Joan's picks: Stealing and Cinderella Boys

Stealing by Margaret Verble. It was on the list of most notable books of 2023 of several international publications. Quiet, gentle story about not quiet not gentle things. Kit is a 9 year old Cherokee girl who lives in remote countryside with her father after the death of her mother. She makes friends with Bella who’s much older and these two loners become close, despite a difference in their ages. Bella has two gentlemen callers; but she also has a sanctimonious neighbour who one day completely misconstrues something she sees and makes wild accusations which result in murder, after which Kit is despatched to a Christian boarding school where she keeps a journal. The school is vile and through her writing Kit lays out exactly what happened to get her there, and her plan for getting out. 

Cinderella Boys by Leo McKinstry. WW2 nonfiction about the UK maritime department called the Coastal Command who were never taken seriously by bigger, more important parts of the Armed Services 9the RAF, the Admiralty etc - they referred to them disparagingly as “The Cinderella Service”) and were never properly resourced - but came to play a huge part in the war when they were used to attack the German U Boats which for a time controlled the Atlantic with the ability to disrupt supply lines. The courage and bravery of some of these guys was just extraordinary, but even after the war they never got the recognition that was due to them and the author has made a really good attempt to change that. 

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