Deluged With Books Cafe

"Some things could only be found in Sidwell it seemed: pink apples, black owls, and my brother, James." Books of Alice Hoffman never fail to put a dash of magic to an otherwise ordinary and banal day. To get lost in her world with its spellbinding story and fantasy intertwined, as denotes her books, is always something I look forward. So when Nightbird  recently came out, I was pleased to grab a hold of it (and ignored my reading list by putting it first). This is something new, for a start, from her other books I've read. It is like a children story told at bedtime. Yet, I didn't mind and find it very much enchanting. Magic and childhood always go hand in hand and I refuse to have my sinister adulthood rear its sarcastic head. In a lot of ways, I believe there is a Twig in all of us; in her interests, awkward bearings, and insecurities. That all we needed is someone who could help us bloom, coax us out of our shell and stick with us despite the odds. I love...

The adaptation of a book into screen is but one of the many ways to appreciate a story created in literature, to see it come to life (sometimes not exactly in the way we imagined it) but to enjoy it nevertheless through the interpretation of another. This is a new feature in the blog and count for more of these posts from hereon. Now what better way to start it than with a little fairy tale. Thirteen-year old Maria Merryweather left London a penniless orphan to journey to the West Country to live with her nearest living relative, Sir Benjamin Merryweather of Moonacre Manor. Accompanied by her odd and rather rigid governess, Miss Heliotrope, they arrived to a charming English estate, met eccentric people, friendly animals, and lush gardens. However, the idyllic life in the manor is shadowed by appearances of black men, the De Noirs, from the woods and Maria's glimpses of a white horse at night. As the strange history of her family unfolds, an ancient feud was revealed done b...