bwl 95 - Winter 2020
Fiction
| Margaret Atwood - The Testaments
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| Like many others I had waited a long time for Atwood to complete the written story of Gilead. After the TV series I think she chose well to choose three different voices, rather than simply follow June. Aunt Lydia is a powerful, disturbing presence throughout. Is she merely self-serving? The story rattles along but the ending is a little too neat a resolution. Perhaps because she chooses optimism - tyrannies are brought down by resistance. (Christine Miller)
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| Julian Barnes - The Sense of an Ending
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| As a young man, Tony Webster blames his failed romance with Veronica on his close friend Adrian. For decades Tony continues to believe this explanation . . . until Veronica's mother leaves Adrian's diary to him in her Will. What follows is a skilful unfolding of the truth of the matter. It is a small masterpiece with a surprise ending that lingers in your thoughts. (Sharron Calkins)
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| Chloe Benjamin - The Immortalists
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| If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life? This becomes the challenge for the four Gold siblings who have learned the exact dates of their deaths from a gypsy fortune teller. Dates that they keep secret even from each other. What happens as they grow into adulthood holds you in a spell of suspense. This book is an absolute literary thriller. (Sharron Calkins)
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| Bridget Collins - The Binding
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| I was intrigued to read this. I knew Bridget Collins as a writer of edgy, interesting and imaginative novels for the Teen/YA audience - in particular The Traitor Game her debut. Here though writing for an adult audience the themes are the same: relationships, love, loyalty, betrayal. Here at the heart she asks what really makes us human? What are memories? It is uncomfortable and immersive - and as always well written. (Ferelith Hordon)
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| Lissa Evans - Old Baggage
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| This book has everything. It is funny, uplifting, warm, and an inspiring model of womanhood. It gives a fresh outlook on a well documented period of women in History. The characters are wonderfully recorded, particularly 'Old Baggage' herself. It reminds us of how much women 'gave up' to get us the vote. (Shirley Williams)
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| Sue Gee - Trio
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| 1937, Northumberland, Steven a young history teacher, is mourning the loss of his wife, the bleak landscape a metaphor for his grief; redemption comes when he meets a trio of musicians and he experiences the healing power of music. Sue Gee's writing is itself like a piece of music, her characters live, breathe, suffer and love. Spanning two generations this is a novel with an undertow of sadness but one which is ultimately life affirming. (Jenny Baker)
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| John le Carré - Agent Running in the Field
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| Le Carré shows he remains the master of dialogue. Although he takes a waspish but highly enjoyable swipe at contemporary politics, the core of the piece is surprisingly parochial. Aficionados of spy fiction will be amused that Le Carré's Haven, a defunct substation of 'London General' has uncanny echoes of Slough House, central to Mick Herron's Jackson Lamb stories (see bwl 94 review of Joe Country). Ragtag spies are in vogue. The king is alive thank goodness, but his successor is named. (Jeremy Miller)
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| David Mark - Dark Winter
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| I am not usually drawn to crime fiction but, having been greatly entertained by the author at a library event, I thought I would try his debut novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Set in a rather bleak Hull in winter DS Aector McAvoy is a thoroughly decent detective, getting on with solving murders. Intriguingly victims all prove to be sole survivors of earlier tragedies. The tightly woven plot is filled with well-drawn characters and descriptive scenes. (Christine Miller)
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| Joyce Carol Oates - My Sister, My Love
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| Inspired by the true murder of a six-year-old 'beauty queen', this book is a fierce indictment of a certain kind of American obsession with fame. Nineteen-year-old narrator, Skyler, is a disappointment to his social-climbing parents while his figure-skating champion little sister - murdered at six - is adoringly exploited to promote their mother's ambitions. Skyler's account of his tormented ten years of rejection while his parents feast off their notoriety is as dysfunctional as his family, but crazily engaging. (Annabel Bedini)
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| Yoko Ogawa - The Housekeeper and the Professor
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| In this Japanese novel, Ogawa brings together an ageing, brilliant maths professor with only eighty minutes of short-term memory, a sensitive young housekeeper who is entrusted to care for him and her 10 year old son. From beginning to end I was enchanted with the beauty and whimsy of the story. This is the work of an exceptionally talented writer, and not to be missed. (Sharron Calkins)
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| Ann Patchett - The Dutch House
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| Although their mother has left, Danny the narrator and his sister Maeve grow up happily in a magical house in small-town Pennsylvania until one day their father brings home their future stepmother. Banished from the house they love, it will haunt them all their lives, just as it will take a life-time for Danny to begin to understand and possibly forgive. A poignant, evocative read. (Jenny Baker)
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| Nicola Pierce - King of the Boyne
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| An intriguing book, a part of History I did not really know. 1690 in Derry, the battle draws close, one battle to end all battles. After years of conflict, it will hopefully decide who rules England, Scotland and Ireland. Told through the eyes of two Kings, William III and James II and three young soldiers, it is doomed from the start and the war touches the lives of everyone not just the soldiers and their Kings but family, friends, countrymen and women. (Shirley Williams)
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| Lara Prescott - The Secrets we Kept
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| Yes, it is a thrilling plot, the story of Pasternak's banned novel smuggled to the West then repackaged by the CIA and smuggled back into Russia but oh it's so clunkingly told. The opening sentence should have put me off: We typed 100 words per minute. Really? Too breathless, too many cardboard characters, too much switching back and forth. Confession, half way through I gave up. (Jenny Baker)
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| Hannah Rothschild - The Improbability of Love
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| The title might imply this is just another romance but Rothschild's affection for and deep knowledge of art and its history are obvious. Set in roughly contemporary London, it is a witty reflection on the manipulative major players in the art world, and an attempt to define the true value of great art, no matter what the genre. Sometimes whimsical, other times dark, the intrigue surrounding a vanished 18C painting was entirely satisfying though it narrowly missed descending into farce at the denouement. A thoroughly entertaining read. (Margaret Teh)
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| Diane Setterfield - The Thirteenth Tale
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| Captivating and difficult to put down, linking characters in an intelligent way while maintaining an intriguing plot, this is Settlefield's debut novel as well as the first of her writing I have read and I definitely want to read more. There is a gothic element and obvious parallels with classics like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights but the story is unique in the way it is written, in a mesmerising style that is very obviously written by a reader. (Eloise May)
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| Georges Simenon - The Blue Room
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| An illicit love affair in a country district - something which is difficult to conceal when community members are well-known to each other. There is a disparity in the emotional commitment of the two lovers and things take a murderous turn. As investigation proceeds, attitudes and the nature of the crime itself emerge by degrees and there is a dramatic end.-A haunting and intense tale full of Simenon's cold realism and sense of place. A brief but gripping and superb read. (Tony Pratt)
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| William Sutcliffe - The Gifted, the Talented and Me
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| Sam's dad suddenly finds himself rich, his family are thrilled. Not Sam, the "ordinary" middle one. Enrolled into a school for Gifted and Talented, Sam is unimpressed. The others (parents included) are gifted, talented and creative, looking to express themselves. Why should he conform to their mores? There is plenty of humour as Sutcliffe asks some interesting questions about individuality versus community for a teenage audience. Well worth a read. (Ferelith Hordon)
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| Amor Towles - Rules of Civility
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| This impressive debut book has the feel of a glamorous black and white film evoking the late 1930's of New York City. Picture Lauren Bacall as the main character, relying on her own brand of cool nerve. Toss in snappy dialogue and authentic details of the era. Next, pour yourself a dry martini and settle in to read a book I swear you won't want to put down. (Sharron Calkins)
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Non-Fiction
| Nicholson Baker - Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization
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| A strange but compelling book. Each page contains a number of entries taken from contemporary letters, diaries, newspapers etc. leading up to the Americans entering the war in 1941. The amount and breadth of research is astonishing. Baker makes no comments but obviously the choice of what to include will have a personal bias and without context or analysis could at times present a distorted picture of a person or situation. It raises a lot of questions. Absolutely fascinating. (Lynda Johnson)
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| Shaun Bythell - The Diary of a Bookseller
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| The perfect antidote to the 'quick-click' on Amazon would be to browse the dusty shelves of the Wigtown Bookshop! I haven't been there, but reading this diary is surely the next best thing. Packed full of anecdotes - buying his collections, selling to customers (in the shop and on-line), the eccentric employees, and organising the annual Wigtown Book Festival. It's all a delight - and has been followed by 'Confessions of a Bookseller' and it's rumoured a TV series may follow. (Mary Standing)
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| Laura Cumming - On Chapel Sands: My Mother and Other Missing Persons
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| Summer, 1929, a child is kidnapped on the beach only to be found 5 days later. The child grows up unaware of this event and it will take another fifty years before her daughter's diligence will unlock the secrets of the past. Cummings is an art critic and her family memoir, beautifully written, is illuminated by pictures and images as she gradually unearths all those things which nobody talked about it but which affected so many lives. (Jenny Baker)
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| William Dalrymple - The Anarchy: The relentless rise of the East India Company
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| Anarchy seems to have infected Dalrymple's historical arc. As always, his scholarship is second to none in its breadth and depth but in following the vicissitudes of Indian, Afghan, Persian and other rulers, he often loses contact with what should be the overriding theme of the fascinating story of perhaps the world's first multi-national corporation. That this account ends in 1803, it only tells half the story. Perhaps he's saving this for Part II - Nemesis? (Jeremy Miller)
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| Ambra Edwards - photographs by Charlie Hopkinson - Head Gardeners
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| This is a gem about the unsung heroes of gardens ranging from the likes of Sissinghurst to the rooftop of the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Fourteen personal profiles offer differing insights into each gardener and the variety of roles he/she may undertake from artist, project manager, conservationist to social worker. You get a real sense of the healing power of plants and trees and of the gruelling work involved in a garden's upkeep. (Christine Miller)
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| John Humphrys - A Day Like Today
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| Humphrys' mixture of knee-jerk overpraise for some colleagues and score-settling for others is not always appealing and his arguments can be laboured but an enjoyable, perhaps an important book. Enjoyable for his Welsh childhood, beginnings in journalism and insights in interviewing 8 prime-ministers. Important for incisive views on the BBC's 'group think' which blind-sided it to comprehend that anyone could vote for Brexit. Part curmudgeon, part vital critic of the powerful, Humphrys shows himself an upholder of Orwell's definition of liberty: . . . the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. (Tony Pratt)
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| Philip Marsden - The Spirit-Wrestlers: And other survivors of the Russian Century
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| I met Philip Marsden (metaphorically) in Ethiopia. Here he is in Russia following the trail of the Doukhobor's - "spirit-wrestlers" - a group of radical Russian sectarians who basically reject the institution of the church, believing in the "spark of light that lives in each individual". It is a journey taking him from Moscow, across the Steppe to the Caucasus. It is fascinating, depressing and absorbing; a lost world. (Ferelith Hordon)
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| Trevor McDonald - An Improbable Life
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| This is a very personal autobiography of an extraordinary man born in 1939 in Trinidad, who knew what he wanted to do from a very early age and where he was going to do it. He would not reach Britain until 1969, when he joined the BBC World Service. From then onwards, he witnessed world events, became a journalist and broadcaster, interviewing all the globally famous and notorious people of those years, often in very dangerous circumstances. (Shirley Williams)
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| Jennifer Niven - The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk
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| This Canadian Arctic Expedition set out in search of an undiscovered Continent with the largest Scientific Staff of any previous expedition but the incompetence of its Commander [Stefansson] in almost every choice - including choosing an elderly ship incapable of cutting through ice - doomed it to failure. The ship's Captain [Bartlett] with a small party trekked 700 miles to get help after Stefansson effectively abandoned ship and left them to die. The book is based on both the diaries of survivors [20] and those who perished. (Lynda Johnson)
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| Michael Ondaatje - Running in the Family
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| The words luscious and voluptuous are not misplaced when describing this book. In the hands of Ondaatje, memories of his Sri Lankan family turn into a mesmerising variant of the Mad Hatter's tea party. You will be transported to a time and place where exquisitely dressed couples dance to the tango in the jungle. You will read of drunken suicide attempts, and of a relative running naked through a train while waving a pistol. I loved it. (Sharron Calkins)
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| Megan Phelps-Roper - Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope
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| A searing tale of a child of a cult whose raison d'être is to love God and hate everyone else outside. It resonated with me because I also was raised in an ultra orthodox faith where fear of transgression was a constant threat. After a great struggle I escaped to drama school and acting set me free. The author of this fine book also broke free and found some peace in marriage and family but remains haunted by her past. A powerful illustration as to where blind faith leads. (David Graham)
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Poetry
| William Sieghart - The Poetry Pharmacy Returns |
| Sieghart has done it again - produced another wonderful anthology of verse to inspire, encourage or comfort depending on your mood. Serious often, funny sometimes, each poem is a small piece of music. Balm to the Soul. (Jenny Baker) |
| Feedback |
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| I am very much enjoying the fact that we contributors are increasingly brave enough to express our dislikes as well as our likes. One of the reviews of Elizabeth Day's The Party in BWL 94 is a case in point. It made me chortle. Then, I'm relieved that the reviewer of Jonathan Coe's Middle England had doubts about it. So did I. Which brings me to a question: how influenced in our book buying are we by the glowing quotes peppered all over the covers of the paper-back editions? I bought Middle England on the basis of them. Are they written by friends of the author or what? Of course the publishers are only going to quote the hype, but how come there is so much of it for books that possibly don't deserve it? (Annabel Bedini)
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