I've read over a hundred books this year, but you wouldn't know it from looking at this blog. My reviews have been shrinking in both length and quantity in the past couple of years but seven review posts is a record low. In the past, I was happy to spend a whole day analysing a novel and sharing my thoughts. I even used to post my end of year stats. While I miss getting advance copies from publishers, now I'm devoting that time to my own writing. However, I'm still logging my reading on Goodreads, which is how I know which books I've enjoyed most this year. I hope you can find some that you might want to read in the year to come.
My first favourite of the year came as a recommendation from a fellow writer and blogger.A Stranger in the Kingdom by Howard Frank Mosher, set in 1952 and first published in 1989, is an account of how a pillar of society was put on trial for murder – or perhaps it was the colour of his skin.
The Muse of Hope Falls by Alan Kane Fraser is a cleverly crafted novel in terms of both prose and plot, that contrasts the commercial and artistic value of creativity and challenges the objectification of the male gaze.
The Colony by Audrey Magee, published in 2022, is an unsentimental examination of colonialism and its legacy through the impact of two outsiders, an English painter and a French linguist, on a remote island where Irish is still the dominant language, at the height of The Troubles.
Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry, published by Faber in 2023 and longlisted for the Booker Prize, is a beautifully written and heart-wrenching novel about love, memory and the lasting legacy of childhood abuse.
On a lighter note, but with a serious message about misogyny mixed in with the comedy, I reread Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus over Christmas. It struck me how much the plot relies on coincidence, but that didn’t impede my pleasure in the book.
Set mostly on Peterborough Railway Station, Platform Seven by Louise Doughty is a ghost story, a murder mystery and a chillingly brilliant evocation of coercive control.
Then to an American boarding school for another variation on the sordid theme:
The Muse of Hope Falls by Alan Kane Fraser is a cleverly crafted novel in terms of both prose and plot, that contrasts the commercial and artistic value of creativity and challenges the objectification of the male gaze.
The Colony by Audrey Magee, published in 2022, is an unsentimental examination of colonialism and its legacy through the impact of two outsiders, an English painter and a French linguist, on a remote island where Irish is still the dominant language, at the height of The Troubles.
Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry, published by Faber in 2023 and longlisted for the Booker Prize, is a beautifully written and heart-wrenching novel about love, memory and the lasting legacy of childhood abuse.
On a lighter note, but with a serious message about misogyny mixed in with the comedy, I reread Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus over Christmas. It struck me how much the plot relies on coincidence, but that didn’t impede my pleasure in the book.
Set mostly on Peterborough Railway Station, Platform Seven by Louise Doughty is a ghost story, a murder mystery and a chillingly brilliant evocation of coercive control.
Then to an American boarding school for another variation on the sordid theme:
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth RussellMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
A page-turning read that deftly navigates the complexities underlying the victim-perpetrator dichotomy while staying true to the moral core.
Glad that Vanessa's therapist was able to help her in the end although, like most fictional therapists, her practice would sometimes make me cringe. I wondered what we were meant to make of Vanessa's report that "Ruby once told me that I'm her favourite client" – another of her distortions or the therapist slipping up and acting on the client's projections?
Russell KE. My Dark Vanessa. London: 4thEstate, 2021
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu GuoMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
A charming tale of a young Chinese woman sent to London to learn English, where she falls in love with an older man. A warmhearted and occasionally silly story of love, loneliness, language, sex and culture shock.
My final three are historical novel set in England during the Regency and Victorian periods.
The Silent Women by Avril JoyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Breathtakingly beautifully written story of the bond that develops between disempowered women in a Victorian asylum, introducing me to another brutal and ineffective medical 'treatment' had its five minutes of fame.
Thornfield Hall by Jane StubbsMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Loved this retelling of Jane Eyre where Jane is a marginal character, Mrs Fairfax intelligent and scheming, Grace Poole compassionate and Bertha not the monster portrayed by Charlotte Brontë. Some similarities with the version I'm working on but fortunately plenty of differences.
Sea Change by Alix NathanMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
A young girl loses her mother to a ballooning accident in London during the Napoleonic wars. A mute woman, a suspected suicide, is rescued from the sea. Some great characters – especially the headstrong child and the appalling vicar – and fabulous period detail. The resolution does rely on coincidences but a great story.
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