My Spring Fiction 2024

The Lake House by Kate Morton ***+

Who doesn’t love climbing into a Kate Morton novel? This complex family drama wraps itself around you like a cosy cashmere blanket, enveloping you in deep emotions and an intriguing mystery… (and as I’m writing this, it may be spring but I still need a cashmere blanket…)

Sadie, a detective taking time out for getting too personally involved in a case, discovers a derelict old house and garden in Cornwall, while out for a run one day. The house is Loeannath, the Lake House, and it is the centre of a seventy-year-old mystery surrounding the disappearance of a baby, Theo Edevane. Since Sadie has time on her hands, she decides to investigate further…

In London, Alice Edevane, the famous crime writer and sister of Theo, is shocked to receive a letter from Sadie, asking about the family tragedy. It brings back memories and sensations that she has tried all her life to put behind her. She ignores the letter at first, but Sadie is determined. It becomes clear that there are many family secrets to uncover before the mystery can be solved and the truth revealed.

Who knew more about Theo’s disappearance than they told the police at the time? Flashback chapters from other characters (including the deceased) provide more information, but no body was ever discovered and so Theo might be (still) alive or dead.

There are plenty of twists and turns in this story and I particularly warmed to Alice, whose viewpoint is both insightful and amusing. The author takes the opportunity of having a lot of fun by delving into the writer’s viewpoint. She is also very good at the slow reveal and build up of tension. A multi-layered and enjoyable read.

 

The Dubrovnik Book Club by Eva Glynn ***+

The Dubrovnik Book Club is a warm and compelling story filled with sensory detail and emotion.

Claire is just starting a new job as manager at the Welcoming Book Shop in Dubrovnik, but this requires huge bravery on her part as she recently suffered from Long Covid and is  terrified of getting it again. In the bookshop, she meets Luna, her new colleague – who is struggling to admit her own sexuality to the world.

Claire and Luna start up a Bookclub and through this we meet a cast of other fascinating characters, some of whom also have a difficult journey to go on. The story is very strong on these character journeys, which are handled with sensitivity and perception.

When the Bookshop is threatened, the characters all work together to try to save it. In the meantime, they are all getting to know one another rather better – the relationships between them are well-drawn and convincing.

The setting of Dubrovnik is impeccably researched with great precision of detail (especially on food – yum yum) and the author’s love of the city shines through. A very enjoyable read and highly recommended.

 

The Keeper Of Stories by Sally Page **** and my Book of the Season

Janice is a cleaner – but also a collector of stories and a storyteller herself. She likes to find evidence of the extraordinary in ordinary people and this gives her some hope of happier endings.  Most of her stories come from people she cleans for, some from conversations she overhears on the bus – where she also comes across a very nice bus-driver who happens to look like a geography teacher. (A nice touch, I thought).

Janice is married to the awful Mike and it soon emerges that this is only part of her story. But Janice does not want to tell her story – she feels too guilty – and it takes the support of friends and family plus a set of extraordinary circumstances to persuade her to do so. But if we cannot acknowledge our own stories, how can we hope to move on?

This is a brilliant story about loss, friendship and support. It’s so well-written with plenty of humour, and I loved it.

 

The New Wife JP Delaney ***+

As always, JPD launches us into the story from the off – direct and straight into the voice of our narrator, Finn. Finn and his sister Jess have just learnt about the death of their father (the Old Bastard) which is no great loss to them as he has never been much of a father to them in the first place. The difficulty is though, that their legacy is the rather glorious Finca Sequia in Mallorca, currently occupied by their father’s third wife Ruensa and her daughter Roze. So Finn goes over to check them out (and maybe throw them out) and from therein becomes embroiled.

To avoid spoilers, let’s just say that this is another twisty tale with plenty going on and a surprising jolt in almost every chapter. As usual, I was hooked from the start, and found it hard to put the book down. Five stars for page-turnability, but I haven’t yet decided how I feel about the ending. Perhaps you should read it and decide for yourself?

 

Secret Lives by Diane Chamberlain ***+

Eden Rily, movie star, needs time out from ‘wearing a mask’ (as she describes the business of acting) and she decides to write the screenplay for a film about her late mother, successful children’s author Kate Swift. She knows already that her mother, who died when Eden was a young girl, was solitary, possibly agoraphobic and was known as an eccentric. But what else might she discover?

Eden goes to stay with her uncle Kyle and her aunt Lou in her mother’s old home town, in order to find out more. But it isn’t easy for Eden being with them. She had a difficult childhood which included a spell in an orphanage and she feels guilty around Lou – who is wheelchair bound – because of an accident which she feels is her fault.

The story takes on an added thread when we hear Kate Swift’s voice through the journals which she kept at the time, and which Eden is now reading. There are a lot more dark secrets to her mother’s life than Eden had realised, some of which have a huge impact on Eden’s life and relationships now.  And then Eden meets Ben Alexander, an archaeologist friend of Kyle’s who has more dark secrets of his own.

Will Eden be able to continue with her plan to write the screen play of her mother’s life – or will it be too emotional and intense for her to contemplate? And can she find her own sense of self by discovering the truth about her mother’s past? I very much enjoyed this novel and highly recommend.

 

The Silence of The Girls by Pat Barker ****

In this re-telling of ‘The Iliad’, the main narrative voice is that of Briseis, taken prisoner when her city falls to the Greeks and given to Achilles as a ‘prize of war’. All the old narratives of the Trojan War concern themselves with the male characters – the women have traditionally never been given a voice, just as in this story, the women are given no choice; they are possessions to be dealt with and claimed accordingly.

Briseis was Queen of the Kingdom ruled by her husband, but she was forced to watch her husband and family butchered by the man who is now to become her owner, her lover. The Queen has become a slave. She has no choice but to give herself to Achilles, but she does this coldly and reluctantly, not allowing herself to show any emotion. Their relationship becomes complex however; even Briseis cannot fully understand it, and when she has the opportunity to escape, she decides not to take it.

Barker sticks closely to the Iliad story and although Briseis is a feminist, she is only a feminist within the boundaries of the world and time she lives in and so she accepts her fate. But Barker does give her character a strong, modern and feminist voice in both dialogue and thought and this makes the story more accessible and for me, more interesting too.

The characters are believable. Most of the men are unpleasant, though some are kinder than others. The god-like warrior Achilles is fascinating – his pride is wounded and he makes some bad mistakes, but for me Barker made him capable of deep love – especially for Patroclus, but also for Briseis and the mother goddess who left him.  I also enjoyed dipping into the world of the women with their laundry and linens, their herbs and natural medicines, the honey, the weaving and the complex laying out of the dead. Most of all, I loved the fact that Barker has given these women a voice once silenced by history.

 

 

Themes and Schemes

We all have things that we care passionately about, and in some cases want to write about. But where do our themes come from? I found myself wondering about this as I finished my latest edits.

In my next novel, The Italian Flame (to be published March 2025) I found myself once again tackling the theme of adoption. This is the second time I have written about adoption, and yet I have no personal experience of it – I just find different kinds of families interesting.

The first time I wrote about it was in the novel Bay of Secrets when I was drawn in to the subject partly by my horror at the travesties that occurred during the Spanish Civil War and beyond, in terms of adoption practices, which have now been well-documented.

This time though it was rather different. I was watching the TV programme ‘Long Lost Family’ and having a good cry, like you do – because it’s rather wonderful when birth family members meet each other for the first time. Then I started thinking about all the stories that never get aired. What might happen, for example, if someone who had been adopted simply did not want to be found?

For the book, I did a lot of reading of personal stories of women who’d had their babies adopted, often against their wishes and because circumstances gave them very little choice. Often, this sad and traumatic parting affected them for the rest of their lives.

As a woman growing up in the later 1960s and 70s I and my peers had a lot more say when it came to birth control and choices. But in 1965, many of these choices were not available to girls like my character Marilyn, as they had not been for many girls and women in the years preceding. There was also a great deal more disapproval and shame. This must have led to so many heart-breaking situations and decisions, also impacting those who had been adopted. Adoptive parents are usually amazing and do a fantastic job, but many adoptees also feel the need to understand why they were given away in the first place. They often want to find out more about their birth families.

This led me into thinking about sisters… I don’t have a sister, though I always wished I did (I do love having a brother though, Alan!) But I do have two daughters and I know that the relationship between sisters is a very special one. These two strands then, came together to create the themes and schemes for The Italian Flame.

 

Top Winter Titles

I should have posted this a couple of months ago! However – all these winter warmers are among the best books I’ve read in the past few years – every one is a winner.

Child of the Ruins by Kate Furnival ****

I really enjoyed this sweeping and dramatic story. The setting is post-war Berlin and Kate Furnival captures the atmosphere perfectly – the sense of a divided city in ruins, the place, the pain, the suffering and the poverty.

In this world, Anna is searching for a long-lost child – Felix – and we feel her desperation as she imagines she sees his features, his colouring, his gestures, in every child she encounters. She is also feeling betrayed by her lover, a Russian soldier who seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth. Meanwhile, Anna tries to find work, procure food, and look after her mother – who gave Felix away when Anna was sick with fever.

When Anna first meets Ingrid, she is not sure whether she is friend and foe. But in this world, it seems that Ingrid can be both. Everyone is trying to survive and everyone does what they have to do for survival and for love. Anna and Ingrid are both strong and complex characters and the story is told mainly from their perspectives.

It is a harsh world. But there are also a few beautiful and perfect moments, and more than one intense love story. Can Anna and Timur find their way back to one another against all the odds? Can Ingrid and Otto find a way through? And can Anna ever forgive her mother for what she has done?  This is an emotionally powerful and compelling story and I was immersed from beginning to end. Highly recommended.

 

End of Story by Louise Swanson ***

This is a cleverly constructed and well-written book with an ingenious twist at the end – but no spoilers here…

Fern Dolstoy (now Dalrymple) is a best-selling author living in a dystopian world where all fiction books have been banned and children are no longer allowed to listen to bedtime stories. Her only social interactions are with neighbour Laura and ‘Fine-Fayre’ the tea-man. Her dearest friends, two other authors, have disappeared, her husband Cal is dead and Fern works as a hospital cleaner. Periodically, she is monitored by ‘the tall man and the short man’ who are there to ensure she isn’t writing.

But Fern is writing – a diary of her days. One day, she receives a message and is introduced to ‘Bedtime Stories,’ a group of rebels who are taking calls from children and reading them stories. Fern joins the group and befriends Hunter, an eight-year-old boy who wants to be read to. But the group is in danger, Fern is scared her notebook will be discovered and she may have her fingers cut off or be removed to a ‘re-education centre’. Things are happening in this world which are scarily similar to things she wrote of in her best-selling ‘Technological Amazingness’.

The viewpoint is Fern’s throughout and as readers, we feel her sadness and pain. This dystopian world feels believable. But if it is – how can Fern Dolstoy come to terms with it and survive?

 

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan ****

This is a great collaboration between two talented writers.

Olivia is a bee-keeper who lives with her son Asher in Adams. She left her husband Braden because of his escalating violence towards her and because of her fear that Asher would learn, inherit or suffer from similar behaviour.

Lily is a student in the same year as Asher, also living with a single mother, who has experienced significant trauma during her childhood and young adult life. Asher and Lily fall madly in love, but the secrets they keep make their relationship a volatile affair rather than a trusting one.

This book tackles thought-provoking and controversial issues of our time with intelligence and sensitivity. It is told from the viewpoints of Lily and Olivia and through them we learn a lot. Lily is a fountain of trivia and general knowledge and Olivia is wise and an expert on bee behaviour, a fascinating thread cleverly woven through the novel.

Can there be any happy ending? There are plenty of shocks and twists along the way in this compelling and absorbing story. Very highly recommended.

 

Bad Men by Julie Mae Cohen ****

Saffy became a killer at a young age – she murdered her step-father in order to save her beloved sister Susie from the abuse that she herself was forced to suffer. It is an abuse which has understandably made her dislike ‘bad men’ – those who cheat on or abuse their partners – and so she continues her hobby of killing them in order to help save other innocent women too.

Saffy is rich, independent and in control… at least, until she meets crime journalist Jon and becomes wildly attracted to him. Attracted enough to kill in order to capture his attention? Perhaps not. But certainly attracted enough to stage a meeting…

But will he ever feel the same towards her? When Jon becomes embroiled in a crime drama of his own, Saffy may have to show her cards – or is she clever enough to avoid this too?

I loved the character of Saffy and the book is written with Julie Cohen’s usual wit, humour and perception. It’s a mix of crime thriller, comic romance and yet it’s thought-provoking too. Pure joy.

 

The Close by Jane Casey ***

This is the first Jane Casey book that I have read and it did not disappoint. The book is the latest in the series featuring DC Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent and they are suitably classy and interesting detectives who (predictably?) have the hots for one another as well as being close friends.

The latest case involves a surveillance team of two (who else?) posing as a couple dog-sitting in a house in the seemingly innocent Jellicoe Close where nothing is as innocent as it seems and pretty much everyone is under suspicion for something. Soon, they are embroiled, not only in surveillance but also in the increasing intensity of their personal relationship, plus other cases of stalking, assault and murder, no less.

It all hums along satisfactorily with plenty of clues, red herrings, sexual tension and suspense with a high page-turnability factor… until the final twist and denouement. Hugely enjoyable.

 

The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain ***

This story has two timelines and two narrators.

In 1965, Ellie tells the story of when she became involved with SCOPE, an organisation aiming to make it easier for people of colour to vote – in what should be a basic American right. Ellie is a rich, white girl of twenty, living in North Carolina and no one in her home town understands why she is doing this – most of the white townsfolk are more than happy for their current lifestyle and those of the black people they live alongside, to remain exactly as it is. Ellie however, is fired up to pursue Civil Rights and continues her fight, even while alienating all of her family and friends in the process. But when she is seen with Win, a young black man who also works in the SCOPE group, their disapproval turns to something much nastier, something which will affect everyone in the town, even forty-five years later.

In 2010, Kayla, a widow, is moving to Shadow Ridge near Ellie’s old home with her three year-old daughter Ranie. But she is half-scared of her brand new beautifully architect-designed home and the woods that surround it. She hears that something bad once happened here and her husband died here too. Is someone trying to scare her away and if so, what should she do about it?

Ellie moves back temporarily in 2010 to take care of her mother and brother and the two women meet and discover their shared history. But can they also discover the truth surrounding the forty-five year-old mystery that so changed Ellie’s life?

This is a dark and thought-provoking story, told with Chamberlain’s usual skill and sensitivity. Highly recommended.