Monthly Archives: April 2025

Meeting with friends, old and new

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During one of our zoom meetings this month, a silent book club member revealed that she reread a long beloved book that she hadn’t revisited for many years … but she reopened its cover nervously. She likened that moment to “meeting an old friend with trepidation”, worried that time had not treated well her fond memories and connection to the book.

Happily, she reported that the reread was as rich and wonderful as the first meeting with this friend. I’ll let you guess which book it was from the capacious list that always accompanies these posts. May we all have such great experiences, with old friends old and new!

Me (Vicki), on-screen, getting ready for the silent book club zoom meeting, with my books piled next to the laptop, including The Immortal Woman by Su Chang, The Harder I Fight The More I Love You by Neko Case, The Incident Report by Martha Baillie + more

Silent book club member Kathryn's book pile - Brooklyn by Colm Toibin, A Room Above a Shop by Anthony Shapland and Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon - with angled bookshelves in the background

Me (Vicki) in front of the East Toronto Coffee Co - My hair is short, curly, gray and wind-tossed, I'm wearing dark blue sunglasses and I'm wearing a plaid scarf and jean jacket

Books, hot beverages and pastries on the table at East Toronto Coffee Co, just before the start of the silent book club meeting - titles include Every Summer After by Carley Fortune and Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Readers around the table silently reading at East Toronto Coffee Co

Reader silently reading at East Toronto Coffee Co

The combined reading list spawned from our group’s meetings and discussions this month will positively dazzle you – trust me! It and all our lists are here to guide you down countless amazing paths. You can contemplate them, you can turn to them when/if you’re having a reading emergency or dry spell – again, trust me/us.

Every title on our group’s generous lists means that at least one (but usually more) readers have given that title considered attention. That doesn’t mean that every work on our lists is expressly recommended, of course. Inclusion on this list always means that our readers have devoted time and thought to a title – and that, fair book lovers, counts for so very much.


Here are some extra book-related articles, resources, news and recommendations, items and tidbits that are often companions to books on the list, or are inspired or offered by our members and/or come up during our discussions and chat.

All of our group’s previous reports and book lists are always available right here!

You can also check out links to articles, interviews and more here – some with San Francisco-based Silent Book Club founders Guinevere de La Mare and Laura Gluhanich, and some with us here in east end Toronto.

Learn more about the worldwide phenomenon of silent book clubs via Guinevere and Laura’s Silent Book Club web site. In fall 2023, they welcomed their 500th chapter … and with continuing, breathtaking momentum, they now boast closer and closer to 2,000 chapters … (There were around 60 chapters when we joined as the first Toronto chapter in 2017.) You can find information on meetings happening around the world and close to where you live. Every club is a different size, format (in-person, virtual or combinations) and vibe, so contact a club’s organizers beforehand if you have any questions or preferences. Please feel free to contact me for more information about our club and its offerings.

May your friends old and new – books and readers – warm and buoy your days!

The Sisterhood of Sleuthing
Joylyn Chai’s guest review of
Secrets in the Water by Alice Fitzpatrick

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Secrets in the Water by Alice Fitzpatrick (Stonehouse Publishing, 2020)

reviewed by Joylyn Chai

The best remedy after a bad day, whether it be work-related or personal, is the company of some good friends. We can talk, laugh, and cry. I can only imagine the kind of support I’d need if, for example, my grandmother had just died and I suspected that my aunt had been murdered. Actually, I don’t have to imagine much because this is what happens in Secrets in the Water.

In Alice Fitzpatrick’s debut novel, one woman befriends another to help solve the murders and mysteries happening on Meredith Island.

Truth be told, I don’t normally read murder mysteries. Though I enjoy a whodunit storyline, I am easily overwhelmed by all the facts and details as they become possible clues. I sit in full admiration of authors who dedicate their lives to writing mystery novels. I often wonder what kind of organizational systems they use to keep track of everything. Do the inside of their minds look like colour-coded spreadsheets or like tangled knots of string?

Fitzpatrick’s novel is set in an imaginary island in Wales and has a cast of eccentric characters, all of whom go about their daily lives in a fashion that makes me long to visit the country. The book showcases the appeal of living in a tight-knit community in a stunning location. Take in the fresh air. Go for a walk by the beach. Have a hot cup of tea with a friendly neighbour. Visit a local art studio. Wander down to the pub for a few pints. What else can you do on Meredith Island? Well, you can go to a funeral. More than one.

For me, as a murder mystery “newbie,” Secrets in the Water was fun to read primarily because of one woman whose hair is “reminiscent of a Pre-Raphaelite painting.” Wow. This, by the way, is not our protagonist, despite having a beautiful head of flowing locks. Siobhan Fitzgerald is an artist who befriends Kate Galway. Kate is convinced the death of her aunt, fifty years ago, was in fact an act of cold-blooded murder. Spoiler alert: her hunch is right on the money.

Kate Galway, who is the main character, has got a lot on her plate. Her grandmother just died, her marriage has disintegrated, and now she’s determined to catch a killer. If I was in Kate’s shoes, I would be on the verge of a pretty ugly nervous breakdown. But she’s not. Instead she’s tenacious and focused. She’s got that “keep calm and carry on” vibe about her. Pure boss. As we know, every boss needs a good assistant. Or, every super sleuth needs a sidekick. Who better than Siobhan Fitzgerald, an attractive redhead with a Celtic knot tattoo?

My absolute favourite part of the book happens when Kate is determined to stop Siobhan from snooping around the property of an affluent family, the Sutherlands. Siobhan is literally prepared to do Kate’s “dirty work.” In their search for answers and justice, Siobhan is the one leading the charge to trespass on private property in the middle of the night and upturn a family’s garden looking for evidence. In her words, she’s ready to “break all the rules of decent, civilized behaviour.” Throwing all caution to the wind, she’s willing to lend a helping hand to a friend in need.

By the way, it’s not easy for Siobhan on Meredith Island. She’s an artist, a bit of an outsider — and she’s got a stalker. Yet still, she’ll stand up to the locals, keep her wits about her, and more importantly, she never loses her sense of humour.

For someone who’s not schooled in the genre of murder mysteries, I do know that Sherlock Holmes had an ever-present companion in John H. Watson. From what I gather, Watson is a practical and loyal man. In a similar way, Kate Galway and Siobhan Fitzgerald make a clever and brave investigating duo. But for me, it is Siobhan’s free spirit and passion that are at the heart of Secrets ..in the Water. Truth be told, if I ever had a chance to visit Wales, I’d love to meet Siobhan at the local pub. We’d order a couple of pints, have a good chat, a great laugh – and maybe, solve the next murder on Meredith Island.