John of John by Stuart Douglas (Scottish Literary Fiction)

I loved it. It is set in the Scottish Isles and the characters are great. I was engaged from the start. There were moments where I laughed out loud. The main character is a young man who returns home after a few years at university. He is gay and unknown to him, so is his father who is in a long term relationship with their neighbour, Innes (Innes of Innes). His maternal grandmother also lives with them.
I was so upset when the book ended and I would definitely recommend it.

Land by Maggie O'Farrell (Irish Historical Fiction)

This is the family history of Tomas and Phina, young adults orphaned in the Great Famine. They marry, raise children, build a home on land where Tomas had an unexplained mythical encounter as a young father. Well written, as you would expect, but longer than it needed to be. A book of struggle, sadness and love of the landscape.

A Piano in the Pyrenees by Tony Hawks (Memoir)

My first read of a Tony Hawks book and I found it quite funny and it was interesting to read about being a Brit with a second home in rural France. If I’m looking for themes then there is the importance of friendship, having good neighbours, cross-cultural living, love, not taking yourself too seriously and learning to live in French countryside time.

Tony’s friends drop hints about him buying abroad and one of them goes house hunting in France. Although it seems like a snap decision, he buys the first house he sees because of the view of the mountains. I say buy but in reality, the process is convoluted and very different to UK house purchasing. There is so paperwork and red tape, nobody wants to hurry things along and the whole business is conducted in French, with Tony more or less relying on schoolboy A level skills. Friends later go out to stay and help to build a swimming pool. There are many cultural gaffes and too much food and wine. I especially liked Hawks’ trip into Lourdes where he went to hear a neighbour play the piano in an Irish bar. He wrote that the pilgrims were ‘massed’ during the day and pissed at night. Then there’s the locals’ plot to find him a partner; he does find one, but not through their best efforts.

I did find this an easy and amusing read and would recommend it. I may dip into his book about travelling through Ireland with a fridge!

The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce (Contemporary Fiction)

The Music Shop is a charming and uplifting read. Set in 1988, it centres on Frank, the owner of a small vinyl record shop who has a remarkable gift for matching customers with exactly the music they need. When a mysterious woman, Ilse, enters his life, Frank is forced to confront a painful past and open himself up to love. The novel is filled with quirky characters and a strong sense of community, all brought together by the healing power of music. While the plot unfolds at a leisurely pace, it is a lovely read for anyone who enjoys stories about friendship, second chances and the small things that bring meaning to life.

The Lover by Marguerite Duras (Classic French Literature)

Very appropriate this month, because I read this is a semi-autobiographical novel set at Sa Dec, near Saigon, in Vietnam. And because it became a very famous movie, the house that it features is now a tourist attraction, which I knew I would be able to visit. I had always planned to read the book while there.

Set in 1929 French dominated Indo-China, it's an erotic love story about a 15 year old girl (daughter of a French mother, who's a teacher) who has an affair with an older rich Chinese man. He's the son and heir of a very wealthy Chinese business family. The love affair is something that can't be allowed to run a smooth course; it's unacceptable and scandalous on all sides, not least because of her age. It's not an easy read: the writer was 70 when she was writing in 1984 about her teenage experiences, and there's a lot about her manic-depressive mother and her strange brothers. She always refers to the main character (based on herself) as "the girl". The movie (released in 1992) was considered too hot for the Vietnamese audience and wasn't allowed to be shown there for several years.

The Women on Platform 2 by Laura Anthony (Irish Historical Fiction)

A novel set in Ireland in the late 60’s/early 70’s based on the true story of the birth of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement.

It’s Dublin and Maura, attractive but naïve, is charmed by tall handsome Christy whilst working in a posh department store. He’s a doctor with a house, car, flash suits and all the trappings, but on her wedding day Maura realises that she has married a controlling monster who won’t stop dishing out the beatings.

The book is about women’s comradeship and resilience against a backdrop of female oppression in a country where the Catholic Church and its doctrine have a huge influence both socially and culturally. Maura is required to give up her job upon marriage, contraception is illegal in all its forms and women are not allowed to collect their family allowance from the post office, only men are allowed to do this and you can imagine where the money goes in some instances. It’s hard to believe it was like in 1970’s Ireland.

A very good novel and very moving in parts. Only slight criticism is the dialogue can be a bit cheesy at times but still a super story.

Nettle and Bone by T Nightingale (Fantasy Fiction)

My task was a genre I do not usually read. So, I chose fantasy and to my great surprise really enjoyed it. A short, easy and amusing read. So, a quest, of course, with a motley crew collected along the way comprising of a princess turned nun, a dust wife who lived in a graveyard and communed with the dead, a warrior rescued from a goblin market, a third tier godmother, a bone dog (you have to read it), and a very bad-tempered hen. The dialogue is sparkling and laugh out loud funny. I recommend it.

Dawn becomes pregnant at 16. Her wealthy family arranges for her to go to Venezuela to have the baby and give her up for adoption. She seemingly has the ideal life, she is allowed to study, goes to London where she qualifies as a doctor, she marries another doctor, has two children and lives a privileged life but then divorces. This is one woman's story of her life, the space in it left by her daughter and her search for her.

If you appreciate Bob Mortimer’s quirky humour, then this will be an enjoyable, character-driven read. It follows Matt, an unemployed former bathroom salesman who is facing homelessness when his girlfriend suddenly disappears. Just as things seem at their bleakest, he is offered luxury accommodation, although the offer comes with a catch.

The novel combines a mystery with the eccentric humour and surreal situations that are uniquely Mortimer's. Matt is a likeable central character, and it is the cast of oddball characters and their interactions that really drive the story. While there is suspense surrounding his girlfriend's disappearance, the book remains gentle in tone, very easy to read.

Overall, an entertaining read, packed with the offbeat observations and warmth that fans of Bob Mortimer come to expect.

This is the second book in the Slough House series, featuring the unforgettable Jackson Lamb and his crew of MI5 rejects aka Slow Horses. Fast paced but with enough dialogue to make you laugh out loud and not want to put it down. Anti-bank/capitalism protestors, a Russian billionaire and a post cold war sleeper cell provide the plot line. The characters are wonderfully flawed and it’s easy to get caught up in their shenanigans. I look forward to reading book 3.

The fourth novel by Louise Hare and her best yet (in my opinion). Louise is honing her skill as a writer and this is her biggest challenge so far.

It’s 1766 in Covent Garden and Sukey, a mixed race girl, and Emmy have moved from sleepy Surrey. They have gone to live with Emmy’s mother who runs a house of ill repute in the capital. As the girls come of age, they are expected to earn their keep and the novel cleverly explores the seedy side of London at the time, without too much graphic description. There is also a ‘thriller’ angle to the story (very Louise Hare).

The novel is packed with believable characters and conveys the ‘feel’ of the time. A very good read from a maturing writer.

In Cambodia, we met Chum Mey, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge's interrogation centre which was known as S-21. He's now 94, and one of the last survivors of what was effectively a torture and death camp. For many years afterwards, he made it his business to try and bring the brutal regime's leaders to justice. Now he's just trying to tell people what it was like and raise funds to support those affected. We bought his boo, 'Survivor - Chum Mey (S-21)', which he signed for us.

Shafak is probably on my top 5 writers list and this beautiful book cements her place.

The story opens in Nineveh, with a raindrop falling on to the cruel king of Mesopotamia. In the midst of chaos and confusion, the Epic of Gilgamesh is written, the first recorded poem. We then fast forward to Victorian London where Arthur is born on the shores of a highly polluted River Thames and a snowflake melts in his mouth. Arthur is a remarkable child and through his intellect and hard work, he manages to lift himself out of poverty and become the world leader on the history of Nineveh and The Epic of Gilgamesh.

Another time jump brings us to Turkey in 2014 when Narin, a member of the Yazidi community, travels to Iraq to be baptised. The rise of ISIS leads to the destruction of all her family holds dear. It’s back to the Thames in 2018 and Zaleekah, a hydrologist, newly divorced, rents a houseboat and decides to take her life. However, an old book about her ancestral home gives her hope and a reason to live.

Shafak writes with authority, with clear signs of research into the time spans and places that make up the settings of this fascinating novel. The 3D characters matter, you care about what happens to them and you hope for them. It isn’t a short read and not everybody will like how the book jumps between timelines, but the reward is more than worth it. I highly recommend this book and everything else written by Shafak.

Overly long at almost 600 pages, this is a historic murder mystery set in the eighteenth century. Opening with the murder of a prostitute, Caro, an aristocrat starts to investigate as she knew the girl, thinking her a friend. Further murders follow - prostitutes, gay young men, anyone who might assist in the investigation. Well researched and intelligently written it follows the usual format, the strongest suspect not guilty and the least likely guilty.

An Italian excommunicated monk, interested in philosophy and the pursuit of knowledge, living in Prague, in the pay of an English spymaster and murders and skullduggery aplenty. No, not John Le Carre but set in Elizabethan England, the spymaster being Walsingham. A good yarn and part of a series with this character at the centre. He travels all over Europe and operates in many countries. Again, a good read.

Anthony Quinn is an author I became aware of by accident a few years ago. He has been a working journalist and was, for a period of tome, the film critic of the Independent newspaper. He has been based in London for a long time and the previous books I have read have been set in London however, this is his first book and is set in Liverpool, where Quinn is originally from.

The first thing to say is that Quinn writes beautifully and clearly. There is no ambiguity, we always know exactly where we are, which characters we are discussing and how this fits into the broader narrative.

The Rescue Man of the title is Tom Baines, writer and architectural historian who, when we first meet him, is trying to write a book about Liverpool’s historic buildings. Through this work he meets Richard and Bella, a married couple who run a photographic business. However it’s 1939 and war is about to break out leading to Liverpool being on the receiving end of quite a pounding. Tom signs up to help and with colleagues works at dragging people out of bombed out buildings. Tom, Richard and Bella’s lives become entwined and war takes its toll.

A really enjoyable page turner and another Anthony Quinn novel that I would warmly recommend.

Roma Tearne serves up a family saga set against the recent history of Ceylon/Sri Lanka from the 1950’s to early 2000’s. The country goes through a civil war and much turmoil during this period which leads to many members of the Da Silva family decamping to London and other parts of the UK.

Matriarch Grace, born into wealth and the elite of Ceylon, marries a feckless man who drinks and gambles away her fortune. Grace tries to steer the Da Silva clan through the rapids, with questionable success.

An enjoyable read from an author new to me.