bookswelike

bwl 117 - Summer 2025

Fiction

Kate Atkinson - Human Croquet

An extremely imaginative and entertaining novel, drifting in and out of the past and present and ending in the future, as experienced by Isobel who in the 'present' (1960's) is sixteen and surrounded by an extraordinary cast of characters that make up her family, friends and neighbours. This fairytale story is bizarre, tragic, ghostly and very funny. It's nearly 400 pages but I feel well worth ploughing through. (Mary Standing)

Kate Atkinson - Life After Life

Ursula lives several versions of her own life. At times, the deaths came a little too thick and fast, but overall, the concept worked well, covering much of the interwar years and into the mid twentieth century. The wartime blitz sections made me realise how little I had thought behind the statistics to what that carnage was like and how it was dealt with practically. A clever and engrossing read. (Ros Cook)

Sylvia Bishop - On Silver Tides

Sylvia Bishop has made her name writing for children with books that are quirky and humorous – Erica’s Elephant, The bookshop Girl are two; look out for them for your 9 – 10 year olds. Here she becomes more serious taking on an immersive fantasy based on the rivers of the UK. Rivers are the home of the silvermen, secretive, dependent on their water world, But now human actions are threatening that world … an immersive fantasy well worth reading for KS2 readers. (Ferelith Hordon)

Geraldine Brooks - Horse

One of the best books I’ve ever read. You don’t need to be ‘horsey’ either. It is about a famous, American, mid-19th century racehorse called Lexington, and his black trainer. It is about racism and slavery, the American Civil War and the legacy of a painting of Lexington. There is also a contemporary aspect when a scientist studies Lexington’s bones to understand its speed, when current day racism in Washington DC rears its ugly head. (Ros Cook)

Geraldine Brooks - People of the Book

Another great book from Geraldine Brooks. This one is about the Sarajevo Haggadah, a fourteenth century illustrated Sephardic Haggadah. This book exists and some of its history is known. This story fills in the gaps with the life stories of fictional people involved in saving the book from the ravages of real events across Europe through the centuries, including World War II, the Bosnian War and the Spanish Inquisition. It also features fascinating investigative book renovation. (Ros Cook)

Clare Chambers - Shy Creatures

Based on a true story, a mute thirty year old man , hidden from the world for decades, is admitted to a mental hospital. Here an art therapist begins to help him re enter society. She becomes entangled in his life as with a series of flashbacks the mysterious and tragic secrets of his past unfold. The writing is warm and compassionate, portraying love , loneliness and the extraordinary ways in which lives are shaped. (Sue Pratt)

Tracy Chevalier - The Glassmaker

Be prepared for major leaps in time at the beginning of each chapter, while exploring the changes within the human life span of Orsola Rosso who, as a woman, is not considered fit to become a true glassmaker but only a beadmaker. Through Chevalier’s thorough research into the history of Venice and Murano, the reader learns so much about the glassmaker’s craft. Like Venice, Orsola endures everything, including the absence of the great love of her life. (Christine Miller)

Giuliano Da Empoli - The Wizard of the Kremlin

Vadim Baranov has put his experience in reality TV at the service of the fictional (?!!!) Russian president to help him spin his policies, transforming his country from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the present day. Who knows how Da Empoli has managed to get inside the power politics of the Kremlin, but in many ways this reads more like a documentary than fiction, utterly credible. A chillingly enthralling read. (Annabel Bedini)

Jenny Erpenbecj - Kairos

I read this book because I was interested in the experiences of East Germans as the Wall came down. I struggled to finish it, persevering because I thought that an International Booker Prize winner must be good. Very little of the book is about how the political situation affected ordinary people. Most of it covers, at tedious length, the extra-marital affair between a late fifties man with double standards and a nineteen-year-old woman. Most unpleasant controlling behaviour. (Ros Cook)

Jane Gardam - The Flight of the Maidens

I loved Gardam’s Old Filth Trilogy and her depth of understanding of human nature comes through in this tale of three young women in the Summer of 1946 prior to them going to university. I enjoyed the book although it was a bit like Old Filth meets Enid Blyton. (Ros Cook)

Robert Harris - Precipice

A rollicking, fictionalised account of Liberal PM Asquith's affaire with a shallow socialite based on personal, letters and papers. The insights of the shenanigans of the ruling elite reads at times like a Mills and Boon! He comes across as a raving narcissist who betrayed the electorate allowing them to descend into the horrors and losses of WW I. He was not held to account nor lose his position until 1916, when Lloyd George was eventually able to topple him. (Margaret Teh)

Gail Jones - The Name of the Sister

A slow-burn thriller in which a Sydney investigative journalist becomes involved in a Missing Persons case in the red desert mining area of Western New South Wales. The once prosperous town is now largely desolate. Jones portrays the essence of atmosphere and timeless vastness of the landscape and its effect on the inhabitants, with the reflection and insight of a poet. The conclusion of the quest is as alluring and satisfying as the cover picture! (Margaret Teh)

Seicho Matsumoto - Tokyo Express

This prolific detective fiction writer weaves an intriguing mystery tale around the apparent suicide of a young couple. Central to the unravelling of the truth is a forensic understanding of Japanese culture and customs, in particular the workings of the Japanese railway system. Those who have visited the country will know you can set your watch by the arrivals and departures of trains and connecting ferries. It is beautifully paced, probably best read at a single sitting. (Jeremy Miller)

Stephen May - Green Ink

Chequers 1920 and Prime Minister, Lloyd George, is in bed with his influential mistress, Frances Stevenson. They are the subject of active interest for the intelligence service. Meanwhile he is worried about a possible scandal involving the sale of honours, something about which Victor Grayson, an erratic, bisexual former Labour MP, knows too much. Lloyd George's disgruntled family is an extra problem. The author adds speculation, colour and a liberal sprinkling of sex to these true elements and the result, if not a great novel, adds up to an intriguing and often amusing entertainment. (Tony Pratt)

Iris Murdoch - Nuns and Soldiers

This convoluted tale of love, loss, and the unpredictable human heart would have delighted Shakespeare. It all begins when Guy Openshaw dies. Gertrude, the widow, is plunged into mourning, then suddenly falls in love with a seemingly unsuitable younger man. Gertrude’s social circle quickly moves to intervene. What follows is a rather madcap sequence of good intentions and miscalculations, with no participant left untouched. Kudos to Murdoch for this wry and very entertaining narrative. (Sharron Calkins)

Valerie Perrin - Fresh Water for Flowers

A great read and reviewed previously (bwl99). It is about life, death and love, but I was so lulled into a sense of the poetic by the gentle, caring nature of Violette, the cemetery keeper and gardener, and her friends, and the epitaphs starting each chapter, that I was startled when, about half way through, the hard-edged life of Violette and her estranged husband feature. Life is like that, is it not? Not all roses. (Ros Cook)

Sarah Perry - The Essex Serpent

This book has a couple of reviews already (bwl 83 and 86) so I’ll skip the plot and just say that it was not for me. I found the characters much too twee and without much depth. This is a surprise given that the book deals with the important issues of domestic abuse, controlling behaviour and the devastating effects of bullying. I did find the romantic aspect believable. (Ros Cook)

Jodi Picoult - By Any Other Name

A book of two stories, one based on the premise that the poet Emilia (Bassano) Lanier wrote some of the works attributed to Shakespeare and in the other a modern descendant of hers is scarred by an unkind review of her debut play. Picoult is a strong feminist, and this shows in her unnecessarily negative portrayal of Shakespeare. The book could have been better edited and the author favoured Emilia’s story – perhaps the one story would have been enough. (Christine Miller)

Sara Sheridan - The Fair Botanists

There should have been plenty here of interest; historic Edinburgh c1822, botanic gardens, scent making and strong women. Whilst the social influence of a new town in Edinburgh and preparations for a visit by George IV are well represented and interesting, the two main characters were uninspiring. Selfish vandalism does not make for ‘strong’ in a good way. There is an old woman in her dotage that I liked but she’s a sideline. Moreover, the writing style grated on me. (Ros Cook)

David Szalay - Flesh

Szalay is a master at writing about men’s lives and although this starts with a rather dry and sombre sketch of Istvan’s youth in Budapest, it quickly moves on (and to London) and we see his life develop in unexpected ways. There’s a lot of chance (and sex) involved, but this could be anyone’s life and the characters draw you in. In the end, well you‘ll see, but it’s definitely worth reading. (Victoria Grey-Edwards)

Colm Toibin - Long Island

The sequel to 'Brooklyn' finds the heroine 20 years later living in the suffocating embrace of her husband's Italian family and contemplating leaving him. A holiday back in Ireland rekindles an old love with a man himself now entangled in a new relationship. Secrecy is a dangerous element in the mix as the characters face up to realities and try to make plans. The clarity with which the characters and their conflicting loyalties are depicted and the way in which, in middle age, complications are multiplied, gives the story force as does the portrayal of restrictive small town Irish life. A story well told by a master novelist. (Tony Pratt)

Amor Towles - A Gentleman in Moscow

Remarkable characters, the inevitable march of historical events, wonderful and witty observations and wordplay. This is first rate literature about a gentleman caught up in events, gently pushing them aside until he no longer could. You'll become invested in Count Rostov. He is respected, then thrown aside. Russia's loss. (Herb Roselle)

Anne Tyler - A Spool of Blue Thread

Anne Tyler has been a prolific writer and has many fans. This was my initial foray. Unfortunately, I feel it will be the last too. It has been said before that this is a story of ordinary people, living ordinary lives, but the writing makes it special. It was well written but, for me, that didn’t lift it out of being ordinary. I found it dull and most of the characters somewhat annoying. (Ros Cook)

Sandro Veronesi - translated by Elena Pala - The Hummingbird

Considered to be a modern Italian masterpiece, this is a moving family saga seen through the eyes of a single man as he faces the challenges of his everyday experiences. You learn to accept and enjoy the shifting of time and the letter form of much of the writing and become engaged with the highs and lows of his life. The ending is particularly poignant and written with great tenderness. (Christine Miller)

Evelyn Waugh - Sword of Honour trilogy*

Loosely based on Waugh's own wartime experience, this exceptionally funny trilogy follows the fortunes of Guy Crouchback, scion of an impoverished English Roman Catholic family, who finds himself joining up as an elderly recruit in an unfashionable regiment at the start of the war. The futility and boredom of the phoney war is epitomised by eccentric fellow officer Apthorpe, he of thunder-box fame, and fire-eating Brigadier Ben Richie-Hook whose approach to soldiering is characterised by his repeatedly quoted expletive 'Biff biff!' Further adventures in Crete and Yugoslavia follow, introducing such characters as the disquieting Corporal-Major Ludovic and the farcical Trimmer who woos Crouchback's divorced wife by incessantly singing 'Night and day, you are the one' over the phone. These three novels are undoubtedly the finest of Waugh's later works, full of trenchant satire that does not descend into 'silliness' as in my view earlier works e.g. Scoop (qv) were wont to do.
*Men at Arms, Officers and Gentlemen and Unconditional Surrender (Jeremy Miller)

Edith Wharton - The New York Stories of Edith Wharton: selected and with an introduction by Roxana Robinson

In 1913, Edith Wharton divorced her husband, moved from New York to France, and embarked on a new life far from the insular society of Old New York and its strict rules of conduct. Having escaped this enclave, she spent the rest of her life writing about it. In this richly varied collection of twenty short stories, Wharton goes from strength to strength. The last story, “Roman Fever”, is regarded by many to be one of her best. Personally, I was completely awed. Read it free on Google. (Sharron Calkins)

Dorothy Whipple - Someone at a Distance

Whipple is one of the women author's rediscovered by Persephone Books. Set in the fifties, a young French woman, employed as a companion to an elderly lady infiltrates herself into the family. Selfish, vain, manipulative, embittered by a failed love affaire, their prosperous contentment infuriates her, she will do whatever it takes to destroy their happiness. Phew! What a rollercoaster. (Jenny Baker)

Non-Fiction

Patrick Bringley - All the Beauty in the World

When his beloved older brother dies of cancer, the author leaves his rat-race job at The New Yorker magazine and takes a job as a museum guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Raw with grief, he opens himself to the balm and beauty of the museum’s great art and artifacts. As he walks through rooms filled with the world’s oldest art treasures, he takes solace. He will remain for ten years before leaving and writing this exquisite, haunting memoir. (Sharron Calkins)

A A Gill - Pour Me

This memoir by the renowned Sunday Times journalist relates an extraordinary life. An alcoholic until the age of 30, he desired and studied to be an artist, realised he ‘wasn’t good enough’ so gave it up. He worked in restaurants and taught cookery. Despite severe dyslexia he was largely self- educated through reading ‘slowly’ and became a journalist, dictating his articles, until the age of 62. He also wrote several books. His memoir is intense, moving, hilarious and exquisitely written. I loved it. (Denise Lewis)

A A Gill - The Best of A A Gill

After ‘Pour Me’ I had to read this collection of his articles. His scope is huge: travel, food, refugees, hunting, vegetarians, TV, even the making of a porn film. It is fearless, perceptive, outrageous, funny, sad, uplifting, compassionate and controversial. But most of all it is thought provoking and makes you address your prejudices. In the words of one critic, he was ‘a golden writer. There was nothing he couldn’t illuminate with his dazzling prose.’ I absolutely agree. (Denise Lewis)

Stephen M Gillon - Presidents at War

The conceit of this study is how World War II shaped the characters and politics of seven US Presidents from Eisenhower to George H W Bush. All, with the exception of Reagan who never saw action except in war movies, served with distinction. This led to their differing but nevertheless profound determination not to forget the lessons of confronting tyranny. Surprisingly uppermost of these was the anathema of appeasement as evidenced by Neville Chamberlain in the 30's. (Jeremy Miller)

Harald Jahner - Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich 1945-1955

This reviewer is old enough to remember the sad sight of displaced persons (DPs) undertaking menial work in Germany not able, or in most cases not willing, to return to their country of birth, supposing of course that it still existed. This is a nuanced, graphic and shocking account of a nation undergoing profound change. It is a sobering reminder of the horrors that follow warfare and as such tells a story that should never be forgotten. (Jeremy Miller)

Olivia Laing - The Garden Against Time

Laing set about rescuing an abandoned garden and in the process started exploring the very meaning of creating gardens (originally 'paradise' was synonymous with 'garden'!). We skip from her physical exertions to her musings on gardens of the past, real and fictional, and what was entailed in creating them – including glorious park land paid for by the slave trade. So light and dark but above all, inspiration. A truly delightful book. (Annabel Bedini)

Andy Merrifield - The Wisdom of Donkeys: Finding Tranquillity in a Chaotic World

I agree with the previous review at bwl 47. However, whilst Andy’s bonding with donkey Gribouille on their trek through the Auvergne is gentle and lovely, reinforcing what a wonderful creature a donkey is, his descriptions of mistreated donkeys in Egypt and Morocco and reviews of similar atrocities in the literature make for hard reading. A book of contrasts and I can’t make my mind up about it. (Ros Cook)

Michael Morpurgo - Spring

A must for all nature lovers, this delightful book has observations from the natural world starting in March through to June. Morpurgo (who wrote War Horse) and his wife founded the 'Farms for City Children' project fifty years ago from their farms in Devon. It's still going strong and introducing children to the magic and wonder of the tiniest insect, leaf or flower, which we can also appreciate from his inspired writing. There are beautiful lino cut illustrations by a friend to accompany it. (Mary Standing)

Alexei Navalny - Patriot

Putin may have managed to finally kill Navalny but this astonishing autobigrophy and memoir will make sure his legacy lives on. It may be banned in Russia but that won't stop it's message from being continued. Throughout imprisonment, solitary confinement, freezing conditions, sleep deprivation and isolation from his family, his sense of what is right and his humour never failed. An absolutely must read. (Jenny Baker)

Eleanor Parker - The Winters of the World: A Journey Through The Anglo-Saxon Year

It is such a joy to find a book that seems to be esoteric but turns out to be both readable and enjoyable. The author looks at the year through the mirror of the four seasons taking each in turn. Looking at feast days, rituals, customs , many still recognisable today that are reflected across the Anglo-Saxon year through the words, and literature of the time – and all rooted in a close awareness and appreciation of the natural world. (Ferelith Hordon)

Hallie Rubenhold - The Story of a Murder

Dr Crippen's murder of his wife and flight with his mistress was a sensation. As she did with the Ripper murders, the author redresses the narrative balance this time with equal billing for victim and mistress. The result is a compelling portrait of an age on both sides of the Atlantic and insight into individual lives. A great read leaves some mysteries unsolved. (Tony Pratt)

Poetry

Hannah Issa - And I Hear Dragons

This is a collection of poems in both Welsh and English by Welsh poets writing for children and edited by Hannan Issa , the Welsh poet Laureate. It is such an attractive anthology drawing together contemporary voices to explore the concept of the dragon. Lively, fun – and thoughtful, Hannan’s own contribution stands out for me. Here the poets explore many different themes - but without complication. One for the young. (Ferelith Hordon)