When I finished Susan Hill's The Various Haunts of Menlast week, I promised to give her Simon Serrailler series another chance to see if the central character would grow on me. Over the past few days I have enjoyed reading the second novel in the series, The Pure in Heart (2005) and I am pleased that the enigmatic detective has now taken centre stage.
Not long after the tragic events of the previous story ended, DCI Simon Serrailler is on holidays in Venice. Recharging after a rough year, Serrailler is drawing and exploring parts of Venice not on the tourist trail. His peace is disrupted by an abrupt call from his father, urging him to return home immediately to attend to a family emergency. This sets off the personal narrative thread of the novel wherein we learn more about Serrailler's parents and siblings. Through the family dynamics, particularly the father-son relationship, we discover why Serrailler has such an impervious exterior, refusing to engage emotionally. Serrailler has successfully compartmentalised his life, but when a former love interest returns he is angered to find lines blurred.
The crime thread in the novel centres on a missing child. While waiting for his ride to school, nine-year-old David Angus is abducted. Serrailler's team are on the case, but thwarted by lack of witnesses and trails that run cold. Hill's depictions of the hard slog of this type of police work, and the way in which the Angus family is falling apart while awaiting news, feels very real. Reading this novel during the abduction and recovery of young Cleo Smith in Western Australia, provided a fascinating real-life parallel to the fictional Angus case.
There are other threads woven in this novel too as Hill provides an interesting social commentary on health care, euthanasia, imprisonment and class through various characters in the story. Andy Gunton leaves prison intent on getting his life back together but his status as an ex-con and his lack of a familial safety net leaves him considering whether he would be better off back inside. Dr Chris Deerbon is stretched as his wife Cat is on parental leave and they cannot get locum support, so he is run ragged trying to maintain his GP practice while on call most nights. At a nursing home, staff discuss the quality of life of the various disabled residents. Elsewhere a wealthy American couple have bought a derelict mansion with promises to restore it to its former glory and contributing to the local community. All of these side stories add to the complex microcosm of Lafferton, the fictional English village where the story takes place.
Susan Hill is a very good writer, particularly in incrementally building characters and relationships that feel real. I also found the crime drama well constructed. It is not a fast-paced, page turning thriller, and doubtless some readers will be put off by the lack of immediate resolution. It is bold choice by a confident writer not to tidy up all the plotlines to please readers. Indeed this book seems more like a season of a police procedural television show, which ends with enough of a resolution to satisfy fans and enough of a cliffhanger to keep viewers interested until the next season rolls around. I look forward to the next novel in this series and learning to how these characters evolve.
The winner of the 2021 Booker Prize for fiction was announced this week, with South African author Damon Galgut receiving the £50,000 prize for his novel, The Promise.
Set on a farm outside Pretoria, a privileged white family gathers for the funeral of matriarch Rachel. Their faithful black maid Salome lives on the property and was promised the deed to her home by Rachel on her deathbed. Despite this promise, and the constant reminders from the youngest daughter Amor, the family does not act to transfer ownership and conflict ensues.
Galgut was previously shortlisted for the Booker for his novels The Good Doctor (2003) and In a Strange Room (2010).
Chair of the Judging panel, historian Maya Jasanoff, said of The Promise:
'We felt among the judges that this book really is a tour de force. It combines an extraordinary story with rich themes – the history of the last 40 years in South Africa – in an incredibly well-wrought package.'
Here is the moment that the winner was announced and the award was presented to Damon Galgut.
During the award ceremony, short films were aired for each of the shortlisted titles. The film for The Promise is directed by Christine Ubochi and stars David Jonnson.
I have not yet read The Promise but have it on my teetering stack of books to be read.
Dame Susan Hill is best known for her gothic ghost story The Woman in Black (1983) which has also been adapted as a long-running stage play and film. In 2004 she launched a series of crime novels centred on an enigmatic detective, Simon Serrailler. Not familiar with the Serrailler series*, I started at the beginning with The Various Haunts of Men.
In the picturesque English town of Lafferton, a middle aged woman disappears without a trace while jogging on The Hill. After some routine enquiries, the local police figure she has wandered off, perhaps with a new beau, and fail to dig deeper. Detective Freya Graffham, who has recently transferred from The Met in London, suspects there is more to the mystery and continues an investigation with the help of DC Nathan Coates. Her boss, Serrailler, suggests they drop the case until a second woman goes missing. What has happened to these seemingly unconnected women?
For the most part I enjoyed this novel. It has all the elements to make a good mystery. Hill creates a strong sense of place, with a stunning Cathedral at the heart of the town, the misty parkland of The Hill, and the wee shops and pub frequented by locals. There are some interesting characters too - Dr Cat Deerbon, a compassionate soul committed to her patients; philanthropic Mrs Serrailler; elderly Iris Chater, mourning the loss of her dear husband; and the compelling, intelligent Freya Graffham.
But there is a lot going on in this novel, perhaps too many characters, strange red herrings and it is certainly too long. Hill writes with a lot of detail, but this can sometimes slow the pace, frustrating the reader. The interspersed chapters featuring tape recordings of the killer didn't feel necessary to me. I also found it strange that this was the start of a Serrailler series, when he doesn't make that much of an impression on anyone except Graffham. I would have preferred the series followed Freya's career as she is a much more well-rounded and interesting character.
All in all, I liked but didn't love this novel. But I am prepared to give the second novel in the series a go to see if Serrailler himself grows on me.
*As at 2021 there are eleven novels in the Serrailler series.
Singer, songwriter, humanitarian, philanthropist, icon. I love Dolly Parton!
As a child I would watch with wide-eyed wonder at Dolly Parton singing on television. I clearly remember her appearances with The Muppets, and adored her sparkle and style. In my early twenties, I went to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to see her birthplace and Dollywood theme park. As an adult I grew to admire Parton for her advocacy and philanthropy - her support of HIV/AIDS charities, her Imagination Library literacy program, her campaigns against animal cruelty, and more recently her donations to support COVID vaccination research.
Some people dismiss Dolly Parton as a 'dumb blonde'. They can't see past her petite frame, blonde hair, ample bosom and her down-home, aw-shucks country voice. But she is a force to be reckoned with. She is a smart, savvy, tough and an incredibly gifted and prolific artist.
Parton has published a wonderful coffee-table book called Songteller - My Life in Lyrics (2020). It is part memoir and part career catalogue, spanning sixty years of country music. It features song lyrics from over 150 of her songs, along with the stories behind them. Throughout the glossy pages are photographs of Dolly, her co-stars and collaborators, and artefacts and ephemera from her career.
After my first read through, I downloaded the audiobook in which Dolly tells her story with clips from many songs. This really brought the book to life. The audiobook amplified her charisma, talents and wit, and gave the reader an enhanced, immersive experience. Plus, it reminded me of how many wonderful songs she had written.
Through her life and lyrics in Songteller, we learn of Dolly's impoverished upbringing in Pigeon Forge, her family hardship, her love for her husband of 50+ years, her business acumen, and the challenges she endured throughout her personal and professional life. She talks about the inspirations behind her most famous songs, her experiences in the film industry and her difficult creative partnership with Porter Wagonner.
As a songwriter, Dolly doesn't shy away from writing about difficult topics - addiction, domestic violence, poverty, infidelity - with empathy and understanding. She knows how to reach the hearts of listeners with a memorable melody and meaningful lyrics.
I really enjoyed Songteller and am thankful for the re-introduction to so many Parton songs. It is a big, beautiful book to have and flick through and I strongly recommend the audiobook* as an accompaniment. While Dolly Parton fans will get a lot out of it (and come away loving her even more!), I think it would be of benefit to young writers and musicians of all kinds to gain an understanding of the highs and lows of creative professions.
P.S. A huge thank you to my brother for giving me Songteller - you know me so well!
*Note - the audiobook is not a word-for-word reading of the book. It seems more like a podcast or interview with Dolly Parton, but it greatly enhances the experience.
The Nobel Prize for Literature was announced this week, recognising Abdulrazak Gurnah 'for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents.'
To my great embarrassment, I was not aware of this writer and so I have embarked on an exploration to learn more about him and his work.
Born in Zanzibar in 1948, Abdulrazak Gurnah fled at the age of 18 to escape persecution of Arab citizens during the Zanzibar Revolution. He arrived in the UK in the 1960s as a refugee, where he resides today. He earned a PhD from the University of Kent and was an English professor there until his retirement.
He is the author of short stories, essays and ten novels. He has been in the running for the Booker prize twice. Gurnah is the first black author to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature since Toni Morrison was recognised in 1993. East Africa is the setting for much of Gurnah's fiction with his characters often experiencing the alienation and loneliness of migration, the sense of being between two worlds.
Let's take a look at his novels.
Memory of Departure (1987) - Gurnah's debut novel is set in a post colonial East African county. Narrator Hassan is a teenage boy, raised in poverty. He family life is marred by violence and squalor. His mother sends him off to Nairobi to stay with her brother. His uncle is a wealthy businessman, and Hassan is exposed to a lifestyle he has never experienced. As Hassan's horizons are broadened and he can see alternative futures for himself, he learns that his uncle's success is built on corruption. The novel addresses themes of poverty, oppression and post-colonial identity.
Pilgrims Way (1988) - Daud is an emigrant from Tanzania to England in the 1970s. He works as a hospital orderly, writes letters and enjoys cricket. He cannot go home as he would be persecuted as a Muslim, but struggles to make a new home where he is unwanted and experiences racism daily. Daud is saved from bitterness by his sense of humour, as he reconciles his past and tries to come to terms with his pilgrimage.
Dottie (1990) - The story of a young woman discovering her family and cultural history. Dottie is seventeen when she takes responsibility for her brother and sister - desperate to keep her family together. Unlike Gurnah's previous novels, the protagonist Dottie is born in Britain. But Dottie realises that England does not embrace women of colour and endeavours to explore her family's past and learn more about her African heritage.
Paradise (1994) - Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, this historical novel follows Yusef, a twelve year old boy who has been given to a merchant as an indentured servant to pay off his father's debt. Set in East Africa before World War I, Yusef joins the merchant's caravan as they journey to the interior of Africa and the Congo Basin. Here they experience the wildness of nature, animals and the hostility of locals. Paradise is about the change coming to Africa, bringing about freedoms and loss.
Admiring Silence (1996) - In this novel a man emigrates from Zanzibar to England. Here he meets and falls in love with an English woman and tells her stories of his past. He becomes a teacher in a London school. When it is eventually safe for him to return to his homeland, he journeys back to see what has happened to the family he left behind. He finds that it is not as he remembered and is able to see his current life with new perspective.
By the Sea (2001) - Longlisted for the Booker Prize, this novel is a story of migration and the plight of refugees. Saleh Omar attempts to enter the UK on a fake passport, using a stolen identity. The son of the person whose identity was stolen also attempts to get to the UK but via a different route. Their interwoven stories come together to paint a picture of life in exile and the experiences of racism and imperialism.
Desertion (2005) - This novel begins in 1899 when a British adventurer, Martin Pearce, stumbles into an East African village having been abandoned by his guides. A local shopkeeper takes him in and he is nursed by the shopkeeper's beautiful sister, Rehana. Despite the clash of cultures, romance blooms. Their story is told decades later by Rashid, an academic teaching in England. Their forbidden love is mirrored in the affair Rashid's brother is engaged in with Rehana's granddaughter. Desertion brings to life the personal and political consequences of colonialism.
The Last Gift (2011) - Abbas is an East African immigrant living in England. He has a stroke and begins to reflect on his past. Abbas has never spoken about his past before - his life as a sailor, the time before he met his wife and had children. Now, his stroke has left him unable to tell these stories, but he still seeks to share his secrets with his wife and adult children. This is a story of identity, displacement and the intergenerational impact of migration.
Gravel Heart (2017) - A young child in Zanzibar when his family breaks up, Salim does not understand what has happened. He lives with his mother and uncle and has an estranged relationship with his father. Salim turns inwards and concentrates on his school work where his success paves the way to England to take up business studies. He arrives in London bearing the weight of his family's expectations. He befriends other immigrant students and then needs to decide whether or not to return home.
Afterlives (2020)- From the 1880s until World War I, East Africa was colonised by Germany. This historical novel follows the lives of three locals in the early 20th century. Ilyas and Hamza become part of the German colonial infantry. When these friends return home from war they find that Ilyas' parents have gone and his sister Afiya has been given away. Afterlives is a story of love, friendship and kinship, against the backdrop or a larger consideration of the generational impacts of war and colonialism.
Learning about Abdulrazak Gurnah and his novels has encouraged me to reflect on the diversity of my reading. While I have endeavoured to introduce new voices into my reading, I need to broaden my horizons even further. I am really interested in tracking down a couple of his novels (Afterlives and Paradise are my first picks) and then branching out further to read more authors from diverse cultures, writers in translation and explore worlds beyond my own.
British author John Fowles' first published novel The Collector (1963) is a creepy tale of a man who kidnaps a young woman and holds her hostage in a basement. Told initially from the perspective of the kidnapper, and then in the form of a journal kept by his victim, this thriller leads readers to understand the motivations of both characters, all the while wondering how the story will unfold.
Frederick Clegg collects butterflies in jars so he can admire their beauty. He is a loner, unable to socialise with others. He forms a deep fascination with art student, Miranda Grey, but realises he cannot talk to her. He thinks that if she got to know him, she would surely come to love him. She would be the prize of his collection.
Clegg purchases an isolated house in the English countryside and converts the basement into a soundproof locked room, filled with art books, clothing and other items he believes Miranda will appreciate. After tracking her for weeks, an opportunity presents itself to acquire her. He grabs her on her way home, ties her up in his van and takes her home. She awakens from a chloroformed haze in Clegg's prison.
Over the coming days and weeks of her confinement, Clegg believes he is the perfect host - he buys Miranda whatever she wants, he takes her upstairs to have proper baths, he prepares nice meals for her. Miranda cannot figure Clegg out - as he has not physically harmed her. She baits him, acts like a friend, mocks him mercilessly, stops talking and goes on a hunger strike - all the while plotting an escape. Will she break free? Will she be found? Will he grant her freedom?
Fowles creates a claustrophobic cage in which these two characters interact. The first part is narrated by Clegg. He is a terrifying character in that he is clearly a psychopath, but seems more misunderstood than menacing. That Fowles can make a reader empathise with Clegg is a testament to his writing. Miranda's diary reveal her to be shallow, elitist and slowly going mad inside her cell. Through the perspectives of the two narrators we learn that they each suspect the other of lying but play along with the deceptions in the hopes of gaining some advantage. Perhaps neither narration is true, and the reader needs to ascertain what lies in the space between their accounts.
For the most part I enjoyed The Collector. Clegg was fascinating and I wanted to know what he would do next. But I found Miranda's diary too long and meandering, with ramblings about her friends and family that took away from the immediacy of the situation, thereby slowing the pace. I would have edited the bulk of Miranda's part down or left it out entirely. But overall, I thought it was a really interesting novel.
The Collector was adapted as a film (1965) directed by William Wyler and starring Terrance Stamp and Samantha Eggar. The film poster describes it as 'almost a love story' so I will be interested to track the film down and see if they romanticised the story. I hope not.
I would also imagine The Collector has inspired other writers as you can see elements in Thomas Harris' The Silence of the Lambs (1988) and in plenty of film and television series. This novel is also on the list of 1001 books to read before you die.
Pat Barker's The Women of Troy (2021) picks up where The Silence of the Girls(2018) ends. Achilles, the hero of the Trojan War, is dead. Troy has fallen and the city is in ruins. King Priam has been brutally killed, likewise all the boys, men and pregnant women in Troy. The Trojan women have been gathered and escorted back to the Greek camp where they will be divided up among the warriors as slaves.
The Greeks want to return home but the winds prevent them from leaving the bay. Without a battle to fight, the men are restless and sparring among themselves. Pyrrhus, Achilles' teenage son, fears he will never live up to his father's legacy despite killing Priam. He longs for recognition and respect.
Our main narrator, Briseis, pregnant with Achilles child, has more freedom than she did in the first novel. Achilles married her to his friend Alcimus, so that she and the child would be cared for. Despite her new status, Briseis know she is one mistake away from returning to slavery, or worse. She supports the women of Troy - Hecuba, Andromache, Cassandra and more - to become accustomed to their new roles in the camp.
Amina, a stubbornly devout young woman is determined to bury King Priam and perform funeral rites. She sneaks off at night and attempts to bury his corpse. This act of compassion is considered a direct affront to Pyrrhus and he is determined to find out who defied him, setting the action of this story in motion.
Like with her previous novel, Barker presents an unvarnished view of the brutality of war. She gives these invisible women a voice and we see the world from their perspective. Again it is the women who are the real heroes - their resilience, intellect and camaraderie in the face of devastating trauma gives them strength the warriors around them could only dream of.
I really enjoyed The Women of Troy, even though it lacked the sense of urgency and movement that kept the story moving in The Silence of the Girls. I know there will be a long wait, but I look forward to Barker's next instalment to see what happens to Briseis next.
The Shortlist was announced today for the 2021 Booker Prize. The thirteen titles on the Longlist have been whittled down to six:
Anuk Arudpragasam - A Passage North (Sri Lanka)
Damon Galgut - The Promise (South Africa)
Patricia Lockwood - No One is Talking About This (USA)
Nadifa Mohamed - The Fortune Men (UK)
Richard Powers - Bewilderment (USA)
Maggie Shipstead - Great Circle (USA)
Chair of the Booker Prize judges, Maya Jasanoff described the shortlist as follows:
"Some are acutely introspective, taking us into the mind of a Tamil man tracing the scars of Sri Lanka's civil war, and an American woman unplugging from the internet to cope with a family crisis. Some enter communities in the throes of historical transformation: the Cardiff docklands in the early years of British decolonisation, and the veld around Pretoria in the last years of apartheid. And some have global sweep, following a mid-century aviator in her attempt to circumnavigate the planet, and a present-day astrobiologist raising a son haunted by climate change."
This is an interesting shortlist without an obvious front runner. I haven't read any of these books yet (as always, whenever I read a longlisted title it is guaranteed not to make the shortlist!). But I really want to read the titles by Nadifa Mohamed, Maggie Shipstead and Anuk Arundpragasam.
The reactions of authors are captured in the shortlist announcement released by the Booker Prize.
The Winner of the Booker Prize, and recipient of £50,000, will be revealed in November. Better get reading!
In 2019 the Women's Prize Shortlist contained two novels that were feminist retelling of ancient myths - Madeline Miller's Circeand Pat Barker's The Silence of the Girls (2018). I acquired both novels and read Circe last year - absolutely loving the fresh take, moving the narration to women who were on the periphery and making their thoughts and feelings central to the storytelling.
My initial plan to read Barker's The Silence of the Girls fell apart as the pandemic shifted my focus and impacted my reading, but I picked it up this week and devoured it - utterly transported to the frontlines of the decade-long Trojan War and engrossed in the masterful storytelling.
Mirroring the plot of Homer's TheIliad (circa 8th century), The Silence of the Girls is primarily narrated by Briseis, who becomes a trophy of war when Achilles sacks the city of Lyrnessus and takes her as his prize. Once privileged and married to the king's son, Briseis finds herself Achilles' slave and is bitterly aware of her new position: 'I do what countless women before me have been forced to do... I spread my legs for the man who killed my husband and my brothers'. Such is the fate of women who survive the battle.
Only nineteen, but wise beyond her years, Briseis is a keen observer, learning Achilles' moods and studying his relationship with his beloved Patroclus. She knows that if she falls out of Achilles' favour he will hand her over to the soldiers to be raped and perhaps killed. So she keeps her head down, her mouth shut, and does all that she is asked by her master.
Achilles is a legendary warrior and his skills are needed to defeat Hector and claim the city of Troy. But he falls out with Agamemnon and ends up losing Briseis who is handed over to Agamemnon as his slave. Achilles then refuses to fight further battles alongside Agamemnon - a decision which ends up claiming the lives of Achilles' men and ultimately leads to his downfall.
Barker is a skilled writer who brings the battlefield to life. By telling the story through the eyes of women, the reader is not presented with heroism and glory, but rather the immeasurable loss and brutality of war. The women are silenced, mostly unseen, yet essential in this world - as nurses, seamstresses, cooks, servants, sex slaves. Survival is their only object, knowing that one false move will result in brutality or death.
Despite her outward subtlety and deference, Briseis is formidable. She survives by remaining silent, forging friendships with other captured women and finding moments of solitude. But she never loses sight of the volatile position she is in. While she is paired with Achilles and later Agamemnon, great figures in this war, she knows this is not a romance and questions how some of the trophy wives have come to have feelings for their captors, doubting she could ever feel that way. In some ways she has accepted her fate, but fear is always present as she cautiously navigates her way in this world.
Barker has given voice to the real heroes of the battle, the women who survived. While reading, I also listened along to the audiobook brilliantly performed by Kristin Atherton, enhancing my experience of the novel.
I am thrilled that there is a sequel, and that Pat Barker's The Women of Troy (2021) picks up where The Silence of the Girls left off. Guess what I am reading next?
The winner of the 2021 Women's Prize for fiction has just been announced. I am so thrilled that Susanna Clarke has been recognised for her magnificent novel,Piranesi.
The live ceremony was broadcast online with Chair of Judges Bernadette Evaristo announcing the winner. Evaristo said:
“We wanted to find a book that we'd press into readers' hands, which would have a lasting impact. With her first novel in seventeen years, Susanna Clarke has given us a truly original, unexpected flight of fancy which melds genres and challenges preconceptions about what books should be. She has created a world beyond our wildest imagination that tells us something profound about what it is to be human.”
Susanna Clarke received the £30,000 prize and the award ‘Bessie’, a limited-edition bronze figurine. Clarke is probably best known for her first novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell (2004).
I absolutely loved Piranesi and found myself engrossed in the fantastical world Clarke created. I am so happy that she received this award. Read my review of Piranesi here.
Over the past few days I escaped lockdown in Sydney and was transported to Florence, Italy. I wandered the cobblestone streets, explored magnificent art, ate delicious meals and was welcomed by a group of fascinating people who made me laugh, cry and feel like part of their family. A truly joyous trip courtesy of Sarah Winman's Still Life (2021).
In August 1944 Ulysses Temper is a young British soldier driving his Captain through the Tuscan Hills surveying the impact of the war. The Allies had advanced and were on the verge of reclaiming Florence. On the roadside, Ulysses meets Evelyn Skinner, a British woman three decades his senior. Evelyn is an art historian there to survey the damage to cultural artefacts. The trio spend the afternoon together in the ruins of a villa drinking wine, eating cheese, and talking about art and beauty. Ulysses and Evelyn feel an immediate connection, an instant familiarity. At the end of the day, they go their seperate ways, not knowing whether they will ever see each other again.
Ulysses returns to London at the end of the war to work at the local pub. Here we meet his wife Peg, young Alys, publican Col, piano man Pete, nature-loving Cressy, a quick-witted parrot named Claude, and a cast of other memorable characters. All unique, flawed and realistic. This ragtag group become family and over the years support each other in genuinely touching ways.
The story that follows takes place over the next four decades in London and Florence as the cities rebuild after war and social changes come about in the 1960s. The characters evolve and change with the times, but remain ever connected. The memory of their first encounter lingers, with Ulysses and Evelyn endeavouring to find one another again.
There are obvious parallels here with E.M. Forster's classic A Room With A View (1908). Indeed Forster himself is a character in the novel, albeit briefly, when he meets Evelyn at a pensione overlooking the Arno. But Forster's influence looms large over this story and we can see in both Evelyn and poet Constance Everly, more than a touch of Miss Lavish.
There is something about Florence. The history, art, architecture and landscape welcomes you and seeps under your skin. I have such fond memories of my travels there in 2012 and long to return. As I read Still Life, I followed in the footsteps of the characters on a map of Florence and spent a lot time researching the artworks, churches and other things they discussed.
When I finished this book I literally cried. It was such a beautiful novel and I was bereft leaving these wonderful characters after being welcomed into their world. I haven't had such a strong emotional feeling about a novel since I read Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet. Like that novel, Still Life is one I will be gifting and recommending to friends and loved ones.
Nora Seed has a lot of regrets. She regrets letting down her father when she decided not to continue her athletic career. She regrets becoming estranged from her brother and leaving the band they had formed together. She regrets breaking off her engagement, just days before the wedding. She regrets not travelling to Australia with her friend Izzy.
The weight of these regrets are too much for Nora and she is genuinely unhappy with her life. When she loses her uninspiring job at a local music shop, and her beloved cat dies, she decides she has had enough and the world would be better off without her. Nora tries to kill herself, thus beginning her journey to the Midnight Library.
The Library exists in the place between life and death. Here she meets the librarian who hands her a personalised book of regrets. Nora can chose any regret and go back to see what life would be like should she have made a different choice. Would she have been happier in any of these lives? Is there a life worth living for?
Matt Haig's The Midnight Library (2020) ponders 'what-could-have-been' like so many books and films before. Nora has many sliding doors moments where the choice she has made has led her on a certain path, thereby letting the many alternative paths fall by the wayside. Some of Nora's alternative life choices lead to fame and fortune, but most are pretty ordinary.
For the most part, I enjoyed The Midnight Library but I didn't love it. The concept of the library was great and I liked the opportunity to explore the road less travelled. While exploring depressing topics like suicide and addiction, the book is ultimately uplifting with the hopeful message of finding happiness in the little things. However, after several journeys to Nora's alternative lives, it became quite tedious and predictable. Nora was a frustrating character, continually not knowing what she wants and always thinking the grass is greener elsewhere. I could not connect with her and didn't really care what path she chose, I just wanted her to pick something to stop the cycle of returning to the library.
Having finished the book I have read reviews online and so many people loved this novel in a way that I did not. While reading the novel, I also listened to the audiobook narrated by Carey Mulligan. Mulligan did a great job of personifying Nora and I think without her compelling narration I may have given up on the book without regret.
When the Booker Prize longlist was announced last week, only a handful of titles sparked my interest. I grabbed Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun (2021) off my teetering stack of books to be read and absorbed this beautifully written novel over the past few evenings.
The story is told by Artificial Friend (AF) Klara, a highly perceptive, lifelike robot. When we first meet Klara she is in a shop with other AFs. The manager moves stock around the store, giving Klara a turn in the window display where she can observe the passers-by and soak up the rays of the sun. One day Klara is purchased by a woman as a companion for her 14 year old daughter Josie. The girl is critically ill and Klara provides Josie with much needed friendship, while Josie provides Klara with the opportunity to see the outside world. As Josie's illness worsens, Klara becomes convinced that the sun will provide the nutrients needed to counter her condition.
Klara is a fascinating narrator. She is naive but with a great capacity to observe and learn, discovering the ever-changing moods of a teenager. She takes her cues from those around her, knowing when to give privacy and when to interact. Klara has great faith and spreads her hope for Josie's wellbeing to those around her.
The world in which these characters inhabit is a version of our own, perhaps in the near-future. Ishiguro hints at technological advancements that have allowed robots to displace workers, genetic engineering that sees some children 'lifted' and others left behind, environmental degradation, and the disposable culture in which we replace things as soon as a newer model comes along. He never explicitly describes the world (as the story is told through Klara's eyes) but gives the reader enough nudges to imagine what is happening.
This is a slender novel, but there are many complex themes running through it posing significant ethical dilemmas for readers to ponder. We meet interesting characters along the way - Josie's unlifted friend Rick, his mother, Josie's absent father, and the strange Mr Capaldi.
To detail more of the story would give too much away. Suffice it to say, I loved spending time with Klara and was heartbroken when the story ended. I will be thinking about Klara for a long time.
Susanna Clarke's Piranesi (2021) takes the reader to a remarkable fantasy world. The 'House' is a labyrinthine series of magnificent halls lined with marble statues of minotaurs, fauns, and other creatures. The top floor of the house is exposed to the weather, and the bottom floor is subject to tides and flooding.
The main inhabitant is the Beloved Child of the House - Piranesi - a man who spends his days fishing, gathering mussels and collecting seaweed for sustenance. He writes all that he sees in his journal and has begun creating a catalogue of statues and a map of the House's countless vestibules and halls. Twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, Piranesi briefly meets with the only living person he knows - The Other - a peculiar man who is in search of what he calls the 'Great and Secret Knowledge'.
The story is told in the form of Piranesi's journals, as he describes his days and the discoveries he makes along the way. He comes across as naive yet inquisitive, uncertain as to whether what The Other is telling him is true. When Piranesi finds evidence that someone else may also be in the House, he is compelled to learn more about the mysteries of the House and his own history.
Piranesi is a strange and wonderful novel. I must admit that my first attempt at reading this book failed as I could not connect with the writing. But then I read along with Chiwetel Ejiofor's brilliant audiobook narration and found myself absolutely engrossed in this tale. For the first hundred pages I was completely perplexed but also intrigued by the House and the delightful main character, perhaps relating to his isolation as I am currently in lockdown and confined to my own house. In some respects Piranesi reminded me of the works of CS Lewis or Philip Pullman.
Clarke is probably best known for her acclaimed debut novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (2005). Piranesi was shortlisted for the 2021 Women's Prize and I must admit I am disappointed that it didn't make the longlist for the Booker. It is a fantastic novel by a gifted writer.
Today the Longlist was announced for the 2021 Booker prize. The thirteen titles nominated include authors from America, Britain, Canada, Sri Lanka and South Africa.
The Booker Prize is always a strange collection of titles, but what I love about the Longlist is that it introduces me to many authors and books I do not know. From last year's Longlist I acquired Diane Cook's The New Wilderness, Hilary Mantel's The Mirror and the Light, and Douglas Stuart's Shuggie Bain, although admittedly the pandemic changed my reading focus and I have not yet read all of these titles.
I haven't read any of the books on this year's Longlist yet, so let's take a quick look at the nominees:
Anuk Arudpragasam - A Passage North (Sri Lanka) Krishan receives a call advising that his grandmother's caretaker Rani has died. As he travels home to attend Rani's funeral by train from Colombo, he ruminates on love, loss and the thirty-year civil war that has engulfed his homeland. Arudpragasam is the author of The Story of a Brief Marriage (2016) which was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Sri Lanka has been on my travel wish-list for many years (and it will likely be many years before I can travel again!), so I am interested in this novel.
Rachel Cusk - Second Place (UK)
A woman living in a remote coastal region invites a famous artist to come and stay in her guest house in the hopes that he will use her as a subject in his next piece. M, the narrator, is a middle-aged writer living with her second husband Tony. The arrival of the artist L disrupts the routine of their lives. Cusk is an extraordinary writer, who packs a lot into her short books. She is best known for her Outline trilogy and my review of Cusk's Outline (2014) is also available on this blog.
Damon Galgut - The Promise (South Africa)
On a farm outside Pretoria, a privileged white family gathers for the funeral of matriarch Rachel. Their faithful black maid Salome lives on the property and was promised the deed to her home by Rachel on her deathbed. Despite this promise, and the constant reminders from the youngest daughter Amor, the family does not act to transfer ownership and conflict ensues. Galgut was previously shortlisted for the Booker for his novels The Good Doctor (2003) and In a Strange Room (2010).
Nathan Harris - The Sweetness of Water (USA)
As the American Civil War comes to an end, Prentiss and Landry are brothers freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. They seek refuge in the home of the Walkers who are grieving the loss of their son. In a parallel storyline, two white Confederate soldiers fall in love and have to hide their feelings for one another. This is Harris' debut novel.
Kazuo Ishiguro - Klara and the Sun (UK) Ishiguro has been nominated four times and won the Booker Prize over 30 years ago for his beautiful novel The Remains of the Day (1989). Klara and the Sun is his first novel since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017. Set in the near future, Klara is a solar-powered, humanoid artificial friend who is purchased as a companion for a teenage girl. The novel explores what it means to be human. I have this book and really look forward to reading it. (Update Aug 2021: read review)
Karen Jennings - An Island (South Africa)
Samuel lives alone on an island, in charge of managing the lighthouse. When a refugee washes up on shore, Samuel recalls his past on the mainland and struggles to adapt to the disruption of his solitude. The novel explores friendship, fear, and the notion of home. Jennings previous works include her debut novel Finding Soutbek and her memoir Travels with My Father (2016).
Mary Lawson - A Town Called Solace(Canada) Set in a small town in Northern Ontario in 1972, the story follows seven year old Clara and her family. Clara's older sister has run away from home. Her mysterious new neighbour Liam unexpectedly inherited the house and has moved in following the breakdown of his marriage. The third main character is Mrs Orchard, an elderly woman who is reliving memories from her past. Mary Lawson is the author of three novels set in Northern Ontario. Having grown up in Ontario myself, I am always on the look out for novels that remind me of home so I may check this one out.
Patricia Lockwood - No One is Talking About This(USA)
A woman famed for her social media posts travels around the world to meet her followers. She shares her insights while travelling, blurring the virtual and real worlds. Suddenly, she is summoned home by her mother due to a family tragedy and finds the real world is demanding more of her attention. American novelist, essayist and poet Patricia Lockwood is perhaps best known for her memoir Priestdaddy (2017). No One is Talking About This is her debut novel, and it was also shortlisted for the 2021 Women's Prize.
Nadifa Mohamed - The Fortune Men (UK)
Set in 1950s Cardiff, Mahmood Mattan is a family man and a petty criminal. When a shopkeeper is killed, Mattan is a suspect but he knows he has an alibi. This novel is a fictionalised account of the story of Mattan who was wrongfully convicted of murder and was the last man hanged in Cardiff prison. Somali-British author Mohamed won the Somerset Maugham Award in 2014 for her second novel The Orchard of Lost Souls. The premise of this story sounds intriguing. I will try and track down a copy of this book.
Richard Powers - Bewilderment(USA) Powers is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of the much-lauded Booker shortlisted The Overstory (2018). In his latest novel he follows widowed astrobiologist Theo Byrne, who is raising his nine-year-old son Robin. The boy has been diagnosed as being 'on the spectrum' and after an incident at school, Theo needs to consider how to best care for his son.
Sunjeev Sahota - China Room(UK)
This novel follows two characters on a quest for freedom. Mehar is a young bride in Punjab in 1929 trying to discover the identity of her new husband. In 1999 a young man who grew up in England arrives in Punjab trying to rid himself of addiction. Sahota was previously shortlisted for the Booker Prize for his novel The Year of the Runaways (2015).
Maggie Shipstead - Great Circle(USA)
In prohibition era Montana, teenage Marian drops out of school and finds a patron who will support her desire to become a pilot. As a daredevil aviatrix, she circumnavigates the world and flies over the poles. A century later, actress Hadley Baxter is set to play Marian in a biopic and becomes immersed in the pilot's disappearance in Antarctica. Shipstead is the author of Astonish Me and Seating Arrangements. I am intrigued by the description of this story and will search out a copy of this book.
Francis Spufford - Light Perpetual(UK)
In 1944 five children are among a crowd outside the Woolworths in South London to see a delivery of saucepans - the first new metal items since the war began. Moments later, a bombing raid incinerates everyone around. In this novel, the author tells the story of these five children and what could have been if they had not been there on that fateful day. Spufford is the author of countless works of non-fiction, and is a Professor of Creative Writing.
So that is the Longlist!
Maya Jasanoff, chair of the judges panel, said:
One thing that unites these books is their power to absorb the reader in an unusual story, and to do so in an artful, distinctive voice. Many of them consider how people grapple with the past - whether personal experiences of grief or dislocation or the historical legacies of enslavement, apartheid and civil war. Many examine intimate relations placed under stress, and through them they meditate on ideas of freedom and obligation, or on what makes us human.
The longlist is previewed in this announcement video:
This is an interesting longlist and I am a bit surprised that there are a few titles not on the list which I thought would have been including Sally Rooney's Beautiful World, Where are You, Pat Barker's The Women of Troy, and Susanna Clarke'swonderful Piranesi. I had also secretly hoped that Australian authors Richard Flanagan (The Living Sea of Waking Dreams) and Tara June Winch (The Yield) would make the cut.
Of all these titles, the ones I am most interested in are the books by Ishiguro, Cusk, Shipstead, Arudpragasam and Mohamed.
The Shortlist will be announced on 14 September 2021, with the Winner of the £50,000 revealed in November. Better get reading!
The winner of the 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award, Australia's most prestigious literary award, was announced via a live online presentation on 15 July 2021. This year the award and its $60,000 prize went to Tasmanian author, Amanda Lohrey, for her novel, The Labyrinth.
The Labyrinth tells the story of a woman who leaves her life in Sydney and moves to a small coastal town to be closer to the prison where her son is incarcerated. She lives in an oceanside rundown shack, and obsesses over building a stone labyrinth while she processes her feelings of maternal guilt over her son's actions.
The Chair of the judging panel, Richard Neville said 'It is beautifully written reflection on the conflicts between parents and children, men and women, and the value and purpose of creative work.' Amanda Lohrey is the author of seven novels, including the Stella Prize longlister A Short History of Richard Kline (2015), Reading Madame Bovary (2010) and two novels previously nominated for the Miles Franklin Award - Camille's Beard (1995) and The Philosopher's Doll (2004). Lohrey is the recipient of the 2012 Patrick White Award which acknowledges authors which have not been sufficiently recognised for their creativity.
With much of Australia's population in some form of COVID lockdown, the announcement of the winner was live streamed:
Emily Maguire's latest novel, Love Objects (2021), is a touching story of a family with complicated relationships to their past and each other.
Nic is 45 and lives alone in an Inner West Sydney house she inherited from her mother. She has had the same job for decades, loves to paint her nails and feeds all the local stray cats. Unknown to her family and neighbours, Nic also has a hoarding disorder, collecting items that others have discarded: a baby bonnet; signs for lost pets; containers; shoes. Her house is a treasure trove of bags, boxes, furnishings and more, with narrow goat tracks making pathways from room to room. Nic knows where everything is and the story behind each and every item in her home.
Every Sunday Nic meets her twenty year old niece Lena for lunch. Lena is studying at university to become a teacher while working part-time and living hand-to-mouth. When Nic doesn't show, and fails to respond to Lena's messages and calls, Lena goes to her aunt's house and finds Nic collapsed on the floor. Nic is hospitalised with severe injuries and a social worker has been appointed, aware of the state of Nic's home.
Lena has to care for Nic, but also needs to make Nic's home safe to return. She moves into the house, hires a skip, and gets to work. Problem is, Lena sees only rubbish and doesn't know the ties Nic has to all these belongings. It is a huge responsibility for a young woman, especially one who is dealing with a major problem of her own. When Lena's brother Will arrives from Queensland to help, the stage is set for more conflict.
Told in alternating chapters by three characters, Maguire focuses on a relationship not often explored in novels - an aunt and her niece. There is a tight familial bond the two - not quite maternal, but very close. The interwoven story lines explore complex themes of class, gender, loneliness, privilege and poverty.
Maguire is an extraordinary writer who has deep empathy for her characters. Each of the three experience deep shame and are struggling to get by. The poverty they experience is real. Lena regularly walks because she cannot afford to top up her travel card, and often misses meals. Will desperately needs a dentist but cannot afford to see one. The pressure they are under because of their class is amplified by the wealthy around them - Lena's friend Annie and the rich guy who wronged Lena. Maguire's portrayal of Nic's hoarding disorder is also heartfelt and sympathetic.
I really loved Love Objects - a beautiful, insightful family drama with humour and heart.
Chris Hammer's third novel in the Martin Scarsden series - Trust (2020) - picks up a few months after the events in Silver (2019). Martin, his girlfriend Mandalay Blonde, and her infant son Liam, have been living in the coastal hamlet of Port Silver. Martin and Liam are playing on the beach when a phone call shatters the serenity and starts this novel racing.
Suddenly Martin and Mandy are transported back to their past lives in Sydney where the action in Trust takes place. The body of a man is found, and Mandy has to reveal her secret past to Martin, explaining she was once engaged to the dead man. For the past five years Mandy thought he had disappeared after stealing millions from the bank where they worked. Meanwhile, Martin is invited to meet his former editor Max, who has a story he wants Martin's help with. Before Martin can learn what hot story Max was on to, the editor is killed and Martin takes up the investigation, leading him into danger. Detective Morris Montifore, journalist Darcey Defoe and many other characters from the previous novels also appear in Trust.
Beyond Martin and Mandy, the city of Sydney is a leading character in Trust. Hammer accurately describes the harbour city - its glittering wealth and its seedy underbelly. He has also positioned this novel in time, the impact of bushfires and the pandemic never far away. The plot lines are complex and intertwined, and Hammer has a talent for holding all these threads together and keeping the story moving at a cracking pace.
I have been critical of Hammer's earlier novels for his superficial depiction of Mandy. In Trust, he fleshes out this character, giving Mandy an interesting backstory and moving her to the centre of the action. This novel feels very much like Hammer has wrapped up the Martin and Mandy series and perhaps they will return home to Port Silver to live in idyllic peace.
My reviews of Chris Hammer's previous novels, Scrublands (2018) and Silver (2019) are also available on this blog.
From 1938 to 1973 thousands of poor British children emigrated to Australia, Canada and Rhodesia under the Fairbridge Schools scheme. Founder Kingsley Fairbridge was concerned about the rising number of poor families in Britain and the need for white settlement in British colonies. His solution was to create a child migration scheme wherein poor children would be sent to farm schools in distant lands and trained to become farmers and farmer's wives. Parents, convinced they would be providing their children with opportunities for a better life, signed away their rights and, in many instances, never saw their children again.
Author David Hill was one of the more than 7000 children to be sent to Australia as a child migrant. He emigrated in 1959 as part of the One Parent program, in which single parents would send their children in advance to Australia, to be reunited once the parent had travelled to Australia, secured employment and was ready to take their children back. Hill and his two brothers came in their early teens and found themselves at the Fairbridge Farm School in Molong NSW. He documents his story, and that of many others, in The Forgotten Children (2007).
This book is a heartbreaking read. Part memoir and part historical study, Hill has researched extensively and spoken with countless Fairbridge children who recount in similar detail their experiences - including the physical, sexual and psychological abuse they suffered - at the Molong school. It was devastating to read how siblings were separated upon arrival, denying young children the opportunity to be with someone who cared for them. They were also denied adequate food, clothing, and a meaningful education. Further, while purporting to train children to become farmers, Fairbridge failed on that measure too, with children becoming adults with limited skills to find success in a career in or in relationships.
Hill describes the origins of the Fairbridge scheme, the journey to Australia and arrival at Molong, a day in the life of the children, their work and education, and how they left Fairbridge. Readers can quickly understand what it must have been like for these young children. It was wonderful to read the accounts of so many former child migrants, expressing in their own words what it was like for them. Unfortunately, there was a significant repetition, not in the personal stories but in Hill's narrative, which was distracting as a reader.
Over the past few years I have learned a great deal about the institutionalisation of children and the intergenerational trauma that stems from it. I have spent many hours reading the report from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and the 2001 Senate Report Lost innocents: Righting the Record - Report on Child Migration. What I have learned from these reports and from The Forgotten Children is that there were so many opportunities to stop the neglect and abuse, but the children were repeatedly failed by individuals, organisations and governments. Hill gained access to many 'secret' reports in which child welfare agents sounded the alarm about what was happening at Fairbridge, only to have these reports buried or discounted. While it is small consolation, the NSW Government has agreed to be a funder of last resort for the Fairbridge Society Molong under the National Redress Scheme, so at least there is an opportunity for some of the children to have their suffering acknowledged.
On 16 November 2009, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a formal apology to the 'Forgotten Australians', in a moving speech which acknowledged the 'ugly chapter in our nation's history'. While it is undoubtedly an ugly chapter, it is essential that we know about what happened at places like Fairbridge so that we learn from our past. Thank you David Hill for sharing your story and that of other care leavers. You have shined a light into this dark corner of our history.
The 2021 Miles Franklin Award shortlist was announced this week. When I predicted which titles would make the cut, I had expected Sofie Laguna, Laura Jean McKay, Miranda Riwoe, and Nardi Simpson to make the shortlist. Surprisingly none of these authors were included.
The shortlist is made up of the following works:
Aravind Adiga - Amnesty
Robbie Arnott - The Rain Heron
Daniel Davis Wood - At the Edge of the Solid World
Amanda Lohrey - The Labyrinth
Andrew Pippos - Lucky's
Madeline Watts - The Inland Sea
Richard Neville, Chair of the judging panel, said of the shortlist:
“In various ways each of this year’s shortlisted books investigate destructive loss: of loved ones, freedom, self and the environment. There is, of course, beauty and joy to be found, and decency and hope, largely through the embrace of community but, as the shortlist reminds us, often community is no match for more powerful forces."
I have not read any of these titles and, as none of my predictions made it to the shortlist, I have no idea who is going to win.
The Winner of the $60,000 prize will be revealed on 15 July 2021.
There has been a lot of hype surrounding Raven Leilani's debut novel Luster (2020). Winner of the Kirkus Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, Luster was longlisted for the 2021 Women's Prize and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. It also appeared on countless 'best books of 2020' lists.
The narrator is Edie, a twenty-three year old black artist working in an all-white office in a New York City publishing firm. She is ungrounded, having lost both her parents, living in a roach-infested apartment, and engaging in a string of meaningless encounters with coworkers. Online she meets Eric, a forty-something white guy from New Jersey in a seemingly open marriage. They begin a relationship, following strict rules crafted by Eric's wife Rebecca.
When Edie loses her job and her apartment, she does some gig work as a delivery rider and by chance happens to meet Rebecca, who invites Edie to come and live in the couple's guest room. Over time, Edie develops a connection with Akila, the couple's adopted twelve year old black daughter. Both of them are outsiders in this strange suburban landscape.
There is something about Leilani's writing that attracts readers. The author is sharp, observant and there is an urgency with which she propels this story along. Through Edie, Leilani has a lot to say about race, class, sex, poverty and privilege. There is a playfulness in the pop culture references, the voyeurism and the observations Edie makes of the world around her.
Generally, I like unlikable characters and unreliable narrators. But everyone in this book was unlikable and unreliable. Other than Edie, there is not much character development and as such I found it hard to care about anyone in the novel. Despite not loving this book, I did enjoy Leilani's writing and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.
