Terry is a worrier, in an okay marriage, with two mostly grown girls, a house in a sought after address and she sticks to the rules of the road. She iTerry is a worrier, in an okay marriage, with two mostly grown girls, a house in a sought after address and she sticks to the rules of the road. She is also really good at laundry, I mean really good, she may be imaginary but she is never allowed in my house unless she is going to do some good. I thought that was an important part of her character to establish :)
Then one day, she drops off the 58th Birthday cake to the Yoga retreat that her best friend Iris staying at only to find her best friend is not booked there and never had any intention of going. Iris has a whole other secret intention of how she is going to spend her birthday week. Will Terry, together with her Alzheimers suffering Father, abandon her well ordered but gently crumbling life to bring back her best friend from Europe? Well, the answer is in the title of the book I suppose.
Written with warmth and humour this book nevertheless explores some dark themes of loss in general and Alzheimer's and Assisted Suicide in particular. Ultimately though it is a book about love, friendship, self-discovery, and living your best day every day.
The prose is relatively simple and the outlook from Terry’s first-person perspective is straight forward, somewhat self-deprecating but full of love.
Ciara Geraghty writes big bold characters that sing off the page with humour, wit, and a touch of irrelevance and I came to love them all in the end.
This book is recommended for those who don’t mind a little bitter with the sweet and some tears at the end, as this uplift novel includes some darker themes. ...more
Written in the late 30's early 40's this novel is about an Anglo Irish brother and sister "the Fitzgerald's" who move tA classic haunted house story.
Written in the late 30's early 40's this novel is about an Anglo Irish brother and sister "the Fitzgerald's" who move to a rural house situated on a cliff edge in Devonshire. They can barely afford it but still, it is the house of their dreams until of course, they discover it is haunted. As in most of these tales, the couple and their friends must solve the mystery of who and why is haunting their house in order to eliminate the ghosts. Not to do so would mean giving up their beloved home.
This is more literary than narrative-based fiction and is a slow burner very reminiscent of some of the Victorian ghost tales I have read, Charlotte Riddell comes to mind. There are themes here on the true importance of Motherhood and the danger of considering all Mothers to be saints. There is a wonderful character portrayal in the personage of their Irish housekeeper Lizzie. I also enjoyed MacArdle's discussions on playwriting and the 1930's literary scene (she was herself at this time chiefly a playwright). I chuckled at the very Enid Blyton like descriptions of the food they were eating - I could have murdered that cheese omelet :)
The essential mystery of the reason for the haunting is easily solved but the ending still does not disappoint.
I have just finished watching the 1944 movie that was made based on the book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the book. ...more
“Every kids wants to find a dead body. About the only thing a twelve-year-old boy wants to find more is a spaceship, buried treasure or a porn mag. We“Every kids wants to find a dead body. About the only thing a twelve-year-old boy wants to find more is a spaceship, buried treasure or a porn mag. We wanted to find something bad that day. And so we did. I’m not sure anyone realised how bad it would be.�
I have seen from a tweet from John Boyne that he is comparing this book to Stephen King’s the Body. I see that comparison and raise it to Stephen King’s IT without the monsters but still with the scary going ons (people can be monsters too). We have a group of 12 years four boys and a red-headed girl who survive a Summer of murder and fatal mishaps in a small town in England in 1986 who come back together in 2016 to solve who really killed “her�. The plot consists of a lot of foreshadowing but doesn’t ever go exactly where I was expecting it to. Other than that I am not going to say much as this is a book best entered blind.
The characters are all gorgeously drawn in this novel in a simple but witty prose style that is sheer entertainment.
“No one dared disagree with Mum. Mum was - and actually still is - kind of scary. She was tall, with short dark hair, and brown eyes that could bubble with fun or blaze almost black when she was angry (and, a bit like the incredible hulk, you didn’t want to make her angry).�
It has strong themes of the importance of friendships especially those from our childhoods.
“Everything was going wrong. My whole world - and when you’re a kid your friends are your world - was being torn apart.�
It also asks the age-old question; are we defined by the actions of our past and is there any redemption to be found?
“We all have good and bad in us. Just because someone does one terrible thing, should that overshadow all the good things they’ve done? Or are there some things so bad that no good act can redeem them?�
Overall this is a quirky fun story of what it is to be a child, a grown up and everything in between. It was a fun read and was just what I needed during busy season at work (so perfect score on that front). It is recommended to those who like mystery stories and who don’t mind a couple (not many) violent scenes....more
This starts with a loyal Catholic, a Statesman, dedicated to the Crown and God, his Patron, his Mentor, his Father? Then it ends with a loyal CatholicThis starts with a loyal Catholic, a Statesman, dedicated to the Crown and God, his Patron, his Mentor, his Father? Then it ends with a loyal Catholic, a pious Statesman, another lawyer, and another Thomas and His, that is Cromwell’s, lifelong foe. He, Cromwell, Protestant (mainly), gutter born (nearly), educated in trade and commerce, law, speaker of many tongues, blessedly unknown and unknowable; He rises above in station above both of these men he will never quite forget.
He seeks to rewrite England's laws, balance her books, divert Rome’s prosperity back to the Realm, and all for a reasonable sum. Meanwhile, He witnesses two Queens play at politics and religion, while the King, who is also a Statesman of sorts, dreams of being a lover and a father. He, Cromwell was once a lover and a father too, and maybe once more but first he must rewrite the Treason laws. ...more
A magical read? This is the second Novel of Jess Kidd’s that I have loved. However, I always find them quite intimidating to review as she has such a A magical read? This is the second Novel of Jess Kidd’s that I have loved. However, I always find them quite intimidating to review as she has such a distinctive style. I do not have the language skills to communicate what this book is like. How does one give a sense of the Magical Realism employed? A world where a Saint will butt in and give their own onion’s on your love life and where house will provide an essential clue to a mystery by more or less throwing it into the amateur sleuths face.
“a jar of pickled beetroot edges forward diffidently. Its neighbour, a box of savoury crackers, follows suit with more conviction�..sliding boldly out of their places as if they are offering themselves up for a dangerous mission�
As always Jess populates her world with larger than life characters. The cantankerous Cathal, the House (Bridlemere ), a small cast of medieval saints, Maud’s landlady Renata, “emerging like a New Age butterfly from her ground floor cocoon� and of course Maud herself. I even love to hate the antagonist.
There is a wicked sense of humour through out the Novel. “Like David turning up at Goliath’s with rubber gloves and a risk assessment and wondering where the hell to aim�
As for cozy mysteries let me just say that Maud Drennan and her sidekick Renata - are probably my favourite amateur detectives ever.
So let’s just sum up that after reading Jess Kidd's second novel that she is still an auto buy author for me.
Recommended to those who like cozy mysteries with humour and magic and those who have also read and loved Jess’s first novel Himself. � ...more
What can you say about this one? This novel is written in the first person from the perspective of Daniel. 4.5 Stars rounded up because of the ending.
What can you say about this one? This novel is written in the first person from the perspective of Daniel. As his Daddy declares, at one juncture of the story, 14/15 year old Daniel is one unusual boy. He has a beautiful lyrical way of seeing the world and a gentle more traditionally feminine way of behaving. Both his Daddy and his older sister Cathy are physically violent , and yet they are both steady souls of principles and character. They all try to live what should be a peaceful quite life in the house they built in the woods.
This novel almost feels 19th century as they have books rather than TV, they hunt (and poach) the lands around them for food, the teenagers smoke with full permission of their father, their Daddy makes a living by bare knuckle boxing etc. However,the story is actually set in relatively recent times.
The simplicity of the family life in the woods, the atmospheric writing and the undertones of violence create a gothic feel to this novel. It slowly builds to it’s conclusion and then leaves you there. I’m still at that cliff edge looking at what just happened. Actually I see another GRs reviewer said “the book sucked me in and spat me out when it was done with me.� So Phew not just me then.
Prize lists should get you reading and enjoying books that you otherwise would never have heard about so I have to congratulate the Man Booker Prize section committee on this one.
On weaknesses of the book, I have no problem with Daniels use of lyrical language when thinking and dialect when speaking. After all, he is an unusual boy that has led an unusual life and has had books where others had TV. However, there is an instance of a visitor to the house in the early hours of the morning describing a dead body that verged into language that simply wouldn’t be spoken by most people. Other than that thee were only minor flaws here and there.
This is not recommended for the faint-hearted but if you are fond of Gothic fiction and can take some graphic violence towards the end (bare-knuckle fighting etc) - consider it recommend to you. ...more
"..but love paper-aeroplanes where it pleases. I have found that it settles in the most unlikely of places, and once it has, you're left with the burd"..but love paper-aeroplanes where it pleases. I have found that it settles in the most unlikely of places, and once it has, you're left with the burden of where it has landed for the rest of your life."
The three things about Elise are that: She is Florence’s best Friend. She always knows the right thing to say and Well, I instinctively understood the third thing about Elise from the beginning. But some of you may not until the end. And as Flo says it really doesn’t matter much if you know or not. So I will let you find out for yourself at your own pace.
This is a tale of an older persons' assisted living home where the new resident may not be all he appears. Is our main protagonist losing her marbles or is a villain from her past back to torment her?
In her second novel, Joanna Cannon once more brings to life the extraordinariness of ordinary lives.
She speaks of the everyday loneliness that makes up so much of our lives and our deep need for human connections.
“The only problem is, I’ve spent so long standing at the edge that when I finally turn away, I doubt there is anyone in this world who will even notice.�
She speaks of how we sometimes patronise and rarely listen to the older generation.
“It was tempting to imagine Jack had arrived on this earth fully fashioned, grey-haired and stooped, and wearing a flat cap; to imagine all of the residents had jumped from birth to senility in one fatal leap.�
She colours our world with beautiful descriptions of the ordinary.
“They will lift me up and carry me down the outside steps, and as they do, I will look out over the town, at the liquid ink of the night and the lights that shine from other people’s lives, and it will seem as though I am flying."
And she does it all with a dash of good humor
“Although I suppose losing your mind can prove quite helpful sometimes, because it does hint there is a possibility, however slim, that you may find it again."
At the heart of the story is a mystery related to Florence’s and Elsie's past. It is not very difficult to guess ( I had gathered more or less what it was from the beginning) and in places, it rather depends a little too much on coincidence. However, the charm in Joanna Cannon’s books is the protagonists finally facing their own guilt and understanding their own pasts and presents for what they truly are.
3 1/2 Stars rounded up as more stories should be so heart warming.
This is a sweet story and (pun intended) very charming. I love the premise, I adore3 1/2 Stars rounded up as more stories should be so heart warming.
This is a sweet story and (pun intended) very charming. I love the premise, I adore Arthur Pepper and his adventures. The people he met and places he visited were just about the right amount of weird, wacky and terribly, terribly normal. The love he had for his wife and for his children is beautifully drawn and shown as the story goes on.
However, I have some small problems with this. I love mad adventures and quite happily novels that have say a rainfall of fish, once the characters act towards this as I would expect them to. I could not dispel my disbelief in Arthur being a real character. About 40% in (I was listening on audio) he quite clearly articulates his journey of self-discovery to a stranger. Nobody would or could do this so early and so soon and certainly not Arthur. Also, small points such as using the wrong name for Facebook is jarring and untrue to the character. Arthur is of my parents' generation and all of them know the term Facebook very well being strongly divided to those who use it every day and those who believe they are too old and couldn’t possibly understand (but they do know the name). I also have another problem about the actions of a secondary character but that is a bit of a spoiler.
There you go I am being a bit of a grump on this. Nevertheless, this is an enchanting, joyful and life affirming read. Recommend if that appeals to you. ...more
This is not always true but this novella is probably best expressed by the quote that you can find on the back cover.
� I am as Ambitious as ever any This is not always true but this novella is probably best expressed by the quote that you can find on the back cover.
� I am as Ambitious as ever any of my Sex was, or can be; though I cannot be Henry the Fifth, or Charles the Second, yet I endeavour to be Margaret the First�.
This is a fictionalised account of the life of the self-styled Margaret the first (or Mad Madge to the common folk). Margaret Cavendish duchess of Newcastle was larger than life and the first women ever to be commercially published. Her life was fabulous and ideal source material for historical fiction. Danielle Dutton does Margaret proud imagining her as a woman with foibles and passions blossoming from a young quite imaginative introverted girl to an opinionated strong willed passionate woman. We see flashes of the young girl’s insecurity no matter how successful the woman becomes.
However it is the lyrical, descriptive, prose that makes this novella a sparkling gem. “As for our mother she was beautiful beyond the ruins of time.� “Fireworks, speeches , gun salutes, a ball.� “The sun has risen, the sky is piled with clouds.� These images are strung together like pearls on chain telling incidents of Margaret’s life in chronological order. We jump years sometimes between each pearl.
There are some oddities here. The switch from first person to third person was strange (unlike most reviewers I preferred the first person). The ending was a little rushed as if Dutton couldn’t imagine any pretty or interesting incidents in the final years.
Overall though a charming book that cries out to be reread to be fully appreciated. This novella is recommended to those who like something that is beautifully written and true. ...more
“…truth was something intangible, unseen, which sometimes we stumbled upon and did not recognise, but was found, and held, and understood only by old “…truth was something intangible, unseen, which sometimes we stumbled upon and did not recognise, but was found, and held, and understood only by old people near their death, or sometimes by the very pure, the very young.�
So what is the truth about Rachel? What did she do and why is she really here? Or is she innocent and our narrator simply unreliable? These are the questions that will drive the reader to distraction in this charming spooky and atmospheric Gothic tale.
Recommended to anyone who liked Rebecca or liked other authors� Gothic Stories such as Jane Eyre. Not quite as good as either in my opinion but close enough for government work as my old boss used to say.
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