I read six books in August.
Long Island by Colm Toibin
The sequel to Brooklyn. It’s now 1976. Eilis and her husband Tony and their two children live in Long Island, in the same cul-de-sac as Tony’s parents and two brothers. A marriage crisis sees Eilis going back to Ireland and her mother’s house in Enniscorthy for her first visit in twenty years.
No further spoilers. It was such a pleasure to revisit these characters and Colm Toibin’s writing about them. I had the privilege of hearing him talk about the book at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this year (frankly, I could listen to him read the telephone directory). He said he’d loved the film of Brooklyn to the extent that he took some characteristics that Domhnall Gleeson gave to Jim, and brought them out in Long Island.
And that gorgeous lyrical writing? The minute he’s written anything flowery or introspective he deletes it … and pares down and pares down …
A Coronet for Cathie by Gwendoline Courtney
I love to reread my favourite girls’ books. One I know almost off by heart is Elizabeth of the Garrett Theatre by GW and several others of hers are a nostalgic read too. I’d never read this one; it seemed unavailable but has just been reissued by the wonderful Girls Gone By Publishers.
Teenage orphan Cathie learns that, following the death of a previously unknown relative, she is now a duchess and has a castle to live in … The book then turns into more of a school story. Cathie manages to avoid having her lineage known when she attends a day school some distance away – that certainly sorts out the snobs from the nice girls!
And continuing on the comfort reads, a couple of L M Montgomerys – The Story Girl and The Golden Road with their bewitching story-spinning heroine Sara Stanley.
Lady of Quality by Georgette Heyer
Unmarried at thirty, wealthy Annis Wychwood defies convention and sets up her own household in Bath. She unexpectedly finds herself in loco parentis to seventeen-year-old Lucilla whose guardian is the much-gossiped about rake Oliver Carleton.
Bellman and Black by Diane Setterfield
I’m not that keen on ghost/slightly supernatural stories except if they’re written by Diane Setterfield … Her Once Upon a River is wonderful, even better than this one..
Here, William Bellman kills a rook with a catapult when he’s ten and thereby alters the course of his life. Rising from poverty to become a very rich businessman entirely through his own astonishing acumen, when his child is dying he enters into a kind of pact with the mysterious Mr Black.
Apart enjoying the story, I learnt many things from this book especially about rooks and the over-the-top mourning clothes and accoutrements the Victorians went in for. Highly recommended.