My Book Reviews for November 2024
My Book Reviews for November 2024
My Book Reviews for November 2024 comprise a YA literary horror story, a compendium of insightful writers’ interviews, a World War Two action mystery, and a literary character study.
Emma lives with her father in an old house in Maine. Beside the house is a mysterious, misty bog, called the Moss, which her father warns her never to enter. But he gave the same instruction to Emma’s sister, Eve. A year ago Eve vanished and, before that, so did the girls’ mother. With two mysterious tragedies befalling the same family, the townsfolk and police suspect the father. However, Emma is sure neither disappearance was his doing. Part of her senses Eve is still alive. Sinister voices and visions lure Emma towards the Moss. Although mindful of her father’s warning, she finds it ever harder to resist the call. With the help of school friend Jordan, she researches the house’s previous owners and discovers a treacherous history. Did something similar happen to Eve? To their mother? Does the same fate await Emma?
The writing evokes the power of nature and legend, and builds a creeping sense of menace and doom.
Although the novel is categorised as Young Adult, it felt more like adult literary fiction, along the lines of folkloric coming-of-age stories such as Lucie McKnight Hardy’s Water Shall Refuse Them or Ruth Gilligan’s The Butchers.
A good read. With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
The author has interviewed 55 writers, some for her podcast In ‘Writing with Hattie Crisell’. The interviews are with established writers in a range of fields: novelists, poets, non-fiction writers, screenwriters, playwrights, journalists, stand-up comedians.
The early parts of the book feel like an amalgam of every author Q&A I’ve read on a blog: how do you get your ideas; where do you write; what is your daily word count. However, the interviews move on to look at more technical aspects of writing: structure, vocabulary choice, role of feedback and agent/editor input. The interviewees show startling honesty in discussing rejection and those heart-and-soul projects that never got published.
I found it a fascinating, encouraging and helpful read. I think it will appeal to both budding writers and established professionals. I intend to buy the paperback as a Christmas gift for the early-career screenwriter in my family.
I read an early copy and am providing an independent review.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
The Berlin Agent by Stephen Ronson
When Hodder and Stoughton got in touch to say they were publishing a novel called The Berlin Agent and I might like to request it on NetGalley because the author was Stephen Ronson and I’d previously enjoyed his first novel The Last Line, quite frankly they had me at “Berlin”. Having lived in the city and with strong family ties there going back to the late 1940s, I’m a big fan of anything connected to the city’s twentieth-century history.
However, this story turned out to be set in Uckfield, so I put my expectations aside and settled in for a wartime romp through the Sussex countryside. It kicks off one month after the events of the previous novel. We are again in the capable hands (or should that be fists?) of John Cook, part farmer, part sleuth, part killing machine. A veteran of the Great War, Cook is battle-hardened, battle-weary and battle-ready.
Following the evacuation of Dunkirk and the surrender of France, many inhabitants of England’s south coast expect a Nazi invasion any day. In anticipation of this, Cook has been appointed to a secret disruptor force to commit acts of sabotage against the invaders after they arrive. In the meantime he is kept busy trying to track down an enemy parachutist believed to have landed close to his farm. But it’s not the only mystery he’s investigating. Why have an elderly couple been murdered in their home? What is a flamboyant, appeasing local landowner really up to? Who are the trio of soldiers who’ve taken up residence on Cook’s land? And why does Cook keep seeing an apparently carefree young couple with a minder in tow?
A great one for fans of all-action adventure and a sure-fire hit for Stephen Ronson.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
Waiting for a Party by Vesna Main
From the blurb:
Claire Meadows, 92, is lying in bed on a Sunday morning, looking forward to the 102nd birthday party of her friend Martin in his retirement home. As she reminiscences about her life, her failed ambition to become a concert pianist, her missed opportunity to have a child, her friends and lovers, mostly dead, she is troubled by the part she played, consciously and deliberately, in the death of her husband…
Widowed, her outlook is changed by a casual sexual encounter and in the years that follow she seems to be catching up on the experience she missed as she was married at twenty-two. Most of her brief liaisons are unsatisfactory until, at a concert, she sits next to a man with an intriguing face. Many years after his death, the memory of that relationship still excites her…
This is a stream-of-consciousness character study, although there are occasional steps into Elizabeth Is Missing territory. Fluently written, it is ideal for fans of character-led literary fiction.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
I hope you enjoyed reading My Book Reviews for November 2024. Next month, I’ll be back with my December reviews and that all-important reveal of my top reads of the year. I still haven’t decided what to choose from the fantastic range of titles I enjoyed this year.