The Persimmon Tree

The days have been frenetic of late, filled with myriad tasks, all urging me to their attention. I greet the end of the day with relief as I fall into my pillow and pick up my book for the brief reprieve of literary escape. The last book was hard work and I was gratified to turn its final page. These last evenings have found me drifting away in Bryce Courtenay's The Persimmon Tree - smooth and gentle and eloquent, inviting and enticing. The minutes fall away as I disappear into this beautifully recounted chronicle of love and despair set against the backdrop of WWII in the Pacific and the imminent Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies. I can't put it down, so I fall asleep in mid-read.

That's a special book!