Still Life — Sarah Winman

Having absolutely loved Tin Man, I was really looking forward to this new one by Sarah Winman. And… I wish I’d loved it more.

Once again, it’s beautifully character-driven with a simple yet emotive writing style. Characters lead the story rather than plot, however of a book of this length I was kind of waiting for… something to happen. It’s a long old book and — although this is because it spans decades in both Florence and East London in the mid-20th century — perhaps it could have worked better if it was trimmed down significantly.

This next point comes down to personal preference, but my god I wish Winman used quotation marks. As a stylistic choice, I understand that it can lend itself to the slightly whimsical, flowing writing style that she has, however in a book with quite as much dialogue as this one (entire scenes can be practically all dialogue), it just feels like a barrier to overcome while reading it. At times it’s entirely unclear not only who is speaking, but whether anyone is at all or whether a sentence is part of the prose.

Most of the notes I made while reading where slightly towards the negative end of the scale… and yet… I really enjoyed so much of it. I loved the descriptions of Florence and the East End. I loved seeing them change subtly over the time that the book spans. I loved the writing about historical events that are touched upon — the Second World War and the 1966 flood of the Arno being two of the key ones. I loved so many of the characters, and how they all developed throughout the book.

I’ve already recommended this book to a couple of people I know who are as in love with Florence as a person can be, yet overall I’m not really sure how I feel about it. Disappointed, probably, however that is mostly down to having such high expectations based on a previous Winman book. It’s certainly not bad. In fact it’s pretty damn good.

And yet.

Rating: 3/5

(I received a complimentary copy of this book. This is an honest review and thoughts are my own.)

The Other Black Girl — Zakiya Dalila Harris

“‘well-meaning white folks’ were sometimes far worse than white folks who wore their racist hearts on their sleeves”

Reviewing this one is going to be difficult, because I really don’t want to give anything away. It’s pitched as The Devil Wears Prada meets Get Out, and it’s certainly much more heavily influenced by the latter, with an explicit reference to the film used at one point of the book.

Nella is an editorial assistant at Wagner, a successful publishing house. She is also the only Black employee on the editorial and publishing floors which are full of daily microaggressions. That is, until Hazel joins the team. Hazel is confident, friendly, and immediately well-liked in the office. Not long after Hazel’s arrival, Nella begins to find anonymous notes left for her — “LEAVE WAGNER. NOW.” Could Hazel be behind the notes?

I found this book such a great read. There is such a feeling of unease and distrust built up, leaving Nella along with the reader feeling totally unsure of who can be trusted or believed. The influence of Get Out is very apparent not only with the surreal plot point that appears just over halfway through the book, but in that experience of being on edge and sensing that something is not quite right.

Beyond that, I don’t want to give too much away to anyone who wants to give the book a go. At times it’s an uncomfortable read for a white reader; it’s supposed to be uncomfortable. Despite the heavy influence of Get Out, it’s a really fresh take on racial identity and Blackness that I definitely recommend to anyone intrigued by the premise.

Rating: 4/5

(I received a complimentary copy of this book. This is an honest review and thoughts are my own.)

Under The Ice — Rachael Blok

I’ve read the second and third book in this series (The Scorched Earth and Into the Fire), and while they all work as standalones, I’ve been meaning to go back and read this first instalment for a while. Set, as the other books are, in St Albans, here we meet DCI Maarten Jansen for the first time, after a 14 year old schoolgirl is found dead in the city park’s lake just before Christmas. It’s not long until another girl goes missing in ways that suggest that the two are linked. While Jansen takes more of a front seat than in the third book in particular, the story is still very much driven by the perspective of other characters. In this book, much of the story comes from Jenny, a new mother who feels incredibly connected to the case, and keeps finding herself sleepwalking in the park and seeing ghosts of girls. Jenny is a really interesting character to read, and Blok has done a good job of writing someone who is increasingly unsure of her own mental state. Alongside DCI Jansen, and each book’s other POV characters, Blok makes the weather a key character in her series. Under The Ice is set in a particularly cold, snowy, and icy December, adding an interesting threatening layer to the mood while at the same time lending itself to some beautiful descriptive writing while children make snowmen in the park which has become a crime scene. Having read the later books, it feels apparent that this is Blok’s debut. The writing is a little clumsy at times — I noticed, among other things, a couple of occasions where the tense changed mid-paragraph, and a few occasions during POV chapters where the perspective shifted to someone else slightly — and overall just not as polished as the later stories. Unfortunately I found the outcome of the central mystery to be very easy to predict. There weren’t a huge number of people to suspect so I’d decided very early on who my suspicions fell upon, and I didn’t really falter in that decision while continuing to read. The pace is decent; although perhaps a little slow to begin with. Towards the end it begins to race at breakneck speed, with chapters becoming shorter and shorter, hurtling towards the conclusion. It’s still a really decent read and I recommend the series. Some slightly clumsy moments in the writing let this one down a little, however Blok’s style gets honed throughout the series. Rating: 3/5

The Son Of The House — Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia

You know how sometimes you finish a book and immediately miss the characters? That was me with this book — I miss Julie, but I especially miss Nwabulu.

It’s 2011 in Nigeria, and the two women are kidnapped and held in cramped conditions. They are different in many ways. Almost immediately, we go back to the 1970s and spend time with each woman. We experience Nwabulu’s harsh and often traumatic years of later childhool as a housemaid for often unfair employers, reluctant to return to her village where her widowed stepmother sees her as a curse. As a teen she falls for the son of her housemaid friend’s madam, and a secret affair begins, which will change her life. We then meet Julie in her 30s, living independently and unmarried while having an affair with a wealthy and generous married man. Her mother’s deathbed wish is for her to change that, and so she hatches a plan to fulfil her mother’s request.

After spending the majority of the book in the 70s and early 80s, we go back to 2011 and meet the older Nwabulu and Julie, and see them meet for the first time and develop an unlikely friendship in the months leading up to their kidnapping.

The book took a while to grab me, although it was interesting from the beginning. But the characters slowly drew me in and made me truly care about them. When it suddenly becomes apparent that they are connected in ways they don’t even realise, beyond the fact that they’ve been kidnapped together, it is genuinely shocking. When meeting the 2011 versions of the characters, I was surprised at how intense my reactions were to how their lives had progressed over the decades.

This isn’t a book full of twists and turns. There is a solid plot, however it is the character exploration which drives the story. This isn’t a happy book. There are moments of real devastation, and yet it doesn’t come close to being misery porn. There is joy and hope too. It’s very human.

It’s a story about womanhood, motherhood, family, and the patriarchy throughout decades of changing culture in Nigeria. In both of the key timeline points, the country seems on the cusp of big change, and discussions of colonial culture vs traditional culture crop up several times.

I wasn’t ready for the book to end when it did. It leaves the reader on a semi-cliffhanger, although not an unsatisfying one. Rather than feeling cheated as I often do when things don’t feel fully concluded, I instead felt free to imagine the next chapters of the story how I’d like to see them.

Rating: 4.5/5

(I received a complimentary copy of this book. This is an honest review and thoughts are my own.)

Into The Fire — Rachael Blok

A helicopter falls from the sky, and suddenly the reader is whisked back to the day before, to learn about the events leading up to it. It’s a gripping way to begin a book, and got me instantly hooked.

The third in Blok’s DCI Jansen series; each book can be read as a standalone. I really enjoyed the previous book so was excited to dive into this one.

I have an instant fondness for books set in places that I know particularly well. Having grown up just outside St Albans, I was able to picture the exact location where this book takes place. And in a Christie-esque closed circle mystery way, almost all of the story takes place in one manor house.

Eleven people — each a success story in their field — gather in a grand house on the outskirts of the city, overlooking the Roman amphitheatre. They’ve been invited, several internationally, to spend the weekend celebrating the launch of a groundbreaking VR game, focusing on ethics throughout the supply chain while securing enormous financial deals.

There is a large cast of characters from the beginning, however I found them easy to follow as each one was distinct. The book utilises POV chapters from a number of them, which greatly enhanced the mystery as the cast of characters are all far more deeply connected than first appearances would suggest, and therefore each POV character gives insight into different characters. Everyone in this house has secrets, and the pace at which they’re slowly revealed was practically perfect. Rachael Blok was juggling a lot of narrative balls in the air throughout this story, and I was half waiting to see if she would drop any of them, but that didn’t seem to happen.

As with the previous book in the series, the number of coincidences that occur to connect the characters — whether during the 3 day narrative or as part of backstory — definitely pushes the suspension of disbelief limits. However the story was more than engaging enough for that to not be an issue for me.

One thing I’d say is to recommend not leaving large gaps between reading sessions. The sheer volume of characters, the amount of key things that happen, and the ever-changing suspicions and motives could be difficult to fully keep track of if things aren’t fresh in your mind.

I’ve been meaning to go and read the first in the series — Under the Ice — since reading The Scorched Earth and am yet to get around to it, however this third instalment has moved that higher up my tbr list. Another great, meaty crime mystery from Rachael Blok.

Rating: 4/5

(I received a complimentary copy of this book. This is an honest review and thoughts are my own.)

Sage & King — Molly Ringle

After prince Zaya’s older siblings are killed by a magician, he has to deal with an unexpected accession to the throne, and the end of many of the freedoms that he has enjoyed as the irresponsible youngest prince. Part of his training sees him sent to Heartwood — home of the wise sages — only to learn that the sages are magic folk in a kingdom where magic has long been illegal to practise. Col, a young sage, is assigned to be his tutor as he learns the history and abilities of sages, and before long romance blooms between the two men.

As someone who often struggles to get into fantasy, I’ll start by saying that this was very easy to read. The world building was really nicely done, with great descriptions making it very accessible. I devoured the first half of the book in a fairly short time, where the reader learns along with Zaya about the secrets of the sages and the lore of magic in this world. The fact that magic comes from plants was a really nice touch — with the magical properties of many different plants, both fictional and real-world based species, explored nicely. (The magic of real-world plants was based on traditional medicine and witchcraft practices, which helped make the fantasy world feel familiar).

While set in a fantasy world, this book is more of a romance. Unfortunately, this is where the book started to fall a little flat for me. The chemistry between Zaya and Col never really built for me — it was a case of being told rather than shown any reasoning. The issue of being told and not shown was also apparent in some other character work in the book too. Sadly this was mostly just a case of slightly inelegant writing.

The author has said that this book was inspired by BBC’s Merlin, and although I’ve never watched a single episode of the show, it did feel strongly at times that this was just a fanfic with the names switched out. I have nothing against fanfic being turned into original stories (and I know I’ve read a few excellent published novels that have started out life that way!), however this one did lack the feeling of originality — or more importantly, characterisation for readers that aren’t viewing these characters as familiar figures from a TV show — that is needed to make that jump into an original piece of work. The romance story in particular felt at times that it had never developed past the fanfic stage.

There were some great ideas in the story and I’d love to explore other narratives within the world that was built so well. It’s a decent effort, but sadly lacked the polish to make me really love it.

Rating: 3/5

(I received a complimentary copy of this book. This is an honest review and thoughts are my own.)

Let’s Talk About Hard Things — Anna Sale

I’ve been a fairly longterm podcast listener of Anna Sale’s WYNC show Death, Sex & Money, and was keen to try out this book that is so closely related it’s almost a direct spin-off, despite not often being someone who’d head to the “Health, Mind & Body” section of a bookshop.

If you’ve listened to the show, you’ll know that Sale’s style of interviewing her guests is one filled with gentle compassion and curiosity, and truly about listening to them and their experiences. While conversations frequently turn to difficult subjects, the listener is never left with the impression that the guest is being pressured to talk about something they don’t want to.

This book has an almost identical tone. I could hear Sale’s voice in the writing; hear this being an extended series of episodes from her show. If you’re a fan of the show, I am confident that you’ll be a fan of the book.

It is very easily digested writing. A non-fiction book will often take me weeks, if not months or occasionally years, to read, yet I devoured this one in just two or three sittings. The writing style flows well, and is colloquial without feeling overly familiar or casual.

Separated into five chapters — Death, Sex, Money, Family, and Identity — Sale explores difficult subjects within these broad categories via interviews, quotes from other published work, and her own life. Despite being often a memoir, at times in self-help territory, it’s the experiences of the people that the author speaks to that are centred throughout.

Each chapter could really be a full-length book of its own, yet are surprisingly in-depth for their relatively short size. The Death and Family chapters were the ones that felt most profound to me, with Identity at the other end of the spectrum feeling the most like it really only touched the surface. Family was, for me, the chapter that was left with the highest number of sections highlighted to revisit later.

Some content warnings, due to the nature of the book: miscarriage, police violence, terminal illness, sex, abuse. However, all of these topics were touched upon in particularly sensitive style as things that are notably hard to talk about.

Rating: 4/5

(I received a complimentary copy of this book. This is an honest review and thoughts are my own.)

Cunning Women — Elizabeth Lee

I’ve had a few issues with my blog the past couple of months but I’m able to post again now so will schedule some posts for the next few days of the books I’ve read but not posted about, beginning with this one, Cunning Women by Elizabeth Lee! Glad to see everyone’s reviews again ❤

“When they treat us this way I become the very creature they fear me to be.”

Forbidden love in a 1620s Lancashire fishing village, set amongst the moral panic of Puritanism and witch-hunts; Sarah Haworth and her family live in desolate poverty. A family of outcasts due to their witching ways, they are feared and hated by the same villagers who hypocritically turn to them for balms, salves, and occasional curses.

When Sarah meets Daniel, the gentle farmer’s son, the pair quickly bond. However, Daniel wonders how much his feelings for her are genuine, or how much they are due to a bewitchment. Meanwhile, Sarah is dealing with the hold that her powers have over her, and how they can be unleashed by her fury. Fuelled by fear, the villagers soon turn on each other, with the Haworths a handy scapegoat for crimes that the harsh new magistrate seeks retribution for.

The clash of genres — low fantasy meets historical romance — made this an interesting read. The forbidden romance, the “wrong side of the tracks” romance, is such a well-worn trope but the witching element gave it a new life. Sarah and Daniel, although wildly different in most ways, share subtle similarities that made their push-pull relationship fascinating to read.

There are questions left throughout to keep the reader guessing. Some are answered explicitly, some more implied by the historical setting. I’m always a big fan of stories set in small towns where seeds of distrust and suspicion have been sown, and this story is full of that trope. The fear and isolation that the villagers cast upon the Haworth family is mirrored in the growing fear that they have for each other, and a growing willingness to throw each other under the bus to save themselves.

I found some of the paragraph structuring to be slightly disjointed. This may be due to the format of the ebook, but on several occasions I began a new paragraph and was taken out of the story slightly by the realisation that a passage of time had passed since the previous one, with no clear indication of that happening.

Rating: 3.5/5

(I received a complimentary copy of this book. This is an honest review and thoughts are my own.)

When I Was Ten – Fiona Cummins

A gruesome double murder made national headlines at the time, sensationalised by the fact that the killer of the respectable GP and his wife was one of their daughters. One, nicknamed the Angel of Death spent years in a children’s secure unit after confessing to the killing, while her sister made her way through the foster system. Years later, a documentary team tracks down one of the sisters and as she speaks about the events of that night, they come back to haunt everyone involved.

Let’s start off by saying that I’m writing this at gone 4am, having stayed up to finish this book after it turned into a monster of a page turner about a third of the way in. The start may have been a little difficult to get into, due to the vagueness of the writing, however the reward when the twists and the drama truly start hitting were worth it.

I won’t go into much detail in terms of plot for fearing of spoiling anything, but will say that I had a more than one real double take moment, almost exclaiming “wait… what?!” out loud. The mysteries unfold at a perfect pace, drawing the reader in further while keeping some tantalisingly out of reach.

I wouldn’t normally mention the cover in a review unless it was a really great one, but in this case I don’t like it. It didn’t draw me to the book, and it didn’t really suit the mood either, I felt.

Definitely recommend this for thriller fans, although it’s not for the faint of heart.

Content warning for child abuse, which made for some difficult reading. However, it’s not gratuitous and is important for the story.

Rating: 4.5/5

(An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thoughts are my own.)

The World at My Feet – Catherine Isaac

Oooof. I’ll admit that from the cover – and from the fact that I hadn’t read the blurb for a long time before reading – I was expecting a light-hearted, comforting read. This is my first of the author’s books so I don’t know how naive a thought that was. Anyway I found a far more powerful read than that.

Ellie is an Instagram star. Her feed shows the perfectly curated lifestyle of an English gardening influencer… and completely avoids the fact that due to severe agoraphobia she hasn’t left her property for years.

There is some important real-world history from the 1980s-90s touched upon here, which I’m kind of ashamed to say that I knew pretty much nothing of and will be doing some research on. 

As Ellie’s story unfolds, I realised with the benefit of hindsight that there are some fairly big clues about there being more to her background than we’re initially lead to believe, however it was done with an excellent level of subtlety, leaving the story to develop for the reader naturally.

This is a book about trauma, about anxiety, about recovery (and relapse), about family, and about love. I felt so deeply for so many of the characters, and I think they will stay with me for a while.

Rating: 4/5

(An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thoughts are my own.)