Read this if you love happy endings and a cast of female characters dealing with female issues, or as some would describe women’s fiction. It is told in the alternate voices of 3 generations of a family, Flo, Grace and Neva, who are all midwives. The voices are seamless as their stories are told, which are all centered on the theme of mothering. While being a good story I felt the story lacked the drama and twists of similar types of novels.
In Prussia, in the 1830s, Hanne is a nature-loving girl on the brink of womanhood. Her family are old Lutherans, and the practice of their religion is banned, so her town sets out to emigrate to South Australia via a harrowing sea voyage. This is the interesting historical setting, but the heart of the book is a love story between Hanne and another young girl, Thea. A love for nature, the nature of love, and how nature is involved in love; it has supernatural elements, is deeply atmospheric, poetic and lyrical. Perhaps I am a touch old and jaded, but while I found it evocative and beautiful most of the time, occasionally the girls’ consuming passion became wearisome to me. For lovers of language, love, nature, and history.
Emily returns to New Zealand from England to look after her father, Felix, who is suffering and deteriorating from Alzheimer’s. hanging over them is the mystery of Leah, who was a next door neighbour and disappeared 25 years ago. During his more lucid moments Felix reveals secrets he has kept about Leah. The descriptions of Felix, his disease and relationship with Emily were honest and well written and the heart of the story. The mystery of Leah has a surprising ending and at times makes an emotional read and also making it a great read.
Set in Minneapolis at the beginning of the pandemic, including the time when George Floyd was murdered, The Sentence is about Tookie, who discovered reading whilst in gaol, and came to work at a book shop after she was released. The shop’s most annoying customer has died, and begins to haunt Tookie and the shop, so Tookie and her colleagues have to find a way to move her on, while coping with all that life in Minneapolis in 2020 involves, particularly for First Nations people. It’s a funny, moving, and cathartic reminder of the importance of culture, strength, hope, and love. A whole star goes to the book shop setting (it’s a real shop, owned by the author who is also in the book!) and all the books mentioned – there are lists!
Starting with the gorgeous painting on the cover, this book has been a balm, a comfort to read and reflect on in light of all that has happened, personally, and collectively. These Precious Days is a collection of essays on many topics -family, friends, growing up, knitting (I cried in this one), the power of (children’s) books, writing, marriage, the impact people can have on each other. Collectively they are a celebration of life, brimming with an energy that is open-hearted and kind; a kind of thankfulness for the way all things, the good and the hard, can be a gift.
Set in South Africa over three decades, this is the story of a family in decline. When their mother dies, three siblings return home, a place of complicated feelings and relationships. Their mother extracted a promise from their father to give a house to their black housekeeper, and this unkept promise plagues the family for many years. This was a slow burn for me; a dark, bleak, character study and reflection on the complicated changes in South Africa.
A fitting end to a greatly enjoyable series. As ever Kellen and Reichis find themselves in great peril and must use all their wits, strength and friendships to make it through. I really loved that the main character didn’t have special gifts; he was the opposite of the chosen one, and his journey and growth were more about confidence and wisdom than the attaining of skills or gifts. It is very funny and full of heart.
After her grandmother’s funeral Flo discovers a box that contains vintage sewing patterns, fabric swatches and postcards from 1962 . They belonged to a relative Nancy Moon who she has not heard of before. As her marriage is also breaking down Flo decides to recreate the outfits of Nancy Moon and recreate the 1962 journey of Nancy. The story is told through the voices of both Flo and Nancy, anchored by the outfit they both wore. Family secrets are revealed, relationships are healed and it made me nostalgic about sewing with my mother.
The Woman in the Purple Skirt falls beautifully into the ‘women who are not okay” sub-genre of recent years – My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Sorrow and Bliss, Everyone in this Room Will Someday Be Dead, Beautiful World Where Are You – that sort of book, with bonus creepiness. Translated from the Japanese it is about a woman in a purple skirt as seen, intensely, by a woman in a yellow cardigan. It’s an understated but unsettling tale of single women’s lives, workplace dynamics, community, loneliness, and obsession. It starts quietly but builds up to pack a real punch, and the audiobook is well done, though the accent is not my favourite.
Set in a post-catastrophic Edinburgh (near future or alternate?) The Library of the Dead is about Ropa, a fourteen year-old ghostalker of Zimbabwean heritage – count me in! While trying to make a living and care for her grandmother and sister, Ropa takes messages from ghosts to their families. She hears that someone is doing something terrible to children, and this sends her on an adventure that brings her to an amazing library, new friends, magic, and much danger. It had a slow start, but I am fully on board for the series.
rrlreads 