What Might Have Been - Holly Miller

 On the surface this looks like a straightforward romcom/chicklit novel but when you delve a little deeper you find out that it is a very cleverly structured and plotted novel. Using the old sliding doors theme this novel has a dual narrative. In a nutshell, the protagonist is in a situation where a choice and a decision has to be made -  to stay in one place or go to another. And of course any decision sends us hurtling down one certain path and a different decision would send us hurtling off down another. And in books where that is the theme the reader is often left to surmise what might have happened if a different path had been taken. What is quite unique about this book is that the author has chosen to give the reader both scenarios. And so the sections are titled “stay“ and “go“. Effectively you almost have two different stories but with the same characters in. For Lucy, our heroine, there are certain elements that feature in both the storylines but, of course, the outcomes from the two decisions are very different. What is so clever though is how elements and characters from both scenarios weave in and out seamlessly. And of course it is only the reader who is privy to both. For the most part it’s a feel good read, ultimately, but there is a part where you might be reaching for the tissues. It’s a book to disappear into on a chilly winters evening.

My thanks to Team Bookends for a gifted proof.

Lean on Me - Serge Joncour translated by Jane Aitken and Louise Rogers Lalaurie

 

With a very different landscape from Joncour’s previous novel, Wild Dog, Lean on Me could be seen as a vastly different book but I do believe that, subliminally maybe, there were some parallels;  in the duality of things, the notion of opposites attracting, being driven by a force beyond control. And if the wild dog serves as an allegory in that novel maybe the crows serve a similar purpose in this story.

Aurore, married to a highflying businessman, with a couple of kids and her own fashion company lives in the same apartment complex as Ludovico, a widower, a former farmer and out of sync with the madness of Paris. An incident with crows brings the unlikely couple together and they embark on an affair. Unlikely because they both come from very different backgrounds. Aurore presents as a privileged achiever whereas Ludovico presents are somebody struggling with his very existence. The life he knew seems to have deserted him. 

Aurore’s problems with her business and  business partner, Ludovico’s dissatisfaction with his city occupation as a debt collector collide and events spiral into an almost Patricia Highsmith type scenario.

It seemed to me that it was more than a mere story, rather an exploration of how two very different people come to rely on one another when the balance of their circumstances is disturbed and their paths cross. Is it fate? Whatever it’s a catalyst for an edgy story. One of those stories that never quite allows you to relax. There is a melting pot of tensions poised to explode.

What I found very interesting was that I never really engaged on an empathic level with either of the two main protagonists. I think Ludovico is probably the nicer person of the pair. I think he cared at a level beyond his own self, I’m not sure I can say the same of Aurore. She seemed to see Ludovico as a protector, a safety blanket but I’m not sure she considered what she brought to him in the relationship. Although I do believe that she really loved him. Ludovico gave me the impression that he would’ve done anything for her. But my diluted rapport with the characters meant I could retain my objectivity for the most part. I was curious to see what each of them would do but I was indifferent as to the outcomes. What I did see was that two people found each other, and in a way, used each other to extricate themselves from the difficulties they were experiencing in their everyday life. That I could empathise with and relate to. The relationship was their oasis in their desert. Everything outside of that seemed poised for disaster. 

The book is translated by Jane Aitken and Louise Rogers LaLaurie. I’m always interested when two people translate the same book! And it was also interesting that two people translated Wild Dog. I enjoyed the writing. I enjoyed the way this author manages to convey the doubt and indecision that people experience when navigating their way through the maze of life. It’s subtle and nuanced but very effective. In one sense this is a love story but a very stylised love story it exists purely because a certain set of circumstances occurred at a certain moment in time.

My thanks to Gallic books for a gifted copy.

The Reindeer Hunters - Lars Mytting translated by Deborah Dawkin

 The year is 1903, and twenty-two years have passed since Astrid Hekne died in childbirth. Her son Jehans lives on a modest smallholding up in the hills near Butangen, having withdrawn from his community. He is drawn to freedom, to fishing and reindeer hunting, and one day meets a stranger over the body of a huge reindeer buck.

Outside the new church in Butangen, Pastor Kai Schweigaard still cares for Astrid Hekne’s grave. The village’s overworked priest is tormented by his old betrayal, which led to death and to the separation of two powerful church bells cast in memory of two sisters in Astrid’s family. Kai is set on finding an ancient tapestry made by the sisters – the Hekne weave – in the hope that it will reveal how he can remedy his iniquities.

Conceived on an epic scale by Norway’s bestselling author, The Reindeer Hunters is a novel about love and bitter rivalries, sorrow and courage, about history and myth, and the country as it enters a new era, about the first electric light and the Great War in Europe, my brother stands against brother.’

I found the Bell in the Lake to be an immersive read, a novel of depth and substance. I remember feeling a frisson of anticipation for it being part of a trilogy. So I was extremely happy to get my avaricious little hands on The Reindeer Hunters, the second book in the Sister Bells trilogy. Do you need to have read the first to enjoy this new book? No, you don’t, it passes muster as a standalone. But I do believe the experience will be enhanced if you have. However I’m pretty sure you’ll be clamouring to read the Bell in the Lake after this book if you haven’t.

I was riveted from start to finish. There’s something about a saga, a trilogy, always an ambitious endeavour, to create and sustain a fascinating tale across the generations. Mytting strikes the perfect balance between what has gone before and what is happening currently in the lives of the Hekne family. Jehans is the family member to take up Astrid’s baton and you can see aspects of her character developing in him. The pastor is another key character and I love the way that Mytting has not just sustained, but shown how he has developed in his thinking in the course of the two books. Gone is the impetuous, callow young man. By the end of this book I was far more sympathetic to Kai than I had been in the previous book. I enjoyed all of the characterisations but if you feel you will mourn the absence of a strong female character with Astrid’s demise, fear not, for Kristine steps up to the plate ably. The character of Victor is an interesting one and I don’t want to go down any kind of spoiler route here. 

The landscape and beauty of the natural world is also a dominant feature of this novel. As an animal lover I found the concept of reindeer hunting distressing so I probably better not comment on those sequences of the novel but the landscape and the sense of space and distance and the relationship between man and land plays a big part.

The main action takes place on the cusp of the 20th century in Butangen in Norway. We see a community, remote and independent, dealing with the challenges of life and pulling together as communities should. As in an historical novel it is believable and the attention to detail is impressive. As well as being a novel with a great story there’s also observations regarding  progress, industrialisation and how innovations and people with ideas can change the very fabric of a community. Yet, in a sense at the heart of the novel is a simplicity, an ordinariness, of a people simply trying to live their lives and survive. To keep themselves housed, fed and warm in sometimes challenging conditions. But it’s done in such a way as to fulfil all the requirements of an epic saga.

In a work like this, with its breadth and scope, a great big shout out must go to the incredible work of the translator, Deborah Dawkin. When you’re reading you can sometimes forget that someone has gone through the entire Norwegian text and rendered it into the English language and created a flowing narrative that showcases Mytting’s extraordinary talent. 

I can’t wait for the third and final instalment! My thanks to Corinna Zifko at MacLehose Press for an advance copy.

The Last Good Funeral of the Year - Ed O’Loughlin

 

While I consider myself to be primarily a fiction reader that’s not exclusive at all.  I was thoroughly engaged with this memoir from Ed O’Loughlin. When I first began it, I found that it was written in the third person so it read almost like a novel. I was curious but the author explained his reasons for using the third person narrative rather than the first later in the book. And I get it.

The catalyst for the book seems to be the death of somebody just before lockdown whom the author had known in his younger past . He attended her funeral and the title is alluding to the fact that attendees at lockdown funerals were limited. 

Ostensibly appearing to mourn Charlotte, the lady who passed away, the event prompted him to reappraise his whole life. And as he examines events both personal and professional he is looking for meaning and explanations. It’s a moving memoir. We hear about the tragic suicide of his brother aged just 30. His life as a journalist in war zones. His role as husband and father. it’s all written with a refreshing honesty and some subtle wit. A moving realisation of how one ages and how it can creep up on you when you least expect it. That awful moment when you suddenly have to face the fact that you are old and cannot be or do who or what you used to. 

I found it a very readable volume. Some memoirs can be self aggrandising and self absorbed, this isn’t. There’s almost an unspoken apology for things not done. It’s quite refreshing in this day and age. And you realise that in mourning Charlotte he’s also mourning himself, or the loss of himself as he was. And so perhaps the title takes on a deeper significance.

Thanks to Ana McLaughlin at riverrun for a gifted proof.

Mouth to Mouth - Antoine Wilson

 

This is one of those books where I had no real preconceptions and I found it an absolute delight to read. I suppose the premise was not an wholly original one. Two people who haven’t met for a long time, thrown together in a certain circumstance, in this case it’s a flight delay,  and the protracted revelation of one person to the other. In a way it is one story embedded in another but the backstory of how the two men became acquaintances is of lesser consequence when it comes to the main fiction, other than to highlight the difference between the two men and demand us to consider how the one became as privileged as he appears to be.

What makes the book so readable and so absorbing is the concise and well paced narrative with fairly short chapters. It doesn’t let up for a moment. I suppose it’s more a novella than a novel at under 200 pages but that’s another strong point of the book. To have spun it out to a longer book would possibly have rendered it tedious.

Whilst the main story begins with a near drowning incident, It’s mainly set in the art world, galleries and shows, hinting at the more nefarious side of dealing. There’s a curious sense of foreboding and what I like to call the “Patricia Highsmith“ effect, where you can see things take a wrong turn that could so easily be avoided were a different path taken.. The main protagonist, Jeff, pursues a vaguely Ripleyesque compulsion to find out all he can about the man who nearly drowned, Francis Arsenault, after saving him by giving, you guessed it, mouth to mouth. And sets Jeff off on a journey that seems doomed almost. I’ll say no more about the plot for I don’t want to offer any spoilers.

The recipient of the tale frequently questions why Jeff is telling him all this. But since he is a writer it’s strongly hinted that Jeff would like him to write it as a novel, perhaps. There’s a twist at the end that is possibly predictable but it emphasises considerations of morality within the book.

I think there is little doubt that the skill of the author, his intelligent prose and narrative construction elevates the story. The characters aren’t particularly likeable. They seem self interested, obsessed even. So as a reader you don’t necessarily engage with them. But as a work of fiction it has a surprising compulsion. Books are so frequently described as ‘unputdownable’ as some kind of publicity or sales spiel. But, genuinely, I couldn’t put this book down!

My thanks to Readers First for a copy.

One Italian Summer - Rebecca Serle Blog Blast

 Well, there’s chic lit and there’s romantic fiction and then there’s…… Rebecca Serle! I think she merits a genre all of her own! 

Her novel In Five Years was a bold exercise in twisting the reader around her little finger in terms of plot. Twists and turns that you didn’t see coming. One Italian Summer sees a major twist. But it’s clear that this author is still interested in playing with time and space. And she does it very well.

‘When Katy’s mother dies, she’s left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mum, but her best friend. She had all the answers and now, when Katy needs her most she’s gone.

As she sets off on the trip of a lifetime, which she was meant to take with her mother, Katy feels herself coming back to life. And then Carol appears, healthy and suntanned… And thirty years old.

Katy doesn’t understand what’s happening, or how - all she can focus on is that somehow, impossibly, she has her mother back. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy get to know Carol, what is another, but as the young woman who came before.

Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know Carol, not as her mother, but as the young woman who came before.

But can we ever truly know our parents? Soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who does not yet have a clue.’

Another tale that tugs at your heart especially if you understand what it feels like to lose your mum.  In that respect the opening of the book is a little heavy, but moving. As the narrative progresses those of us still paralysed by the pandemic into staycations rather than travelling further afield will be able to vicariously enjoy Positano. I would go as far to say that the Italian tourist board should be alerted to the potential of this book! I defy anyone reading it not to want to go to the Amalfi Coast. It’s very uplifting; the sights, the sounds the smells ………and the food. So if the first part of the book has you tearful, the rest will have you salivating too!

The characterisations are interesting. Because there are aspects of Katy that I found jarred with me. At time she seemed quite selfish but then I had to remind myself that she’s grieving and that does strange things to your behaviour. And the depiction of the young Carol as compared with the adult Carol are at odds but that really is one of the points of the story and I think it’s very well done. And there is such a poignancy to these characterisations and it is so interesting to consider the point at which you regard your own mum as more than ‘just’ your mum but as a person in her own right, with ideals, dreams and wishes. 

If you’re looking for a story steeped in realism then you’re not likely to get it! But if you enjoy a story resplendent with romance and imagination you will. Yet it is more than “just“ a romance. It does explore the depths of grief that the loss of a loved throws you into. I suppose there’s a touch of the Mitch Alboms about it. But it also has interesting considerations about the nature of motherhood and the bond between a mother and a daughter, relationships too.

It’s probably a good escapist read, one for the beach but with the proviso that you do need tissues! 

My thanks to Milly Reid at Quercus books for a gifted proof and a place upon the blog blast.

The Unsinkable Greta James - Jennifer E Smith

Despite her being a prolific author this is the first of Jennifer E Smith’s books that I’ve read. I found it to be an enjoyable, although emotional, read. And I think for anyone who has lost their mum it may affect them. It’s a story of family dynamics, partly fractured, dealing with bereavement and healing.

And for any Titanic buffs out there the title will resonate. The unsinkable Molly Brown was an indomitable force in one of the lifeboats helping to evacuate passengers. helping to steer the boat and by all accounts was a larger-than-life character. The comparison is partially a symbolic one. Greta James is not as ‘in your face’ as Molly and the action takes place on board a boat, sorry ship, that doesn’t sink. And the story really is about Greta trying to stay afloat, not on the boat, sorry ship, but in life. The book also looks at the relationship she has with her father.

The ship, too, serves as a symbol of Greta’s artistic and personal claustrophobia, in fact the whole concept of the cruise works very well as a metaphor for this indie musician’s struggles. The Alaskan landscape too with its glaciers, sea lions, whales all sustain the metaphors. 

Although this book might be categorised as romantic fiction genre it does go beyond that with its observations of how people deal with losing someone they love, it’s cultural allusions, the nature of creativity and passion. The characters are well drawn unbelievable. You feel the pain in the conflict between Greta and Conrad, her father. I thought the author achieved a good balance between being compassionate yet not overly sentimental which could’ve been easy to do. The ending is satisfactory, enigmatic even, without being predictable, another trap that it would’ve been easy to fall into. It’s an entertaining read that offers its audience things to consider. 

My thanks to team bookends for a gifted copy and to Milly Reid at Quercus Books for a spot upon the blog tour.