Devotion by Hannah Kent

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.

The sentence by Louise Erdrich

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!

These precious days by Ann Patchett

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.

The promise by Damon Galgut

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.

Crownbreaker by Sebastien de Castell

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.

The woman in the purple skirt by Natsuko Imamura

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.

The library of the dead by T.L. Huchu

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.

Ayoade on top by Richard Ayoade

If you like Richard Ayoade, you will very likely enjoy this light-hearted, often ridiculous appraisal of a little known (and certainly never seen by me) Gwyneth Paltrow film. Interspersed with details from his own life, Ayoade gives us the blow by blow glories of this film and the wonder that is GP herself. A great deal of fun, and a delightfully short and satisfying read.

The ten thousand doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

In the early 20th century January Scaller lives in a great house full of treasures, a ward to Mr Locke for whom her father works. One day she finds a book that tells an extraordinary tale of other worlds, and January is drawn out of her sheltered life and into great danger and adventure. With a story within a story, it reminded me of The Starless Sea( though a little less convoluted and grown-up), and it had elements of Sorcerer to the Crown as well (though not as funny), both favourites of mine. It is beautifully atmospheric, gorgeously imaginative, and gently romantic, with strong female characters, loyal friends (including a dog) frightening villains, and and an intriguing mystery.

The beautiful words by Vanessa McCausland

Sylvie and Kase were the closest of friends until one night, when they were 17, something horrific happened that turned their lives upside-down, and Kase didn’t see Sylvie again. Sylvie was hurt physically and emotionally by the event, and lives a lonely life until Kase, now a famous author, invites Sylvie to her fortieth birthday party on a lonely Tasmanian island, and the past comes back to haunt them. Set in Sydney’s Palm Beach and in Tasmania, it’s a lush, lyrical, atmospheric novel about slowly revealed secrets, friendship, power and betrayal, and the strength and hope found in words and stories.