Smile by Roddy Doyle

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.

Holding by Graham Norton

Graham Norton written a novel? As in, Graham Norton, most brilliant and funniest chat show host ever? Yes, that one. I was surprised at first, but then thought 'why AM I surprised?' Celebrities are branching out into everything nowadays. I couldn't wait to get my hands on the book though. I just loved the outline of the story.

It's set in Ireland (good start, he's writing about what he knows), in a small village near Cork called Duneen. The village garda is Sergeant Patrick James Collins, single, overweight, looked after and fed by Mrs Meany the housekeeper. His life as the village garda is a simple and boring one - he issues licences and checks tax discs. He hopes to prove himself as something more. His hopes soon come true - human remains are found by builders working on a new housing development behind the primary school. Detective Sergeant Dunne arrives from Cork to assist Sergeant Collins in the case. It is thought by many of the villagers that the remains may be those of Tommy Burke, a young farmer who had vanished about 20 years ago, but it seems some of the villagers are hiding secrets and may know more than they're letting on.

I just loved reading this book. There was action on every page which kept you interested in the story, you wanted to know more about all of the characters, none of them annoyed me! There were twists and turns, interesting sub-stories of characters' private lives, bits of humour (as you'd expect with Graham). I'd finish a chapter of an evening, and look forward to picking up the book again the next day. I did find myself reading the words of the whole book in my head in an Irish accent, but surely that's understandable, so it is? (oops).

Bravo Graham - I look forward to your next one!

The Apple Tart of Hope by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

The Apple Tart of Hope
by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

This was such a lovely book. The style of writing reminded me so much of John Boyne and Frank Cottrell-Boyce. It's gentle, heartfelt, emotional, a little book kooky - I just adored it. It had the feel of a 9-12yr audience, but the subject matter might deny that age group because it deals with attempted suicide which I think is a bit too adult emotionally for young children to grasp and cope with.

The story is set in Ireland. Oscar and Meg are best friends - they live next door to each other, go to the same school, they talk all day and nearly all night out of their bedroom windows. Meg's father takes a job in New Zealand for 6 months, and Meg reluctantly goes with them. While they're away, Paloma and her mother move in to Meg's old house, and Oscar befriends Paloma. But this is where Oscar's life suddenly gets turned around, from good to bad. He is hurt, ridiculed, and bullied, and due to an awful misunderstanding over a letter, Meg no longer keeps in contact with him. He feels all alone, and sees only one way out. But what Oscar doesn't realise is that there are people around who care about him, and save him from a life-threatening action.

A beautiful book about being different, about good and bad friendships, and how salvation can come from an unlikely place.