The Family by Naomi Krupitsky

Sofia and Antonia have been friends since childhood. Born to Italian-American families living next door to each other in Brooklyn their lives have been intertwined since birth. But there's more than proximity that binds them together. Both their fathers belong to the American Mafia, which envelops them in a wider family, while putting a distance between them and other children in the neighbourhood and at school.As a result the two girls become closer. Even so, from an early age there are marked differences between them - one happy to accept the role laid out for her, as wife, mother and home-maker; the other always wanting more, from eavesdropping the men's conversation as a child to wanting to earn her own place among them as an adult - but despite their differences, friendship holds Sofia and Antonia close, the way the Family does, even when the Family itself drives a wedge between them, after the 'disappearance' of one of their fathers.

This astounding debut is a story of friends, family and Family; a big warm novel exploring the ups and downs of female friendships against the backdrop of the totally male world of American mafia. I recently read an article on Crime Reads that 'family' with a small 'f'' was at the heart of the great Mafia stories like the Godfather and the Sopranos - that that sense of belonging and desire to protect family lifted them above other gangster movies /tv series and gave them something that everyone could relate to. The same is true here. Family lies at the heart of Sofia and Antonia's world - in fact, it's all encompassing; children are protected from knowledge of what their fathers parents actually do for a livelihood, and later boys are found a place within the business, girls expected to marry into the family. But this is a Mafia story with a difference - one told mainly from the perspective of the women who sit waiting and worrying when their husbands are later home than expected, or turn up with injuries and blood on their hands, but know that they won't receive honest answers if they ask where, why or who.

Spanning twenty or so years, from the 1920s to late '40s, it follows Sofia and Antonia from childhood as they grow into women, marry and have children of their own, and to an era when the Family's prohibition and war-time profitability is on the decline, and new money-making schemes are needed. I loved it for its characters, its scale, its writing style which drew me in and held me. I rather hope this isn't the end of the Family's story. 

Currently available in the UK on Kindle, and in hardback from January 2022

The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré

"I don't just want to be having any kind voice . . .
I want a louding voice.

At fourteen, Adunni dreams of getting an education and giving her family a more comfortable home in her small Nigerian village. Instead, Adunni's father sells her off to become the third wife of an old man. When tragedy strikes in her new home, Adunni flees to the wealthy enclaves of Lagos, where she becomes a house-girl to the cruel Big Madam, and prey to Big Madam's husband. But despite her situation continuously going from bad to worse, Adunni refuses to let herself be silenced. And one day, someone hears her."
 

The Girl With The Louding Voice is a coming of age story set in Nigeria; the story of fifteen year old Adunni, told in her own words, moving from the poverty of a rural village to a different sort of poverty among the affluent classes of the city, where workers are treated almost as slaves.

In many ways it's a disturbing tale, spotlighting the treatment of girls and women as commodities to be traded, in a society where men are of primary importance, and which is drastically divided between rich and poor. First Adunni is effectively sold to a much older man, already married with two wives, when her father can't pay his debts, then she goes to work for a woman in the city but all her wages go to the 'agent', the man who placed Adunni in her job, and her employer's husband feels any of the female servants should be amenable to his sexual advances. 

On the other hand, it's a story of hope, and it's hope that stays with the reader as the overall feel of the book. Whatever her situation, Adunni's resilience and determination shine through. She's adamant that somehow she'll find a way to finish her education, and be able to speak out, in her louding voice, on behalf of girls and women trapped as she is.

It's an amazing debut, told in an original, captivating voice, with Adunni finding humour and compassion in life despite her predicaments. I found myself rather regretting that her attempts to improve her English, seen as the key to bettering her prospects, would result in a watering down of Adunni's lively manners of speech.

Star Shot by Mary-Ann Constantine

Illustrated by Clive Hicks-Jenkins

review by Maryom

Something strange is happening in the centre of Cardiff - as people move around the city, particularly close to the Museum, they are encountering silent spaces where all noise is suddenly cut off. A handful of people seem more aware of the phenomenon than others - Myra, who feels some strange, almost physical, attraction to the museum; Theo, an expert on ponds and the life found in them, who carries out 'guerilla-gardening' style pond installations; single-parent Dan struggling with the loneliness of bringing up his son; Luke carrying out a study into the use of public benches across the city, and his supervising professor - the first to spot the extant of these silent patches and their alarming growth. As the paths and lives of these five cross and connect, the puzzle of the silence grows, and initiatives are put it place to fight it but nothing seems to stop its spread.

  
Set in a off-skew Cardiff, Star Shot is a fable-like novel that speaks, to me at least, of the dangers of wiping out nature through the spread of concrete urban centres, and of the isolation of individuals in our high pressure, work-obsessed modern society. These ideas are explored, not through highly-moralistic rhetoric, but through the lives of a small group of characters, most of them rootless in the city, cut-off in some way from family and friends, struggling to form new relationships. As the story evolves, we learn more about their backgrounds, how in various ways they are damaged or weighed down by their past. The exception is Theo, the only one who lives outside the city, who you might even say 'lives and breathes' nature. Everything in his life revolves around ponds; employed during the day by corporations and councils to install them as one of their 'green' credentials, and sneaking out at night making wildlife havens on waste ground, with ponds and plants. It seems like he is the one who holds the key - not only to halting the spread of 'silence' but to bringing the others together.

After a short initial confusion, as the characters were introduced in quick succession, I found the story taking off and holding me. It's not your average 'airport' or 'beach' read but an interesting, thought-provoking comment on modern life, which, although I enjoyed it this time, I'd like to re-read in the not too distant future, knowing how the complexities of the plot work round each other.

Seren have previously published a collection of the author's short stories, All The Souls, but this is Mary-Ann Constantine's first full-length novel.

Maryom's review - 4 stars 
Publisher - Seren Books
Genre - adult literary fiction, modern fable

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon

review by Maryom


In the summer of 1976, while England suffers under an unnatural heatwave, Mrs Creasy goes missing from her home, Number 8, The Avenue.  Did she just wander off of her own accord? was she abducted? murdered, even? or had she stumbled on the secrets her friends and neighbours keep so carefully hidden? The residents of The Avenue can only agree on two things - the heat makes people do funny things, and the weird guy at number 11 is probably involved somehow... As the rumours spread, ten year old Grace overhears the adults gossiping, picks up on the fear in their voices without really understanding, listens to the vicar talk about goats and sheep, and becomes convinced that if she and her best friend Tilly can only find God, Mrs Creasy is bound to return.

 After a longer than expected Christmas break, this is my first review of the New Year - and what a stunning book to start with! I'm fully expecting this is going to be up there in eleven months among my picks of 2016.

A story of 'Us' and 'Them', The Trouble With Goats and Sheep is an adult story told mainly from a child's perspective, and it was Grace's 'voice' that hooked and held me. The style feels simple and natural, with Grace displaying that curious mix of naivety and insight that children sometimes seem to have. Listening in to the world of adults, Grace hears, often repeats, but doesn't always understand what she's heard, leading to a lot of deadpan-delivery humour. On the other hand, at times her observations can be sharp and cutting, seeing through the evasions that children are fobbed of with and going straight for the truth.
Her child's-eye view of the world is charming, and beautifully captured - but what's happening in that world is unsettling to say the least! For at the heart of this story is a long-hidden secret brought bubbling back to the surface by the disappearance of Mrs Creasy. As summer progresses, and Mrs Creasy shows no signs of returning, the heat and tension rise, and the reader begins to see that behind the respectable lace-curtains something rather nasty has been going on - for this small community has banded together to victimise and ostracise the one person in their street who doesn't quite fit in. Although not necessarily close friends, the residents of The Avenue all get along, share the same set of values and general outlook - except for Walter Bishop at number 11. He's something of a square peg in a round hole, the weird goat among a herd of docile sheep, and a convenient person to blame whenever anything untoward occurs. The author shows how a stray comment can become believed in without a scrap of evidence, how people band together to protect their own but how that soon turns to bullying and intimidation. For a debut novel, this is something rather special, and I'm longing to read whatever Jo Cannon comes up with next!

 I'm not sure if the author personally remembers that long hot summer of 1976 (it's not really polite to ask, is it?) but I can, and can vouch for many of the little details; the half-forgotten food and tv programmes and presenters of the time, the fanatical saving of every drop of water, the parched cracked gardens, the suspiciously green one, often surreptitiously watered after dark, sparking gossip and back-biting among the neighbours but mainly I remember the long glorious sunny days. For me, every summer since then has proved to be rather a disappointment!



If I've enticed you into reading, you don't need to just take my word - there's a free sampler available from the publishers here


Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Harper Collins (The Borough Press)
Genre - Adult fiction

In Bitter Chill by Sarah Ward

review by Maryom
In January 1978, two girls went missing in Bampton, Derbyshire. One, Rachel Jones, was found later that same day; the other, Sophie Jenkins disappeared for ever.
Over thirty years have passed and Rachel has tried to put the whole incident behind her, but then Sophie's mother is found dead in the local hotel, and everything comes flooding back .......
 What starts out as an open and shut case for the Bampton police, headed by DI Francis Sadler, turns out to be something far more complex involving a web of secrets dating back to the abduction of 1978 and earlier. As the police try from one angle to work out how and why past events have suddenly surfaced again, Rachel realises that, from her point of view, it's time to confront what happened to her that long ago day. Her terror at the time wiped her memory clear, and her mother, thankful to have Rachel home, discouraged all discussion concerning what happened, but now Rachel realises she can't settle without knowing.
You can always spot a good book from your inability to put it down - and this is certainly one! I picked it up fairly late one evening, expecting just to read the opening chapters but midnight and one o'clock passed, and I was still reading ..... Eventually I did have to put it down but was back and hooked again the next day.
Something I particularly liked was that the detectives - Sadler, his sergeant Damian Palmer and constable Connie Childs -  follow the clues that I would have picked up on. Often, when reading whodunnits, I spot a snippet of information that I'd like the detective to pursue, but they don't! This time they did; they followed the leads I spotted, and at times headed off down the same dead-ends I would have. Even so, the denouement came as a surprise - I'd been hunting for the 'villain' in all the wrong places!
In short, In Bitter Chill is an amazingly tense and compelling debut, and I for one will be watching out for further thrillers from Sarah Ward.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Faber and Faber
Genre -adult fiction, debut, crime,

Spill, Simmer, Falter, Wither by Sara Baume

review by Maryom

When loner Ray finds One-Eye at the dog pound it's like the meeting of two lost souls. Both are misfits, viewed with suspicion by neighbours or dog-wardens, carrying with them an aura of 'otherness', and the potential for violence or danger. At first glance you'd trust neither of them.
 Raised in virtual isolation by a grief-stricken father, Ray's life has been warped from the beginning; he never mixed with children his own age, never had mates to hang out with or a girlfriend, never even had a job. His neighbours see him as a bit weird, and keep their distance. Now, he's 57, and following the death of his father is living alone for the first time - and just doesn't know how to carry on.
For his part, One-Eye isn't the sort of dog you'd pick for a family pet. Looking at the world lop-sidedly from his remaining eye, he has the battered beaten-up appearance of a fighter - but while his wild, ferocious traits have been encouraged and developed by his previous owner, he's also been on the receiving end of violence from both men and animals. Full of fear, it takes time for him to come to trust his new owner.
Gradually a bond forms between these two, but that streak of violence still lurks beneath the surface and events cause the pair to go on the run.

To get this clear from the start, this isn't a sweetly charming tale, not some sentimental mix of Marley and Me and The Shawshank Redemption, where man meets dog, they bond, and live happily ever after; both are too scarred by life for that. It is though a tale of both man and dog trying to recover from deep hurts, striving to put their pasts behind them and start again.
 One-Eye had my sympathy from the start. His fear of people spoke of an abused past, and I believe vicious dogs aren't born, but trained to be that way by man, and are then victimised when that 'training' emerges at an inappropriate time and place. Ray starts out as just a little odd; tolerated in the village where he grew up, eyed with suspicion but basically harmless; it was only as his secrets were revealed that I began to wonder if this view wasn't quite true.

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.

For a debut novel, I think this is just amazing.  Baume's writing enlisted my empathy for both of these outsiders, and had me hoping against hope that Ray and One-Eye would in some way be saved.

 Originally published in Eire by Tramp Press, this book came to my attention over summer via Irish book bloggers* singing its praises, and catching Sara Baume at Edinburgh Book Festival, hearing her read from it and speak about it, convinced me it was something I would love, so I'm delighted to see it now published in the UK by Windmill Books.

Longlisted - Guardian First Book Award 2015
Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2015
Newcomer of the Year at the 2015 Irish Book Awards.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Windmill Books
Genre - adult fiction, literary, Guardian First Book Award,


* Bleach House Library review

The Zoo by Jamie Mollart

review by Maryom


James Marlowe was an ad man at the top of his game, able to target the demographic, spin a warm, caring, desirable image for his customers, twist a few facts if necessary and SELL just about anything. Focusing on winning the next high-revenue contract, celebrating long and hard when he did, fuelling his lifestyle with drink and drugs, ignoring the  - all started to poison his personal relationships and alienate his wife and friends. Now his glorious career is in the past, and he's a shattered man, detained in a psychiatric unit, believing himself at the mercy of a group of plastic figures collectively referred to as The Zoo, trying to piece together how things went so very, very wrong.

 Through one man's crisis, Mollart explores the shallow, cynical world of advertising, giving his protagonist just enough conscience to feel uneasy about his role in promoting an unethical business, but not enough to actually do something about them. He isn't going to turn whistle-blower and spill insider information to the press; instead he bottles his doubts for too long, subduing them with drink and drugs - until they burst out in as messy a way as possible. From the first page, in fact the first sentence, the reader is plunged into the troubled mind of a man struggling to cope, feeling himself tyrannised and controlled by a set of models - in fact it reads rather like the beginning of a horror story. As the story alternates between 'now' in the psychiatric ward, and 'before' as events in James' life start to unwind, it becomes apparent that this is no fantasy horror but one that's very much part of the real world.
At times it's a very troubling story; not only from James' personal perspective (after all he does seem determined on self-destruction) but also by raising questions about the consumerism that makes the modern world go round and the advertising industry that helps it. Throughout the figurines remain enigmatic - sometimes they seem to represent different aspects of James, at others various attributes belonging to family or colleagues - but however you see them, they remain scary, particularly in the influence James grants them.
Especially for a debut novel, this is an absolute stunner! Something - possibly the hallucinations experienced by James, possibly something in the writing style itself  - reminded me of Iain Banks' work, making Jamie Mollart an author I'll definitely be looking out for. I've read some great debuts this year, and this is up there with the best of them.

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Sandstone Press
Genre - Contemporary Adult Fiction

The Summer of Secrets by Sarah Jasmon

review by Maryom


Living an almost solitary life with her uncommunicative, heavy drinking father, Helen's life is quiet and lonely. With O level exams, and the stresses and unpleasantness of school behind, summer seems to stretch limitlessly before her; at first an appealing prospect, but soon boredom starts to creep in. Then the Dover family move in down the road - an unconventional, seemingly-carefree family with no fixed roots, they fill the canal-side house with music, children and laughter - and Helen falls under their spell. There are similarities in their circumstances - their father is absent - perhaps having just 'left' in the way Helen's mother has, perhaps having disappeared in more suspicious circumstances - and their mother keeps mainly to her own bedroom and is as silent and neglectful as Helen's father, leaving teenagers Seth and Victoria, and the younger twins, Pippa and Will, very much to their own devices, but whereas Helen's home is dull and empty, theirs seems over-flowing with life. Attracted  to them, both individually and collectively, Helen is soon a regular visitor, her day not complete without them, but as the endless hot days unwind something sinister works itself into the mix. Long hot summers can never last forever - but this one is heading for a disastrous ending

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. Atmosphere alone isn't enough to make a story and mixed in with it is a darker thread of hidden secrets. The author intersperses the events of 1983 with a first person narrative from the adult Helen's point of view, so the reader is aware that the summer came to a climatic end, but, as Helen has no memory of the events, how and why remains a mystery. Enough is revealed to tempt the reader, and keep them hooked, without giving the game away.
The friendship between Helen and Victoria is the hub around which events revolve - a slightly one-sided affair as Helen in her loneliness is more in need of Victoria than vice versa, it's intense in the way that only teenage friendships can be - but all the characterisation is superb; from the slightly prim and proper Helen, to the free and easy Dover family, fly-in-the-ointment Moira with her stroppy activism, and Helen's father with his despair and mood swings, they all feel like real people with lives of their own outside the pages of the book.

The whole bohemian atmosphere instantly brought to mind two of my favourite novels of recent years - Emylia Hall's The Book of Summers  and Diamond Star Halo by Tiffany Murray. All three share that nostalgia for an idealised time in the past - a time which has its unacknowledged dark undercurrents just waiting to surface - and slightly off-beat larger-than-life families. If you've read one of these and loved it, I definitely recommend the others.

Maryom's review - 5 stars

Publisher - Black Swan (Transworld)

Genre - adult fiction, coming of age

Sugar and Snails by Anne Goodwin

review by Maryom

Diana is a forty-something, set-in-her-ways university lecturer; an intensely private person, she lives alone with only a cat for company, and even her closest friend who has known her since their university days isn't aware of the secrets hidden in Diana's past. For thirty years she hasn't told anyone about the momentous event which altered the course of her life completely but now, entering into a new relationship which offers the hope of lasting happiness, that past seems back to haunt her.

Sugar and Snails is a portrait of a woman in crisis; at first Diana's actions seem extreme but as I got to know her, and her back-story, I came to understand her reaction. There's a feeling throughout that Diana is as uncomfortable with who she is now in the present day as she was as a child. Her work as an academic psychologist leads her to suspect the decision she made as a teenager was wrong, to think that maybe, at fifteen, she was too impulsive and ill-informed, and that her actions haven't really led to a happier life. Now Diana has a chance of happiness, but to grab it she needs to step out of her comfort zone and face down her fears. Advised as a teenager to forget about the past, and 'put it behind her', that was exactly what she did but, never truly happy and always frightened that someone would find out, she's put much of her life on hold for 30 years; relationships, as such, have failed and, rather than risk change and scrutiny, she's stayed in one job settling for the familiar but unchallenging and dull.
So, what was the traumatic event 30 years ago? It's kept a secret for much of the book but I'd spotted an accidental reveal in the publishers media-pack. Now this isn't the ideal way to approach a story - it's always nice to have the big reveal sprung upon you the first time through, whether it's the plot twist in Bruce Willis' film The Sixth Sense or not knowing whether Elizabeth and Darcy will get together in the end. Knowing before hand loses some of the tension and build up, but both books and films have to stand up to a second read/viewing and I find myself in the curious place of having read Sugar and Snails once but being able to say that it's a re-readable story; that it doesn't just rely on that one surprise element. Through the flashbacks to Diana's increasingly troubled childhood and adolescence, I could stand back a little and appreciate how the author had cleverly built up hints at what is to come without actually giving anything away, while still being immersed in the unfolding of Diana's life.

This is the story of one specific person and her problem, but it raises a lot of wider issues from gender identity and stereotyping, and the way society forces us to conform, to how impetuous decisions made when young can affect our whole lives. Although she's written many short stories, this is Anne Goodwin's debut novel - I hope to read many more by her.



Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Inspired Quill
Genre -adult, LGBT

Girl at War by Sara Novic

review by Maryom

Ana's childhood in Zagreb was carefree and happy but in the summer of 1991 war is spreading throughout Yugoslavia. At first it doesn't disrupt her life much - air raids drills are turned into a source of fun and she plays games around the sandbags in the street with her friend Luka - but soon tragedy strikes and Ana is caught up in a world of ethnic cleansing and child soldiers. Luckily she has a chance to escape to America, but although her foster-family provide a safe haven, it never feels like home and ten years later she's driven to confront her past in a now-peaceful Zagreb.

This is one of those awkward books for which I've seen great reviews but which didn't grab me at all.
The story is told from the point of view of adult Ana looking back at her 10 year old self caught up in the civil war in Yugoslavia. Maybe it's the distance - ten years later Ana is over the worst horrors - but it seems an oddly flat, sanitised, tidied up version of war. Of course, being told by the older Ana, we know she survives but I just didn't feel her fear and dread - for me there was no tension, no immediacy to the events, no capturing of the horror she must have felt as her parents died.

I think what may have thrown me with this is that, despite the title, it isn't really a story about war itself - yes, it gets mentioned, but the story is more concerned with the dislocation that Ana feels. Unlike her friend Luka, who stayed in Zagreb, she's been cut from her roots. Her only remaining family is her younger sister Rahela who doesn't remember Yugoslavia at all and in the US, Ana tries to forgot the past and keeps quiet about her childhood, pretending to be as American as the next girl, but is unsettled and torn between the two places she's known as 'home'. Somehow she needs to reconcile the two parts of her, to which end she revisits Zagreb. Maybe reading it again with this in mind, I'd appreciate it more? I'm not sure.


 Maryom's review - 3 stars
Publisher - Little, Brown
Genre -adult, war,

The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett

review by Maryom

Eva and Jim first meet at Cambridge in 1958; she is cycling along quickly and swerves to avoid a dog, he steps forward to help, and what happens next will affect the rest of their lives. Do they speak briefly and part, do they go off to the pub? Three different scenarios are offered and from this point the narrative splits, with each version following Eva and Jim throughout their lives - however events play out, the two of them seem linked, their paths destined to cross and part, and maybe cross again.

The Versions of Us is a stunning book, even more so considering it is Laura Barnett's debut novel! With three alternate time-lines playing out over 50 years it's easy to see this book is a cross between Sliding Doors and One Day but for me, in style and story-telling, it has more in common with Kate Atkinson's Life After Life.

From that initial meeting Eva and Jim's alternative lives pan out in different directions, and the reader is offered three versions of how their lives could have been, each fully realised; it's almost 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?

I also wondered how much fun the author had in playing with Eva and Jim's lives; authors frequently say that their characters take charge and will only behave in certain ways - this time it seems like the author has the upper hand and can manipulate the characters at will, sometimes pushing them forward impulsively, sometimes holding them back.

I loved it completely; following Jim and Eva throughout three lifetimes I became familiar with them, their characters and foibles, their friends and family. If there's a drawback, it's that it's not always easy to remember what has happened previously in each version, and I have to admit I had notes to help me keep track of things. Something I'd like to try one day is reading each of the time lines individually, from start to finish as a 'normal' story. It certainly isn't a book to read once and discard; there's still lots to explore after that. I don't belong to a book group and this is one time that I'm missing that because there's lots to discuss with fellow readers - not least that question of which way leads to greater happiness and fulfilment.


Catch my Q+A with the author here
Maryom's review - 5 stars 
Publisher - Orion (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Genre - adult,

Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller

review by Maryom

1985 - and Peggy is back in her London home, reunited with her mother Ute after 9 years living in a hut buried deep in the Bavarian forests with her survivalist father. She's finding it hard to adjust - her father convinced her that not only her mother but the whole world had perished in some violent apocalypse, and that the only safe place left was their little piece of forest - outside was black emptiness.
Peggy's father James had always been a survivalist - with a group of like-minded friends he plotted the best way to survive armageddon, made equipment lists and stocked his specially constructed cellar - but in 1976, when Peggy was 8, his game-playing turned serious. While Ute was away from home, he received some disturbing news and decided to take Peggy away to a wooden cabin, die Hutte, hidden deep in a forest.  Peggy at first believes they are on holiday but as the weeks pass by she starts to wonder when they'll be going home...then one day, after an horrendous storm James tells her that the rest of the world has perished, that beyond their enclave nothing exists any more....
Now it's 1985 and Peggy is trying to adjust to many things - she's back home in London, the outside world hasn't perished, her mother has been missing her for all these years and she has a brother, born a few months after she and her father departed. But Peggy too has her own share of surprises lined up for her mother....

Our Endless Numbered Days unfolds from two points; 1976 with the background to James' actions, and 1985 as Peggy tries to come to terms with the fact that everything she's believed for the past 9 years has been a lie. Cleverly teasing the reader with just enough information to hold interest but keeping back enough to tantalise, Fuller draws you into the strange mock post-apocalyptic world that James has created for him and his daughter. Everything is told from Peggy's point of view and as events unfolded I started to realise that maybe she wasn't the most reliable of narrators for two reasons. Firstly, the flashback sections are seen through the eyes of the child she was then; with no understanding of her father's behaviour she accepts his word as true, and goes along with his plans because she has no choice. Secondly, as the years pass, Peggy's is the only account of events; there are no other witnesses so no one to contradict the tale. This unreliability left me trying to second-guess what might have happened, and partly prepared me for some of the revelations at the end. I wish to a certain extent that part had been seen from James' point of view - I'd have liked to know more of his motivations and justification of events.
How would I describe it? it's part dystopian post-apocalyptic survival novel - Peggy firmly believes she and her father are the last people on Earth, that when tools break, clothes wear out or food supplies drop dangerously low there is no outside backup; part thriller - as the reader knows something momentous must have occurred for Peggy to have returned home; and part examination into the personal motives and deceptions of James and Peggy. What it is without doubt is a gripping page-turning read. I didn't want to put it down at all, it grabs your attention and doesn't let it go.

4.5 stars rather than the full 5 because I'm just not sure I'd read it again - at least not too soon. Now all the twists have been revealed, it's maybe lost a little of its power over me. 

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Fig Tree (Penguin)
Genre - adult literary thriller

Disclaimer by Renee Knight

review by Maryom

Catherine and Robert have just moved house - downsizing now that their son has left home - and everything is in a bit of a mess. So when Catherine finds a new book lying on her bedside table, she assumes it must belong to one of them although she doesn't remember buying it, and settles down to read. She's in for quite a shock though, as she soon discovers the events in it echo something that happened to her on a foreign holiday, many years ago. But how could anyone else have known this dark secret she's kept hidden from friends, family and, most importantly, her husband, and why have they now revealed it? Is it an attempt at blackmail, or revenge of some kind? Catherine's kept this secret for a long while - if she'd told all at the time maybe it maybe wouldn't have mattered so much but now she's terrified that her husband and son will find out, and that her almost perfect life will fall apart.

We're all rather accustomed to tabloid papers promising big reveals about the private lives of celerities or politicians, but imagine someone had written a book based on something that had happened to you...someone who was twisting the facts, and not giving you chance to air your version of events; that's the uncomfortable situation that Catherine finds herself in.
The story evolves from two perspectives - Catherine's as her life starts to crumble, and that of Stephen Brigstocke, the retired teacher seemingly intent on destroying her. Switching between one and the other, the reader is teased along as what really occurred all those years ago is gradually revealed, and, although neither of them seem really likeable, my sympathy swung from one to the other, and back again! As you might expect, there's a twist part way through that casts new light on events, and although in the main I guessed it in advance that didn't spoil my enjoyment - by that point, the book has put the cat in among the pigeons and disrupted Catherine's happy life; her work has suffered, the relationship with her husband completely fallen apart and I was beginning to wonder if Catherine would ever be able to put her life together again.

 It's a great read, and one I didn't want to put down at all, but some of it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt and not thought about too much. I don't really think Catherine could have covered events up so easily - even the slightest drama involving Brits on holiday in the sun can be a newsworthy event -  nor did I understand why she chose to not tell her husband but these things didn't worry me at all while I was reading - I was too gripped!

 

Maryom's review - 4 stars

Publisher - Doubleday

Genre- adult psychological thriller

The Girl In The Red Coat by Kate Hamer

review by Maryom

8 year old Carmel and her divorced mother Beth form a tiny insular family; contact with Carmel's father is infrequent and erratic, and her mother and grandparents quarrelled long ago so Carmel never sees them. Being only the two of them makes Beth more watchful and careful than other mothers might be but Carmel is getting a little tired of this; she thinks she's old enough to be able to do things on her own with no need to constantly be holding her mum's hand like a small child. So in the crowds at a children's story-telling festival she takes the opportunity to slip away and hide under a table......  Engrossed in books and her imagination, Carmel loses track of time and when she eventually crawls back out her mum is nowhere to be seen. Then she's approached by an elderly man who claims to be her grandfather, come with the awful news that her mum has had an accident and been taken to hospital, and that for now Carmel should could home with him. Carmel is confused and upset, but something in the man's appearance makes her trust him, so she goes along without any fuss.....
 Meanwhile Beth is beside herself with worry. People are leaving, the festival grounds emptying and there is still no sign of Carmel. Panic rising, the organisers call in the police and Beth has to admit the dreadful fact that despite all her best efforts, Carmel has disappeared.

The Girl In The Red Coat taps into every parent's nightmare that one day their child will go missing. Unusually it doesn't follow the police investigation, with either the following up of a tenuous thread of clues that lead to a happy resolution, or the more chilling story-line that ends tragically in the hands of a serial-killer. Instead, the reader follows Carmel and Beth as in very different circumstances they try to adapt to their new lives. Told as it is in the first person from their alternating perspectives, the reader is there sharing the emotions of Beth and Carmel - the guilt and frantic searching of one, the bewilderment of the other.
Carmel of course is unaware that she's been abducted - she firmly believes that this man is her grandfather and that what she's been told about her mother's accident is true. So Carmel tries to adjust, to fit in with her new family and their plans for her. It was hinted at earlier but it now becomes apparent that Carmel is believed to have a special gift, and this is why she was taken. Her 'grandfather' has great plans for her, mainly of the sort that will involve his financial gain, and Carmel is bullied and manipulated into going along with them.
Meanwhile back home in Norfolk, her mum Beth tries to put her life back together. Never losing track of the number of days since Carmel went missing, never giving up hope, she searches frantically anywhere and everywhere, but gradually as the years pass, she makes peace with herself and starts to move on.

Although a crime has been committed this isn't so much the story of that crime but more one of how those involved cope afterwards, rather in the way that Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You or Carys Bray's A Song for Issy Bradley show families coping with tragedy. Here though there's still the hope that somehow, maybe, just maybe, Carmel and Beth can be re-united - and it's that flicker of hope that pulled me in, desperately wanting to know that all would turn out right in the end. Does it? well, read it and find out.



Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Faber and Faber
Genre -adult fiction, debut, crime,

A Song for Issy Bradley by Carys Bray

 review by Maryom

 A Song for Issy Bradley is the story of a Mormon family trying to come to terms with grief following the sudden death of their 4 year old daughter -
 - Dad, Ian, a bishop in the Mormon church finds consolation and strength through his faith. He firmly believes that he will meet Issy again in Heaven and all he must do is continue in his faith
 - Mum, Claire, who converted in order to marry him, cannot cope at all; she finds Mormon values too cold to help her. Swallowed by her overwhelming grief, she takes refuge on Issy's bunk bed and refuses to get up again.
 - Their teenage children, daughter Zippy (Zipporah) and son Alma are already struggling with their faith. They miss Issy desperately but both want to be 'normal', to be allowed to behave as their friends do. Zippy despite being a firm believer in Mormon values wants to wear fashionable clothes, go to parties and be allowed to date boys. Alma just wants to play football.
 - Only 7 year old Jacob can see a way to make everything right again - a miracle is needed to bring Issy back and he thinks he knows how to work one.

A Song for Issy Bradley is a stunning novel of death and life, faith and family, grief and hope. Knowing this was a book dealing with a child's death and the emotional impact on the family, I was half-expecting something totally depressing. It wasn't going to be like a murder-mystery where everyone achieves closure by the catching of the villain, and then gets back to their lives. This was going to be about 'real' people facing up to probably the most devastating thing that could happen to them. But as I read, I realised it wasn't going to be as devastatingly sad as I'd feared; though there are dreadfully dark moments, they're balanced with light and humour and, above all, love.

Throughout there's an amazing attention to the little things that make up life. It starts with the lead-up to Issy's death, capturing the awful ease with which a serious illness can be ignored until it's too late. The hustle and bustle of a normal day compounded by a houseful of extra children at a birthday party and Ian rushing off to help a dying church member. I found myself willing Claire to notice while there was still time to act even though I knew it was pointless.
Ian frustrated me throughout - he's always rushing around and putting others' needs before his own family's and so secure in his own faith but can't see that this isn't enough for Claire.
Teenagers always bear the brunt of any perceived 'weirdness' in their parents - and Zippy and Alma have more than an average share. Saddled with odd names, bound by the restrictions of Mormon behaviour, fitting in with their peers at school was never going to be that easy, and it isn't even possibly to argue with parents who cliam the support of God.
Jacob's faith in his miracle-working is as heart-breaking as Issy's death. He is SO confident that he can do it - with that seriousness that young children have in their approach to things - but we know it's not going to work and he's going to be devastated all over again.

 Although she's written many short stories, including a prize-winning collection, this is Carys Bray's first full length novel - and it was hard at times to believe it was a debut. Ultimately hopeful and life-affirming, this is a 'must-read' that's straight onto my Picks of the Year list.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Hutchinson
Genre - adult, literary fiction, bereavement

Winner of the Authors' Club First Novel Award
Shortlisted for Costa First Novel Award
Longlisted for Desmond Elliott Prize 2015 
Richard and Judy Summer2015 Book Club