I’m lucky enough to have spent the first two weeks of the New Year on honeymoon in Cornwall. It’s been blustery, wet and very brisk ( a Lincolnshire euphemism for those mornings when it’s so cold and the rain so hard that your face feels like it’s been pebble-dashed ). I wouldn’t have it any other way though. I love the brisk cold followed by a hot brew, a roaring fire and a good book. I love winter beaches and meeting other nutters out walking their dogs on New Year’s Day while the Atlantic batters the shore. It’s wild and beautiful. If I want something more sheltered and sedate we are no further away from the opposite coastline with it’s pretty coves, creeks and Daphne Du Maurier style private shingle beaches along the Helford River. There I can pretend to be the second Mrs De Winter, walking Jasper along the beach below Manderley. I’m also staying somewhere rather special – a place I’m going to tell you all about tomorrow. I’ve brought with me an iPad full of January book releases so I can get ahead of my blog tours, but also enjoy some NetGalley picks. Inevitably New Year gets us all thinking about how we’ve been living and the changes we might want to make. As regular readers know, I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions but I do have some thoughts about how I want my bookish adventures to continue.
1. Making more sensible reading choices – it’s so easy to be lured by blog tours and the organisers I work with do have some incredible titles coming up. However, the more blog tours I do the more my NetGalley list comes to a standstill and older books might never get a look-in. Despite my shelves groaning with second hand books I rarely find time to read one, having been lured away by shiny new releases. So I’m going to do a maximum of two blog tours per month so I can choose every other book I read. Whether it’s from NetGalley, my second hand purchases or the physical proofs I get sent it brings some freedom back to my reading. It’s so easy to get caught up in the race to get the newest proof or next year’s must have new book. I don’t want to lose the joy I’ve always had in reading and writing about books.
2. Writing About Second-Hand Books – I love to find an absolute bargain when browsing through the second-hand books and plan holidays around browsing some of my favourite second-hand haunts. A lot of people can’t afford the latest book, or the myriad of special editions that I’m susceptible to – honestly I need an addiction clinic for this particular vice. So I’m going to be featuring more of my charity shop bargains and recommending great second hand books to pop on your buying lists when you’re trawling Oxfam or some of the fantastic second hand haunts around the country. There are so many great reads out there and they don’t have to be the latest big thing.
3. Featuring ‘Gift’ Books – Like a lot of my bookish friends I received some brilliant books for Christmas and some were what I’d call ‘gift’ books. They might be a special copy of a novel, including illustrations or be a non-fiction subject I’m interested in. My other half knows I love books around creativity, fashion, Art Nouveau and the Pre-Raphaelite movements, well-being, animals, costumes for the theatre or ballet. Or very specifically I love Liverpool, Moomins, Chatsworth House and anything to do with Liberty. This Christmas I was treated to a beautiful gift edition of The Girl of Ink and Stars, a biography of Tove Jansson and her creation of the Moomins, a stunning book about Jane Austen’s wardrobe and another about using ‘free’ embroidery as a technique for improving well-being. I often think that I should photograph and share them with followers and I’m going to resolve to do it this year, maybe even use TikTok a little more.
4. Saying No – this is a tough one for a people pleaser, but I do feel the need to say no more often. This is about saying no and protecting my time to read and write first of all. It’s easy to get sidetracked by other people or housework. There’s also that difficulty all workers from home have, that because it isn’t paid work or just because you’re at home it’s okay to drop in unannounced. I’ve got to learn to say that I have a little work to do. If someone pays me a long afternoon visit and I have blog post imminent or have been on fire with my own writing, I have to make up those hours. I need to write that blog in the evening or hope that the inspiration has lasted. I do love people feeling able to pop in though so this is going to be a tough one to break. Also this links back to numbers 1 and 2 in that I will have to say no to some books this year too.
5. Book Sluttery – twenty years ago when I first met my late husband, Jez, I was catapulted into a different world when it came to money. I’d been skint most of the time, on disability benefits but doing up to ten hours a week of permitted work meant that I had to pay rent. Usually after bills, I had approximately £20 to cover food for me and my cats, then after that any sort of socialising or personal spending. His financial advisor came to see us after we moved in and I was utterly fascinated with the way he created a budget. I know you’re a bit of a film and book person so that needs to be factored into the budget. I explained that I usually only spent on myself after everything else was paid. He taught me that if I didn’t split whatever amount left I had into portions for each hobby, I would never do anything or I would overspend. He was right. So I have given myself a monthly book budget because we know I’m going to buy them, but at least I won’t be tempted into bookish incontinence. I remain a bookslut, just hopefully a more sensible one.
6. Championing My Own Writing – one of my most read blogs from last year was about what I called ‘literary glimmers’, those beautiful shining moments in a book where an incredible landscape transports you to another place, where an incredible first kiss whisks you back to a memorable moment, or where a truth becomes so evident you can’t ignore it. This year I’d like to write more blogs like that or maybe share some poetry. I’d like people to hear my narrative voice and see what they think. I’m not going to hide the fact I have a WIP.
7. More Focus on the Squad Pod Collective – you may or may not know that I am a member of the Squad Pod Collective. This group of bookish friends became very close during COVID, keeping a chat group running on Twitter and another on WhatsApp. It was mainly personal support while we all shielded, home-schooled and were furloughed. Of course the talk often did turn to books and now the Squad has developed enormously, having a monthly book club choices, read-alongs and author interviews which is really exciting. I’m hoping to be able to give more focus to the squad this year and join in more with online chats and read-alongs.
8. The Therapeutic Aspect of Books – I have until very recently, been studying for an MA in Creative Writing and Well-being. However earlier last year I had to accept that my health was deteriorating too much to continue. It was a sad choice, but I have MS and there are days every week where I don’t even end up out of pyjamas. Reading has always been my ally when I’m struggling and I can still read or write unless I’m feeling really unwell and have to take a complete break. I love keeping my brain active and learning is a big part of my life so I’ve signed up for online courses in writing and bibliotherapy. When counselling I’ve often recommended books to clients and I’m interested finding out more. There are no set deadlines and I can do as much as I want when I can, so it’s perfect for my up and down life. Im also going to share some therapeutic books with you and share what they’ve done for my health and well-being.
9. Sharing Great Book Haunts – wherever my husband and I go on holiday or weekend breaks I have to spend one day on a bookshop visit. I have a favourite haunt everywhere we go and I’d like to spend more time this year telling you all about them.
10. Saying Yes Too New Experiences– I suppose number 8 is part of this, but I think it’s unhealthy to be in a rut and never try anything new. So I’m going to say yes to things: meeting new book friends, trying some bookish events, finally learning how to use TikTok. I know health is going to dictate some of these, but I’m feeling determined!
So that’s just a few thoughts for my bookish year ahead and I’m excited about the amount of incredible books coming up. It seems that every year gets better and I have to spend a lot of December trying to wrangle a top 20 out of so many great reads. I’m looking forward to it. Let me know what you’re looking forward to this year or any changes you’re thinking of making to your blogging life.
Molly the maid is back! Back in a new adventure, but still living in her grandmother’s apartment, which she now shares with partner Juan Marco, and still working at the Grand Regency Hotel. Juan is on a long awaited trip, visiting family, but Molly decided to stay behind in order to supervise a really important event at the hotel. Mystery writer Mr J.D. Grimthorpe is using the newly decorated Art Deco tea rooms to make an announcement to his fans and the press. Molly knows that Mr Grimthorpe is a very particular man, a knowledge that goes beyond the average bit of research, so it must be her that oversees how he’s looked after. Against most people’s judgement she has chosen her protege Lily to prepare his tea cart, because she’s sure that she’s passed on the requisite skills for her to make a success of it. However, at the crucial moment something goes badly wrong. As Mr Grimthorpe reaches out to his personal honey pot to add just a little sweetness to his tea, a hush descends. As he takes a drink however, chaos ensues. He suddenly plummets to the ground, dead. Molly knows that Lily will be terrified especially since it’s ‘always the maids fault.’ As a detective appears to take on the case, Molly’s skills in observation and brilliant memory turn out to be useful. Yet Molly has another insight that she hasn’t disclosed to her boss or the police. She has met J.D. Grimthorpe before and her memories of that time are not the most flattering to the famous author.
Nita Prose gives us a dual narrative, but both of are Molly. We follow the aftermath of Mr Grimthorpe’s death, but also go back to Molly’s childhood when she is taken to the Grimthorpe mansion by her grandmother who is their maid. Neither narrative is simple, but Molly’s different way of observing the world and her incredible memory create an exciting and complex journey. In one we see Molly’s childhood perspective and we understand that wide-eyed wonder of visiting such a rich house with all its treasures including a Faberge egg! Through a mishap with the egg, Molly is assigned a job in the silver room, polishing all the cutlery. This is supposed to be a punishment, but Mrs Grimthrope has no idea that cleaning is Molly’a idea of fun. I loved following this unique little girl as she uses her privileges to get into every nook and cranny of the house. It’s very atmospheric, quiet with just the steady tap tap of the keys on a typewriter as Grimthorpe creates his next masterpiece. Usually she uses his well stocked shelves to read, particularly the classics like Great Expectations. Molly discovers that if she attempts to take a particular book from the shelf it opens a secret door into his study. This proves to be a vital discovery that will shape their lives forever.
In the present, Molly is making great progress by thinking back to that time all those years ago for clues. When Grimthorpe keeled over nobody noticed what happened to the tea cart, but when it’s inspected they realise two items are missing – his particular honey pot and spoon plus a signed copy of his latest book. With so many super fans and book bloggers around that day, it could have been one of a hundred people, either looking for a macabre souvenir or looking for a good way to make some quick money – the moment Grimthorpe died his books suddenly became more valuable, especially the one he’d only just signed. Molly wants to check out local pawn shops and book collectors to see if anyone has recently brought the book in. Meanwhile suspicion falls on Lily as she knew it would, she needs all the support someone like Molly can give her.
I love Molly as a character and her development in the last novel was an important part of the story. Here we see her take another person under her wing. In the interviews, the others were not impressed by Lily but Molly knew she had all the skills to become the perfect maid. She might be quiet and introverted but that meant she wouldn’t waste time talking with colleagues or guests. She might have a polite and deferential way of talking to the customers too. Molly can clearly see something of her old self in this nervous and slightly strange girl. Molly is now head maid so has the hiring and firing power, and she’s certainly found some brilliant staff for the Regency so she is trusted. Lily shines under Molly’s directions which is lovely to see, but other members or staff are suspicious of her, especially Cheryl who is a loud and greedy chancer! I thought Lily’s manner became confusing, especially after Grimthorpe’s death. She keeps repeating that ‘loose lips sink ships’ but not elaborating on the meaning. She needs careful handling and Molly knows how to manage her. I loved how impressed the detective is with Molly, and the respect that builds between them.
Mr Preston, the doorman at the Regency, is still there and still having lunch every Sunday at Molly and Juan’s flat. His relationship with Molly becomes more significant here, not just because of the investigation but because Molly is delving into her past. Mr Grimthorpe had a very closed circle of people he trusted, including his wife, Molly’s grandmother and the secretary who faithfully turned his notes and verbal ramblings into a proper plot. It was her fingers making the steady clacking sound that was the heart beat of the house. Delving this far back brings up memories for Molly, including the reasons they were banished from this inner circle. She also has to process memories of her mother, someone barely mentioned during her upbringing. Despite having a happy and healthy family unit with her grandmother, Molly still missed her mum desperately and always wondered what happened to her. The mystery is interesting and kept me guessing throughout, with me almost thinking Nita might do something wholly unexpected and pin the blame on Molly. However it’s the love of Molly that will draw readers to this story and the fact that the mystery fills in some holes in her background is a huge bonus. I found myself finishing the book, hoping that Nita Prose would be kind enough to give us at least one more adventure with this charming and unique character.
Out on 18th Jan from Harper Collins
Meet the Author
Nita Prose is the author of The Maid, which has sold more than 1 million copies worldwide and was published in over forty countries. A #1 New York Times bestseller and a Good Morning America Book Club pick, The Maid won the Ned Kelly Award for International Crime Fiction and was an Edgar Award finalist. Her second novel, The Mystery Guest, publishes in November 2023 in North America (January 2024 in the UK). Prose lives in Toronto, Canada, in a house that is moderately clean.
Cole is the perfect husband: a romantic, supportive of his wife, Mel’s career, keen to be a hands-on dad, not a big drinker. A good guy.
So when Mel leaves him, he’s floored. She was lucky to be with a man like him.
Craving solitude, he accepts a job on the coast and quickly settles into his new life where he meets reclusive artist Lennie.
Lennie has made the same move for similar reasons. She is living in a crumbling cottage on the edge of a nearby cliff. It’s an undeniably scary location, but sometimes you have to face your fears to get past them.
As their relationship develops, two young women go missing while on a walk protesting gendered violence, right by where Cole and Lennie live. Finding themselves at the heart of a police investigation and media frenzy, it soon becomes clear that they don’t know each other very well at all.
This is what happens when women have had enough.
Wow! This blows your eyes wide open. I warn you not to start reading at night, unless like me you have a total disregard for tomorrow. Even if I wasn’t actively reading it, I was thinking about it. Cole has moved to a remote part of the coast for a total life change after the collapse of his marriage. Cole considers himself one of the good guys. In fact he would probably call himself a feminist. So the marriage breakdown and Mel’s reasons are inexplicable to him. He was proud of Mel, who was launching her own business, but as they crept towards their late thirties he was starting to wonder if they were leaving it a bit late to start the family they both wanted. After trying for a while, they’d decided on IVF which he knows was more gruelling for Mel than him, but was she really giving their embryos their best chance? Always working late, not eating properly and popping back to work after implantation were all endangering their chances of a viable pregnancy. Despite cooking and caring for her, and supporting her business dreams, Cole is now facing a pile of legal papers on the kitchen table – divorce papers, financial settlements and perhaps most hurtful, a form agreeing to destruction of their final three embryos. What can he have done to deserve this?
As he slowly heals he notices someone is living in the old coastguard’s cottage, a woman he can’t stop watching. She seems so feminine, but yet grounded enough to put her wellies on with her dress while she’s gardening. She is an artist and when they meet a party she introduces herself as Lennie. When he asks what it’s short for she tells him it’s Leonora. No one calls her that but Cole insists. It suits her better he tells her, softer and more feminine. Could the two of them strike up a friendship, or even more? In the background, getting air time on radio and television, are two young women in their twenties who have decided to take on a challenge – a fitting continuation of the work done by women’s movement in the 1970’s. They want to highlight the daily misogyny and violence against women that’s endemic in society. So they plan to walk over 300 miles of the coastal path, camping out each night in a tent. They know that this is dangerous but they want to support a domestic violence charity and raise as much awareness as possible for those women and girls living in daily fear of violence. However as the girls go missing one night it seems they may have fallen victim to their own cause. Could they have become lost and died from exposure? Could they have misjudged their steps and fallen from the cliffs? Or has something far more sinister happened – one of their online trolls following through on comments like ‘you deserve to be raped’.
I loved the way the author put her story together, using fragments from lots of different stories and different narrators. Just when we get used to one and start to see their point of view, the perspective shifts. I thought this added to the immediacy of the novel, but also reflected life and the constant bombardment of information and misinformation we sift through every day. As well as Cole we have narration from Lennie and Mel interspersed with transcripts of radio shows and podcasts, Twitter threads and TV interviews. All give their perspective or commentary on the casual misogyny and violence against women that almost seems like the norm these days. Just like real life the book sometimes felt like a merry-go-ground of opinion, counter argument and trolling. Sometimes I was left so twisted around I wasn’t sure what I thought any more. The only thing I was sure about was much I disliked every single character, but I couldn’t stop reading them either. I would believe one narrator, but then later revelations would blow what I thought right out of the water. As the missing person’s case continues, everyone is weighed up then torn apart on social media and in the press. It made me ask questions: about the nature of art and it’s ethics; about whether all men truly hate women; to what lengths do we go to protest; when is enough, enough? It’s been over a week since I finished this extraordinarily controversial story and I still can’t stop thinking about it. Is it too early to predict a book of the year? I don’t think so.
Thanks to Macmillan and The Squad Pod Collective for my proof copy of this amazing novel.
Meet The Author
Hello, I’m a writer of thrillers and a lover of stories.
My latest book, ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS, was inspired by a groundswell of anger I’ve been feeling myself and amongst the women I know. Because if we don’t feel safe in the world, then it’s still a very unequal world. This is my answer to what happens when women have had enough of being scared.
I hope you enjoy this tense story set in a remote seaside location. I’d love to know if you guess the twist – I’m on instagram and X @aramintahall
And, if you do enjoy this one, I’ve published five other novels, EVERYTHING & NOTHING (2011), DOT (2013), OUR KIND OF CRUELTY (2017), IMPERFECT WOMEN/PERFECT STRANGERS (2019) & HIDDEN DEPTHS (2021
I had so much trouble being strict with my top 23 of last year and 2024 is already looking like a bumper year again! There is so much to look forward to already, some I’ve previewed through proofs and NetGalley whereas others I’m judging on the blurb and the fact I love the author already. My list covers a range of release dates, so some won’t be here with us until the autumn but others are here in January. Here’s a quick look and my final picks for the coming year.
Halfway House by Helen Fitzgerald – I’ve already reviewed this great read from Orenda Books and it really is a page turner. Lou is treading water in Australia and after breaking up from her sugar daddy, she decides to try her luck in Edinburgh. She has lined up a job in a halfway house, supervising prisoners who will soon be moving back into the community. Lou is confident, has a new lover and is starting work with a celebrity paedophile, a paranoid coke dealer and two killers. What could possibly go wrong? Blackly funny and so tense I held my breath.
Out Now from Orenda Books.
The Island of Mists and Miracles by Victoria Mas
I loved the author’s first novel The Mad Women’s Ball so I’m excited for this one, set on a remote island off the coast of Brittany. Sister Anne has accepted a mission to the tiny community, her only company being a chain-smoking older nun who wants to be left alone. Sister Anne is hoping for a vision, but instead it is local boy Isaac who is transfixed, looking out to sea. The only words he can utter are ‘I see’. As a media circus descends, old wounds are reopened setting in motion an unexpected chain of events.
Out on 14th March from Doubleday and Translated by Frank Wynne.
The Hunter by Tana French
I love a gritty crime drama and I enjoyed her previous novel The Searcher. It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in the village. They’re coming for gold. What they bring is trouble.
Cal Hooper was a Chicago detective, till he moved to the West of Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less – in his relationship with local woman Lena, and the bond he’s formed with half-wild teenager Trey. So when two men turn up with a money-making scheme to find gold in the townland, Cal gets ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey. Because one of the men is no stranger: he’s Trey’s father.
Out on 7th March from Penguin Books.
The Theatre of Glass and Shadows by Anne Corlett
There’s mystery surrounding the cover of this one and I received a black proof with a lace eye mask and several keys through the post to pique my interest. This sounds like everything a Night Circus fan like me could want. In an alternate London, Juliet turns nineteen and wants to know who she is. She has never felt loved by her stepmother or father and starts to search for the truth about her birth. Her birth certificate tells her she was born in the walled area south of the river where an immersive theatre production ‘The Show’ runs continually. Juliet travels there, but can she find the truth when the only rule is ‘the show must go on’ and powerful men control which stories see the light of day.
Out on 23rd May from Black and White Publishing.
The Phoenix Ballroom by Ruth Hogan
Ruth Hogan’s books always leave me feeling warm and uplifted. Our heroine is Venetia Hamilton Hargreaves who feels like she’s been sleepwalking through life until widowhood leaves her in an interesting position. With a large house and bank balance to match Venetia can reshape her life and she buys the dilapidated Phoenix Ballroom, that comes with it’s own drop-in centre and spiritualist church. As the centre becomes a refuge for people who are lost and lonely, stories intertwine and secrets come to the surface. Chosen families are formed and missed opportunities are seized as the ballroom starts to live up to it’s hopeful and optimistic name. This sounds like a lovely weekend read in the garden that’s full of joy.
Out on 27th June from Corvus Publishing.
Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook
I’ve been lucky enough to be sent a beautiful proof of this book from the publisher and it really is a stunning cover. It’s London, 1850, and Maude Horton’s older sister Constance has disappeared. It seems she has left the apothecary where they live and disguised herself as a boy to join an Arctic voyage. The Admiralty tell Maude there’s been a tragic accident and Constance has gone. Maude doesn’t believe them and reading Constance’s journal makes her think there are sinister forces hiding the truth. Maude needs to step into London’s dark underbelly, taking on dangerous men who enjoy the horrors the city has to offer, from hangings at Newgate to Madame Tussaud’s ghoulish waxworks. It’s going to be a perilous task but Maude has dangerous skills of her own…..
Out on 1st Feb from Picador.
The Household by Stacey Halls
I’m a huge fan of Stacey Hall’s novels so I’m so excited for this one, set in the outskirts of London where a quiet house is being readied for a group of women. It’s location is secret and the residents have never met, but all have something in common – they are fallen. Urania Cottage is a second chance for prostitutes, petty thieves and the destitute. Only a few miles away in Picadilly lives the millionairess Angela Burdett-Coutts, one of the cottage’s benefactors. She has found out that her stalker is being released after ten years in prison. Will their nightmarish games resume? As the women’s worlds collide in ways they could never have expected, they will discover that freedom always comes at a price . .
Out on 11th April from Manila Press
The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose
Ive been lucky enough to read this wonderful sequel to The Maid where we’re back with Molly, now Head Maid at the Regency Grand Hotel. She still lives in the flat she shared with her late grandmother but now shares with boyfriend Juan Marco. The couple were planning on travelling to Cuba to meet his family, but a mystery guest wants to hold and event in the hotel’s newly decorated Art Deco tearoom. Molly needs to oversee this and puts her newest recruit Lily on the job. J.D. Grimthorpe, the murder mystery author, is launching his new book and he has very specific requirements for his tea tray, including his very own honey pot to sweeten his tea. Horrifyingly, on the day, he takes one sip of his tea and falls down dead. Two things go missing in the chaos, the honeypot and the signed copy of his new novel. Suspicion falls on Lily, of course it’s always the maid’s fault, but can Molly work with the police to find the culprit? She does have something of an advantage though, Molly has met J. D. Grimthorpe before…. Such a joy to be in Molly’s company again for this sequel.
Out on 18th January by Harper Collins.
Voyage of the Damned by Frances White
Concordia has remained peaceful for a thousand years and to mark this achievement the emperor’s ship embarks on a twelve day voyage to the sacred Goddess’s Mountain. The twelve heirs of Concordia’s provinces are aboard, each one graced with a unique and secret magical ability known as a blessing. All except one: Ganymedes Piscero – class clown, slacker, and all-round disappointment. When one heir is murdered, everyone is a suspect. Stuck at sea and surrounded by powerful people, odds of survival are slim and as the bodies pile higher, Ganymedes must become the hero he was not born to be. Can he unmask the killer and their secret blessing before this bloody crusade reaches the shores of Concordia? Or will the empire as he knows it fall forever? A brilliant mix of fantasy and murder mystery.
Out on 18th January from Michael Joseph
The Fury by Alex Michaelides
‘On a small private Greek island, former movie star Lana Farrar – an old friend – invites a select group of us to stay.’
It’ll be hot, sunny, perfect. A chance to relax and reconnect – and maybe for a few hidden truths to come out. Because nothing on this island is quite what it seems. Not Lana. Not her guests. Certainly not the murderer – furiously plotting their crime . . .
But who am I? My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard. I love this author for his incredible twists – I sail recommend The Silent Patient.
Out on 1st Feb from Penguin.
The Book of Witching by C.J.Cooke
I can’t believe this author has a new book out this year! Talk about prolific. This is the blurb we have so far.
A terrible discovery on an idyllic beach in Fynhallow Bay: a teenage boy has been burned to death, a girl is missing, and another girl is in hospital and remembers just one thing – that she is Nyx. But her mother won’t give up on bringing her back to reality, and travels back to that remote beach where she starts to uncover a centuries old secret of witchcraft that may just be the key to saving her daughter . . .
Will Fynhallow Bay give up its secrets before someone else dies?
Out 10th October 2024 from Harper Collins
The Betrayal of Thomas True by A.J.West
It is the year 1710, and Thomas True has arrived on old London Bridge with a dangerous secret. One night, lost in the squalor of London’s back streets, he finds himself drawn into the underworld of the molly houses. Meanwhile, carpenter Gabriel Griffin struggles to hide his double life as Lotty, the molly’s silent guard. When the queen of all ‘he-harlots’, Mother Clap, confides in him about a deadly threat, he realises his friends are facing imminent execution. There is a rat amongst the mollies, betraying their secrets to the murderous Justices punishing sinners with the noose. Can Gabriel unmask the traitor before it’s too late? Can he save Thomas and their own impossible love?
Set amidst the hidden world of Georgian London’s ‘gay’ scene, this is a brutal and devastating thriller, where love must overcome evil, and the only true sin is betrayal…
Out on 6th June from Orenda Books
The Library of Heartbeats by Laura Imai Messina
On the peaceful Japanese island of Teshima there is a library of heartbeats, a place where the heartbeats of visitors from around the world are collected. In this isolated building, even the heartbeats of people who’ve have already passed away, continue to echo. Several miles away, in the ancient city of Kamakura, two lonely souls meet: Shuichi, a forty-year-old illustrator, returns to his home-town to fix up the house of his recently deceased mother. Eight-year-old Kenta is a child who wanders like a shadow around Shuichi’s house. Day by day, the trust between Shuichi and Kenta grows until they discover they share a bond that will tie them together for life. Their journey will lead them to Teshima and to the library of heartbeats . . .
Out on 4th Jan from Manila Press.
House of Shades by Lianne Dillsworth
So excited for this one as I loved her debut. In London, 1833, doctress Hester Reeves has been offered a life-changing commission. But it comes at a price. She must leave behind her husband and their canal-side home in Kings Cross and move to Tall Trees – a dark and foreboding house in Fitzrovia. If Hester can cure the ailing health of its owner, Gervaise Cherville, she will receive payment that will bring her everything she could dream of. But on arriving at Tall Trees, Hester quickly discovers that an even bigger task awaits her. Now she must unearth secrets that have lain hidden for decades – including one that will leave Hester’s own life forever changed…
Out on 16th May from Hutchinson Heinneman
Ice Town by Will Dean
This one is coming very late in the year and will certainly be on my birthday wishlist. I’m a massive Tuva Moodyson fan and I’ve been waiting for a new one, even while enjoying his standalone novels.
A deaf teenager goes missing in Esseberg. Mountain rescue are launching a search party but conditions hinder their efforts. When journalist Tuva Moodyson reads this news alert she knows she must join the search. If this teenager is found, she will be able to communicate with him in a way no one else can. Tuva is deaf too. Esseberg lies on the other side of a mountain tunnel: there is only one way in and one way out. When the tunnel closes at night, the residents are left to fend for themselves. And as more people go missing, it becomes clear that there is a killer among them ..
Out November 7th from Hodder and Stoughton
When We Flew Away by Alice Hoffman
This is also a later release but anything new by Alice Hoffman is always on my radar. This is aimed at younger readers but I do delve into young adult fiction and this is worth it.
Anne Frank’s story has captivated and inspired readers for decades. Published posthumously by her bereaved father, Anne’s journal, written while she and her family were in hiding during World War II, has become one of the central texts of the Jewish experience during the Holocaust. With the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, the Frank family’s life is turned inside out and Anne is forced to bear witness as ordinary people become monsters, and children and families are caught up in the violence. In the midst of danger, the audacious and creative Anne discovers who she truly is. With a wisdom beyond her years, her writing will change the world. Alice Hoffman weaves a heart-wrenching story of the way the world closes in on the Frank family until they are forced into hiding, bringing Anne to bold, vivid life. Based on extensive research and published in cooperation with the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, When We Flew Away is an extraordinary and moving tour de force.
Out on 17th September from Scholastic Press
Meet Me When My Heart Stops by Becky Hunter
I was lucky enough to read this over Christmas and loved the premise, which had a Life After Life feel, but brought up to date.
The first time Emery’s heart stops, she is only five years old. She is born with a heart condition that means her heart could quite literally stop at any moment. The people around her know what to do – if they act quickly enough there will be no lasting damage, and Emery’s heart can be restarted. But when it happens, she is briefly technically dead. Each time Emery’s heart stops, she meets Nick. He helps people adjust to being dead, before they move on entirely. He doesn’t usually meet people more than once – but with Emery, he can a connection, and he finds himself drawn to her. As Emery’s life progresses, and she goes through ups and downs, she finds a part of her longing for those moments when her heart stops – so that she can see Nick again. This is the story of two fated lovers who are destined never to share more than a few fleeting moments – because if they were together, it would mean Emery’s life has ended. This is a real tear-jerker and I loved the author’s ability to create both the afterlife and a real, present life with all the issues of Emery’s condition played out.
Out on March 21st from Corvus
Death on the Lusitania by R.L. Graham
Welcome on board the Lusitania’s final voyage . . .
New York, 1915. RMS Lusitania, one of the world’s most luxurious ocean liners, departs for war-torn Europe. On board is Patrick Gallagher, a civil servant in Her Majesty’s government tasked with escorting a British diplomat back to England. When a fellow passenger is believed to have shot himself in his cabin, Gallagher is asked to investigate the scene but one crucial detail doesn’t fit. The man’s body was found in a locked cabin with the key inside and no gun to be found. Was it really suicide? Or murder? Gallagher believes one of the passengers is a deadly killer – one who could strike again at any moment. And all the while, the ship sails on towards Europe, where enemy submarines patrol dark waters . . .
Out on January 25th from Macmillan.
Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter by Nicci French
She’s loved by all who meet her. But someone wants her gone . . .
When beautiful and vivacious Charlotte Salter fails to turn up to her husband Alec’s 50th birthday party, her kids are worried, but Alec is not. As the days pass, with no word from Charlie, her daughter, Etty, and her sons, Niall, Paul and Ollie, all struggle to come to terms with her disappearance. Left with no answers, the Salter children try and go on with their lives, all the while thinking that their mother’s killer is potentially very close to home. After years away, Etty returns to the village, to help move her father into a care home. Now in his eighties, Alec has dementia and often mistakes his daughter for her mother. Etty is a changed woman from the trouble-free girl she was when Charlie was still around – all the Salter children have spent decades hiding from their mother’s disappearance. But when childhood friends, Greg and Morgen Ackerley, decide to do a podcast about Charlotte’s disappearance, it seems like the town’s buried secrets – and the Salters’ – might finally come to light.
Out on 29th Feb from Simon & Schuster
By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
This latest from prolific writer Jodi Picoult barely has a blurb as yet, just lots of positive feedback from other authors. I love her work so this is another book for my birthday list I think.
The Amazing Grace Adams – I loved taking Grace’s journey with her, as she ends up abandoning her car and walking to deliver a birthday cake to her daughter. As she walks, family secrets start to emerge and we watch Grace find herself again. Funny, moving and uplifting.
Shark Heart – This is such an unusual novel, as newlyweds Lewis and Wren find out about a rare genetic mutation that will slowly turn Lewis into a Great White Shark. The author uses magic realism to explore the grief of losing someone by slow degrees. Beautiful and utterly heartbreaking.
The Opposite of Lonely – Of course the Skelf novel number 5 is on my list! I’m such a fan of these books and the three Skelf women: grandmother Dorothy, mother Jenny and daughter Hannah. There are changes afoot in the funeral business, plus three new cases for them to investigate including a fire at a traveller’s site, the whereabouts of Jenny’s sister-in-law and an astronaut who came back to earth a ‘changed’ woman. Brilliantly written and woven together this is the best one yet.
End of Story – this book is an absolute masterpiece. Louise creates a dystopian world where all fiction is banned and writers are monitored very carefully by compliance officers who visit and interrogate their activities. Fern is one such writer whose third novel Technological Amazingness was banned for creating dissent. I sensed another story lurking beneath the surface and I read the last chapters with tears running down my cheeks.
The Birdcage Library – this had all the elements of my favourite type of novel – dual timelines, women’s history, a gothic castle, and taxidermy! What more could you want? Emily Blackwood is an explorer in her own right, but is asked by a collector of taxidermy to help him catalogue his collection. However when she arrives and finds pieces of a woman’s journal from 50 years ago, she is pulled into a story that has implications for the collector and for her own safety. Dark, compelling and quirky.
All The Little Bird-Hearts – Sunday and her daughter Dolly have a glamorous and gregarious new neighbour. Vita wants to be friends, a big deal for Sunday who finds socialising difficult. Vita and her husband Rollo seems to accept Sunday’s ‘quirks’, but as they get closer Sunday starts to notice Vita is spending more time with Dolly. Are they just taking an interest in Dolly or is something more manipulative going on? This is a subtle and emotionally literate debut that’s so beautifully written.
Good Girls Die Last – I read this book in a day, because it’s so compelling. Em’s 30th birthday looms along with the imminent wedding of her younger sister back home in Spain. On the hottest day of the year she loses her job and home in one morning. All she’s got to do is get to the airport, but with strikes, protests and a serial killer on the loose will she ever get there? A raw and searingly insightful thriller.
River Sing Me Home – a stunning novelty set in the first years after slavery is outlawed in Barbados. Rachel is still in the cane fields as an apprentice and doesn’t feel free. The only way Rachel will feel free is if she can find her children; scattered to different places and owners by the slave owner. This is a beautiful, moving journey of a mother trying to put the pieces of her family back together and it is unforgettable.
Vita and the Birds – I loved this haunting tale from the wonderful Polly Crosby. Told in a dual timeline, we follow Eve Blakeney who returns to her grandmother’s home by the coast to sort through her belongings and work through her grief. She finds a tin of letters that take us back to the 1930’s and her grandmother’s relationship with a woman called Vita. A novel of family secrets kept for decades and so beautifully written.
The Fascination – with it’s setting of travelling fairs, the West End and the Victorian fascination with ‘curiosities’ it was perfect for me. Tilly and Keziah Lovell are twins and alike in everything except Tilly hasn’t grown since she was five. They follow their father to fairgrounds selling his quack remedies until they are sold at 15 to the mysterious Captain who whisks them to London. Theo is raised by Lord Seabrook, a man who has an obsession with anatomical curiosities. As Theo undertakes work at Dr Summerwell’s Museum of Anatomy his path crosses with the Captain and his troupe. Theo, Keziah and Tilly are drawn into a web of deceit and secrets that could upturn everything they know.
The Running Grave – I was disappointed with the last Cormoran Strike novel but this was back on form. Strike and Robin are hired to find a young man drawn into a cult and estranged from his family. Robin volunteers to infiltrate the church through their temple in London, with the hope of being taken to their farm in Norfolk to undergo induction. The Universal Humanitarian Church is, seems like a peaceable organisation that campaigns for a better world, but Strike discovers that beneath the surface there are deeply sinister undertones, and unexplained deaths. Is Robin prepared for the dangers that await her there or for the toll it will take on her?
Starling House – An absorbing Gothic fairytale set in the small town of Eden, Kentucky. No one remembers when Starling House was built, but stories of the house’s bad luck have been passed down the generations. Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses, but when an opportunity to work there arises the money might get her brother out of Eden. Starling House is uncanny and full of secrets – just like Arthur, its heir. It also feels strangely, dangerously, like something she’s never had: a home. Yet Opal isn’t the only one interested in the horrors and the wonders that lie buried beneath it. As sinister forces converge on Eden Opal realizes that if she wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.
A Haunting in the Arctic – 1901. On board the Ormen, a whaling ship battling through the unforgiving North Sea, Nicky Duthie awakes. Attacked and dragged there against her will, it’s just her and the crew – and they’re all owed something only she can give them. 1973. Decades later the ship is found still drifting across the ocean, but deserted. Just one body is left on board, his face and feet mutilated, his cabin locked from the inside. Everyone else has vanished. Now, urban explorer Dominique travels to the northernmost tip of Iceland and the Ormen’s wreck, determined to uncover the ship’s secrets. But she’s not alone. Something is here with her. And it’s seeking revenge… hauntingly brilliant.
In A Thousand Different Ways– Alice sees the worst in people. She also sees the best. She sees a thousand different emotions in shades of colour and knows exactly what everyone around her is feeling. Every. Single. Day. It’s the dark thoughts. The sadness. The rage. These are the things she can’t get out of her head. The things that overwhelm her. With a difficult family life including her mother who’s a permanent shade of blue, where will the journey to find herself begin? This was a beautifully thoughtful depiction of intergenerational trauma and the ways in which we heal.
The Moon Gate – This brilliant historical fiction novel weaves together three timelines, starting in Australia in the 1930’s and two girls shipped down under to avoid the Blitz – Grace and their housekeeper’s daughter. At Towerhurst, Grace and neighbour Daniel bond over poetry, and when Australia’s young men are finally called up a secret is carried forward over the decades. In 1975 Willow and her husband Ben are shocked to receive a letter informing them she has been bequeathed a house, Towerhurst, on the northwest coast of Tasmania. Ben decides to use his journalism skills to find out why. Libby Andrews has always been shielded from the truth of her father Ben’s death. When she decides to travel to London and claim his belongings, she finds an intriguing photograph that inspires her to finish his investigation. This is a beautiful story, emotional and perfectly set within it’s different settings and time frames. This is my favourite read of the year.
Harlem After Midnight – In the middle of Harlem, at the dead of night, a woman falls from a second storey window. In her hand, she holds a passport and the name written on it is Lena Aldridge… after the voyage of Miss Aldridge Regrets, Lena arrived in Harlem less than two weeks ago. She’s full of hope for her new romance with Will Goodman, the handsome musician she met on board the Queen Mary. Will has arranged for Lena to stay with friends of his, and give their relationship a chance. She’s also in Harlem to find out what happened in 1908 to make her father flee to London. As Lena’s investigations progress, not only does she realise her father lied to her, but the man she’s falling too fast and too hard for has secrets of his own. And those secrets have put Lena in terrible danger…
The Girls of Summer – I couldn’t get this novel out of my head, especially having teenage stepdaughters stepping out into the world. Rachel has loved Alistair since she was seventeen, even though it was sixteen years ago and she’s now married to someone else. She was a teenager when they met and he was almost twenty years older than her. Rachel has never been able to forget their golden summer together on a remote, sun-trapped Greek island. But as dark and deeply suppressed memories rise to the surface, Rachel begins to understand that Alistair – and the enigmatic, wealthy man he worked for – controlled much more than she ever realized. Rachel has never once considered herself a victim – until now. Not only a great thriller, but shows how thinking has changed around abuse and exploitative power dynamics in relationships.
The House of Fortune – This return to 18th Century Amsterdam and the world of Nella Oortman is set several years after Nella’s husband’s execution. Nella’s sister-in-law Marin died in childbirth, after a relationship with her brother’s manservant Otto. The household is running out of money, so Nella knows that their only option is to find a wealthy husband for Thea, Marin’s daughter. Will the notoriety of Thea’s birth and her mixed race heritage hold her back in the marriage market? When small packages start to appear on the doorstep, Nella knows that the miniaturist has returned.
The Good Liars – Anita Frank’s new historic thriller is set in a favourite period of mine, the period after the First World War. In the summer of 1914 a boy vanishes from the estate of Darkacre Hall, never to be seen again. In 1920, the once esteemed Stilwell family of Darkacre are struggling with the war’s legacy. Leonard bears the physical scars, while his brother Maurice has endured more than his mind can take. Maurice’s wife Ida yearns for the lost days of privilege and pleasure and family friend Victor seems unwilling to move on. Then a young nurse arrives to work with Leonard changing the dynamic. She finds that the dead haunt the living at Darkacre and dark secrets lie buried. When the missing boy’s case is reopened – and this time they themselves are under police scrutiny. A great Gothic novel, that beautifully conjures the 1920’s and the aftermath of war.
Strange Sally Diamond – After her father dies, Sally carries out his wishes to the letter and he’s always said put me in a bin bag and throw me out with the rubbish. There’s a dark, Irish humour in this novel about a vulnerable young woman who finds out she has been her father’s subject of study. This story veers between an uplifting tale of a sheltered young woman trying to live independently and a thriller. As Sally gets on her feet a man from New Zealand turns up on the doorstep. What is his link to Sally and will his presence change everything? I know this is a book I’ll read again and again.
73 Dove Street– Edie Budd arrives at a shabby West London boarding house in October 1958, carrying nothing except a broken suitcase and an envelope full of cash, it’s clear she’s hiding a terrible secret. The other women of 73 Dove Street have secrets of their own. Tommie, who lives on the second floor, waits on the eccentric Mrs Vee by day. After dark, she harbours an addiction to seedy Soho nightlife – and a man she can’t quit. Phyllis, the formidable landlady, has set fire to her husband’s belongings after discovering a heart-breaking betrayal – yet her fierce bravado hides a past she doesn’t want to talk about. The three women keep to themselves, but as Edie’s past catches up with her, Tommie becomes caught in her web of lies – forcing her to make a decision that will change everything . . .
The Space Between Us – Heather, Ava and Lennox see a bright light in the sky and on the same evening suffer a rare form of stroke. Yet they seem to suddenly recover. All are drawn back to where the light came down and find themselves in a race to help Sandy, an alien cephalopod who needs to find others of his kind. An unusual, funny and deeply moving read.
Beautiful Shining People – Awkward teenager John is a coding genius, who is in Japan on business when he comes across an ear-cleaning service, run by a beautiful girl called Neotnia, a giant ex-Sumo wrestler and a robot dog. This book is like nothing I’d ever read before: part romance, part science-fiction and part thriller. I loved it all.
Also worth reading…
I had a really hard time keeping to 23 books this year so here are a few that almost made the cut.
Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater – brilliant thriller set in a bookshop chain, with dark humour and some great swipes at our bookish culture – you will recognise yourself..
You Can’t See Me by Eva Björg Ægisdottir – a great addition to the Forbidden Iceland series as a wealthy family have booked a reunion in a hotel on the lava fields. When someone goes missing their darkest secrets start to be exposed.
Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen – a dark and funny thriller ensues when an author is challenged to write a thriller in 30 days and her writing retreat is anything but relaxing.
The Seawomen by Chloe Timms – the women on the island of Eden are forbidden to enter the water, to even touch the water will stir up the sin inside. Obedience, marriage and motherhood are the only path to salvation. The sea is Esta’s greatest temptation, can she resist it’s siren call?
We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman – Ash and Edi have been friends for forty years, so when Edi is diagnosed with terminal cancer Ash arranges her life round Edi’s care. She wants to squeeze every bit of joy out of these moments, but will she be able to let go?
This Family by Kate Sawyer – Mary has watched all three of her daughters grow up in this house and today she is getting married there. Will Phoebe, Rosie and especially Emma be able to put all that has happened since aside to be there for their mother? A brilliant family drama.
Past Lying by Val McDermid – the latest in Val McDermid’s Karen Pirie series sees the DI investigating during lockdown when a librarian finds a disturbing manuscript as she’s archiving an author’s final effects. Could his unfinished manuscript actually link to a missing person case?
This has been my ‘in the bath’ book for the last three or four days and I don’t mind saying that I have been like a prune during that time because I kept reading ‘just another chapter’. I also drove my other half crazy by topping up the hot water every time I gave in to the story. I have to follow an unusual reading regime in my house. It was built in 1787 and has a lot of ‘quirks’, including the emptying of my entire tub of bath water into the kitchen below instead of the usual plumbed in route. A further quirk is that if I take my iPad into the bathroom to read from Kindle or NetGalley, it simply switches itself off. I can sometimes bypass this by putting the iPad into airplane mode before going into the bathroom, but it’s not a fail-safe method. So I tend to read real proof copies in the bath and downstairs, keeping my iPad for bed where I don’t want to wake my other half. I don’t like to put on a reading light or do what my sister-in-law does and go to bed in my brother’s night fishing hat with built in head-lamp. She didn’t like to keep him awake by reading with a light on in their camper van.
So now you know that we’re all a bit odd in my family, I’ll come back to the book, one that grabbed me straight away and kept hold of me till the final page. There’s just something compulsive about it. It could be the short chapters that are so snappy and often end on a cliffhanger. It could be the alternating narration between neighbours Natalie and Rani who live across from each other. The women have such strong narrative voices and are both in completely relatable positions in life; Natalie is the beautiful neighbour with the killer job and the lovely house across the road that Rani has been coveting since she moved here. In fact as soon as the For Sale sign went up she was over there with a different name and address, swanky clothes and great back story in order to view it. So when Natalie moves in Rani knows exactly which high end work tops she butters her toast at in the morning and the surprisingly sheltered garden made for children to play in. We all think the grass is greener at times, but few of us would go to the lengths that Rani will.
Natalie does appear to have everything going for her. She’s undeniably beautiful with honey blonde hair and designer clothing. Naturally she’s the high flyer in a corporate law firm, with the opportunity to become the youngest ever woman at her firm to become partner. Her handsome and older husband Charlie is attentive and thoughtful. The pair married in Tuscany and Charlie is keen to start a family, hence the beautiful home in just the right area. Sometimes, when people really love a house they’ve looked at, they might claim to feel immediately at home there or be able to see them living in these perfectly curated spaces but for Natalie it’s less of a feeling and more of a certainty. She has lived here before, right at the beginning of her life, before her dad left and when she had an imaginary friend, Noemi, to run around with. She knows she was running a risk not telling Charles, but when the elderly next door neighbour doesn’t seem to recognise her she seems to have a got away with it. What is luring her back there? Her mother Luella is unlikely to enjoy a trip down memory lane, in fact she’s the first to remind Natalie how her dad left them in a terrible state, financially as well as emotionally. She likes to remind Natalie what a good man Charles is: all Charles wants is to settle and have a family; to look after Natalie; to take the burden of her high-powered career away; help her cultivate the right sort of friends. Surely that can’t be bad?
Rani lives opposite in her cramped flat, being a full-time mum and wearing supermarket clothes. She watches Natalie settle in and we can see a perfect psychological storm starting to build. Rani will happily admit that, at times, Natalie’s lifestyle must be hard to keep up. Although that revelation only surfaces when she realises it does take work to be that put together and professional. At first though, Rani feels almost as if Natalie is a fantastical creature who simply drifts out of bed with not a hair out of place, naturally smelling of roses and never working for her enviable figure. Rani feels out of place next to her, in her daily mum uniform of leggings and a t-shirt. However, these thoughts come from Rani’s anxieties and feelings of inadequacy. Although she loves her beautiful girls, she does miss going to out to work and having something that is entirely hers. She also feels disconnected from Joel, although she loves him the years of babies and toddlers have wiped out any spontaneity or time for themselves. When Joel commits a huge betrayal Rani has a huge choice to make. Can they find a way back to each other?
Just like Rani, we are drawn in more and more by Natalie’s life. Cleverly the author has made sure that we get to see more than Rani, through Natalie’s chapters we get her inner thoughts while everyone else is still seeing the perfect exterior. We know that she’s having nightmares again, full of people close to her but who don’t look quite right. Noemi is back too, breaking into her thoughts and becoming so tantalisingly real. As the two women become friends, I was actually a little bit scared for Rani. She doesn’t know what she’s getting into, although she has an inkling the perfect marriage to Charles may not be all it seems. I was unsure where the danger was coming from, was Charles much more dangerous than he at first appears or is Natalie’s strange past all in her imagination? Why did she choose to live in this house, when her childhood seems like an endless nightmare and Luella comes across as a harsh and controlled woman? It’s as if she adopted the Royal family’s motto for her family; ‘never complain, never explain’. Rani is the first true friend Natalie has had in her adult life, so she’s not always as open as she could be or is so used to thinking what Luella’s take on the situation might be, she comes out with something that sounds wrong. As Natalie starts to enjoy a little freedom, what will Charles’s reaction be and what dangers might the two women face if they start to dig up her past? This book is so well paced and the tension just keeps building. I enjoyed the female characters in the book and the unflinching depiction of domestic abuse that forms part of the story. I found Rani a more engaging and rounded character than Natalie, but of course she would be – none of her past is missing. Natalie comes across as a borderline personality, she has no sense of her own identity and has always gone along with the strongest person in the room, adopting their values and attitudes as her own. Rani has a lot more to lose, not material possessions but a family and roots that she knows keep her grounded. It’s knowing the threat and knowing how much Rani has to lose that kept me reading, even if the bath water was getting a little cold.
Meet the Author
Mira V Shah is a writer, former City lawyer turned legal editor and the proud owner of three good dogs. She is the daughter of Indian African parents and lives in North London with her husband and the pack – merely a few miles from where she grew up, although she often dreams about retiring in Italy should her intermittent lottery entries prove successful.
She wrote her first ever novel in 2020 during the first UK lockdown after studying on the Curtis Brown Creative novel writing course. HER was published by Hodder and Stoughton in November 2023.
Way back in 1997, I started my first job in the mental health field as a support worker for social services. My role was spread between the day centre and the community, covering several of the halfway houses that supported people coming from a period in hospital and back into their lives. I remember being daunted when taken to one of these houses for the first time, not because I was scared of all people with mental health issues, but because there were five men living in the house and I was just a 24 year old little 5 feet 2 inch scrap who suddenly felt like they knew very little! So I felt a very personal sense of trepidation for Lou O’Dowd who travels across the world from Australia to Edinburgh for a job with the organisation SASOL. Her new life will mean living with her cousin and working shifts at a halfway house for high risk offenders including two killers, a celebrity paedophile, and a paranoid coke dealer. After orientation, Lou will be on shift alone dealing with these offenders with little more than her own instinct to guide her. What could possibly go wrong?
I love that Helen Fitzgerald writes characters like Lou O’Dowd. She doesn’t worry about whether the reader will like her heroine or not – I did feel a strange affection for her if I’m honest. She is controversial in a lot of ways. In Australia she has been living on a sugar daddy’s generosity, depending on him for the roof over her head and a monthly allowance that’s enough for her not to work. She has never really known what she wants to do with her life so has jumped at the opportunity to be sheltered by someone else’s money. When this relationship comes to a disastrous end she has no choice but to find a job and with zero skills, Edinburgh seems like a great opportunity. She seems to veer between low confidence and an almost cocky attitude that’s veering on the reckless. Her inability to direct her own life suggests feelings of inadequacy, but when she takes on her job in Edinburgh she really doesn’t seem to comprehend the potential risks of her role. On her first day in Edinburgh she goes out to see her cousin’s play at the matinee and meets a charming man who’s intelligent and personable. He also shares Lou’s attitude to risk, suggesting sex in alleys or doorways rather than either of their homes. It’s as though Lou has met the male version of herself: charming, unpredictable and addicted to taking risks. When she finds out he’s one of the heirs to a Scottish estate she starts to wonder whether they could be more than a quick fling?
As the book builds towards Lou’s solo shifts at the halfway house, I felt so nervous for her. It also felt like the employer didn’t prepare new staff anyone near enough, just one shadow shift then in at the deep end. I didn’t do night shifts, but the thought of staying up all night as the only person in a house of murderers and sex offenders made me jumpy. To the extent that I dreamt people had broken into my own house one night over Christmas. I loved the way Helen mixed the mundane domesticity of working in a place like this, with the fear and all out horror that could potentially take over. On her first shift Lou takes it upon herself to clean the kitchen and throw out the broken crockery. This might seem like a sensible and industrious job to start with, but it takes a senior worker to point out that this isn’t Lou’s home, it’s the resident’s home and their belongings that she’s thrown out. It’s a line a lot of people would have crossed, but takes away the resident’s agency. It would have been better to try and include them. There’s the evening ritual of cocoa for each resident, but it has to be to perfectly timed in order to interrupt one resident’s suicide ritual. These are the extremes a job like this entails, but it’s only the beginning.
There’s still humour to be found though, laced with a few moments of disgust as Lou realises why one of the residents is happy to be roomed in the basement and another’s seemingly excited leg movements, turn out to be the wrong kind of excited. However, with one resident owing money to the type of people who won’t mind being repaid one body part at a time, another just waiting for Lou to drop her guard and close her eyes and one she thought she could trust, displaying his dangerous side and the depths he’s willing to plumb to scratch a powerful itch! By the final showdown my heart was racing, I was holding my breath and had to go make myself a cup of tea at 4am because I needed to finish, but I also needed a comforting brew. This was another great thriller from Helen and Orenda Books and I heartily recommend it for those who like their heroines less than squeaky clean and their danger very real.
Available now from Orenda Books
Meet The Author
Helen FitzGerald is the bestselling author of thirteen adult and young-adult thrillers, including The Donor (2011) and The Cry (2013), which was longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and adapted for a major BBC drama. Her 2019 dark- comedy thriller Worst Case Scenario was a Book of the Year in the Literary Review, Herald Scotland, Guardian, Sunday Times, The Week and Daily Telegraph, shortlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and won the CrimeFest Last Laugh Award. The critically acclaimed Ash Mountain (2020) and Keep Her Sweet (2022) soon followed. Helen worked as a criminal-justice social worker for over fifteen years. She grew up in Victoria, Australia, and now lives in Glasgow with her husband.
At five a.m. one summer’s morning, police diver Jen Harper wakes to find herself submerged in the silt of a river with no memory of how she got there.
Forty-eight hours later, she’s called to dive in the same river in search of a missing woman, Claudia Franklin.
But for Jen, this is no ordinary job. Her and Claudia’s families were entangled for decades – there is unresolved resentment between them, unspoken secrets.
Jen hasn’t seen Claudia for twelve years now. Or has she?
This was an interesting and complex novel that feels part thriller and part family drama. From the mysterious opening, this is a book full of secrets and lies. It’s a slow burner and I wasn’t sure at first. I found myself more drawn in by the characters involved in the story. Told through Jen, a police diver, it was a perspective I’d never come across before in crime novels. My brain immediately went back to 2023 to the disappearance of Nicola Buller, who went to walk her dog as usual one morning and never came home. The unusual circumstances- her dog left alone, her phone left on a bench on an open work call – caused a media frenzy and people spread wild theories on social media. A diver, who was contracted for searches in waterways by other police forces, offered his services direct to the family saying ‘if she’s in there, I will find her’. He didn’t. Sadly she was found days later. Water behaves in unusual ways and that mysterious movement of tides can take bodies and conceal them for days. Jen’s work was a fascinating backdrop to the disappearance of local woman Claudia Franklin from the small town of Bourne. After two days with no sign of her, police divers are called to search the river – Jen included. However, Jen doesn’t disclose her family’s complicated relationship with the Franklins, or that where a member of the public has reported seeing something in the water is exactly where she woke up after sleepwalking.
Jen is intriguing and it was interesting to experience what could be seen as quite a macho job, from a woman’s perspective. Jen is definitely one of the boys, she doesn’t expect special treatment and even changes into her dive gear with the men, in the back of the van. There are also parts of the job where Jen has an advantage, she is a slimmer build and has smaller hands for tight spaces like drainage pipes. Jen’s also a mum and that makes such an interesting and varied job harder. She only has two people she can trust to step in and look after her little boy when she gets the call, her brother and her best friend. The men in her team just see her as one of them, but they can do the job they love without the mental load of running a household and arranging child care. Jen has to do both and I had some admiration for her courage and resilience, while never being completely sure of what she’s capable of. That ambiguity in Jen’s character, plus the strange unsolved nature of her sleepwalking left her so open to interpretation.
I found the best way of reading this story is not to try and solve things. I let it wash over me and when the twists happened, they were a revelation. From a slow start, the author did let the tension build beautifully, and the revelations don’t stop coming. What I loved was how the author kept our knowledge of the case within limits. Unlike some protagonists in crime fiction, Jen stays within her role. We only know what the police divers know and it kept us with the hard evidence rather than speculation. It brought authenticity to the case and we could be sure of what had happened, showing a depth of research into diving and forensics. In the background we are building up a picture of life in a small town, where everyone knows everyone else and pasts are intertwined and complicated. Having lived in a small Lincolnshire town since I was nine years old, I know how this works. I thought the author had created a great balance between the professional and the personal, the crime and the characters. Emotions of guilt, rivalry and obsession swirl around alongside the theme of protection, especially of those we love most. This is a story that slowly takes hold of you, it’s multiple strands like the weeds in a river that wind themselves around you and pull you under.
Published by Mountain Leopard Press 22nd June 2023
Meet the Author
For over ten years L V Matthews worked both in domestic and international sales for major UK publishing houses, before leaving to pursue a career in writing.
SILENT WATERS is her newest thriller novel (out July 2023)
It seems I’ve barely said goodbye to 2023 and I’m already six books in with my 2024 books. This looks like a bumper year of brilliant books and is likely to cause me some problems when summing up next New Year. It blows my mind to think there will be others that pop along and surprise me too. Here’s my first part and the second will be posted tomorrow. Here’s to a bookish New Year 🥂🍾📚
At The Stroke of Midnight by Jenni Keer.
It’s 1923 and in a decade that promises excitement and liberation, Pearl Glenham and her father are invited to a mysterious country house party on the Dorset coast, by a total stranger. Her father claims not to have any prior association with Highcliffe House, but it’s apparent that he has a shared history with several of the guests, although he won’t admit it. Belatedly discovering that her father was blackmailed into attending, Pearl’s worries are compounded when their host fails to arrive. Intimidated by everyone, Pearl escapes to the nearby cove and finds a mysterious mercury clock hidden in a cave. This strange encounter sets in motion a series of events that will culminate in an horrific house fire, claiming the lives of all the guests, including Pearl herself. But then Pearl wakes up back in the cave, seemingly destined never to live past midnight. She can repeat the day. But can she change its outcome?
Out on 10th March from Boldwood Books
Night Watching by Tracy Sierra
I don’t know very much about this novel, except for the blurb below and the many brilliant reviews from other thriller writers using so many superlatives to describe it.
There was someone in the house.
Home alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. Then she hears a noise – old houses are always making some kind of noise. But this sound is disturbingly familiar: it’s the tread of footsteps, unusually heavy and slow, coming up the stairs…
In that split second, she has three choices. Should she hide? Should she run? Or should she fight?
Out on 8th February from Viking.
A Sign of Her Own by Sarah Marsh
Ellen Lark is on the verge of marriage when she and her fiancé receive an unexpected visit from Alexander Graham Bell. Ellen knows immediately what Bell really wants from her. Ellen is deaf, and for a time was Bell’s student in a technique called Visible Speech. As he instructed her in speaking, Bell also confided in her about his dream of producing a device which would transmit the human voice along a wire: the telephone. Now, on the cusp of wealth and renown, Bell wants Ellen to speak up in support of his claim to the patent to the telephone, which is being challenged by rivals.
But Ellen has a different story to tell: that of how Bell betrayed her, and other deaf pupils, in pursuit of ambition and personal gain, and cut Ellen off from a community in which she had come to feel truly at home. It is a story no one around Ellen seems to want to hear – but there may never be a more important time for her to tell it.
Out on 1st Feb from Tinder Press.
Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle
Daphne believes the universe has a plan for her. Every time she meets a new man, she receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it – the exact amount of time they will be together. The papers told her she’d spend three days with Martin in Paris; 5 weeks with Noah in San Francisco; and three months with Hugo her ex-boyfriend turned best friend. Daphne has been receiving the numbered papers for over twenty years, always wondering when there might be one without an expiration. Finally the night of a blind date at her favourite LA restaurant, there’s only a name: Jake. But as Jake and Daphne’s story unfolds, Daphne finds herself doubting the paper’s prediction, and wrestling with what it means to be both committed and truthful. Because Daphne knows things Jake doesn’t, information – that if he found out – would break his heart. Rebecca always manages to do something a little bit different with her romances and I’ve loved all of her books so far.
Out on 19th March from Quercus
Christ on a Bike by Orla Owen.
Cerys receives an unexpected inheritance but there are rules attached, twisted rules that have to be followed if she is to receive it in full . As she settles into her new life, she begins to feel trapped and senses that the villagers, her sister and a man she keeps seeing on a bicycle are constantly watching her. Cerys, desperate to control her own future, decides to try break free but the past is ever present and dictates her fate. I found the blurb of this intriguing and I have a recommendation from fellow blogger Ellie and she’s usually great for unusual reads.
Out on 25th Jan from Bluemoose Books.
One of the Good Guys by Araminta Hall.
I’ve been lucky enough to have a proof of this one so I can honestly say WOW! This one will blow your socks off. Cole is the perfect husband: a romantic, supportive of his wife, Mel’s career, keen to be a hands-on dad, not a big drinker. A good guy. So when Mel leaves him, he’s floored. She was lucky to be with a man like him. Craving solitude, he accepts a job on the coast and quickly settles into his new life where he meets reclusive artist Lennie.
Lennie has made the same move for similar reasons. She is living in a crumbling cottage on the edge of a nearby cliff. It’s an undeniably scary location, but sometimes you have to face your fears to get past them. As their relationship develops, two young women go missing while on a walk protesting gendered violence, right by where Cole and Lennie live. Finding themselves at the heart of a police investigation and media frenzy, it soon becomes clear that they don’t know each other very well at all. This is an up to the minute look at relationships and the gender war. If so many men are feminists, why are so many women scared to walk home at night?
Out on 4th Jan from Macmillan
Anna O by Matthew Blake
ANNA O HASN’T OPENED HER EYES FOR FOUR YEARS
Not since the night she was found in a deep sleep by the bodies of her best friends, suspected of a chilling double murder. For Doctor Benedict Prince, a forensic psychologist on London’s Harley Street, waking Anna O could be career-defining. As an expert in sleep, he knows all about the darkest chambers of the mind; the secrets that lie buried in the subconscious. As he begins Anna O’s treatment – studying his patient’s dreams, combing her memories, visiting the site where the horrors played out – he pulls on the thread of a much deeper, darker mystery.
Awakening Anna O isn’t the end of the story, it’s just the beginning.
Out on 1st Feb by HarperCollins
Goodbye Birdy Greenwing by Ericka Waller
Great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave and impossible to forget…
Birdie, Ada and Jane are all lost. Life has not turned out as they planned, and all three of them are scared to ask for help, to say yes – or to say no. To take a chance on someone else. Birdie Greenwing has been at a loose end ever since her beloved twin sister and husband passed away eight years previously. Too proud and stubborn to admit she is lonely, Birdie’s world has shrunk. Jane Brown hoped moving to Brighton would be a new start, away from her overbearing mother. While she finds it hard to stand up for herself, her daughter Frankie has no problem telling people what she does and doesn’t want. Ada Kowalski thought training to become an Oncologist in England would be a dream come true. In reality she is isolated, exhausted, the professional detachment she has had to develop now threatens to take over her life.
When a series of incidents brings their lives crashing together, these three unlikely allies find that there’s always more to a person than meets the eye.
Out on 18th April by Doubleday.
The King’s Witches by Kate Foster
Women whisper secrets to each other; it is how we survive.
1589. Princess Anne of Denmark is betrothed to King James VI of Scotland – a royal union designed to forever unite the two countries. But first, she must pass the trial period: one year of marriage in which she must prove herself worthy of being Scotland’s new Queen. If the King and the Scottish royal court in Edinburgh find her wanting, she faces permanent exile to a convent. Determined to fulfil her duties to King and country, Anne resolves to be the perfect royal bride. Until she meets Lord Henry. By her side is Kirsten Sorenson, her loyal and pious lady’s maid. But whilst tending to Anne’s every need, she has her own secret motives for the royal marriage to be a success . . .
Meanwhile, in North Berwick, a young housemaid by the name of Jura is dreaming of a new life. She practises the healing charms taught to her by her mother, and when she realises she is no longer safe under her master’s roof, she escapes to Edinburgh. But it isn’t long before she finds herself caught up in the witchcraft mania that has gripped not just the capital but the new queen . . This is the follow up to Kate’s brilliant book The Maiden.
Out on 6th June from Mantle.
The Knowing by Emma Hinds.
Powerful, intoxicating and full of suspense. The Knowing is a darkly spellbinding novel about a girl fighting for her survival in the decaying criminal underworlds. It is a hard-hitting story of love, obsession and betrayal.
Whilst working as a living canvas for an abusive tattoo artist in the slums of 19th-century New York, Flora meets Minnie, an enigmatic circus performer who offers her love and refuge in an opulent townhouse that is home to the menacing and predatory Mr Chester Merton. Flora earns her keep reading tarot cards for his guests whilst struggling to harness her gift, the Knowing – an ability to summon the dead. Caught in a dark love triangle between Minnie and Chester, Flora begins to unravel the secrets inside their house. Then at her first public séance in the infamous cathouse Hotel du Woods, Flora hears the spirit of a murdered boy prostitute and exposes his killer, setting off a train of events that leaves her fighting for her life. The Knowing is a stunning debut inspired by real historical characters including Maud Wagner, one of the first known female tattoo artists, New York gang the Dead Rabbits, and characters from PT Barnum’s circus in the 1800s. It is so up my street it’s ridiculous and I can’t wait to tell you all about it.
Out on 18th January from Bedford Square Publishers.
The Collapsing Wave by Doug Johnstone
This is my current read and I’m really enjoying being back with Ava, Heather, Lennox and of course Sandy. This follows on from the first in the series, picking up from that moment in Ullapool where the trio reunited Sandy the Enceladon with his fellow aliens and they made the Great Descent into the sea loch. Now Lennox and Heather are detained nearby, in a purpose built centre called New Broom that’s part prison and part research facility. Run by the American military, the base is dedicated to researching any individual enceladons they can catch. This is a form of torture as they are separated from the whole and forced to communicate telepathically with Lennox and Heather. Meanwhile, Ava is on trial for the murder of her husband after years of domestic violence, but what next for her and her daughter Chloe if she’s acquitted? As Sandy tries to help his detained friends, they all learn just how far the Americans will go to reach their objectives. However, the protest camp near New Broom is filled with people who didn’t believe the government’s explanation for the Great Descent. They know that the the Americans are experimenting on something more than marine life, something extraterrestrial. Could their help ensure freedom for the Enceladons as well as Lennox, Heather and Ava? A brilliant read, full of Doug Johnstone’s usual mix of politics, philosophy and buckets of empathy alongside the aliens.
Out on 14th March from Orenda Books.
The Unfinished Business of Eadie Brown byFreya North
Eadie Browne is an odd child with unusual parents, living in a strange house neighbouring the local cemetery. Bullied at school – but protected by her two best friends Celeste and Josh, and her many imaginary friends lying six feet under next door – Eadie muddles her way through. Arriving in Manchester as a student in the late 1980s, Eadie experiences a novel freedom she never imagined and it’s seductive. She can be who she wants to be, do as she pleases, and no one back home needs to know. As Manchester embraces the dizzying, colourful euphoria of Rave counterculture, Eadie is swept along, blithely ignoring danger and reality. Until, one night, her past comes hurtling at her with ramifications which will continue into her adult life.
Now, as the new Millennium beckons, Eadie is turning 30 with a marriage in tatters. She must travel back to where she once lived for a funeral she can’t quite comprehend. As she journeys from the North to the South, from the present to the past, Eadie contemplates all that was then – and all that is now – in this moving love letter to youth.
Out on Feb 1st from Welbeck Publishing
The London Bookshop Affair by Louise Fein
London, 1962: The world is teetering on the brink of nuclear war but life must go on. Celia Duchesne longs for a career, but with no means or qualifications, passes her time working at a dusty bookshop. The day a handsome American enters the shop, she thinks she might have found her way out of the monotony. Just as the excitement of a budding relationship engulfs her, a devastating secret draws her into the murky world of espionage.
France, 1942: Nineteen-year-old Anya Moreau was dropped behind enemy lines to aid the resistance, sending messages back home to London via wireless transmitter. When she was cruelly betrayed, evidence of her legacy and the truth of her actions were buried by wartime injustices. As Celia learns more about Anya—and her unexpected connection to the undercover agent—she becomes increasingly aware of furious efforts, both past and present, to protect state secrets. With her newly formed romance taking a surprising turn and the world on the verge of nuclear annihilation, Celia must risk everything she holds dear, in the name of justice.
Out on 29th February from William Morrow.
Loot by Tania James
Meet Abbas. Woodcarver, toy maker, dreamer. Abbas is seventeen when he is whisked away to Tipu Sultan’s glorious palace in Mysore. Apprenticed to the clockmaker Monsieur Du Leze, he is ordered to create an ingenious musical tiger to delight Tipu’s sons. In the eccentric Du Leze, Abbas finds an unexpected friend who encourages his skill and hunger for learning, and through whom he also meets the unforgettable Jehanne, who has questions and ambitions of her own.
But when British soldiers attack and loot Mysore, Abbas’s world is turned upside down and his prized tiger is shipped off to a country estate in England. In order to carve out his place in the world, he must follow. A hero’s quest, a love story, an exuberant heist novel that traces the bloody legacy of colonialism across the world, Loot is a dazzling, wildly inventive and irresistible feat of storytelling from a writer at the height of her powers.
Out on 25th Jan by Harvill Secker.
This Tale is Forbidden by Polly Crosby
Nesta believes in the fairy tales – the true stories of powerful magical women who shaped and ruled the world decades ago. But the world has changed since then, and now, she is forbidden from wandering too far from the isolated woodland cottage where she lives with her grandmother. Nesta longs more than anything to see the city that lies beyond the forest, and when her grandmother is abducted, she gets her chance, journeying there in the hope of rescuing her.
But once there, she is horrified to see her grandmother’s warnings were true: girls are forced to wear certain clothes and punished if they don’t behave in certain ways. The city’s Authorities have rewritten history, replacing the fairytale heroines with weak girls who must rely on men. Worse still – everyone believes this is how the world has always been. Only Nesta knows the truth. But truth is a dangerous thing, and suddenly she finds herself a target. Can she evade the Authorities long enough to rescue her grandmother and liberate everyone else, bringing magic back into the world? This is a YA debut from Polly, whose writing I absolutely love.
Out on 4th Jan by Scholastic
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
This is the second book in the Emily Wilde series and another beautiful cover to add to my collection. Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore, and has catalogued many secrets of the Hidden Folk in her encyclopaedia with her infuriatingly charming fellow scholar, Wendell Bambleby, by her side. But Bambleby is more than just a brilliant and unbearably handsome scholar. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, in search of a door back to his realm. By lucky happenstance, Emily’s new project, a map of the realms of faerie, will take them on an adventure to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambleby’s realm, and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans. But with new friendships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.
Out on 16th February by Orbit Books
Spitting Gold by Camilla Lowkis
Paris, 1866. When Baroness Sylvie Devereux receives a house-call from Charlotte Mothe, the sister she disowned, she fears her shady past as a spirit medium has caught up with her. But with their father ill and Charlotte unable to pay his bills, Sylvie is persuaded into one last con. Their marks are the de Jacquinots: dysfunctional aristocrats who believe they are haunted by their great aunt, brutally murdered during the French Revolution. Sylvie and Charlotte will need to deploy every trick to terrify the family out of their gold – until they experience inexplicable horrors themselves. The sisters start to question if they really are at the mercy of a vengeful spirit. And what other deep, dark secrets threaten to come to light…?
Spitting Gold is a darkly atmospheric and propulsive historical debut that twists and turns, blending gothic mystery with a captivating sapphic romance.
Out on April 18th from Doubleday
Crow Moon by Suzy Aspley
When the crow moon rises, the darkness is unleashed…
Martha Strangeways is struggling to find purpose in her life, after giving up her career as an investigative reporter when her young twins died in a house fire. Overwhelmed by guilt and grief, her life changes when she stumbles across the body of a missing teenager – a tragedy that turns even more sinister when a poem about crows is discovered inked onto his back. When another teenager goes missing in the remote landscape, Martha is drawn into the investigation, teaming up with DI Derek Summers, as malevolent rumours begin to spread and paranoia grows. As darkness descends on the village of Strathbran, it soon becomes clear that no one is safe, including Martha… Both a nerve-shattering, enthralling and atmospheric thriller and a moving tale of grief and psychological damage, Crow Moon is a staggeringly accomplished debut and the start of an addictive, unforgettable series.
Out on 14th March from Orenda Books
The Gathering by C.J.Tudor
A small Alaskan town. A missing boy. A brutal murder. A detective brought in from out of state to assist the former sherriff who investigated a similar murder twenty-five years ago. But are they hunting a twisted psychopath – or something even more terrifying? I am determined to read C.J. Tudor’s back catalogue this year as she’s an author I’m very aware of but haven’t had time to read. This one sounds amazing.
Out on 11th April from Michael Joseph.
I have made an error in the above book covers graphic and added Halfway House by Helen Fitzgerald, if you want to know about her brilliant new novel take a look at part one.
White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences… Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn’t write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American–in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R.F. Kuang
June Hayward and Athena Liu were in the same year at Yale and both debuted in the same year in publishing. Yet that’s where the similarities end. Athena is picked up immediately in the world that’s always looking for the next big thing. Stories about basic white girls just aren’t cutting it any more, so Athena is a cross genre literary darling. Her death is a freak accident that allows June an opportunity, she acts impulsively and steals Athena’s work in progress. Her work is an interesting novel about Chinese labourers and their part in WW1 helping the British and the French. Could she perhaps edit the manuscript and submit it to her own agent? Would it be wrong to start a new pseudonym? Enter the ethnically ambiguous new novelist June Song.
This was a brilliant inside look at issues and timely arguments within the publishing industry. In the past couple of years I’ve seen the question of authentic voices rage back and forth, especially interesting to me when it comes to writers with disabilities and the way disabled characters are written. Is it more important that a marginalised story is told or is who tells it the vital issue? This can be especially urgent when it’s a previously untold story or a hidden part of history. June has so much success with the book, but struggles to protect her secrets. One wrong word could expose her, so how far will she go to protect her new identity?
I’m always fascinated with books where I don’t like any of the characters because it usually means I’m learning something. I think some readers are uncomfortable with this. Athena is the wronged party and should therefore be ‘likeable’. In fact racist or more accurately model minority thinking means that a Western audience might expect the Athena to be sweet, pretty, docile and diligent just because she’s Asian. The qualities are positive, but allow no room for difference unlike the endlessly unique white characters created every day by Western writers. Huang broaches the idea that the industry’s criteria for deciding which Asian writers to publish is based within this flawed expectation. There’s also an issue around the type of subject matter chosen by publishers. In the wake of George Floyd’s death a lot changed in the publishing industry and we all talked a lot about diversity, but when I think of the subject matter of books I’ve read from ethnically diverse writers, particularly African American or Black British writers, they have all contained sexual abuse, violence or intergenerational trauma. Can we say this is a true reflection of the experience of people from those communities? Or do publishers expect this type of story from black writers and favour publishing them over other narratives? Do we only accept marginalised voices when they’re saying things we expect, things that make us comfortable because they echo our ideas about that particular community?
June truly believes that she’s becoming the minority in the writing world. That unless you’re a BIPOC writer you can’t get a look in from agents and publishers. The focus is on ‘own voice’ fiction and no one wants to hear from yet another white girl. I thought about the controversy around the book American Dirt when reading this. Writing is all about imagination and an author can imagine anything. An author can also research anything, but is research enough when you’re attempting to write from the perspective of someone with a disability, or someone LGBTQ+. I have to mention the proliferation of books from a neuro-divergent perspective by writers who have experience in this area, but who aren’t neuro-divergent themselves. I can understand the concern about it, but I’ve also really learned from some of these books and been led to other reading so I could educate myself. Where does ‘own voice’ writing end? Are we saying that a male writer can’t write in the voice of a female character? Writing is all about creativity so if we can only ever write from our own viewpoint wouldn’t it get a little boring? Should publishers accept a manuscript from a white writer who’s writing outside their own experience, if they are inundated with own voice manuscripts of equal merit?
“She’s using the pen name Juniper Song to pretend to be Chinese American. She’s taken new author photos to look more tan and ethnic, but she’s as white as they come. June Hayward you are a thief and a liar. You’ve stolen my legacy and now you spit on my grave’.
I loved that this book addressed those big issues, but it was also entertaining, delicious and disturbing in equal measure. I really enjoyed the ins and outs of the publishing world and the gossipy social media ‘blow-up’ feel of the book. Then there were moments that were more uncomfortable and challenging. It addressed what a lonely job it is to be a writer and how that isolation magnifies other aspects of being an author such as the negativity of social media and the perils of comparison. I wasn’t sure about June but that meant her character stayed with me. On one hand I felt she deserved to be exposed, but when I saw the reality of that I felt really bad for her. This was such a clever novel, so complex, full of amazing contemporary issues and always entertaining.
Meet the Author
Rebecca F. Kuang is the #1 New York Times bestselling and Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Award nominated author of Babel, the Poppy War trilogy, and the forthcoming Yellowface. She is a Marshall Scholar, translator, and has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford. She is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale.
The Lotus Readers 