The Books that Changed the Way I See the World

These three books are the ones that I will always keep close because of the positive influence they’ve had on my life.

Odette: The Story of a British Agent by Jerrard Tickell

Although admittedly at an impressionable age when I read her story, it was this book that sparked a life-long fascination with the Second World War and inspired considerable introspection where I questioned my courage (sadly lacking!), beliefs and how I perceived humanity.

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During the Second World War, a young Frenchwoman, married to an Englishman with two young children, became a secret agent. Working in France to resist the Germans, she was betrayed, tortured & consigned to a concentration camp. ‘Odette’ tells the incredible story of an ordinary woman who proved herself to have courage & compassion.     — Extract from Goodreads.com

Rabbityness by Jo Empson

I have great respect for authors who are able to capture audiences regardless of the format of their story. To those who don’t realise the power a good children’s picture book can contain, expecting greatness to come from words alone, I challenge you to pick this beautiful book. Within it you will find greatness – the type of greatness that can comfort in times of loss.

This book found me when I needed it and I continue to carry its message.

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Rabbit enjoys doing rabbity things, but he also loves un-rabbity things! When Rabbit suddenly disappears, no one knows where he has gone. His friends are desolate. But, as it turns out, Rabbit has left behind some very special gifts for them, to help them discover their own unrabbity talents!   — Extract from Goodreads.com

Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller

Reading this story was like reading about my own life. Our childhood was so similar that I felt as though I was living it again, but this time coated with the gift of time which allowed me to see the joy that fear clouded.

As a child, growing up in a county in the grips of a civil war, my overactive imagination did me no favours and I lived in perpetual fear with my weapon of choice (no judging!), a hockey stick, at my side. It is no wonder I had no enthusiasm for playing the actual game, registering instead for beginners hockey year after year!

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This is the biography of Alexandra Fuller’s childhood in Rhodesia during the beginning of the guerrilla war time. It’s funny, scary, and a remarkable glimpse of a world turned upside down. 

Alexandra Fuller remembers her African childhood with candor and sensitivity. Though it is a diary of an unruly life in an often inhospitable place, it is suffused with Fuller’s endearing ability to find laughter, even when there is little to celebrate. Fuller’s debut is unsentimental and unflinching but always captivating. In wry and sometimes hilarious prose, she stares down disaster and looks back with rage and love at the life of an extraordinary family in an extraordinary time.  — Extract from Goodreads.com