Category Archives: Rating

January 15, 2026 · 11:44 am

The Tapestry of Time – Kate Heartfield

The Tapestry of Time – Kate Heartfield

I am intrigued by the Bayeux tapestry – I have even visited it (and it is a long way from Australia!), so clearly I had to read this one.

Here’s the blurb …

There’s a tradition in the Sharp family that some possess the Second Sight. But is it superstition, or true psychic power? 

Kit Sharp is in Paris, where she is involved in a love affair with the stunning Evelyn Larsen, and working as an archivist, having inherited her historian father’s fascination with the Bayeux Tapestry. He believes that parts of the tapestry were made before 1066, and that it was a tool for prediction, not a simple record of events. 

The Nazis are also obsessed with the tapestry: convinced that not only did it predict the Norman Conquest of England, but that it will aid them in their invasion of Britain. 

Ivy Sharp has joined the Special Operations Executive – the SOE – a secret unit set up to carry out espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance. Having demonstrated that she has extraordinary powers of perception, she is dropped into Northern France on a special mission. 

With the war on a knife edge, the Sharp Sisters face certain death. Can their courage and extrasensory gifts prevent the enemy from using the tapestry to bring about a devastating victory against the Allied Forces?

This had an interesting premise – the Bayeux tapestry was created before 1066 by a group of women who could see the future.

I enjoyed the world war two setting and the very different lives of the four sisters. It was well-researched, but wore that research lightly.

It has fantasy elements – second sight, etc.

For me there wasn’t enough Bayeux tapestry, and a bit too much of Ivy training her second sight.

A review

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January 11, 2026 · 1:39 pm

The Rest of Our Lives – Ben Markovits

The Rest of Our Lives – Ben Markovits

I selected this because it was short listed for the Booker Prize. I didn’t know what to expect, but it was short, so I didn’t have to commit to too much.

Here’s the blurb …

What’s left when your kids grow up and leave home?

When Tom Layward’s wife had an affair he resolved to leave her as soon as his youngest daughter turned eighteen. Twelve years later, while driving her to Pittsburgh to start university, he remembers his pact.

He is also on the run from his own health issues, and the fact that he’s been put on leave at work after students complained about the politics of his law class – something he hasn’t yet told his wife.

So, after dropping Miriam off, he keeps driving, with the vague plan of visiting various people from his past – an old college friend, his ex-girlfriend, his brother, his son – on route, maybe, to his father’s grave in California.

This is told from Tom’s perspective and I feel he is an unreliable narrator. His wife, Amy, (who admittedly did have an affair) is portrayed very unsympathetically. Also, Tom is clearly unwell. He wakes up every day with a puffy face and oozing eyes and tells everyone there is nothing wrong, but middle age, and yes he has had tests. And finally, there is white man fragility – good men aren’t getting jobs because of diversity hiring, etc.

Tom is on a road trip; to drop his daughter at College, and then he keeps driving. He visits his brother Eric, who seems to be another lost soul, his college mate (one of the sad white men), his college girlfriend (not sad) and finally his son in L.A.

All of the relationships are beautifully portrayed, and the descriptions of being on the road; the diners, the houses, the basketball courts are great.

It’s about middle age, family, regrets and missed opportunities. There is emotional heft to this novel, particularly the end (no spoilers).

A review

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January 9, 2026 · 4:22 pm

Butter – Azako Yuzuki

Butter – Asako Yuzuki

I bought this in November of 2024, and then it languished. However, it is my next book club book, so I have read it!

Here’s the blurb …

The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story.

There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.

Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body, might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought?

Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, “The Konkatsu Killer”, Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan. 

This novel was extremely popular when it first came out in English. I remember seeing the bright yellow colour everywhere.

I haven’t read much Japanese fiction (one of the coffee going cold books and The Housekeeper and the Professor, which I really enjoyed), so I didn’t know what to expect. This novel is very sensuous. There are many mentions of the sensations of eating; the nuttiness of the rice, the butter coating the inside of her mouth, the feeling of warmth in her body, etc.

There also seems to be an obsession with thinness

And

And this from Rika’s boyfriend after she has gained some weight from all of the good eating

I am not sure about the time setting of this novel. There are mobile phones, but also DVD rental stores (or is that a Japanese thing?)

And this idea about taking care of oneself

And this idea of trying to live well

This was fascinating. How both Rika and Reiko became enamored by Kaji to the point of psychological distress. Everyone had trauma, disappointments and disillusionments. Rika’s untangling of food, cooking and her father’s death was well-written. To me this novel feels more introspective than a western novel.

It is fascinating, intriguing and well worth reading.

A review

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January 5, 2026 · 11:26 am

Legacy – Chris Hammer

Legacy – Chris Hammer

I was browsing our Audible library and came across this one. I enjoyed Scrublands and Silver.

Here’s the blurb …

The blast hits them, a shock wave … glass smashing … Somewhere a woman screams. A second explosion, and Martin looks towards the hall, what’s left of it, flames roaring and smoke pouring skywards.

Someone is targeting Martin Scarsden. They bomb his book launch and shoot up his hometown. 

Fleeing for his life, he learns that nowhere is safe, not even the outback. The killers are closing in and it’s all he can do to survive. 

But who wants to kill him and why? Can he discover their deadly motives and turn the tables? 

In a dramatic finale, he finds his fate linked to the disgraced ex-wife of a football icon, a fugitive wanted for a decades-old murder, and two nineteenth-century explorers from a legendary expedition. 

Martin Scarsden’s most perilous, challenging and intriguing assignment yet.

This is Australian noir, you know the genre, a small town in the outback, it’s hot and there is a murder in the past. There is also a little bit of spy stuff, deep fake pornography, secret treasure and lost explorers. It had different view points (Ecco and Martin) and the journal of a missing (a fugitive) young woman.

I enjoyed it the setting was beautifully described and the murderer was unexpected. I also liked the machinations around Martin – who wants him dead and discredited?

All in all a very satisfying and fun read.

A review

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December 28, 2025 · 11:49 am

Murder in the Cathedral – Kerry Greenwood

Murder in the Cathedral – Kerry Greenwood

I have always liked the Phryne Fisher mysteries, but I haven’t read one in a long time and I certainly haven’t read them all. I received this one in the family ‘book flood’ and I read it in a couple of days.

Here’s the blurb …

When Phryne Fisher is invited to Bendigo to witness the investiture of her old friend Lionel, who is being made a Bishop, her expectations of the solemn and dignified ceremony do not include a murder.

Phryne quickly involves herself with perspicacious local Constable Watson and eagle-eyed Detective Inspector Mick Kelly as they identify the murder victim – an overzealous deacon with a nose for trouble. 

Applying her quick wits and magnetic charm, Phryne and her expanding team of sleuths discover murky layers of church politics, social scandals and business scams and blackmail. Soon, various suspects begin to populate a long list, each with excellent motives to kill.

Meanwhile the clock is ticking … Will Phryne be able to bring to light the proof she needs before the murderer strikes again or disappears completely?

I love all of the historical references; the clothes, cars, architecture …The crime was intriguing as well – a deacon murdered during a service (no one noticed anything) and the murderer has vanished (how did he/she get out of the cathedral?). The Deacon had something of serious import to tell the Bishop, is that why he was murdered?

This is a cozy crime – like from the golden age of crime.

This will be the last Phryne Fisher mystery as Kerry Greenwood sadly died earlier this year.

A review.

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December 27, 2025 · 1:21 pm

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil – V.E. Schwab

Bury our Bones in the Midnight Soil – V. E. Schwab

I am a fan of V. E. Schwab. I have listened to The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue and Gallant. So when I saw this on sale at Target, I had to have it. Of course, it then lingered on my shelves (although I think I purchased it this year).

Here’s the blurb …

This is a story about hunger.
1532. Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
A young girl grows up wild and wily—her beauty is only outmatched by her dreams of escape. But María knows she can only ever be a prize, or a pawn, in the games played by men. When an alluring stranger offers an alternate path, María makes a desperate choice. She vows to have no regrets.

This is a story about love.
1827. London.
A young woman lives an idyllic but cloistered life on her family’s estate, until a moment of forbidden intimacy sees her shipped off to London. Charlotte’s tender heart and seemingly impossible wishes are swept away by an invitation from a beautiful widow—but the price of freedom is higher than she could have imagined.

This is a story about rage.
2019. Boston.
College was supposed to be her chance to be someone new. That’s why Alice moved halfway across the world, leaving her old life behind. But after an out-of-character one-night stand leaves her questioning her past, her present, and her future, Alice throws herself into the hunt for answers . . . and revenge.

This is a story about life—
how it ends, and how it starts.

I do enjoy the historical fiction aspects of this novel. I didn’t know at all what it was about and I was quite surprised when I discovered what ‘bury our bones in the midnight soil’ means. Although this is a fantasy novel, it’s really about people – relationships, family, chosen family, friendships and toxic relationships. It’s about women claiming space and agency for themselves.

It was long and I am not sure it needed to be that long. We could have had a few less incidents in Sabine’s life without losing any of the character or plot development.

A review.

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December 20, 2025 · 1:24 pm

My Friends – Fredrik Backman

My Friends – Fredrik Backman

This was in our Audible library – I think my husband was trying to try different genres of fiction. Anyway, I decided to give it a go.

Here’s the blurb …

#1 New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger’s life twenty-five years later.

Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.

Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more nervous she becomes about what she’ll find. Louisa is proof that happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art.

This was a moving story about friends, chosen family and art. There is violence, despair and both hopelessness and hopefulness. It’s a bit unrelenting at times – nothing goes right and everything goes catastrophically wrong. It’s about finding your tribe (those with wings) and helping them however you can. Finding a way to live with grief. And it is funny – the dialogue between Louisa and Ted in particular, but also some of their exploits as children (drying socks in the toaster).

A review

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December 18, 2025 · 6:27 pm

Jane Austen and Lord Byron – Christine Kenyon Jones

Jane Austen and Lord Byron – Christine Kenyon Jones

I bought this in London while browsing various book stores (we did a bit of a book tour of London).

Here’s the blurb …

Jane Austen and Lord Byron are often presented as opposites, but here they are together at last. In Regency England he was the first celebrity author while she was a parson’s daughter writing anonymously. This book explores how their lives, interests, work and sense of humour often brought them within touching distance, and sets them side by side in the world of the Regency and Romantic period.

Using some little-known sources and new research, it illustrates how they were distantly related by marriage; how they knew about each other even though they probably never met; the acquaintances they had in common and how their literary work often came close in subject-matter, approach, technique and tone.

Engagingly written and beautifully illustrated, this book will inform and delight scholars and Austen and Byron fans alike, showing that these two great authors were closer than you might think, even in their own day.

I am not convinced. Given the size of the population at the time and, in particular, the number of people in the gentry, there will be similarities and connections.

However, there were a lot of interesting points. For example, Byron and Austen were distantly related. They had the same publisher (John Murray) and shared some of the same concerns ‘a rogue, but a civil one’. They both enjoyed the theatre and possibly saw the same performances – or at least the same play.

And I enjoyed reading about Byron and Austen.

Here’s a review from Jane Austen’s House.

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December 17, 2025 · 5:12 pm

The Austen Affair – Madeline Bell

The Austen Affair – Madeline Bell (My copy is getting a bit worn)

I am not sure when I first heard of this one, but my daughter sent me a photo from Stefan’s Books, and, of course, I had to have it.

Here’s the blurb …

Two feuding co-stars in a Jane Austen film adaptation accidentally travel back in time to the Regency Era in this delightfully clever and riotously funny debut

Tess Bright just scored her dream role starring in an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. It’s not just the role of a lifetime, but it’s also her last chance to prove herself as a serious actress (no easy feat after being fired from her last TV gig) and more importantly, it’s her opportunity to honor her mom, who was the biggest fan of Jane Austen ever. But one thing is standing in Tess’s way—well, one very tall, annoyingly handsome person, actually: Hugh Balfour.

A serious British method actor, Hugh wants nothing to do with Tess (whose Teen Choice Awards somehow don’t quite compare to his BAFTA nominations). Hugh is a type-A, no-nonsense, Royal Academy prodigy, whereas Tess is big-hearted, a little reckless, and admittedly, kind of a mess. But the film needs chemistry—and Tess’s career depends on it.

Sparks fly, but not in the way Tess hoped, when an electrical accident sends the two feuding co-stars back in time to Jane Austen’s era. 200 years in the past with only each other to rely on, Tess and Hugh need to ad-lib their way through the Regency period in order to make it back home, and hopefully not screw up history along the way. But if a certain someone looks particularly dashing in those 19th century breeches…well, Tess won’t be complaining.

A wickedly funny, delightfully charming story, The Austen Affair is a tribute to Jane Austen, second chances, and love across the space-time continuum.

This novel was great fun, and I loved the time travelling aspects of it (and meeting Jane Austen). It was well-written and witty, but also with a bit of emotional heft. I do think it could have been a bit tighter – a bit more editing perhaps.

A review.

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December 8, 2025 · 4:17 pm

Outline – Rachel Cusk

Outline – Rachel Cusk

This book was on the Backlisted podcast – well, Transit was, and I thought I should start with the first one. I listened to this and it was narrated by Kristin Scott Thomas (fabulous).

Here’s the blurb …

Outline is a novel in ten conversations. Spare and lucid, it follows a novelist teaching a course in creative writing over an oppressively hot summer in Athens. She leads her student in storytelling exercises. She meets other writers for dinner. She goes swimming in the Ionian Sea with her seatmate from the place. The people she encounters speak volubly about themselves, their fantasies, anxieties, pet theories, regrets, and longings. And through these disclosures, a portrait of the narrator is drawn by contrast, a portrait of a woman learning to face great a great loss.

This was great, I have been raving about it to all of my reading friends. It feels like a friend (a very articulate friend) telling stories about their encounters. And through the various stories, we gain an idea of our narrator. The writing is beautiful (I am awed by her talent and intelligence).

A review.

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