Saved from the Waves

Five books I would rescue

By Linda Verrall

1. The Shell Seekers - Rosamund Pilcher
A trade fiction choice, not a literary genre but the book is one of the most enjoyable and nostalgic tomes I know. The book follows the bohemian Cornish life of an artist's daughter, Penelope, who was young during the war. The Shell Seekers itself is a painting of children looking for shells on the Cornish sands, which is worth a fortune by the time Penelope is old. What makes this book special is its structure and pacing. It starts at the end of her life with her flawed grown-up children and flips back and forth between the present and various stages of her life including her shotgun wedding to a naval officer. It's only near the end that we learn of her one meaningful relationship - with a soldier who never returned. The reader is left with the impression of a woman who presented an independent front to the world, whose children don't understand her but who, despite her lack of outward attachments, is capable of a deep love. This leads her to revisit Cornwall . "Before it was too late, she would take the road west to that rugged claw of England where, once, she had lived, and loved and been young".

2. A Woman of Substance trilogy - Barbara Taylor Bradford
A rather impossible plot full of unimaginable glamour, greed and double-crossing villains, but remarkable for its sheer scope and panoramic view of the interlocking lives of three generations of three extended families. I cannot imagine how the author wrote this without getting into a complete knot, it's so complex. However, it's enormous fun, pacy and sheer escapism. The first book is probably the best, where a young Northern servant girl leaves a manor house at the turn of the century, pregnant with the master's child, and makes her fortune among the woollens and worsteds industry of Yorkshire . She returns having secretly bought the master's businesses AND his house, and founds a dynasty. Great stuff!

3.The Conscious Bride - Sheryl Nissinen
A book about the dark side of getting married, or "the wedding's shadow" as the author puts it. This book is about the maelstrom of emotions that live in "the underbelly of the wedding". In a world where brides are consumed by visions of the perfect dress, the perfect cake etc, this book examines the dynamics of the relationships of family and friends of a marrying couple. And it's not pretty. The book points out that many women get caught up in this perfectionism as a coping mechanism, and it outlines the huge psychological changes that go along with getting married, manifesting themselves as everyone losing their sanity and the bride secretly hating her engagement ring/dress/any other object on which she can displace some uncomfortable emotion. I thought this book told it how it is - excellent and in-depth read.

4. Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps - Barbara and Allen Pease
One of the best books I have ever read. The authors gained their information from academics and scientists, many of whom refused to be named because the findings are so, well, politically incorrect. Did you know that a man has a moment of virtual deafness at the point of orgasm? Or that a woman's orgasm rate goes up five-fold in a marital bed, as opposed to a dating or co-habiting (which is 3 times higher than dating) bed? The book says most men never notice this. Also, men's field of vision is narrower and longer than women's which is a throwback to his hunting days of staring at the horizon, and this is why he can't find anything in the fridge. Seriously. Women's field of vision is closer and wider - imagine a glass diver's helmet. And in the name of political correctness, I won't even go into what the authors say about the differences in spatial awareness (car parking!) in the male and female brains and the number of speech centres that show up on brain scans in the female brain, compared to that of the male brain...!!

5. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
An all-time favourite. 'There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. I was glad of it, dreadful to me was the coming home in the twilight with nipped fingers and toes'. There are so many possible readings of Jane Eyre, from a denouncement of Calvinist doctrine to a  feminist tract. Set in 19th century Yorkshire the poverty-stricken orphan lives with her rich cousins but is badly treated, sent away to school and becomes a governess. She eventually marries the master of a house where she finds a job, but not before he has been maimed by fire. This man, Rochester , has his mad wife locked in the attic, which has been the subject of many an interpretation. My favourite line in the book after the ten year old Jane has been badly treated by her aunt is: 'I had been trodden on; speak I must'. The book's depiction of Lowood, Jane's first school where there is ice on the bedclothes, ritual humiliation and hardly anything to eat, is an accurate portrait of the Bronte sisters' own schooling at Cowan Bridge , Yorks . At both the real and fictional schools, many died of typhoid, as did the Bronte sisters themselves in adulthood.

Which 5 books would you save if your entire book collection was about to be swept out to sea? To tell us about your own list, either register on the site and create a page instantly, or send us an e-mail at saved@thedeckchair.org.uk .