Speedy read, following the chaotic relationship between Marianne and Connell, from school teens to twenty-somethings.
A novel that keeps you turning the pages late into the night.
Publisher page: Normal People – Sally Rooney
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
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
Short stories by an Australian author. I managed a few, but decided not to continue. The “To Read” Pile is too high…. and tempting.
Publisher page: The High Places – Fiona McFarlane
Another slow start. The Germaine Greer parallels felt a little too blunt.
Once I got past Greer Kadetsky’s first name and Faith Frank’s character, this novel about women, friendship and feminism through the late 19th and early 20th century was a speedy and timely read.
Publisher page: The Female Persuasion – Meg Wolitzer