Meet Dolly Jamieson. She is seventy-eight years old and was once an international star of the stage. She is n‘Good morning, Dolly. How are you today?�
Meet Dolly Jamieson. She is seventy-eight years old and was once an international star of the stage. She is now ‘between permanent abodes ‘in London: spending her days at the local library keeping warm, sleeping (for the moment) in a stranger’s shed. It could be worse. Dolly enjoys sparring with the officious head librarian while enjoying the free morning tea.
The story shifts between past and present, between Dolly’s life growing up in Geelong, Victoria, and her eventual path to international success, and the uncertainty of present life. And, given Dolly’s successes, I was keen to find out how she found herself homeless in her late seventies.
Enter Jane Leveson. Jane visits the library one day. Dolly recognises her as both a newcomer and a woman in distress. A friendship is formed, and then Jane offers to help Dolly write her memoirs.
Working together enables both women to face tragedies in their lives.
Yes, there are sad aspects in the stories of both women but there are some delightful and fulfilling twists as well. While I enjoyed this novel, with its reminders of life in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s, issues of tragedy and homelessness were never far from my mind. Both Dolly and Jane have important stories to tell, and there is a twist at the end that I found particularly heartwarming. This is the first of Ms Ireland’s novels I have read. I will seek out others.
‘Mystery surrounds the death of a young Melbourne woman whose body was discovered in her St Kilda rental property in the early hours of Saturday morni‘Mystery surrounds the death of a young Melbourne woman whose body was discovered in her St Kilda rental property in the early hours of Saturday morning.�
Nearly ten years later, this murder dubbed ‘the Housemate Homicide� still baffles Australians. There were three housemates in this house: one dead, one missing and the third accused of murder. Melbourne-based investigative journalist Olive (Oli) Groves worked on this story as a junior reporter and became obsessed by the case.
Oli now works for a different news company and is in a new relationship. Juggling personal commitments and work is a challenge but Oli is drawn back into the past when an apparent suicide north of Melbourne seems to be of the missing housemate: Nicole Horrowitz. Oli, reluctantly paired with millennial podcaster Cooper Ng (apparently, he is good with a camera and has secured an interview with the housemate convicted as a killer) starts investigating.
There are multiple layers to this story. Oli is obsessed by the case and is caught up in a complicated relationship. Oli also must contend with the increasing pressure on print journalism in the immediacy of the digital age. Cooper irritates Oli but their complementary skillsets see them making significant progress. And then the story takes a dark turn.
Plenty of twists, well developed main characters and some truly awful villains all woven together brilliantly.
Wow! This was a book that captured and held my attention from beginning to end.
‘Everyone’s saying it’s suicide, but I know it wasn’t.�
Set in the Northern Rivers town of Esserton, in the heat of an Australian summer, the apparent ‘Everyone’s saying it’s suicide, but I know it wasn’t.�
Set in the Northern Rivers town of Esserton, in the heat of an Australian summer, the apparent suicide of Ant Reed brings Luke Grayling home for his funeral. Luke and Ant, together with Marcus Rowntree were best mates in high school twenty years ago. Luke has lost his job in Sydney, but he’s not telling his family that. His relationship with both his father, a former police officer, and his sister, Detective Kate Miles, is strained. And when, a few days after Ant’s funeral, Marcus Rowntree is found shot dead, Luke becomes a person of interest. It seems that Luke was the last person to see Marcus alive.
Meanwhile, Ant Reed’s father is convinced that Ant was murdered. Was Marcus was murdered? And why has Luke disappeared? Kate takes leave, conscious that her involvement in the case could be seen as a conflict of interest.
There are several different threads to this story, and several topical issues are covered. History and friendships are complicating factors, as is Luke’s recent behaviour. Kate Miles is caught between her responsibilities as a police officer, and her loyalty to family and friends. In the meantime, Kate’s husband Geoff, is unemployed and finding it difficult to secure employment.
Once I started reading, I found it difficult to put this book down. Ms McKenzie maintains the tension throughout, and I wondered how it would end. While this could be read as a standalone, I have already read the first book in this series and hope to read the second book shortly.
‘Molly Dunnage started 1914 with a stint in the city watchhouse.�
Okay, so I watched the film adaptation of ‘The Dressmaker� and immediately read the n‘Molly Dunnage started 1914 with a stint in the city watchhouse.�
Okay, so I watched the film adaptation of ‘The Dressmaker� and immediately read the novel. I was fortunate enough to see the stunning Dressmaker Costume Exhibition when it was in Canberra in 2019, and (naturally) read ‘The Dressmaker’s Secret� when it was released. And all of this made me keen to know a bit more about Tilly’s mother, Molly.
This novel opens in 1914, with Molly marching with Melbourne’s suffragists. While Molly is seeking better conditions for women, including more public toilets, she also has her own dream of travelling to Paris. Molly lives with her father August and her Aunt April in Carlton and works in a factory making corsetry. Molly had a job lined up as a shop assistant in Miss Archambeau’s exclusive dressmaker’s atelier � but the day before Molly was to start work, Miss Archambeau died. Yes, it is an omen.
But in 1914, war is on the horizon. Molly is now aged 24. Her father is ill, her aunt dabbles in science, and her best friend Gladys dreams of marriage. Molly dreams of revolutionising corsetry and has some high-profile supporters. Will she realise her dream?
I’ll stop there rather than spoil your appreciation of Molly’s journey from Carlton to Dungatar. If you’ve read ‘The Dressmaker�, you know how it ends. Dark humour and memorable characters, heartbreak and tragedy all feature to make this novel unputdownable.
‘Rebus sensed that something was wrong even before the alarm sounded.�
Unusually for me, I came to the Rebus series through watching the first televisi‘Rebus sensed that something was wrong even before the alarm sounded.�
Unusually for me, I came to the Rebus series through watching the first television series featuring John Hannah. And when I read the novels, I envisage John Rebus as John Hannah. I’ve not seen any of the later series, and while I’ve not read every book in the series, I feel like I am reacquainting myself with an old friend each time I read one of the books.
In this instalment, John Rebus has been in prison for the past six months over the death of Big Ger Cafferty. Initially in segregation, Rebus transfers to the general population in Trinity Hall after three months because the prisoner who runs that hall, Darryl Christie, says he will protect Rebus.
‘He’d wanted to thank Rebus for getting rid of Morris Gerald Cafferty.�
So, under Christie’s protection, Rebus has been getting to know the other prisoners. And then one of the prisoners, Jackie Simpson, is found murdered in his cell. Who killed him, and why? The rumour mill works overtime: could one of the prisoner officers have killed Simpson, or unlocked his cell to enable one of the prisoners access? The police are called in but make little headway with their investigation. The prison governor, Howard Tennent, asks for Rebus’s help.
In the meantime, on the outside, Siobhan Clarke has her own case to solve: Jasmine Andrews, a fourteen-year-old girl has disappeared. And Malcom Fox, from the Organised Crime and Counter-Terrorism Unit, becomes involved around the periphery of the Simpson investigation.
There are several different threads to unravel, and the story becomes quite complicated. In the meantime, Rebus is waiting for his lawyer to get in touch.
‘Ginny wanted to get there as early as she could.�
Ms Simpson’s second novel is a story of dreaming and The Dreaming. In the physical present, meet Gin‘Ginny wanted to get there as early as she could.�
Ms Simpson’s second novel is a story of dreaming and The Dreaming. In the physical present, meet Ginny Dilboong. She is a young poet, trying to make sense of her place in the world. In the metaphysical world, meet both being and not-being, those who watch and shape, meet the continuation of past, present and future.
These two (related and separate) stories unfold over the three parts of this novel, entitled the mound, the round, and the ground. While it was Ginny’s story that grabbed my attention, because of elements I can relate to, it was the story of the other being who has various names including ‘Sprite� and ‘Splat� that took me into a world I’ve thought about far less often: an infinite world of experiences prebirth and post death. If Sprite is focussed on a future life, Ginny is focussed on achieving her best life. And, despite the metaphysical aspects of the journey (or, perhaps because of them) I found it easy to connect to both Ginny and Sprite.
‘When it comes to love, it's all about being. Not remembering so much.'
I paused part way through the story to remember where I first heard the name Dilboong. And once I remembered, and checked a few aspects less well remembered, this story moves from terrific to brilliant.
Nardi Simpson is a Yuwaalaraay woman who was a singer and songwriter before she wrote fiction. And her combination of skills makes this story glow.
‘Everything you have and see in this place is because of me. I am the universe, the belburd. Everything, even you, is because of me.�
In this imaginative and informative book from Ms French, she explores the creation of one valley within Australia and the h‘The valley formed slowly.�
In this imaginative and informative book from Ms French, she explores the creation of one valley within Australia and the history of the gold deposits within it. Yes, this is a book for those of us aged ten and above (in my case, almost sixty years above) and it really brings this valley to life.
The geological information explains the gold, the individual stories of people help the reader to understand the history of people and their impact on this valley. From Mirrigan, the young Aboriginal man we meet in 35,000 BCE hunting the last mainland thylacine, through European settlement in the nineteenth century CE, gold rushes, and Chinese immigration, the stories move into more contemporary times. The closer the stories move to the present; the more detailed information Ms French has to present.
I enjoyed reading these stories. I read the book from cover to cover but I could imagine, if I’d read it as a ten-year-old, dipping into and out of the stories, moving from the geological information to bushrangers, reading about the twentieth century, and wondering about the past.
‘The way ass whole is misspelled in red spray paint across the back door of Bib’s makes me think of my mother.�
‘It Starts with Us� is a book Ms Hooper‘The way ass whole is misspelled in red spray paint across the back door of Bib’s makes me think of my mother.�
‘It Starts with Us� is a book Ms Hooper never planned, a sequel written in response to the reader response to ‘It Ends with Us�. It is, as Ms Hoover writes in her Dear Reader letter at the beginning, a much lighter experience. Lighter, and satisfying.
The book opens where the first book ended. Lily Bloom and her ex-husband Ryle Kincaid are on fairly civil terms, co-parenting their eleven-month-old daughter, Emerson. Lily bumps into her first love, Atlas Corrigan and immediately says yes when he asks her out. Lily realises that Ryle will not be happy: he is extremely jealous of Atlas’s place in Lily’s life.
The novel switches between the perspectives of Lily and Atlas. For both characters, we learn more about their backgrounds and pasts. Lily is juggling dating with her responsibility as the primary caregiver for Emerson. Atlas has some personal issues of his own to deal with, including the serial vandalising of his restaurants.
Having just recently read ‘It Ends with Us�, the characters were fresh in my mind. I enjoyed the way in which Ms Hoover negotiated some difficult issues and pitfalls for both Lily and Atlas, and then provided the happy ending they both deserved.
‘She knew what so many of them thought. That she was too late in her pregnancy to be effective. That she was a liability rather than an asset.�
In nort‘She knew what so many of them thought. That she was too late in her pregnancy to be effective. That she was a liability rather than an asset.�
In northern New South Wales and awaiting the birth of her second child, Detective Sergeant Kate Miles is one week away from starting maternity leave. She may be exhausted and counting down the days, but she is determined to continue. Thankfully, she has the support of her husband Geoff. DS Miles is called to the scene of a robbery at a local fast-food restaurant. A teenage girl has been injured when three intruders, wearing masks, robbed the restaurant. Similar masks were worn by two intruders in the recent robbery of a bakery. The injured girl’s father is a local councillor, happy to throw his weight around as investigations proceed.
A second case is given to DS Miles: the review of a closed case in which a man drowned during floods in the previous summer. The man’s mother is convinced her daughter-in-law was somehow involved and the death was not accidental. DS Miles is under pressure to sign off on the closed case, but she wants to investigate thoroughly.
Both cases involve twists, and crucial information has been withheld. In this small community there are few secrets and (of course) everyone has an opinion. There are some personal issues to be negotiated as well, and DS Miles is running out of time.
This was Ms McKenzie’s debut novel, and I liked it. I have lined up the next two novels in the series because I am interested in seeing what is next for DS Kate Miles. She is an intriguing character, and I enjoyed learning more about her.
‘As is every parent’s nightmare, Henry Clark had seemingly been abducted from his toddler bed while his mother was asleep in the next room and his fat‘As is every parent’s nightmare, Henry Clark had seemingly been abducted from his toddler bed while his mother was asleep in the next room and his father was away on a business trip to New York.�
Moxie Castin is defending Colleen Parker, the Maine mother accused of the abduction and possible murder of her son, Henry. The police arrested Colleen Parker when a heavily blood-stained blanket was found in the boot of her car. In the court of public opinion, most judge Colleen as guilty. Castin employs private investigator Charlie Parker to investigate. Colleen’s husband, Stephen, believes his wife is guilty but agrees to speak with Parker. Their meeting raises more questions than answers. Did Colleen abduct and murder Henry? Was Stephen involved?
Hang onto those questions. Meanwhile, deep in the woods of Maine a group of fascists preparing for war are curious about a decrepit looking house on a neighbouring property. And a woman, claiming to hear Henry crying, contacts Charlie.
This dark story contains some truly awful characters (both people and place). Charlie’s investigations lead him into challenging territory. There is nothing straightforward about this case. I quickly became caught up in the story and, while I recognised certain supernatural elements (which generally jerk me right out of a story) Mr Connolly brought the various elements together in a way which held my attention.
This is the 21st novel in the Charlie Parker series. I have read a couple of others, but by no means the majority. This novel works well as a standalone, and I am sure that fans of this series will love it.
I read this book in 2003, the year after it was first published.
While I read some of the same books as Francis Spufford, my real interest in this bookI read this book in 2003, the year after it was first published.
While I read some of the same books as Francis Spufford, my real interest in this book was in discovering someone else for whom reading was such an important part of growing up.
Reading can be such a solitary pursuit, especially where it is an escape route, that why we read what we read is sometimes not much discussed. The adult level analysis that Francis Spufford applies to his childhood reading will appeal to some more than others. I enjoyed it because I like the idea of revisiting some of the journeys of childhood and trying to identify some of the influences on the adult I now am.
I bought this book in hardcover because I know it is a book I want to keep, to refer back to, and perhaps to share.
Yes, humiliating a guy on a girl’s night out was a mistake. Kate Delaney finds herself kidnapped, brutalised‘And that was Kate Delaney’s Big Mistake.�
Yes, humiliating a guy on a girl’s night out was a mistake. Kate Delaney finds herself kidnapped, brutalised and bound in the back of a car. Kate is terrified. She has no idea where she’s headed, no idea what the man’s name is. As a journalist who has reported on crime, Kate is well aware of the statistics about women who go missing. Can she survive?
Meanwhile, Kate’s boyfriend Liam Carroll and friend Sylvia are concerned. Kate was expected home and when she doesn’t return, Liam approaches the police.
‘In Melbourne, Liam Carroll looks at his phone and wonders what the hell is going on. Where is she?�
The story unfolds from several points of view: Kate’s fear, Liam’s anxiety and the procedures followed by the police. Initially Liam is a suspect but is quickly excluded. Kate’s abductor leaves a trail, and the search shifts from Victoria to New South Wales.
This novel held my attention, in part because I am fairly familiar with the area around Pheasants Nest and wondered how it would be worked into the story. I was distracted at times by the number of different perspectives, which (for me, at least) served to reduce the tension. Sometimes, too much detail in fiction can be distracting.
Did I enjoy the novel? Yes, mostly. I needed to keep reading to know how it would end.
‘It is by our tasks that we come to know our powers.�
The central character of this novel, set in the middle of the 4th century CE, is Drusus. Drusus i‘It is by our tasks that we come to know our powers.�
The central character of this novel, set in the middle of the 4th century CE, is Drusus. Drusus is a young British nobleman of Roman birth whose mother died when he was born. As the novel opens, Drusus is fourteen years old, and his father, Appius, has been summoned to the emperor’s court at Trier ‘to answer certain � questions.� Drusus is sent to his great uncle in London, Lucius Balbus. He will never see his father again.
By this period, Britain and the Roman Empire have been ruled by Christian emperors for a generation. The Christian church continues to grow in strength and has suppressed most of its opposition. And, while much of the population in Britain worships the old gods, the Christian church, with the support of the emperor, is now attempting to destroy the old beliefs by force. As the story unfolds, Drusus finds himself involved in both religious and civil conflict. He becomes a soldier, finds love, and comes under suspicion.
The Western Roman Empire is beginning to crumble. There is civil war within the empire after the death of Constantine in 337 CE and Drusus and his lover Marcellus become caught up in the political intrigue and the fighting.
I enjoyed this novel. I do not know much of the history of this period, and Mr Waters has me wanting to know more about the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Drusus himself is an interesting character, as is Marcellus’s grandfather Aquinus.
And now I need to read the second novel in the duology to see how it ends.
‘In the beginning there was a river. The river became a road and the road branched out to the whole world. And because the road was once a river it wa‘In the beginning there was a river. The river became a road and the road branched out to the whole world. And because the road was once a river it was always hungry.�
Remember these words as you read this book—this is the world you have entered. Reality has a different dimension, even when some of the parameters are recognisable. This is Azaro’s story.
Azaro is a spirit child, born to live for a short time in the world of the living before returning to the world of his spirit companions. Azaro has been reborn many times. But this time, despite being pursued by his spirit companions, Azaro chooses to remain in the world of the living. And so, here he is. A boy who can see spirits around him while existing in a slum with his hard-working mother and hard-drinking father. Mr Okri brings both these worlds to life. Through Azaro’s eyes we see the grinding poverty of the slum. An election is coming, and promises are made by politicians from ‘The Party of the Rich� and ‘The Party of the Poor�. Azaro’s father, working in ever degrading jobs makes a series of poor choices which increase the family’s hardship. Azaro’s mother works hard to keep food on the table and to pay the rent. And Azaro chooses to stay here, to experience this life, instead of returning to the fluid world of spirits.
Corruption and poverty, violence and hardship overwhelm the physical world Azaro is in, and the spirit world of dreams offers an escape. Or does it? And what about Azaro’s mother? How does she reconcile her dreams (mostly of Azaro’s future beyond school) with reality? There are other characters as well, including the opportunistic Madame Koto, and a photographer who has challenges of his own.
This novel is the first of a trilogy. I am tempted to keep reading, but I need a period of reflection before continuing. While I found this book rewarding, I found it challenging to shift between worlds.
Back when I first read ‘Animal Farm�, in the late 1960s, criticism (allegorical or otherwise) of Stalin’s USSR seemed entirely Another layer of irony.
Back when I first read ‘Animal Farm�, in the late 1960s, criticism (allegorical or otherwise) of Stalin’s USSR seemed entirely justified. And using animals to convey the message somehow seemed entirely appropriate. My young self could entirely accept a group of animals rebelling against Mr Jones. I was fairly young and was absolutely devastated by what happened to Boxer. If only, I thought, the pigs had retained their original ideals. If only.
Old Major, the prize Middle White boar, spoke to the animals of the Manor Farm. He speaks of the need for rebellion and teaches the animals a revolutionary song ‘Beasts of England�.
‘Why do we continue in this miserable condition? Because nearly the whole of the produce of our labour is stolen from us by human beings. There, comrades, is the answer to all our problems. It is summed up in a single world � Man. Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever.
Man is the only creature that consumes without producing.�
After Old Major dies, two young pigs, Napoleon and Snowball stage a revolt, driving Mr Jones and his wife off the farm, which is renamed ‘Animal Farm�.
Seven Commandments are adopted, and for a while all runs smoothly.
‘The Commandments were written on the tarred wall in great white letters that could be read thirty yards away. They ran thus: 1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. 2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.� 3. No animal shall wear clothes. 4. No animal shall sleep in a bed. 5. No animal shall drink alcohol. 6. No animal shall kill any other animal. 7. All animals are equal.�
But this happy state of affairs will not last for long. Napoleon assumes absolute control. Snowball is banished, commandments are amended, changed and deleted until, by the end of the story there is only a single commandment:
‘It ran: ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.�
Communism, we were mostly taught in our representative democracy, is not good. And, surely, ‘Animal Farm� demonstrates why. Too simple. Authoritarian states have multiplied since 1945, when ‘Animal Farm� was published, and not all authoritarian states are communist (or socialist, for those who view the two as interchangeable).
Rereading ‘Animal Farm� last week (towards the end of 2023) has me recognising more widespread abuses of power, a proliferation of more corrosive ideologies, backed by invasion and terrorism. Do we ever learn?
In the words of George Santanya: ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.�
If I am still here in 2045, I’ll reread ‘Animal Farm� again.
‘After twenty-five years of 'sex, drugs, bad behaviour and haute cuisine', chef and novelist Anthony Bourd‘Things are different now.�
Here’s the blurb:
‘After twenty-five years of 'sex, drugs, bad behaviour and haute cuisine', chef and novelist Anthony Bourdain decided to tell all. From his first oyster in the Gironde to his lowly position as a dishwasher in a honky-tonk fish restaurant in Provincetown; from the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop the Rockefeller Center to drug dealers in the East Village, from Tokyo to Paris and back to New York again, Bourdain's tales of the kitchen are as passionate as they are unpredictable, as shocking as they are funny. With handwritten footnotes and afterthoughts.�
Okay. I read this book because it was the starting point for the December 2023 iteration of the #6 Degrees of Separation book meme I participate in. I can honestly say that I did not know who Anthony Bourdain was (he died in 2018) and have zero interest in the culinary underbelly occupied by him or any other celebrity chef.
While parts of the book held my attention, I struggled to finish it. Once I did, I washed and dried my hands and looked for something nourishing to pick up. I chose ‘Plenty� by Yotam Ottolenghi.
‘On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travellers into the gulf below.�
Who were these fi‘On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travellers into the gulf below.�
Who were these five people? Why were they on the bridge? A witness to the accident, Brother Juniper wonders why this happened to those five and resolves to inquire into their secret lives. Because, surely ‘� this collapse of the bridge of San Luis Rey was a sheer Act of God.�
This is the first part of the story; the next three parts of the story introduce the characters whose lives ended when the bridge collapsed. There are connections between the individuals: the Marquesa de Montemayor, estranged from her daughter, and her servant Pepita are the first mentioned. Pepita and Esteban, who also died in the collapse, were orphans raised by the Abbess Madre MarÃa del Pilar. Esteban’s identical twin brother Manuel, whose death has driven Esteban to grief, had written letters for Camila Perichole, a brilliant Peruvian actress. And it is Camila Perichole’s son Don Jaime and her mentor Uncle Pio who are the fourth and fifth victims.
Part five of the story opens by telling us that a new stone bridge has been built, and that Brother Jupiter’s pursuit of detail caused his book to be judged heretical. Both are burned. But the story is noy yet finished. Sometime later Camila meets with Abbess Madre MarÃa del Pilar, as does the Condesa d’Abuirre (daughter of the Marquesa de Montemayor). The story ends with the Abbess’s conclusions.
Abbess Madre MarÃa del Pilar’s witnessing of Camila and Doña Clara’s spiritual awakening leads her to conclude: ‘Even nowâ€�, she thought, ‘almost no one remembers Esteban and Pepita, but myself. Camila alone remembers her Uncle Pio and her son; this woman her mother. But soon we shall die and all memory of those five will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.â€�
Mr Wilder used just one hundred pages to tell this story. Each of the adult characters is fully realised, while Don Jaime, a child, is frozen between actual and potential lives. And the deaths? Coincidence and chance, or fate? Poor Brother Juniper: his efforts proven nothing in relation to these deaths and resulted in his own.
This novella was the winner of the 1927 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
‘It began with the death house on Regency Street.�
Nina, a tour guide for the Thrift House Museum and Hettie P. Clarke Overlooked Artists Gallery, tell‘It began with the death house on Regency Street.�
Nina, a tour guide for the Thrift House Museum and Hettie P. Clarke Overlooked Artists Gallery, tells us the story. The remains of Gertrude Thrift, an elderly woman, was found in her house years after she had died. This could have been yet another sad case of an isolated elderly person dying alone: raising community regret, and (briefly at least) raising consciousness to better manage contact with those living alone. But no, Gertrude is seized from obscurity when it is discovered that she was the sitter for a series of paintings from the 1950s by local artist Hettie P. Clarke entitled ‘Girl With Greyhound�.
Hettie P. Clarke’s diary gives us some details. We learn that Gertrude’s face was scarred after she was bitten by a dog when she was young, and that Hettie P. Clarke learned some of her artistic skills by learning to disguise Gertrude’s scarring. But the most notable thing about the paintings is that Gertrude is painted with giant elf ears.
‘The life story of Gertrude Thrift had already mutated. A constantly evolving, living, breathing entity. Fed by the desperate hopes and imagination of righteous defenders of her so-called legacy.�
And so, in a world where continuous updates, masquerading as information are available to almost everyone, the story of Gertrude and her elf ears goes viral. Some people are convinced that Gertrude had her ears surgically altered. There’s a line in Hettie P. Clarke’s journal:
‘Gertrude’s got her damned elf ears� and a shadowy photograph of Gertrude wearing a headscarf that some are convinced show an ‘elf ear shape�.
‘Which, if you followed its logical conclusion, assumed that Gertrude, a working-class factory girl in early 1950s Sydney, successfully procured a surgeon not only willing but also skilled enough to carry out such a procedure. It did seem beyond ridiculous. But the idea had taken hold.�
And, once the idea took hold, people started having their ears altered. There are demonstrations outside the Thrift House Museum and Hettie P. Clarke Overlooked Artists Gallery. Some are convinced that the Museum is withholding the truth about Gertrude’s ears. Nina becomes caught up in a web of conspiracy theories where truth is not the only casualty.
‘If we worried about what normal people thought, Gerties wouldn’t exist.�
The story is set in the near future. While most of the focus is on the Gertie cult, there’s another element involving the impact of climate change, of dodgy recycling practices (which may well be the reason why Nina’s husband Benj is currently unable to work), and of growing socio-economic disparities.
This is a brilliant novella, illustrating just how easy it can be to become caught up by media frenzy, and how pervasive confirmation bias can be. At least in this case (unlike in real life), we can laugh. Possibly.
‘Before Mazer invented himself as Mazer, he was Samson Mazer, and before he was Samson Mazer, he was Samson Masur—a change of two letters that transfo‘Before Mazer invented himself as Mazer, he was Samson Mazer, and before he was Samson Mazer, he was Samson Masur—a change of two letters that transformed him from a nice, ostensibly Jewish boy to a Professional Builder of Worlds—and for most of his youth, he was Sam, S.A.M. on the hall of fame of his grandfather’s Donkey Kong machine, but mainly Sam.�
Yes, the first sentence hooked me into this story and kept me there.
The story opens with two college students, Samson Masur (mathematics at Harvard) and Sadie Green (computer science at MIT) running into each other at a train station. They first met in the games room of a hospital: Sadie was visiting her sister and Sam was recovering from a car crash that killed his mother and broke his foot in multiple places. Playing Super Mario Bros drew them together and, while they’ve not spoken for years, their friendship is easily resumed.
Sam’s injured foot has become a long-term disability. The virtual world of gaming provides Sam with a form of freedom, a release from his physical limitations. He and Sadie form a partnership, creating video games and while their success brings them fame it is also accompanied by tragedy.
‘Memory, you realized long ago, is a game that a healthy-brained person can play all the time, and the game of memory is won or lost on one criterion: do you leave the formation of memories to happenstance, or do you decide to remember?�
As the story unfolds over a period of thirty years, both in ‘the real world� and later in a virtual world, Ms Zevin takes the reader on a journey through the challenges both past and present that Sam and Sadie face. There’s joy and tragedy, the impact of disability, the friction between ideas and delivery, the weight of reality.
I kept reading, wondering how Ms Zevin would draw the story to an ending. I closed the book wanting more, but not needing it.
‘What is a game?� Marx said. It’s tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow. It’s the possibility of infinite rebirth, infinite redemption. The idea that if you keep playing, you could win. No loss is permanent, because nothing is permanent, ever.�
Tumba, Sweden. A boy is found clinging to life, surrounded by murdered family members. His injuries are so severe that his�Like fire, just like fire.�
Tumba, Sweden. A boy is found clinging to life, surrounded by murdered family members. His injuries are so severe that his survival is in doubt. The killer is still at large. Detective Inspector Joona Linna is desperate to know what the boy, who is the only survivor, saw. Linna sees hypnotism as a possibility and asks Dr Erik Maria Bark, a psychiatrist with experience with hypnotism, to help. For reasons that become clear as the story progresses, Bark is reluctant. He had previously promised never to use hypnotism again but is convinced to do so when Linna tells him that another family member who was not present during the horrific murders could be in danger.
While Bark’s use of hypnosis does reveal relevant information, once his use of hypnotism becomes public knowledge, it also sets in train a terrifying chain of events. Bark is already struggling, relying on pills to get him through both day and night, but his life is about to become much more complicated. His wife is suspicious and their son, who suffers from a serious medical condition, has become distant.
While it soon becomes clear who was responsible for the horrific murders, catching (or recatching) the perpetrator is more challenging. And then a kidnapping takes Bark and his family into direct danger. The story continues to unfold, with one very long chapter (amongst many much shorter ones) taking us into the past.
This is a long novel, and part way through I became annoyed with Erik Maria Bark and his actions. And then the events of the past helped me make sense of what was happening, and I kept turning the pages to find out how Lars Kepler would tie the various strands together.
This is a dark thriller with several twists. It is also the first in a series and, while this book sat on my reading shelf for far too long. I have at least nine more books to look forward to.
Lars Kepler is the pseudonym of husband-and-wife team Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril. The Ahndorils were both established writers before they adopted the pen name Lars Kepler and began writing the Joona Linna series. Nine instalments have been published so far, with the tenth expected in 2024.
Jennifer (JC-S)
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