The Retreat by Sherri Smith

‘Each woman has come to the retreat for different reasons. Each has her secrets to hide. And at the end of this weekend, only one will be left standing’.

The premise appealed to me. The idea of a retreat as the place of secrets and potential murder was to good to resist. My own idea of hell is going to a spa; especially with groups of women. I’ve been invited to hen weekends at spas. I hate them. The thought of sitting around in a dressing gown with women I’ve only just met fills me with horror. So, a novel exploring the dark side of the wellness industry seemed perfect for me and I have enjoyed others exploring the same experience like Liane Moriaty’s ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ or Mark Edwards ‘The Retreat’.

It took a while for me to get into the novel,  because I couldn’t relate to any of the characters. Each woman narrates her own chapter creating different perspectives on the story as it unfolds. Katie is the lynchpin of the group. She is a washed-up child star still living off her glory days as child sleuth Shelby Slade. Katie is rapidly working her way through her fortune and thinks back fondly to her manager AJ who looked after her. Unable to find work as an actor Katie has a void in her life that she fills by spending money. She has an unexplained scar on one cheek and I had the sense there was a story to unfold that would be as much of a revelation to Katie as it would be to me.

Ellie has suggested the retreat because she wants Katie to benefit and have a breakthrough. She is marrying Katie’s brother Nate and in her chapters we learn that they live under Katie’s penthouse in a building she owns. We learn that Katie is very dependent on her brother and there seems to be an underlying resentment over Nate having to support his sister so heavily. Ellie pushes the benefits of the ayahuasca tea ceremony, hoping that the spiritual journey will be an awakening for Katie. Early on I felt there were a few aspects of Ellie’s story that didn’t add up. She has no family around her and her British accent is questioned by people they meet. Ellie’s perfect exterior is hiding something darker.

Ariel is one of Katie’s friends and is set up as an unwelcome rival to Ellie. Ariel is overweight and low in confidence. She once slept with Nate and had hoped this would develop into a relationship. She is vulnerable and seems to be running away from a relationship with a married man. She drops  hints about something she might have done to her lovers pregnant wife and seems to be open to the transformation the retreat offers.

Carmen is also a friend of Katie’s but comes to the retreat from a totally different background to the others. She lives in the poor area of the city with her siblings and her father, who has Parkinson’s disease. She desperate wants to escape the poverty she’s in and can’t even afford to fix the boiler, even though she works long hours as a home care worker. She is her father’s carer and is struggling to support the family on her wage. She often has to ask Katie for hand-outs and is desperate for the self-care of a retreat but also susceptible to any opportunity to make money - even if it is illegal.

Mixing with these four are Dr Dave and his partner Naomi who facilitate the group and the other attendees. Simon and Marie are staying away from the main house in their own cottage; giving them the opportunity to keep their own secrets. The mysterious Lily recognises Katie right away and is her biggest fan, but is it her that leaves the Shelby Spade balloon in the grounds?

We’re never sure of the motives of any character and that hooked me. I love an unreliable narrator and here there are four. Because I’m a counsellor I was interested in the unraveling of these characters and their real inner stories. I thought Katie’s self realisation was well written and it kept me reading. Although I’d worked out early on which girl was hiding her true reasons for the retreat I still enjoyed watching it unfold and the denouement  still held surprises for me. I found myself more drawn in towards the middle and read the rest in one afternoon because the suspense had me hooked. This is a great exploration of toxic friendship and how vulnerable people are preyed upon by the unscrupulous within the well-being industry.

Thanks to Sarah Mather and Titan books for my gifted copy.

Books Are My Medicine

I have always been a bookworm. At primary school I went through the reading scheme at 8 years old so could have 'library time' while everyone else was reading with the teacher. This meant snuggling into an old bean bag and having half an hour to pick any book I wanted to read. My first was Little Women and Jo was (and still is) my first literary heroine. From there it was Pippi Longstocking, Little My, Katy Carr, Pollyanna and Anne of Green Gables. By the age of ten I was discovering the gothic delights of Jane Eyre and Miss Havisham. Reading was a delightful escape from the world and nothing would have pleased me more than to have a big window seat to curl up in on a rainy day where no one could find me. Many childhood visits to stately homes consisted of me running from one space to another thinking ‘Here! Yes, this is where I would come to read undisturbed’. The grotto at Chatsworth House was a particular favourite. As I grew older that escape became more important and therapeutic.

In my final term of primary school, instead of jumping the high jump bar, I decided to somersault over it. I landed awkwardly and knew something was wrong immediately. I felt a crack and a flash of pain in my back. I broke two vertebrae at T3 and 4 and crushed the disc between the two. I thought, like my heroines Katy Carr and Pollyanna, I was going to be paralysed. In hindsight and with psychological training, I think the change that occurred in me at that time was more about the fear of movement rather than an actual physical inability to move. I became more introspective and if I climbed a tree it was so I could curl up in it and read – usually while my brother fished from the next tree over. By the time I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of 21 I had adjusted to a more sedentary way of being and this is where books became more than a pleasure, they were a medicine.

I have days when I am well and they feel like spring; a gentle awakening of my body. Yet I do spend more time living from my bed than I would like. I have the constitution of a sloth some days; simply existing from one period of deep sleep to the next. The noise of the TV or radio can be too much at times and being in quiet is the only option. Lately, aside from the fatigue,  I have been suffering from nerve pain and vertigo. The nerve pain is weird. It feels like a prickling sensation over my leg and if I try to touch it the feeling is so intense I almost expect to see sparks. Then when I move my leg there is a searing, burning sensation all the way down my leg. It makes my foot go numb. The vertigo can be a strange sensation of twisting between my eyes with a little bit of blurring. It can intensify so that my vision is compromised. One of my eyes doesn’t focus and I feel like my brain is sloshing around in my head. Then it feels like the floor moves from under me and I start to feel sick. The only thing that settles it is rest. I have to lie flat for a while until it passes.

The one thing I can do through most of these symptoms is read. I have never lost my love of reading. Nothing beats the joy of finding a new novel I fall in love with such as Lucy Atkins The Night Visitor or Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist. Books that you can’t stop reading but don’t want to end all at the same time. Even better when you’re laid up for a long period is an author new to me but with a great back catalogue I can spend a couple of weeks catching up with. This happened to me with Louise Candlish and Elly Griffiths recently. I like to read real books but do find that I default to a kindle more and more. Although, if I love the book I will still buy a real copy for my book shelves, especially if there is a beautiful cover. For me the kindle is my constant companion. It is light, portable and I can alter the brightness depending on my vision that day. It is easier for me to hold – it’s hard to believe that holding a book can be painful but it does affect my arms, shoulders and back. I can manage a kindle one handed and easily highlight or bookmark my favourite sections. This makes blogging and studying easier.

Whenever I am well I am the first to be up and about, trying to catch up with all the things I’ve wanted to do. When I’m not, books bring the world to me. I read books set in my favourite places like Venice and Cornwall. I read books set in new places I haven’t had the chance to see yet. It opens up fantasy worlds to me, when I truly need a complete escape from the real one. If I’m feeling very vulnerable and need comfort I can re-read an old favourite like a Jilly Cooper romp, novels like Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus or Joanne Harris’s Chocolat series that sprinkle magic into my life. I can read about people I identify with or whose experiences I have shared. Reading Jojo Moyes’s novel Me Before You, and it’s sequels let me into the world of Lou Clarke who is my literary soul sister. I too met a man with a severe disability and fell in love, only to lose him. Each new instalment of her story uplifts and brings me joy, but also makes me realise I can carry on and I’m not alone. Caitlin Moran’s books make me laugh and take me back to my teenage years in the 1990s. There is a book out there for every prescription and that is honestly how I see my reading. Each book is therapy in its way, even if it is simply helping the time pass. Even in hospital, I will have a pile of books on my bedside table and start diving in as soon as I am able. Now ,to convince the GP to put a monthly book token on my repeat prescription.

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

A joyous, exhilarating, riot of a book

When one of my favourite authors writes a new book I always experience a confusing mix of emotions. Excitement and anticipation mix with fear; will I love it as much as I love their last book? I don’t want to be disappointed. This is how I approached Liz Gilbert’s new book City of Girls. Like a lot of readers my first encounter with Gilbert’s writing was Eat, Pray, Love; a book that was nothing short of a cultural phenomenon, not to mention the following hit film. For me, it was her novel The Signature of All Things that caught the imagination. The combination of a sparky and intelligent heroine, the feminist theme and the historical detail came together in a beautifully woven story. So as the publication date approached for her new novel I desperately wanted it to live up to her first.

I shouldn’t have worried. City of Girls is a joyous, exhilarating riot of a book. Our narrator, Vivian, plunges us into 1940s Manhattan where she is sent by her parents after expulsion from Vassar. There she is placed in the care of her Aunt Peg who runs the, slightly ramshackle, Lily Theatre. I was suddenly immersed in the bohemian world of theatre people where Vivian soon finds her niche. At Vassar she made friends by creating outfits for the other girls on her trusty sewing machine. So, in her new rooms above the theatre she is soon surrounded by showgirls wanting costumes. I have an interest in fashion and sewing, so I really enjoyed the descriptions of Vivian’s creations, made on a shoestring with a lot of help from Lowtsky’s vintage clothing store downtown. Yet not everything is as it seems on the surface. Is her friendship with showgirl Celia as mutual as it appears? What influence does the matronly and doom laden Olive have over Aunt Peg? Where is Uncle Billy, whose rooms Vivian has been using since her arrival?

 Some of these questions are answered during the production of the brand new play City of Girls. Aunt Peg’s friend Edna Parker Watson comes to stay after losing her London home during the Blitz. Edna is a talented theatre actress who is petite, beautiful and impeccably dressed. She arrives at the Lily with her huge wardrobe and her very famous and much younger husband, Arthur. Every member of the theatre company does their very best to get this musical off the ground and make it a success. Vivian works hard on her costume designs, but also finds herself becoming an unofficial PA and friend to Edna. Determined to put on the best show they can to turn the Lily Theatre’s fortunes around, Aunt Peg agrees to audition for new actors. When Vivian meets Anthony, the new leading man, she falls in love for the very first time. But alongside the awakening of first love, Vivian will also have her eyes opened to how cruel showbiz and the wider world can be. Several revelations teach her that not everyone can be trusted, the most unexpected people can come to your aid, and Vivian realises she has been walking around with her eyes closed. As the Second World War moves ever closer to their shores Vivian is left with a reckoning of her own. Does she want the respectable, quiet life her family expects or does she want to make her own way in a city and a career that is anything but quiet?  

You will fall in love with Vivian as she takes you into her past and candidly shares her exploits in 1940s NYC. She takes you from theatre, to nightclub to a dingy apartment in Hell’s Kitchen where she conducts her first love affair. She holds nothing back and I felt her delight at encountering the bohemian characters of the theatre, her passion and ingenuity for costume work and her discovery of a city laid out before her like a playground. She allows us to experience her growing up with every triumph and mistake she makes along the way. Such an engaging central character is well matched with other beautifully drawn female characters from the dowdy killjoy Olive who has surprising depths, the enigmatic Edna Parker Watson, the brisk and sometimes foolhardy Aunt Peg to the glamorous showgirl Celia who leads our narrator into a world of nightclubs, make-up and disposable men. The women in this novel are strong, surprising and all teach Vivian something about the kind of woman she wants to be. The novel emphasises the importance of strong female role models or mentors in both our personal and working life. I found myself torn between bingeing on this book or savouring it slowly: I wanted to know what happened next but I didn’t want my adventures with Vivian to come to an end.

I'm Not a Celebrity.I Am A Muslim by Sahera Patel

I was offered the chance to read Sahera Patel's book through my Lotus Flower Book Club page on Facebook. She kindly sent me a copy through the post and although it has taken me a little while to make a start, once I opened the book I read it in a couple of days. I have a personal interest in memoir, so much so that when I was pursuing my PhD I focused solely on memoirs of disability. I love to read about the author's life journey and share their inner world. Although many memoirs I have read touched on spirituality in some form, I was surprised when I realised I had never read an autobiography that focused on Islam and what being a Muslim means.

Patel's memoir starts with her father's terminal illness and this thread runs throughout as she shares with the reader her own life growing up to be a young British Muslim woman. She cleverly anchors the book with tenets of her faith that I found both informative and inspirational. She grows up in the wake of her parent's emigration from India and their resilience when reality hit that life in Britain was not as they expected. The author's raw honesty as she describes the domestic violence she and her siblings witnessed is breathtaking. They become attuned to the moods of their father who is disappointed with what Britain has to offer him. He struggles with the responsibilities placed upon him by the wider family back home who believe that everyone in Britain has money. This pressure intensifies as his own family grows and his escape is gambling. Patel describes poker nights at their home, where there is smoking, drinking and her father losing housekeeping money which only exacerbates their problems. All of this destructive behaviour is not only against his faith, but makes the family's money worries so much worse. They are in a vicious circle, culminating in outbursts of verbal abuse, damaging property and eventually physical violence. The children can sense what is coming and try to divert their father, or take their mother out of his sight line to prevent attacks. The sense of walking on eggshells comes across strongly, as does the sibling's heightened awareness of both their father and their mother's seeming inability to know when trouble is brewing. I strongly felt the sense of isolation; that they cannot tell anyone what is going on, but try to cope with it alone.

Despite, or perhaps because of this difficult family experience Patel's maturity and humanity shine through on every page of this memoir. She recognises that for some people this might be the first time they get to see the world through the eyes of a British Muslim and her explanations of certain customs or rituals are always engaging and often informative, helped by excerpts from The Koran. Her faith sustains her throughout her life, perhaps because it is constant and therefore provides a contentment not present in her earlier life. The compassionate way she is able to love and forgive is highly inspirational to me. She writes that in Islam it is not permitted to expose a fellow Muslim's sin and that she had to reflect deeply upon her feelings for her father. The soul searching exposes a dilemma between wanting to remain true to her faith and respect the man she knows is dying. However, there is also a personal spiritual need emerging, that of catharsis and truth. Patel decides to portray her childhood truthfully with bravery and with a spiritual honesty that is heart rending.

I thoroughly enjoyed the section where Patel starts the process of looking for a husband; an introduction is made and she has the option to agree to a courtship or not. The description of the tiny bedroom where potential suitors are sent up to be 'vetted' is comical. Patel clarifies the process of 'arranged marriage' showing that she has the power all along and also the importance of looking for compatibility in a life partner as well as that spark of attraction. I was also fascinated by the description of their eventual pilgrimage to Mecca where both their spiritual and physical strength is tested to the limit.

I took so much away from this book: a new understanding of Islam and the clarification of traditional customs that I thought I knew about; an incredible example of love and loyalty within a family despite the pain and hurt caused over the years; but most of all an impression of a young woman with a quiet strength - comfortable and content with herself and her choices, as well as the enduring faith which sustains her. I felt honoured to share such an intimate and honest journey of self-reflection.

Reading Alice Hoffman's Blue Diary

I have always loved reading Alice Hoffman. I discovered her about six years ago through Jodi Picoult, who counts Hoffman as her favourite author. I read everything she'd written in one summer and loved the mix of human relationships with a touch of magic. Her most famous novel is probably 'Practical Magic' turned into a slightly unsuccessful film starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock. I think her most recent novels 'The Dovekeepers' and 'The Museum of Extraordinary Things' are her best work, but Blue Diary is one I've re-read several times. I take something new from it every time and it tied beautifully in with something we'd been discussing as a group; do we ever really know the person we live with?

Hoffman's novel starts on a beautifully idyllic morning where we find Jorie and her husband Ethan staying in bed rather than going to work. They have been married for 13 years,but are still hopelessly in love. On this beautiful morning where the sun is shining, flowers are blooming and birds are singing this couple go back to bed and reaffirm their love. Ever since they met in a bar they have been together, and have had a son called Collie. Ethan is a pillar of his community - he is a contractor with a very busy workload, trusted with the keys of his neighbours and even coaches kid's baseball in his spare time. Hoffman's descriptions of these two characters are so flowery and dream-like that some of our readers knew that something was going to happen to shatter this illusion. Nobody's life is that perfect and one reader commented that they were already making her sick a few pages in!

The idyll is soon shattered by a knock at the door and in the following silence Jorie drops her coffee cup to the floor as she senses that everything is about to change. Someone has recognised Ethan from his other life, the life before he met Jorie and turned his life around. In that life he was a heartless man with no moral compass. He was a juvenile delinquent with a devilishly handsome face. Women loved him and he left home to live with his mother's friend. The relationship was abusive and when he'd taken all of her money he left to find something new. Sadly for one girl he stopped over in her home town. Rachael Morris worked in the general store, she lived on a farm and had a horse, she was fifteen years old. Ethan, or Byron Bell as he was called then, convinced her to close the store and go swimming with him one afternoon. She takes him to Hell's Pond and as they part he asks her if he can visit that night. He tells her he will  drive to the farm after dark and flash his lights, but when he gets there Rachel doesn't appear. Byron is affronted by this,He felt she promised him something and he is going to get it. He climbs into the window, and climbs into her bed. Rachael is fast asleep but when she wakes, she fights him like a wildcat, but Byron rapes her and to keep her quiet he bangs her head against the wall. Afterwards, he wonders why there is so much blood - surely she was 18 and not a virgin - but the blood is also on her head and on the wall and he realises she is dead.

Collie's friend Kat suspected something was wrong with Ethan and didn't like to be alone with him. She notices he has no reflection and the readers thought that was an odd detail that had thrown them off. One or two wondered if he was a vampire! She sees a late night show about unsolved crimes and recognises Ethan as Byron, then reports him to the authorities. Kat is torn between her love for her friend Collie and doing the right thing. Ethan's arrest is shown to devastate Jorie and Collie, but also wider family and the whole community. We talked openly about our experience of murder and how it affects people; one or two of us had experience of the murder of a friend, or a school friend who committed crime that left them shocked and confused. In the book, Ethan's co-worker Mark Derry doesn't know what to think. He goes off the rails for a couple of days and then decides to defend Ethan, by organising a campaign with rallies to raise money for his defence. His thinking is that Ethan can't be guilty, but then as he confesses to Jorie, Mark decides that his good work in the town atones for what he did in his past. Ethan keeps repeating that he is not the same person as he was then.

This led to an interesting discussion about atonement and whether people can truly change. Some members felt people can change and have their lives turned around. We talked about cases where this had actually happened and eventual sentences were more lenient because they'd taken into account this change. Some of our readers believed in redemption, but others were more skeptical.I felt he had atoned to the wrong people, because as we saw later in the book another community had been devastated by his crime.

Jorie doesn't know what to think. She distances herself from Ethan straight away, only visiting the jail infrequently, and concentrating on Collie. With no money coming in, Jorie has to put the house up for sale and move in with her mother. She feels that the person she was in love with was a mirage. She can't connect with him any more. People are shocked by how little she is supporting him, but for some of our readers this is where Ethan reverts to type. Kat's sister Rosarie starts to take an interest in him, and puts on her make-up to visit the jail. There are rumours of flirting and Kat is worried that her sister is about to make a big mistake. Jorie feels the only way she can decide is by visiting Rachael's home town, so she makes a road trip. She uses the local library to read about the case and meets Rachael's childhood friend. She agrees to ring Rachael's brother and asks him to meet with Jorie and surprisingly he agrees.

Jorie and James have a kinship that comes from both being victims of the same man. The farm is remote, and James is clearly a man used to living alone after the death of his parents. He reveals that he found the bloody clothes that Ethan left in the field after his crime, as he changed outfits with the scarecrow. He ran back to the house and raised the alarm. James takes Jorie up to Rachael's room which has never been changed since her death. With Jorie the reader takes in the cuddly toys, the posters, and the framed photos of Rachael riding and with friends. This is a little girl's room and when James talks about trying to scrub the bloodstain from the wall behind the bed, Ethan's crime really comes home to the reader. Some readers had picked up that Ethan was drunk, confused and thought Rachael was older than she was. Others felt that he had been sober enough to drive and climb up into a window without accident, so why was he too drunk to see the stuffed animals and posters? It was felt that he was a man intent on getting what he wanted and to hell with everyone else.

Our discussions showed us how a town would be torn apart because similar arguments would be going on at every dinner table. We all felt that we would struggle to stay with a partner if this happened, and shared experiences we'd had where someone was not what they seemed. We all enjoyed the book and Hoffman's writing, and enjoyed how she explored these complex relationships. The dilemma creates so much discussion and led us all to think about how we take people on trust and what we would want to know about a partner before we started a relationship. The truth is we have to continue taking people on trust to create partnerships and friendships and none of us would do differently to Jorie who met the man of her dreams in that bar.

Books for 2015

There are so many great books to come out in 2015, but here are just a few I'm looking forward to trying.

The Possibilities by Kaui Hart Hemmings – author of The Descendants and a tale of love and loss. Sarah has lost her son Cully in an accident and feels the need for some space. Then the opposite happens as she has to deal with Cully’s father (her ex), her own father and her best friend coming back into her life. Then she meets Kit which uproots her plan even further.

The Woman in the Green Coat by Katie Ward – a novel about suffragette Lady Bulwar-Lytton is from a fascinating period in history from the writer of Girl Reading.

God Help the Child by Toni Morrison – even though I have no idea what this book is about I know I will enjoy anything from Morrison.

Collected Stevie Smith – I have loved Stevie Smith from childhood, because I loved her humour. Now I enjoy even more her mix of death, humour and weird black comedy.

All the Rage by Courtney Summers – explores the aftermath of sexual violence in a town where nobody believes a girl from the wrong side of the tracks. After losing friends and family Romy Grey seeks refuge in a new job in a diner where nobody knows that happened to her. Yet, when another girl is attacked she has to decide whether she stands up and fights.

The Girl in the Photograph by Kate O’Riordan – this is set in the 1890s and the 1930s and follows two women whose lives are intertwined by fate. Alice comes to Fiercecombe Manor because she needs a sanctuary. She feels safe in the care of housekeeper Mrs Jelphs, but then secrets begin to emerge. Is there something Alice is not being told? She finds traces of Elizabeth, the previous occupant, and finds that their lives are remarkably similar.

The Uninvited by Cat Winters – Ivy Rowan wakes from bed after being struck by the Great Influenza epidemic of 1918. She is 25 and she has a strange ability – she sees the uninvited ones, ghosts of long dead family and friends that always herald the coming death of a loved one. The last vision foretold the death of her brother in WWI and now she sees them again. Society has changed and Ivy leaves home and is caught up in the Jazz Age, but why do the uninvited guests keep coming and who will she lose next?

First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen – I keep being told I should try this author so this is the year! In this novel we follow the Waverley family. Clare is caught between her sweet business and family life, while Sydney is so desperate to have another baby that her need starts to steal the joy from everyday life. Her daughter, Bay, is in unrequited love with a boy who doesn’t notice she exists. Then a stranger comes into their lives and asks questions of them all that they struggle to answer and keep their family together.

The Undertaker’s Daughter by Kate Mayfield – Kate Mayfield’s family home was the local undertaker’s in a tale of Southern mystique and ghosts. Kate’s father was one of two morticians in Kentucky in the 1960’s. All kinds of deaths passed through their home, but how does living in a house of the dead teach you to deal with life?

A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson – Life after Life has been one of my favourite books of the last couple of years, and this follow up novel concentrates on the brother from the first book. Teddy is Ursula’s beloved younger brother and has been an RAF bomber pilot, poet and now husband and father. We follow him as he progresses through the 20^th Century, and after surviving battle he has to prepare to live in a future he didn’t expect to have. I always love her novels so I’m sure this will be a great read.

My Best Reads of 2014

One of the most exciting things about my first 6 months as Lotus Flower Book Club, has been all of the new books that have come my way. I set a target with Goodreads at the beginning of the year to read 150 books and I am 8 books away from my target. This was helped along by the reading I do for university, but also because this was a great year for reading. After completing the decisions on website and logo I started taking orders in June. An unexpected bonus of using social media for the business has been the offer of writing work; I am now writing reviews on new books and blogs on the experience of reading. Sometimes, I even get pre-publication copies through the post, so I look forward to the postman arriving! So, out of all the books I’ve read this year here are my best reads of the year.

Bellman and Black by Diane Setterfield  

Diane Setterfield’s second novel is an unsettling tale of a young boy, William Bellman, who designs a catapult to impress his friends. On a sunny day they compare designs and William wagers he can hit a rook in the next field and to their enormous surprise he does. As they examine the dead bird they notice the colour of the feathers and how the light hits the black creating green and purple highlights. It becomes a thing of wonder to them, but as William walks home later in the dusk he becomes unnerved by the sight of a boy in black in the same field. Years later Bellman is a very successful man through developing the local mill and has made a good marriage to Rose. The couple have many children and to those who know them, Bellman seems to live under a blessing.  Yet strange things start to happen around him. His uncle, the mill owner, dies leaving him in charge. Then his childhood friend dies and Bellman starts to wonder about the strange man in black he sees at the funerals. Why can he never recall his face properly and what does he want? This is a great thrilling ghost story, with increasing tension written into every chapter. I recommend this for curling up in front of a fire with one winter evening.

ISBN: 9781476711959    Publisher: Random House

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

A brilliant debut novel set in 17^th Century Amsterdam where wealth and stifling religion go hand in hand. Country girl Nella Oortman arrives as the new bride of wealthy merchant Johannes Brandt. Nella is intimidated by Johannes sister Marin and the secrets of the huge townhouse that is now her home. Johannes is never at home, but he sends his new wife the gift of a cabinet house; the house is a complete replica of their own and Nella finds a miniaturist to make some special pieces for the best rooms. However, the miniaturist seems to have an agenda of her own and sends Nella mysterious pieces she didn’t order, pieces which could explain to her the secrets of the Brandt household. Despite appearing to be respectable members of society, the Brandt siblings have secret lives that they must keep concealed or lose everything. Burton’s great skill is to combine the historical detail with a surprising revelations and an awful lot of suspense. How does the miniaturist knows their greatest secrets but is she a benevolent observer or will she bring their reputation and even their lives to the brink of destruction. This is an intelligent read that becomes a real page turner as we long to solve the mystery and know the fates of the all the characters.

ISBN: 9780062306814  Publisher: Ecco 

Meeting Jessie Burton author of The Miniaturist

A Song for Issy Bradley by Carys Brady

This is a beautifully observed debut novel about the deeply religious Bradley family coming to terms with the loss of Issy who was the youngest member of their family. Taking each family member in turn the book explores their grief in both a moving and humorous way. Father, Ian Bradley is a Mormon bishop who trusts in his faith and is sure everything will turn out right. His wife Claire is less trusting, and needs a sign to help her carry on or at least a pause button till she is ready to re-join the world. Meanwhile their remaining children flounder; Zippy is distracted with first love, while Al has more time for football than the church, and Jacob has more faith than all of them put together and feels the responsibility of keeping his fractured family together. In the church, family is of the utmost importance and this book explores what happens when a family of faith has their world broken apart. Always poignant, the book can be incredibly funny, especially where the children’s understanding of their faith is explored. This is a great book for anyone interested in family relationships and reactions to trauma.

ISBN: 9780553390889  Publisher: Ballantine Books

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Another debut novel, this book is set in 19^th Century Iceland and is based in its bleak landscape. The book tells the story of Agnes, a servant who is found guilty of the murder of her former master and stays on an isolated farm awaiting execution. Agnes’s story is told in flashback as she recounts it to the priest sent to prepare her for her upcoming execution. Toti is the priest willing to try and understand her, despite the suspicion of the farmer’s wife and daughters; they belief the official version of the events and are very reluctant to keep a murderer in their home. However, as the weather turns even worse and they are confined to their small cottage, the women begin to hear a different version of the truth as they overhear Agnes’s story. The book reminds us that everyone has a right to have their story heard and although Agnes is still executed, it is hard to put down because you want to know her part in the murders. Just as the family do, we become drawn in by her tale, but which version is the truth?

ISBN: 9780316243919  Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Spare Brides by Adele Parks

This novel starts on New Year’s Eve 1920 and four friends reflect on the recent end of the Great War, and the new decade to come. There is an air of novelty about this new decade, full of promise and possibility. However, the war casts a long shadow, especially for Sarah who paid the ultimate price in the loss of her husband and for Lydia who can only feel her husband’s cowardice as he stayed behind in a desk job. There are so many women for so few men so it seems that to catch a husband one must be both beautiful and wealthy, but Beatrice is neither and seems destined to stay a spinster. Finally there is Ava, who is both beautiful and wealthy but feels restricted by her marriage now that her husband is home. An incredibly handsome officer comes into their midst, but he is haunted by his war experiences. Once the women encounter him it can only lead to more changes in their lives and everyone around them. This novel is the one of the first I read this year about this period of history and shows how the war broke apart the class structure and gender roles that had been entrenched for centuries.

ISBN: 9781472205391  Publisher: Headline

The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman

Set in New York City in the stormy first decades of the twentieth century, Alice Hoffman’s latest book is a love story set between two very different people. Coralie Sardie is the daughter of a Coney Island freak show owner and is made to perform in his museum because she has webbed fingers. He creates a water tank and a tail and she performs as a mermaid by day, while in the early morning he trains her to swim in the Hudson River to create the story of a river monster. One morning, she swims off course and climbs out of the river where the city meets forest and she accidentally meets Eddie Cohen. Eddie is a photographer who has run away from his father’s Russian Orthodox community and his job as an apprentice tailor. The two have an instant connection, but Eddie is embroiled in the mystery of a girl who went missing during the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and Coralie is kept almost prisoner by her father, and his requests of her become more disturbing. This is a magical story set in an incredible world of Wolf Men, Butterfly Girls and ancient turtles. Despite the engaging love story at its centre, the star of this novel is the developing city of New York in all its wonder.

ISBN: 9781451693560  Publisher: Scribner

How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran

This novel is really a slightly disguised autobiography of Moran’s first years as a writer for a music magazine in the 1990’s. Johanna Morrigan is an intelligent, but uninteresting teenager who is a social recluse and makes a fool of herself on local television. Using all her experience of writers from Jo March to the Brontes, Johanna decides she will save her poor family through writing. She reinvents herself as Dolly Wilde – music reviewer and Lade Sex Adventurer. For someone who grew up in the 90s this is a hilarious romp where Dolly does all the things I wish I’d done – she sleeps with sexy band members, drinks, smokes and rips crap bands apart in 600 words. I spent half the time laughing, and the other half trying to work out who the band members really were. Moran captures all the awkwardness of being sixteen, poor, and a little bit fat. This book is glorious.

ISBN: 9780062335999  Publisher: Harper

The Missing One by Lucy Atkins

Kali Mackenzie has had a difficult relationship with her mother and after her death there are so many unanswered questions. As she clears out her mother’s things she finds a series of postcards from a woman called Susannah and they all say ‘thinking of you’. Kali has never heard of this woman and in a desperate attempt to find out about her mother’s life she decides to take a trip to British Columbia and visit this woman. The remote island where she lives is known for storms and killer whales and Kali finds out that her mother studied these creatures back in the 1970s. Susannah is an enigmatic person and she doesn’t give up her secrets easily, but is she slightly too interested in Kali’s son Finn and why is her behaviour becoming erratic? This is a great story of a relationship between mother and daughter and how keeping secrets, even to protect our children, can sometimes be the most dangerous thing to do.

ISBN: 9781848663206  Publisher: Quercus

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

This is the second book about post WW1 that I read this year and from one of my favourite authors who never disappoints me. Set in 1922, Frances and her mother live in a villa in Camberwell, South London. This has previously been a genteel area and the Wrays have been used to house filled with a husband, and a brother, plus a few servants. Now entirely alone and still struggling with their bereavements and lowered circumstances, they feel the need to take in lodgers in order to keep their home. Their new tenants, Lilian and Leonard Barber are from the new ‘clerk class’ and will shake up their lives more than they ever imagined. Frances and Lillian have an instant connection, but Frances has given up a potential relationship in the past in order to stay with her mother. Waters explores all the rules of the pre-war society and how they have been dismantled by war. Women who have worked through the war no longer want to return to the home sphere, and the classes move more freely together than ever before. This is both a love story and a thriller, with the wonderfully rich backdrop of a country in mourning and all the upheaval of social change.

ISBN: 9781594633119      Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover

Wake by Anna Hope

This is another book set where society is hovering between the days of Empire and Modernism. Wake set against the backdrop of an unknown soldier being returned from Northern France to be buried at Westminster Abbey. It follows three very different women dealing with the changes WWI has wrought in their lives. Hettie is a dancer for sixpence at the Hammersmith Palais; Evelyn is a civil servant in the pension’s office; Ada is a housewife who is unable to move on after the death of her son and sees vision of him, but when a visitor arrives at her door with a war mystery it binds all of them together. Set over five days in the year 1920, the mystery slowly unravels towards the day the Unknown Soldier arrives to crowds of people in London. This novel has beautiful period detail and captures that feeling of being on the brink of a new era.

ISBN: 9780857521941  Publisher: Doubleday 

The Final Testimony of Raphael Ignatius Pheonix by Paul Sussman

This is an excellent novel ; a dark, funny and utterly delightful look at the Twentieth Century through one man’s eyes. I saw the cover and simply knew it was for me. Raphael Ignatius Phoenix lives alone in an isolated castle by the sea as the millennium draws near. Born in 1900, he is determined to die on the eve of the new millennium and to help him he has a mysterious pill. However, before he ends it he feels a need to get his affairs in order and write down his incredible history. Using the walls of the castle as his manuscript he begins to write an extraordinary personal history, but wonders how to structure his story. Starting with his first adventure with his mysterious friend Emily, he then splits his life into chapters and each chapter is structured around one of his ten murders. Despite his murderous nature, Raphael is an excellent storyteller and it is hard not to enjoy his riotous and unusual gift for weaving a story. Quirky and darkly humorous.

ISBN: 9780857522184      Publisher: Doubleday

So, a wonderful year of reading with some surprises and some interesting themes that occurred unconsciously such as post WWI novels. I feel like I was given a gift every time I discovered a new novel or author. There are just as many book I discovered in 2014 that were published earlier such as The Girl With The Glass Feet by Ali Shaw or Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. I am looking forward to a new year of discovery and possibility. Happy New Year and Happy Reading!