Eight in April

I read eight books in April.

 

V for Victory by Lissa Evans

The conclusion to the trilogy (I read Crooked Heart last month, and Old Baggage some time ago). Schoolboy Noel (except he doesn’t go to school) and his guardian, Vera, are running a boarding house and still lurching from one financial crisis to another, with the ever-present threat of being found out for Vera is not who she has to pretend to be. Noel’s parents, hitherto unknown to him, are revealed but his bond with Vera is now unassailable after such a bad beginning. A perfect conclusion, an absolute joy.

 

 

Under a Brighter Sky/A Light to Guide us Home by Dianne Haley

 

Following The Watchmaker’s  Daughter which I read in February these two books continue the gripping story of Valérie, operating in the Resistance in Switzerland, helping refugees escaping from Occupied France.

 

Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear

 

The second in the wonderful private investigator Maisie Dobbs series, set in the aftermath of the Great War. I’ve read a few of them, not in order but always a pleasure.

 

 

The Harbour Lights Mystery/The Rockpool Murder by Emylia Hall

 

The second and third titles in the Shell House Detectives series, the detectives being an unlikely duo of sixty-something widow Ally, and Jason, a young former London cop now relocated to Cornwall. Great stories and lovely writing – although I’m getting a bit weary of books written in the present tense.

 

Past Lying by Val McDermid

 

More crime; this is a Karen Petrie cold case. Karen has more time than usual to investigate the murder of a female student because it’s the first lockdown in 2020. The streets of Edinburgh are eerily quiet and one of her colleagues is grappling with the reality of the virus. The suspect is a crime writer and several actual crime writers are mentioned by name, as an in-joke I guess.

 

The Two-Headed Whale by Sandy Winterbottom

 

Read for book group; suggested by a member who, by the time we came to read it, had done what the author did and visited part of Antarctica on a sailing ship.

Sandy Winterbottom left her husband and teenage children behind in Edinburgh and embarked on this voyage, partly for the adventure, partly for respite, and as it turned out to find out more about the history of the whaling industry pertaining to Scotland (far more recent than you might think).

When she saw the grave of a teenage whaler born very near where she lives, and buried so far from home, she imagines his early life and also embarks on finding his relatives.

All these strands come together to make a fascinating (and beautifully written) read. I am the world’s worst sailor so was glad to be able to make this amazing journey vicariously.

Highly recommended.

 

 

Seven in March

 I read seven books in March.

Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans

This is a trilogy. I read the first one Old Baggage a few years ago for my book group – about wonderful Mattie. Earlier in her life she was a militant Suffragette who was imprisoned five times. Now it’s 1928 and she needs a new cause. Into her life came young lad Noel. Now, in Crooked Heart, we gather that Noel and Mattie have lived together very happily but WW2 is approaching – and Noel finds Mattie dead and himself on his own.

Evacuated to St Albans, he ends up with Vera who lives with her unsatisfactory grown-up son. She supplements her meagre income in various dodgy ways (bogus collecting boxes for example). Precocious Noel, with his Mattie-taught literary skills and mathematical brain, proves to be an excellent accomplice. The development of the relationship between the two of them is brilliantly done and I’m looking forward to V for Victory which is the third book.

 

Yellow Face by Rebecca F. Kuang

Read this million-selling title for my book group. There has been much in the literary press in recent years over who has ‘the right’ to tell a particular story and who has not. In this case June, the author protagonist, definitely does not have the right to publish the story of exploited Chinese workers – because she didn’t write it; she stole the manuscript from her dead friend Athena, an incredibly successful young author of whom June has always been wildly jealous.

Ironically, this very 21st-century scenario hinges on one 19th-century invention; Athena always wrote her first draft on a manual typewriter with no copies so there was no digital evidence. Told through June’s voice – an increasingly desperate voice as she gets found out – this is an easy read, and of extra interest if you’ve ever worked in the publishing business.

 

 

The 1960s-1980s Magazine Girls: the Inside Story

Another publishing story but one which could not be more different to the one above. Seven women who worked on women's magazines spill the beans about everything from fashion shoots to hanging out with pop stars. Bright young school leavers could walk into jobs then – no university degrees required, no unpaid internships. Happy days!

 

Game On by Janet Evanovich

The 28th book in the Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter, series and the first I’ve read in years – the last one was probably the 15th or 16th. Nothing has changed – not her madcap family or ex-hooker colleague Lulu, not her relationship with handsome cop Joe Morrelli (nor her occasional hankerings after the mysterious Ranger) and not, sadly, the casual acceptance of gun culture. I think I’m done here.

 

 

Goldberg Variations by Susan Isaacs

I’m keen on Susan Isaacs (especially Shining Through). This book has two grown-up siblings and their cousin being invited to stay with their estranged grandmother who intends to decide who will inherit her very successful business. But do any of them want it?

The story is told from each of the four viewpoints and each rounded character walked off the page. Enjoyable though it was, however, I didn’t think it was any more than the sum of its parts.

 

 

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella

One of two rereads this month. If I’ve finished a book and it’s getting late I tend to look for a book I’ve read before rather than embarking on a new one. I had it in my mind that I would read this one again and then donate it to a charity shop.

Nope. Couldn’t do it. Get rid of it, I mean.

High-flying lawyer and financial wizard Samantha walked out of her City job and has (very improbably – the clue is in the title) been employed as a housekeeper.

Sophie Kinsella is so brilliant at set-pieces and I will pop back in just to read these bits again – too many to mention, and there would be spoilers, but the scene in the greenhouse … and the moment when an entitled girl gets her comeuppance … are particularly satisfying.

 

Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart

In the case of this book, it’s a re-re-read (or maybe more) of my favourite Mary Stewart book. I picked it up again this month because it’s set in Vienna and other parts of Austria, and I just came back from three nights in Vienna and one in Salzburg.

Having now been lucky enough to have sat in the Blue Bar in the famous Hotel Sacher in Vienna for drinks (be sure to book a table … ) it was brilliant to read about Vanessa’s visit there.

Sadly we weren’t able to see a performance of the Lipizzaner horses, which play a vital part in the plot, but I was thrilled when we came across the stables (I hadn’t expected that they would be right in the middle of the city) and we could see some of the beautiful white animals looking over their half doors.

My visit did not include being chased by a circus performer over a castle roof … but Mary Stewart’s superb writing made me feel that it had.

 

Six in February

I read six books in January.

Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading by Lucy Mangan

I’m a fan of Lucy Mangan’s journalism (especially in the excellent free magazine Stylist) but it’s nerve-wracking to read about the favourite childhood books of someone you like in case their likes disagree violently with all your own cherished choices. What you want is agreement over some books, a difference of opinion over a few, and the introduction to some that, inexplicably, you’ve never come across. And with Lucy I found exactly that.

She is almost twenty years younger than me but she too read as a child every waking hour she could (only asking that her family turn her over on the sofa occasionally to avoid bedsores … ) so we are definitely kindred spirits. I was upset when she didn’t like Anne of Green Gables – but then she concluded she’d read it too young; on a re-reading she loved it. We differed rather over Little Women – unlike me she remained dry-eyed reading of Beth’s death. (Lucy! How could you? Pass the hankies.)

Like me, she loved Enid Blyton, the William books, The Borrowers and Tom’s Midnight Garden. (I say loved but of course it’s not a past-tense feeling but a forever one.) Some favourites of hers, the Narnia series and anything by Judy Blume, I have never embarked on and don’t feel inclined to start now.

I was chagrined to find that I hadn’t heard of three books very dear to her heart: The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, a mega-seller published in the 1960s, now deemed ‘an essential modern classic’; Private – Keep Out! by Gwen Grant, the diary of a north of England female Just William, set just after WW2 (in Bookworm Lucy says it has long been out of print; however it has since been reissued, perhaps thanks to her championing); and Life with Lisa by Sybil Burr (of which more below).

Thinking about it, my experience of books for children was different from Lucy’s: as I lived very rurally I wasn’t near a library so much of my reading of them came later, especially when I had my own children as I chronicled here.

White Nights by Ann Cleeves

Set around midsummer in Shetland when it scarcely gets dark, a time known locally as the ‘simmer dim’ – white nights.

When Shetland detective Jimmy Perez finds a body in a hut used by fishermen it seems to be a straightforward case of suicide. He recognizes the victim – a stranger with amnesia who had disrupted a local party the night before his death. Further deaths point to the crimes having their roots in the past. Excellent.

Madness Lies by Helen Forbes

Since White Nights had put me in the mood for a crime spree, I retrieved Madness Lies from the to-be-read pile at the side of my bed, where I’d put it some months ago after buying it at the author’s Edinburgh launch. Set mostly in Inverness, the book features policeman Joe Galbraith. The twist in the first JG book, In the Shadow of the Hill, needed all my little gray cells to get to grips with – but although there wasn’t that shock here I enjoyed it even more.

The plot is terrific, beginning with the murder of an Inverness councillor in broad daylight in the middle of town, and featuring a heart-stopping showdown at a Highland beauty spot. Gives ‘Shetland’ a run for its money I would say.

Millions Like Us: British Women’s Fiction of the Second World War  

edited by Jenny Hartley

Does what it says on the tin – discussing a range of authors including Elizabeth Bowen, Olivia Manning, Rosamond Lehmann, Rose Macaulay and Stevie Smith.

Life with Lisa by Sybil Burr

See above – after reading about Lisa in Lucy Mangan’s book I was keen to get hold of this, another (fictional) diary of a working-class, mildly rebellious schoolgirl, set in the 1950s. One of her heroes is ‘Peeps’ and he’s one of mine too. I was lucky enough to find a (tatty Puffin) edition online for £3.99 (all that appears there now are hardback editions starting from £32). And I wasn’t disappointed. Maybe the Mangan magic will see this one reissued too.

Old Baggage by Lissa Evans

Read for book group, on Kindle. It’s 1928. Mattie Simpkin was a militant suffragette and now that that battle has (mostly) been won all the energy and passion she poured into that campaign has to find another outlet. She decides to start a Saturday club for working girls (ie girls in domestic service/shop workers) on Hampstead Heath – with mixed, sad and funny results in which her own family background plays an unexpected part. I loved Lissa Evans’ writing. This is the first book of hers I’ve read – but a film I enjoyed, Their Finest, was based on one she wrote, originally published as Their Finest Hour and a Half.