September books

These are my favourite reads from September:

Marc Guggenheim - In Any Lifetime

This fast paced, inventive novel really captured me. Jonas Cullen is a scientist whose work proving the existence of mulitple universes has won him a Nobel prize. But at the culmination of his work, his own world falls apart when his wife and soul-mate, Amanda, dies in a car crash. He sets out on a daring mission to find a universe where she is alive. However, despite the differences between these universes, they tend to favour similar outcomes, and his chances are slim. In addition, his time will inevitably run out. Then there's Eva, a Swiss scientist who has also lost her life partner, and he connects with her in more than one reality. Settling with her could be a possibility if he can't find Amanda. As another angry scientist begins to stalk him through the universes, seeking revenge, it seems that the odds are against him. Edge-of-the-seat moments, joy, despair, excitement, tenderness - this novel has it all. 

Ann Cleeves - Raven Black (Shetland book 1)

I've enjoyed every series of this drama on television. However, up till now I haven't read any of the author's books before. I found this novel to be excellent, with plenty of pace, well-rounded characters with convincing back-stories, and a definite sense of place. Detective Jimmy Perez went to school in Shetland, being from the even remoter Fair Isle. When he returns to take up a police post, he's immediately thrown into solving the murder of sixteen-year-old incomer Catherine Ross. She's discovered by Fran Hunter, former wife of a prominent Shetland businessman, and mother to Cassie. The killing stirs up memories of the disappearance twenty years earlier of another young girl. Reclusive neighbour Magnus Tait was suspected at the time, but nothing could be proved. It's Perez' job to discover once and for all if the old man was guilty of the previous crime, while many of his colleagues think it's a done deal. But danger lurks in the dark nights, and tensions run high. The other-worldliness of the Shetland isles is depicted very well. As Ann Cleeves grew up in England, she's certainly done her homework in depth. From the bleak winter landscape, the isolation of some of the residents and the difficulties of moving to live there, to the spectacle of the 'Up Helly A' winter viking festival, it's a brilliantly drawn novel.  

Patrick Stewart - Making it So

Every now and again I add one of my non-fiction reads to my list. I have particularly enjoyed this autobiography of the Shakespearean actor who became 'Captain Jen-Luc Picard' in the Star Trek: Next Generation series and beyond (I'm a long-term fan of the series!). He describes his impoverished background in Yorkshire, leaving school aged fifteen with no qualifications, and being given openings to develop his talent by a dedicated teacher. Through sheer hard work and grit he made his way through drama school and finally achieved his dream of acting with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Eventually he found himself in Hollywood, becoming famous as a sci-fi actor, but he never lost his love of the stage. Honestly written, the book reveals his troubled relationship with his father, plus his own personal family difficulties. He's also worked many famous actors who became his friends. The reader can hear his voice in the writing, as if it was spoken. If you're not a fan of the theatre, some of the acting detail might become tedious, but I found it absolutely riveting and I was always keen to get back to reading the book. An excellent autobiography.

August books

My favourite books from the past month are:

Sue Monk Kidd - The Secret Life of Bees

In South Carolina, 1964, fourteen-year-old Lily has grown up believing she was responsible for her mother's death ten years earlier. Gradually she's become a slave to her unkind father, who she calls T. Ray. But when their black servant, Rosaleen, makes the decision to register to vote now that it's been passed by law, everything changes. After an altercation, Rosaleen ends up in prison, and Lily rescures her as she knows she's in danger. The two then set off on a voyage of discovery. Lily takes with her a treasured picture from her mother's few remaining belongings, depicting a black Madonna and marked with a place name. When Rosaleen and Lily eventually arrive there, they discover that the picture is a label from a honey farm. It's run by three black sisters, August, June and May, who open their home to the two strangers. There Lily learns about kindness, about bees and that the colour of your skin should never make anyone suffer or be despised. But can she tell the sisters who she really is, and can she eventually discover the truth about her mother and how she died? A fascinating and deep novel, but it's a compelling read.

Shaun Bythell - The Diary of a Bookseller

I finished reading this non-fiction book in July, but I'm including it in my August books. I've been dipping in and out of it over a couple of months since visiting south west Scotland in early May. On a very wet day we visited Wigtown, known as Scotland's book town, and spent a couple of hours looking round some of the many bookshops. There was so much to browse and enjoy in The Bookshop. Written by the shop's proprietor, this is an entertaining glimpse of life behind the counter. He started keeping a journal of the trials and tribulations of being a bookseller, from the strange customers to the vicissitudes of online selling through Amazon, the local weather, and the excitement of investigating a collection of books to see if there's anything thrilling to add to the stock. His observations are entertaining and often humorous, as he reveals his life as a traditional second-hand bookseller in a world which is rapidly transforming to digital, and where customers' expectations are also changing. For anyone who likes browsing bookshops, it's a must! And in hindsight I'm very glad that I did buy books when I was in the shop. We really need to keep these treasure troves on the streets of our towns.

Jenny Colgan - Five Hundred Miles from You

It wasn't until I finished this novel that I realised that it was the third in a trilogy - but each book can be read as a standalone. It was a perfect holiday read (especially when staying in Scotland for my summer holiday). London nurse Lissa witnesses a tragic event which severely affects her emotionally. To help her recover, she's seconded for three months to a remote Scottish village near Inverness, in an exchange with ex-army medic, Cormac, who will take over her job in London. Although they have never met, or even seen what the other looks like, the two keep in touch professionally so that they can troubleshoot any problems in their new jobs. Once living in his house, Lissa finds herself becoming more curious about the man himself, while in the London nurses' home, Lissa's outrageous friend Kim-Ange takes him under her wing. Both Lissa and Cormac begin to connect on a deeper level, unaware that they have another, more sensitive connection, through the circumstances that led to their exchange. But at the back of Lissa's mind is the dread of her upcoming court appearance in connection with the crime she witnessed. Will her time out in Scotland give her the courage to face this? A tenderly written and heartwarming story.

July books

My favourite reads from July are as follows:

Victoria Hislop - One August Night

This is the sequel to the author's debut novel, The Island. The story is based on the island of Spinalonga, off Crete, which had become a place of exile for Greeks diagnosed with leprosy. The previous novel explored the lives and loves of those living in the nearby Cretan town of Plaka, and how this feared disease affected one family in particular. Maria was exiled to Spinalonga when she developed the disease. The sequel, One August Night, begins in 1957, after the discovery of a cure, when the island is vacated and the healed patients can now return to their former homes. There is a big party to celebrate the return of the colonists to their families. Maria's beautiful sister, Anna, unaffected by the disease, has led a charmed life since her sister's exile. But on that August night, a tragic and violent event changes everything. The life to which Maria returns is not the one she had imagined. Instead she takes on new responsibilities and must open her heart to forgiveness. And Manolis, the fiance she left behind, has to find a new path and find a way to heal. The ripples from the events of that night spread wide, and all those who experience it have to come to terms with an altered future. The author's concise writing style creates an intense novel as the story carries us forward through secrets and revelations. 

Ola Awonubi - A Nurse's Tale

Nigerian public relations officer Yemi takes on a fascinating historical project, travelling back from her home in Lagos to England where she lived as a child. She's been given the remit to work on a presentation about One Hundred Women of Nigeria and their influence on their country and the world. At the top of her list is her great aunt, Adenrele, who was a princess of the Egba people in Nigeria. She had travelled to England in the 1930s to train as a nurse and midwife, to bring the knowledge back to her people as a contribution to their bid for independence. As Yemi embarks on her project armed with her great-aunt's diaries, she discovers Ade's staunch, courageous character. Her forbear worked through the darkness of the Blitz of World War II far from her home, experiencing distrust and discrimination for the sake of her country. The project also brings Yemi into the company of doctor Michael Benjamin, whose Caribbean great grandfather had flown planes for the RAF during World War II. They begin to develop romantic feelings, but Yemi is torn, as her desire is to return home to Lagos. A fascinating novel that reveals much about the experiences of black people in their interaction with Britain, and is also a window to modern day life in Nigeria.

Dreda Say Mitchell and Ryan Carter - Girl, Missing

Gem lives with the tragedy of her eight-year-old daughter's abduction, fifteen years earlier. She's turned around her life, dragged herself from the depths of drink and destitution, and now runs a successful chain of bike repair shops. Sarah-Jane and her friend Abby were abducted from near their school. Abby came home - but Sarah-Jane was never found. Now a macabre discovery at the school, and it brings Gem back into her old neighbourhood and stirs up the pain that she has been trying to overcome. Back in the company of former friends and neighbours, as well as old enemies, there are shocking truths that come to light. People are not whom they seem, friends have dark secrets. Gem has a hard road to tread as the case is re-opened and she strives to discover what really happened to Sarah-Jane. Often dark, this novel is full of unexpected twists and turns, but somehow compels the reader to keep going until the final twist.

June books

My favourite reads from June are:

Nita Prose - The Maid

Molly is proud of her position as a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel. Putting a room back in order makes her feel good about herself. But she finds it hard reading people's actions and dealing with social situations, and others sometimes call her unkind names. It's been especially hard since her beloved Gran died a few months earlier. Gran brouught her up on her own, and instilled in her a code of old-fashioned values that Molly still strives to uphold. But her life turns upside down when she discovers Mr. Black, one of the rich guests, dead in his room. She has to answer police questions, and the attitudes of her associates in the hotel change too - except for those of fatherly doorman, Mr. Preston. When it becomes clear that Mr. Black didn't die of natural causes, and Molly herself falls under suspicion, that we begin to discover that there are hidden depths to this endearing young woman. Molly becomes aware that those she has trusted in the past may not have had her interests at heart. Expertly written from Molly's point of view, as the murder mystery that unfolds around her and the plot proceeds with pace towards its clever conclusion. 

Rachel Burton - The Last Party at Silverton Hall

In 2019, Isobel returns to Norfolk when her grandmother Vivien leaves her Little Clarion, the house they lived in when Isobel was growing up. Grief mixes with guilt that she hadn't visited more often, especially as her parents are living in the USA. Now she finds that the old house is in sad need of restoration - much like herself. Her life hasn't turned out the way she had dreamed. Her art talents have been abandoned, and her engagement turned out to be a disaster. Jobless and single, the only thing that is calling her is the house. When she turns for help to her grandmother's friend, Spencer, she's thrown into the presence of his grandson, Nick, with whom she has a distant history. Memories of a special kiss they shared when they were young haunt her. Gradually she finds herself involved with nearby Silverton Hall, the Jacobean house which is now a hotel, but has some hidden connection with her inheritance. A forgotten photograph discovered there stirs up secrets from the past. As Isobel realises that her grandmother's home is the place she wants to be, she begins to uncover shocking, long-hidden truths - not just about Vivien and her grandfather Max, but also Nick's secrets that he doesn't want to reveal. Slipping in time between 2019 and the 1950s, this novel draws us into a different time and place as Isobel learns the truth about those she loves.

Bonnie Garmus - Lessons in Chemistry

I've been seeing this book advertised frequently recently, especially as it's now a TV series. So I decided to delve in - and I wasn't disappointed. Refreshingly different, we meet American Elizabeth Zott in 1961 as she turns her back on a scientific career and begins presenting 'Supper at Six' on television. Elizabeth is clever, determined, and hurting badly. Life has been hard for her, but she's determined to keep going, especially for the sake of her talented child, Madeline. To the producer's eternal frustration, she turns a cooking show for housewives into a lesson in chemistry. She teaches them about the content of food, how heating affects the composition of the ingredients, and insists on calling salt 'sodium chloride'. She's standing up for all the women who, like herself, have been kept down and told they are only fit to stay at home and can't have jobs in science, like men. We learn own history, the struggles she's had throughout her life as an unconventional woman, and her unusual love story. Even her dog, Six-Thirty, is not everyone's idea of a usual dog. Little Madeline is also different, brought up so that her talents and intelligence shine. Told in the author's matter-of-fact style which complements the main character perfectly, it uncovers the shortcomings of women's treatment in US society at the time. It also celebrates women's courage and the men who have the perspicacity to realise that things need to change. Plus it's also about love, friendship and respect, and is a colourful snapshot of this era in history.

May books

These are my favourite reads from May. Only two books this month:

Gina Hollands - Little Village of Second Chances

After a traumatic time in her life, Sarah has moved to the Yorkshire village of Wetherstone to gather herself. The open countryside couldn't be more different to her city life in York. But no sooner has she arrived than she's accosted by a towering, angry farmer who complains about her driving. Once she has recovered from this first meeting, she sees that Irishman Shay is actually very attractive. She wonders why he's so reclusive - couldm there be a soft centre beneath his crabby exterior? Sarah is hiding the real reason for her presence in Wetherfield, and soon discovers that her task not as straighforward as she once thought. Can she really break the hearts of the kind and welcoming inhabitants of Wetherstone? She also becomes closer to Shay and learns about the heartbreak in his past. Now she has some difficult decisions to make, knowing that her own happiness could be at risk.

Santa Montefiore - An Italian Girl in Brooklyn

The novel opens at Thanksgiving 1979, when Evelina is looking forward to hosting the event in Greenwich, New York. She's expecting her grown up children, her grandchildren and her old friends of many years. Her beloved husband, Franklin is declining in health. Now she looks back over her life, beginning in 1934 when she was seventeen years old in her native Italy. The story starts when she lived in a dilapidated sixteenth century house with her parents, her older sister, Benedetta, and her younger brother, Bruno. Benedetta is about to meet a prospective husband, and on that day, Evelina's life changes forever. She scorns love with the naivety of youth - until she meets her art teacher's nephew, Ezra. As Italy's leader Mussolini becomes closer allied with Hitler and his ambitions, life changes for the young people who are drawn into war. Years after Evelina has made a new life across the sea, she believes that she has left her old country with its devastating heartache behind. But the past reaches out to touch her again, and she has some difficult choices to make as she searches for peace. A fascinating account of turbulent times and how it changed so many lives beyond recognition.

P.S. Apologies for the look of the page - the text colour changing tool is not working. 

April books

 My reading favourites from April are:

Andrea Mara - No One Saw a Thing

This psychological thriller is fast-paced and brings shocks with each new chapter. Sive has come over to London from Ireland with her husband Aaron and their three young children. Aaron is meeting up with his former university friends for a short reunion and to take part in a race. Sive wasn't one of this gang, having met her barrister husband later. But on the day of the race, Sive is momentarily distracted while on the London Underground and turns away from her two daughters. To her horror, her two little girls are carried away on the train before she can reach them. The nightmare becomes worse when only Bea, her two-year-old, is found at the next station. Seven-year-old Faye has vanished, and the only true witness, her sister, is too young to explain. Aaron and his friends rally round while a police search begins, leads are pursued, dead-ends and sinister tracks followed. As emotions run high, secrets from the pasts of all the adults are uncovered, the shocking truths that have been concealed throughout the years. As Sive and Aaron search desperately for their lost child, the lives of all the group will never be the same again.

Sally Page - The Keeper of Stories

An unusual novel with hidden depths, I found this book to be a riveting read. Janice, who's in her fifties, works as a cleaner in several homes to support herself and her unsuccessful husband, Mike. She sees herself as a collector of stories, and these give her solace in her unfulfilling life. She finds the stories of all of her clients fascinating, from elderly tenor Geordie to grieving Fiona and her young son, Adam. But she feels little connection with the couple who live in a large, fancy home, an architect and his wife. The highlight of this job is acting as dog walker for their pedigree terrier, who sports the magnificent name of Decius. She imagines that the dog makes comments to her about his pompous owners. Everything changes when the architect's wife asks Janice to clean for her mother-in-law who's in her nineties and still lives in her own home. After an inauspicious start with her new client the hidden depths behind the old lady's crusty and eccentric exterior begin to surface, and Janice discovers a wealth of new stories. Her experiences begin to spread out and affect all her other clients. Janice even finds the courage to face the stories from her own past, and re-examine her own worth. A very satisfying book.

Alexandra Walsh - The Forgotten Palace

This time-slip novel is linked to the Minoan Palace of Knossos on the Greek island of Crete. In the current day, medical doctor Eloise is recovering from the death of her husband, Josh. She's having a difficult time with his family and friends, who can't believe that she couldn't save him from a heart attack at such a young age. She flees to Crete, to the house that Josh's father Quinn left her. It's close to the ruins of Knossos, and is steeped in its history. There she comes across the diaries of Alice, a young Englishwoman who was a volunteer on the original archaeological dig run by Englishman Arthur Evans, in the early nineteen-hundreds. Alice also fled from England to escape a youthful folly, and mend her broken heart. We see the stories of both Eloise and Alice unfolding as they come to terms with their past and learn to heal. Linked to both stories is the myth of the Minotaur, the man/bull monster who reputedly lived in the Labyrinth below the palace, and also Ariadne, daughter of the King of Crete. As secrets unfold in three eras, both Eloise and Alice need to open their hearts so that they can move on with their lives. Plenty of historical and local colour, and an intriguing interpretation of an ancient myth.

March books

My favourite reads from March are:

Margaret Amatt - Stolen Kisses at the Loch View Hotel

This is a light-hearted romance set in Scotland, filled with a cast of interesting characters and lots of secrets to be uncovered. Briony has inherited a run-down hotel from her grandmother, who was never close to her. It's Briony's dream to make the hotel a success, especially now she's divorced from her cheating husband. But lacking the necessary funds, she needs to find an investor for it, or even a purchaser who will let her stay on as manager. Young American Zach has been sent by his boss, Mr. Beyer, to look over the hotel and see if it's going to be worth his investment. There are surprises in store when Briony and Zach discover that they met a few years earlier, when a series of misunderstandings damaged their original attraction to each other. Plus it turns out that Mr. Beyer has ulterior motives for looking at the Loch View Hotel. Lots of twists and turns, a delinquent soppy dog, local legends and family secrets in this enjoyable story told from the point of view of both Briony and Zach. Plus I learned some new American terms - who knew that on the other side of the Atlantic, 'walkers' aren't people who enjoy a pleasant hike, but are actually zombies! 

Jenni Keer - No. 23 Burlington Square

This was a delight of a book! Agnes Humphries has lived all her life in the same house in Kensington. After her father died and the younger sister she brought up married, Agnes couldn't bring herself to move away from her memories. Eventually she decided to open the house to lodgers. But now, in August 1927, one of her lodgers has passed away, and she needs to find another tenant for the room. She has a choice of three - young Mrs. Mercy Mayweather, who lost her husband in the War; Stephen Thompson, a middle-aged bank clerk; and her sister's daughter Clara, who leads a wild life and has now been barred from her own home by her father. Each one of the proposed tenants harbours a shocking secret. Whichever one she chooses will lead to a vastly different outcome for Agnes and the other residents of the house. The author writes the story of the different consequences that would unfold, depending on who Agnes takes into no. 23. Fascinating, enthralling, and an engaging sense of time and place. I thoroughly recommend this novel.

Erica James - A Secret Garden Affair

It's some time since I read a book by Erica James, but this one reminded me how much I enjoy her writing. At first the novel appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary, but as it developed I was pulled into the fascinating back-story. In the lead-up to Prince Charles and Lady Diana's much-hyped royal wedding, Libby discovers just weeks before her own wedding that her fiance Marcus has cheated on her. She flees to the place where she feels most comfortable - Larkspur House, and her beloved Great Aunt Bess. When Bess was a young girl, she started work there as maid to Elfrida, the daughter of the owner. As the years went by the two women became indispensible to each other, as they experienced love, heartache, and tragedy. As Libby begins to negotiate her changed circumstances, Bess and Elfrida's stories are also revealed to the reader, with the secrets that they share and never wish to be known. But somehow these begin to seep out, and the ripples upturn the lives of others connected to them. A beautifully-written tale of women's experiences in different decades of the twentieth century.