Category Archives: 5

August 17, 2025 · 11:53 am

Whose Body – Dorothy L Sayers

Whose Body – Dorothy L Sayers

After reading Square Haunting, I was keen to read Dorothy L Sayers. This is the first of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. I listened to this one, narrated by Robert Bathurst.

Here’s the blurb …

It was the body of a tall stout man. On his dead face, a handsome pair of gold pince-nez mocked death with grotesque elegance.

The body wore nothing else.

Lord Peter Wimsey knew immediately what the corpse was supposed to be. His problem was to find out whose body had found its way into Mr Alfred Thipp’s Battersea bathroom.

I loved it, and the crime was fiendish. All of the characters are brilliant – Lord Wimsey, his valet Bunter, fellow detective Mr Parker, and his mother the Dowager Duchess. I imagine all of these characters will reappear in future novels.

The setting is very 1920s London, with Lord Peter needing to dress appropriately for every social event, everyone is ‘jolly decent’ – even the murderer! These are well-written and lots of fun. I shall definitely be reading more. I am quite keen to get to Gaudy Night and Harriet Vane, but I shall read them in order.

A review.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 5, Audio, Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Recommended

Tagged as , , ,

August 16, 2025 · 2:01 pm

Square Haunting – Francesca Wade

Square Haunting – Francesca Wade

I bought this book pretty much as soon as it was published, and then in languished in my pile (pile of death my daughter calls it), but my random number generator selected it, and do I read it. Of the 60 books I have read so far this year, only 22 have been from the pile – I would like it to be half.

Here’s the blurb …

I like this London life . . . the street-sauntering and square-haunting.Virginia Woolf, diary, 1925

Mecklenburgh Square, on the radical fringes of interwar Bloomsbury, was home to activists, experimenters and revolutionaries; among them were the modernist poet H. D., detective novelist Dorothy L. Sayers, classicist Jane Harrison, economic historian Eileen Power, and writer and publisher Virginia Woolf. They each alighted there seeking a space where they could live, love and, above all, work independently.
Francesca Wade’s spellbinding group biography explores how these trailblazing women pushed the boundaries of literature, scholarship, and social norms, forging careers that would have been impossible without these rooms of their own.

Of the five women I knew two, Virginia Woolf and Dorothy L Sayers. I haven’t read any of Sayer’s work, but I have just started listening to Whose Body?, which I am very much enjoying.

The other three women were amazing, H. D (Hilda Doolittle), Jane Harrison, and Eileen Power were amazing and it’s appalling that they are so little known today. Eileen Power, in particular, was extremely prescient, discussing the East West divide and how dangerous it could be, and how divisive the dividing of the muslim countries by the allies after world was one would be.

These were liberated women trying to live independent lives – equal to men. They were interested in learning, and creating a better world, and believed that female involvement (collaboration and co-operation) was the way to do that.

The writing is lovely, it is very easy to read.

A review

1 Comment

Filed under 5, Biography, History, Non-Fiction, Paper, Serious

Tagged as , ,

August 14, 2025 · 2:02 pm

The Nature of the Beast (Gamache #11) – Louise Penny

The Nature of the Beast – Louise Penny

I love these books.

Here’s the blurb …

Hardly a day goes by when nine year old Laurent Lepage doesn’t cry wolf. From alien invasions, to walking trees, to winged beasts in the woods, to dinosaurs spotted in the village of Three Pines, his tales are so extraordinary no one can possibly believe him. Including Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache, who now live in the little Quebec village.

But when the boy disappears, the villagers are faced with the possibility that one of his tall tales might have been true.

And so begins a frantic search for the boy and the truth. What they uncover deep in the forest sets off a sequence of events that leads to murder, leads to an old crime, leads to an old betrayal. Leads right to the door of an old poet.

And now it is now, writes Ruth Zardo. And the dark thing is here.

A monster once visited Three Pines. And put down deep roots. And now, Ruth knows, it is back.

Armand Gamache, the former head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec, must face the possibility that, in not believing the boy, he himself played a terrible part in what happens next.

As usual this is beautifully written. There are lots of literary and biblical references. Plus some hints about what Gamache might do next (I started with number 12, so I know where he goes next). There is evil at the heart of this one, multiple deaths, a serial killer, spies and a reckoning for Ruth.

A review.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 5, Audio, Crime, Fiction, Recommended

Tagged as , , , ,

July 30, 2025 · 1:39 pm

Rise and Shine – Kimberley Allsopp

Rise and Shine – Kimberley Allsopp

I am not sure where I first heard about this novel. Possibly from one of the many book newsletters I receive. It took a while to track down, but in the end it was in the ‘Three for the price of Two’ section at Dymocks.

Here’s the blurb …

Charming, talky, wryly funny, poignant and original – Rise and Shine is a love story, yes, but it’s a love story that happens ten years into a marriage, when somebody wants out.

This is a story about marriage. It is also a story about life and love and happiness and the absence of happiness and what we need to do to find it again.

It’s a story about hope, baking, making music, lemon trees, painting, love, divorce, dogs, the families we create for ourselves, and the heat of the Brisbane sun.

It’s a story about August and Noah.

It begins at the end.

Rise and Shine is an utterly surprising delight, a break-up tale that is also a love story; endearing, astringent, talky, wry, wise, uplifting and so original.

First, I love that this novel is set in Australia.

It is a grown-up romance. The issues are real and no one is a villain. I loved all of the relationships – Noah and August, August and Regina, August and Jasper, Jasper and Noah, Noah and Adam, and Noah and Jeff. The writing is beautiful, there are poignant moments and funny moments.

A review.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 5, Australian, Fiction, Paper, Romance

Tagged as , ,

July 24, 2025 · 1:40 pm

Tea with Mr Rochester – Frances Towers

Tea With Mr Rochester – Frances Towers

I found this book in the Book Exchange at Margaret River and had to provide a home for a Perspehone book.

Here is the blurb …

When these captivating and at times bizarre stories were published posthumously in 1949, Angus Wilson wrote: ‘It appears no exaggeration to say that Frances Towers’s death in 1948 may have robbed us of a figure of more than purely contemporary significance. At first glance one might be disposed to dismiss Miss Towers as an imitation Jane Austen, but it would be a mistaken judgment, for her cool detachment and ironic eye are directed more often than not against the sensible breeze that blasts and withers, the forthright candour that kills the soul. Miss Towers flashes and shines now this way, now that, like a darting sunfish.’ ‘At her best her prose style is a shimmering marvel,’ wrote the Independent on Sunday, ‘and few writers can so deftly and economically delineate not only the outside but the inside of a character…There’s always more going on than you can possibly fathom.’ And the Guardian said: ‘Her social range may not be wide, but her descriptions are exquisite and her tone poised between the wry and the romantic.’

I loved it. They are all stories about love, mostly romantic love, but not all. The writing is beautiful. It reminded me a bit of LM Montgomery’s short story writing. I wish there was more I could read.

Tea with Mr Rochester page at Persephone Press.

A review.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 5, Fiction, Paper, Recommended, Short Stories

Tagged as , ,

July 22, 2025 · 3:08 pm

The Long Way Home (Gamache #10) – Louise Penny

The Long Way Home – Louise Penny

I love these Gamache novels. This one was more about finding a missing person (but don’t worry there was still a very well planned murder).

Here’s the blurb …

Happily retired in the village of Three Pines, Armand Gamache, former Chief Inspector of Homicide with the Sûreté du Québec, has found a peace he’d only imagined possible. On warm summer mornings he sits on a bench holding a small book, The Balm in Gilead, in his large hands. “There is a balm in Gilead,” his neighbor Clara Morrow reads from the dust jacket, “to make the wounded whole.”

While Gamache doesn’t talk about his wounds and his balm, Clara tells him about hers. Peter, her artist husband, has failed to come home. Failed to show up as promised on the first anniversary of their separation. She wants Gamache’s help to find him. Having finally found sanctuary, Gamache feels a near revulsion at the thought of leaving Three Pines. “There’s power enough in Heaven,” he finishes the quote as he contemplates the quiet village, “to cure a sin-sick soul.” And then he gets up. And joins her.

Together with his former second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and Myrna Landers, they journey deeper and deeper into Québec. And deeper and deeper into the soul of Peter Morrow. A man so desperate to recapture his fame as an artist, he would sell that soul. And may have. The journey takes them further and further from Three Pines, to the very mouth of the great St. Lawrence River. To an area so desolate, so damned, the first mariners called it “the land God gave to Cain.” And there they discover the terrible damage done by a sin-sick soul.

This one ventures out of Three Pines to the wilderness of Québec – there are small planes, rollicking boats (there is a bit of humour in the rooms they are assigned on the boat), art discussions – is there a 10th muse?, and is Ruth in love?

There is kindness, friendship, love and the occasional awful person.

A review.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 5, Audio, Crime, Fiction, Recommended

Tagged as , ,

July 21, 2025 · 10:16 am

Slags – Emma Jane Unsworth

Slags – Emma Jane Unsworth

I bought this solely for the title! From here. I always thought slag was an Australian word (like root and chook), but it must also be an English word.

Here’s the blurb …

Slag. Noun. A promiscuous woman, of cheap or questionable character. Mostly derogatory. Sometimes affectionate.

Takes one to know one…

Sisters Sarah and Juliette are going on a whisky-fuelled campervan road-trip across Scotland to celebrate Juliette’s birthday – and they’re going to dig up some demons from the past.

Sarah is 15.

SEXUAL 2.5 (one only went halfway in)

GREAT 1 (her English teacher Mr Keaveney, who definitely feels the same way)

Her annoying younger sister Juliette

Her best friend Nessa, boy band 4Princes

Sarah is 41.

SEXUAL Rather not say, but that last one was compellingly awful

GREAT Nope

Millennials like Juliette thinking they’ve got it bad

Fellow Gen X-ers

From the acclaimed author of ANIMALS and ADULTS, SLAGS is a no-holds-barred, frank and heartfelt exploration of sisterhood, friendship and teenage obsession.

I was at high school in the 80s and slag was used prolifically to insult girls (ya slag). I enjoyed this novel. It has two time periods – contemporary and when Sarah is 15 (alternating chapters). It is all from Sarah’s perspective, sometimes first person and sometimes third.

This is a novel that needs to be read more than once. There is an event early in the novel that seems incidental, but is in fact a triggering event for Sarah’s life.

This novel is about friendships, sisterly relationships, early sexual experiences and the narratives well tell ourselves (sometimes true, but also sometimes false).

A review.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 5, Fiction, Paper, Recommended

Tagged as , ,

July 20, 2025 · 3:05 pm

Hard By A Great Forest – Leo Vardiashvili

Hard By A Great Forest – Leo Vardiashvili

I heard the author interviewed on ABC Book Show and thought it sounded interesting, so I tracked down a copy – it did take me a while to get to it (my random number generator is working well).

Here’s the blurb …

Tbilisi’s littered with memories that await me like landmines. The dearly departed voices I silenced long ago have come back without my permission. The situation calls for someone with a plan. I didn’t even bring toothpaste.

Saba is just a child when he flees his home in Georgia with his older brother, Sandro, and father, Irakli, for asylum in the UK after Russia’s occupation of South Ossetia. Two decades later, all three men are struggling to make peace with the past, haunted by the places and people they left behind.

When Irakli decides to return to Georgia, pulled back by memories of a lost wife and a decaying but still beautiful homeland, Saba and Sandro wait eagerly for news. But within weeks of his arrival, Irakli disappears, and the final email they receive from him causes a mystery to unfold before ‘ My boys, I did something I can’t undo. I need to get away from here before those people catch me. Maybe in the mountains I’ll be safe. I left a trail I can’t erase. Do not follow it.’

In a journey that will lead him to the very heart of a conflict that has marred generations and fractured his own family, Saba must retrace his father’s footsteps to discover what remains of their homeland and its people. By turns savage and tender, compassionate and harrowing, Hard by a Great Forest is a powerful and ultimately hopeful novel about the individual and collective trauma of war, and the indomitable spirit of a people determined not only to survive, but to remember those who did not.

This was fabulous – it’s about war and displacement, grief, brothers and there is even a treasure hunt of sorts. Plus it is funny. There are a lot of literary references (I suspect some went over my head), Shakespeare, Charles Bukowski. There is also references to Hansel and Gretel and a trail of bread crumbs.

I can’t believe this hasn’t been more popular or won some awards (it has been nominated for some).

It’s an adventure story and a reckoning with the past.

A review.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 5, Fiction, Paper, Recommended, Serious

Tagged as , ,

July 19, 2025 · 3:53 pm

Maisie Dobbs – Jacqueline Winspear

Maisie Dobbs – Jacqueline Winspear

I have been wanting to read this book for ages, but it was difficult to find a copy. I just checked and there is a kindle version, so I am not sure what my problem was, but in the end I ordered it from Stefan’s Books.

Here’s the blurb …

Maisie Dobbs, Psychologist and Investigator, began her working life at the age of thirteen as a servant in a Belgravia mansion, only to be discovered reading in the library by her employer, Lady Rowan Compton. Fearing dismissal, Maisie is shocked when she discovers that her thirst for education is to be supported by Lady Rowan and a family friend, Dr. Maurice Blanche. But The Great War intervenes in Maisie’s plans, and soon after commencement of her studies at Girton College, Cambridge, Maisie enlists for nursing service overseas.
Years later, in 1929, having apprenticed to the renowned Maurice Blanche, a man revered for his work with Scotland Yard, Maisie sets up her own business. Her first assignment, a seemingly tedious inquiry involving a case of suspected infidelity, takes her not only on the trail of a killer, but back to the war she had tried so hard to forget.

I do enjoy things set in the early 20th century. This was delightful. Full of lovely historical detail with good characters and an intriguing mystery/crime to solve.

I believe there is eighteen books in the series, so that will keep me going for a while (plus I am still making my way through the Gamache series).

A review

Leave a Comment

Filed under 5, Crime, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Paper, Recommended

Tagged as , ,

July 6, 2025 · 4:33 pm

Confessions – Catherine Airey

Confessions – Catherine Airey

I am not sure why I selected this book. There are quotes by Miranda Cowley Heller and Yale van der Wouden, two authors I like, so maybe that was why?

Here’s the blurb …

An extraordinarily moving and expansive debut novel that follows three generations of women from New York to rural Ireland and back again.

It is late September in 2001 and the walls of New York are papered over with photos of the missing. Cora Brady’s father is there, the poster she made taped to columns and bridges. Her mother died long ago and now, orphaned on the cusp of adulthood, Cora is adrift and alone. Soon, a letter will arrive with the offer of a new life: far out on the ragged edge of Ireland, in the town where her parents were young, an estranged aunt can provide a home and fulfil a long-forgotten promise. There the story of her family is hidden, and in her presence will begin to unspool…

An essential, immersive debut from an astonishing new voice, Confessions traces the arc of three generations of women as they experience in their own time the irresistible gravity of the past: its love and tragedy, its mystery and redemption, and, in all things intended and accidental, the beauty and terrible shade of the things we do.

This is a female driven narrative told from several points of view. Probably my favourite type of novel. Mostly it is first person, but there is a second person section and an epistolary section – so interesting structurally. Time is not linear either – it moves forwards and backwards, depending on whose perspective we have. It touches on events in the wider world – 9/11, the abortion debate in Ireland, and gay marriage, but mostly it is about relationships – female relationships, sisters, friends, lovers, mothers, etc. The story unfolds gradually, I feel that the author trusts that the reader will understand and appreciate the subtlety and the nuance.

A superb debut! I look forward to reading more of her work.

A review.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 5, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Paper, Recommended, Serious

Tagged as , ,