FOUR DIARIES

FOR NEW BEGINNINGS

ON SHEEP: DIARY OF A SWEDISH SHEPHERD, by Axel Linden, Hachette

Literary academic Linden leaves Stockholm to move to his parents’ rural property, when his father wants to retire. Already well aware of the effects of the environmental crisis “... what’s going to happen when water fails to come out of taps ...”, the novice shepherd keeps a diary of his new life as a farmer. Removing his children from the noise of the city, he begins: “July 3. Baa-ah. So there they are. I can’t really see them but they’re usually over in the copse. July 10. The sheep step behind one another to avoid wearing down the pasture. It would never have occurred to me to do that.”

A HONEYBEE HEART HAS FIVE OPENINGS by Helen Jukes, Simon & Schuster

The necessity for bees has been known for centuries, but of late more people are aware of the importance of the hive. Jukes, entering her 30s, felt trapped in a world of office politics and desperate for a meaningful life. This is her diary of a year of keeping the honeybees gifted to her by her caring friends. Luke, who owns hives all over London, is her key to a new life of urban beekeeping. Abandoning domestic tasks – washingup – for bee books, she is hooked. Facts: bees are more interested in faces than feet. Honey makes very powerful mead wine!

ANNE FRANK by Isabel Sanchez Vegara, Allen & Unwin

This delightful book was written for children. But its evocation of the life of 13-year-old Anne Frank, whose dreams for a better world have been read by millions, is for everyone. Sveta Dorosheva’s powerful black and white illustrations are accompanied by simple text – “One day when Anne was four, an ugly man with a little black moustache became leader of her country. He was Hitler and hated Jews.” The family escapes to Amsterdam, hidden in an annexe, but Nazis find them and send them to a concentration camp. Only father Otto survives the war and publishes her diary.

ONE DAY IN DECEMBER by Josie Silver, Penguin

diary storytelling, but the sweetest love story ever! Just before Christmas, on December 21, 2008, exhausted London hotel receptionist Laurie has finished her last shift and is riding home on a bus before heading to her parents for the holiday break. Through the misted–up window she espies “a guy perched on one of the fold-down seats in the bus shelter”. She notices everything about him – from his hand-knitted scarf to the wavy kink in his hair. Cut to January 1, 2009, and the first of her two “big, shiny, brilliant” New Year resolutions diary reads: “Find my boy from the bus stop.”

Bridget Jones-style