My Picks of 2022

 Usually I come to do my best of the year list and struggle to keep it down to ten, or a dozen, but  I seem to have read fewer books last year and so the 'best of' list is correspondingly short. I decided that I couldn't actually 'order' them into a ranking of first, second, third, and so on so they appear here in the order I read them

Top of the list then is Devotion by Hannah Kent from back in February. The story follows the growing, forbidden relationship between Hanne and Thea, moving from an Old Lutheran community in 19th century Prussia to the wildness of Australia's colonies. It's raw and warm, and filled with both love and loss, with Kent's poetic prose bringing the natural world of Germany forests and Australian outback vividly to life.

March brought two, very different, additions to the list. First, When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo. Darwin works in Fidelis cemetery in the fictional Trinidadian city of Port Angeles; he tends neglected grave plots, and comforts the bereaved. Above the city lives Yejide who has inheritated a strange responsibility - to comfort the dead themselves; to calm their spirits in transition from one life to another. Unsurprisingly they're drawn together. A wonderful mix of the mundane and fantastical, filled with the sights and sounds of its setting. An astounding debut.

Wild And Wicked Things by Francesca May. Coming into an inheritance from her estranged father, Annie Mason travels to mysterious Crow Island, the last refuge of magic in a world from which it's been banned. Here in this strange community, 'nice girl' Annie finds herself tempted by decadent parties, magic, and Emmeline Delacroix, the focal point of them both. Described by the author as a witchy, lesbian take on The Great Gatsby, it has that same moral ambivalence, and spell of glamour hiding darkness.

April brought another stunning debut - Trespasses by Louise Kennedy. Set in 1970s Belfast , this is a Romeo and Juliet style tale of a young, single Catholic teacher, and an older, married Protestant barrister drawn to each other despite everything that stands in their way. Set against a backdrop of sectarian violence, with a feeling of inescapable tragedy hanging over the couple,  it's both wonderful and heart-breaking.

My last choice will come as no surprise as I'm always a fan of Donal Ryan's work, and his latest novel, The Queen of Dirt Island,  is as heart-warming and moving as I've come to expect. In a bungalow in a small village in Co Tipperary live three generations of women, Eileen, her mother in law Mary, and daughter Saoirse. Their story begins with a death  but is a celebration of life. Their home not one of peace and harmony, but of arguments and fallings-out, yet still a haven, a place of belonging and nurture. It's too easy, I feel, to just dismiss a new novel by an admired author as what you'd expect from them but Ryan always delivers, and this is no exception.

The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan

In a small bungalow on the outskirts of a village in Co. Tipperary live three generations of Aylward women - Eileen, her mother-in-law Mary, and daughter Saoirse. It isn't a peaceful household, yet, despite the arguments and fallings-out, it's a place filled with love; a home that's far more than bricks and mortar, but a haven, a place of belonging and nurture. 

It'll come as no surprise to readers of this blog that I'm an ardent admirer of Donal Ryan's writing. I've been hooked since I first read The Thing About December, and he's one of the few authors whose books I can pick up knowing I'll be enthralled and moved. This new story is no exception.  Two pages in there's a body blow of a shock and such is Ryan's writing that the reader already feels for this character, has shared their hopes and dreams, and mourns their loss - and like the women left behind by this tragic death, we readers too have to pull ourselves up and start over again.

This unexpected start sets the tone for the book. Revolving around these three generations of women, The Queen of Dirt Island is a story of resilience despite what life throws at you, about love and family ties, told with compassion and understanding. Their lives aren't easy - by any standards they seem to attract more than their fair share of tragedy, disappointment, loss, and straight forward bad luck - but together they pull through, and we're left with an impression that the future is bright.

It's set in the same general location as most of Ryan's work (an unnamed village somewhere near to Nenagh, Tipperary), and characters from other novels put in an appearance - most noticeably from Strange Flowers, to which it feels like a companion piece, but I'm fairly sure there are others too. I love this way of setting a particular story against a backdrop where other tales are unfolding; the postman, policeman, schoolgirl, the passers-by on the street, as in real life they all have lives of their own (and if we haven't been told about them yet, maybe we will be soon).

I also particularly enjoyed what seemed like a sly criticism of  male authors or teachers of writing courses - the way Saoirse's story is taken by someone claiming to know better than her, and twisted into something more dramatic, full of violence and extreme emotions, but essentially untrue. I'd love to know if Donal Ryan had someone in mind when he wrote this. 

A book that takes its characters through devastation and anger but is ultimately filled with the redemptive power of love.

Best of 2020

 I haven't been able to settle and read as much this last year. A much higher number of books than usual have been abandoned part way through because they didn't grab my wandering attention, but it means I was left with lots of really good reads. Out of those, here are the ones I'd really push onto people, saying 'read this!

Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan - Moll Gladney runs away from her home in rural Ireland, leaving her parents distraught. One day five years later, she just as unexpectedly returns, not long after followed my a husband and small son. I've loved all of Ryan's books, but this is a tie for favourite with The Thing About December. As always, his storytelling is full of compassion and warmth. seeking to understand those who might not quite fit into society, and the writing is lyrical and beautiful, capturing the lilt and cadence of his native Tipperary.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow - One day January Scaller discovers an old book in which she reads of doors to other worlds. This can't be true, can it? but among half-forgotten childhood memories is one of a door which did exactly that. Pure escapism, which we all needed last year, and possibly will this, not though to a sunlit beach somewhere exotic, but to a myriad of other worlds. A mesmerising tale of romance and adventure, loyal friends and evil societies. I just wish I could have found a door to take me away from this past year.

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell - speaking of plague years, Maggie O'Farrell's first venture into historical fiction takes the reader to Stratford on Avon, to the home of Will and Agnes Shakespeare, their son and two daughters, in the year that plague spread through England. O'Farrell is spot on at capturing the period, the characters, and the all-encompassing emptiness of grief and loss. 

We've all been forced to live like hermits this year, but Snow, Dog, Foot by Claudio Morandini takes things a stage or two further - an elderly man living in self-imposed isolation high on a mountain, is slowly losing his grip on reality. As winter's snows thaw, he uncovers a human foot, and his state of mind finally slips, muddling current events with those of the war. 

The Girl With The Louding Voice by Abi Dare - a coming of age story told in the words of its fifteen year old Nigerian heroine, Adunni. A disturbing tale, spotlighting the treatment of girls and women as commodities to be traded, in a society where men are all-important, and the gap between rich and poor is astronomical. It's a stunning debut novel told in a highly original voice, as through everything that happens Adunni keeps her cheerfulness and a belief that things will one day be better, not just for herself but for all Nigerian women.

Another African author I discovered this year (via her online Edinburgh Book Festival event) was Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, billed as 'Uganda's First Woman of Fiction'. Her novel The First Woman is both the story of Kirabo, a young girl finding her place in the world through the discovery of her family history, and that of the wider history of Uganda, its culture and way of life.

It's a long way from the heat of Uganda to the setting of my next pick. Sarah Moss's Summerwater is set in the Scottish Highlands on a day of endless rain. Through close observation and dipping into their thoughts, the author follows the visitors at a holiday park - bored with the weather, tired of trying to entertain the kids, curious about the other holiday-makers - as the day unwinds and tragedy waits to strike. It's a brooding, atmospheric novel, reminiscent of Jon McGregor's If Nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things in that nothing in itself seems remarkable, until the ending.

Carys Bray's latest novel, When the Lights Go Out, has, I feel, slipped under the radar a bit - its original launch a victim of the first lockdown, a re-scheduled date overshadowed by the autumn lockdowns. It tells of Chris and Emma, and the gradual breakdown of their marriage due to something bigger than them both - climate change. Once, they both were equally concerned about saving the planet, but whereas Emma, weighed down by juggling a job, family and income, has compromised her beliefs, Chris has become more focused, preparing for the end of the world-as-we-know-it. Something, somewhere has to give.  

I'm going to end on a cheerful note with Kate Spicer's autobiographical Lost Dog: a love story - a happy ending because he's no longer lost. You might, like me, have followed Wolfy's story on social media when he went missing, leaving Kate in disbelief and despair, and was eventually found, with much rejoicing. What I didn't know then was the impact Wolfy had had on Kate's life - bringing meaning and purpose to a life which was beginning to seem empty and aimless, turning alcohol-fueled late nights and subsequent hangovers into cosy snuggled-up evenings and early-morning walks. It's a story which speaks of the bond between dogs and men, and the unconditional love our furry partners offer. 

Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan

 In 1973, Moll Gladney runs away from her home in rural Ireland, leaving her distraught parents, Paddy and Kit, with their lives turned upside down, terrified of what may have become of their daughter, attempting to continue with their daily routines while fending off both the sympathy and inquisitiveness of their neighbours.
Time passes, as it's bound to, with no word from Moll, till five years later she returns, turning up out of the blue one day, followed shortly afterwards by her husband, Alexander, and baby son, and life for the Gladneys takes another surprising turn.

 Strange Flowers is a story of family, loss, and redemption, of three generations bound together by love, but torn apart by secrets. It takes the characters and readers from the quiet slow life of rural Tipperary, to hectic, bustling London, following the characters closely as their stories play out, though retaining some secrets till the end. Life in the Gladney's small close-knit community may seem idyllic, but there are drawbacks. It's a place where it's hard to keep a secret, where everyone must conform to what's expected, and anything or anyone out of the ordinary is looked upon with suspicion. London by comparison seems an anonymous city where you could perhaps be your true self, but it's an impossible place for Moll and Alexander to raise their son.


I've loved Ryan's writing since I first read The Thing About December, and Strange Flowers is another utterly stunning book. As always, his storytelling is beautiful and lyrical, enveloping the reader with the lilt and cadence of his native Tipperary, occasionally shocking them with abrupt outbursts of violence, but always full of compassion and warmth.               

.Maryom's review - 5 stars

Publisher - Doubleday

Genre - adult fiction

Top Ten of 2018

For once, I've managed to restrict myself to ten for my 'best of the year' list - all, in their own way, absolutely brilliant ...

Take Nothing With You - Patrick Gale (Tinder Press) - in his fifties, when he thought he was past the age of being surprised, Eustace finds himself falling in love with a man he meets on the internet, and diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening condition. Undergoing long solitary hours of hospital treatment he looks back over his life - the fumbling sexual misadventures of his teenage years, and his escape from a dull, repressive home life through music. Gale's writing is engrossing, intelligent, and compelling.

Missing - Alison Moore (Salt Publishing) How to quickly sum up a novel by Alison Moore? Not easy without giving away too much plot. Jessie Noon lives a solitary life, cut off from neighbours, friends and family. The story follows her trying to start up a new relationship, and fix the gap that has grown between her and her family. On the surface, little seems to happen; beneath it, everything does. Moore is wonderful at playing with words, at building atmosphere, and at creating characters that linger long after the final page.







Home Fire - Kamila Shamsie (Bloomsbury) a book club read which absolutely stunned me. In this story of love, politics, family ties and radicalization, Kamila Shamsie brings Sophocles' Antigone bang up to date, setting it in present day London, where Aneeka finds herself torn between loyalty to her twin brother Parvaiz (despite his extreme beliefs) and her lover, Eamonn, son of the Muslim Home Secretary. I read hoping for a happy ending, but not even today is there an easy way out of this dilemma.









Shadows on the Tundra by Dalia Grinkeviciute (Peirene) Based on actual events, this book is a gripping, moving account of the fate of Lithuanians forcibly moved from their homes during WW2 and 're-settled' in Siberia, in inhumane conditions with inadequate food or shelter. Blurring the lines between fact and fiction, Dalia Grinkeviciute's account doesn't ask for sympathy, but faces the situation head on, doing whatever she needs to to survive.












From a Low and Quiet Sea by Donal Ryan (Doubleday) Three very different men, whose lives are linked in only the slightest of ways, but for whom sorrow has crept up unexpectedly and engulfed them. Donal Ryan always has an amazing way with words, enabling the reader to walk in someone else's shoes for a short time, to experience their fears and hopes, and maybe find sympathy for them.

In Our Mad and Furious City by Guy Gunaratne (Tinder Press) A gripping portrayal of life on a run-down, inner-London estate, of the precarious balance between hope and despair in which its inhabitants live. It follows 48 hours in the lives of three teenage friends from different backgrounds, as outside events kick off riots and change these boys' lives forever. The writing is pacy, and 'in your face', capturing 'street-talk' in a way that feels natural and unforced. It's hard to believe this is a debut novel.










The Truth about Archie and Pye: a mathematical mystery  by Jonathan Pinnock (Farrago) - an off-beat, quirky thriller. After a chance encounter on a train, Tom Winscombe finds himself in possession of a case full of mathematical equations that everyone (including the Belorussian mafia) seems to want, and they're not afraid to kill anyone standing in the way. It's fast-paced, funny, and you don't need to know anything about maths to enjoy it.










Elsewhere, Home by Leila Aboulela (Telegram) - a moving, thought-provoking collection of short stories dealing with the search for 'home' and the difficulties of migrants caught between two places that answer to that description, between the heat and vibrancy of Cairo or Khartoum and the dull, damp streets of Aberdeen or London, or, conversely, the old-fashioned, limited world of Africa and the modern, opportunity-filled one of Europe. Having chosen to leave, though, home can't really be returned to.





Shatila Stories edited by Meike Ziervogel - an ambitious project from the founder of Peirene Press, in which she and London-base Syrian editor Suhir Helal travelled to Beirut, to the Shatila settlement created for Palestinian refugees, and worked with hopeful, enthusiastic, but inexperienced, writers from the camp itself to develop the stories that go into this collection. Again a book that lets the reader into the lives of the people so often dismissed as mere 'numbers' in a news report.






Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield (Doubleday) This last choice is a sneaky inclusion, as it's currently only available in the UK as an e-book, and won't be available as a hardback till January 17th. It was too good to be made to wait a whole year though. It's a masterpiece of story-telling concerning a girl pulled out of the river Thames. Assumed to be dead, she miraculously comes back to life but then the search is on for her family - with several people claiming her as theirs she becomes the centre of a 'tug of love'.

From a Low and Quiet Sea by Donal Ryan

review by Maryom

Donal Ryan's latest book tells the stories of three very different men, whose lives are joined in only the slightest of ways, but who share the pain and scars of grief; Farouk, persuaded to leave his war-torn homeland, and risk all on a journey west; broken-hearted Lampy, who dreams big but achieves little; and unscrupulous accountant/lobbyist John, who, finding death drawing close, seeks forgiveness from a God he claims not to believe in. For all of them sorrow has crept up unawares, like the Normans sailing 'from a low and quiet sea' to engulf Ireland, and overwhelmed them.

The first three sections read as totally unrelated stories, but the last ties them together - not an unusual format, and you are half-expecting it to happen, but, the pulling together and tying off of separate threads is done with style and doesn't feel in any way contrived.
 I've always found Donal Ryan to have an amazing way with words, allowing the reader for a short space of time, to walk in someone else's shoes, to experience their hopes and losses, and in this sympathetic, but not sentimental, study of grief  he does it again. He frequently seems drawn towards fractured, broken people in his work (or maybe it's just that, as with Tolstoy's happy marriages,  happy people are all the same and don't have much of a story to tell), and that's how most of the characters in this seem. The loss of home and family, the pain of heartbreak, regret for past actions and a need to confess - these don't seem cheery topics for a book, but the characters seem to be heading towards some level of resolution, a glimpse of hope and happiness, or maybe just acceptance, lying ahead until ...  As with Ryan's first novel, The Thing About December, the bodyblow shock is kept till the end. Surprising, appalling. I found myself backtracking and changing my estimation of those involved - and Ryan's skill is shown in that, by now, these were 'people' not 'characters'.

Maryom's review - 5 stars

Publisher - Doubleday

Genre - adult contemporary fiction

How Much the Heart Can Hold edited by Emma Herdman

review by Maryom

Last week I was out at a book event the theme of which was the short story, and by pure coincidence my first review this week is of a short story collection.  How Much The Heart Can Hold describes itself as 'seven stories on love', but these aren't romantic tales of falling in love and living happily ever after. Instead they explore the different forms that love can take. The ancient Greeks drew distinctions between seven types of love - for self, for family, charitable love for all mankind, love that borders on obsession, is unrequited, or endures for ever, and, of course, sexual, erotic love - and here they're taken as the starting point for seven very different short stories, each by a different author. The paperback edition which I was given for review contains an extra story - It Was Summer by Phoebe Roy, the winning entry for the SceptreLoves short story prize.
I came to this book just after finishing an epic 900+ page fantasy novel, so at least each tale was short if not necessarily sweet. Faced with a collection from a variety of authors, I'm often tempted to seek out the familiar names and start reading there, but there's a theory that says the editor does more than check for spelling mistakes, also deciding on the order of the pieces and shapes the feel of the whole, and I think that's certainly the case here. Ending, as the original collection did, on Bernadine Evaristo's story of universal love, The Human World, brings a feeling of completeness to the work.
I did, of course, have my favourites, and, yes, they were by those favourite authors, Carys Bray and Donal Ryan. Bray's story, Codas, explores the love and bonds of family from the point of view of a single mother suddenly having to deal with her father's illness after a stroke, balancing his needs against those of her son. Ryan's Magdala, Who Slips Sometimes is a story of obsession, in which a woman clings desperately to the belief that, despite his marriage and children, her teenage sweetheart still loves her above all others.
This isn't to say that the others weren't enjoyable - they all were in their way, though some seemed hard at first to fit to their 'brief'. Of these, I particularly liked Before It Disappears by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, a tale of love that's no longer returned; Nikesh Shukla's White Wine, about learning to love oneself rather than change to fit others' expectations; and Bernadine Evaristo's The Human World, a sad, yet humorous look at what it's like to care for the whole world. Just don't go into this book expecting hearts, flowers and cuddly teddies; love is more complex than the romantic hype of Valentine's Day and this story collection reflects that.

authors; - Carys Bray, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, Bernadine Evaristo, Grace McCleen, Donal Ryan, Nikesh Shukla, DW Wilson, and Phoebe Roy.

Maryom's review -  4.5 stars
Publisher -  Sceptre
Genre - short stories, 

All We Shall Know by Donal Ryan

review by Maryom

Melody Shee's life is a mess; she's thirty three, pregnant, alone, frightened, angry, and riddled with guilt. 
The baby's father is Martin Toppy, a Traveller boy, barely more than half Melody's age. Her husband, Pat, has left in disgust and anger, knowing there's no way the child is his. And, at the back of Melody's mind, always haunting her, is the memory of the dreadful things she did to her best friend, Breedie, back in school. She's so desperate that taking her own life is beginning to seem a welcoming option.
Fortunately, a whim takes Melody to the Travellers' halting site, looking for Martin Toppy. He and his family have moved on but she makes an unlikely acquaintance, Mary Crothery, a nineteen year old Traveller woman with her own problems.
As her pregnancy advances week by week, Melody spills out her thoughts and regrets to her computer, and gradually comes to accept that maybe, after all, the birth of this child is a good thing, and that through it she can begin to forgive herself.

All We Shall Know is another absolutely stunning novel from Donal Ryan, but there's often a difficulty, in that when you've found an author whose work you love, it can be hard for them to surprise and amaze you. I was left, though, feeling equally moved by the story and amazed at Ryan's ability to tell it. Part of the magic of Ryan's story-telling, for me, is that he doesn't seem so much to 'create' characters as to give voice to ones who already exist fully-formed elsewhere, and what impressed me this time was his way of getting not only inside a woman's thoughts, but her physical feelings too - as if he'd experienced the draining emptiness of morning sickness, or a baby kicking and turning, for himself. I've read other novels written by a male author but told in the first person from a woman's point of view, and I've felt unconvinced by the masquerade; this time, I was utterly convinced - so much so that at times during my reading I was surprised to remember this story is written by a man! 

Melody herself isn't a person to quickly take to - she's as outspoken, argumentative and downright stroppy as a teenager! - but as her story unfolded, I came to see her as a person damaged by her past misdeeds, and masking her vulnerability with anger, while caring deeply about her father and husband. The unravelling of Melody's story revolves around several threads - the difficulties that can at times surround something we take for granted; the birth of a child; the gradual wearing away of a loving marriage into a constant battle of recrimination; the way a community makes its own unwritten rules and how quick it is to judge anyone who doesn't conform; and how inflicting pain and suffering on others can bounce back on the giver. 

In many ways, as in The Truth About December, this is a story about people living on the edges of society, shunned by family, friends or community for not behaving as expected; Melody is shunned by her neighbours for being pregnant; Mary by her own mother (!) for her inability to conceive, and then shaming her family by leaving her husband; the Travellers' community as a whole is looked on with suspicion and hatred just for being 'different'.  

For anyone familiar with Ryan's work, there are places where his other stories seep through - a 'courting' couple in a car park at a beauty spot, or a policeman the reader's encountered before - which gives a feel of a whole world continuing its life in the background, just waiting for its story to be told.

Maryom's review - 5 stars

Publisher - Doubleday

Genre - adult contemporary fiction

Top Ten.. or so.. of the Year - 2015

by Maryom


I've reached the end of my reviewing for this year, so now it's on to the far harder task of picking my favourites.....
A rough count shows I read just over 150 books this year so trying to choose a Top Ten out of them was going to be hard. First I made a longlist - which started out quite tidily but grew scrappier as I added more and more titles to it. Then I tried making a pile of books, to see if this would concentrate my thoughts - which worked fine till I remembered all those 'hidden' books on the kindle.... so back to the 'list' with a highlighter pen..... to pick out those I'd be most likely to thrust at folk and say "you MUST read this" ....

So at last I narrowed my list down to ten .....and a few more...


Weathering by Lucy Wood - a story of mothers and daughters, belonging and home, and wild, wet weather, it's written in almost stream-of-consciousness style, with beautiful prose that slips into poetry. Closely observed, minutely described, it captures mood and emotion, conjures the feel and touch of river and snow with writing that puts the reader so firmly THERE in the landscape that I expected to see snow banked outside my windows or river rushing over the lawn.


Spill, Simmer, Falter, Wither by Sara Baume - an amazing debut novel about two outsiders - a man, Ray, and One-Eye, the battered, violent dog he 'adopts'. From the moment Ray takes One-Eye home, he starts to talk to him; as One-Eye is introduced to the house where Ray has lived all his life, as they walk round the village or along the seafront, play football on a deserted beach, and as they drive away from the seaside through Ireland's countryside, Ray keeps up a rambling monologue, ostensibly aimed at One-Eye, describing all he sees, capturing the sights and sounds along the way, sharing secrets and gradually revealing the dark secret he hides. I started to feel that this was more about a dog giving a man a chance at redemption, than the other, more obvious, way round.



A Year of Marvellous Ways by Sarah Winman - At eighty nine, Marvellous Ways lives quietly, alone but not necessarily lonely, swims in the creek each day, and is still waiting for something, although she doesn't know what. Woven through with magic, with tales of mermaids and long-lost love, this is an absolutely, well, marvellous story. The setting is enchanting, and enchanted, the creek a place of peace and healing, the story-telling lyrical, the whole permeated by myth and magic.





A Slanting of the Sun by Donal Ryan  - a collection of short stories from the author of the Spinning Heart and The Thing About December that will knock you sideways and leave you emotionally drained. The writing style is quiet and undramatic, the characters all people you'd pass on the street and never remark upon, but just listen to the stories they have to tell! If you want something fun and light, that will make you laugh out loud - go elsewhere. If you want a read that will move you, maybe shock you, make you stop and look twice at your neighbours and wonder what makes them 'tick', let you experience emotions that I hope would never befall you in real life, this is the one to choose.

Kauthar by Meike Ziervogel - how does a white, well-educated, British woman become an Islamic suicide bomber? The author draws a portrait of a woman struggling to fill an empty, gaping hole in her life - there never seems to be enough, or maybe the right sort of, love, to satisfy her need, and in desperation she twists her religion to fill that void. Ziervogel again tackles a subject that others might shy away from; only 144 pages long but it doesn't need more.


A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale -  Harry Cane was living a quiet, gentlemanly, suburban life in Edwardian England till an indiscretion brought it to an abrupt end. Forced to leave his wife and child, and strike out on his own, he heads west to the frontier lands of Canada ... not quite in search of his fortune but certainly looking for a place to build a new life, to come to terms with himself and his newly awakened sexuality. A quiet, mostly undramatic but immensely moving book which I've now read THREE times and I still love it. It's definitely a keeper!



 A God In Ruins by Kate Atkinson - another quiet, unassuming hero, this time Teddy Todd, a World War 2 bomber pilot. Scarred and numbed by his experiences, and feeling a need to atone for his actions, Teddy decides his life will now be one of kindness, his own slight reparation for the horror of war, but those dreadful years are not shrugged off so easily and his relationships with wife, daughter and grandchildren are all affected. Despite the excellent writing, I couldn't at first see what was SO special about this book - but there's a twist in the tale, and an ending which changes everything.

The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North -  Sophie Stark is a film-maker - one who makes visually engaging, often disturbing, films but is unable to connect emotionally at a personal level - in fact she has always found it easier to communicate through visual art. Her story is narrated by the six people who were closest to her, each with a unique insight into her as a person and director - her brother, the guy she had a crush on in college, her actress lover, her singer-songwriter husband, a Hollywood producer/director and a film reviewer. Their accounts build up a portrait of a talented but disturbed young woman. It's an unusual and compelling read - one to check out if you like something a little 'different'.



At Hawthorn Time by Melissa Harrison - We all have an idea, or ideal, of how the English countryside should be - sleepy villages where nothing has changed in hundreds of years, meadows with placidly grazing cows, ancient woodlands, life centred on the turning of the seasons. The reality of heavy farm machinery, migrant workers, the whole modern agricultural business or even cow-pat strewn roads doesn't quite fit that image we have. Into this gap between expectations and reality falls this story of people trying to 'find themselves';  a couple newly moved out of London in search of an idyllic country life; a youngster, born and bred in the village, but into a time when there's no future for him there; and a wanderer, a quiet, harmless man but seen by others as a vagrant, a threat to the established order.


The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett - somewhere between the movie Sliding Doors and Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, falls this tale of Eva and Jim and the different paths their lives could have taken after a chance meeting in Cambridge in 1958. From that initial meeting, three different futures pan out, each fully realised, like reading three different stories. The balance between them is perfect, none is allowed to dominate, but which of them leads to a happier life? At first it seems to be one version, then, as the years pass, another will seem the more appealing. It led me to wonder if I were Eva or Jim and could choose my life, knowing all the permutations, which would it be?



Well, that's my Top Ten, but a lot of them have already appeared on literary longlists for this prize or that, and I'm guessing a lot of readers will have heard of them, perhaps even read them already, so I'm going to include the best of my longlist - a wider-ranging list from literary to sci-fi to crime, and including some older books that I only discovered for the first time this year.


The Sea Between Us by Emylia Hall - This, Emylia Hall's third novel, is the nearest yet to a straight forward love story. The relationship between Robyn and Jago grows and changes over a seven year span, as instant attraction turns to something deeper, but fate seems determined to push them apart. Theirs is a story of missed chances, of so often being in the wrong place at the wrong time, of letters and messages going astray, of other relationships getting in the way - a little bit like Friends' Ross and Rachel, a little like Emma and Dexter from David Nicholls' One Day - but while it's a love story, there's so much more to it than that.
The Summer of Secrets by Sarah Jasmon -  There's a certain sort of mid-teenage point in life when summer seems like it could last forever - a few years earlier you don't appreciate the spread of six weeks freedom ahead; a few years older, and autumn seems already visible at the end of July - and this is what Sarah Jasmon has captured so well - long, lazy, hot days of a summer that feels like it could never end, but with a friendship as intense as only a teenage friendship can be and a thread of hidden secrets.
The Truth According To Us  by Annie Barrows - more hidden secrets, this time belonging to the Romeyn family of Macedonia, West Virginia.  I'd say this was a gem of a book but at 500 plus pages, it's a large show-stopping gem! It's certainly one of those special books in which you can immerse yourself completely; the characters and setting feel as real as those around you, and when (if) you take a break you'll be shocked to find yourself back in real life.
The Rocks by Peter Nichols -   a story of love and betrayal played out over three generations against a backdrop of sun, sea and, yes, sex in the Mallorcan village of Cala Marsopa. Told in an unusual way, it starts in the present and moves backwards to 1948. It's a story of misunderstandings, mishaps and failures in relationships, which doesn't sound like a good read - but it is!
The Kindness of Enemies by Leila Aboulela - an amazing thought-provoking read, moving between the present day and the Crimean War, about the dilemma of being torn between conflicting cultures but never quite belonging totally to either, and how sometimes accepting defeat is braver than fighting on.
The Mountain Can Wait by Sarah Leipciger - a moving story exploring the relationship between Tom and Curtis, a father and his son, one intimately connected with nature, one completely rejecting it, and the choices that have to be made between freedom and responsibility. It's a book that will inspire you to get out there, head for your nearest mountain or hill top and soak in the beauty, even if it isn't as magnificent as the Rockies

My top sci-fi read of the year - Touch by Claire North - Imagine that by taking hold of someone's hand, you could become them, could jump from body to body as you wished, and stay there for as long as you liked, from seconds to years. This is what 'Kepler' and others like him can do. Now someone has decided that it's time to stop him - but its easier to evade an assassin if you've some idea of who sent them and why. So begins a game of cat and mouse as Kepler tries to track down the person behind it, while trying to avoid those pursuing him. The thriller aspect is fast-paced, action-packed, full of twists, turns and deviousness. It starts with the 'bang' of a murder and Kepler running for his life, and carries on at this breathless pace; as a game of hunter and hunted it's up there with the best of spy thrillers.

I haven't read a lot of Fantasy this year, but loved Naomi Novik's Uprooted  Set somewhere vaguely in Eastern Europe, in places that sound very like Poland and Russia, it's a coming of age tale, a fight of good against evil, a love story, and one that encourages us to accept people no matter how different they are to ourselves. A fairytale with grit!

 Three crime novels -
Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekback takes the whodunnit murder mystery and transports it to a time and place far removed from the modern urban landscape. In the early eighteenth century the far north of Sweden is remote and empty; a place where life itself is a struggle against the vagaries of the weather and the loss of a harvest can mean starvation. In the long, hard, dark winter, wolves howl at the doors, fear and loneliness build and the barriers between 'modern' logical beliefs and old pagan traditions break down.




A Killing Moon is another brilliantly tense thriller from Derby's very own crime writer Steven Dunne. This is the fifth in the DI Brook series and I think I'm getting used to having my home city's streets filled with murderers - at least, fictional ones! A Killing Moon isn't a simple 'guess the murderer' style crime novel. It's one of those books in which things start out quietly, and seemingly simply, but soon escalate, with extra threads weaving their way in, as Brook and Noble find themselves on the trail of a sinister conspiracy targeting young women away from home.

The Living and Dead in Winsford by Hakan Nesser - a stand-alone psychological thriller from the author of the long-running Van Veeteren series. This time the setting is Exmoor, but a British winter of fogs and rain proves as 'noir' as any Scandinavian setting; the main character a Swedish woman, Maria, hiding under a false name, running from something dreadful and fearing pursuit.







I've read a lot of brilliant teen/ya books this year but these two stood out. 

Anything That Isn't This by Chris Priestley - a little bit dystopian, a little bit love story, with a bit of thriller thrown in for good measure, this is a story that captures the confusion of teenage feelings the world over, is about challenging the norm and searching for hope in a dull grey world.



The Door That Led To Where by Sally Gardner - a slippery, twisty sort of plot with time travel, a murder mystery, the clearing up of a forgery case, and the tiniest bit of romance - added together they make a brilliant, compelling read.







and, at long last, the oldies which you've probably already read!

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor - On a late summer's day the residents of a street in the north of England are going about their daily routines. Nothing special is happening - a man is painting his windows, two boys are playing cricket, a toddler rides his tricycle up and down the street, an elderly couple celebrate their anniversary - the sort of things that make up any average day...then something happens, a terrible thing which leaves its mark on all who witnessed it.

The Long Dry   - This is Cynan Jones' first novel and is set in the landscape that's become familiar to me through his later work - Everything I Found On The Beach and The Dig. There's the same grit and grimness underlying the beauty of the landscape, the same feeling of inevitable anguish. It's not all doom and gloom - there's light relief from the teenage son, with his delight in driving the transit van, and the mass 'attack' of the ducks on the nearby seaside town - but moments of joy seem short-lived and over-shadowed by sorrow to come. Much more than a story about a farmer looking for a lost cow!

Diamond Star Halo by Tiffany Murray - set against a backdrop of rock-stars and recording studios hidden in the depths of the Welsh countryside, this is a story of 'crazy love' that breaks the rules, an exploration of the ties of family and home, a coming of age novel, a family epic ranging over three generations,  there's a bit of all these in Diamond Star Halo, and I loved each of them.

An Experiment in Love by Hilary Mantel - in style and length reminiscent of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and Françoise Sagan's Bonjour Tristesse, this is a bitter-sweet, first person narrative of the lives of young women on the cusp between child and adult, at a time of life so full of possibilities, but which could easily tip into tragedy.