Abdication, a Novel by Juliet Nicolson

Welcome to The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice

Rules:*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence (or a few) that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post to the Friday 56 Linky. It's that simple.

Abdication: A Novel

Even so, May longed to have the money to pay for the tea. May had arrived in London with twenty pounds that her mother had given her. "I wish I could afford to give you more, my darling," her mother had said.

Title: Abdication by Juliet Nicolson
May 22, 2012; Atria Books Hardcover
Genre: historical novel
Source: publisher

Book description: England, 1936. 
The year began with the death of a beloved king and the ascension of a charismatic young monarch, sympathetic, glamorous and single. By year’s end, the world would be stunned as Edward VIII gives up his throne in the name of love, just as the unrest and violence that would result in a Second World War were becoming impossible to ignore. 

During the tumultuous intervening months, wise-beyond-her-nineteen-years May Thomas will take the first, faltering steps toward creating a new life for herself. She secures a position as secretary and driver to Sir Philip Blunt, a job that will open her eyes to the activities of the uppermost echelons of British society, and her heart to a man seemingly beyond her reach. 

May and others become embroiled in the hidden truths, undeclared loves, unspoken sympathies and covert complicities that define the year chronicled in Abdication. Abdication is a story inspired by a love affair that shook the world at a time when the world was on the brink of war. 

Great-Aunt Sophia's Lessons for Bombshells by Lisa Cach

Welcome to The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice

Rules:*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence (or a few) that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post to the Friday 56 Linky. It's that simple.

Title: Great-Aunt Sophia's Lessons for Bombshells
Author: Lisa Cach; paperback; June 19, 2012

"It's grossly unfair that at my age, one tires easily but sleeps hardly at all." Sophia was sitting in the large breakfast nook at the end of the kitchen, the bay window behind her providing an elegant backdrop of green garden. A plate of toast and a coffee mug sat on the table." (p. 56)

About the book: 
Grace Cavanaugh, a PhD student, experiences a life-changing summer while taking care of her great aunt, a 1940’s movie star.

The Great Animal Orchestra by Bernie Krause

Welcome to The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice

Rules:*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence (or a few) that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post to the Friday 56 Linky. It's that simple.

Here's a page 56 quote from my current read:The Great Animal Orchestra by Bernie Krause

"Quite literally out of nowhere, a quick succession of chest beats from one of the apes broke the spell of the remaining ethereal ambiance." (ch. 3)

Title: The Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the Origins of Music in the World's Wild Places by Bernie Krause, March 19, 2012

Musician and naturalist, Bernie Krause shares insight into how deeply animals rely on their aural habitat to survive and the damaging effects of extraneous noise on the delicate balance between predator and prey. But natural soundscapes aren't vital only to the animal kingdom; Krause explores how the myriad voices and rhythms of the natural world formed a basis from which our own musical expression emerged. (publisher's description)

Before the Poison by Peter Robinson

Welcome to The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice

Rules:*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence (or a few) that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post to the Friday 56 Linky. It's that simple.

Here's a page 56 quote from my current read:

I told him what I did for a living, and he seemed genuinely interested. He gave a little chuckle when I said I wrote the music nobody listens to. "That must be hard to take sometimes," he said. "No matter how much they pay you."

Title: Before the Poison: A Novel by Peter Robinson
Published February 21, 2012

Book description: New York Times best selling author of the Inspector Banks series. A stand-alone novel in which a man's obsession with a decades-old crime leads him down a dark and winding path.

I received this book as a complimentary review/feature copy.

The Friday 56: One Red Bastard by Ed Lin

Welcome to The Friday 56  hosted by Freda's Voice

Rules:*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence (or a few) that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post to the Friday 56 Linky.  It's that simple.

Here's a page 56 quote from my current read:

"The later editions of the Chinese newspapers reported Mr. Chen's death. The Taiwan-based paper declared that Communist agents had gotten to him. The Hong Kong-based rag lamented how unsafe Chinatown had become ever since those lowlifes from Fujian province started coming into the country."

Title:One Red Bastard: A Mystery by Ed Lin
Minotaur Books; April 24, 2012