Reading for the Rain

Yes, this winter it has rained – a lot. So what better reason could you find for settling down with a good book or two? These are the books I have been enjoying while it’s been raining outside…

Breaking the Silence by Diane Chamberlain ****

Chamberlain’s writing is always deep and thought-provoking and this novel is no exception.

Laura Brandon, successful astronomer, lives with her young daughter Emma and her husband Ray. Ray is not Emma’s biological father; he was a friend who offered to marry Laura when she was pregnant and wanted to keep the baby, but felt vulnerable and insecure.

Just before Laura’s father Carl dies, at the start of this story, he asks Laura to look after Sarah Tolley, a woman she has never heard him mention before, who lives in a nearby retirement home. Laura starts visiting her, to respect his dying wish, despite being warned off by her husband, her husband’s brother and later, by anonymous letters.

Sarah has the beginnings of Alzheimer’s Disease, but through her long-term memories, we learn her story, as Laura gradually begins to piece together the whole picture, and the reason her father asked her to look out for Sarah becomes clear.

It is an interesting journey, which takes the reader to the stars and the skies – through a telescope and a hot-air balloon – although there are some disturbing elements, for example how certain institutions dealt with mental health in the name of research in the 1950s and 1960s, and also the trauma of PTSD and mutism.

Fascinating and highly readable.

 

Our Holiday by Louise Candlish ***+

As usual, Louise Candlish takes a cast of upper-middle class Londoners, and this time, places them on holiday in Dorset. However, the locals don’t want them there. A group: NJFA (not just for August) are objecting to the fact that these well-to-do Londoners own second homes in prime positions in their part of Dorset, and yet are hardly ever there, while some young locals live in caravans because there are no local homes cheap enough for them to rent or buy.

Tensions rise, not just between the holidaymakers themselves, but between NJFA and the Londoners. And then disaster strikes. At first, it seems to be a relatively simple matter of destruction of property, but it turns out that someone died – and that wasn’t meant to happen at all…

The book is well-written, of course, and Candlish’s novels always sizzle with tension, but I have to say, there wasn’t one character I found remotely appealing. Even so, I still found it a good read.

 

Question 7 by Richard Salinger ***

This one is part autobiography, part history, part re-construction, part existentialism… all based on the premis of ‘Question Seven’ which is, according to Chekov – ‘who lives longest, a man or a woman?’ Pretty much an unanswerable question.

Equally unanswerable, is the conundrum in which the narrator finds himself. His father was a POW in Japan. If Hiroshima had not happened, his father would have died and the author would not have been born. Similarly, if Rebecca West had not kissed HG Wells, and he had not in consequence written a certain book, then the atomic bomb might never have been built (or so says the author).

If all this sounds rather confusing, then you will have to read the book to try and make sense of it. I found it interesting, informative, not my usual type of read, but a challenge I quite enjoyed.

 

Pictures of Him by Claire Leslie Hall ***+

This was Claire’s first published novel – and there are similarities to the successful Broken Country. For starters, it’s intense and it’s a love story…

It is set in three time-frames using the viewpoints of Catherine and Lucian. Theirs is the love story to beat all love stories – they are soul-mates and they can’t get enough of each other. But… when something goes wrong, Catherine leaves without explanation and both of them must bear the consequences.

Lucian goes on to suffer from depression and near alcoholism, while Catherine runs away by marrying loyal, dependable Sam and having children with him. She does not want to dwell on the events that caused her and Lucian to break-up, but circumstances catapult them back together, with an even more dramatic break-up this time.

The moral perhaps is that until you really deal with the past, you can’t move on. It’s well-written, of course, and is an immersive read, but very sad, so have a box of tissues by your side.

 

Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell ****+

Lisa Jewell does it again in a fast-moving, gripping, domestic noir of a plot.

When Alex’s father Paddy dies, Alex and her mother Nina are thrown into grief. However, an old colleague of Paddy’s gets in touch, and before long, he and Nina have become an item, which for Alex, is very hard to take.

Meantime, new characters enter the fray with their own story-lines, and gradually, the connection becomes clear.

This is not one for the faint-hearted, but it has an excellent moral – be careful who you let into your life. Be wary. If they seem to be too good to be true, then they probably are.

Lisa Jewell expertly weaves her story-lines into one connective narrative, until finally the truth emerges. I totally could not put it down. Highly recommended.

 

Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister ****+

Clever, clever, clever. This is a dual viewpoint novel written in two time-frames seven years apart, and set in London.

Cam is introverted by nature. She works as a literary agent, and is happily married to extrovert Luke (a ghost-writer, whom she also represents) with whom she has a young daughter, Polly. But on the day that Cam is due to return to work after maternity leave, she wakes up, and Luke isn’t there. He has left her a note, which says very little, and the next thing she knows… he is featuring in a real-life hostage/ siege situation nearby, and the police are involved.

Cam has always considered Luke to be one of the good guys. And so, seven years later, she is still struggling to come to terms with what has happened, still trying to move on. She has no idea if Luke is alive or dead, but she cannot forget him.

Meanwhile, Niall, the hostage negotiator, is fighting his own personal demons. He got it very wrong with Luke, and seven years later, he is still trying to discover the truth.

McAllister expertly lays clues along the way; the book is multi-layered and gripping. In her hands, this strange situation seems authentic and believable, and her main characters are warm and complex, making this an emotive read as well as a fast-paced one. Very highly recommended.

Stormy Weather Reading

Autumn reading is coming your way a bit late this year since today is the 1st December, so I have re-titled. Stormy weather has continued into winter, it seems… So the best thing for everyone to do is settle down with a good book whenever possible. And here are some great options:)

 

The Secret Room by Jane Casey ****

For an entire series, Maeve and Josh have been caught in an exhilarating web of sexual tension, and this continues nicely in ‘The Secret Room’.

Maeve is investigating the murder of a woman in an up-market hotel (she was found in a bath of boiling water; dead, of course 😉) and lo and behold, Josh is also on the case. Meantime, his personal life is unravelling. His partner Mel is found a victim of a vicious assault and he is suspect number one. Despite being ordered not to, Maeve is compelled to step in and do her own investigating. She knows Josh and she knows he could not have committed such a crime. But people do uncharacteristic things when pushed to breaking point. Could he have? Would he have? And can Maeve find out the truth?

Jane Casey juggles all the skittles of these two cases, along with the personal lives of her key players in her usual skilful way. The book is expertly written and structured, and totally gripping. As always, the characters jump off the page and into the reader’s heart and mind. Highly recommended.

 

When I First Held You by Anstey Harris **** +

Anstey Harris mentions in her acknowledgements that this story of adoption, of secrets and lies, love and betrayal, was inspired by her own family history. She too was born in a Mother and Baby Home; sadly, she never knew her birth mother Christine, who surely would have been so proud of her daughter and her exploration into women’s dilemmas and lack of choices in the 1960s and preceding.

Judith is shocked when after fifty-six years, James re-enters her life. In that time, she has tried to come to terms with her loss and she has enjoyed a fifty year-long relationship with Catherine, a successful artist, who has now died, leaving Judith with another painful loss to bear.

Can she forgive James enough to listen to his explanations about what happened in the 1960s, in Glasgow and beyond? And can she forgive the betrayal she was unaware of? Will their meeting just increase their sense of loss, or is there a way that it can become a new beginning?

As always, Anstey Harris writes perceptively with sensitivity and precision, delving deep into the characters’ emotions and interior lives. In so doing, she has created an excellent and thought-provoking read. Highly recommended.

 

Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller **** +

Claire Fuller uses a dual-narrative timeline in the single viewpoint of Peggy. In the earlier timeline, Peggy is eight years old. Her mother, Ute, is a concert pianist, her father, James, a ‘survivalist’, a man who belongs to a group of people who are preparing an underground cellar for the prospect of nuclear war.

When Ute goes on tour, Peggy and James camp out in the garden and practise a survivalist’s way of life. But after a phone call with Ute and an argument with his friend Oliver, James decides to take things a step further.

In present narrative time, we meet Peggy, now aged seventeen, newly re-united with her mother and brother, coming to terms with life in London back at home, after years with her father in the wilderness.

Fuller draws us effortlessly into Peggy’s perspective, which feels authentic and which is never over-explained. I guessed the ending, but that didn’t spoil the book for me – it only confirmed the likely and almost inevitable in a sad and thought-provoking read which has stayed with me.

 

The Surf House by Lucy Clarke ***

This destination thriller takes us to Morocco with Bea, a reluctant model, who is getting fed up with being controlled, feeling she should not eat, and living a life she never really wanted. So, she quits, and is immediately put in danger of not only losing all her worldly goods, but worse… She is saved by Marnie, a fierce but good-natured surfer girl, who rescues Bea and takes her to the Surf House, the guest house she runs with her partner Ped. Bea can work there in return for board and lodgings – but will she get her passport back and will she be free to leave?

At the Surf House she becomes involved with the surfer gang, including the charismatic Aiden, and by default in the mysterious disappearance of Savannah, another traveller, a year ago. But are these people hiding a secret? In helping to solve the mystery, Bea gets rather more than she bargained for.

Lucy Clarke employs the usual twists and turns and viewpoint changes to tell her story. She is particularly good at describing the sea and the thrill of the surf and it is easy to want to continue turning the pages. A good read.

 

A Dry Spell by Clare Chambers ****+

Nina lives with her teenage son James, and when she sells her old car, James begins a relationship with Kerry, the girl whose father bought it for her. This is the start, Nina feels, of James moving away from her. He spends his time with Kerry, they are having sex, and maybe even taking drugs, Nina suspects. When she receives a phone call from Hugo, an old friend, Nina feels that the past is coming to get her. Enter the timeline of teenage Nina in a relationship with Martin and lusting after Guy, while (with Hugo) the four of them set off on an adventure to Arabia which leads to tragedy.

Meanwhile Jane is having trouble with her three-year-old daughter Harriet, with whom she can’t seem to make any connection. Jane is married to a headmaster, but she has gone off sex and only an unlikely friendship with the eccentric Erica seems to make her feel better.

Clare Chambers weaves these two stories and two timelines together beautifully and for a long time we have no knowledge of the connection, although since this is Clare Chambers, we know that there must be one. Sure enough, the two worlds collide and more drama ensues, along with a fair amount of ironic humour and some resolution. It has been a long dry summer. But one that has to end…

All the characters are beautifully drawn, the book is witty and compelling and I loved it. Highly recommended.

 

 

 

Writing Beneath the Surface

At the glorious Finca El Cerrillo in March and June 2025, our theme was ‘writing beneath the surface’. We considered what this means to us, and how we can use the concept to make our writing deeper, more multi-layered, and richer perhaps.

Through visualisations and thought-showers, we explored how we could get beneath the surface of an idea – to dig deep and develop that idea into a story, a poem, or another piece of writing.

We thought about place and how we can connect characters to their environment; how we can get the most out of place and use it as an important element in our writing. And then we looked at characters themselves and considered ways in which we could get to know them better.

After a day off mid-week… some of us ventured into nearby Competa to look around the village and have lunch, some went to the seaside, and some stayed at the finca to relax, chill, maybe write some more…

We then discussed ways of getting our deeper writing on to the page, by using internal thought, for example, and self-image.

In our final morning session of the week, we considered symbolism and re-thought some well-worn clichés, as well as constructing a poem from associations connected with a certain emotion.

During the week. groups also created a collaborative piece, which were shared on our final day. There were some brilliant variations – including stories, flash fiction, a play, a song, a poem and more.

Both weeks were great fun. They included Spanish conversation with Keeley around the pool (in June) early morning pilates with Anju on the yoga deck, Elaine’s team quiz, Sheila’s lateral thinking, Rosemary and Catherine’s singing evening, and Keeley’s salsa dancing lesson. All optional of course, but all a fabulous addition to our weeks. Thank you all.

We enjoyed delicious meals at the finca and we also went out to some lovely restaurants in Canillas and Competa.

 

 

In March my new hardback of ‘The Italian Flame’ was published and Sue and Gordon and members of the writing group organised a celebration including a cake beautifully decorated by Gordon. What an amazing thing to do. It blew me away… 🙂

In June, we sadly said goodbye to Sue and Gordon Kind who have run the finca so magnificently for so many years and also given us ‘Gordon’s Desert Island Discs’ which we have so enjoyed.

But we are looking forward to meeting Donna and Jaime who will be taking on the business and we will be continuing our writing holiday with them. (And Sue and Gordon have promised to come back as day students…)

Roll on 2026….