My Reading Year 2023

I managed to get my reading mojo back in 2023 and have enjoyed a wonderful year of books. I also spent a week at the Sydney Writers' Festival which introduced me to many new books and authors. 

My reading goal for 2023 was 30 books, which I achieved, reading 33 titles this year. When planning for 2023 at the start of the year, I had a stack of books on my to-be-read pile, and managed to read most of them.  I also updated my reading bingo card  to help me diversify my reading. While I didn't read all categories, I succeeded in most of them (highlighted below). 

So here's what I read in 2023:

Fiction

I wanted to read some classics this year. In January I discovered the #BigBronteReadalong on Instagram and so joined that group online. I have read all the Bronte novels before, but many decades ago (indeed, last century!). I managed to read four Bronte novels - Jane Eyre, Shirley, The Professor and Agnes Grey. I tried to read Wuthering Heights again, but still did not like it, and lost my Bronte momentum, after slogging my way through Shirley and The Professor.  So I never did re-read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall or Villette. While my readalong was a bit of a fail, I quite enjoyed the idea of it and may see if I can join one next year for a #DollopofTrollope or similar. Regardless I will continue my reading of classics as I work my way through my Fifty/Five list.

Some of the more modern classics I read this year include George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, Elizabeth Von Armin's Vera, Winifred Watson's Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, and John William's Stoner. I enjoyed all of these novels and am so glad I pulled them off the shelf. Orwell was a re-read but all the others were new to me but had been on my wishlist for many years. The delightful Winifred Watson novel was so hard to come by, but has made me want to search out other neglected books by women writers published by Persephone.

My interest in feminist retellings of ancient myths continues. This year I read two novels based on myths - although not the ones I had on my to be read pile! I picked up two new novels published in 2023 - Jennifer Saint's Atalanta and Costanza Casati's Clytemnestra. Both were really enjoyable and I look forward to reading more myths in 2024.

I read quite a few Aussie Noir crime novels this year. Hayley Scrivenor's Dirt Town was brilliant and I have been recommending it to everyone I know who loves a good page turner. In 2022 I heard Scrivener speak at the Sydney Writers Festival on a panel with Garry Disher. This started my love of Disher's Hirschhausen series and after reading Bitter Wash Road last year, I gobbled up Peace and Consolation this year.  Likewise, I enjoy Chris Hammer's novels and read two in the Lucic/Buchanan series - The Tilt and The Seven. Both were excellent. 

I also read some crime/thriller novels by non-Australian authors. I pre-ordered the latest Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) novel in the Cormoran Strike series, The Running Grave. It was such an enjoyable read and my favourite in the series so far. Dervla McTiernan is another gifted crime writer and I was delighted to learn about her Cormac Reilly series through reading The Ruin. I pre-ordered Eleanor Catton's novel Birnam Wood and was delighted to get to meet her at the Sydney Writers' Festival. This novel had me gripped from the outset and lingered long after the last page was read. Likewise Percival Everett's magnificent The Trees has not left my mind. I heard about this novel when it was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize, but had difficulty finding a copy. I am so glad to have read this and look forward to exploring more books by Percival Everett. 

The Sydney Writers' Festival was also a chance to meet Colson Whitehead. I absolutely loved his novel The Nickel Boys and at the time I declared it would be a contender for one of my favourite books of the year. I am looking forward to reading more of Whitehead's books in 2024. 

Award longlists provide me with much reading inspiration but this year I didn't read as many longlisted novels as I normally do, in part because the ones I was most interested in were hard to find. 

Sophie Mackintosh's Cursed Bread was longlisted for the 2023 Women's Prize and sounded really intriguing, but unfortunately left me disappointed. Likewise, Jessica Au's Cold Enough for Snow has won countless awards and was on my wishlist for ages. I read it as my #NovellaInNovember and was underwhelmed. I had avoided Sally Rooney's Normal People for years due to the hype around it but finally read it this year and can now understand why it was so popular. Another much hyped novel is Ann Patchett's Tom Lake which I read and enjoyed with the audiobook performed by Meryl Streep - the first novel I have read which features the COVID-19 pandemic. I also read Miriam Toews' Women Talking, as I wanted to see the film but read the book first. Both the novel and the film were great! 

Of all the novels I read this year it is really hard to pick a favourite. My top five would be:

• Eleanor Catton - Birnam Wood
• Coleson Whitehead - The Nickel Boys
• Hayley Scrivinor - Dirt Town 
• Percival Everett - The Trees
• Robert Galbraith - The Running Grave

Non-Fiction

This year I didn't read as much non-fiction as I had planned to. It was a difficult year for me on many fronts, so perhaps I needed the escape that novels provide!

In January I read Julia Gillard's excellent essay collection Not Now, Not Ever - which looks back at the infamous misogyny speech she gave while Prime Minister and the aftermath ten years later. I loved this book and the diversity of voices she gathered to reflect on politics, sexism and the unfinished business of equality. Another revelatory book on Australian politics was Margot Saville's The Teal Revolution. I attended a session with Saville at the Sydney Writers' Festival and heard her speak about the wave of women entering politics as independents. I found her book a fascinating insight into the current shake up of Parliament.

I also read some interesting memoir this year. Grace Tame's memoir The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner was an interesting exploration of the life of this remarkable woman. While the book was challenging and in need of an edit, I have nothing but admiration for Tame.  Similarly Britney Spears' The Woman in Me was not particularly well written but was such as interesting read. It is a fascinating look at the music industry and the perils of early fame, and I really loved this book and the audiobook performed by Michelle Williams. 

Another memoir of sorts was Anna Funder's Wifedom - a look at the life of Eileen O'Shaunessy Blair, wife of George Orwell. I love Anna Funder and would read anything she writes. I pre-ordered this book as soon as it was announced.  Wifedom does not fit neatly into any category as Funder fuses styles, melding her life with Eileen's. I found it an engrossing read, and made me look at Orwell and his work in a new light. Definitely my favourite non-fiction this year.

Other Genres

I also explored a mishmash of other genres in 2023. 

I re-read a play I had studied in high school, Our Town by Thornton Wilder, to assist me in my reading of Ann Patchett's Tom Lake, and found I still didn't love it after all these years. Shirley Jackson's Dark Tales - a collection of her eerie short stories, was wonderful and made me want to read more of her work.  I also read an amazing poetry collection - Sarah Holland Batt's award winning The Jaguar. I picked this up after hearing her read from the collection at the Sydney Writers' Festival and have savoured her verse.

Best of 2023
I read so many great books this year. I loved and highly recommend:

• Anna Funder - Wifedom 
• Britney Spears - The Woman in Me
• George Orwell -  Nineteen Eighty-Four
• Winifred Watson - Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
• Sarah Holland Batt -  The Jaguar
• Hayley Scrivinor - Dirt Town
• Chris Hammer - The Seven
• Percival Everett - The Trees
• Robert Galbraith - The Running Grave
• Eleanor Catton - Birnam Wood
• Coleson Whitehead - The Nickel Boys

If I had to choose my absolute favourites, I would pick Anna Funder's revealing exploration Wifedom and Eleanor Catton's page-turning eco-thriller Birnam Wood.

Well, that's my year of reading! A new year starts tomorrow and I cannot wait to discover new books and rediscover old favourites. Happy New Reading Year!

Cover the Bones

The third novel in Chris Hammer's series featuring Detective Ivan Lucic and his plucky partner Nell Buchanan has recently been published. The Seven (2023) sees the partners investigating a homicide in Yuwonderie, a fictional town in the Riverina area of New South Wales. 

A body is found in the canal that runs through the heart of Yuwonderie. Lucic and Buchanan drive down from their base in Dubbo to investigate. The victim is a local accountant, Athol Hasluck, who has died in mysterious circumstances. They quickly learn that Hasluck is from one of 'The Seven' - the seven families that built and established the town one hundred years earlier. These families created the irrigation scheme - a system of canals that bring water from the Murrumbidgee River into the town - central to the prosperity of the community. But the detectives soon discover that there are dark secrets beneath the facade presented by this planned community, and the more they uncover the more dangerous their investigation becomes. 

The novel unfolds on three timeframes. The present, where Lucic and Buchanan are investigating Hasluck's death.  Thirty years earlier, in 1993, when Davis Heartwood, one of the Seven families, begins researching the origins of the irrigation scheme for his thesis. And 1913, when a young Aboriginal woman named Bessie arrives in the area to work for one of the families and writes to her mother who lives on a mission. Over the course of the novel, the three timeframes are interwoven and reveal information essential to this story. 

In the previous instalment of the series, Buchanan was the focus. In this novel, we learn more about Ivan Lucic and his past. We also have characters from previous Hammer novels - like Martin Scarsden from Scrublands - make appearances in this book. While it helps to have read the previous Lucic novels, The Seven can be read as a standalone book.

Once again, Hammer has called upon Aleksander J Potocnick to create a map of the fictional town. This is a handy reference when reading to help understand the topography of the landscape and the proximity of various locations. 

I really enjoyed this novel. It is a gripping murder mystery, with interesting characters and a clear sense of place. I hope that Hammer continues to write this series, as I want more Ivan and Nell! 

My reviews of other Chris Hammer novels are available on this blog: Scrublands (2018); Silver (2019); Trust (2020); Treasure and Dirt (2021) and The Tilt (2022).  For readers outside Australia, the Lucic/Buchanan novels are published under different titles - look for Opal Country (Treasure and Dirt), Dead Man's Creek (The Tilt) and Cover the Bones (The Seven) instead.

Only Connect

For my 'Novella in November', I chose Jessica Au's Cold Enough for Snow (2022), a book I have been longing to read. It won the 2020 Novel Prize, the 2023 Victorian Premier's Prize for Fiction, the Victorian Prize for Literature and the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction. With all the accolades, I had high expectations for this book, but unfortunately it left me cold.

The story involves a woman who arranges to meet her mother in Tokyo and travel around Japan together.  Narrated by the daughter, she describes their visits to art galleries, restaurants, temples and stores. The two are estranged and while they are travelling together, they share little - even at an art gallery they view the works separately. For the daughter, this trip is a chance to escape her daily life and contemplate her future. Through flashbacks we learn about the narrator's sister, an uncle in Hong Kong, her partner Laurie - but we learn little of the mother and daughter. In an effort to please each other, neither says what is on their mind. Can they bridge the distance between them?

Jessica Au writes in a beautifully observant sensory style. She describes places and things meticulously. The way our narrator describes what she sees is evocative, contemplative and delightful. For example, 

'When my mother finally appeared, she might as well have been an apparition. She came with her puffer jacket zipped up to her chin, and in the cold night air her breath came out in a little cloud, like a small departing spirit' (p. 90).

I loved Au's descriptive prose, admiring each sentence. The author forces you to slow down, savour every word.  However the overall stream-of-consciousness style without chapter breaks did not work for me. I wanted more from this book, to gain a better understanding of the characters, to feel more substance. Not unlike the narrator, I longed for connection.

Our Town

Ann Patchett's latest novel Tom Lake (2023) is set on a Michigan cherry farm in 2020 during the COVID pandemic. Lara and Joe's three adult daughters have returned home to support the family farm and live out lockdown in their childhood home. The eldest Emily will inherit the farm and likely marry her sweetheart on the neighbouring farm. Middle child Maisie is a local veterinarian and youngest Nell is studying to be an actor. While they pick cherries in the orchard, the girls ask their mother to tell them about how she once had relationship with Hollywood heartthrob Peter Duke. Lara tells the tale of how she did a summer stock production of Our Town at Tom Lake, a festival town, where she met Duke and had a summer romance.

Told in flashbacks, Lara recounts the story from her early twenties when she was cast to star as Emily in Thornton Wilder's classic play Our Town (1938) and Mae in Sam Shepard's Fool For Love. The summer she spent at Tom Lake was filled with rehearsals, performances and lazy days of swimming and hanging out with her friends - Duke, his brother Sebastian, and Pallace (Lara's understudy). After this summer of passion, Duke went on to become a star and then converted his celebrity into an Oscar winning performance in a serious dramatic role. Lara had a brief moment of fame, starring in one film before retiring in her mid-twenties and retreating to the farm. Her daughters are keen to know how Duke and Lara's paths converged and then separated, and ultimately how Lara ended up on the farm instead of a mansion in Hollywood.  

It helps to have knowledge of Wilder's Our Town when reading Tom Lake. A few chapters in,  I decided to refresh my memory and found my browning 1985 edition of the play. In my high school drama class I did a scene from Our Town, playing Emily Webb opposite a classmate's George. I have no doubt that my Emily was not unlike the many dud Emilys, Lara observed during auditions!  Our Town is essentially a play about life in a small town and the preciousness of the little things in life. I didn't really appreciate the play when I read it as a teenager, but can understand it more now. The folksy tale of life in Grover's Corner is an excellent parallel for Tom Lake. 

I read Patchett's Tom Lake while listening to the audiobook performed by Meryl Streep. She read this book with warmth and embodied Lara perfectly. Interspersed between Lara's memories of one golden summer, is the present on her family's orchard. The novel explores the joys of family, and the slowness that the pandemic brought as people formed protective bubbles. Lara explains the choices she made without regret. Along the way we learn more about her daughters and her husband and life on the farm. Lara revels in the preciousness of each day and the joys of having her children close by.  Tom Lake brings about a coziness, like comfort-food - a cherry pie enjoyed while wrapped in a patchwork quilt by a roaring fire. 

My review of Ann Patchett's State of Wonder (2011) is also on this blog.

Warrior Queen

Clytemnestra is best known as the sister of Helen of Troy and the wife of Agamemnon, the brutal King of Mycenae. She is often depicted as a villain who murdered her husband. Clytemnestra appears in Aeschylus' Oresteia (5th century BCE), Homer's Odyssey (8th century BCE) and elsewhere, where she appears as a peripheral character, cast in a vengeful light. In Clytemnestra (2023), author Costanza Casati seeks to understand this complex woman and tell her story, in this impressive debut novel.

Born in Sparta, Clytemnestra is raised alongside her sister Helen and her brothers Castor and Polydeuces (Pollux) and younger siblings. Her father Tyndareus is King of Sparta. Her mother Leda was raped by Zeus in the form of a swan, resulting in her drowning her trauma in alcohol and raising her daughters to fight, routinely testing each other's strength in the wrestling ring. The girls know it is their lot in life to be married off to form strategic alliances. Helen choses Menelaus. Clytemnestra marries for love, choosing Tantalus the King of Pisa, with whom she has a young son. In a grotesque act of betrayal, her husband and son are murdered and Clytemnestra is forced to marry the man who caused her grief - Agamemnon, the King of Mycenae - with whom she has Iphigenia, Electra and Orestes. 

When Helen runs off with Paris, the Trojan War begins. Menelaus asks his brother Agamemnon for assistance. The Greek troops meet at Aulis, and soon Agamemnon sends for his wife and daughter who is to be wed to Achilles. When the women arrive at Aulis, Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter in exchange for favourable winds. This second act of betrayal hardens Clytemnestra's heart and she vows her revenge. 

While Agamemnon is away for the ten years of the Trojan War, Clytemnestra serves as Queen of Mycenae. She manages trade negotiations, resolves disputes, dispenses justice. She is a driven, capable leader. Casati presents her as a woman in full - a daughter, a sister, a lover, a wife, a mother, a queen, a survivor. I particularly enjoyed the way Casati portrayed her as a sister - supporting her brothers, defending Timandra, worrying for Helen.

I have read many retellings of ancient myths, and the characters routinely overlap. I had worried that I might not enjoy another story covering the same ground, but Casati has found a new way of telling a familiar story to make it feel fresh. Casati has given Clytemnestra a voice, and created a sympathetic portrait of a woman who experienced multiple traumas and endured. In doing so, she has recast the villain as a survivor.  Highly recommend this for fans of ancient myths.

Booker Prize Winner 2023

The winner of the 2023 Booker Prize for fiction was announced today, with Irish author Paul Lynch receiving the £50,000 prize for the novel, Prophet Song. 

Set in Dublin, Eilish Stack is a mother of four. One night, two officers from Ireland's secret police show up seeking her husband. As the government lurches towards tyranny, Eilish does whatever she can to keep her family together. The Judges write 'Paul Lynch's harrowing and dystopian Prophet Song vividly renders a mother's determination to protect her family as Ireland's liberal democracy slides inexorably and terrifyingly into totalitarianism.' 

Paul Lynch was born in Limerick and now calls Dublin home. He was a film critic and cinema writer for the Sunday Tribune and Sunday Times. His previous novels are Red Sky in Morning (2013), The Black Snow (2014), Grace (2017) and Beyond the Sea (2019) 

Chair of the Judging panel, Esi Edugyan, said of Prophet Song:

‘From that first knock at the door, Prophet Song forces us out of our complacency as we follow the terrifying plight of a woman seeking to protect her family in an Ireland descending into totalitarianism. We felt unsettled from the start, submerged in – and haunted by – the sustained claustrophobia of Lynch’s powerfully constructed world. He flinches from nothing, depicting the reality of state violence and displacement and offering no easy consolations.

‘Here the sentence is stretched to its limits – Lynch pulls off feats of language that are stunning to witness. He has the heart of a poet, using repetition and recurring motifs to create a visceral reading experience. This is a triumph of emotional storytelling, bracing and brave. With great vividness, Prophet Song captures the social and political anxieties of our current moment. Readers will find it soul-shattering and true, and will not soon forget its warnings.’

With three guys name Paul in the shortlist, it was a safe bet that one would win. I am pleased it is Paul Lynch for Prophet Song. While I have not yet read this novel, I love dystopian fiction, and this book stood out on the list as one that I would likely enjoy.

Pure Spirit

The Strike series by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) features my favourite detective duo of Cormoran Strike and his business partner Robin Ellacott. Over the seven novels of the series, I have enjoyed observing these characters develop while they solve complex crimes. When I knew the latest novel was forthcoming, I preordered the book and audiobook of The Running Grave (2023), and commenced reading  as soon as it arrived. 

The previous book, The Ink Black Heart (2022) got bogged down with too many characters and long-winded sections of online chat threads. When I heard the next book would also run to close to a thousand pages, I was worried that Rowling would again go overboard with subplots and superfluous exposition. Fortunately, The Running Grave is a return to form. 

The main case in this novel involves a cult. Sir Colin Edensor contacts the detectives with a request to help free his son Will from the Universal Humanitarian Church (UHC), which Sir Edensor believes has brainwashed him and cut off all communication. Will is staying at the Church's farm compound in Norfolk. The UHC is run by the charismatic Papa J and his wife Manu, who have created a mythology of various prophets and supernatural events. To infiltrate the UHC, Robin goes undercover as Rowena, a wealthy young woman. She is whisked off on a retreat to the farm, where she experiences the indoctrination and control of the UHC as she tries to find and get close to Will. 

While at the UHC, Robin faces serious danger. Recruits are forced into hard labour on minimal food rations. They are continually surveilled and suffer corporal punishment for infringements. The cult is also based on controlling sexual relationships, requiring people to engage in 'spirit-bonding' (coerced unprotected sex). Robin's quick wits are routinely tested and the only contact she has with the outside world is the messages she sneaks out once a week by hiding them in a fake rock in the forest. Rowling does an excellent job of portraying the physical and mental pressure that Robin is under, and the sense of ever-present danger.

Robin and Strike are seperate for most of this novel. He is worried sick about her in the cult, but tries to keep his mind busy with the other cases the team has on their list. Aside from the case, there are personal matters to deal with. Robin isn't sure how she feels about her police officer boyfriend Ryan (who we met in The Ink Black Heart), as she attempts to quash her feelings for Strike. Strike is facing multiple personal matters - Uncle Ted's dementia; ex-girlfriend Charlotte's instability; his demanding one-night-stand, Bijou; and building relationships with various half-siblings. But his biggest personal issue is he knows he is in love with Robin, but doesn't know what to do about it.

The Running Grave is my favourite book in this series so far. The audiobook is performed by Robert Glenister, a gifted actor who is able to portray the diverse characters giving them each a distinctive voice. Rowling masterfully weaves together various strands of plot and subplot, and, like all good crime series, The Running Grave ends with a tantalising cliffhanger which leaves the reader in anticipation of what comes next. Knowing that Rowling intends to have ten novels in this series, I cannot wait for the next one! 

My reviews of previous books in the series are available on this blog:

• The Cuckoo's Calling (2013) 
•  The Silkworm (2014) 
• Career of Evil (2016)
• Lethal White (2018)
• Troubled Blood (2020)
• The Ink Black Heart (2022)

 

Piece of Me

American singer-songwriter Britney Spears, the 'Princess of Pop', is one of the best-selling music artists of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Throughout her career she has been recognised with a Grammy Award, American Music Award and eight Billboard Music Awards. For three decades she has had number one singles and studio albums, creating memorable singles like 'Oops!... I Did It Again', 'Toxic', 'Womaniser' and 'Me Against the Music'. 

Alongside her career, Britney was often in the tabloids for her personal life - her high profile romances, her ill-advised marriages, her alcohol abuse, her mental health concerns and her battles to free herself from the conservatorship that controlled her life. In her memoir The Woman in Me (2023), Britney explores all of these matters giving her side of the story. I read this book while listening to the audiobook version read by actor Michelle Williams. The story was brought to life by Williams' incredible performance, an empathetic and moving voice. I would regularly stop reading to play Britney's music, watch videos or look up photos of events she referred to - like the 'pyjama top' she wore on a date with actor Colin Farrell or the double-denim look she and Justin Timberlake wore to the 2001 American Music Awards.

Britney Jean Spears was born in 1981 and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, a rural town near the Mississippi state line. As a child she loved to perform, singing and dancing, and participating in her church choir. She won many talent shows and was destined to be in show business. At age eight her mother took her to Atlanta to auction for The Mickey Mouse Club, but she was turned down because she was too young. After a brief stint in New York, at age ten Britney joined Disney's 1990s revival of The Mickey Mouse Club, performing alongside castmates Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling, Christina Aguilera, and Keri Russell. As seen in this clip from the show, she had a real presence, performing with Timberlake who would become her first boyfriend.

The show was cancelled in 1994 and Timberlake went off to join NSYNC. Spears was wooed for various girl groups but went out on her own to record her first album Baby One More Time (1999) which debuted at number one on the US charts and was the biggest-selling album by a teenager. In The Woman in Me Spears describes this period of her career and the making of the video, which changed her life. Suddenly she was in the spotlight, hounded by paparazzi. She also received a fair amount of criticism for her risqué attire and racy dancing. 

With Timberlake and Spears touring and achieving mega stardom, their relationship was in the spotlight. Spears writes about how she became pregnant and was persuaded by Timberlake to have an abortion as they were very young. He ended up breaking up with her via text message, and she was devastated at the media treatment of the pair. He portrayed her as a promiscuous heartbreaker, whereas the opposite was true. Shortly after the breakup her father forced her to do an interview with Diane Sawyer where she felt exploited and demeaned. 

Throughout the book Spears shows the sexism and misogyny in the music industry and the double standard applied to women. Those who should have protected her - her parents, siblings, husband - all sought to use her. Their lifestyles were fuelled by her success. 

Ultimately, Spears just wanted a simple life - a family and a home. She married Kevin Federline and had two boys in rapid succession - only to have custody of the children weaponised against her. She is forced into rehab as a tool to regain custody. 

Her father then embarks on a 13-year conservatorship in which all decisions about her life are taken out of her hands. Spears points out the contradictions of an adult woman so apparently unwell that she must be controlled by her parents, and yet well enough to tour relentlessly to keep the money rolling in. She is drugged against her will, told what to eat, surveilled and isolated from friends. Ultimately she is institutionalised. 

While in the facility a nurse tells her about the #FreeBritney movement led by her fans. This gave her the inner strength to go on, to get her own lawyer and challenge the conservatorship. When her father was removed, and the conservatorship ended, she was able to make decisions for herself, including the decision to remain estranged from her family. 

Spears is now free, to find herself and the life she wants. The book ends with her marriage to Sam Asghari, a man she has known since 2016 and who was a supporter of hers in the efforts to end the conservatorship. They married in 2022 and sadly miscarried the pregnancy she had been longing for. In August 2023 they announced their intention to divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. I had hoped that Britney would get the happy ending she deserves after such a shocking period of abuse and trauma.

The Woman in Me is a fascinating inside look on an industry that exploits young women, and the ways in which men and the media construct a narrative that is impossible to break. While it is not particularly well written, it is an important story that deserved to be told after so long being denied her own voice. You don't need to be a Britney Spears fan to appreciate this book, but it helps. I would also strongly recommend choosing the audiobook for this memoir. It is truly excellent.

Bridge of Sighs

The Ruin (2018) is the first novel in the Cormac Reilly series by Irish writer Dervla McTiernan. In the epigraph, McTiernan writes that a 'ruin' can be read in English, but in Irish 'ruin means something hidden, a mystery, or a secret, but the word also has a long history as a term of endearment'. With that, the reader sets off to uncover which meaning will apply to the book's title. 

Novice police officer Cormac Reilly is called to a crime scene where a woman has died, leaving behind two neglected children - Maude (age 15) and Jack (age 5). The children are taken in by authorities who will send them into foster care. It is a distressing case that stays in Reilly's mind. Twenty years later, Jack is found dead in the River Corrib, from a possible suicide. Jack's grief-stricken girlfriend Aisling and his sister Maude suspects foul play. Reilly, now a detective, is assigned to reinvestigate the cold case, wondering if there is a link between Jack's death and his mother's, two decades apart.

Reilly is an interesting character. Unlike so many police procedurals, where the detectives are damaged figures with terrible backstories that impact their work, Reilly is a normal hard-working bloke just wanting to do the right thing. After working in elite Garda units in Dublin, Reilly has taken a demotion to move to Galway with his girlfriend. He is disappointed by this new post, and challenged by the police work by some of his fellow officers. In many respects he reminded me of Hirsch, from Garry Disher's excellent Bitter Wash Road series. 

I really enjoyed The Ruin. McTiernan created an atmospheric novel which moves along at a just the right pace. There were a few aspects that I think could have been better managed, particularly related to Maude, and there were perhaps too many minor characters that could have been consolidated. But overall, I thought it was a terrific book and I look forward to exploring the next in the Reilly series with The Scholar (2019), The Good Turn (2020) and the prequel audio novellas The Sister and The Roommate.

Tainted Love

Irish author Sally Rooney has gained a kind of cult following among readers. Her debut Conversations with Friends (2017) was praised by critics and appeared on many top ten lists that year. Her follow up, Normal People (2018) won the Costa Best Novel award and the British Book of the Year Award and was longlisted for both the Booker and Women's Prize.

I picked up a copy in 2018 but quickly shelved it. The hype surrounding the novel - and many friends telling me that I absolutely must read it - put me off. It felt very much like the universe was telling me I had to enjoy this book, and I was concerned I wouldn't, so I avoided it at the time and the novel sunk further and further down my gigantic 'to be read' pile. I had forgotten all about Normal People until I recently stumbled across the 2020 TV adaptation of the novel staring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal. After binging the miniseries, I grabbed the book and binge-read the novel. 

In January 2011 we meet Marianne Sheridan, an awkward teenager in County Sligo, Ireland. Marianne lives with her widowed mother and her bullying older brother. The family has wealth, but lacks any sorts of loving familial relations. At school Marianne is a loner, intent on using her intelligence to get out of town. Connell Waldron is in her class at school. He was born to a teenage mother, Lorraine, who raised him on her own working as a cleaner for the Sheridans. Connell is popular and bright and wants to make his way in the world, although he is not sure how.

Connell and Marianne begin a secret, intense relationship. When they are together, they can be their true selves. Outside they are repressed by social pressures and the class divide, leading to misunderstanding and betrayal. Their on/off closeness continues when they move to Dublin to attend Trinity College as gifted students. At Trinity roles reverse - Marianne is popular; Connell is the loner. The story is presented as moments in time, jumping ahead by weeks or months to the next stage of the characters' lives. Over the next four years, the novel follows their relationship and they navigate young adulthood and figuring out where they belong.

In many respects I understand the appeal of Rooney to her multitudes of fans. Rooney writes in a sparse way, not adding extraneous dialogue or scene fillers.  The dialogue is sharp, and there is humour underpinning the exploration of some dark themes. But in many ways, the light touch did not allow for full character development, leaving the reader at a distance. Ultimately, while I liked this novel, I didn't love it and would not be in a rush to read Rooney's other work.

It is rare for me to see an adaptation and then read the book, but I am so glad I did with Normal People. Had I read the book first, I probably wouldn't have bothered with the show.  

The series works because the two leads (Mescal and Edgar-Jones) are excellent in their roles and compelling together. The adaptation is faithful to the book (Rooney was a writer on the show), and in some respects television is a better medium for this story. It was filmed on location in Sligo and at Trinity College Dublin.

Big Day Out

I have been longing to read Winifred Watson's Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (1938) for ages. I specifically wanted the beautiful version published by Persephone Classics, with its delightful illustrations by Mary Thomson, but I had great difficulty finding a copy in Australia and the import costs were horrific. So when my husband messaged me from London, standing outside Foyles Charing Cross, asking if I wanted anything, I immediately knew just what to ask for! Twenty four hours later, this delicious volume was in my hands! All I needed was to brew a cup of tea, and curl up with this book to satisfy my long-held reading desire.

The story takes place over a single day in the life of Guinevere Pettigrew, a down-on-her-luck governess in her forties. She is about to be evicted from the room she rents, and desperately needs a new job. Miss Pettigrew is sent by her employment agency for an interview as a governess, but is mistakenly sent to the home of Miss Delysia LaFosse, a young, glamorous socialite. From the moment Miss LaFosse opens the door, Miss Pettigrew is whisked away into a life she had previously only imagined from her weekly visits to the movies. 

Miss LaFosse has a problem with men. Specifically, she is irresistible to them but chooses unwisely. She calls on Miss Pettigrew to assist her in managing her lovers Phil, Nick and Michael.  Quick witted, Miss Pettigrew is able to intervene, pretending to be an old friend of Miss LaFosse, and swiftly dispatches the men. She also plays matchmaker, helping Miss LaFosse to see what she wants from a lover to help her choose more wisely.

She also assists Edythe Dubarry, Miss LaFosse's friend, and is given a glamorous makeover, a gown and jewels to help Miss Pettigrew fit in with the vibrant young people she will be spending the evening at the club with. She hardly recognises herself, and has to regularly look in the mirror to seek reassurance that she belongs.

Over the course of the day, Miss Pettigrew's transformation is more than just a make over. She blossoms from a naive spinster to a beloved confidante, finally feeling worthy of friendship and love for the first time in her life. She observes the carefree young people around her, realising how much of her life she has missed. She experiences the delight of cocktails and decadent desserts, and the attentions of a man.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a remarkable novel, which I am so glad to have read. Modern readers will find it jarring to read passages that are casually sexist, racist and antisemitic, but it was written in 1938. The novel is intended to be light-hearted, and I found myself laughing aloud at this Cinderella story. Highly recommend this for anyone wanting to escape to another person's life for a day. It is on the list of 1001 Books people should read before they die, and was published by Persephone as part of their reprints of neglected books by women writers. 

Booker Prize Shortlist 2023

The Shortlist was announced today for the 2023 Booker Prize. The thirteen titles on the Longlist have been whittled down to six:

• Sarah Bernstein - Study for Obedience (Canada)
• Jonathan Escoffery - If I Survive You (America)
• Paul Harding - This Other Eden (America)
• Paul Lynch - Prophet Song (Ireland)
• Chetna Maroo - Western Lane (Kenya/Britain)
• Paul Murray - The Bee Sting (Ireland)

Well, it appears you have a better chance of being shortlisted if your name is Paul! 

Chair of the judging panel, Edi Edugyan, said of the shortlist:

The best novels invoke a sense of timelessness even while saying something about how we live now. Our six finalists are marvels of form. Some look unflinchingly at the ways in which trauma can be absorbed and passed down through the generations, as much an inheritance as a well-worn object or an unwanted talent. Some turn a gleeful, dissecting eye on everyday encounters. Some paint visceral portraits of societies pushed to the edge of tolerance. All are fuelled by a kind of relentless truth-telling, even when that honesty forces us to confront dark acts. And yet however long we may pause in the shadows, humour, decency, and grace are never far from hand. 

‘Together these works showcase the breadth of what world literature can do, while gesturing at the unease of our moment. From Bernstein and Harding’s outsiders attempting to establish lives in societies that reject them, to the often-funny struggles of Escoffery and Murray’s adolescents as they carve out identities for themselves beyond their parents’ mistakes, to Maroo and Lynch’s elegant evocations of family grief – each speaks distinctly about our shared journeys while refusing to be defined as any one thing. These are supple stories with many strands, many moods, in whose complications we come to recognise ourselves. They are vibrant, nervy, electric. In these novelists’ hands, form is pushed hard to see what it yields, and it is always something astonishing. Language – indeed, life itself – is thrust to its outer limits.’

This is a surprising shortlist without an obvious front runner.  I haven't read any of these books yet and to be honest I am not sure I will, as most of the longlist titles I was interested in did not make the cut. The only one that intrigues me is Paul Lynch's Prophet Song. 

The Winner of the Booker Prize, and recipient of £50,000, will be revealed on 26 November 2023. 

Dead Man's Creek

Detective Nell Buchanan has been newly appointed to the homicide division, based in Dubbo NSW (a regional city 400km north-west of Sydney). She works there with senior detective Ivan Lucic, and their patch covers a vast area of the state. The two get called to the (fictional) town of Tulong, a seven-hour drive south of Dubbo, where a body has been found. They soon learn this is a historical crime and find themselves investigating a cold case, one which has ties to Nell's family.

The story shuffles along different timelines. In the 1940s, Jimmy Waters is a young boy who catches crayfish in the river and sells them. Much of this era's history comes from Jimmy's modern witness. statements.  In the 1970s teenage Tess Waters falls for Tycho Buchanan, an ambitious local journalist. Tycho's father Bert runs the metal scrap yard. Today, Nell and Ivan work with local officer Kevin Mackangara to uncover the mystery of the dead man and various unexplained disappearances that occurred on the past eighty years. To say more would give away a tightly woven plot which was a joy to unwind.

Tulong sits on the edge of a deep forest, the Cadell Fault (the 'tilt' of the title) is a geological feature running along the Murray River, impacting its flow. Like other Hammer novels, the landscape is a key character. The forest holds dark secrets, now and in the past. Back in WWII there was a prisoner of war camp on the Victorian side of the river, today there are bird watchers, doomsday preppers, and environmentalists staking claim. 

The Tilt (2022) (published internationally as Dead Man's Creek) is the second novel featuring Buchanan. I really liked her as the plucky novice in Treasure and Dirt (2021), and I am enjoying the evolution of her character her. I have previously critiqued Hammer's portrayal of women (his Mandalay Blonde was one-dimensional), but here he has given Buchanan a compelling back story and a growing confidence. She is fully formed, intuitive, vulnerable and self-aware.

In each of Hammer's novels there is a map of the fictional town (created by Aleksander J Potocnik) which help the reader to understand the topography and proximity of places. As I read, I frequently visited the map to make sure I knew where the action was occurring, enhancing my enjoyment of the novel. 

My reviews of other Chris Hammer novels are available on this blog: Scrublands (2018); Silver (2019); Trust (2020); and Treasure and Dirt (2021). The next instalment of the Lucic and Buchanan series, The Seven (2023), will be released in October 2023.

Invisible Hand

Anna Funder is a brilliant writer and I eagerly await any new publication. Her exploration of the East German secret police in Stasiland - Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall (2003) is a meticulously researched work of non-fiction. Her compelling debut novel All that I Am (2011) won the Miles Franklin Award in 2012. Her novella The Girl with the Dog (2015) is a gem of a story. So when I heard she was working on a book about George Orwell's wife, I preordered it months from publication and devoured it the moment it arrived. 

Wifedom - Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life (2023) explores the life of Eileen O'Shaughnessy Blair (1905-1945), the woman behind George Orwell's success. Eileen is entirely absent from Orwell's work, despite her active role in supporting his career, and is sidelined in most biographies about the author. Funder had to find scraps of information - six letters written by Eileen to her friend Norah, recollections of friends of the Orwells, and other materials to piece together the life of this remarkable woman. In doing so, Funder has brought Eileen to the forefront and given her the credit she deserves for her role in the life and work of her husband.

Born in northeastern England, Eileen O'Shaughnessy was an intelligent woman, graduating from Oxford with a degree in English. She later studied at University College London for a Masters in educational psychology. At a party in 1935, Eileen met Eric Blair. Blair has recently published his early novels Burmese Days (1934), and A Clergyman's Daughter (1935), under is pen name George Orwell. The couple married the following year and moved to a cottage in Hertfordshire where she would perform all the domestic duties, tending to his various illnesses, caring for their animals and garden, and typing up his manuscripts while he would write. 

In 1936 Orwell went to Spain to join the civil war in the fight against fascism. While away, Eileen sorted out the publication of Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier (1937) and then bravely packed up and moved to Barcelona herself. There she took up a post at the Independent Labour Party (ILP) office as a typist, logistician, and key supporter of the war effort. It was extremely dangerous for Eileen as spies were everywhere and many of her collegues were arrested or forced into hiding. When they needed to escape the country, Eileen managed to secure passports and passage out of Spain and in July 1937 they arrived back at their cottage. While in Spain, Orwell wrote Homage to Catalonia (1938) on scraps of paper smuggled back to Eileen in Barcelona. She typed up the manuscript and kept it hidden from the various raids on her office and lodgings. Despite her instrumental role in supporting his war effort, Eileen only appears in Homage to Catalonia as a passing reference to 'my wife'.   

After a six month stint in Morocco, where Orwell wrote Coming Up For Air (1939), they returned to the UK and Eileen moved to London to takes up a role at the Ministry of Information, and later the Ministry of Food. Her income allows Orwell the freedom to write as he was doing bits and pieces for the BBC.  He eventually joined her in a rented a flat in London where he wrote Animal Farm (1945) with Eileen's support. 

Eileen and Richard 1944

Eileen always wanted to have a family, and only learned late in her marriage that her husband was sterile (he knew but failed to tell her). In 1944 they adopted a baby they named Richard. As London was being bombed, she and her sister-in-law moved to County Durham with their children to protect them from war. Here Eileen's health deteriorated and she was in need of a hysterectomy. At age 39, she died during this surgery. At the time of her death, Orwell was in Paris as a war correspondent. He returned home and moved to a house on Jura where he would write Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), a novel greatly influenced by his late wife. 

Eileen's short life was hard and sad. Funder shows how Eileen was intelligent, engaging and quick-witted, but she suppressed her own ambition to support her husband's career. Orwell himself comes off as an unlikable monster. Self-absorbed, promiscuous, demanding, absent - he really didn't appreciate Eileen until it was too late. I really felt for her and wondered why she put up with him. I don't think I would have had her strength of character and commitment to such an unequal relationship.

Wifedom is a book which defies categorisation. Funder infuses her non-fiction exploration of Eileen's life,  with snippets of her own experiences as wife and mother. She also crafts fictional scenes which meld with Eileen's letters to Norah, bringing the story to life. At times this didn't work for me and I found the transitions between styles a bit jarring. But as I read on, the power of Funder's prose and the way in which she resurrected Eileen's life became captivating and impressive. Funder took risks in writing this book and they paid off.

I recently re-read Orwell's magnificent Nineteen Eighty-Four and having read Wifedom the book has new meaning for me. I am looking forward to reading/re-reading some of Orwell's other work to explore Eileen's influence. 

The Possibility of Evil

Shirley Jackson's Dark Tales (2016) is a collection of short stories. These seventeen tales were originally published in the 1950s and 1960s, appearing in The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, Vogue and elsewhere.

I picked up Dark Tales as I wanted some good short stories to read to get me back in a reading groove. I often find that when I have a lot on my mind, or I have fallen into a reading slump (after reading a big novel or one I did not enjoy), that short stories are just the refresh I need to put me back on a reading path. Dark Tales did not disappoint, with stories of the perfect length to read before bed. 

For me, the collection highlights are:

• 'The Possibility of Evil' about an elderly woman in a small town who prizes her roses and has very strong views on her fellow townsfolk.
• 'The Honeymoon of Mrs Smith' in which a woman knowingly marries a man who is going to kill her. 
• 'Louisa, Please Come Home' about a young woman who runs away from home, and when she seeks to return three years later is unable to.
• 'The Summer People' about a retired couple who stay at their cottage past Labour Day.
• 'The Story We Used to Tell' about two friends who get trapped by a disturbing painting.
• 'Family Treasures' about an unpopular girl in a college dormitory who has a secret. 
• 'The Good Wife' in which a man suspects his new wife of having an affair.
• 'All She Said was Yes' about a girl who is taken in by her neighbours when her parents die.

With any short story collection, there are always a few that don't resonate. In Dark Tales, I found it hard to enjoy 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' or 'Jack the Ripper'. Some of the stories reminded me of tales from the Twilight Zone, like 'The Bus' in which an elderly woman is trying to get home but has troubles with the only bus company that can take her there. I am not a big fan of horror or supernatural, but I do like stories that are eerie, creepy and unnerving like many of those found in Dark Tales.

Shirley Jackson is best known for her gothic mystery and supernatural horror stories including The Lottery and Other Stories (1949),  Hangsaman (1951), The Haunting of Hill House (1959) and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962).  I look forward to exploring more of her work.

Vital Signs

Sarah Holland-Batt won the 2023 Stella Prize for her poetry collection The Jaguar (2022). I heard her speak, and read various poems from The Jaguar at the Sydney Writers' Festival in May, and knew I would enjoy her verse. Over the past few months I have read and reread these poems, finding new wisdom and beauty on each encounter. 

Many of the poems in this collection are about the author's father who died in 2020 after living with Parkinson's disease. There are haunting poems about his mental deterioration ('My Father as a Giant Koi', 'Empires of Mind'), life in hospital and the nursing home ('The Gurney', 'Lime Jelly') and his eventual death ('Terminal Lucidity', 'Nessun Dorma'). Despite the dark themes, these are poems filled with love and beauty. The titular poem is an unexpected delight about a sports car her father is obsessed with.

Other poems in this collection focus on travel to Morocco, Egypt, America and beyond ('Night Flight', 'Sketches from the Nile'), romance ('Instructions for a Lover', 'The Proposal') and more. In each, Holland-Batt deftly uses language to evoke images, her light touch on deep subjects, and a subtle humour to engage the reader. 

One of my favourites in this collection is 'Classical Allegory', greatly reminding me of Dorothy Parker's verse.

The Stella Prize judges describe this collection as 'accessible, lyrical and wise' and I would heartily agree. This is a collection I will return to, time and again.

The Jaguar is Holland-Batt's third collection of poetry, and I am keen to check out her earlier works Aria (2008) and The Hazards (2015).