Competition success!

 I am delighted to say that I have won the Barbara Pym Short Story Award for 2025 run by the Barbara Pym Society.

The stories had to have some reference to Barbara or her characters and I chose to imagine another life for someone from Crampton Hodnet, one of my favourite of her books. For those of you who read her, you will guess which character when I tell you that the title of the story is 'All Change at Leamington Lodge'.

It's such fun taking an existing character and changing her life! The story will be published in a forthcoming issue of Green Leaves, the newsletter of the Barbara Pym Society, and thereafter on their website.

Last year, I had a story in an anthology of stories previously placed the the BP Society competition. You can buy it here.

Spring has sprung!

 

I got this gorgeous book-shaped vase for Christmas.

Crocuses enjoying the sunlight.

NOTE up on the right-hand side, a shiny new sign-up box!

Five in February

I read five books in February.

 

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

Read for book group. Winner of the Booker Prize 2024. A short book but you need to savour every single poetic sentence so it’s not a quick read. It imagines life on a space station through the eyes of six astronauts – two women, four men; two Russians, one American, one Italian, one Japanese, one English – as they orbit around the earth seeing their home countries so far below. Wonderful. I want to read it again.

 

Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz

And now for something completely different … Various people had recommended this who-dunnit series featuring Detective Hawthorne – and Anthony Horowitz himself. This is the fifth title.

It’s a great conceit that only he (also author (amongst many other titles) of the story-within-a-story Magpie/Moonflower Murders books) could pull off.

A newcomer to a gated community in a very desirable area of London has been found dead, shot through the neck with a crossbow. He’s made himself very unpopular to everybody so there is no shortage of suspects.

 

Visiting Miss Austen by Angela Pearse

‘Felicity Fitzroy is delighted when she receives an invitation from her good friend Jane Austen to visit her in Bath. Despite living in domestic bliss in Derbyshire, Felicity craves excitement and a trip to the lively spa town sounds like the perfect cure.’

But Felicity and the niece she is chaperoning soon find themselves in peril …

Great fun.

 

Probably Nothing by Lauren Bravo

I enjoyed this author’s first novel Preloved (which I heard about on Joanne Baird’s blog). Probably Nothing is blackly funny. 

Bryony’s had a brief fling with Ed – nothing serious on her part; in fact she’s about to break it off.

But <spoiler alert>when Ed, who’s allergic to wasps, dies of anaphylactic shock, she finds that he has had a different view of their relationship and his loud and loving family embrace her as one of their own. As her own family situation is unhappy she’s torn between enjoying the affection and attention, especially from Ed’s mother, and telling them the truth. (Oh, and she’s a hypochondriac, hence the title.)

 

Wavewalker: A Memoir of Breaking Free by Suzanne Heywood

Actually for March’s book group meeting – I’m ahead of myself.

When Suzanne Heywood was seven, her parents announced that they were going to take her and her brother and sail around the world for three years.

Ten years later … Suzanne, having more or less educated herself but has no formal qualifications, applied to Oxford and got in.

In between was a life of terror and privation – terror, for example, at being in the Indian Ocean hurled from wave to wave (think A Perfect Storm) and privation from being often hungry because supplies or money had run out.

Her parents were more interested in each other than in their children and considered Suzanne difficult for wanting any other way of life.

Astonishing. 

NOTE up on the right-hand side, a shiny new sign-up box!

 

Eleven in January

I read eleven books in January (including rereads).

Dusk by Robbie Arnott

I read and loved Limberlost by Robbie Arnott JAN 2024 and the Tasmanian cousin who gave it to me very kindly brought me Dusk when she visited last November. In between those dates I had the pleasure of meeting Robbie Arnott at the signing session after his event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival when he signed Limberlost for me.

His writing is so lyrical and the landscape, in the Tasmanian wilderness, so extraordinary. In that place, a puma, nicknamed Dusk, is killing shepherds. Outcast twins, Iris and Floyd, see a chance to make some money when a bounty is placed. The ensuing journey into the wild brings their relationship and their terrible childhood to the fore.

(The cover shown is of the Australian paperback.)

 

What’s Next: A Backstage Pass to The WestWing, Its Cast and Crew and Its Enduring Legacy of Service

by Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack 

I’ve watched The West Wing several (ahem) times and will do so again. That, apparently, means that I am a ‘Wingnut’. So when I spent Christmas with relatives in the States I was thrilled to get this book, began to read it immediately and interrupted everybody to read bits out eg ‘Charlie’ made a name for himself as a tap dancer before WW! Martin Sheen holds up filming because he insists on greeting everyone first, not just the main cast but all the crew! The regular cast all have their pet charities and support each others’! ‘Will Bailey’ is a prankster who sounds very annoying!

If you’re a Wingnut too, you’ll know that Melissa Fitzgerald plays Carol and Mary McCormack is Kate Harper. 

 

Echo Burning by Lee Child

Vintage Reacher.

 

I took the notion to reread two books by Ruth Thomas and enjoyed them all over again especially The Snow and the Works on the Northern Line.

 

 

And because rereading children’s books set in the past is a comfort in these trouble times I blitzed through the four titles in The Saturdays series by American writer Elizabeth Enright and her standalone lovely Thimble Summer.

 

Army Without Banners by Ann Stafford

A memoir really, I think, but written as a novel – middle-aged Mildred and other wonderfully brave ladies driving ambulances in the London Blitz.

 

 

 

Six in December

 

I read six books in December.

 

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

At the beginning of December I had a four-hour bus journey and as I can’t read on a bus I looked to see what I could listen to on BBC Sounds and found this brilliant reading of The Wind in the Willows. I adored the story – it passed the time very nicely indeed but I realised, to my shame, that it was one of those classic books that you think you’ve read but actually haven’t. I liked it so much that when I came home I went straight to the bookshelf for a copy that belonged to my husband as a child and enjoyed it all over again, this time with Ernest Shepherd’s perfect drawings.

(Many editions are available - the link is to a paperback version.)

 

The Thirty-One Kings by Robert J. Harris

It’s June 1940 and Robert J. Harris has brought Richard Hannay (of John Buchan’s The Thirty-Nine Steps fame, now known as Dick) out of retirement to find Roland, believed to be in Paris, in the hands of Nazi agents – only Roland knows the secret of the thirty-one kings upon which the future of Europe depends.

I’m not sure the author has done our hero any favours – surely ‘Dick’ made a rookie error after getting his briefing in starting to get into the taxi that just happened to be idling outside? And in not recognising an old enemy?

What I did enjoy though was the mash-up with characters from another Buchan book, Huntingtower – Dickson McCunn’s little army of Gorbals die-hards without whom Mr Hannay would be at the bottom of the Seine.

 

I like a bit of crime in January:

 

An Unfinished Murder by Ann Granger

The author is new to me but I see she has written loads so I have them to catch up on.

 

P is for Peril by Sue Grafton

I might have read this before but it didn’t ring any bells – really like this series which, sadly, ended at Y with the death of the author.

 

A Quiet Life in the Country by T E Kinsey

A new series – the Lady Hardcastle Mysteries. The twist here is that Lady Hardcastle’s side-kick is her maid, Flo with whom she’s had many adventures in the past and as a result of which Flo has picked up some useful skills.

 

A Different River by Jo Verity

I fished this from the depths of my Kindle to read while on holiday. Miriam, newly widowed, is the filling in the sandwich between her elderly parents and her daughter’s family. When she hears that her schooldays boyfriend, ‘Bing’ Crosby, is now divorced and back in her hometown she makes contact. It’s like they have never been parted … but is their new relationship moving too fast?

I didn’t quite buy in to Bing – facets of his character didn’t add up for me but the other characters, even minor ones, mostly sprang off the page.

Six in November

I read six books in November.

You are here by David Nicholls

What bliss to travel west to east across the north of England, up and down the fells … vicariously that is, in the very good company of Michael and Marnie. Michael, 42, unhappily separated from his wife, is a geography teacher who sometimes forgets he’s not in the classroom. Marnie, 38, is thankfully divorced but trying to persuade herself she’s fine on her own.

As ever, David Nicholls’ dialogue is a joy as are the inner thoughts of both characters (I particularly enjoyed Marnie’s opinion of trousers that unzip at the knees).

If a Netflix series is in the offing so much the better. (Lovely Lesley Manville, if a bit younger, would be perfect as Marnie; I kept seeing her as I was reading.)

 

Redeeming the Reclusive Earl by Virginia Heath

 

A Regency with an amateur archaeologist, Effie, for a heroine. Reclusive owner, Max Aldersley, Earl of Rivenhall, disfigured in a fire and cast off by his fiancée, banishes her from his estate but when she returns and carries on digging he can’t help being interested in what she’s uncovered. However, he’s determined she’ll never reach the man beneath the scars.

 

I also had two comfort re(re)reads, to avoid the news:

 

 

Some Tame Gazelle by Barbara Pym

 

In my top ten of all the books I’ve ever read. Reading it (yet) again is like finding even more out about people you know well. If you’ve never read BP start with this one.

 

The Herb of Grace by Elizabeth Goudge

 

My paperback copy is a battered Hodder Paperback, third impression of the edition first published in 1965, but the link is for the e-book. She won’t be to everyone’s taste – there’s a lot of philosophising (some of which I skip I must confess) but I love her landscape and house descriptions and the relationships between the characters.

 

The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin

 

Published in 1999 and short-listed for the Booker Prize.

This is the sad story of Declan dying of Aids in Ireland in the 1990s and unable any longer to keep this from his family especially his beloved sister Helen. It’s always a pleasure to read Colm Toibin’s writing but (thankfully, because of medical advances) the novel seems dated now.

 

 

10 Scotland Street by Leslie Hills

 

The mostly fascinating story of an Edinburgh home and those who lived in it (including the author) over two hundred years – including booksellers, silk merchants, sailors, preachers and politicians. Amazing amount of research, but far too many tangents which makes for reader confusion. Especially interesting to those who know Edinburgh.

Seven in October

 I read seven books in September.

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

I didn’t know this author but kept hearing good things about The Wedding People – which were well justified. I loved it. An excellent premise: Phoebe arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Newport, Rhode Island wearing her best dress. As she discovers, she’s the only guest at the Cornwall Inn who isn't here for Lyla and Gary’s week-long wedding extravaganza.

This is both serious and humorous with an ending I won’t reveal but which leaves you well able to imagine what happened next. And the icing on the (wedding) cake for me is that that I have visited beautiful Newport so could picture the setting.

 

The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith

The seventh in the Cormoran Strike series. Over eleven hundred pages! I hardly spoke to my other half for a whole weekend. Strike’s professional partner Robin (with whom he is in love although he’s never hinted at that) goes undercover for several months to investigate a cult. Seriously unpleasant people and some very scary moments for the resourceful Robin.

 

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

I picked this ‘TikTok sensation’ in a lucky dip. I’d heard of ‘STEM’ romances – romances set within the world of science but hadn’t read one before. I enjoyed it a lot, the characters, the setting and the resolution. Sadly, it also showed that the misogynist 1960s world that Bonnie Garmus conjured up in Lessons in Chemistry is still evident in the new millennium.

 

Murder on the Marshes by Clare Chase

A cosy crime – well, cosyish. My heart was in my mouth as Tara, the main character, walked home each night to her rather isolated cottage on a Cambridge common, especially when we learn that she’s had a stalker in the past. A journalist, Tara becomes involved in the investigation of the murder of a charismatic university professor, Samantha Seabrook. Suspects abound. The resolution was satisfactory although I thought the way the investigating police officer was able to put two and two together just in time strained credulity. But I’d like to read more by Clare Chase.

 

How to Solve Murders Like a Lady by Hannah Dolby

The fun follow up to No Life for a Lady set in the late 1800s. I love Lady Detective Violet and her professional and personal partner Benjamin. The body of a local woman (bit of a busybody) has been found on the beach. Violet’s attempts to investigate the death see her thwarted (be a Lady Detective? how dare she!) and ultimately in danger herself. The book has a lovely ending with the next mystery being set up.

 

A Duke of One’s Own by Emma Orchard

A spicy Regency romance. I liked that, for a change, this wasn’t set in Bath or London but in a castle in wintry Yorkshire. The Duke of Northriding is hosting a weekend during which he will choose a bride, for he needs to have an heir. Lady Georgiana Pendlebury is one of the guests. Both she and the Duke are horrified to see each other as they have met before – at a very clandestine party.

 

The Maiden by Kate Foster

Long-listed for the Women’s Fiction Prize 2024; read for book group. ‘The Maiden’ – no, not a delicate young lady but a guillotine (now in the National Museum of Scotland), was used between the 16th and 18th centuries to execute nobility.

Based on a real-life murder trial in 1679, the book imagines the circumstances which led newly married Lady Christian Nimmo of Corstorphine, Edinburgh to be found guilty of stabbing her lover – who was her uncle by marriage. Kate Foster doesn’t suggest that Christian was innocent but rather that she was more sinned against than sinning. Seventeenth-century Edinburgh is wonderfully evoked and the author has invented some very colourful character.