Winter Book Reviews 2016

Is it just me or do lots of books with lots of stars end up being a bit disappointing? (No names mentioned). Well, it’s the end of November and time to think about items with lots of printed pages that can go into Christmas stockings and introduce the lucky recipients to the wonders of lots of different worlds. Here’s my latest recommended reading list of books which were not disappointing in the least…

I Found You by Lisa Jewell

Yes, it’s another gem from Lisa Jewell. (Apologies). Alice, a brave, blowsy and generous mother of three and shelterer of canines, finds a man on the beach. He is suffering from amnesia and she feels sorry for him and takes him in (did I mention she was brave and generous?). He seems like a nice guy and Alice is drawn to him, but she knows nothing about his real life – and at the moment neither does he. Gradually things come back to him. He could be married, he could (he thinks) have killed someone. Great… Both characters are warm, believable and rather lovely.

In scenario 2, Lily from the Ukraine reports her husband missing. She barely knows him (sounds familiar) and soon she finds out things she would really rather have not known at all. But where is he? Could he be the man on the beach – or is that way too obvious?

Enter scenario 3 (I love the structure of this book). This is a past story which introduces Gray and Kirsty (brother and sister) and a plot line which will reveal the truth. Lisa Jewell is very good at keeping her readers guessing, which makes this book as compelling as ever. Her characterisation as always is excellent and there is something about this brilliant novel which makes it impossible to forget. My favourite read of 2016. Highly recommended.

Falling by Julie Cohen

Anyone who reads this blog regularly will know that I’m a big JC fan. She’s just so good – there’s a natural quality about Julie’s writing that pulls you in and she tackles thought-provoking subjects too with great sensitivity. Looking at the cover of Falling I would have guessed this to be a fairly light romantic comedy, but of course it’s not. There is romance, there is love, but at the heart of this novel there are three women from three different generations all with a secret and all falling – in different ways (not just in love). That’s the concept and although it seems fairly simple, the writing is complex as ever. Usually I fall for a JC novel right from the start, but this one was a slow starter for me. I quite like that though. The author gradually develops the three characters of Honor (I adored Honor)  Jo (slightly irritating, but maybe I was seeing her through Honor’s eyes) and Lydia (Cohen does teenager POVs very well). OK, there were a few slight implausibilities (the gorgeous neighbour next door for one) but who really cares? The three journeys were all very well handled, and so compelling to read. Julie Cohen has great insight as a writer. And at the end..? There was a tear. Yet another brilliant Julie Cohen book. How does she do it?? Highly recommended.

What Doesn’t Kill You by Laura James

This book is set in Dorset – it’s part of the Chesil Beach series, so I’m already hooked in by wanting to read more about my favourite landscape… But there’s a lot more to this book than first appears. This is a romance, yes, but it’s a dark one and while Griff and Evie battle to keep their relationship alive, other compelling issues are being played out; issues of abuse and self-harm, guilt and loss, which make for an intense and sometimes challenging reading experience. But these subjects are handled with compassion and integrity, and while the book is dark, it is also positive and uplifting too. As the title suggests: what doesn’t kill you makes you strong (and more interesting); this is also a story of survival.

Personally, I love multi-viewpoint novels as this allows the author (and reader) to get involved in different perspectives and can make a novel more complex and insightful (IMO). Laura James makes good use of this technique. I liked the character of ‘gruff Griff’, a man who wants to save others and his relationship with the woman he loves. Evie is torn by the secret she holds which creates such a wedge in her marriage and Tess is utterly believable. A great cast of characters and a compelling storyline. Well written and highly recommended.

The Sea Between Us by Emylia Hall

Have just realised how many of my favourite books feature the sea. Coincidence? Nah! Emylia Hall’s sea is in Cornwall, and an enchanting, atmospheric cove it is too, capturing all that is intriguing and beautiful about that county. When Robyn’s parents first move to Cornwall, she is not so sure, but she is soon seduced by surfing, almost drowns (but is saved by local boy Jago) and proceeds to fall in love with the place. And with Jago? Well, that would be telling.

I usually want a bit more from a book than romance, character journey and an atmospheric setting, but I’m happy to make an exception in this case, because the author is so good at those three elements. The drama and moodiness of Cornwall comes over in all its colours and textures in the richness and vibrancy of Emylia Hall’s prose, and the romance and emotion is well handled and doesn’t sink into cliché which is admirable. I found the characters authentic and likeable too and was especially impressed by the descriptions of Robyn’s artistic career. The story of their journeys is well-paced (and actually quite a relief after all the domestic noir I was reading this summer) with lots of twists and turns and obstacles, but perhaps the real star of this show is Cornwall. This book will make you want to go there – even in the winter! A lovely and very enjoyable read from an author who is completely new to me. I will be reading more. Highly recommended.

I hope you get at least one of these lovelies in your Christmas stocking… Enjoy! x

The Flavour of the Place

As I often say – it has to be done. Someone has to visit all these glorious and sometimes exotic locations in order to write about them, why not me? But it’s not all lolling about on the sand writing beach scenes into the latest novel, oh no. It can be walking the streets of Bristol in the rain in January (for Last Dance in Havana) or sleeping in a hotel foyer for a quick getaway during an earthquake in Mandalay (for Return to Mandalay). All hard work, but fortunately it has to be done. And this year it was the turn of…

Belle Ile en Mer. I wanted to write about France – I know parts of it very well and many a holiday has been spent touring the West Coast , the South West and the Dordogne in our camper van in years gone by. But I also wanted to write about an island. Small islands have a charm of their own. (I once spent several weeks on the magical island of Elba – not exiled like Napoleon, definitely there of my own accord.)

Islands fascinate me. Is there such a thing as an island mentality, an island person? People travel to islands in order to escape (sometimes). Other times they find islands so insular that they need to get away. Islands encourage strong communities; it’s not easy for an outsider to be accepted and this is one of the ideas I want to explore in my next novel. (Working title: Daughters of Belle-Ile). What happens when you live on an island and something bad happens there? Do you want to cover it up and get away? Will you ever be able to return? Or will your return end up being a journey you have to make in order to resolve other issues in your life?

I’m not going to blog about this new novel any more until I have written it! But I can tell you a bit about Belle Ile en Mer. It’s situated off the southern coast of Brittany and it’s stunning. When you arrive by ferry from Quiberon you come to Le Palais with its impressive old fort and picturesque harbour lined with ice cream parlours, bars and cafés. Hop on a bus to Sauzon; the pretty painted houses and Mediterranean vegetation will make you think you’re in Italy.

There are only four villages on the island, but they all have something interesting to boast of, whether it’s Sarah Bernhard’s famous retreat, an ancient church, the tallest of lighthouses or the prettiest bay on the island. But we only have ten days – and in that time I have some big decisions to make: where are my characters going to live, eat, work and play? Where is all the action going to happen? And I have to find a place where a tragedy might occur… (Fictional tragedy, that is).

There’s no substitute for staying in the place you’re going to write about and finding its flavour. In Sauzon we spotted a man in an orange sou’wester and a pink bowler hat sitting in the harbour eating oysters. (It could never go into the book if it hadn’t actually happened.) When you visit a place you can explore it; you will make startling discoveries, find material and layers for your story. In the place you are writing about you can breathe in the saltiness of the air and feel the breeze against your skin. You can smell the food cooking in people’s houses and you can touch the texture of the stone on the quayside. You can hear the dull clang of the church bell and the birdsong in the trees, see the harbour master, the fishermen and the oyster catchers, and sample the goods that you find in the local markets. I hope that the flavours of Belle Ile will eventually be part of the tapestry of the book and sewn within the characters who live there.

It’s early days. But I have a full notebook and 600 photographs. It’s time for the real work to begin…

http://www.belleileenmer.co.uk/activities/what-visit/unmissable/136127-le-port-de-sauzon

Summer Book Reviews

There’s no better time to indulge in some me-time-with-a-book-time. Summer in the UK may not have been (so far) all it should be in the weather department, but the books have made up for it. Read and enjoy. Here goes. Honest reviews and subjective opinions.

The Swimming Pool by Louise Candlish

This is certainly a book to plunge into (sorry). Seriously, it’s a good title and the cover and blurb also draw you in. Louise Candlish is great on characterisation and here she gives us an ‘ordinary’ married couple – who prove to be not ordinary at all – and a glamorous set who – surprise, surprise – are not what we think they are either. (Louise Candlish’s speciality). But the great thing is that these characters – not to forget the sulky teenagers, damaged and otherwise – are all as authentic as they come. We are in the viewpoint of Nat the narrator: flawed, self deprecating, often making the wrong decisions, and we are invited to get under her skin. It’s not always a comfortable place to be but we can’t wait to pick the book up and be there again. That’s the skill. I love this author. The plot has plenty of twists and turns and although in the proof I read there is a bit of a cheat in the beginning, I can easily forgive that because the rest of the book is so brilliant. The relationships are complex and the characters interesting. The tension never lets up and it was almost impossible to stop reading. For me, this is Louise Candlish’s most accomplished novel to date. I loved it.

Disclaimer by Renee Knight

Mmmm – more juicy domestic noir and how I love it! An original premis for this one: woman starts reading a book and discovers it’s about her. Whoah… What makes this more chilling is that it concerns her ‘darkest secret’ and so of course she fears the consequences of people finding out. This is another real page-turner and again, the writing is extremely good. This author is skilled at building atmosphere, menace and tension. This makes the novel so gripping that it’s almost unfair to criticise it, but since this is an honest review I will say that firstly I found Catherine’s husband’s reactions unbelievable and secondly I guessed (most of) the ending (however, this may be because I read so much of this genre…). Regarding my first criticism, I can see why this has to be the case – otherwise the truth will be revealed too soon. And actually Renee Knight did get away with it by the way she handled the relationship at the end of the book – I won’t say more than that otherwise it would be a spoiler. As with most of this genre, many of the characters are not particularly likeable. The male characters especially were all unredeemable but the main character Catherine does become nicer as the book progresses. However, it almost doesn’t matter. What I especially like about this book is that it includes some thought provoking (as well as dark) subject matter which is extremely well handled. And when we finally know everything, it all makes perfect sense. Finally, there is an extremely good twist right at the end which is nothing less than brilliant. Highly recommended.

Versions of Us by Laura Barnett

I read this one because I find the ‘what if..?’ premis interesting (think Sliding Doors) and because the book had good reviews. And I came to the conclusion that Laura Barnett is an excellent writer and that for me, this book didn’t quite work. The ‘what if…?’ premis is handled by giving the reader different versions of a story which starts and ends in the same place but which goes and gets there in different ways. So far, so clever. So Eva meets Jim and either does or doesn’t get involved with him at this moment, and then… Well, it’s complicated. While I can read three different stories at the same time, I found it impossible to believe in them simultaneously. I would start getting into one and then heigh ho be abruptly uprooted and dragged back to a different version. Also the versions are pretty fragmented so there isn’t much time to get fully involved before back you go. This may be a flaw in this reader. I know it’s fiction, obviously, but I do like to get involved. Other readers are, I’m sure, better with the whole ‘literary suspension of disbelief this is fiction don’t forget’ thing than I am. The result was that I almost stopped caring what happened. The book was still interesting, but a bit of a ‘so what’ exercise. I continued reading though because I loved Laura Barnett’s prose. I’d still recommend the book – but with the proviso that it will only suit certain readers. You have been warned!

The People We Were Before by Annabelle Thorpe

This book made me desperate to visit Croatia. The place is beautiful, clearly (there is some vivid description) and it has a fascinating history. Annabelle Thorpe has obviously done her research, but it never feels forced. It is just there. The book is written with integrity and authenticity. The characters are warm, flawed and believable. The relationships are complex and multi-layered. The story follows Miro’s journey from the age of eight which began with tragedy and sees him move fom Knin to the Dalmation Coast. Life is good, but there are dark times ahead for Yugoslavia and this is subtly foreshadowed in the text. War is destructive in more ways than one and Miro’s personal life falls apart as he becomes an international war photographer and survives experiences that change him forever. The story is well told, emotional and sweeping. It totally drew me into this world and I was sad when I had to leave it at the end of the book. Highly recommended. I will go there at the first opportunity. And very pleasant to get away from domestic noir and books with the word ‘girl’ in them for a change.

Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Yeah. So. Everyone’s talking about it, most people have read it; this novel has been the huge best-seller of the year. Why? For starters, it’s well-written – which always helps. It’s appealing to people who travel on a train – probably most of us from time to time. And it was published on the marketing back of another hugely popular novel and film in the same genre – Gone Girl (this ‘girl’ in the title thing has been such a marketing success). Finally, Hawkins collided with the genre of domestic noir at possibly the height of its popularity.

I enjoyed it – a lot. This book is a real page turner (just as Stephen King says) and it’s cleverly constructed in terms of time lines, reveals, plot twists and turns. The main character Rachel is not likeable – but that doesn’t matter too much in this genre, as I keep saying but not quite believing – but there is plenty of motivation given for her behaviour. Ultimately, we have sympathy for her. We can see how events happened as they did. Rachel may have made bad decisions, but she is a flawed and real character whom we believe in. All the narrators are interesting and there is strong characterisation from Hawkins all round – the reader has no idea who to trust! This is a dark and gritty read, but utterly compelling. And hurrah! I didn’t guess the ending.

My Map of You by Isabelle Broom

Isabelle Broome’s gorgeous debut novel is set in Greece, on the island of Zakynthos, a place the author knows well. And it shows – as does her love for the landscape, the people, the culture which are described in sensual detail. The narrative follows Holly who, we learn, has had a difficult childhood with an alcoholic mother who tragically, has now died. Even more of a tragedy perhaps is that Holly has repressed her good memories of the mother she loved and finds it difficult to be herself – even with her boyfriend Rupert. But what is the truth behind her mother’s sad story? This is what Holly sets out discover, with the help of a map drawn by her mother and her aunt when both were young and living on Zakynthos and with the more up close and personal help of the fascinating Aidan, neighbour and potential new love interest. This is an escapist novel and a perfect holiday read, but there are darker messages hidden behind the sparky and entertaining prose. This is a novel about loss as well as discovery, about family relationships and of course about love. Holly’s journey is about finding out the truth about herself as much as it is about discovering the secret that ripped her family apart on the Greek island they all think of as home. Highly recommended.

Behind Closed Doors by B A Paris

What a gripping and unsettling read… When we first meet Jack and Grace in this psychological thriller we know there is something not quite right about them – everything is too perfect. And then there is the title. What really happens ‘behind closed doors’? The author gradually lets us know the history by using a clever timeline technique which is also quite simple: ‘past’ and ‘present’. We can see how the situation came about and the scene in which Grace and her sister Millie meet Jack is charmingly depicted, but… I have to admit some problems with the premis. I don’t want to give away too much, but surely it must have been possible to do something… There is a lot in this novel which I found over theatrical in hindsight, but at the time of reading, I just went along with it, so gripped was I! I found myself questioning some of Grace’s decisions though, especially where Millie was concerned; it seemed to me that she let things go too far. Despite this, the book had me totally absorbed. The author writes ‘chilling’ very well indeed and has used just the right amount of ‘fear factor’ (IMO – others may disagree as this is a disturbing storyline). The characters are well developed, the tension is sizzling and the ending is superb. One of the best of its kind.

The Girls by Lisa Jewell

Lisa Jewell is a very talented writer. I am in awe. I discovered her through Ralph’s Party some years ago and feel that her writing has matured and is getting better and better – especially now that she is tackling domestic noir!

‘The Girls’ is set in a terrace of houses and flats in London which has become a community since the residents share a communal walled garden of many parts. This provides an illusion of safety for the children and teenagers who play there, but also provides freedom and has a claustrophobic feel about it too – it’s a place of secrets, both past and present. The story starts dramatically with Grace being found unconscious in the garden on her 13th birthday; Lisa Jewell then goes back in time to when Grace’s family came to live in the terrace and she proceeds to fill in all the gaps in that clever way she has. The relationships between the characters are beautifully tangled and complex; there are plenty of surprises along the way.

I just love Lisa Jewell’s style of writing. She draws you into the story with excellent characterisation and great subtlety. Pretty soon I was utterly gripped by the story. I have to say that I wasn’t bowled over by the ending – this was partly because I guessed it early on – but I still loved the book. Highly recommended.

While my Eyes were Closed by Linda Green

There is an excellent synchronicity of structure in this book which I admired and which lifted the story into ‘special’ for me. The title gives us the premis. It is the story of a family trying to deal with the fall-out following the abduction of their four year old daughter Ella. The reactions are believable and moving; the characterisation deep and strong. I felt for them all – from Chloe, who is nursing a secret hurt of her own to Lisa, Ella’s mother, who feels the burden of guilt.

Unlike many stories of this kind, we are told early on where Ella is and what has happened to her, through the viewpoint of the abductor. Rather than deflating the tension, this gives the author the opportunity to develop the story of Muriel and her family and make us see things from her authentic if rather twisted POV. Interesting…

It’s necessary to delve deep into the characters of this story because the plot is simple – and none the worse for it. I have three minor quibbles. The first is the over-use of dialect, especially ‘like’ at the end of sentences in dialogue, which I found irritating. The second is that I would have loved more sense of place. Third – would a mother take her eyes off her four year old daughter for so long when in a public place? However, these did not mar my enjoyment of a well written and excellent novel.

So lay back on that lounger when you have a spare minute and enjoy…