Time for mum

Yesterday (Sunday 15 March) was Mother's Day, a time to say 'thank you' to our mums for being, well, mums!

What better way to treat your mum than by taking her away to a wonderful world of adventure, fantasy and excitement? If flight tickets were not quite in the budget, then how about a good book? Here are a few fantastic reads which could be perfect to help her get away from it all, if only for an hour or two.

There is a reason Emily Bront�'s Wuthering Heights is considered a classic. At its heart is a love story but the journey of our lovers is far from smooth. The story is passionate, intense and dark. Set in the lonely Yorkshire moorlands, it is hard to put down once the tale begins to unfold.



Jonas Jonasson's The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared is a fantastic book to lift the spirits as we follow centenarian Allan on an unlikely journey involving criminals, cash, murder and an elephant! And we soon realise that this unlikely journey is just one of a number he has experienced in his weird and wonderful life.

Victoria Hislop's The Island follows Alexis as she journeys to Crete to find out more about her family's past. What enfolds is a heart-wrenching tale of war, love and leprosy. Alexis learns of four generations of her family and the hardships they have faced.

For something more light-hearted, look no further than Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. Featuring on the Kumon Recommended Reading List, this classic play centres around two English gentlemen who find themselves in a bit of a tangle after telling a few tall tales!

Yann Martel's Life of Pi follows one small boy, an enormous Bengal tiger and their journey together in a tiny lifeboat adrift in the Pacific Ocean following the tragic sinking of a cargo ship. This unlikely duo battle the elements to survive, encountering a number of strange places along the way.

If you want to head further into the weird and wonderful, then where better to go than down the rabbit hole with Alice. Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland gets better with every read as the unforgettable characters never fail to surprise or make us laugh and Alice's journey is wracked with humour and suspense.

So, Mother's Day may have passed, but it's not too late to treat your mum to a good book and take her away to somewhere magnificent.