This is not your usual missing child story. Florence is not your usual mother. She is chaotic and immatureAll The Other Mothers Hate Me By Sarah Harman
This is not your usual missing child story. Florence is not your usual mother. She is chaotic and immature, self obsessed and convinced that none of the other school mothers like her.
When her son's school friend goes missing, and she realises that her son might be more implicated than he's letting on, she can't help herself perverting the course of justice. She'll do anything to protect Dylan.
Poor Florence. She's one of those messy women who never learns from their mistakes. She is morally flexible and that makes her vulnerable to manipulation. Almost everything she does makes the reader cringe in horror, but you just can't help but love her and want to protect her from herself.
This story should not have worked for me. Silly drama would normally turn me off, but sometimes the narrative voice and the tone get their hooks into me and with it's fast pace and intriguing plot, which I never would have figured out, this book has been a surprise win for me.
Should be on everyone's summer reading list.
Publication Date: 10th April 2025 Thanks to ##Netgalley and #4thestatebooks for providing an ARC for review purposes...more
I was interested in the travel element of this novel, and the dynamics of a failing marriage, but this was not the bElegy, Southwest By Madeleine Watts
I was interested in the travel element of this novel, and the dynamics of a failing marriage, but this was not the book for me. I found the narrative to be plodding and uninteresting and it probably comes down to personal taste regarding narrative voice.
I admit that I didn't give this book a fair crack simply because I reached a point where I felt like my reading was getting stuck behind it, and with the publication date looming, I merely scanned the second half, in order that I eliminate it from my schedule. Sorry Elegy, Southwest. More likely that the problem is this reader, than of your story that I couldn't quite access.
Publication date: 13th March 2025 Thanks to #Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eGalley for review purposes....more
Whenever I am asked who my favourite author is, the name Curtis Sittenfeld always leaps out before I have time to Show Don't Tell By Curtis Sittenfeld
Whenever I am asked who my favourite author is, the name Curtis Sittenfeld always leaps out before I have time to think about it. The truth is that there are probably 20 authors who jostle for the same place, but Curtis is my first love because discovering her changed the way I read and in many ways, the way I see myself.
The stories in this collection are very much in the style of her earlier work, but are more reflective, often dual timeline, with mostly midlife women who can acknowledge their growth. To say that I can relate to all these characters is the understatement of the year. It feels more like the author has mined me and my own experiences, thoughts, neuroses and revelations to create these humorous and satisfying stories that accurately portray how our angst and self consciousness morphs over the decades.
There are three stories that I would give 4 stars to, but the other nine made me so happy that they could only be 5 stars. When I realise that the final story is an extension to Prep, I wasn't sure if I even wanted to read it. Not because I didn't love Prep, I did. But I was a little afraid that it might ruin my memory of Prep from all those years back. Of course, it didn't. If anything, it makes complete sense of what I think she is trying to achieve with this collection, our grown-up selves taking pride and satisfaction at who we have become, and looking back with kindness and compassion at our younger selves.
I consider myself a confirmed non-rereader, however I know I will pick this book up again and again for the sheer comfort.
Publication date: 27th February 2025 Thanks to #Netgalley and #randomhouseuk for providing an eGalley for review purposes...more
This book appeared on enough Top Ten of 2024 lists from my closest book twins last year for me to feel like I had missI Cheerfully Refuse By Leif Enger
This book appeared on enough Top Ten of 2024 lists from my closest book twins last year for me to feel like I had missed a trick, so when it turned up on Netgalley UK lately I leapt on it. Is it only being released there now, or perhaps it's the paperback edition? Regardless, I'm thrilled to have gotten a copy.
I love a voicey story, and from the get-go, I was enthralled by Rainy (Rainier) and also by Enger's beautifully crafted sentences.
This is a dystopian quest story, set in the near future, in and around the waters and shores of Lake Superior. From the beginning we pick up clues about the nature of apocalyptic events and their outcomes for society and the environment. We know that the world has reverted to a feudal type system, resources are scarce, the future seems bleak, suicide is the only option for many.
There's a good 25% of set up in this story as Enger takes his time to reveal the main characters and their motivations. Some readers report that this is slow. True, but also necessary for world building, but then a major event kick starts the journey and we're off to the races.
There are so many comparisons that came to mind while reading this. Think Kevin Costner's Waterworld meets The Odyssey. A survivalist chase in a post ice cap melt environment where anything you have is something that someone else might kill you for.
I became so invested in this story, my heart was in my mouth several times. It has allusions to scenarios that don't seem all that speculative any more, where the most powerful billionaires have taken everything from everyone else, including their humanity.
But through the doom and gloom, people still want to read and make music, to endeavour to thrive in like minded communities, to find family and love.
Where there is life there is hope.
I loved this.
Publication Date: 3rd April 2025 Thanks to ##Netgalley and #AtlanticBooks for providing an eGalley for review purposes....more
Anne Tyler is such a reliable author. Her characters contain multitudes and their drama always appears low stake on theThree Days In June By Anne Tyler
Anne Tyler is such a reliable author. Her characters contain multitudes and their drama always appears low stake on the surface but are roiling with foreshadowing of consequences that we interpret through her perfectly formed shorthand of gesture, glance or remark.
Having binged her backlist over recent months I have come to appreciate her witty, razor sharp take on human behaviour, particularly in her older characters, and opening a new book of hers feels rather like sitting down to read a long letter from an old friend.
This new novel is probably my favourite ever of hers. It is short and the humour is evident from the very first page. It is the story of Gail, newly unemployed, her daughter's wedding is tomorrow and her ex husband turns up on her doorstep and foists himself and a borrowed cat upon her for the next three days.
A wedding signifies life changes but moreso for Gail than the for the bride and groom as she reflects on her marriage and divorce, evaluates her identity and her loss of past-self, negotiates a future reality that protects her newfound and hard won self agency, all while considering the possible advances of an old flame and trying not to resent her irritation at the invasion of her privacy by her imperious ex.
I love Gail, I love her growth and determination. This is a warm hug of a book with a very satisfying ending.
Publication date: 13th February 2025 Thanks to ##Netgalley and #randomhouseuk for providing an eGalley in return for an honest review...more
The Strange Case of Jane O By Karen Thompson Walker
A brief recap of my long, gushing and somehow lost earlier review.
A fascinating exploration of memorThe Strange Case of Jane O By Karen Thompson Walker
A brief recap of my long, gushing and somehow lost earlier review.
A fascinating exploration of memory and how it compares to reality. The novel alternates between the clinical notes of Jane's psychiatrist told in objective, analytical style, and Jane's letters to her young son which offer a more emotional, intimate perspective of her perplexing condition and her past experiences. There are many similarities between the two narratives, but also quite a few differences, some subtle, some, not so subtle, and through these variations we are invited to speculate on how reliable either narrative is.
This novel touches on so many ways that memory can be edited, warped, thwarted and revised, blurring the lines between personal truth and reality. I love stories that contain psychological and psychiatric study and this one captured my imagination from the first page. Even the metaphysical element somehow gave me pause for thought.
A suspenseful and compelling read that delivers an emotional and intellectual punch.
Publication Date: 6th March 2025 Thanks to #Netgalley and ##BonnierBooks for providing an eGalley for review purposes...more
This is the closest to a perfect book as I have come across in ages. It's one of those stories that picks you up, cBroken Country By Claire Leslie Hall
This is the closest to a perfect book as I have come across in ages. It's one of those stories that picks you up, carries you away and then leaves you feeling forlorn and deserted, unable to move on. It has thrown me into the worst book hangover I have had in years.
How did this author capture me so completely? With an average of 300 books a year I thought I was immune to this.
Set in the rural West counties, it opens with a shooting, a farmer kills a dog who is bothering his sheep, but it soon transpires that another death has occurred, but we don't know who died yet, or who killed them, let alone why.
What follows is a carefully structured narrative, with split timelines, first love, a trial, a tested marriage, a love triangle, a dead child, a volatile alcohol, a second chance romance.
Everything shifts from allusion to revelation over the course of the story. There are cliff hanger chapter endings, there are reveals and twists, a decent pace, however this is not a murder mystery. I mean it is, but it is so much more than that. I have seen it compared to Where The Crawdads Sing, and actually there are many elements to this story that remind me of that particular reading experience, especially insofar as the murder is not the central part of the narrative, raw human emotions are the central part, lost love, grief, the pain of betrayal, class differences, being at one with nature.
It's only February, but still, I will be shocked if this isn't my favourite book of 2025. This book has something for everyone whether plot or character are your thing, but please note trigger warnings, the most pressing might, like for me, be your inability to find any book that could possibly hold your attention after this.
Riveting from start to finish.
Publication date: 4th March 2025 Thanks to ##Netgalley and #JohnMurrayPress for providing an ARC fit review purposes....more
Killybegs is the largest fishing port in Ireland. It's sound are the sea, the clanging of iron against steel, the cThe Boy From the Sea By Garrett Carr
Killybegs is the largest fishing port in Ireland. It's sound are the sea, the clanging of iron against steel, the constant screech of seagulls. The smells are diesel and brine and mackerel and herring. The people live their lives to the rhythm of the sea and almost everyone is involved in the fishing industry. They are hard working, in daily battle against the sea to eke out an existence, men climbing aboard trawlers, risking life and limb, women waving them off, not quite sure if they'll ever see them again.
Into this appears a baby, washed up onto the shore, like Moses in his basket. They can only guess, but nobody really knows where this baby came from, but one thing's for sure, he needs a family.
This story kept bringing me back to another foundling story I read recently, "The Time of the Child" by Niall Williams, and in common, they both focus more on the community the child is thrust into than the boy himself. I love the relationships in this story, and the themes it explores, family dynamics, the caring of elderly parents and how that can cause rifts between siblings, martial resentments, grief and unfulfilled potential.
What makes this story stand out for me are the insights into the fishing industry and the communities that serve it. How fishing in Ireland has been decimated because it has been offered up in sacrifice in order to gain grants and revenue in other areas of the country and the economy from Europe, making the small family business a redundant concept. It makes me sad to realise the shame I feel that the honour of fishing, of caring for the sea and the sealife that was under the custodianship of all those generations who went before, is overrun by the Russian and Spanish supertrawlers who come in and clear out the seabed, regardless of sustainability or environment consequences.
There aren't many other industries here anymore that are so fundamentally a matter of life and death. This story has turned a lens on a livelihood I had never thought so much about before and told with such awareness of human nature.
Publication date: 6th February 2025 Thanks to Picador for gifting this ARC in return for an honest review....more
I didn't know what to expect going into this book, but at some point I suspected it was based on a real event, and thThe Paris Express By Emma Donoghue
I didn't know what to expect going into this book, but at some point I suspected it was based on a real event, and then guessed correctly what was going to happen, however it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the story. The photo is iconic, so I'm not sure it's supposed to be a secret anyway.
All the elements I like about this author's writing are there. I have read most of her novels and know that their success for me will usually depend on the narrative voice. This one had instant appeal for me, and I had no problem keeping up with the various characters, there's a lot, and had fun googling the real ones along the way.
I love how she presents each person's story through the immediacy of their most pressing concern right at that time. She builds a believable and interesting picture of life across the social spectrum in that period. Switching between characters in vignettes of various lengths adds to the pace and that works to great advantage in the final two chapters.
I read the second half of this book on an international flight, and the second last chapter as the plane was making it's final decent. I wouldn't recommend that for the feint hearted, but I got a thrill out of it.
To turn the page and come face to face with that iconic photo will always be shocking.
This is a strange one. Some are questioning the point of writing this story. It's historical fiction with a good blend of fact, the imagined story behind an unexpected image. It could have been captured by an article in a newspaper or a Wikipedia page, but Donoghue uses it as a jumping off point to tell the story of an ordinary day and a near disaster. I enjoyed the reading and have a more fleshed out impression of life the year my grandmother was born. I liked it.
Publication date: 20th March 2025 Thanks to #Picador for providing an eGalley for review purposes....more
With it's icy and remote Alaska setting, this quiet novel turned out to be the perfect choice for me over the Christmas perThe Snow Child By Eowyn Iver
With it's icy and remote Alaska setting, this quiet novel turned out to be the perfect choice for me over the Christmas period.
Based in traditional nordic lore, this is a familiar story of child made of snow, brought to life by a couple who are mired in grief over the death of a longed for baby, who never bring another child into the world, but whose parental impulses are somewhat appeased by the random and infrequent appearance of a little girl into their lives.
Ivey's prose is stunning. She creates a fragile yet atmospheric tension throughout the narrative in which she transports the reader into the vast, inhospitable yet achingly beautiful landscape of Northern Alaska, where survival depends on the dichotomy of pitting oneself against and simultaneously being at one with nature.
With it's fairytale basis, there is an unreliability to the existence of this girl. Where does she disappear to? Why have none of their neighbours seen to be aware of her? Why does she overheat indoors? Like all lasting tales, the layers that require an acceptance of magic also stand as metaphors for human relationships and reactions, and there are an abundance of themes which offer mirrors and windows to every possible human emotion; infertility, grief, isolation, despair, failure to thrive, to found family, friendship, community and sharing.
If you are looking for a seasonal read to lose yourself in, look no further, this book has it all.
Thanks to #NetGalley and #headlinebooks for providing an eGalley for review purposes....more
There are a couple of things about this book that I didn't know before I began reading it. The author is from the townThe Good Mistress By Anne Tiernan
There are a couple of things about this book that I didn't know before I began reading it. The author is from the town I live in and the story is set in a fictionalised version of that town, the end of my road, and the only things she has changed are the names. It's hard to find fault with anything that registers as true about a place you are inextricably connected to. She also has a very famous brother who is a school pal of most of my in-laws, and is practically the patron saint of the town. His particular type of wit is not so unique and outlandish when you get to know the people of this area, and it obviously hasn't bypassed the author either.
This is a character driven story of friends reunited told through the perspectives of three women, about a group of four friends who palled around in 1990. The story opens at the funeral of one, in 2022. It contains coming of age, love triangles, an untimely death, secrets and misunderstandings, and a lot of coming to terms with past decisions.
Tiernan paints messy characters whose choices and decisions are hard to fathom but she embues them all with a vivid wit that makes them interesting and loveable. They all have hidden vulnerabilities that would make your heart go out to them.
There's a running theme of parental concern for their teenage children and how different a world they are growing up in, a stark contrast to the free ranging, smoking/ drinking by the river adolescence they experienced themselves.
This was a complete surprise for me. I worried it was going to be a version of "Dirt birds" at the beginning but if anything, with all it's heart and soul, it almost gave me vibes of Maeve Binchy.
I will make it my business to make all my friends and neighbours read this one this summer. I won't be able to go up Swan's Lane or past the Old Bridge ever again without seeing shadows of Juliet and Rory, Maeve and Dan.
Publication date: 15th April 2025 Thanks to #Netgalley and #headlinebooks for providing an eGalley for review purposes...more
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