This is yet another offering in the genre of “Aussie Outback Noir”.
 
Sixteen-year-old Janet McClymont has gone missing in the cane fields of North Queensland and the local residents of the small town of Quala put a hold on the annual burning of the cane to join in a search for her. Some think she has run away, but many others suspect the worst, i.e. murder, at the hands of a stranger or perhaps someone local. This results in false accusations, dangerous assumptions and even a bit of divining or dowsing. The air of menace and distrust builds.
 
The story is relayed through various viewpoints including observations by an unnamed older narrator, another teenager Essie, the school headmaster, and a tough female cop among them, all of which is cumbersome and a straightforward third-person narrative might have been less distracting and given better focus.
 
Overall, a slow burn of a novel that only bursts into flaming action (no puns intended) in the last fifty pages or so after much unnecessary exposition and padding. The final solution is very busy with many disparate threads coming together at the same time that reads like a desperate race to the finish in order to meet a publishing deadline.
 
On the plus side, the dialogue and attitudes of the 1970s are an accurate reflection of society in Australia at that time, although readers of a different generation or unfamiliar with the background might fail to recognise its honesty and veracity. Characterisation is brilliant in places – the teacher with an alternative attitude being a standout.
 
Excellent in parts, a bit ho-hum in others.
 
Three-and-a-half stars.
 
amazon.com (Kindle)
 
amazon.co.uk (audio)
 

Eve has hooked up with rich boy Xander in Mexico and together they sail his yacht across the Pacific to Sydney. En route, she falls pregnant. But Xander is killed in an accident soon after their arrival and impoverished Eve tries approaching his wealthy family for help, only to be given short shrift. On her own, she has a fortuitous encounter with a mysterious woman who offers her a way out by introducing her to a secretive couple in Tasmania who are desperate for a child of their own.
 
There is the core of a good idea in this novel – a super-rich couple who can’t have children taking in a pregnant single girl with the intention of faking their own pregnancy and then raising her child as their own which, of course, won’t go smoothly.

But this tale goes off into ridiculous tangents of double duplicity on the part of the couple involving fake or not-fake baby bumps, easy remote coincidental births without benefit of hospital care, an inordinate amount of survival swimming in freezing Tasmanian waters, not to mention bizarre wildlife and human trafficking angles, none of which are in the least bit plausible. And as for having a six-year-old child navigate a yacht … The conclusion is rushed and then there’s the bizarre epilogue that contains another twist on the twist that you thought was the original twist but is twisted back again. Eve is vacuous and irritating as she makes so many stupid decisions. All the other characters are blank, unpleasant, stereotyped. 
 
This has to be one of the worst books I’ve read in a long time. Normally, if I dislike a book I won’t pass comments on it, let alone write a review. But this was so bad, I suffered from a case of horror fascination to keep reading (also as a warning to other potential readers) to see if it gets worse. And it does.
 
Having experienced all the many difficulties that goes with being a writer (including unwelcome criticism) I fully appreciate the challenges in getting books written, published, marketed and, if lucky, reviewed, but when an author churns out such dross and a prestigious company accepts it for publication, to me this is more evidence of an increasing lack of discerning agents and/or editors - or did A.I. have a hand in its production? 

I am glad this was a library copy and I didn’t waste my money.
 
One star.

amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

Booktopia

This novel tells the story of members of the Dixon family through three narratives about a century apart.
 
In an effort to help his father who has fallen into debt, young Hugh Dixon bravely approaches his Uncle Walter, a wealthy lawyer, from whom the family has been estranged. Rather than being rejected, Walter is able to assist and Hugh begins to form a bond with Walter who recognises the boy’s artistic talent and also tells him something of a sensational tale from the 1850s involving his own father, Martin.
 
It is 1854. When the notorious bushranger Lucas Wilson and his partner Liam Dalton (a recent escapee from Port Arthur) raid the Dixon farm, Martin, a budding journalist, asks to go with them in order to write Wilson’s story for the newspapers. Wilson agrees, but blindfolds Martin on the route to their secret hideaway. Roy Griffin is another recent recruit and escapee who has ulterior motives. Martin discovers that Nowhere Valley is more than just a refuge for criminals and that Wilson plans a self-sufficient Utopia. Martin has more than a scoop, and finds himself increasingly drawn into Wilson’s schemes and dreams, until Griffin causes an upheaval that results in tragedy.
 
The third narrative returns to the early 1950s as Hugh is on his way to recognition as an artist and meets Bob Wall, an old friend from childhood who is also an artist. He helps him find a job with an illustrator and cartoonist, Max Fell, who has a secret sinister side. When Bob is arrested for murder, Hugh asks his Uncle Walter to defend him.
 
I was thoroughly captivated by this book and wish I’d known about it previously (published 2012). If you have visited Tasmania and know its history, you will have the benefit of a deeper understanding of this story in which a family and community struggle to shrug off the darkness of the past.
 
Although extraordinarily beautiful in places, the island still can’t avoid echoes from history in its inky black waters of Macquarie Harbour with its rocky portal of Hell’s Gates, the ruinous outposts of misery that were Sarah Island and Port Arthur with its Isle of the Dead, the solitary confinement remnants at the Cascade Women’s Factory, the roar of ocean breakers that roll across the world from South America and incessantly pound the West Coast – an infernal and eternal booming sound that could send you mad – contrasted with that unique silence of the mountains and the primeval forests that have witnessed the unspeakable. All of this might be felt if you have sensitivity to such things and this last novel by Christopher Koch captures this superbly through its characterisations and prose.
 
This passage from the third narrative:
 
“The past is a dimension that can’t be escaped, however hard we try. Old Van Diemen’s Land had claimed Bob Wall: that past which most people here preferred not to think about, just as they preferred to forget their convict ancestors. Only the present was thought to be clean and harmless: modern was good. But when Bob entered the Hobart Gaol, the bland and transient present was dissolved. He was locked not just in prison, but in the nineteenth century. It had never gone away, that sombre old century; instead it was hidden and preserved behind the high sandstone walls in Campbell Street, waiting for recruits from outside.”
 
Five stars

amazon.com (Kindle)

amazon.co.uk

Booktopia

​
​Phew! Finally, with this eighth book, I managed to conclude my reading of the Seven Sisters series, albeit with varying degrees of emotion: while I was often enthralled, there were times when I was also irritated by some plots and characters.
 
In this, we finally discover the past of the mysterious Pa Salt [Atlas Tanit/Bo d’Apliese], father of the Seven Sisters, six of whom are adopted. As the d’Apliese [anagram of Pleiades] sisters all gather on Pa’s mega-yacht Titan [anagram of Tanit] to commemorate the first anniversary of his death, they are given copies of his diary to read and we are drip-fed the story of his life with cliff-hangers at the end of every chapter as it switches back and forth with the present day. The final revelations are no surprise as numerous clues were dropped in the earlier books as to what might be the situation. Everyone’s lives are tidied up.
 
I’m aware that Lucinda Riley passed away before she could conclude the series and one can detect a more casual style in use here, presumably that of her son and co-author, Harry Whittaker. There are a number of historical slips that the more skilful and meticulous Riley would have avoided. Added to which is one of my personal anathemas with the use of those awkward phrases, “she was sat” or “I am stood”, that weirdly have crept into common usage in England. Not only are they poor grammar, they just sound plain clunky. Editors please, no!
 
Of course, the book is also far too long and even more over-written than Riley’s own earlier work, as it goes off at unnecessary tangents with bloated swathes of cheesy dialogue and saccharine “good folk” always coming to the rescue of Atlas in the nick of time as he attempts to avoid the dastardly Kreeg Eszu [another hokey anagram of Greek Zeus] and who is forever on his trail. It also ties together the stories of all the seven sisters and gives each of the lesser characters gallant reasons for their existence [with or without anagrams]. Even if you have read all of the books, you are unlikely to remember everyone or every aspect of their lives in detail, so I was at sea myself a number of times, trying to recall the back stories of the sisters, their modern-day issues and relationships, never mind the tangled and tortured pasts of their ancestors.
 
Still, in spite of around 5,500 pages to tell this massive saga, most of these books have offered pleasant enough reading experiences, with the historical back stories definitely superior most cases, the exception being this one which could have done with a fiercer edit.
 
Although I’ve read all the books, I haven’t written reviews on each but give barely two stars to my least favourites and four-plus for a couple of others. Therefore, an average of 3 stars overall. 

This novel was written over 25 years ago and reflects a simpler and easier writing style that may now seem old-fashioned to many, but it is still an absorbing and highly entertaining read that had me hooked.
 
The dramatic opening chapter sets the scene well as World War I veteran, Captain Jack McKenna, is gunned down on the steps of his Queensland home in a confrontation with police and bailiffs sent by bankers. His disabled widow, his daughter (Emma) and twin sons are left homeless and destitute. What follows is a long saga in which Emma is determined to care for her family, seek restitution and to see justice done. In the process, she will fall in love with a man whose life is complicated by dirty politics and she will make decisions that don’t always go to plan, some with disastrous consequences, and she will encounter moral and social prejudices, the ugly side of religious orders, anti-female opinion and even racism before life finally resolves itself for the better.
 
Rising out of the Great Depression, a hardline organisation known as the New Guard becomes a force to be recognised with across the country, being opposed to social benefits or help for the unemployed, and displaying thuggish behaviour. Those with wealth or standing in society show indifference towards the poor or those whose skin is a different colour. A brave few individuals take a stand against authority, often to their physical and mental cost, and through all of this Emma must establish and find her place.
 
There is history here that perhaps not many younger Australians know about and much of what took place in the 1920s/30s is reflected in what is happening around the world today in which fascism and right-wing movements are again on the rise. Abuses by the church, anti-immigration and racism are still hot topics today. So, on many levels, this story remains contemporary, and that makes it worth reading.
 
This would have been a five-star read for me, except the ending is a little rushed and the wrong man survived the Spanish Civil War to return to Emma’s arms. The other one in her life was a far superior individual on every level.
 
Four stars

amazon.com
 
Print copies may be found in second-hand bookshops. 

Mystery novels featuring a group of people in enforced isolation in a remote setting are hardly new – the most famous being Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None”, which has undergone several incarnations since it first appeared in the 1930s – so I approached this with some initial misgivings as to whether anything new could be scraped from the barrel. I needn’t have worried and was thoroughly absorbed right from the start. Evelyn Clarke, the author of this is, in fact, a collaboration between two fantasy/young adult fiction authors, V.E. Schwab and Cat Clarke.
 
Here, we have seven individuals (including a couple who write as one), who are either struggling midlist or budding writers in various genres, including thrillers, science fiction, horror, young adult and romance. Each receives an email invitation to an expenses-paid weekend on the Scottish island hideaway of one of the world’s most famous writers, Arthur Fletch. None is sure why they have been invited but all are eager to accept. On arrival, they discover from his agent that Fletch has died (the world media not yet informed) and that he’s left his latest novel unfinished. Each of them has been selected to write the last chapter, with a million dollars-plus going to the successful candidate. Naturally, there’s a recipe here not just for competitiveness and a potential boost to sagging fortunes, but also reasons why someone may decide to resort to elimination of their rivals.
 
Written from several viewpoints, and with surprises and twists, this is a cracking good read that also pulls no punches about the dire state of the publishing world, how difficult it is to make a living as a writer and the neuroses of all those involved.
 
Most loose ends are tied up, but I did have some lingering questions over feasibility and practical aspects regarding those who survive the mayhem. And although we’re given reasons why the doomed individuals aren’t missed, I doubt so many people could disappear off the face of the earth without someone, somewhere, asking questions! 
 
Still, I can’t fault the plotting and its less-than subtle satirical look at publishing. A solid four-and-a-half star rating for such smooth readability and sheer entertainment value.
 
With many thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC.
 
 
 
To be published in 2026. Book links to come.

Lena is interested to meet her new neighbours, seemingly a friendly middle-aged couple, but no sooner have they moved in than she accidentally overhears snatches of a mysterious conversation between them via equipment her teenaged son Rufus is using to record environmental sounds in the garden. She’s immediately suspicious that they are not what they appear to be and are up to no good. Kidnappers? Drug dealers? Who are Henry and Marielle, really?
 
Aside from Lena’s story, there are two other viewpoints: one from a terrified woman only known as Natalie, who is on the run for unspecified reasons, and from Henry, who is consumed with his obsessive love for Marielle.
 
Summarising the rest of the plot would risk giving too much away, but if you’re in the mood for a fast-paced mystery with lots of twists and turns, then this is a cracker of a read that quite literally had me reading into the small hours.
 
Sure, Lena’s risk-taking in investigating her neighbours might have you shouting at her not to be so stupid and there are also coincidences, loose threads and asides into her past and current personal life that might irritate the more pedantic reviewer, but for me, the overall inventiveness, easy readability and unexpected shifts in plot direction make for an escapist and enthralling ride that is a bit different from others in the women-in-jeopardy genre. In the hands of a good screenwriter, this could make an excellent bingeworthy TV series.
 
Many thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC.
 
Five stars

(US publication details to come.)
 
amazon.co.uk

​Dymocks Australia

 
Hotshot author William Corwyn is being stalked by someone only known as The Rabbit, but who is clearly female. Sam/Simone Vetiver is also a successful author but she’s suffering from a serious case of writer’s block. As she comes into William’s orbit, he offers to help her out and they begin a sizzling affair which Sam hopes will turn out to be something more serious.
 
From the outset, it is clear that William is arrogant and unpleasant, even a touch creepy.  He’s sexist, manipulative and exploitative, so it’s puzzling why so many smart, educated women seem to fall under his spell. But those who do all have a common weakness – they are desperately lonely, often lacking in self-esteem but have dreams of being recognised as published authors, so when William takes an unexpected intense interest in them, they are flattered and fail to realise he has ulterior motives that sets them on a fatal path.
 
The three points of view are all well-written, the pace never falters and the conclusion is satisfying, if not unexpected.  But, for any reader who has now read far too many novels in which gullible young women are the victims of older, unscrupulous men, this tends towards cliché, and the salacious descriptions of incessant bedroom acrobatics are just yawn-inducing rather than titillating.
 
Three stars.
 
Many thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC.
 
(Publication links to come.)
 
PS  As a further comment on dated scenarios, when are authors/screenwriters going to stop with the suggestion that people’s passwords to their computers are their birthdays or other significant dates that can be cracked quickly in high pressure situations?

We now have such complicated passwords with upwards of 15 symbols, letters, numbers, as well as finger or facial recognition, not to mention a complete lock-out after three failed attempts, there is no way you can break into a personal laptop with minutes to spare!

Darry Fraser has written several enjoyable and engaging Australian historical novels set around the Murray River region and Victorian Goldfields. In this case, our protagonists begin their adventures in Albany, Western Australia, in 1881 at the same time as the ship HMS Bacchante is in port. On board are Prince Albert Victor and Prince George, midshipmen grandsons of Queen Victoria.
 
The opening is charged with rapid action as Molly Bentley is knocked over in the street. As she lies dazed on the ground, a small boy dashes over to her and pushes a note into her hand. She is rescued by two women and taken to the house of a Mr Leo McRae. The note hints at danger to Molly and maybe also her companion, Mrs Caldicott, who narrowly escapes an attempt on her life. It is apparent someone is on their trail and they must get out of town.
 
Any novel in which characters have more than one name or identity can be problematic and, equally, when there are several convoluted plot threads in which some characters are privy to secret knowedge while others are left in the dark. In this one, we are drip-fed random facts and names in such an erratic fashion that a re-reading of earlier chapters is needed to try and gain a better understanding of what might be going on, who is really who, and how they may be connected to one another.
 
This can be best illustrated in the following plot summary:-
 
Molly Bentley is really Lady Mary Brinkley, a headstrong English aristocrat. She and her chaperone, Mrs Caldicott, are incognito and in Albany for reasons which aren’t fully explained and don’t start to make sense until more than half-way through the novel.
 
The widowed Mrs Caldicott is Molly’s aunt, but is also Lady Colette (Hunter/Groves), who may be on the run from debt collectors, or revengeful in-laws, or someone else, and whose long-term lover, Alistair Dunsford, just happens to be in Albany at the same time as his cousin, Leo McRae.
 
Then there are other mystery individuals, including nurse/midwife, Mrs Sloane, who is curiously handy with a gun and is connected somehow to Alistair and Leo.  Perhaps all of them are under secret orders to watch out for the Princes in addition to the two Ladies. Or perhaps it’s a cover for something else altogether. Alistair knows more than Leo but refuses to enlighten him.
 
Is it possible that any assassination or kidnapping plot against the two Princes is somehow linked to Lord Thomas Cato and his political support for Ireland? (Lord Thomas is both brother-in-law of Mrs C and father of Molly.)
 
Further, although Molly and Leo have eyes for one another, it seems Leo has made a noble gesture to save pregnant Helena Malcolm from disgrace by agreeing to marry her even though the child is not his. It’s possible she may still be in a relationship with the real father of her child.
 
And so on …
 
The real reason why someone is on the trail of Mrs C and Molly finally comes to light and it involves blackmail over a ridiculous "switcheroo" contrivance that reflects a bygone era of Victorian potboiler romance novels. The plot lost all credibility for me at this stage and it was a struggle to get to the end.
 
Negotiating these numerous threads was not helped by the erratic formatting of this particular e-book ARC (Advance Reading Copy) that has more than the usual pre-publication issues with grammar and the text layout. Plus the editing is poor, with over-written and repetitious narrative that needs serious attention. Whether I will try and read this again in hard copy after it properly polished and published, is a moot point.

COMMENT

Technically, I shouldn’t even be doing a review as this ARC clearly states at the beginning:-
 
“UNCORRECTED READING COPY Not for sale, review or quotation. If you would like to review this book, please contact the publisher for a finished copy.”
 
So, why then, did Harper Collins even allow this to be sent out by NetGalley for review in the first place?



 

 
Amber is a con-artist, a crook, a woman from the wrong sides of the track with reasons to hide her past and true identity. She has big ambitions to get herself into the exclusive and privileged community of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut. To this end, she enrols in a gym and deliberately sets out to cultivate Daphne, the beautiful trophy wife of billionaire, Jackson Parrish. She has discovered Daphne had lost a sister to cystic fibrosis, so pretends she also had a sister with the disease. Once hooked, Daphne comes to rely on Amber and her friendship.
 
As time goes by and Amber almost becomes part of this golden couple’s seemingly perfect family, she starts to make a play for Jackson, slowly altering her image to be more attractive. Eventually, she even becomes his personal assistant and there’s no guessing what happens. Meanwhile, Daphne appears none the wiser, still relying on Amber as confidante.
 
The second half of the story is told from Daphne’s perspective and we discover the true state of affairs behind the glitter and glamour and how Amber gets to be the last Mrs Parrish.
 
I seriously debated putting any energy into writing a review for this book, but decided it does have a strangely compelling quality. Needless to say, Amber and Jackson are abominable characters and deserve everything they get. One of Daphne’s two daughters, the ghastly spoilt Bella, is an extra irritation. But this is mainly a story about control and psychological abuse. The ending was fine and should have been left at that and there is no way I’m going to invest any more time with these horrible people in the sequel.

For its pace and inventiveness, however, I’ll give it three stars.
 
 (Editorial comment: why is it that this is second novel that I’ve read recently in which people are unprepared when whisked away as a surprise, flying off on private jets across international borders without anyone remembering they need passports or visas?)
 

 
amazon.com
 
amazon.co.uk
 
Dymocks

The core of this novel lies in a single sentence that appeared in a 1961 edition of Ladies Home Journal referring to Jackie Kennedy’s wedding dress: “The bride’s gown and that of her friends were designed by a colored woman dressmaker, not the haute couture.”
 
Ann Lowe learns dressmaking from her mother and grandmother, a former slave, and it becomes her life’s passion. Undeterred by seemingly unsurmountable problems, prejudices, physical challenges and personal tragedy, she never loses focus in her ambition to become a top American designer. Immature and inexperienced, her dreams are nearly dashed when at the tender age of twelve she has her head turned by an older man and marries him against the wishes of her mother. By fifteen she is a mother of a son, but has begun to realize that her husband is abusive and an alcoholic.
 
Luck turns her way when a wealthy socialite in Tampa spots her talent and gives her a chance to prove what she is capable of by paying for her to attend design school. Escaping her husband, eventually she will find success further afield in New York where she is listed in the Social Register and designs and sews dresses for high society. The week before Jackie Bouvier’s marriage to Senator John Kennedy, a burst water pipe in the salon ruins all the dresses. The race is on to replace them all in time. How Ann manages this will be an extraordinary feat in itself.
 
Through it all, Ann remains defined by her skin color rather than her skills (as in the damning Ladies Home Journal sentence). Not until she is elderly does she finally get her true recognition.
 
This is an absorbing and moving story on so many levels. Ann was unfortunate to have been born in the “Jim Crow” era when black people were not allowed to even look white people in the eye lest they get themselves into trouble. It is particularly harrowing to read of her experiences in the design school as the first black student, forced to sit outside of the classroom and squint through a gap in order to follow instruction. Just one of many demeaning and offensive treatments she had to endure. A lesser woman would have folded, just packed her bags and returned home. But Ann didn’t give up. She took her grandmother’s advice in finding good white people to help her along the way. Her talented expertise spoke for itself and in time she designed clothes for many famous individuals such as Marjorie Post (the original owner of Mar-a-Lago), actress Olivia de Havilland, as well as Jackie Kennedy and her family, plus many others.
 
The author’s notes reveal that there are many gaps in Ann’s true story and thus much had to be invented for a novel, but the strong essence of this admirable woman shines through. A memorable and rewarding read.
 
Five stars
 
 
amazon.com
 
amazon.co.uk
 
Dymocks Australia
​

​Having had progressively mediocre reading experiences with books in this series (The Seven Sisters), it took me a while to face this epic penultimate instalment in which the “missing sister” finally comes to light.
 
Mary-Kate lives in New Zealand and is grieving the loss of her father. Although she is aware she was adopted, she’s disinterested in her biological ancestry until two strange women show up from Australia and tell her things about her past and her connection to the other adopted sisters in the amazing D’Aplièse family of Geneva, Switzerland. The truth of this can only be fully verified by seeing a ring belonging to Mary-Kate but currently worn by her mother, Merry.

Except that Merry has been forewarned and doesn’t want to be found. A trip overseas to visit friends following the death of her husband turns into an intercontinental chase instead, with various sisters hot on her heels. Why is Merry so scared and what is she hiding?
 
Told from various viewpoints in 2008 and going back to the fight for Irish independence during the 20th Century, surprisingly this is a far better novel than some of the others (e.g. my least favourites being The Pearl Sister and The Sun Sister). This is partly because the new main characters are more likeable, even if complex, and generally less self-absorbed or “angsty” as those in some previous novels. There are the usual problems of florid prose and overwriting in this series - 800+ pages in this one alone – but the numerous mysteries, plot twists and turns were absorbing and kept me hooked.
 
The narrative set in Ireland in the past raises the book’s status considerably, with its sympathetic handling in describing the difficulties faced by those living with political and religious conflict, particularly the history of the secret involvement of women in the cause and which hasn’t had the coverage given to men.
 
My major recommendation is do not attempt this novel without having first read the earlier books in this series. Although I have, I still had difficulty in juggling and remembering all of their stories and characters!
 
It’s not quite all over. There are still gaps and more mysteries to be revealed and the final instalment – the story of the father of the adopted Seven Sisters, Pa Salt – awaits.
 
Four-and-a-half Stars
 
 
amazon.com
 
amazon.co.uk
 
Dymocks Australia

​Constance Haverhill, a farmer’s daughter, is worried about her finances and future. It’s 1919 and drastic changes are being made to the lives of the countless women who stepped into the breach and did male jobs on the homefront while the men were off at the war. Constance helped to run the estate of Lady Mercer, an old friend of her late mother’s, but she’s had to give that up and is now forced to be companion to Lady Mercer’s mother, Mrs Fog, who is convalescing at a hotel in Hazelbourne-on-Sea.

​There are compensations, however, when she encounters Poppy Wirrall, a baronet’s daughter who is outspoken and modern and employs only women in her local taxi service using motorcycles and sidecars. Then there is Poppy’s fighter pilot brother, Harris, who has a complicated personal battle in dealing with the loss of his leg. With a mind to finding a way of earning her own living, Constance must negotiate the peculiarities and prejudices of the privileged upper classes. Poppy has ambitions to add flying lessons for women to her business, but there are many obstacles in her way.
 
Full of wit and sassy dialogue that goes at a cracking pace, and accurate portrayals of life and conditions in higher society just after the First World War, this book is a joy to read. The aloofness, intolerance and racism of many of the individuals are a reflection of the attitudes of the time, and the commentary on the status of single women abruptly left to fend for themselves after keeping the country going with few marriage prospects and little financial reward is humorously, even gently, delivered but carries savage understatement. The lot of the men, too, is given thorough and careful exploration: Harris, having to endure the pitying looks as he struggles to find usefulness, and the deep grief of his tortured mechanic, Jock. The sub-plot featuring the German waiter, Klaus, is also moving. All the other secondary characters are also beautifully developed, whether they are the flighty and frivolous, the manipulative, the callous or dismissive. Then there are those who are stalwart and true, like Tilly, the female mechanic forced back into being a librarian. And observing them all from her unique position, Constance demonstrates confidence, sympathy and strength, and she has to be one of the best female characters to appear in recent fiction.
 
Five Stars

amazon.com

amazon.co.uk
 
Dymocks Australia

​This was a random find from a local roadside book library. I was curious, having read several books by Robert Harris, but I hadn't heard of this one. The synopsis is deceiving; I thought it would be straight historical fiction. When I came across what I thought was a major boo-boo for Harris (mention of a parakeet in 15th Century England) and then a couple of other anachronisms, including the finding of an iPhone, I realised that these were deliberate and this novel is, in fact, dystopian science fiction, not a genre that ever appeals to me. Still, I was hooked to some extent and thought I'd persevere.

It may be 1468, but it's not 1468 as we think. This is around 800 years in the future, There was an Apocalypse in 2025 (unsettling, being the year as of reading this!) and the world as we know it was destroyed. Those few humans left started all over again, with the year 666, and having anything to do with science or the technological age is heresy. A harsh form of Christianity again holds sway. Any resemblance to the original medieval year of 1468 is superficial as people speak, behave and wear clothes more reminscent of the Victorian era or later. There are piles of plastic junk still hanging around, a lot of mysterious bits of glass, and human bones, but there's still the dirt, ignorance and poverty of the original 1400s.

Sent to officiate at the burial of a parish priest in a small hamlet in Devon, younger priest Christopher Fairfax discovers the old man owned heretical books and was very possibly murdered. In company with assorted other characters - incuding an antiquarian, a wealthy millowner and the local lady of the manor - who all have their own reasons to dig into the past, Fairfax is challenged to think for himself and defy the teachings of the church. 

This is certainly an uneasy novel. Published in 2019 on the verge of the Covid pandemic and the burgeoning alarming chaos worldwide with increasing hatred, unreliable and fascist styles of leadership, there is a certain prescience to the book that makes it more disturbing. I have to award it at least four stars for the ingenuity, but I'd recommend you only read it if you're not worried about being depressed.

amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

Dymocks Australia

As a big fan of genealogy, it was inevitable that this title and its synopsis grabbed my attention. After the author researched his family history, he created this imagining of the lives of some of his ancestors through a combination of fact and (mostly) historical fiction. It is a bold idea, trying to give life and meaning to those generally unknown individuals who have long since passed from all memory, but have contributed their genetic makeup to who we are today.

Here, we have the interconnecting stories of Abraham Block, a poor, illiterate lad who finds a life at sea, Naomi Lulham, a seamstress who has a series of adventures in the city, and a soldier of the "Dirty Half Hundred", ie the 50th Regiment *, George Mawer, and his Sligo-born bride, Annie.

This is a rich and colourful novel, full of the sights and sounds of the 19th Century, with vivid descriptions of the contrast between poor and rich, the inequities and inequalities, the status of women and children, dire hygiene and health conditions, and ennobling charity at odds with gross incompetence at all levels of government and in the military. The treatment of soldiers' families during the Crimean War and afterwards is particularly harrowing to read. The famous Victorian sentimentality overshadows the harsh reality of life for the average lower-class individuals.

Abraham and Naomi's stories were more interesting for me than that of George's later experiences in the army, as the details of the Crimean campaign are rather longwinded and will appeal to readers who like to know about the minutiae of militaria, battles and logistics. His wife Annie's subsequent life is somewhat difficult to comprehend in many ways, but she would have had few choices in a judgemental age. Annie's fudging of the records for her last two children prove that.

This has the usual stereotypes of popular fiction, especially the lasvicious religious men, whom I've no doubt existed, but there would also have been just as many truly honest and dedicated charity and church workers who didn't see every single, vulnerable woman as prey. Also, although expressions of love would have as many variations in those days just as they do now, the novel's speculations regarding events in the bedroom impart a "modernness" (and more than a touch of male fantasy) that just doesn't ring true for me. Both Naomi and Annie seem to be uninhibited about sex and it is difficult to visualise any impoverished, hardworking Victorian woman already exhausted from either looking after her brood, cooking and cleaning in the home, as well as working long hours as a washerwoman or a skivvy, being interested in movie-style sexual encounters. Sex was dangerous for women with high risks. Not just the possibility of death in childbirth, but there was moral disgrace as well if the pregnancy was out of wedlock.. Furtive quickies - welcome or not - are the more practical and likely scenario. 

All the same, this is a unique and memorable novel that's left me wondering how I might write about my various great-great-grandparents, several of whom have seemed to be free with their romantic favours, judging by the number of illegitimate babies. Then there are those others who lived very restrictive lives; religious or ascetic loners and misfits. How much would I dare to suggest what they got up to? Would I offend their ghosts?

Three-and-a-half Stars

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* From the footnotes: "The nickname 'Dirty Half-Hundred' came from an incident in the Peninsula War in 1808 when the black facing of their uniform jackets ran, giving them the appearance of chimney sweeps". (Page 260)

Hamish McKenzie runs a trading fort at Delgoa Bay, Mozambique, in the mid-1750s. How, or why, he ended up there is not talked about with his family, but lurking in the background is a sinister character who has been hunting him down for years. Eventually, he discovers McKenzie’s whereabouts and hires a mercenary to do his dirty work for him.
 
Hamish has plans for his elder son, Lachlan, believing a better life awaits him working for the East India Company, but Lachlan would prefer to stay in Africa. When disaster and death strike the family and he barely escapes with his life, Lachlan vows revenge. He will find himself in Madras, on the Carnatic coast of India, and where he will not only face the McKenzie’s family nemesis but also military challenges far beyond anything he could imagine.
 
This is a rousing, swashbuckling tale that will have you glued to the pages. Exotic places and people are described with vibrancy and colour. It is extremely gory in places, and with a massive body count, but this is historical adventure writing at its best. My only quibble is that a couple of maps might help readers unfamiliar with the regions, also some author’s notes on the historical background, especially as regards the Carnatic Wars during this turbulent period in Indian history.
 
Four and a half stars.


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​I’ve been endeavouring to try and read older books in between recent releases and this Virago reprint of a 1961 classic drew my attention.
 
Dulcie Mainwaring has been dropped by her fiancé Maurice and decides on attending a conference of editors and indexers as a way to distract her thoughts. There, she meets the abrasive indexer, Viola Dace, who seems to have some kind of romantic connection to the middle-aged, handsome (and married) editor, Aylwin Forbes.
 
Dulcie is intrigued by the alleged relationship and embarks on a private investigation into the lives of Aylwin, his estranged wife, Marjorie, and troubled clergyman brother, Neville. This borderline obsessiveness is further complicated by Viola having to move in with Dulcie who is also accommodating her attractive teenage niece Laurel, who draws the eye of the much older Aylwin.
 
Various other characters are woven into the story that grows increasingly complex with both Dulcie and Viola embarking on skulduggery and contrived encounters with do-gooders, erratic family members, fussy housekeepers or “dailies”, a male florist and a kilt-wearing Brazilian. Perhaps it’s odd that two women who aren’t particularly nice to one another should end up living together, but this is an aboveboard platonic relationship of convenience.
 
In reviewing this novel through modern eyes, the machinations of Dulcie might well fall into the category of stalking, even if there is no menace in her actions. She doesn’t interfere; it’s more that her vicarious pleasure in these other lives helps her get over her own unsatisfactory romance. Some readers might see Aylwin’s interest in Laurel as prurient or distasteful, even if there is no overt physicality and it remains quite innocent.
 
As to its structure, the novel has a ridiculous number of accidental meetings and immediate friendships that border on the absurd. The abrupt and dizzying switches in points of view, often several within paragraphs and chapters, are also disconcerting to anyone who prefers clearly marked delineation between the thought processes or actions of individuals.
 
This novel does offer a reflection of how people behaved in a gentler, more mannered, age that was destined to disappear within half-a-dozen years of this book’s publication and with the revolutionary Swinging Sixties. As a result, it is rather dated, and uninitiated readers may struggle to identify with Dulcie’s concerns and actions, or simply find it a bore.

Three stars

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This sixth instalment in Lucinda Riley’s often irritating but always compelling blockbuster Seven Sisters has glared at me from my TBR (to be read) shelf for months. Even for a paperback, it’s heavy to hold and I attempted it twice before finally deciding I must woman-up and complete this marathon – if nothing else as tribute to the author’s admirable dedication to keep the epic going even when faced with her own mortality.
 
Electra the supermodel is a mess. She has everything, and nothing. Her latest romance with a rock star has ended, she can’t get through the day without lashings of vodka and coke (not Coca Cola). She’s angry all the time and envies or despises the other adopted sisters with whom she was raised in Switzerland by the mysterious Pa Salt, always feeling like the odd one out.
 
As with the other books in this series, each sister has been given clues as to how she came to be adopted by Pa Salt, but Electra is the most reluctant to follow the route. Until a mysterious woman called Stella arrives, claiming to be her biological grandmother.
 
Stella tells the story of Cecily, a wealthy young New Yorker, who escapes a couple of failed relationships in the 1930s and is taken under the wing of her flighty godmother Kiki, who lives in “Happy Valley” in colonial Kenya. What happens to Cecily there has a direct bearing on Electra.
 
Even if Cecily can seem annoyingly naïve at times, her experiences and relationships are far better to read about than those of the destructive and unpleasant Electra. The atmosphere surrounding the expat community in Kenya during this era is well conveyed, with Bill Forsythe, the farmer who “rescues” Cecily, being the best portrayal.
 
Of course, Electra does turn her life around eventually, but it comes way too late for me to care much about her, although one of my concerns that other reviewers have remarked on, is perhaps it wasn’t the wisest decision of the author to make the least likeable sister a woman of colour – and one who seemed to be grossly unaware of what others of her race have to endure.
 
The two final books are still smiling at me from the shelf: “The Missing Sister” and “Atlas. The Story of Pa Salt”. I’ll get there at some stage, but not just yet.
 
A bit less than two stars for Electra, three plus for Cecily.

 
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This novel with a tagline of “Women can be heroes” has gone gangbusters since it came out a year ago with over 1.25 million ratings on Goodreads alone, so whatever I have to say about it hardly matters and I won’t summarize the plot in any great detail, save to say that after an overload of first WW1 then WW2 historical fiction, it may now be the turn of Vietnam.
 
Frankie McGrath is a student nurse living in a wealthy, conservative Californian household in the mid-1960s. In her father’s study there is a wall of photographs relating to the military heroes in the family. When Frankie’s brother is given a grand send-off to Vietnam, she decides she wants to have her picture on that wall as well. But as an army nurse she has no idea of what she is in for.
 
With the help of two other more experienced nurses, Barb and Ethel, the innocent Frankie is forced to grow up quickly, honing her nursing skills and finding ways of coping emotionally in what is nothing short of hell with destruction, injuries and death on an unbelievable scale. The loss of those she loves will add another level of emotional turmoil.
 
Meanwhile, America is divided about the war and when Frankie finally returns, she must deal not only with shattered relationships but abuse from the public and parents who are in denial about her service.
 
The first half of this novel about Frankie’s time in Vietnam is absorbing and so well-written that I fully expected to give it a five-star rating, but somewhere around the middle it falls off a cliff into various melodramatic contrivances, including dead men resurrected. This is not to dismiss its excellent exploration of patriotism, loyalty and strong female friendships, or the very real issues of PTSD, drug abuse and Agent Orange that affected the health of so many Vietnam vets in a country that did not value their service. However, in trying to pull all these strands together the novel suffers from an overwrought conclusion. Thus, a rating of 3.5 stars.
​

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How often does a title and/or cover image for a book send the wrong messages to a reading audience?
 
In the case of this novel, both title and image are far removed from the drama of the content and I feel I must include comments on that in this review. The title is lightweight. A “monsoon” does make a fleeting appearance and the narrative covers several years, not just a “summer”.
 
Kit, the principal female character, does not have time to wander idly along the shores of a calm shore while twirling a parasol, she’s too busy trying to juggle the challenges of her new life in India after tough years nursing during the London Blitz. (See below for a couple of other images that are are likewise misleading. The symbolism of the face veil is lost on me – ditto the rowboat!)
 
Not only has Kit entered into a cross-racial marriage with Anto, an Indian doctor, in an era when such things were still frowned upon, she must deal with the antagonism of her husband’s family and the powder-keg politics of the sub-continent following partition in 1947.  Complicating her situation is an unfinished midwifery qualification that will become a major problem for Kit in her role as an aide at the Moonstone maternity clinic that was set up under the auspices of an Oxford charitable group.
 
While there are some romantic moments in this novel, the greater part of it is hard-hitting, with lengthy exposition on the trials and tribulations of women giving birth, plus Kit’s inability to fully understand the culture or language and having to tackle the inevitable suspicion and ignorance of poorer individuals and those intent on eliminating British influence, by sinister means if necessary.
 
The writing is accomplished and the flavours of India in every sense are well described. Characterisations are strong, especially those of the women. Kit’s indecisiveness and failure to take advice can make her seem flaky and irritating at times. Her mother, Glory, is intriguing with her contradictory behaviour that is partly explained towards the conclusion. The decision to make some chapters third-person seems an odd choice and detracts from the dynamism of Kit’s first person focus. 
 
Three-and-a-half stars

 
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