Kitty: I knew when I was reading it that Circe would be a book that stayed with me for a long time and I’m happy to call it my book of the year. I’m already itching to re-read it, an absolutely wonderful read.
I finished Circe by Madeline Miller this month and I cannot do justice to how much I loved it. The story of Circe, a woman locked in by her divinity whilst also dealing with the very female roles of mother, daughter, sister and lover. This retelling made Circe much more accessible and empathetic than the male-centric version that I grew up with. Full of self-discovery, courage and empowerment it turns the myth of vicious witch into a story of a true heroine. I loved it so much that having read it once I am going to store it, like a secret treasure, for a re-read in a few months so I can wallow in it slowly and feel the magic again.
Susanna: I love Carol’s 20th century sagas, but this year she wrote her first Victorian story, which happens to be my favourite historical setting. Carol Rivers + Victorian = one very happy reader!
One of the things I love and admire about books by Carol Rivers is that, while some authors get a bit stale and produce books that feel samey, Carol always writes something fresh, using new ideas, at the same time as remaining true to the drama and strong sense of personal relationships that characterise her books. Christmas Child is a story for any time of year, not just for the festive season. An emotional and enthralling tale, it follows Ettie as she faces up to life’s dangers and challenges and learns the hard way that not everyone deserves to be trusted. I love stories set in Victorian times and I’m delighted that Carol Rivers has, for this book, left behind her customary 20th century setting and moved into the 19th century. I hope there will be more Victorian stories to come from this wonderful writer.
Cass: A hilarious yet poignant story of self discovery, where you are laughing out loud one moment and holding back tears the next.
“Everyone should be adopted, that way you can meet your birth parents when you’re old enough to cope with them.” So says Pippa Dunn, the eponymous heroine of Alison Larkin’s debut novel, The English American (which has its roots in her autobiographical one-woman comedy show of the same name). Adopted as an infant and raised terribly British (attending a posh boarding school, able to make a proper cup of tea and in the ‘love’ camp for Marmite on toast), Pippa – now 28 – discovers her birth parents are American. Finally, she begins to understand why she’s so different from everyone she knows. Pippa sets off for America, soon meeting her creative birth mother and her charismatic birth father. Moving to New York to be nearer to them, Pippa believes she’s found her ‘self’ and everything she thought she wanted. Or has she? This is a hilarious yet poignant story where you are laughing out loud one moment and holding back tears the next. Pippa’s journey is very funny, yet deeply moving, and I highly recommend The English American to anyone who loves to finish a book with a smile on their face and a warm feeling in their heart.
Jane: Elizabeth Buchan’s The Museum of Broken Promises is, like her other books, a slow starter. I have learnt to be patient while she creates a tapestry of detail so rich and wonderful, holding my breath until to story tips into second, third and fourth gears and becomes unputdownable.
The book is set in Paris in the present day and in Prague in the 1980s. The end of the Cold War was in touching distance, yet nobody knew it, and this adds an additional poignancy to the narrative. Laure, a young woman coming to terms with the death of her father is an au pair to a businessman and party insider, and while trying to make some sense of life behind the Iron Curtain, meets a dissident musician who steals her heart and soul. Years later in France, she sets up the Museum of Broken Promises, full of artefacts people donate in attempt to avenge or assuage the pain of betrayal – and some of them belong to her own past. Slowly the book teases out truths from a long ago Czechoslovakian summer. One moment achingly beautiful, the other shocking in its violence, the whole fits together like a handmade glove. It stayed with me, too – and it’s only now I’m writing this review I finally understand the most important promise. And who broke it. A must read. Honestly.
Kirsten: Beautifully written and no matter how grim the present times feel, at least we are not living in a plague village in 17th century Derbyshire!
I love historical fiction and I was late to the party with Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. It was published in 2002 and was recommended to me several times before I finally grabbed myself a copy. The book is set in 1666 and it’s based on a true event. The Great Plague has reaches the quiet Derbyshire village of Eyam through a contaminated piece of cloth that has been sent to a tailor from London. It’s the only place in the region that’s been affected and the villagers make the extraordinary decision to isolate themselves totally so that the plague cannot spread further – so no one allowed in or out until the plague has run its course or everyone has died. This story is told through the eyes of 18-year-old Anna Frith as she confronts ‘the loss of her family, the disintegration of her community and the lure of a dangerous and illicit love’. I loved it. It’s sad and interesting and touching and fascinating and I had no idea that anything like this had happened. I wonder how we’d have reacted in the same situation.