Five in August

I read five books in August.

Penintent by Mark Leggatt

When brilliant Edinburgh lawyer Hector Lawless is approached by his boss with a highly sensitive case that reaches from one of Edinburgh’s most exclusive private schools to 10 Downing Street, he relishes the chance to bring true evil to justice. But the commission is not what it seems …

A (sadly) very timely thriller which, at the time of writing, has been longlisted for the prestigious McIlvanney Prize, Bloody Scotland’s annual award for the best Scottish crime book of the year.

Of extra interest if you know Edinburgh and its environs but still thrilling if you don’t.

 

A Home from Home by Veronica Henry

A modern nod to Romeo and Juliet. ‘Dragonfly Farm has been a home and a haven for generations of Melchiors – arch rivals to the Culbones, the wealthy family who live on the other side of the river. Life there is dictated by the seasons and cider-making, and everyone falls under its spell.’ A fun read although the ending seemed rushed.

 

Happy Place by Emily Henry

I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I did Book Lovers. I thought it was overly long and the ending took a bit of swallowing; also the group of friends in their ‘happy place’ was so tight knit that this reader felt she was being kept at arms length.

But the promise of a beach cottage in Maine is always going to reel me in and EH’s dialogue is once again terrific.

 

A Keeper by Graham Norton

‘It’s not a crime novel,’ said the person who passed this on to me. So I started it in bed about half past ten, expecting to be lulled to sleep by a charming Maeve Binchy-esque story. And indeed there were echoes of much-missed Maeve and the writing was terrific but, far from being lulled, I was still turning the pages at midnight, my heart pounding at what was unfolding. 

I will say no more – read it for yourself – and I’ll definitely read more of Graham Norton’s books but I’ll start them well, well, before the witching hour.

 

The Borrowers by Mary Norton

I always preferred stories about real children when I was a child myself but one exception was The Borrowers. My sister and I both adored the first book (didn’t know at the time that there were anymore) and spent hours making a kind of Borrower village with our dolls’ house, Noah’s ark and constructions made from toilet roll cardboard and anything else that could be pressed into service.

So I grabbed this omnibus when I saw it in a charity shop. I delighted again in their ingenuity – Pod using a hatpin to scale the curtain, for example – and still find it hard to believe (as I try to find a paper clip or that little pencil I could swear I just put down) that they don’t exist … (do they??)

I enjoyed the further adventures of Pod, Homily and Arrietty (and there are dark and heart-stopping moments amongst all the lovely details) but the first one will always be closest to my heart.

 

Six in June

I read six books in June.

No Life for a Lady by Hannah Dolby

I adored this book – it was the runner-up in the Comedy Women in Print Award in 2021, for an unpublished novel.

It’s 1895. Violet, aged 28, lives with her father in Hastings who worries that she will never find a husband. She is certain she doesn’t want to get married but what she does want is to find out what happened to her mother who disappeared ten years earlier.

Very soon she regrets employing a private detective as he seems to have his own agenda and she takes matters into her own hands. One thing leads to another, and another – the comedy comes when the reader catches on to situations of which Violet is unaware, and to her innocence (as befits a respectable Victorian unmarried woman) about the facts of life (and her curiosity on the subject).

Violet is delightful, someone it would be great fun to be friends with. The era and the setting are immersive and the resolution to the mystery unexpected.

Read this on Kindle but will be purchasing a paperback too. I hope very much that we will hear more of Miss Violet Hamilton. 

 

Reader, I Married Him edited by Tracy Chevalier

A book of twenty-one commissioned short stories inspired by Jane Eyre and what fabulous collection it is. The authors took the prompt and ran with it in all directions; they include Tessa Hadley, Helen Dunmore, Jane Gardam, Elif Shafak, Evie Wyld, Audrey Niffenberger and Lionel Shriver.

Two of my favourites were: one where you gradually realise that the narrator is Wallis Simpson; and a heart-breaking tale featuring Jane’s childhood friend Helen.

 

The Book Lovers by Emily Henry

I’m not on TikTok but am aware that Emily Henry is extremely successful as a result of being recommended on it. I see from looking at her other titles that her thing is romance with booky themes. This one, for example, has a relationship between an editor and a literary agent, both of them hustling New Yorkers, who find themselves in Sunshine Falls, North Carolina, very far from their comfort zone.

Well, what’s not to like? There was great banter and some lovely writing. I will be reading more Emily Henry.

(Bookshops/books and romance are definitely ‘a thing’ at the moment; I read a book with the same title in April.)

 

Three Junes by Julia Glass

An appropriate title to read in June … a Christian Aid Book Sale purchase. The ‘three Junes’ span a decade and purport to depict ‘the life and loves’ of a Scottish family, the McLeods.

I didn’t think they came across as particularly Scottish (whatever that means) and not much of the story actually takes place in the family home in Dumfries & Galloway. The characters are not given equal weight – most of it belongs to Fenno, gay, in Manhattan during the Aids epidemic.

I’d like to have, for example, seen Dennis, bad-boy turned award-winning chef and family man, up close rather than through the eyes of others.

Strangely, the last ‘June’ focused on a hitherto unmet character, not a member of the family …. I wanted to like this but it all seemed rather oblique.

 

 Lost and Wanted by Nell Freudenberger

I read and really enjoyed The Newlyweds by this author and so recommended her new novel (which I hadn’t read at the time) to my book group. Don’t know what they thought of it yet because I ended up not being able to attend the meeting.

And I don’t know what I think of it … it was – unexpected. One reviewer said it was 'Middlemarch meets Bridget Jones’ Diary'. Were we reading the same book?

Last month for the book group we read Lessons in Chemistry – this one could have been called Lessons in Physics. I don’t have the kind of mind to understand black holes and the decaying universe but fortunately I know someone who does and I shall be passing this on and asking for a explanation in words of one syllable.

 

My Life in Houses by Margaret Forster

Margaret Forster and her husband Hunter Davies had the same beginnings, brought up in council houses in Carlisle, and they met at school. Both were very clever and began, in their early twenties, to make their livings as writers.

By the time they were thirty they were earning so much (Margaret principally from her novel Georgy Girl which was made into a film) that they had to go and live in Portugal for fourteen months to avoid the Labour government’s punitive income tax.

Margaret (now sadly gone to the big house in the sky) remembers her life through the houses she has lived in, including the family home in Hampstead (bought for £5000 in 1962, with a sitting tenant) and holiday homes (at different times) in Portugal and the Lake District.

All financed from their writing and good on them… not that I’m jealous or anything …