Weird. Unsettling. Peculiar. But at least original.
General fiction
Other People’s Secrets
Who can resist a big lakeside house in Italy and the uber rich who inhabit it? Not Ginny and Adam Trustlove, who are drawn towards the wealthy Sales despite being utterly heartbroken by the recent death of their baby son. Bea Sale, wife of a philandering husband and mother to three grown up kids, is […]
Love and Ruin by Paula McLain
Normally I avoid books with cursive writing on the cover or the word ‘love’ in the title (CHICK LIT) but for McLain I will make an exception. She has a way of getting right inside the minds of the women she writes about. Love and Ruin is her second novel based on the wives of […]
An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine
Aaliya is 72 years old, divorced and lives alone in an apartment in Beirut she refused to let her family bully her out of. She has no really close bonds and suspects she would be judged by society as an unneccary woman, but by God what a mind she has. History, literature, humour, human nature, […]
The Children Act by Ian McEwan
I loved this book. So refreshing to see a woman in her late fifties at the height of her powers and not wholly defined by her relationships with others: mother, wife. Fiona Maye is a judge in the Family Court. She is thoughtful, humane and compassionate in the way we want all our judges to […]
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
This book will forevor be associated with the excellent Netflix series made after it, and that can only be a good thing. The original book, set in Australia, takes you inside the lives of three woman dealing with young children and the emotional guagmire that comes hand in hand with them, plus domestic violence, infidelity, […]
Mrs Hemingway by Naomi Wood
Ah, I loved this one. It traces Ernest Hemingway’s relationships with each of his four wives and paints a believable portrait of each of them and the times they lived through. All of the Mrs Hemingways are interesting, intelligent, memorable women in their own right. You have to wonder what they all see in him. […]
An Isolated Incident by Emily Maquire
An Isolated Incident has been marketed as a thriller but it’s actually not; it’s a study in grief. Bella Michaels is brutally raped and murdered near the small Australian town where she lives and her sister, Chris, must somehow live through her grief. It’s not so much a whodunnit as a study in how violent death […]