I think at the moment I'm definitely liking stories involving characters with quirky personalities - slightly oddball, perhaps on the spectrum. I recently read 'Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine' by Gail Honeyman, which I absolutely loved, and then more recently 'Three Things About Elsie' by Joanna Cannon, which was also delightful. 'The Cactus' is along a similar vein, and it did not disappoint.
Susan Green likes order and logic; she does not like time-wasters, mess or emotions. She lives alone, but has a very pleasant, no-nonsense agreement with Richard, who she sees once a week for theatre, dining and ...other activities. But soon Susan's order and routine are thrown into disarray as she finds out a)she is pregnant; b)her mother has died and left the family home to her awful layabout brother Edward. Sensing something sinister is afoot, she decides to try to contest the will while at the same time going through the stages of pregnancy. All she needs to realise is that help is closer to hand than she thinks.
I loved it.
Joanna Cannon's previous (and debut) novel was 'The Trouble with Goats and Sheep' which I absolutely loved, so I was looking forward to reading this next book.
Florence (Flo only to her friends) resides in the Cherry Tree retirement complex. She lives alone in a ground floor flat, but she's never lonely as she has her best friend Elsie to keep her company. Elsie also helps Flo through her moments of forgetfulness and confusion. They team up with fellow resident Jack when Flo realises that a new resident is someone from the past she'd thought she'd never see again. With the manager of Cherry Tree threatening to move Flo to 'Greenbanks' - a more suitable home for her needs - Flo and her two friends have a race against time to solve the mystery of the new resident before Flo may be forced to leave.
This quirky second book does not disappoint. It has Joanna's same style of humour mixed with pathos with an underlying serious storyline. All the characters are realistic and rather adorable. But it's also very moving, knowing that most of us will end up being a Florence, frustrated at realising that we're slowly losing our faculties, and there is only one ending for us all.
A delight to read.
Maud Drennen is a plucky, no-nonsense Irish care worker, whose latest client is Cathal Flood, a cantankerous elderly man, widowed and living alone in Bridlemere, a Victorian Grade II listed mansion in West London. Cathal is also a top-notch hoarder, a dealer in curiosities, and a keeper of secrets. Despite Cathal's efforts to frighten away Maud and her attempts to clear up his mess, he begins to soften and open little doorways into his life. But he holds too many secrets and Maud wants to know too much - what happened to his wife Mary and their daughter Maggie? Why is part of the house blocked off? Why won't he let his son Gabriel into the house? As Cathal starts to close up again, Maud finds herself taking on an investigative role, with the help of her transgender landlord, Renata, and Cathal's previous care worker, Sam Hebden. However, is Maud following red herrings, and is everyone telling the truth?
I did enjoy this book, although I found the author seemed to be trying too hard to get some laughs in. Maud is followed around by ghostly Irish saints who keep trying to point her in the right direction, and I'm not sure I like this detail - they got in the way of the story. I've previously come across the use of Irish saints as characters in a children's book (A Boy Called Hope by Lara Williamson), so this was nothing original to me. I found it took me a while to get into the story, the detail getting in the way too much, but once I'd got used to all the characters, I found it readable and enjoyable.
I kept hearing about this book, so just had to read it myself to see if it lived up to all the hype. Always dangerous of course. It's a good thriller, but loses its way towards the end. The story follows James, an MP and junior minister, his wife Sophie, and barrister Kate. James is a high flying political figure and close friend of the Prime Minister - they went to Oxford together, having already been friends since childhood. However, a scandal is soon to upset James' and Sophie's world when he is accused of a heinous crime. Kate is the barrister who is trying to prove him guilty, but James is adamant he is innocent. With flashbacks to their Oxford days (Sophie was James' girlfriend back then), we are built a picture of characters and relationships, and realise that everyone has secrets to hide and skeletons they'd much rather were left in the cupboard.
The story runs at a good pace, and you don't get confused with the alternating of time periods and character's viewpoints. There is a twist in the story which is obvious from early on, and I got a little bored with Sophie's character as the 'dutiful wife'. It was interesting that Kate's story is told in the first person, but everyone else is in the third. Is that showing importance of the character?
A good courtroom political drama.
These stories were my first introduction to Chekhov. They are a selection of 13 short stories - the cover describes them as 'Essential stories', so I don't know whether that means that someone has selected these as superior or more important than others of his? I always love to read the blurb in books about the author and his background, but there was nothing at all in this, just a photograph of him, and then straight into the stories. So I've googled him and, in short, he was born in 1860 in Russia, the son of a grocer. He started writing short pieces for a magazine under a pen name, and then went on to write major works such as 'The Seagull', as well as continuing his short-story writing. He died from tuberculosis at the age of 44.
I'm not usually a fan of short stories, I like to get my teeth stuck into a plot and see characters grow, but there was something calming and untroubling about these short stories. Sometimes I thought characters from one short story were appearing in another because of the similarity of some of the Russian names, and I quite liked that idea, even though I think I was mistaken about it. All the stories are, I believe, set in Russia and cross all classes. There are stories of peasants, stories of aristocrats and of soldiers, but in all cases it is made obvious that of course everyone is human and has the same feelings. The stories are romantic, moving, real. Chekhov has a definite art of describing emotion, whether the person in question is male or female. Even though you obviously assume the stories are set in the time of writing, ie the late 1800s, because they are stories of human emotion and feeling, they could actually be describing modern day characters.
A wonderful collection.
This has been adapted into a film and is currently out at the cinema. It's a Harry Hole story, who is Jo Nesbo's most famous police inspector (the first Harry Hole novel was published in 1997). Jo Nesbo is a very popular Norwegian author, who writes both adult crime novels and children's books.
This is the first Harry Hole story I've read, and the first thing I must say is that it's quite violent and gory, but I've since heard it said that that is the main feel of the Hole books, along with featuring women in peril (which this one definitely does). The Snowman is about a serial killer who targets married women with children, and disposes of them in rather gruesome ways. It was hard to put this down. I thought I'd guessed who the killer was, but I was wrong. Nesbo takes you through twists and turns in the storyline, throwing in red herrings and extra characters to keep you thinking. I got a bit confused with the Norwegian police department names and some of the officer's names, but on the whole it was a gripping read. I'm sure fans of Harry Hole will not be disappointed.
I really loved Andrew's previous book The Loney, so I was very much looking forward to reading this new one. I'm not really sure how I feel about it. Slightly disappointed, in that it doesn't have the same impact of being unnerved as with the first one. That's not to say that the writing is badly written - he writes impeccably well. It's just that for the first half of the book, I skimmed many pages and really, when I got to the end, the pages I'd skimmed could really have been cut out altogether. I wasn't drawn into the story as much as with The Loney, and only really enjoyed about the last half or even quarter. That's probably because that's where most of the action was - the rest was a large amount of descriptive text of surrounding landscapes, nature and historical characters, which I wasn't really interested in. There was also a lot of jumping around timewise, and sometimes I found myself reading a paragraph and not knowing if we were still in the past or back in the present.
John and his new wife Kat travel from Suffolk to John's dad's farm near Lancashire, where every year they go through a ritual of rounding up the sheep from the moors and bringing them down to the farm out of the harshness of the winter weather. They then put on a sumptuous feast and call the Devil in to fill his stomach with food and wine so that he'll go away, sleep and forget to take sheep or cattle. This is called Devil's Day. However, this particular year, things have happened within the village which have caused fear and tension amongst the neighbours, and John and Kat's first Devil's Day together will be one they will never forget.
I always look forward to a new Nina Stibbe novel. I know it's a perfect treat waiting to be read. She always makes me laugh, enough to make me want to be her best friend! Creepy!
In this little gem of a book, Nina lets us into her own world of Christmas, and sets out dos and donts of this festive period. Need advice on a tree? A turkey? The perfect present? Whether to throw a party? Well all this and more can be found within the pages of this hilarious autobiography/short story/advice book!
The only downside - it's too short!! I want more! Thank you Nina for yet again bringing a smile to my face.
Sam is a teacher in the UK, and Dennis is on death row in the U.S., convicted of the murder of a young girl 20 years previously. His case has always been in the media, as there are many who believe he is innocent. After the end of a relationship, Sam fills her time trawling through all the sites and messages about Dennis and his case, and starts to write to him. Months later she's on a plane to visit him in prison, and before long her life takes a very different turn.
I enjoyed reading this book, though I found Sam's character rather unnerving. She's obviously an educated young lady, but she's also naive, paranoid and jealous - not exactly ideal attributes in life, especially when you start a relationship with a convict. Perhaps it's those that need help themselves, who offer help to others? I wasn't sure whether we should feel sorry for her, or be frightened of her. I think the surroundings she found herself in were such that they changed her completely.
A great book for those who love easy-to-read thrillers. You're never quite sure which way it will go until you actually reach the end.
Seventy-year-old Fredrik Welin lives on one of the islands making up an archipelago off the coast of Sweden. He lives alone in a big old house built by his grandfather. His wife has died. He has a daughter, Louise, but she's a traveller and rarely divulges her whereabouts, or indeed any facts about her life, to her father.
Fredrik is woken late one night by a searing light - his house is on fire. He only has time to save himself and nothing else. By the next day the house is burnt right down to the ground.
Over the next few months we learn more about Fredrik - his life on the island, his daughter and her secrets, his relationship with a journalist, and also about Jansson the postman, who not only delivers all the mail by boat to the islanders, but reads all of it too. We also follow the investigation into the fire, as suspicions arise as to who or what caused it to start.
In 2015 Henning Mankell died from cancer. This was his final piece of work. He was a very popular author of Swedish crime fiction, most notably his character Kurt Wallander, played brilliantly by Kenneth Branagh in the English-language tv drama series. 'After the Fire' dwells on loneliness, loss and death. When I was reading the book, I was picturing everything in black and white, just like the cover, as nothing in the book seemed to evoke colour or happiness. I don't know whether this is because of Mankell's state of mind while writing the book, or whether all his crime books have a similar feeling. He also draws on incidents from his own life to include in the book, one of them being when Fredrik travels to Paris and memories rush back to him of when he was there as a young man and arrested during the student uprising in 1968. Mankell himself lived in Paris starting out as a writer, and himself took part in the student uprising.
Even though the book is quite long, and many chapters are about the minutiae of Fredrik's life - his shopping, his daily ablutions, his trips and falls, his musings on life and death - it's never dull or boring, it subtly pulls you into the story of a lonely man living in a lonely environment.
Emily Barr is a prolific writer of adult fiction. Her first young adult novel, The One Memory of Flora Banks, was published to critical acclaim in December 2016. This is her second young adult novel, and I think it may be my favourite.
Ella Black lives in Kent with her parents and her cat, Humphrey. She has two best friends, Lily and Jack. But Ella has a secret - sometimes when she least expects it, loud ringing noises flood her head and even though she tries to fight it, she can't stop letting Bella through. Bella is the psychotic side of Ella and makes her do mean things.
One day at school, after being rude to her teacher, Ella is called to the head's office where her mother is anxiously waiting. Ella is immediately removed from school with no explanation, but it's not back home where her parents are taking her. What happens next will turn Ella's life upside down.
Chapter One of the book is titled '40 days until she dies', and all the following chapters count down the days to this event. But who is being talked about? Whose life are we counting down the final days of?
This was such a page turner - I read it in a couple of days. It was fast-paced and full of action and adventure. Ella is brave and fearless, even when facing the most frightening scenario. Move over Flora, there's a new girl in town!
Victor Forde lives on his own in a sparse apartment in Ireland. He used to be married to Rachel - businesswoman turned popular TV presenter - but that is now over, and the main focus of his life is his time spent in his local pub, Donnelly's. It is there that he meets a man who appears to know him well, even though Victor can't place him at all. The man, Fitzpatrick, tells him they used to go to school together and seems to know a lot about their time there, especially the teachers - one in particular, Murphy, who used to tell the schoolboy Victor that he liked his smile. For Victor used to attend St Martin's CBS, a Christian Brothers school in Ireland, where they were taught by monks. It is the memory of what the monks did to the young boys - Victor in particular - that would forever haunt him. Who is this man Fitzpatrick, and why is he so uncouth and imposing, dredging up horrible memories for Victor?
There are few laughs in this book, some of it uncomfortable reading, partly because of the feeling of dread in the chapters about school, and partly because you know this sort of thing was actually happening in real life. Fitzpatrick is not a nice character, and every time he makes an appearance in the pub, you just wish Victor would walk away and ignore him, but it's like a magnet, drawing them together. The ending of the book is quite a shock, in fact it had me slightly confused, and I felt I should read the book again to make sense of it.
Even though she plays a
small part in the book, I loved Victor's mother, she was such a caring,
adorable woman. This could be because the only other female character
in the book was Rachel, the ex-wife. She came across as a domineering,
controlling woman, and I felt that Victor was made out to be a victim in his marriage as well as in his school and in the pub.
Roddy Doyle often writes about uncomfortable subject matters - marriage breakdowns, domestic abuse - and most of his fiction is set in Ireland (being Irish born and bred himself), so the overall feeling of the book is true Roddy.
What a wonderful story! A murder mystery for children like no other - the main character, Sally Jones, is a gorilla and she is a true delight. There are beautiful illustrations at the start of each chapter, and a detailed map on the inside front and back covers - no-one can resist a map!
The story is set in Lisbon in Portugal in the early to mid 1900's. Sally Jones is an engineer's assistant to the 'Chief' Henry Koskela on the vessel The Hudson Queen. However, following their refusal to take on board a certain consignment of cargo, one man ends up dead and Henry Koskela is charged with his murder. Sally Jones knows he is innocent and sets out to prove it. Her journey takes her to India and back, and along the way she meets many colourful characters - some who want to help her, but many who don't.
The story is jam-packed with adventures, it is such a page-turner. A marvelous book with a truly original heroine.
Helen Dunmore was a prolific writer of both children's and adult fiction. She sadly passed away recently after a battle with cancer. Birdcage Walk was her last work of fiction. She states at the end of the book that even though she knew she was ill during the writing of the book, she didn't realise how ill. I think that once I knew this, I myself became aware of the many mentions of mortality, and how you are remembered after you die, and this may have affected my enjoyment of it. It was very dark and sombre - I can't say morbid, because that would infer I took no enjoyment out of it. I found the first half of the book slightly laborious; I was willing for something to happen. It wasn't until about the second half that I began to race through it a bit quicker.
The story is set in Bristol, while in France the French Revolution is under way. Lizzie's husband, Diner, is a builder and he is working on a terrace of upmarket houses overlooking the Avon Gorge. However, is business is bleak, and is set to become bleaker as the Revolution in France spreads its terror across Europe. Meanwhile, Lizzie's mother and stepfather take a keen interest in the actions of the revolutionaries, being careful not to speak out loud where their loyalties lie. With Diner spiralling into bankruptcy, depression and jealousy, how can Lizzie escape the inevitability of the crisis that is looming?
Please make sure you also read Helen Dunmore's 'Exposure'. It is a brilliant story of blackmail, lies and deception.
I hadn't read any Salman Rushdie books before I came to this one. I know it sounds absurd, but since The Satanic Verses and the threats on his life, I've had a slight fear over his novels. Would they be too political for me, too intelligent?
Well, in The Golden House, he certainly is the latter two things, but it didn't stop me enjoying the book immensely. He throws literary, historical, cinematic and mythological references into nearly every sentence, many of which I hadn't heard! He is certainly a well-educated man, and the book a huge literary feast. The utmost care has been taken over every sentence - no noun or adjective has been misused. Sure, I might've glazed over on some paragraphs because the descriptions were just too much for my brain to cope with on one go, but overall it is a beauty of a book.
Nero Golden arrives in America with his three sons during the period of the inauguration of Obama. They all refuse to say where they have come from and the reason they left. But they bring with them power, money and danger. The story of their downfall is told by one of their neighbours, Rene Unterlinden, who is trying to find an idea for a film - and he finds it in the Goldens. This is an epic tale of Indian and American history and politics - the appearance of presidential wannabes the Joker and Bat Girl will have you grinning and wincing at the same time.
It may be over 400 pages long, but this book will drag you in and under, and you won't come up for air until the last page.
A couple of light hearted facts for you - did you know that in his early career Salman Rushdie was a copywriter for an advertising agency, and he was the one who came up with 'irresistibubble' for Aero, 'naughty but nice' for cream cakes, and 'that'll do nicely' for American Express?
I like a good ghost story, and this definitely had the beginnings of one, but there was too much unnecessary stuff in there to wade through for it to become a good book for me.
Eleanor and Richard have moved into an old Victorian house in London, perfect for doing up and making their own. The previous owners wanted a quick sale, and Richard and Eleanor's offer was immediately accepted. They take on a lodger, Zoe, for their basement flat to help with the mortgage. But then Eleanor soon becomes aware that something is not right in the house, especially upstairs in one of the bedrooms. All the walls have the name 'Emily' scrawled all over them, the room feels airless, and a terrible smell of rot is permeating through the house. Soon Eleanor becomes sick with headaches, which only disappear when she leaves the house, and one their two small children starts acting strangely. Eleanor tries to find ways to convince Richard that something is not right, but will he listen before it's too late?
Now, if that had been the whole story, I would've enjoyed it more, but instead I had to wade through Zoe's personal background, her work, her relationships, all of which had absolutely nothing to do with the story apart from adding a bad vibe to the house. Richard is incredibly annoying, not only because he steadfastly refuses to accept Eleanor's complaints about the house, but he has a weird fetish for going into Zoe's room when she's not there, which I never understood. And would anyone actually buy a house which gives them the creeps, and had a room with a child's name scrawled over the walls, and scratches on the door? There was too much in this book that annoyed me for me to enjoy it.
First and foremost, a warning. This is an uncomfortable read - I found my toes curling and my gut and teeth clenching as I read some sections. But when there seemed to be hope in the story, I relaxed and prayed everything would be ok. Because the story is about abuse - sexual, mental and physical - of a 14 year old girl by her own father. But even though we know it's wrong and it's horrific, the daughter, Turtle, loves her father, Martin, so much that she accepts what is happening and doesn't try to escape. I think that part is so heartbreaking.
The two live in a large house on a huge piece of land, and the grandfather lives in a trailer in the orchard. When the mother was alive, the property was looked after, succulent fruits and vegetables growing in the garden, flowers abundant, the house clean and sparkling. But now everything has fallen into disrepair - weeds and brambles have taken over in the garden, grease rust and deadly spiders have taken over the house. With the loss of his wife, Martin's mind has also fallen into disrepair. He has brought his daughter up shunning attempts of friendship from others, and he teaches her how to shoot.
One day, Turtle bumps into two boys out trekking, they get lost and she helps them find the right path home. The arrival of these boys, Jacob and Brett, into the story inject humour, pathos, normality and hope into the story, and you wish it would carry on just being the three of them. But not all stories have happy endings - Martin doesn't want to share his daughter with anybody, and he will go to any lengths to stop that happening.
I think this title will be big because the storyline is so shocking and unbearable everyone will be talking about it. The author was brought up by two mothers, and I wonder whether his attitude towards fathers has any bearing on the character of Martin. Gabriel's love of nature shines through the whole book - how can the beauty of nature be described so acutely alongside the ugliness of such characters as Martin? The contrast is obvious and purposeful.
An unforgettable read.
I absolutely loved Lauren's first book 'Wolf Hollow', and this second book is almost as good, but for me hasn't quite pipped the post, but is still a joy to read. Lauren is such a beautiful writer - she is an award-winning poet, and this definitely comes through in her writing. You just have to savour every single sentence, because each word is chosen so carefully and fits so perfectly. The writing is magical and the storyline and characters are magical too. Crow is a young girl living on a tiny island with her guardian, Osh. As a baby, she was wrapped up and put in a tiny boat and sent off from one island and landed on Osh's, where he found her and has brought her up as his own. Now Crow is older, she starts wondering about the island she was cast adrift from - an old leper colony - and of her real parents. Will her curiosity spoil the wonderfully simple life she leads with Osh? Is danger lurking close by, threatening her, Osh and their close friend Maggie?
Lauren Wolk is a true talent and I very much look forward to her next book.
There aren't many books that I've enjoyed so much that I want to read them again, but this is definitely one of them. I think it's because it took me by surprise. I'd read an interview with the author where she'd spoken about the main character, Eleanor. I obviously wasn't paying attention because I came to the book with a completely different expectation. What I knew of Eleanor was that she lived alone, didn't go out much, and was really very lonely, and that the book would explain how she'd become how she was, and how she got through life. Well, all of that is true, but as soon as you start to read the book, you realise that Eleanor is not like everyone else. She may have a job, a flat, and enjoys doing cryptic crosswords, but she is hugely scarred mentally by her childhood. Something happened which has caused her to interact with colleagues in a very different manner. She needs bottles of vodka to get her through a weekend. She has a bullying and controlling mother, and the only contact Eleanor has with her is a weekly phone call, during which the mother usually berates and belittles her.
Eleanor decides she needs someone in her life to love her and be her companion. She becomes obsessed with a local musician and tries to organise a situation where they can meet. While this is happening, one of her work colleagues, Raymond, befriends her. She doesn't particularly like Raymond, but will she be able to see past looks and realise who may be better for her in her life?
This is an emotional and moving book about not fitting in and about mental health. It is Gail Honeyman's debut novel, but it has already been shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction prize while it was a work in progress, and it was chosen as one of the Observer's Debuts of the Year for 2017.
(Review by Megan, age 14)
The original story behind the Netflix show, 13 Reasons Why is a very raw and emotional story about a suicidal girl who has left behind casette tapes for her peers who are the 'reasons why'.
The book is different from the on-screen show, but is definitely still hard-hitting and certainly makes you think about the affect you make on other people's lives, that however small it may be, it can make a big difference. It might not be a story for everyone, but I think that everyone should read it, because unfortunately, it is based on countless true stories that are still happening around the world today.
Overall, a very touching, emotive and important tale, told in a realistic and heart-breaking way. I recommend this book to anyone aged 13+.
In the summer of 1978, Richard (aged 11) and his family (brothers Nicky, 9, 13-yr-old Tim, 6-yr-old Jem and mum, dad and grandparents) were on holiday near Port Isaac in Cornwall. They decided to go to a nearby beach for a picnic. With the tide coming in, mum decided it was time to pack up and go, but Richard and Nicky wanted one last swim. They ran across rocks to an empty cove and jumped into the sea. Within minutes, with the tide rushing in, they were out of their depth. Richard saw his younger brother struggling to keep his head above the water, and with himself struggling he managed to swim to the beach to get help. That was the last time Richard saw his brother alive. Getting help meant running up the coastal path (about a 15 minute run) to the local farmhouse, where a call was made to the RNLI. Rescuers arrived about 40 mins after Richard left the water. Too late to help Nicky. Within the week, they'd had the funeral (which the boys didn't attend), and were back down to Cornwall finishing their paid-for holiday in the same holiday cottage, and at the same beach. Nicky wasn't spoken of again amongst the family.
This book is Richard's way, now in his early 50s, of coming to terms with the death of his brother, and trying to finally grieve for him. He interviews his family members, trying to find out why they never spoke of Nicky's death, or even of Nicky himself, and he returns to Cornwall to the place where they holidayed, and to the beach itself.
Living in Cornwall myself, I am all too aware of the dangers of the sea and the quick-turning tides, and during the tourist season there are many stories in our local papers of accidents involving holiday-makers getting stranded, or worse, during high tides. What happened to Nicky was indeed tragic, but how the family dealt with the aftermath of his death was just as upsetting. Why are there no photos of Nicky around the house? Why does Richard not know the date Nicky died? Why was he not allowed at the funeral? Why did the father drive them back to Cornwall after the funeral to finish the holiday? Because Richard has never been able to openly grieve for his brother, some of the terms he uses and the way he speaks of his brother come across as very cold. He asks blunts questions of his mother, whether it's because he is unfeeling himself, or whether he is punishing her for how she handled the situation, it's not really clear.
This is an emotional read, and I hope Richard is now finally able to grieve for the brother he wasn't able to save.
I'm not going to say much about this book apart from this - if there's only one book you read this year, make it this one. I gush over it to everyone at work, I recommend it in our recommends bay, I'm excited for any customer reading it for the first time. It was a Radio 2 book club book and went down very well with the readers there too. The writing is superb, the story is entertaining, the characters are exciting. The 'gentleman' in the title is Count Alexander Rostov who, in 1922 and because of his background and beliefs, is put under house arrest and sent to live out the rest of his days in the hotel Metropol in Moscow. We witness Russian history over the years through his eyes, as he learns about it only through newspapers or for the changing habits and customers of the grand hotel. From being a rich artistocrat living in a large house, he is now living in an attic room of the hotel, but in all ways he is a true gentleman.
A wonderful and unforgettable read.
I've only read 2 of Matt's books before, and they were both children's ones (To be a Cat; Shadow Forest). He is probably best known for his adult novel 'The Humans' and for his non-fiction work on depression 'Reasons to Stay Alive' (Matt has been a sufferer of depression for many years).
This current book has already attracted attention from the press - even though at the time of writing this, the book hasn't even been published yet, film rights were snapped up, and Benedict Cumberbatch is due to play the lead role in the upcoming film! (as well as producing it).
The book is about Tom Hazard, who suffers from a rare medical condition (anageria) which causes him to age much much slower than the average human. He looks and puts his age at 41, but he is actually over 400 years old. There aren't many other sufferers of it in the world, but one of them, Hendrich, has decided to set up The Albatross Society, and aims to recruit all sufferers into the society to protect them from medics and scientists from using them in scientific experiments. Tom has lived through many historical events (for example the plague), met many famous historical figures (for example Shakespeare), but one thing that is the most difficult for him to manage, and one which Hendrich has advised him against, is falling love. He fell in love once, with Rose, and they had a daughter, Marion, who also has anageria. Marion has disappeared, Tom hasn't seen her since she was a child, so he is now trying to find her, but Hendrich seems to be putting obstacles in his way.
I enjoyed the book - I loved the detail of the historical events mentioned. Matt obviously did a lot of research. But I did find my interest waning a bit in the last few chapters - I skim-read them instead. It's a great premise for a story, and I can see it working well as a film, so I'd be interested to see it when it comes out.
I read another of Elizabeth's books called 'Olive Kitteridge' on a recommendation of a colleague a few months ago, and I fell in love with her writing. It wasn't what I expected - it read like a collection of short stories, with one character, the titular Olive, being the thread running through them all. I'm not usually a fan of short stories, and I don't like to describe it as such to customers coming into our bookshop in case it puts them off for that reason, but in this case I just loved them. Elizabeth Strout the author is wonderful at character analyses and descriptions, and day to day life and relationships are described in such a realistic and truthful (and sometimes ruthless) way.
I was eager to read her next book 'Lucy Barton', and I was very disappointed. This followed Lucy being visited in hospital by her estranged mother. Even though other characters are alluded to and memories brought to the fore, it mainly deals with the strained relationship between Lucy and her mother, and I missed the other characters and descriptions from 'Olive'.
I was willing to give her another go, and thus read 'Anything Is Possible'. I loved it. It surpassed my love of 'Olive Kitteridge'. This book follows the other characters that were mentioned in 'Lucy Barton', including her brother and sister, her cousins, her aunt, her school janitor - they're all in there, with Lucy being the thread through it all, and I just adored that return to style of 'Olive'. The last chapter is especially moving. Highly recommended.
Late evening on Friday 3rd December 1926, Agatha Christie drove from her home in Berkshire and wasn't seen or heard of again for 11 days. Her car was discovered abandoned in Guildford. There were many suggestions as to what had happened to her - she'd committed suicide; she disappeared as part of a publicity stunt; her husband had murdered her.
'A Talent for Murder' is a fiction novel about the incident, but Andrew Wilson uses facts and newspaper articles surrounding her disappearance to create his own imaginings of what took place during those 11 missing days.
I found it a very readable and enjoyable story. It's fast paced and gripping. I don't know whether the actual truth about her disappearance was ever discovered - Agatha Christie never spoke of it - but it was very strange reading the book knowing that something had happened and that one of the most famous crime writers in the world had found herself the center of a crime story herself.
A few months ago, Mary broke up with her fiancee Mark. It ended quite badly, huge arguments, crockery thrown. The arguments were over starting a family - Mark wanted to, Mary did not. Since the break-up, Mary has bought Mark out of the house they shared, but something else has also happened. She has slowly been having a breakdown. She is having problems at work, her mother rings her weekly to check on her, the house is becoming a bit rundown. And to cap it all, the neighbourhood is having a problem with foxes. But Mary realises that having a fox in your garden is no bad thing. In fact, once you get to know them, they can become a best friend, a soulmate even....
I loved this book. The storyline is so original, the descriptions of Mary's slow spiral into depression and mental breakdown are believable, the setting of the story during a hot summer in the outskirts of London increases the feeling of being stifled by external forces. The irony of her impatience with her neighbour who seems to be suffering from post-natal depression, not realising that she herself is going through a breakdown. She feels she is the normal one and everyone else just doesn't understand. The only one that does understand is the fox that visits everyday.
This is an impressive debut. I look forward to more from Paula Cocozza.
