Category Archives: 4

July 15, 2026 · 2:43 pm

Meet Me At The Museum – Anne Youngson

Meet Me At The Museum – Anne Youngson

I started this book so many times. I bought it as a kobo and I would start to read it whenever I was out and about with only my phone. I finally dedicated some time to it while I was on holiday.

Here’s the blurb …

Please be aware I am writing to you to make sense of myself …

When the curator of a Danish museum responds to a query about ancient exhibits, he doesn’t expect a reply.

When Tina Hopgood first wrote it, nor did she …

Professor Anders Larsen, an urbane man of facts, has lost his wife, along with his hopes and dreams for the future. He does not know that a query from a Mrs Tina Hopgood about a world-famous antiquity in his museum is about to alter the course of his life.

Oceans apart, an unexpected correspondence flourishes as they discover shared passions: for history and nature; for useless objects left behind by loved ones; for the ancient and modern world, what is lost in time, what is gained and what has stayed the same. Through intimate stories of joy, anguish, and discovery, each one bares their soul to the other. But when Tina’s letters suddenly cease, Anders is thrown into despair. Can this unlikely friendship survive?

This is an epistolary novel, which I always enjoy. It is a series of letters between Tina and Anders in which they share parts of their lives and (maybe) fall in love. The novel starts with them noticing the differences between where they live and the lives they lead, but then they start to offer each other advice and they both begin to pay attention to their surroundings and the people in their lives. It’s about choices and the sacrifices required by those choices, but it is also about making new choices and changing direction.

There is a lovely metaphor about walking along picking raspberries and then looking back and seeing how many raspberries you didn’t see the first time, but you can walk in the opposite direction and pick the ones you miss.

The writing is beautiful – gentle and thoughtful.

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July 12, 2026 · 2:36 pm

Miss Benson’s Beetle – Rachel Joyce

Miss Benson’s Beetle – Rachel Joyce

I bought this in January 2025 (because I loved the title) and finally decided to read it.

Here’s the blurb …

It is 1950. In a devastating moment of clarity, Margery Benson abandons her dead-end job and advertises for an assistant to accompany her on an expedition. She is going to travel to the other side of the world to search for a beetle that may or may not exist.

Enid Pretty, in her unlikely pink travel suit, is not the companion Margery had in mind. And yet together they will be drawn into an adventure that will exceed every expectation. They will risk everything, break all the rules, and at the top of a red mountain, discover their best selves.

This is a story that is less about what can be found than the belief it might be found; it is an intoxicating adventure story but it is also about what it means to be a woman and a tender exploration of a friendship that defies all boundaries.

This is a ‘girls’ own adventure’ for two incredibly unlikely explorers (or entomologists). The dialogue between Margery and Enid is brilliant. The descriptions of the places and the people are also excellent (and occasionally very funny, for example, the description of the Friday coffee and craft morning among the British wives in New Caledonia)

[…] and share an activity, though the knitted space rockets for the local orphanage, their last project, had turned out looking like woolly condoms, and the women had been a laughing stock.

And there are some lovely thoughts, Enid to Margery

‘We are not the things that happen to us. We can be what we like’

This is a beautifully written, witty story about friendship and resilience.

A review

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June 15, 2026 · 11:15 am

Mrs Osmond – John Banville

Mrs Osmond – John Banville

Is that not a great cover? This is a continuation of Henry James’ Portrait of a Lady. I read Portrait of a Lady years ago – I think it’s my favourite Henry James novel – so this sounded intriguing. I was always disappointed that Isabel married Gilbert Osmond.

Here’s the blurb …

Isabel Archer is a young American woman, swept off to Europe in the late nineteenth century by an aunt who hopes to round out the impetuous but naive girl’s experience of the world. When Isabel comes into a large, unexpected inheritance, she is finagled into a marriage with the charming, penniless, and–as Isabel finds out too late–cruel and deceitful Gilbert Osmond, whose connection to a certain Madame Merle is suspiciously intimate. On a trip to England to visit her cousin Ralph Touchett on his deathbed, Isabel is offered a chance to free herself from the marriage, but nonetheless chooses to return to Italy. Banville follows James’s story line to this point, but Mrs. Osmond is thoroughly Banville’s own: the narrative inventiveness; the lyrical precision and surprise of his language; the layers of emotional and psychological intensity; the subtle, dark humor. And when Isabel arrives in Italy–along with someone else –the novel takes off in directions that James himself would be thrilled to follow.

As I wrote earlier, it has been a while since I read anything by James, but the prose style of this novel feels Jamesian. We have the old characters; Madame Merle, Pansy, Aunt Lydia, Ralph Touchett (just in passing), and Henrietta Stackpole. The settings range from London, Paris, Florence and Rome – quite the Grand Tour.

No spoilers, but I was happy with how this ended.

I do think you need to have read A Portrait of a Lady before tackling this one, but, if you have, then I highly recommend this one.

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June 1, 2026 · 12:33 pm

The Things We Never Say – Elizabeth Strout

The Things we Never Say – Elizabeth Strout

I love Elizabeth Strout novels – my favourite is Olive Kitteridge, so I pre-ordered this one.

Here’s the blurb …

Artie Dam is a man with a secret. He spends his days teaching history to high schoolers, expanding their young minds, correcting their casual cruelties, and lending a kind word to those who need it most. He goes to holiday parties with his wife of three decades, makes small talk with neighbours, and, on weekends, takes his sailboat out on the beautiful Massachusetts Bay. He is, by all appearances, present and alive. But inside, Artie is plagued by feelings of isolation. He looks out at a world gone mad—at himself and the people around him—and turns a question over and over in his mind: how is it that we know so little about one another, even those closest to us?
 
 And then, one day, Artie learns that life has been keeping a secret from him, one that threatens to upend his entire world. Once he learns it, he is forced to chart a new course, to reconsider the relationships he holds most dear—and to make peace with the mysteries at the heart of our existence.
 
 With exquisite prose and profound insight, Elizabeth Strout captures the way grief reverberates through decades, the comfort found in deep friendships and the freedom that comes when we break free of our secrets. The Things We Never Say is a stunning new novel from one of our most acclaimed observers of the human heart.

Artie is a good guy in a world gone mad – the election is looming in the US, is it possible that ‘that man’ will be re-elected? He thinks he wants to be gone, but not in a way that would be distressing for others. Then there is a boating incident and he realises that he, in fact, wants to live (this is not the secret). He has a profound impact on two of his students, and develops a relationship with the man who saved him from drowning, is close to his son, but distant from his wife. He is a good man trying to navigate his way in the world – the new principal chastises him for saying ‘boys and girls’ (it’s demeaning and some might not identify as boy or girl).

The dialogue is fabulous – very natural sounding.

I think it would be nice to get this story again, but from Evie’s point of view. Let’s just say the reader (or this reader) doesn’t warm to her.

A review

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May 30, 2026 · 4:40 pm

Yesteryear – Caro Claire Burke

Yesteryear – Caro Claire Burke

This novel is apparently all the rage at the moment. Anne Hathaway has bought the film rights and I believe it is a TikTok sensation. I listened to it.

Here’s the blurb …

A traditional American woman, a beautiful wife and mother who sells her pioneer lifestyle of raw milk and farm-fresh eggs to her millions of social media followers, suddenly awakens cold, filthy, and terrified in the brutal reality of 1855—where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister in this sensational debut novel.

My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.

Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible. 

I am fascinated by the traditional wife movement. Does it exist anywhere outside of the United States? And I have often thought that those perfect online lives must hide mess and mayhem.

Natalie is not a sympathetic character and a very unreliable narrator. Just like her posts on social media she is telling us a different story. She moves from an amateur doing everything herself to having two nannies, a producer, and multiple farm workers (all kept hidden from the cameras). All appears well in her world until her husband has an affair with the producer. There is an altercation – she can bring them down with her knowledge of behind the scenes.

Natalie then finds her self back in 1855 and finds life without hidden modern conveniences is very unpleasant. How does she end up back in 1855? Is it time travel?, a reality TV show, is she mad?, in a coma? From this point the narrative shifts backwards and forwards between the past and present day Yesteryear Ranch. How it is resolved is very good – in my opinion, no spoilers.

There is a great review at The Guardian

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May 24, 2026 · 1:39 pm

You Dreamed of Empires – Alvaro Enrigue

You Dreamed of Empires – Alvaro Enrigue

The theme for my ‘serious’ book club is ‘Translation’. I already had this in my pile, it was recommended in a list somewhere.

Here’s the blurb …

One morning in 1519, conquistador Hernán Cortés entered the floating city of Tenochtitlan – today’s Mexico City. Later that day, he would meet the emperor Moctezuma in a collision of two worlds, two empires, two languages, two possible futures. Cortés was accompanied by his nine captains, his troops, and his two translators: Friar Aguilar, a taciturn, former slave, and Malinalli, a strategic, former princess. Greeted at a ceremonial welcome meal by the steely princess Atotoxli, sister and wife of Moctezuma, the Spanish nearly bungle their entrance to the city. As they await their meeting with Moctezuma – who is at a political, spiritual, and physical crossroads, and relies on hallucinogens to get himself through the day and in quest for any kind of answer from the gods – the Spanish are ensconced in the labyrinthine palace.

Clearly both the Spanish and the Mexicans (Aztecs?) are blood thirsty people. There was human sacrifice, the rending of humans into fat to polish boots, and capital punishments (‘Take yourself to the palace guards and tell them to kill you privately’). There wasn’t a sympathetic character – except, maybe, Atotoxli, or Caldera.

The settings were magnificent, and the characterisations were great – the conversations with everyone trying not to say anything or saying the truth but with a double meaning

As the emperor bade him farewell, still in Greek, he said he’d been told that Cortés had been to the temple with his men and it hadn’t gone well; just now he was busy with the Tlaxcalteca in Iztapalapa and the Texcoca in the middle of a civil war, but in two or three days they would go together to the temple so that Cortés could see the house of the emperor’s gods and the Caxtilteca would be treated as his guests deserved.

And what do they deserve?

It has a very fable, mythic feel to it. And the ending with the hallucinogens, what’s true what’s not? Is there a blue person?

And I researched the different characters and Tenochtitlan, so I feel that I have learnt something as well.

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May 22, 2026 · 3:15 pm

The Society of Literary Marauders – Sasha Wasley

The Society of Literary Marauders – Sasha Wasley

Miss A and I saw this at Boundless Books. And we were sold at ‘Austen for our times’!

I ended up listening to it – it was beautifully narrated by Eleanor Howell.

Here’s the blurb …

At Oxford University, 1928, four young women make a secret pledge: ‘I hereby undertake to take and read any book kept away from nice young ladies.’

They’ve come from unlikely corners of the British Empire: brickworker’s daughter Annie, wealthy flapper Ridley, refined Parsi aristocrat Dorelia and disheartened schoolteacher Norma. They call themselves the Society of Literary Marauders and the price of entry is having stolen a book.

Their illicit meetings rapidly become a lifeline in a world where knowledge is power, and women are fed lies and half-truths. They start with small misdemeanours – getting their hands on banned books, stealing back historical records claimed by the men’s colleges. But over time, they become aware of a true literary injustice – and they slowly formulate a plan to put this historical wrong to right…

This was very enjoyable. I loved all of the Oxford references, and all of the Western Australian references. The letters to Annie from her mum and Alf were hilarious. And Kit? What a fabulous character.

I have to admit that I thought Annie’s dislike of Kit went on a bit long (here I am talking about the characters like real people).

It was clearly well-researched, but that was just background to a good story.

Here is an interview with Sasha Wasley

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April 25, 2026 · 2:24 pm

The Hiding Place – Kate Mildenhall

The Hiding Place – Kate Mildenhall

I heard Kate speak at Beaufort Street Books and obviously I had to buy her book.

Here is the blurb …

When Lou sees an ad for a long-abandoned mining town up for sale, it doesn’t take her long to convince her sister and their oldest friends to go in on the idyllic property buried in the bush – a place where the four families can hide away on weekends, get back to nature and unstick the kids from their screens.

But things start to go wrong before they even arrive for their first camping trip – a rogue deer sends a trailer off the road, a neighbour complains about the fence line and squatters have set up camp down by the river. Soon none of that will matter, though, because by the end of the first night someone will be dead.

At first it seems that hiding a body is easier than keeping other sorts of secrets: a lost job, an illegal crop, an outrageous affair, a little embezzlement. But what’s buried has a way of coming to the surface, and even in the bush, it’s hard to remain unseen.

I think the comparison to White Lotus is very apt – none of these characters are particularly likeable. I thought it was going to be Australian Noir, but it’s not that. The story is told from different view points – and each of these characters has a secret (and they are all going to be outed by the end of the weekend). There are terrible decisions – a secret that spreads through the group and finally explodes into the light of day. A creepy neighbour, an even creepier squatter with a gun, and a group of self-absorbed entitled people – what could go wrong?

The writing is good and the sense of place superb – I could picture the pub and the creek, and the creepy man from next door (haven’t we all meet one of them?).

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April 23, 2026 · 3:05 pm

Emperor of Gladness – Ocean Vuong

The Emperor of Gladness – Ocean Vuong

I enjoyed On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous, so picked this one up when I saw it at my local bookstore. It did take me a while to get to it.

Here’s the blurb …

One late summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to transform Hai’s relationship to himself, his family, and a community on the brink.
 
Following the cycles of history, memory, and time, The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul. Hallmarks of Ocean Vuong’s writing—formal innovation, syntactic dexterity, and the ability to twin grit with grace through tenderness—are on full display in this story of loss, hope, and how far we would go to possess one of life’s most fleeting mercies: a second chance.

Ocean Vuong writes about the American underclass – the immigrants, the poor and the addicted, and he gives them dignity and agency. Plus his writing is beautiful.

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April 8, 2026 · 3:33 pm

Prophet – Helen MacDonald + Sin Blaché

Prophet – Helen MacDonals + Sin Blaché

I really enjoyed H is for Hawk. I saw this while on holiday in Dunsborough (here). I did know it was going to be completely different, but good writing is good writing.

Here’s the blurb …

A genre-bending, strikingly original tour-de-force about an unlikely spy duo on the most dangerous and otherwordly mission of their lives, from the New York Times–bestselling author of H is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald, and the stunning new voice of Sin Blaché.

Adam Rubinstein and Sunil Rao have been nemeses and reluctant partners since their Uzbekistan days. Adam is a seemingly unflappable American Intelligence officer; Rao is ex-MI6, an addict and rudderless pleasure-hound with an uncanny ability to discern the truth about anything and anyone—except Adam.

Adam and Rao have gone their separate ways until they are called back together when a full-sized, 1950s American diner shows up in an English farmer’s field and a mysterious death ensues. What follows is a reality-twisting, action-filled quest as the unlikely duo begin to uncover how and why people’s fondest memories are being manifested and weaponized against them, in increasingly bizarre and tangible forms, by a spooky, ever-shifting substance called Prophet. Adam and Rao must find a way to stop these malevolent entities from taking over a world that is just one perilous step from our own.

The brilliant minds of Helen Macdonald and Sin Blaché have created a tantalizing fusion of sci-fi, detective noir, action, and romance in this high-tension, fast-paced adventure. Prophet is a triumph of storytelling.

Like a lot of science fiction this was a bit too long. However, I loved the premise and the relationship between Adam and Rao. This novel has emotional heft – damaged people, working together to save the world. But at its heart it’s really about Adam and Rao, so relationships, courage and trust. And two people who really need to have a conversation.

A review

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