Latest Book Reviews for April

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Dear friends. A more contemplative selection of books this month, with two outstanding memoirs and a couple of books set in the past. 

I'm starting first with my 5 star read, the non-fiction The Apothecary by the Sea by Victoria Bennett. An inspiring and spellbinding read. Thanks as always to NetGalley and the various publishers of the books reviewed below for the advance digital copies.

The Apothecary by the Sea by Victoria Bennett  (5 out of 5 stars)

Home & Garden | Outdoors & Nature | Travel

With the years of early motherhood and elderly caregiving over, Victoria faces a time of change. She and her family decide to take a leap, moving five hundred miles north of everything they know to the northern Scottish islands of Orkney, where the winters are long and the summer a perpetual light.

Uprooted and in an unfamiliar landscape, Victoria instinctively returns to the work of growing, setting out to transform her scrappy backyard into an abundant apothecary garden by the sea, inspired by Orkney’s folklore, ancient landscapes and wild nature.

There's something spellbinding about this book, both the writing and the transformative effect of Orkney on Victoria, who, when we first meet her, is taking a huge leap into the unknown as she and her husband buy their first house on an island that they barely know.  She is trying to find meaning in her life after grief and loss. Initially she hides from the neighbours, afraid she will be shunned as an outsider. But gradually she starts to reach out, with a nearby resident allowing her to take over his derelict garden. 

Orkney  (the inhabitants always refer to it as Orkney, never the Orkneys or the Orkney Islands) has a wealth of plants, many of which are weeds, which help shape the narrative. 

The mention of bladderwrack, which used to be hung by the door to predict storms, took me back to childhood and a memory of how I used to do exactly that. I would take a small piece from Tinside in Plymouth and hang it outside my bedroom window. 

This book is published on  30 April. 

Faces of the Dead by Chris Nickson (4 out of 5 stars)

General Fiction (Adult) | Historical Fiction | Mystery & Thrillers

Another gripping case for Sgt Cathy Marsden, on secondment from the police in Leeds to Special Investigations Branch. Set in the Second World War, this is a fascinating glimpse into how crimes were solved in the days before CCTV and DNA. 

Cathy's days of pounding the beat pay off when she and her colleagues start investigating a series of disappearances and murders among the local criminal fraternity.

She is known to many in Leeds and able to get sex workers to confide in her. The case has attracted investigators from America as it's linked to a stash of US military weapons.

Women police officers were few and far between at this time, and a female sergeant didn't have the same status as her male counterpart. But Cathy impresses so much she is chosen for additional responsibilities.

I loved reading about the war time conditions and in particular "the ration." Cathy's dad grumbles about having to eat largely vegetarian fare such as Homity Pie.

Fallout by Eleanor Anstruther (4 out of 5 stars)

General Fiction (Adult) | LGBTQIA | Literary Fiction

The achievement of thousands of British women in getting the US to remove nuclear missiles from a common in Berkshire, England, has been lost in the annals of time. Author Eleanor Anstruther, who describes herself as a gnostic, anarchist and aristocrat, takes us back to 1982. A typically "whatever" teenager, 15 year old Bridget, is fed up with her family. Mum Janet, a dinner lady, is forever cleaning and bustling; dad Ray is present but absent in spirit, and weirdly seems to wear lipstick at night. Seven year old Pauly doesn't seem to do much except eat chocolate.

Bridget sneaks off to Greenham Common with her art teacher and a few others. Her parents think she's at an art gallery. Having had no previous interest in Cruise missiles, the reason for the peace camp being set up, Bridget likes the freedom and friendship. She decides to stay. This doesn't go down well with her parents.

Life at the camp is brutal. The Thatcher government sends in bailiffs to remove the women's belongings and bedding, while police and troops watch and do nothing except catcall. The different parts of the camp are destroyed time and time again but the women refuse to be bowed. They show how easy it is to get past the perimeter fence and into the area where huge silos will hold the missiles. Eventually the campaign pays off. The Supreme Court gets involved and a disarmament agreement is signed between the US and Russia. President Gorbachev cited the Greenham women's protest as his motivation.

Towards the end Anstruther's characters in the peace camp start to fracture in their unity as various other political factions start to take priority. The focus is less nuclear disarmament than feminism and women's rights.

Meanwhile Bridget is the forcing function in the stifling and strained atmosphere of her family where no-one speaks the truth or confronts reality.

The writing is very engaging, pulling you in and making you feel part of the narrative.

The Knapdale Murders by Daniel Sellers (4 out of 5 stars)

General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers

When newly promoted DI Anna Vaughan is called to a case in remote Knapdale, on the Argyll coast, she welcomes the chance to escape her life in Glasgow, and more specifically, her mother-in-law. 

Ellen McIver, Baldrishaig’s local busybody, has been found dead. Run over — repeatedly — by a tractor belonging to local farmer Glen Cameron.  With the help of local DC Jo McLean, Anna leads her first murder case as a DI. 

This is a riveting good read. It kept me intrigued until the end. Daniel Sellers managed to bring freshness and originality to a genre which has become quite predictable. The unveiling of a serial killer was unexpected and very clever. Thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to more books in this series, set in the Scottish Highlands.

The Great Good Places by Margaret Drabble   (4 out of 5 stars) 

Biographies & Memoirs

One of our foremost biographers, novelist and short story writers, Dame Margaret Drabble, shares moments from her life. She has always danced to her own tune, choosing to live mostly on her own, except for a brief spell with an ex husband she calls “The Cad”. She shares her wisdom and learnings with brutal honesty. She was very dubious when a female journalist deemed rather lightweight wrote her biography in "mid market prose", followed by the unwelcome promotion she had to do. No mention of the biography can be found online so perhaps it never saw the light of day.

Her quick silver mind and intelligence delivers thoughts on a multitude of topics and individuals: Gainsborough, Thomas Hardy, the local rat catcher, her contemporary Joan Bakewell. How her community dealt with lockdown and a treatise on how other writers have described ageing.

Her 20th novel, which provisionally had a title and cover inspired by Gainsborough, will not be finished as her daughter died in 2017. “I began to realise my life as a novelist was over. I had ceased to be the person I once was, and I had lost the source from which I used to write”.

She finishes with a chapter called death, and muses on the fact that her grandson has offered to sing at her funeral. He is the only musical Drabble, and has a truly beautiful voice which contributed to his a capella choir reaching the 2011 semi final of Britain’s Got Talent.

I hope you enjoyed this month's selection. Which book has tempted you? Do tell in the comments.

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