April Roundup

As some of you know, I do not post reviews of all the books I read. I tend towards writing reviews of those that I have enjoyed the most and want to recommend. That is not to say that I have not liked those other books, only that for one reason or another I have not reviewed them. So, I thought that you might be interested to see what books I have read this past month. 

Have you a book to recommend that you have read? I would love to hear about it.

Tomorrow I will be back with a sneaky peek of the books that I want to read during May. 

Read in April

The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid. This is the third book in the lovely Karen Pirie series.

The Green Witch by Arin Murphy-Hiscock. I read this as research for something I am writing.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. This was April's choice for my book group. It really wasn't my cup of tea but several of our members enjoyed it very much.

My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin. This was the first book that I have read from The Virago Book of 20th Century Fiction. You can read my intentions for this book here.

Big Sky by Kate Atkinson. This is the fifth in the Jackson Brodie series which is one of my favourites. You can read my review here.

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. This was much more enjoyable than the film although Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman were perfectly cast.

The Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier.  This was my favourite book this month and you can read my review of this wonderful book by clicking here.

Books I am Partway Through

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

A Stash of One's Own by Clara Parkes. This was gifted me by my son and is wonderful for all yarn lovers. My review of this book will follow.

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd. Review to follow.

A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier - #Book Review

"'Shhh!' Violet Speedwell frowned. She did not need shushing; she had not said anything. The shusher, an officious woman sporting a helmet of grey hair, had planted herself squarely in the archway that led into the choir, Violet's favourite part of Winchester Cathedral."

1932. After the Great War took both her beloved brother and her fiancé, Violet Speedwell has become a "surplus woman," one of a generation doomed to a life of spinsterhood after the war killed so many young men. Yet Violet cannot reconcile herself to a life spent caring for her grieving, embittered mother. After countless meals of boiled egg and dry toast, she saves enough to move out of her mother's home and into the town of Winchester, home to one of England's grandest cathedrals. There, Violet is drawn into a society of broderers--women who embroider kneelers (kneeling cushions) for the Cathedral, carrying on a centuries-long tradition of bringing comfort to worshippers.

Violet finds support and community in the group, fulfillment in the work they create, and even a growing friendship with the vivacious Gilda. But when forces threaten her new independence and another war appears on the horizon, Violet must fight to put down roots in a place where women aren't expected to grow. Told in Chevalier's glorious prose, A Single Thread is a timeless story of friendship, love, and a woman crafting her own life.

***

We are living in extraordinary times - times of anxiety, worry and uncertainty. My reading tastes are currently inclined towards the lighthearted and humorous. However, this book was neither of those things but it was absolutely the best thing I could be reading right now. I loved it, loved it, loved it.

The pacing of this book was perfect. It is sedate and gentle and I felt as though I was being swept along in the gentle current that was Violet's life. Ms Chevalier's writing is consistently engrossing across all of her works and is very apparent in this novel.

Violet is a wonderful character. Set between the wars we see how she is able to adapt to a life that was unexpected before the Great War. Like many women of the period, Violet finds herself living a life that was unanticipated when her fiance was killed in battle and she faced life as a spinster. However, we see her grow and develop into a woman who was brave, courageous and who  paved the way for generations of women to come.

A book that combines two of my favourite things, reading and needlework, was a 'must read' for me and I enjoyed every word. I have previously read most of Ms, Chevalier's books and have enjoyed them all. I highly recommend this book.

ISBN: 978 0008153847

Publisher: The Borough Press

About the Author:

Tracy Chevalier is the author of ten novels, including At the Edge of the Orchard, Remarkable Creatures and Girl with a Pearl Earring, an international bestseller that has sold over five million copies and won the Barnes and Noble Discover Award. Born in Washington DC, in 2984 she moved to London, where she lives with her husband and son.

Big Sky (#5 Jackson Brodie series) by Kate Atkinson - #BookReview

"Jackson had been following Gary and Kirsty for several weeks. He had sent enough photographs of the in flagrante to Gary's wife .... for her to have divorced him several times over.... but everytime he said [this] to her she always said, 'just stay on them a little longer, Mr. Brodie."

Jackson Brodie has relocated to a quiet seaside village in North Yorkshire, in the occasional company of his recalcitrant teenage son Nathan and ageing Labrador Dido, both at the discretion of his former partner Julia. It's a picturesque setting, but there's something darker lurking behind the scenes.

Jackson's current job, gathering proof of an unfaithful husband for a suspicious wife, seems straightforward, but a chance encounter with a desperate man on a crumbling cliff leads him across a sinister network - and back into the path of someone from his past.

Old secrets and new lies intersect in this breathtaking new novel, both sharply funny and achingly sad, by one of the dazzling and surprising writers at work today.

The Jackson Brodie series is one of my current favourite series. I have read the previous four books in this series Case Histories (#1), One Good Turn (#2), When Will There Be Good News? (#3), Started Early, Took My Dog (#4). which you can read my review of here. 

Jackson is such a great character. He is something of a modern dinosaur and his internal ponderings are what elevate this book. He is humorous and cynical in his outlook on life but without being comical as Ms. Atkinson deals with some serious themes in this book.

However, at no point did I find it difficult to read and the author handled the more serious aspect of the book with intelligence and sensitivity. 

I was completely engaged with this book; both the characters and plot and I highly recommend it. In fact, this series has made me want to read the author's entire back list as she is an excellent writer with great understanding of what makes people tick.

ISBN: 978 0857526106

Publisher: Doubleday

About the Author:

Kate Atkinson was born in York and now lives in Edinburgh. Her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and she has been a critically acclaimed international bestselling author ever since.

She is the author of a collection of short stories, Not the End of the World, and of the critically acclaimed novels Human Croquet, Emotionally Weird, Case Histories and One Good Turn.

Case Histories introduced her readers to Jackson Brodie, former police inspector turned private investigator, and won the Saltaire Book of the Year Award and the Prix Westminster.

Kate was born in York and now resides in Edinburgh.

Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins - #BookReview

"They are waiting for an answer. What do they want me to say? Perhaps they think I am a stalker, targeting the president of an Oxford College on his early morning jog. I have an urge to laugh which is inappropriate. There is nothing funny about this, nothing whatsoever. Felicity is missing. The whole country is looking for her."

When the eight year old daughter of an Oxford College Master vanishes in the middle of the night, police turn to the Scottish nanny, Dee, for answers.

As Dee looks back over her time in the Master's Lodging - an eerie and ancient house - a picture of a high achieving but dysfunctional family emerges: Nick, the fiercely intelligent and powerful father; his beautiful Danish wife Mariah, pregnant with their child; and the lost little girl, Felicity, almost mute, seeing ghosts, grieving her dead mother.

But is Dee telling the whole story? Is her growing friendship with the eccentric house historian, Linklater, any cause for concern? And most of all, why was Felicity silent?

Roaming through Oxford's secret passages and hidden graveyards, Magpie Lane, explores the true meaning of family - and what it is to be denied one.

This fabulous book ended up being a quick read for me as I could not put it down and sprinted through it to get to the books conclusion. Mostly told retrospectively during a police interview, the narrative goes back and forth with the recollections of the main character, Dee, coupled with the immediacy of the interview.

The characters were excellently portrayed.  Nick and Mariah were difficult to like and this opinion did not change throughout the book. Equally, both Felicity and Dee were engaging characters and I suspect most readers will love Felicity for her innocence and vulnerability. The main character, Dee, had a combination of strength and weakness and as the book progressed I did come to wonder how reliable she was as a narrator.

The house itself felt as though it was a character as the Masters Lodging is a focal point of the novel and much of the story is linked to the house. The author did a brilliant job of making the house come alive as she did with Oxford itself. Highly atmospheric I felt completely immersed in the setting of this novel.

It is a sensitive, eerie and excellently written novel and I can hardly wait to read another book by Ms. Atkins. Have you read any of her other books? I would love to hear about them. 

Keep safe and well through these difficult days my friends. Thank goodness we have our books to keep us company while we are isolated and socially distanced. 

ISBN: 978 1786485571

Publisher: Quercus

About the Author:

Lucy Atkins is an award winning author, feature journalist and Sunday Times book critic. She has written for newspapers including The #Guardian, The Times, The Sunday Times and The Telegraph as well as many UK magazines. She teaches on the Masters in Creative Writing at Oxford University and lives in Oxford.

Some of her other books are, The Missing Ones, The Night Visitor and The Other Child.