The Girl On The Landing by Paul Torday

Elizabeth has been married to Michael for 10 years. She married him because she was fond of him rather than love him. He can give her the emotional and financial security. He is pretty well off. Owns land in Scotland. They occasionally went to visit Beinn Caorrun, a gloomy house which he had inherited. Even with that they life that they live was monotonous. Everything were predicable.

That is till the went on a holiday in Ireland. In the holiday house, Michael thought he saw the figure of a girl in a picture on a landing. But when he went to inspect further later, he found that it looks like just a smudge.

After the vacation, Elizabeth noticed that Michael started to change. He is more spontaneous and fun. She likes the new Michael very much and felt she could fall in love with this man.

Sad to say, Michael's past start to catch up with him. Elizabeth slowly found out things from his past and got to know the reason for his changed behaviour. Things that is dangerous for her to know.

This book is more fascinating than The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce. It;s more mysterious and a hint of dark forces at work.

The plot was very skillfully woven and the tension was there till the very end.

Am glad The Big Bad Wolf Sale allows me to discover another author whose work I like pretty much.

The Dispeller of Worries By Lau Siew Mei

This is a story of two different culture of Chui Hong and Rysiek. Their lives collided. Each have their own hidden past.

Chui Hong the 2nd daughter from a Peranakan family who grew up in Penang and her parents subsequently migrated to Singapore. She grew up in the midst of local believes in "Pantang" and the supernatural.

Something happen in the past which shadowed and shaped her life. Two men seems to hold the answers that can free her, Naga and Rysiek. Naga is her step-cousin while Rysiek is a Polish man.

Rysiek, is also a very confused man. A filial son who was felt guilty on not being at his mother bedside when she pass on. Married a nice girl but subsequently the marriage lost its charm. They migrated to Australia but that didn't help. The wife left him to go back to Poland. He was offered a job in Brunei where he met Chui Hong.

For me, this is a rather hard book to read. Too many ambiguous scene. The first part of the story was devoted to Chui Hong and her feeling about her sister. Then there comes the part of bomoh, pocong and charms.

This part was rather eerie for me as I was reading that in the middle of the night. The things that Chui Hong's Amah described was very scary. Good job on this.

The second part was devoted to Rysiek. That one is easy to understand. Quite straight forward.

As for Naga....hmm...not very sure of his part in this book.

Till the end of the book, I am still not too sure how Chui Hong and Rysiek supposed to heal each other. What I saw is that they had an affair. But what does that have to do with Chui Hong and Rysiek's past?