Oh I do love a good children’s detective yarn – and I had two to pick from when I was selecting my BotW this week. I went with Julia Lee’s latest – because it’s out on Thursday and doesn’t feature any murder – so I think I can give it to my 7-year-old niece who has the right reading age, but who can’t cope with too much peril!
Perfect reading for the train to work ahead of a nightshift!
Nancy Parker is 14 and has just left school. She gets her first job – as a housemaid to the rather glamorous Mrs Bryce. It’s not her dream job (who dreams of cleaning at 14!), but its more exciting than she expects as soon the whole household is living in a rented house at the seaside. There are parties, talk of movie-making, a reputed air-ace but also a cook who seems to be hiding a secret, a string of burglaries and chores – lots of chores. Nancy teams up with two other children from the neighbourhood to try and work out what is going on.
The book made up of a combination of extracts from Nancy’s journal (given to her as a leaving gift by her school teacher) and a third person narrative – which covers what the other children are up to. It’s fun, engaging and fast-paced. As someone who loved all of Enid Blyton’s mystery series (but particularly the Five Findouters) this really worked for me and filled that gap. And unlike those Blyton stories, this books shows the range of experiences in the 1920s – Nancy would only have appeared in one of those as the maid providing the picnics for the other children. And there’s also nice nods to the other realities of the 1920s like shortages of men for women to marry and women having to give up their jobs to returning soldiers.
As an adult, I figured out what Mrs Bryce was up to quite early on – but that’s because I’ve read a lot of the grown-up versions of this sort of story, but I think for a young reader it would be a fun, thrilling and non-threatening mystery. I love Robin Steven’s Wells and Wong series and also enjoyed the second book in Katherine Woodfine’s Clockwork Sparrowbook last week (the other BotW contender) but they are definitely a level up from this in the scares and peril – which isn’t a bad thing, but it does mean that you need to be bit more mature to be able to cope with them. I’m desperate to give my niece Murder Most Unladylike – but murder is quite a big deal for a 7-year old – at 10 I was terrified by some of the Miss Marples*. But Nancy Parker’s adventure feels like a new equivalent of a Secret Seven or a Famous Five – which is A Very Good Thing.
I was lucky enough to get my hands on an advance proof – but you can get your copy from Amazon, Kindle, Waterstones or Foyles. I don’t know if it’ll be in the supermarkets – but it feels like it might as the Katherine Woodfine was. Happy Reading!
This was a tough choice. A really tough choice. I had two contenders for BotW this week and it was so hard to decide. In the end I went for Ilana Fox’s The Glittering Art of Falling Apart – as comes out on February 11th. I’m not telling you what my other option was, because it’s part of a series and can’t help but feel that a blog post may come on it further down the line…
The Glittering Art of Falling Apart is a timeslip novel set in the 1980s and the present day. And there’s a country house involved. And as regular readers will know, this is just the sort of thing that I love. The present day heroine is Cassie – obsessed with trying to keep the abandoned Beaufont Hall in the family, despite her mother’s reluctance to talk about her childhood there. Tenancious Cassie wants to know more. Back in the 1980s, Eliza is breaking free from her family for the bright lights and glamour of Soho. But will it bring her the future that she craves or is the price to heavy?
If you’ve read a few timeslip type novels you will probably have a few ideas about where this story is going (I certainly did), but this is so well put together, that it doesn’t matter. Often in books like this a location is a character in the book – I was expecting Beaufont Hall to take that role, but actually it’s Soho that is the start location in The Glittering Art of Falling Apart. Ilana Fox paints such a vivid picture of this patch of London in the 1980s you can almost smell it. And there’s also a really clever use of music to help create the atmosphere as Eliza tries to make her mark on Soho. I had OMD’s Enola Gay stuck in my head for two days but the lovely people at Orion have pointed me at the playlist that Fox has put together for the book which has given me some ideas for a bit more variety!
I haven’t read any of Ilana Fox’s novels before, but from reading the descriptions of them it seems like this may be a bit of a shift. If you like books like Harriet Evans A Place for Us or Rosanna Ley’s The Saffron Trail, this may be the book for you. My copy came from NetGalley*, but I think this should be fairly widely available when it comes out – it feels like it might be the sort of book that goes into the supermarkets (and I hope it does) – but here are some links if you want to pre-order (or buy if you’re reading on Thursday or later) Amazon, Foyles, Waterstones, Kindle and Kobo.
One final note – at time of writing this, I spotted previous BotW The Astronaut Wives Club on a deal on Kobo for 99p – which is a total bargain – and Kindle seem to be price matching it. Go forth and purchase!
*And this seems like a good point to remind everyone of my standard disclaimer – I review everything I read over on Goodreads but I only recommend stuff here that I genuinely like. The books I read are a mixture of books that I’ve purchased myself, books that I’ve been given and e-proofs via NetGalley. I try to acknowledge where the books that I review here come from in the interests of transparency, but being given a book for free doesn’t influence the review that I give it – I’m always honest about my thoughts.
This week’s BotW is Kristan Higgins’ latest romance Anything For You – which in a stroke of serendipity is out today! For those of you who are all Christmas’d out, this would make a great break from the festivities. It has a winery, some star-crossed lovers and a whole lot of fun.
Anything For You tells the story of Connor and Jessica. They’ve been hooking up in secret for years and now Connor wants to take it public – and make it official. But Jessica thinks things are fine as they are – and she has her brother to look after, her brother who really doesn’t like Connor. So with Connor down on one knee and telling her it’s all or nothing, how sure is Jessica that marriage isn’t for her?
This is such a good read. Jessica and Connor have such a tangled backstory – which is explained really well in a series of flashback-type sequences in the aftermath of the proposal. They are both really complicated, well thought out characters. Connor has quite a privileged background (I mean he’s not a billionaire or a billionaire’s son, but there’s some money there) but a difficult relationship with his parents. Jessica has dragged herself up from a trailerpark whilst bringing up her little brother in the process – she’s got trust issues, abandonment issues and a bit of an inferiority complex. Watching them work out their problems is a really engrossing read.
And they are proper problems that need a proper resolution. I’ve read a lot of romances where the obstacles keeping the hero and heroine apart aren’t really obstacles – or are easily resolved. But these two have something real and tangible to work out. And the resolution is really well worked out – it doesn’t involve one of them suddenly doing an abrupt character change or an about face. They work out their problems and grow and mature to a solution.
And if that sounds too serious – don’t worry! There’s plenty of humour here too – Connor has a fabulously funny relationship with his twin sister Colleen (aka Dog Face) and the two of them have some great sparky exchanges. And Con and Jess have their moments too. Add to that a very stabbable events planner and some meddling friends and the angsty bits are well balanced out.
This was my first Kristan Higgins – but I’ve already found another one in the Kindle backlog pile so that may well have jumped its way closer to the top. My copy came via NetGalley, but you can get yourself a copy from Amazon or Amazon.com – although it doesn’t seem to be available on Kindle in the UK or the US at the moment.
This week’s BotW is Bricking It by Nick Spalding. I read a lot of books last week, many of them good but Christmas-themed – and of them more in the next few days. But Bricking It made me laugh despite the tonsillitis so it was an obvious choice for my non-festive Book of the Week!
Bricking It tells the story of Dan and Haley Daley, who have inherited a run-down farmhouse from their grandmother and decide to do it up to make some extra money. And of course the road to profit does not run smoothly. There’s an eccentric architect, a gang of builders, a TV crew and a few skeletons in the cupboard. Oh, and a bit of sibling rivalry too!
I thought Bricking It was a bit different from the usual run of house renovation stories. Haley and Dan both have their issues to deal with and that gives the book a great heart as well as a lot of jokes. If you’re off work for Christmas but not feeling in the mood for a Christmas-set book, this may well be the perfect solution to read curled up in front of the Christmas tree after you’ve finished wrapped (or unwrapping) your presents!
So, after gifts for him, her and children, for Part Four of my Christmas book recommendations, I’ve come to books I want for Christmas. As you know I read a lot of books and have a big backlog anyway, but this is my wishlist. Perhaps it’ll give you some more ideas for gifts – or maybe it’ll give you some ideas about what to ask other people to get you!
Fiction
I’m hoping to find some Deanna Raybourn in my stocking. I’ve really enjoyed her Lady Julia Grey series, and I’m hoping that Santa will bring me some of her standalone books – which are more expensive over here as they’re US Imports – like Night of a Thousand Stars, City of Jasmine or A Spear of Summer Grass (which after months of being c£7 for Kindle has dropped to £2.99 at time of writing, but I now can’t buy because I might be getting it for Christmas!) or the first book in her new series A Curious Beginning.
Another American import on my Christmas list is The Lure of the Moonflower – the final book in Lauren Willig‘s Pink Carnation series. I’m desperate to know what happens – I have the second last book sitting on my shelf ready to read, but I don’t dare start it because I know as soon as I read it I’ll want to read the last one *now* and then i’ll end up buying it before Christmas comes!
I’ve seen glowing reviews, but heard mixed word of mouth on Elena Ferrante‘s Neapolitan trilogy, so I’m curious to read them but can’t justify buying them myself with the to-read pile in its current state. So if anyone fancies buying me My Brilliant Friend, I’d really appreciate it! I’m also after the last in the Tales of the City series – The Days of Anna Madrigal.
Regular readers will know of my love of detective stories and cozy crime, so I’d be delighted if the latest Grantchester novel from James Runcie turned up on Christmas Day – Sidney Chambers and the Forgiveness of Sins is in a rather expensive US paperback edition or hardback (which would match the ones I already own better) at the moment. I’d also be happy to find the next book (that I don’t own) in the Tasha Alexander‘s Lady Emily series (Dangerous to Know), or one of Catriona McPherson‘s Dandy Gilvers that I haven’t read (like …and the Reek of Herrings),
Non Fiction
I don’t tend to buy myself a lot of non fiction, what with the pile being so big and so much of it coming out in hardback first, so Christmas is a a really good opportunity for me to get a few things that I can’t justify buying with the to-read pile in its current state!
I mentioned in my Gifts for Her post that I’m not big on Roman history, but I do quite fancy Mary Beard‘s latest SPQR, but hardbacks do tend to linger on my shelf somewhat, so perhaps her Confronting the Classics might be a better choice and likewise fill in some gaps in my education. Also on the history front, I really want to read Anita Anand’s Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary, especially after seeing the documentary based on it on BBC One a few weeks back – which is still on iPlayer for a few more days. I’m a big fan of Helen Rappaport‘s books (she’s a great speaker too) and I’d quite like her Four Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses, even though I usually find the Russian Revolution too unbearably depressing!
From this year’s crop of celebrity autobiographies and memoirs, my picks would be Sue Perkins‘ Spectacles and Drew Barrymore‘s Wildflowers or maybe Grace Jones‘s I’ll Never Write My Memoirs which is about an era which I’m fascinated by and was hoping that The Boy would ask for, but he hasn’t! She’s not a celebrity in the traditional sense, but I’m an occasional reader of The Bloggess and Jenny Lawson‘s second book Furiously Happy is on my want list – I’ve read the kindle preview and am really interested by it. It’s only in hardback at the moment, but as I still haven’t got her first book, Let’s Pretend this Never Happened, I would be happy to receive that instead/as well!
Those who know me in real-life know that I don’t wear a lot of make-up. But despite this, I do watch a lot of YouTube make-up videos. And Lisa Eldridge is one of my favourites. Consequently I’d really like her history of make-up Face Paint, but can’t justify buying it for myself. Hint. Hint. At the quirky end of the book spectrum, I’ve got a fancy for How to Climb Mount Blanc in a Skirt, and either of Shaun Usher‘s Letters of Note books – the new one sounds fabulous
On the aspirational home front, I’d really like Marie Kondo‘s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying because I am a bit of a hoarder – even when it’s not books! I’m sure The Boy would be delighted if I could find away of jettisoning some of my stuff happily, although obviously he’d be even happier if I could stop acquiring the clutter in the first place!
Miscellaneous
I know my reading habit can intimidate people and scare them off buying me books (in case I already have it or have read it) but I’m always delighted to get a book voucher – be it a National Book Token or a Kindle voucher and I try to spend them on something I consider a treat – like a nice hardback or an ebook that’s over my usual price limit. After chortling over their Bad Sex Awards for years, I’ve been eyeing up a subscription to Literary Review but can’t really justify buying myself it!
What don’t I want? No cookery books please (unless it’s a Mary Berry I don’t already have) as I still haven’t worked my way through everything I want to cook from the ones that I already have and the cookery book shelf is getting full. Don’t buy me the Booker shortlist – I’ve got so much to read already, I’ll never get around to them – as my attempts to try and improve my award-nominated book hit rate show!
And finally, if you really want me to love you forever, you could pre-order me a copy of The Rogue Less Taken from Sarah MacLean – one of my favourite purveyors of smart, funny and sexy historical romance – and do it from her local Indie bookshop Word in Brooklyn, because I really want the US version (the UK one doesn’t match my collection, but I’ll link you to it anyway in case you want it for you), and Word will send it to me signed and with bonus goodies. But even nightshift brain can’t really justify spending $22 shipping a $7.99 book to the UK. Even if I did do it for Never Judge a Lady by her Cover last year – which is also not as nice in its UK edition, which is something I never though I’d say about an American edition of a romance book. But if you do, let me know, because I may yet weaken and buy it anyway, and it would be stupid for two of us to do it….
Finally something I can take a photo of! And US romance authors don’t really do UK signings!
So there you go, Books for Him, Books for Her, Books for Kids and Books for Me. And still to come from me before the big day will be a round-up of Christmas-themed reading. I know. I’m spoiling you.
After the Books for Men extravaganza yesterday, here’s the books for Her post. My mum and my sister both get books from me as part of their Christmas present, and it’s often tricky, because I pass them my favourite books through the year so I have to try and find something different! As with yesterday’s post, my links are to Amazon, because lots of these are 3 for £10, or reduced in some way – thus freeing up more money to spend on yourself other presents.
Fiction
I find fiction recommendations easiest, but some of this is depending on what sort of present your buying the book as. Most of my book purchases are as stocking fillers or extra presents, rather than the whole present – so I give a lot of “lighter” fiction. My mum’s asked for Anne Tyler‘s A Spool of Blue Thread for her Christmas book (I’m sure she won’t mind me telling you) and tells me that she just loves her other books, so if you know someone who’s read her Booker nominee from this year, it might be worth checking out the back catalogue too.
I’ve mentioned Beatriz Wiliams‘ A Hundred Summers in a BotW post and that’s definitely worth a look. I also have her latest – Along the Infinite Sea – on my to-read pile, but I haven’t managed to get to it yet.
In a shameless plug for a friend, I loved Kirsty Greenwood‘s Vintage Guide to Love and Romance when I read it on holiday earlier this year (back in my early days of reviewing for Novelicious and before I’d met the lady herself). Equally Lucy Robinson‘s The Day We Disappeared or Mhairi McFarlane‘s It’s Not Me It’s You would make great stocking fillers and although they came out earlier in the year (all on the same day in fact!) they aren’t summery books, so would be fine to give in December!
If you want to buy hardcover, I loved Laura Barnett‘s The Versions of Us (which I mentioned along with Vintage Guide in my Summer Recs list, but hey, when a book’s good, it’s good)- it’s Sliding Doors meets One Day and every bit as amazing as that sounds. The paperback is out on December 31st.
I liked After You so much I’ve posted it to a friend so she can read it
Also only in hardback or ebook at the moment is Jojo Moyes‘ much awaited sequel to Me Before You, After You. I read this last week, and whilst I didn’t love it the way I loved Me Before You (see BotW squeals here), it’s still a good read – and would be a gift option if you know someone who cried their way through Lou and Will’s story and wants to know what happened next. Another hardback option would be Paula McLain‘s latest Circling the Sun. I’ve just lent my copy to mum – who has been raving about The Paris Wife, which she finished last week.
I always find non-fiction harder to recommend. I’m a history graduate so a lot of my non fiction reading falls into that and I also find it easier to recommend fiction for women. Probably because I read mostly fiction, but I’m sure someone will say this is unconscious bias, the patriarchy etc. Still I’ll have a go.
Finally a book I still have! So I’ve taken a fresh photo of it and everything!
You may remember this from a previous BotW post – but I need to give another mention to The Astronaut Wives Club, which would I think would go down well with loads of people – Mad Men fans, history fans, Americana fans etc.
The Roman Empire is not my period (I like my history modern enough that I can identify with the people, so usually post c1450) but I found How to Manage Your Slaves both funny and fascinating. It’s got a lot of facts packed in there, but wears it lightly and is very readable.
And another one I still have! Hurrah!
I won a copy of Sali HughesPretty Honest last year, literally a day after I’d told my mum to buy it for me for Christmas. I haven’t read it cover to cover, but I have dipped in and out repeatedly and found it really good. I think this would work for a lot of people without being seen as being judgy. And if if you have a teenage girl to buy for and you want to do more than just buy a make-up gift set from Boots or the current books from the latest YouTube sensation, this could be just the job.
Boom. Three. Doesn’t this look well illustrated compared to the fiction section?
I have the paperback of Lena Dunham‘s Not That Kind of Girl sitting on my to-read pile, I haven’t read it yet, but I bought it because I’d heard a lot of good things about it. And if you know a Girls fan (I don’t have Sky Atlantic) then this might make a good choice, but watch out, because it came out in hardback for last Christmas. Also out in hardback last year and in paperback all over the place now is Amy Poehler‘s Yes Please which I really want to read and which might work if your giftee hasn’t already had it.
Miscellaneous
There are some people for whom a really pretty book is just the job. Foyles used to have a helpful section of this sort of book in the front of their old Charing Cross Road store – I’m sure there’s an equivalent in the new store (even if I haven’t spotted it yet). Virago’s VMC Designer Collection are great for this – they look gorgeous and the books are good too. They started coming out a couple of years ago so some of my favourites – like Barbara Pym‘s Excellent Women – are harder to get hold of, but new ones are still appearing – like Daphne Du Maurier‘s The Birds and Patricia Highsmith‘s The Talented Mr Ripley. Penguin also do a nice line in cloth bound classics – like this Sense and Sensibility.
My OCD tendancies are yet to find a satisfactory order for these, but they’re so pretty I don’t care!
I also love Bookishly’s range of prints – their Pride and Prejudice one would make a lovely gift – if you’re buying for a friend, several of the quotations you can chose from are not romantic. However exercise caution if you are thinking of getting someone an e-reader cover. I’ve been caught out on sizes and variations before – all the various kindles seem to be subtly different. There are some gorgeous ones out there though – I’ve bought one which looks like an actual book from Klevercase before, but check the model you’re aiming for very carefully.
So there you go. Coming next: Children’s book recommendations.
Crivens! This week’s BotW will come as no surprise – it’s the final Terry Pratchett novel, the 41st Discworld book and the fifth to feature Tiffany Aching. I managed to force myself to read it slowly (for me anyway) and made it last a week. I’m already listening to the audiobook on my walks to work.
As you can see I have the others in the series in paperback, but I wasn’t prepared to wait this time.
In the Chalk, something is brewing. Tiffany can feel it coming, the Kelda can feel it coming. An old enemy is gathering strength. To quote the back of the book, Tiffany stands between the light and the dark, the good and the bad. And there will be a reckoning.
And to be honest, that’s about all that I can say about the plot of The Shepherd’s Crown without giving too much away. I encountered a massive spoiler in the Audible sample a week before the book came out – and my sister ran into the Guardian review which reveals the same Major Event – and I’ve become really concious of the fact that I don’t want to ruin the story for anyone reading this the way that plot twist was spoilt for me.
What I can say about the book is that it made my cry, repeatedly. But it’s not a sad book. As the back cover says, it is a time of endings and beginnings, and they’re handled beautifully. It is a Young Adult book and there are Serious Issues in there, but it deals with them very well, with Sir Terry’s trademark wit and warmth. I laughed and smiled and really enjoyed Tiffany’s adventure.
I wish there were going to be more. But as I said earlier this year (in this post), we knew that the end was coming sooner than anyone could have wished for. I still want the Moist the Tax Collector book. I am greedy for more from the Discworld. And the afterword in Shepherd’s Crown drops tantalising hints about what could have been. But I absolutely respect (and agree with) Rhianna Pratchett’s decision that if her father is not here to write them, there will be no more new Discworld books.
To reiterate – No I don't intend on writing more Discworld novels, or giving anyone else permission to do so. They are sacred to dad.
— Rhianna Pratchett 🧙🏻♀️ (@rhipratchett) June 5, 2015
I will be involved with spin-offs, adaptations and tie-ins, but that's it. Discworld is his legacy. I shall make my own.
— Rhianna Pratchett 🧙🏻♀️ (@rhipratchett) June 5, 2015
And if the end had to come, The Shepherd’s Crown is a very good place to finish. There are plenty of old favourite characters and there are some new favourites too. Of all the Discworld regulars, Mistress Tiffany has more life ahead of her than the others (unless you count Young Sam Vimes) and so it seems fitting that she is the centre of the last book.
The Shepherd’s Crown doesn’t feel like a goodbye, like a world is coming to an end – it feels like the Great A’Tuin is still out there, swimming through space with the elephants and the Disc on his back, it’s just that we won’t get to hear about the goings on there anymore. And maybe that’s Sir Terry’s greatest achievement – he’s created a fantasy world so real that we can’t believe that it could stop.
It’s not as if I had a matching set to start with, so I’ll cope with the non-matchingness.
I’m planning to re-read the whole series. If you haven’t discovered Tiffany yet, start with The Wee Free Men and enjoy her whole journey. If you are a Discworld fan, who’s been hesitant about reading this, don’t worry. I don’t think this will be a disappointment to you. It is safe to read it. It feels right. You should be able to get hold of a copy of The Shepherd’s Crown anywhere which sells good books – but just in case: Amazon, Kindle, Foyles (sadly no discount), Waterstones.
Enjoy it. Make it last. Raise a glass to it’s creator. And mind how you go.
For those reading The Shepherd's Crown 'Mind how you go' are considered to be the Pratchett magic words.
As promised last week, here’s a link to my review of The Spider in the Corner of the Room on Novelicious. I’ve read some more stuff for Novelicious this week – and you’ll see links to them in future BotW posts. Now to business. This week’s BotW is Claire Sandy’s latest A Very Big House in the Country. I was so excited when this appeared in the post* – after all I raved about What Would Mary Berry Do? last summer. You may have noticed that this was on the reading list for a couple of weeks – and that is because I forced myself not to gobble this up in one sitting.**
The Herreras, the Littles and the Browns are sharing a massive Devon mansion for two long hot weeks of the summer holidays. There are secrets. There are romances. There’s something lurking in the bushes – and it may not just be the Herrera’s dog on the pull. There’s step-sons, trophy wives, a glamourous (and possibly slutty) nanny and an outdoor pool. And gallons of wine. Tongues will loosen, inhibitions will fall away and people may get a little too honest. When everyone packs up and heads out at the end of the summer will they all still be friends? And will everyone be going home in the same car they arrived in?
Ok. I know, there’s not a lot of plot in that little summary, but I think it gives you a flavour of the book. It’s warm, touching and funny, with a bit of a sarcastic edge. The house may be luxurious, but the book is very down to earth. You’ll probably recognise things from your own families and group holidays in this. Summer may be ending, but grab hold of its coattails and recapture the hot weather after a particularly wet bank holiday weekend with one last sun-lounger read.
This one is all up in the supermarkets – so you shouldn’t have any problems getting hold of it next time you happen to accidentally on purpose walk through the book aisle as you arrive in TescAsdWaitburys. But in case you can’t wait, here’s an Amazon link and a Kindle one and a Foyles one.
* My copy was sent to me by the author – but as per usual, my reviews are honest and BotW goes to my favourite book I read the previous week and this. was. it.
** I’m currently doing the same thing with The Shepherd’s Crown, because once it’s gone there Is No More New Pratchett and I don’t want it to be over yet.
This week’s BotW is Jenny Valentine’s Fire Colour One. I do try to mix my choices up a bit – although when I go on a massive reading jag of one author that doesn’t help – so here’s some new YA fiction. I got my copy via NetGalley and raced through it in two train journeys.
Iris likes lighting fires. She doesn’t like her mum – or her mum’s boyfriend. She’s lost touch with her best (and only) friend Thurston. Then the dad that she hasn’t seen for years gets in contact to say he’s dying. Her mum is delighted – she wants Ernest’s art collection to fund her lifestyle. Iris is angry. But her dad has things he wants to tell her.
Now, it took me a while to warm to Iris. She’s a bit difficult to like at first, but then you see what she’s dealing with. And she’s dealing with a lot. Her mum sees her as an inconvenience and really isn’t on her side. Her mum’s partner is the most narcissistic guy I’ve come across in a book this year. Iris can control the fires. She can’t control her life, or stop her dad from dying (and she’s not sure she wants to either).
Death is such a theme in YA literature at the moment, that I was worried that this book was going to leave me miserable and upset*, but I got to the last page with a tear in my eye and a smile on my face. Then I went back and read the last chapter all over again. I can’t really say much more about why the end worked for me, without giving it away and that would really spoil the book, but it’s clever. Really clever. And I’m desperate to know what Iris does next.
So, I didn’t read a lot last week, but I’m still thinking about this one – and I’m wondering if there are any teenagers in my life that I can buy it for (I’m not sure there are). I know that I’ll go back and read it again too, which is unusual for me and YA fiction that’s not boarding school stories. I’ve added Jenny Valentine’s other books to my to-read list too
This week’s BotW is Louise Candlish’s The Sudden Departure of the Frasers – which was my Curtis Brown Book Group book for April, but which didn’t get finished until last week because that was when the discussion was.
This has such a striking cover I know I would have looked at it in the shop, I’m not sure if I would have bought it without the Book Club
The Sudden Departure of the Frasers tells the story of Christy and Joe Davenport, who have just bought the house of their dreams in a leafy London area they never expected to be able to afford. The previous owners, the Frasers, renovated the house and then abruptly disappeared. As the Davenports settle in to their new home, Christy becomes obsessed with why the Frasers left and particularly what happened to Amber – beautiful, popular, charming and the centre of the social whirl – and why the atmosphere on the street is so tense.
This is another book that I probably wouldn’t have picked out for myself – but ended up really enjoying* – in fact, I read the vast majority of it across the course of one afternoon and evening because I got sucked in and then I Needed To Know. It’s one of those books where you can’t put it down because your brain is frantically trying to work out what has gone on and you just need to read one more page/chapter/section because then you might be able to figure it out.
One of the reasons this book worked so well for me is that the setting and the characters seem utterly believeable. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has had the fantasy that one day the dream home that you’ve always wanted will pop up on the market miraculously in your price range despite being worth oh-so-much more usually. And then obviously the old adage about “if it looks too good to be true, maybe it is” springs into your mind. Now scenarios like this usually lend themselves to horror or ghost stories (definitely not my thing) but this is neither. It’s a gripping little thriller, which will mess with your head but not leave you with nightmares about blood and gore and ghosts.**
Now I am breaking one of my own rules in writing about this now – because The Sudden Departure of the Frasers doesn’t come out until the 21st. But after a long deliberation I’ve put it up as this week’s BotW – because a) it was really good, b) if I didn’t BotW would probably be another Janet Evanovich (the obsession continues) and c) it will be a really, really good beach read, so preorder it for your holiday and you’ve one less thing to worry about!
You can pre-order The Sudden Departure of the Frasers from all the usual outlets – here is a selection of links – Amazon, Waterstones, Foyles and Kindle – and I suspect that when it does come out it may pop up in your local supermarket as it’s being published by Penguin.
* Which illustrates why I have such a massive to-read pile. I like so many different books. And if I had bought myself this, it would probably have sat of the shelf for years because of the backlog because it’s not obviously a book that I’d like. Then you’d get another of my patented posts saying that I loved it and I can’t believe how long it sat on the shelf and why didn’t I read it sooner. I know. I’m a nightmare.
** I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that there isn’t any blood or gore or ghosts. It’s not that sort of book. But you know what I mean.
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 