Pivotal years in the life of E M Forster, with the genesis of A Passage to India, and the great loves of his life, Egyptian Mohammed and Indian Masood.
Publisher page: Arctic Summer – Damon Galgut
Arctic Summer – Damon Galgut
Virgin Widow – Anne O’Brien
Ignore The Bookseller Blurb on the cover, Philippa Gregory does Anne Neville‘s story better. In fact I’d say Philippa Gregory writes better historical novels than Anne O’Brien full stop.
Author page: Virgin Widow – Anne O’Brien
The Burgess Boys – Elizabeth Strout
This took make a while to get into, but I am glad I persevered to the pay offs in the final section.
The Burgess Boys is the tale of three siblings from a small town in Maine – eldest son Jim, the successful New York white collar crime lawyer with a rich WASP wife, Helen; and twins Susan and Bob. Susan, a single mum whose husband has left her and awkward teen son Zach, and small town Maine, to move back to ancestral Sweden; Bob a NY lawyer like his elder brother but working at the other end of the profession, in the legal aid sector, long divorced from college girlfriend and wife, Pam.
When Zach tosses a pig’s head into a local mosque he sets of a chain of events that changes everyone’s lives.
Author page: The Burgess Boys – Elizabeth Strout
The Testament of Loki – Joanne M. Harris
Rollicking fantasy set in modern day English village / town (in the West Country was my impression). Loki escapes eternal torment into AsgardTM computer game, and from there into self harming, anorexic teen, Jumps.
Slowly settling into their shared space, Loki and Jumps discover other gods have made similar journeys to this part of the English countryside, and soon old rivalries resurface and battles resume…
I’d not realised it was part of a series. And, yes, it is that Joanne Harris.
Author page: The Testament of Loki – Joanne M. Harris
Have The Men Had Enough? – Margaret Forster
We follow grandma’s slow slide into dementia from two different perspectives – daughter in law Jenny and granddaughter Hannah, with grandma’s daughter Bridget featuring strongly, as the family struggles to cope with the physical and emotional strains of balancing love, duty and life.
A hard series of events to watch unfolding, but it felt so, so authentic.
Publisher page: Have The Men Had Enough? – Margaret Forster