwell was a rural preacher who had been accused of murdering 5 of his
family members and claiming on their insurance. At the funeral of his 5th
victim he was shot at point blank range in the presence of 300 witnesses. The same
lawyer who had ensured that Maxwell was acquitted or never charged for the
original murders also represented his murderer securing him a not guilty verdict as
well! This was a fascinating history of both the racial segregation in the
state of Alabama and also the story of how Harper Lee failed to write anything else
other than her famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
A really interesting but ultimately sad read.
Educated by
Tara Westover.
How do you find a place for yourself in the world when you
have lost your connection with your family and your beloved home? Tara grew up
in a violent abusive Mormon home with the head of the family, her father,
preparing for the end of the world. At 16 she had no birth certificate, no
formal education either at school nor at home and with her family not believing
in doctors or hospitals, officially she didn’t exist. This is the story of how
she found herself an education, got herself to Harvard and to Cambridge,
learned how to discover the real woman inside her and came to terms with what
that meant family wise. A brilliant autobiography.
Mrs Godden