In May and June auntie read

Book 26 The hare with amber eyes - Edward du Waal - fifty years after everyone else read it I  finally got around to it, it was okay, me again with the lavish praise. About Edwards search through his family history via the netsuke collection he had inherited

The house at the end of Hope St - Meena Van Praag - I trulylovethis, whimsical, magical, lovely and keep me with it all the way through, very highly recommended from your auntie, about a house that saves you

House rules - Jodie Picoult - I used to love her books but haven't read any for ages but this was another £1 wonder from Amazon, it was plenty fine. It was about autism, not sure how accurately 

The life and death of Sophie Stark - Anna North - a kid who can't fit in makes movies, it had more promise than content but wasn't awful, again high praise from your auntie, not

The hand that first held mine - Maggie O Farrell, a fabulous book about a secret, 2 stories in parallel, one in the 1950s and 60s and one in the present. This is a brilliant read

While my eyes were closed - Linda Green - a child disappears from the park during hide and seek, not nearly as good as Burnt Paper Sky - this is the supermarket own brand version. It was okay.

The book of you - Clare Kendall - about a woman being stalked

The girl from nowhere - Dorothy Koomson - I've read lots of her books and always enjoyed them. Often have a theme of something coming out of your past to threaten your present. Theme this time was adoption and race. I really enjoyed it except the end.

The war of the wives - Tamar Cohen - when a man dies his wives find out about each other, about his double life and the mess that goes with it. I liked her other book 'The Broken' so got this one for 99p. Most definitely worth the quid, she writes her characters well

 Black eyed Susan's - Julia Heaberlin - my book group read, serial killer lets one girl escape, not unless you're very bored

First one missing - Tamar Cohen - another missing child novel, truly I have no idea why my reading list has been so grim. I like this author though.

The silent sister - Diane Chamberlin - about a woman who discovers when her father died that what she had been told about her sisters death had been a lie and how she tries to uncover the secrets- not the worst I've read, which as you know is almost praise from your auntie

Reaching down the rabbit hole - Allan Ropper - tales of clinical practice from an eminent American neurologist. This I enjoyed, very easy to read and I find brains very fascinating

My husbands wife - Jane Corr about a lawyer who wins the case of her life, becomes successful and then finds people weren't who she thought they were and the child who is the neighbour of the lawyer. The child grows up and seeks out said lawyer and then it all goes wrong. Not great.

The Lake House - Kate Morton. I have read all of her books and usually really enjoy them, this one was my pick for our book group this month and sadly I appear to have picked her least engaging book

Fair scunnered

I am a Scot married to an Englishman and living in middle England. My eldest daughter lives and works in Germany, she is likely to marry a Welshman. My son studies and lives in Edinburgh, his future life partner is Hungarian. My youngest daughter studies and lives here, her best beloved is half Bahamian and half American but grew up here in the UK.
I love the diversity my life has, I spent many years living in multi-cultural Leicester and this enhanced tremendously the life of myself and my weans  and I welcome and applaud the fact that my future beautiful grandchildren will be a fabulous and fascinating mix of backgrounds, cultures and beliefs.
I love being able to get cheap flights and visit as much as Europe as I can get to, travel is our big passion, seeing other places and meeting locals who have had a completely different lifestyle but finding commonality is a huge pleasure in our life. We have yet to find somewhere in Europe we wouldn't happily live. Today I don't want to live in England.
When Scotland had the independence referendum I had no vote, I would have voted to stay anyway as I believe we are better together both as the UK and the EU but a great deal was made of the fact that a Scotland voting to go it alone wouldn't be able to automatically stay in the EU. Fast forward a mere 20 months and all 32 councils in Scotland voted to remain as did the majority in Northern Ireland and now there are calls for referenda on whether they remain part of the UK. 

What have we brought on ourselves? I have avidly read social media posts most of the day and I am saddened at what impression the rest of the world could have of us now, it's not our finest hour is it? 

If I need a new passport you can bet your last bagpipe on it being a Scottish one, I'm sure you're not surprised in the slightest. However aunties very, very English husband is also going to see if Nicola will let him have one by dint of being Scottish by marriage, that's something I never thought he would ever say.