Gothic morals
~ Melmoth, by Sarah Perry ~ This is a difficult book to review. There is a clear plotline, there are a number of strong protagonists, but this novel’s focus is neither on the storyline nor its key characters. It has...
Lisa
Not quite the cat’s meow
~ My Patients Like Treats: Tales from a House-Call Veterinarian, by Duncan MacVean ~ The title and cover picture are both charming. The book itself is largely a disappointment. MacVean may well be a great veterinarian, but alas, he is...
Madness and Desire
~ The Incurable Romantic, by Frank Tallis ~ This is a lovely read, a fascinating collection of case studies by psychologist Frank Tallis about the problematic love relationships of his patients. The stories/cases are interspersed with some light theory on...
Host Women
~ The Farm, by Joanne Ramos ~ This is definitely a debut novel. It was a pleasant read, but was flawed in many of the typical ways a debut novel too often is, if lacking editorial support. The title of...
A Celebration of Unorthodox Relationships
~ City of Girls, by Elizabeth Gilbert ~ After reading Eat Pray Love, and then its sequel Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, I was not very keen to read any more of Elizabeth Gilbert’s writing. So much so...
A society in transition
~ Celestial Bodies, by Jokha Alharthi ~ This is the first Omani novel I have read; Celestial Bodies, winner of the 2019 Man International Booker seems a good starting point (albeit in translation). First impressions are that this is indeed a very...
Lives formed in Oxford and Istanbul
~ Three Daughters of Eve, by Elif Shafak ~ An engaging novel, characterised by a distinctive writing style which demonstrates a fine-tuned consciousness and critical awareness. Particularly enjoyable are the author’s acerbic but good tempered observations on Turks, Turkey, and...
Privilege and Hardship: The Wives of Raffles
~ Olivia and Sophia, by Rosie Milne ~ This is a version of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles and his two sojourns “Eastward” from the perspective of his two wives, Olivia and Sophia. It is not historically accurate; the author says...
A swirling, flowing tale
~ Once Upon a River, by Diane Setterfield ~ As the title suggests, this novel is all about storytelling. Having not as yet had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Setterfield’s best seller, The Thirteenth Wife, I had no...
No time for social niceties
~ The Hunger, by Alma Katsu ~ This historical fiction novel tells the story of families of pioneers in wagon trains setting out from Springfield, Illinois, on 15th April 1846, attempting to reach California for a new life. The novel...
Atmospheric Enchantment
~ The Silver Dark Sea, by Susan Fletcher ~ This novel of Fletcher’s has a few distinctive elements in common with some of her other novels, like the House of Glass, and Let Me Tell You About A Man I...
The Iliad: as retold by women
~ The Silence of the Girls, by Pat Barker. ~ It must have been more than 20 years ago when Pat Barker kindly granted me an interview in my MA research. I was then studying her earlier novels in juxtapositon...
Intimacy in China: Changing with the times
Xinran is a British Chinese journalist who has lived in UK for more than two decades. She has recorded the stories of literally hundreds of women in China, and given voice to the trials and tribulations, sufferings and sorrows of...
Tropical Disappointment
~Ponti, by Sharlene Teo ~ The name of this novel (set in Singapore) is an abbreviation of “pontianak”, a Malay/Indonesian word denoting a ghost, or a monster; a femme fatale which usually preys on men, and is usually depicted with...
The Immigrant Generational Divide
~ Number One Chinese Restaurant, by Lillian Li ~ Joining other recent debut novels by Asian/Chinese American authors such as Jenny Zhang (Sour Heart, 2017) Lily Wang (Family Trust, 2018), Lillian Li’s novel also purports to examine relationships and family...
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