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.