#WBOYS
Dear friends.
A new book from Booker prize winning British writer Ian McEwan is always a big event. What We Can Know is published today. I read an advance copy and am pleased to say it's one of his best.
I also have some other very interesting titles for you featuring memorable women. It's a rare month where three books are awarded 5 stars!
Most were read ahead of publication day thanks to advance copies from NetGalley and the publishers. Those marked with an asterisk were bought by me.
What We Can Know by Ian McEwan, 5 out of 5 stars
A new McEwan is a treat, to be digested and studied. In What We Can Know, Ian McEwan is on top form as he examines how we will be remembered by history.
It's 2014 and celebrated poet Francis Blundy is surrounded by distinguished friends over dinner as he presents a long awaited poem, a corona, to his wife Vivien for her birthday.
The poem was rumoured to be a masterpiece, but somehow never released to the public. Blundy, we're told, is as celebrated as Tennyson and Donne.
More than 100 years later, in 2120, academic Thomas Metcalfe at the University of the South Downs is trying to find out what happened to the poem.
McEwan casually drops hints that the world is a different place. There have been several wars and nuclear weapons have been used, causing tsunamis. Much of the UK is under water.
Famous cities like New York have disappeared. Nigeria controls the Internet and pretty much everything else. North America is controlled by warlords. There are no planes or cars, just boats and bikes. The Bodleian library is now housed high up in Snowdonia and accessed by a funicular railway.
McEwan doesn't dwell on everyday life in 2120. Professor Metcalfe, who teaches the unfashionable Humanities to students who don't want to hear about history and the mistakes we made,
is more concerned with finding Francis Blundy's lost poem.
Back in 2014, Blundy and his friends are as shallow and stupid as the students of 2120 believe us all to have been.
Squandering the earth's resources, flying 2000 miles to spend a week in the sun when we already knew it caused cancer. Dallying in affairs. Wondering how to talk to people who had never been to university.
His novel is a clarion call: wake up, for God's sake! If the novel teaches us anything, it's that we are leaving a terrible legacy for those who follow us.
The Secret Barrister by SJ Fleet, 5 out of 5
General Fiction (Adult) / Mystery & Thrillers
The inside knowledge of "The Secret Barrister" takes us right into the crown court system and the emotions, opinions and feelings of all those involved in this particular case. Absolutely fascinating. The case itself - three young men caught numerous times on cctv attacking a man in his 70s - appears open and closed, but jaw dropping twists and errors mean it becomes very complex and hard to call. The three protagonists turn against each other and it becomes clear there were flaws in the prosecution's case.
What an ending!
I couldn't devour it quickly enough.
After reading it I saw this one feature as top pick in the Sunday Times September fiction recommendations.
The Dark of the Moon by Fiona Valpy (5 stars)
Historical Fiction / General Fiction (Adult)
A wonderful book rich in historical detail, atmosphere and drama from a born storyteller.
The story is told from the perspectives of Philly Delaney, an elderly woman with an extraordinary life story, and Finn, a young neuro diverse boy. Philly instinctively understands Finn and the brilliance of his mind. Finn occasionally has meltdowns, and can't cope with surprises, but his autism is covered in a matter of fact way. Similarly, Philly gets tired easily (she must be in her 90s) but isn't treated in a patronising way. Her wisdom helps Finn's parents to see their son's gifts.
Philly has been on a lifte long quest to find the grave of her pilot husband Ben, in France, and to discover what happened to the Polish cryptographers in Vichy France that she met secretly on two missions in World War II.
You'll need a hanky for the final chapters. Those Spitfires finished me off!
Live, Laugh, Leave Me Alone by Harper Ford (4 out of 5)
General Fiction (Adult) | Romance | Women's Fiction
Described by her dad as a "foul-mouthed bitchy cynic," Lucy has worked her way up the corporate ladder at Beane & Co and is now HR director, but a little jaded with it all. The prospect of a new CEO brings with it the opportunity to be promoted to COO. But the new CEO also brings a rival, Tara, who is competing for the same job.
If this sounds a little dry don't worry, it's about far more than office politics.
It's also a treatise on the Wellness industry as seen on Instagram, where there are charlatans a-plenty.
Lucy decides to go on a rejuvenation course after seeing from social media that rival Tara has signed up for it. She encounters a couple of ludicrous practitioners. However her encounter with therapist Clio is a life changing meeting. But is Clio all she seems?
Ultimately very uplifting, this is a cracker of a plot. It passed the true test of keeping me burning the midnight oil. It's fresh and contemporary with humour, cynicism and strong female relationships. I'm keen to read more from this author.
The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick, 4 out of 5
An illuminating glimpse into the lives of women in the early 1960s in America. Seismic change has started to happen globally, including space travel, but women are expected to stay at home looking after children.
Margaret gets paid to write a column in magazine A Woman's Place, but can't open her own bank account unless her husband gives approval. Bitsy has the grades for vet school but is turned down in favour of male candidates with poor grades. Viv wants to go on the Pill but her husband missed the appointment (husbands have to approve the request) and now she is pregnant again.
Margaret, Bitsy, Viv and Charlotte form a book club called The Bettys. The name is in honour of Betty Friedan's transformative book The Feminine Mystique, their first read. The women hardly know each other but they're keen to make friends, having moved to a new build estate where the only social opportunity seems to be a "Coffee Klatch" where women talk about their latest bakes or makes, as if they are Stepford wives.
Gradually the Bettys start to overcome societal hurdles to live satisfying lives based on their own achievements. A bit saccharin in places, but I would recommend this to women who dissociate themselves from feminism. The author has cleverly worked real people into the story and in her after word talks about the context and how women's rights finally evolved.
Thanks to Amazon First Reads for the advance digital copy.
Audition* by Katie Kitamura, 3.5 out of 5
General Fiction, Literary Fiction
A slim but complex investigation into how other people see us. Booker Prize long listed, this book will probably receive different interpretations from different people.
Told in two narratives, the personality of a 49 year old actress is explored from two different angles. Is she constantly playing in a performance, from someone else's script or her own?
I found it a fascinating but disturbing story, particularly the last scene where a family incident was so surreal I wondered if it was all in her mind.
Our Beautiful Mess by Adele Parks* 3.5 stars
It took a while to get into this and I was wondering if I'd have to park a Parks for the first time in 25 years.
The problem was getting to know the family with all its complications, and having to suspend disbelief at the jaw dropping relationships.
I was still doing this by the end but by now I'd bought into the unlikely plot. I imagine Adele enjoyed writing this rather hammy thriller.
It works thanks to her deft timing and the exciting ending, but isn't up there with her best.
Bitter Sweet* by Hattie Williams, 3.5 out of 5
Fiction / Romance / Literary Fiction / Contemporary
Charlie, a 23 year old who's never got over the death of her mother, lands a dream job at a book publisher. She's soon introduced to a literary author, Richard, who has been her obsession for several years. Richard, 56, is married but says his wife is mostly at their house in France. He and Charlie start seeing each other - which means she goes round to his apartment in Covent Garden in a covert way, as no-one must know. What could possibly go wrong?
It sounds like a familiar and rather hackneyed plot, but Williams has a free flowing writing style that captured my attention.
NON FICTION
Somebody is Walking on Your Grave by Mariana Enriquez, 4 out of 5
Books about cemeteries are often dry and factual, recording historic graves and their inhabitants. Mariana Enriquez takes a different approach and imbues her cemeteries travelogue with personal recollections.
She starts with how she fell in love with these mysterious and beautiful final resting places. A fleeting and bittersweet romance introduced her to the spectacular and voluptuous architecture of Italian cemeteries. The romance was short lived. She thought he might turn up at the train station the next day, but he never did. The train takes Enriquez away and into a fascinating exploration of how different countries commemorate the dead, with many more anecdotes.
Graveyards include Montparnasse in Paris, Highgate in London, and the Jewish cemetery in Prague, as well as more remote, decrepit, hidden, or secretly beautiful ones.
This book is published on 25 September.
I hope you enjoyed this month's selection. Do share which books have caught your eye, and any other recommendations.
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