Bit controversial this one, but I loved it. The controversy seems to stem stem from the question of who has the right to tell migrant stories, and how to depict the countries they are leaving.
The Dilemma by B.A. Paris
This is a lovely little domestic thriller involving two rather big secrets and the married couple who keep them from one another.
I Thought I Knew You by Penny Hancock
An ugly accusation tests a friendship. Could any mother doubt her daughter when she says she’s been raped? Would any mother believe her son was the rapist?
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
Do not be put off by the fact this Booker Prize winning novel is one long sentence (which sounds a bit wanky); it’s engaging, funny and so full of life. Evaristo takes us into the lives and minds of twelve mostly black mostly women in Britain, past and present. Each perspective presented is sublimely human. […]
Life Before by Carmel Reilly
A familiar although tragic story; a car accident involving a teenage drunk driver results in the death of his mate. Just when you think things can’t get much worse for the families involved, they do. Jump to the present and one of the family members is presented with disturbing news, forcing her to confront the […]
The Wife and The Widow by Christian White
Better than his last book. The Wife and The Widow still has White’s signature element of creepiness (taxidermy, anyone?) but is solidly written with a fiendishly clever twist. 3.5 stars.
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Normally I find Ann Patchett’s studies of human nature completely absorbing but sadly this one is a little tedious. The main character Danny Conroy and his sister Maeve have an unhealthy fixation with the Dutch House, an incongruous mansion in Pennsylvania where they spent their childhood. Their evil stepmother summarily turfed them out of the […]
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Do not be put off by the fact this book is about misogyny and too big to read in the bath; it is utterly absorbing and so, so good. I couldn’t be bothered to re-read The Handmaid’s Tale and haven’t seen the TV series but it didn’t matter; just dive right in and you’re in […]