Reading this Spring

I’m a bit late with the spring reading this year – and lately it’s felt more like summer. But here we are at the start of June, and now it’s back to normal for the weather. 

Rain or shine, I hope you enjoy your reading and here are some ideas from me…

 

Days When You were Mine by Claire Leslie Hall ****

Alice and Rick are top art students and best friends at the Slade in the 1970s time-line of the story, when Alice meets and falls in love with Jacob, lead singer in a band. But, like Alice, Jake had a difficult childhood and has always struggled with his mental health, and so their life together is not easy.

In the contemporary time-line, Luke is looking for his birth mother, Alice. He and his girlfriend Hannah invite Alice and Rick (now a successful artist) into their lives, and Alice becomes nanny to their son Samuel.

But something is ‘off’ between Luke and Alice. They are not bonding, she will not discuss the circumstances of his birth, and he becomes suspicious that something is wrong. When his suspicions prove to be correct, they must all re-assess their past lives and their relationships. And only when they all face up to the truth, will they be able to start again. An emotionally driven and intense novel. I loved it.

 

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig ***

When retired maths teacher Grace is left a run-down house on the island of Ibiza by a long-lost friend, Christina, she is naturally curious. She hardly knew Christina, and hasn’t heard from her in years. However, following a family tragedy and the loss of her husband, Grace is at a low ebb, and so she is persuade to go to Ibiza and see the place for herself.

Before long, Ibiza casts its spell over Grace. She meets Christina’s daughter, her friend the eccentric Alberto and his charismatic daughter Marta, and she recognises a change in herself and her attitude to adventure. She becomes enmeshed in the environmental concerns of the island, and in things which are impossible to believe, but which nevertheless seem to be possible after all.

Matt Haig is a clever writer who weaves wise, life-affirming lessons into a story of magic realism, all through the eyes of a woman who feels she is ‘nothing special’. But she really is. It isn’t a huge leap to understand what Haig is telling us about living life to the full, not being trapped by guilt and believing in the impossible… But the reader must put aside their disbelief in order to go on this journey. This book isn’t for everyone and the message is sometimes forced home, but the writing is clever and funny, and the message is thought-provoking and sincere.

 

The Home-Made God by Rachel Joyce ****+ (Book of the Season)

In this fascinating and insightful study of sibling/family relationships, Netta is tough on the outside and says what she thinks, Susan is used to accepting second-best, Gustav is vulnerable following a nervous breakdown and Iris is fed up with being ‘the baby of the family’. The siblings are very close following the death of their mother, and they all adore their father Vic Kemp, commercial artist of what could be viewed as erotic artistic images. These have found success on a commercial scale – but is Vic the great and memorable artist he longs to be?

The trigger for a changing family dynamic comes when Vic meets Bella-Mae online and falls for her – a woman twenty-seven years his junior. Vic changes – he stops drinking and starts losing weight, to a worrying degree, and the siblings are even more concerned when not only are they not allowed to meet the mysterious love of his life, but Vic announces that they are getting married.

Much of the story takes place on the atmospheric Lake Orta in Italy, and it is to this location of idyllic childhood family holidays, that they all gather when tragedy strikes. At last, they get to meet Bella-Mae – but who is she really and what has she done? As the siblings try to find out and deal with their grief, relationships splinter, old grievances come to the fore and they finally fall out – perhaps for ever…

What they have discovered sends them all off on very different and separate journeys and it is only when Gustav’s life changes dramatically and he reaches out to them once more, that they again have the chance to re-connect.

I loved this story. The book works on several different levels, and Rachel Joyce introduces a change of perspective structure which is thought-provoking and original. Best of all, the book makes you think about family dynamics and about what can be created and destroyed by a strong personality – in this case: a home-made God. Highly recommended.

 

What You Did by Claire McGowan ***+

When Ali organises a re-union of her university friends: her husband Mike and Ali herself, Mike’s best friend Callum and heavily pregnant wife Jodi, Bill (who always had a thing for Ali) and Karen (Ali’s best friend) she thinks the biggest thing she has to worry about is the tagine she is cooking for them. Not so. University reminiscences (boring to Ali and Mike’s kids Cassie and Benji and Karen’s son Jake) mix into a dangerous cocktail when added to alcohol.

So… What happened to Karen late that night on the lawn and who was responsible? Does it have anything to do with an unsolved murder back in their uni days when not one but three of them lied to the police in order to ‘save’ their friends? And finally – when the truth emerges, can Ali and Mike’s marriage possibly survive?

Written mostly from the viewpoint of Ali, Claire McGowan chooses to include several other perspectives at key points in the novel, for the purposes of explanation and full disclosure. These are not always fully convincing, reading as ‘add ons’ but they do provide a break from Ali’s relentless self-questioning.

The novel is gripping from start to finish and so it’s easy to forgive some inconsistencies and unlikely plot issues. The pace is fast and the novel excels at page-turnability. I couldn’t put it down…

 

Then She Vanishes by Claire Douglas ***+

Our main narrator is Jess, a reporter on a local paper in Bristol. We learn that she left her last job in disgrace (but not why – that comes later) and it is this secret that comes between Jess and her boyfriend Rory and threatens their relationship.

Jess has other secrets too. When a murder is committed in nearby Tilby, she is sent to cover the story, because the suspect (in a coma, because she tried unsuccessfully to take her own life) Heather, used to be her best friend. Heather is suspected of killing Clive Wilson and his mother Deirdre, but Jess is flummoxed as to why she might have done it, and since Heather is (rather conveniently) unable to speak, no one can question her.

But can Jess hear the story from Heather’s mother’s perspective and get herself a scoop? It seems unlikely, since Jess and Heather’s friendship ended on a bitter note just after Heather’s sister Freya disappeared, never to be seen again.

This is a cue for a second timeline to enter the fray as we learn more about the events surrounding Freya’s disappearance, when Jess and Heather were besties. Heather’s mother insists that Heather is innocent, gentle and incapable of murder. But it seems that there are more secrets to be revealed, until Jess (and the reader) can gradually piece together what has happened.

The book is cleverly plotted by Claire Douglas and the characters feel well-rounded, although at times I wanted to shake them. However, the novel is well-paced and a good read.

 

The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros ***+

When Ella’s brother Ryan (who is in the Special Forces) suggests that she writes to his team-mate Chaos, he begins the chain of events that make up this story. Ella, single mother of five-year-old twins Maisie and Colt, owns ‘Solitude’ a holiday chalet/cabin business in Colorado bequeathed to her by her beloved grandmother. But in order to renovate ‘Solitude’ and make it into a successful business, Ella has had to borrow, re-mortgage and crucially cut down on her health insurance, which becomes a problem when one of her children falls ill.

Ella and Chaos begin a correspondence based on honesty and saying what they think; this provides a much-needed opportunity for each to off-load on to the other. It also, unexpectedly, provides a springboard for love. But when something bad happens, how will they cope? And will these two ever get to meet in real life?

The story is written from the two viewpoints of Chaos and Ella and it is an intense and emotive read. I recommend you keep a box of tissues on hand.