It’s 1963 and Charlotte is struggling with what looks, from this vantage, like severe post natal depression. You’d have to hope she’d get more help these days, but back then there was nothing. Charlotte and her husband decide to move to Australia but it gives her no joy either. This is a beautifully written book, […]
General fiction
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Celeste Ng seems like a novelist who really knows people. From the straight laced parents of teenagers, to the teenagers themselves and the outsider artist and her daughter, Ng convincingly gets inside the head of every one of them. She’s very good and Little Fires Everywhere is compelling reading- several stories for the price of […]
The Golden Age by Joan London
Oh, how I love this book. London’s writing is so gentle, so simple, so evocative, you just want to hug her books to your chest and cherish them like relics. Set in 1954 Australia in a polio ward (of all places), the plot isn’t really important – it’s just a series of ordinary moments transformed […]
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
Ah, this one is beautiful. I liked it even better than Patchett’s previous novel Bel Canto. It begins with an illicit kiss at a christening in 1964 and gently unspools from there. The story isn’t that important; the writing is, and the compassion with which Patchett deals with her characters. If you like this one, try […]
The Force by Don Winslow
Think about the best episode of NYPD Blue you ever saw on the telly- this book is just that good. It’s also a bit Breaking Bad with a touch of The Shield. But enough comparisons – just read it. It’s superbly written and feels so real and immediate you will find yourself gasping and swearing loudly and […]
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
Wow, what a beauty. It’s 1974 and a thirteen year old Leni’s family are moving to Alaska. It’s the latest in a string of unsuccessful schemes to hold the struggling family together since Leni’s dad, Ernt, came home deeply damaged from Vietnam. The wildness and beauty of Alaska initially appear to heal Ernt but come winter, he spirals downwards into paranoia […]
To Know My Crime by Fiona Capp
A beautifully written novel about many different kinds of loss – money, mobility, independence, self respect- and the cost of living with the mistakes we make. Not quite a thriller, but with sufficient intrigue in the plot to keep you steadily reading. Set largely on the Mornington Peninsula with descriptions so lush and evocative it […]
In the Lake of The Woods by Tim O’Brien
This is a weird little beauty, and difficult to characterise. When politician’s wife Kathy Wade goes missing from a remote cabin in Minnesota, you’d think the author would tell you what happened to her, but no. Instead he presents a series of hypotheses and you choose which one most resonates with you. Kathy’s husband John […]