The Golden Mole by Katherine Rundell

It can be easy to forget just how astonishingly wonderful and weird animals can be. Rundell has created a collection of short essays focusing on an array of creatures whose characteristics and histories are so extraordinary their very existence seems like a miracle worth preserving. Some such as the pangolin and narwhal are more exotic and some such as the bear and crow feel more commonplace. But the author teases out fascinating facts about all their behaviour and makeup which make us re-view the true beauty of these beings. From burrowing marsupials to ancient sharks that dwell in the depths of the ocean, we learn intriguing information about them as well as how many face destruction because of humans and the effects of climate change. There are also often details about the way these animals have held a certain place in our culture and politics leading us to either fear, harvest or revere them. Rather than attempting to give comprehensive accounts of all these creatures, Rundell consciously takes an idiosyncratic approach to alight upon curious information which sparks the readers imagination and sense of wonder.

As a way of winding down at the end of the day I'll often read aloud to my husband before bed. This collection made an excellent book for this routine as each section is usually only four-five pages long (the perfect amount before either or both of us grow too sleepy to continue.) It also made a delightful surprise to reveal what would be our “animal of the night”. There were many instances where we'd exclaim aloud at facts such as how “wolves are one of the very few animals who convey information with facial expressions” or how mating seahorses “dance” by changing colours, entwining tails and clicking at each other. I was particularly delighted to discover the first animal discussed in the book is the wombat since it's a favourite creature of mine. The beginning of each chapter comes with a beautiful custom illustration of each animal by Talya Baldwin which adds to the overall exquisite beauty of this edition which is adorned with gold foil. Such a level of attention rightly makes Rundell's nature book feel like a sacred text. Given that half of the author royalties are going to charities to push back climate change and environmental destruction, hopefully this publication will also do a little to help the creatures within it survive.

Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer

Having a serious illness inevitably changes a person's relationship to their own body. This is the experience which is creatively and movingly dramatised in Maddie Mortimer's debut novel. Lia is a writer and artist who illustrates children's guides to the body as well as being a wife and mother. At the beginning of the novel she receives the news that her cancer has recurred and she will have to undergo another cycle of brutal treatment. The story follows Lia and her family's extremely challenging process of dealing with this and come to terms with her past. While they love and support Lia through this illness, her adolescent daughter Iris and her academic husband Harry struggle to deal with their own issues because ordinary life doesn't stop.

Running alongside the tale of their lives is a narrative voice which is marked in bold type. The identity of this narrator is intentionally elusive as it could be interpreted as the disease, Lia's body, a projection of her psyche (feelings of guilt, anger or restlessness) or genetics itself as it travels through generations. The voice is sporadic at first, but it comes to have a stronger and more prominent presence in the story. It's both an antagonist and a reliably familiar presence in Lia's life. It can be at turns mischievous and funny in its (high and low) cultural references as well as threatening and manipulative. Though it can feel disarming to have this odd presence amidst a more traditional narrative it comes to feel like an integral part of the story and makes sense since when our lives are disrupted by serious illness it can feel like another entity with its own agenda is constantly with us.

I was somewhat hesitant to start this book since people very close to me have struggled with cancer, but I ultimately found it extremely beneficial reading such an impressive debut novel. It helped me process my feelings surrounding this condition and the emotional and practical implications of dealing with such an illness. The story sympathetically shows how everyone has their own unique ways of coping with the life altering challenges which accompany cancer. It's also extremely artful how Mortimer describes methods of viewing the body and how we can reconsider our relationship to our physical being. There are also multiple emotionally-charged scenes which I know will stick with me such as when Iris undergoes a painful stunt to impress the school bully only for it to backfire and when Lia is groped on a train by a group of raucous lads. Scenes of strife are also mixed in with moments of tenderness such as when Harry cares for Lia or when Iris and Lia playfully come up with multiple creative answers for Lia's school test questions.

There were some moments where it feels like the author is controlling the nebulous voice to make a statement or get a point across rather than it coming organically, but for the most part it feels like an authentic presence that Lia is inextricably linked to. I was also somewhat uncertain if the scenes from Lia's early life were necessary to flash back to, but ultimately this comes together to make a poignant statement about how the past and present intersect, just as the beginning of life/potential of life circles back to our lives' inevitable end. Overall I was impressed by the scope and ingenuity of this novel to give a different perspective on the physical and mental process of illness. It's a moving and memorable experience reading it.

A Line in the World by Dorthe Nors (translated by Caroline Waight)

I enjoyed the unique narrative of Dorthe Nors' novel “Mirror, Shoulder, Signal” so I was curious to experience her first book of nonfiction which is a meditation on the coast of her native Jutland. She visits various points along the line of the map where the land meets the North Sea including villages, churches, lighthouses, power stations and surfing beaches. It's an area where she was raised and where she currently lives, but she poignantly captures the seemingly paradoxical sense of being from this place as well as being a perpetual outsider. She frequently refers to the “schism” where identity is formed. This is an intersection between time, memory, landscape and community which the individual uneasily occupies. At the same time she reflects upon her personal history as well as the factual and mythic history of the people found here. However, she realises that there cannot be one true chronicle as details of the past become muddled: “When does a story begin? Always somewhere else, always further back in the text, beyond the horizon, in the unknown”. What she offers instead is a personalised view of the beauty and dangers of this natural environment as well as the courageousness, warmth and occasional narrow mindedness of its people.

The memoirist style of this book is pleasurably meandering and broody. Specific instances of erosion, pollution, religious conflict and colonialism have affected different areas of this landscape. Nors shows how these issues raise larger points regarding how the narrative of history is formed and the function of community. I was reminded of Keegan's novel “Small Things Like These” when she describes the tension surrounding how locals want to defend a local company because it employees so many people, but at the same time it's poisoning the land and water with chemical waste. Nors meaningfully recounts the mission of Denmark's first environmental activist known as 'Amber Aage' and observes how “The silence that can close around someone who says what mustn't be said in a small community isn't for the faint of heart.” The drive to maintain the status quo is also reflected in the way women have been traditionally treated in this location and how outsiders are regarded with suspicion because of provincial attitudes that: “Big cities, free speech and foreign lures are the work of the devil.” At the same time Nors recounts the humour and warmth she experiences with many of this coastline's inhabitants. I admire the way she shows how we can have so many mixed feelings about our homeland and how it's an inextricable part of our character.

Spike by Jeremy Farrar with Anjana Ahuja

The recent pandemic was such a world changing event which altered all our lives, but I think so many of us were left reeling as it happened so fast and we all had to scramble to understand what was going on. So it's invaluable to read the inside perspective of someone who is an expert on infectious diseases and who was one of the first people to hear about this mysterious new respiratory disease in China. Jeremy Farrar traces the history of this pandemic from the first outbreak, explains the nature of the disease and why a failure to properly contain and report on it helped it to spread across the globe. The title refers not only to spikes in infections as the disease was traced through different countries, but also the spike protein found on the surface of Covid-19 virus cells which aids it in invading the body. Not only does he give an inside perspective on the medical channels across the globe which sought to understand it and rapidly develop a vaccine, but as a member of the SAGE emergency committee he gives an invaluable perspective on the UK's uneven plan for dealing with this outbreak.

It's sobering to think how the pandemic could have been responded to so much better, but also terrifying to realise it could have been so much worse if it weren't for the valiant efforts of certain scientists, leaders and medical professionals! Farrar highlights some of the real heroes, but also politicians who failed to act on the best advice or actively lied to the public at different points: “Ministers were not following the science even if they said they were.” The author doesn't mince his words in condemning Boris Johnson and his cabinet for their arrogance, incompetence and lack of planning which led to unnecessary deaths and societal chaos. It's pointed out how the idea of “herd immunity” is a dangerous notion without any basis in scientific fact. He also humbly admits how a lack of information led him to hesitate at certain points when he should have acted more forcefully. Understandably, he also seriously considered the possibility of certain conspiracies such as the theory that the disease was created in a lab and accidentally released – a notion which has now been judged to be absolutely false. Farrar describes the heart racing stress at certain points of not only realising the seriousness of this highly infectious disease, but knowing how improper government handling was going to lead to it spreading more and causing many more deaths.

The book concludes with some sensible advice about the way in which governing bodies and scientific cooperation across the globe can help prepare us for future pandemics and prevent them from being as destructive as Covid-19. There are many financial and political challenges which will make following these steps difficult, but it's vital to address these issues. It felt somewhat triggering to mentally return to this tense time period. However, I think this book gives an essential understanding of the pandemic which we can learn a lot from as well as standing as an invaluable document to historically catalogue what actually happened.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver uses the same structure and moral imperative of Dickens' “David Copperfield” to tell the enthralling and utterly convincing fictional story of Demon Copperhead, a charismatic boy born into an impoverished area of contemporary rural America. His real name is Damon Fields but he bears the nickname of the title which is what people called him as a boy because of his absent father who had a snake tattoo and copper-wire hair. But also it's a moniker he proudly adopts as a way of asserting his individuality and “You can't deny, it's got a power to it.” In a charmingly conversational and evocative manner he recounts the story of his life from his birth up through to his adulthood having survived an abusive stepfather, a mother grappling with substance abuse, foster care where he's forced into farm labour and drug addiction borne out of America's surging opioid crisis. There's a physicality to the language of this narrative which evokes the feel and texture of this adolescent boy's existence. His fiery spirit, wicked sense of humour and rational ability to navigate the challenges of his circumstances make his narrative mesmerising. Through his eyes we witness the state of a country where individuals in Demon's position can fall between the cracks and suffer from the stereotypes made about people in rural and low income areas.

It was especially meaningful reading this novel after having previously read Patrick Radden Keefe's searing nonfiction account “Empire of Pain” concerning the Sackler family's involvement in the pharmaceutical industry. This background knowledge of the financial drive to prescribe the drug OxyContin despite its highly addictive nature was useful as a large portion of the novel is concerned with characters unwittingly caught in this system – although I don't think it would have prevented me from appreciating the story if I hadn't been aware of it already. The way in which Kingsolver has dramatised this conflict and crisis powerfully shows the social and psychological implications of health services which are driven by profit rather than the welfare of patients. Demon is part of a whole generation whose early lives were stymied or cut short because of this drug and its addictive effects. The tragic way this plays out in the story makes this far-reaching issue intensely felt and it's utterly heartbreaking knowing this is merely one of countless examples of this drug's virulent influence.

I also appreciated the way this novel gives a complex picture of its hero's ethnicity. Demon knows he's from Melungeon heritage, but he only understands the real meaning of this over the course of the story. It taps into a whole history of citizens who experienced prejudice but were excluded from legal protection as their mixed racial heritage meant they didn't fit into a legally defined category. As he becomes more aware of the past and his position in the world, Demon comes to understand why some people react to him in the way they do and call him certain names. Through slurs to do with his race and regionality he comes to understand “A thing grows teeth when it's put into words.” Yet he also learns that terms intended to wound can be reclaimed and used to empower those who experience the deleterious effects of bigotry. This leads Demon to artistically harness satire as a means of counteracting the stereotypes inflicted upon him and those he loves in a cartoon series he draws titled “RedNeck”. Through his humour and intelligence, he's able to emerge from his perilous circumstances and fraught journey as a survivor with an important story to tell.

Terminal Zones by Gareth E Rees

Existential angst meets the climate crisis in this thoughtful and entertaining short story collection. Nearly every tale in this book makes reference to an impending environmental disaster whether it's two female friends living in a cliff edge home that's literally collapsing into the sea or a mother who ingests the constant news of climate change and feels “It was the end of the world and she was totally bored.” This psychological swerving between intense alarm and resigned tedium poignantly reflects the modern experience of watching the world rapidly change around us. Rees dramatises this state of being in imaginative ways including a research ship which ventures into the arctic only to encounter new/ancient forms of sinister spores and sentient bacteria, an animal park/refuge that literally goes up in flames and a dystopian future-set story about a reclusive oligarch's scheme to harness the world's first living computers. Other stories show characters developing surprising emotional attachments to seemingly anonymous concrete and metallic structures whether it's a girl finding paternal feeling in a Motorway Bridge or a new father who falls romantically in love with a pylon. It's moving how the author demonstrates the multifarious ways this admirably diverse set of characters' lives play out in the anonymous interstices of parking lots or seemingly barren fields. Rees' fiction brings to the forefront the experience of individuals in rural England who are often marginalized and relegated to the fringes of society.

Many of these psychologically complex stories are imbued with suspense and horror which makes them riveting to read. A social outcast attempts to harness astrological powers to prevent a crisis with disastrous results. One of the most disturbing tales embeds us in the consciousness of a psychopath who feels threatened by his professionally successful wife and becomes disturbingly obsessed with disposing of his household waste in their new home outside of London. Other pieces in this collection show sympathetic individuals who have grown world weary by the uneasy transition from the freedoms/possibilities of early adulthood to the responsibility-laden experiences of parenthood and home ownership. Rees also experiments with form in his stories. One of the most ambitious of these is 'The Levels' where modern life intersects with ancient occult figures in a time-bending location between land and sea. The variety in structure is consistently intriguing as is the astute levels of social commentary charting not only the climate crisis but the way society is drifting into repressive forms where the public “didn't really know what was going on. The media were in the service of the government, and the government was in the service of oligarchs”. It's also very satisfying reading this collection from start to finish as the closing story neatly makes a brief reference to events which occurred in the first. Fans of Jessie Greengrass and Sequoia Nagamatsu will particularly enjoy these stories. This is socially engaged and inventive fiction at its best.

ti amo by Hanne Ørstavik (translated by Martin Aitken)

Norwegian author Hanne Ørstavik (author of the brilliant novella “Love”) gives an account of a protagonist whose life closely resembles her own as the author of a number of novels. The story follows the time between the narrator’s husband receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis and his death in this frank and incredibly moving story. What makes it feel all the more immediate and personal is that she writes it in the second person present tense speaking directly to her husband. She describes the emotional and physical trials they face as well as the blurred line between her deep devotion to him and a desire to continue living after his inevitable end. Every moment begins to feel precious as “death has become an attendant presence, everything's just the way it is, I'm here with you and soon you won't be here any more.” It's both a confession about this hard reality and an exquisitely composed hymn to their love.

One of the most striking things in this account are moments of unexpected humour which feel all the more buoyant because the couple are aware that the possibility of tragedy is so near. It's what makes their experience so relatable and real. Equally, the narrator is caught off guard by the passion she feels for another man during a work trip to Mexico. She naturally feels guilty about this but it's admirable she states her honest feelings and reaction to a highly pressurised situation. Though grief can be overwhelming, there is also the human drive to connect and create amidst devastating loss. While this tale is naturally a sorrowful and sobering read, it's also exquisitely beautiful how Ørstavik captures the final fleeting months of this rare relationship.

Cells by Gavin McCrea

Amidst the anxiety and tumult of the recent lockdown, being restricted indoors for long periods of time inspired many people to seriously reflect about both the past and future. Slightly before the pandemic, novelist Gavin McCrea (author of the excellent “Mrs Engels” and “The Sisters Mao”) had moved back in with his mother in Dublin during a writing residency. While there he worked to complete his second novel and care for his mother who showed signs of early dementia. As the country locked down, he found himself confined in the home and country which he'd previously vowed never to return to. Amidst the relatively peaceful daily routines in the rooms/cells of this small apartment, a tension mounted regarding unresolved issues to do with McCrea's uniquely challenging upbringing and school life where he experienced years of daily homophobic abuse. He deeply felt that “The problem was that I did not feel at home in my own home.” This account is his personal reckoning with that history, a confrontation with the woman who gave birth to him and an account of the formation of his distinct artistic sensibility.

It's a heartrending experience reading about McCrea's strife in his family and community which naturally leads to intense feelings of pain, suffering, anger, frustration and isolation. However, he is not self-pitying. Instead he seeks to articulate and understand his position and the factors which lead to this situation. There's a rare honesty in how he interrogates the past and the human body itself. He examines the light/dark in himself and those around him including his reserved father who committed suicide and the untrustworthy boyfriend who infected him with HIV. Rather than allowing these tragedies to overwhelm him, they add to his fuel for artistic literary expression. The blunt fact of his survival through these tribulations heighten the moments of rare joy in this memoir such as quietly watching his mother enjoy a book or taking tearful pride in seeing a stack of his novels on sale in a bookshop.

While it's admirable that he extends empathy and patient understanding to people who have wounded him (including a gang of homophobic Irish adolescent boys who violently beat him a few months prior to lockdown), I wish McCrea had spent more time recounting the ways in which certain people have enhanced his life. Figures such as a steadfast childhood friend and his supportive literary agent only get brief mentions. If equal weight had been attributed to them in this dissection of his life it may have given more lightness and balance to this largely elucidating account of trauma. Nevertheless, it's an extremely edifying experience reading this inspiring story. By making his life the subject, McCrea shows how the individual spirit is both beautifully fragile and frightfully robust. Not only does the title refer to our biological makeup, but also the emotional/physical state of being a prisoner in one's own home, country and society. McCrea describes the challenges and (sometimes) impossibility of escaping from these circumscribed aspects of being in a deeply relatable and intelligent way.

The British Academy Book Prize for Global Understanding 2022 shortlist

Although I primarily read fiction I've been wanting to add more nonfiction to my TBR pile. In addition to reading nonfiction books about subjects I'm naturally interested in I also like to peruse book prize lists for guidance and recommendations of the best new nonfiction out there. The British Academy Book Prize for Global Understanding always offers an interesting selection of books which give informed accounts about subjects related to certain regions or countries. Through these compelling narratives and histories the authors also indicate how these issues effect the rest of the globe and help us appreciate our positions as citizens of the wider world. The books selected are also highly readable making it easy for anyone to enjoy and understand the subjects being discussed.

This year's winner will be announced on October 26 and there will be a free public event on October 24 (taking place in person and online) where all the shortlisted authors will be interviewed and discuss their work. These books come with stories from around the world from Chile to post-war Germany to China to life in a remote Swedish village. They encompass themes from the invention of the telephone and its impact on the deaf community to developing a more global understanding of the history of science – did you know Einstein's studies in quantum mechanics were inspired by the Bengali physicist Satyendra Nath Bose?! Or that it was the 17th century African botanist Graman Kwasi who discovered a cure for malaria? You can watch me discussing the prize and all six of the shortlisted titles here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmPNDjVE6iM

I just finished reading Jing Tsu's fascinating “Kingdom of Characters” which looks at the evolution and transformation of written Chinese over the past century which led the country to becoming one of the world's biggest superpowers. I enjoyed how she selected specific individuals who were instrumental in adapting the language so it could be more easily learned and replicated by citizens in China itself and foreigners. We follow these stories through periods of massive political and technological change. She gives accounts of rebel librarians and oppressed women who developed a secret language of their own. It's a fascinating and comprehensive account which helped me not only better understand the language itself but also China's relationship to the rest of the world.

Have you read any of these titles and what's the best nonfiction you've read recently?

The Booker Prize 2022 Winner

It's been really interesting following the Booker Prize this year. It highlighted some books which were already recent favourites including “Small Things Like These”, “The Colony”, “The Trees”, “Nightcrawling” and “Glory”. But it also encouraged me to pick up other excellent novels such as “Booth”, “Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies” and this year's deserving winner “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida”.

I had the great privilege of attending the celebration and announcement for the prize. Before the event began of I was able to see the authors looking at the one-of-a-kind special editions of their novels. I also had a little talk with Shehan Karunatilaka beforehand and I got to ask him a question at the press conference after the ceremony. You can watch a video of this and my vlog about the rest of the evening here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMeaGY-hefA

I had lovely chats with Maddie Mortimer, Percival Everett, Elif Shafak, a judge of next year’s Booker International Prize and some fellow bookstagrammers. Dua Lipa led us in singing happy to Alan Garner who was on a video call. I lost my glasses and found my glasses. It was all quite a whirlwind!

Since the protagonist of Karunatilaka’s novel is a gambler it felt appropriate to place a bet on “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida” and it was my favourite to win. So it paid off, but moreover I'm thrilled with this result as the novel is such an entertaining and insightful story. It's a suspenseful mystery, a reckoning with Sri Lanka's war torn history, a creepy ghost story and a moving meditation on the meaning of life. I’m glad more people will be discovering it now.

Have you read Maali Almeida yet? What do you think of the result?

50 Books to Read if...

Eek! My 2 new books have just been published! It's so thrilling being able to finally hold actual physical copies of these books after working so hard on them. If you want to see a video of me opening up a box of them for the first time and explaining more about them head over to my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64ksvY1omQE

Earlier this year I was commissioned to write these little beauties which are lists of 50 great romances & 50 great mysteries. Each book listed includes descriptions, fun info and lovely illustrations. They are interactive TBRs where you can give star ratings, notes or list your own favourite books in these genres.

Although my choices are all excellent reads, I didn't intend these lists of books to be the “50 greatest of all time” but give a wide selection of classic, contemporary, literary, popular and more obscure choices. They are meant as fun gift books which will hopefully inspire people who love these genres to try some titles they've not read before.

And, yes, each book includes a title by JCO!

You can purchase copies from anywhere in the world using these links…

50 Books to Read if You're an Armchair Detective: https://tidd.ly/3VvdrJt

50 Books to Read if You're a Hopeless Romantic: https://tidd.ly/3rHFMyt

If you get a copy let me know how many you’ve read from each list. These are really meant as conversation starters so I'd love to know about your favourite novel with a strong romantic theme and your favourite mystery novel of all time.

Treacle Walker by Alan Garner

This slender fable-like novel was a bit of a head scratcher. Having seen the baffled responses from a number of readers I was prepared for a cryptic tale going into this book and I think it's fair to be warned that it's not a standard narrative. At its centre is a boy with a lazy eye named Joseph Coppock who lives on his own reading comics, collecting odd bits from nature and playing with marbles. One day the eponymous Treacle Walker, a rag-and-bone man (someone who travels around a certain area collecting unwanted household items and clothing) approaches his house. Joseph barters with this pungent man exchanging a literal rag (old pyjamas) and bone for some mysterious items that provoke magical occurrences. The boy enters into a journey through time, the imagination and possibly beyond the boundaries of life. Along the way he interacts with some odd figures from a time guardian who dwells in a bog to characters from his Knockout comic to a summoned cuckoo to a double of himself. Though the primary drive for this story is Joseph's shift in seeing and a quest to prevent magical elements from entering into his dimension, the overall meaning of this fantastical story remains open to interpretation.

In a way I admire how Garner excavates elements from English folklore to entirely refashion them in a tale that seems to literally exist out of time. The novel is unapologetically strewn with antiquated terms, references to items specific to Cheshire, elements from Garner's previous books and entirely invented words. However, those not familiar with any of these things will be quite disorientated throughout much of the novel. Fiction shouldn't necessarily define its terminology and it can be a pleasure using stories as a springboard to learn more about a particular culture and locale. Looking up colloquialisms and vernacular language such as a donkey stone and terms like “shufti” yields a bit more understanding, but I doubt this book will be comprehensible to anyone who doesn't originate from this area of England and hasn't grown up reading Garner's children books. So it's no wonder that some readers have been impatient with it.

This novel certainly has charm. The sections I found most striking were when characters from the comic break out from the boundaries of their black boxes and Joseph races through multiple mirrors. This sort of captivating imagery makes me feel a childish wonder again. I can imagine being completely compelled by this novel if I'd read it as an adolescent. Larger themes to do with local history/mythology and questions to do with the boundaries of the imagination and the way our brains organize time make the story intellectually engaging. It's a fable whose meaning would morph if it were read and reread over the course of a lifetime. However, my initial impression is more of curious amusement like experiencing a disorientating dream that makes little obvious sense. Maybe it'll haunt me over time and I'm sure the next time I hear the sound of a cuckoo I'll feel a shiver down my spine.

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout

It's been several years since Strout first started writing about this particular reflective heroine beginning with “My Name is Lucy Barton” and continuing aspects of her story through the books “Anything is Possible” and “Oh William!” - though I'd say this new novel is the most straightforward sequel yet as events follow directly on from the end of that third novel. Lucy's later life becomes even more entangled with her first husband William as the recent pandemic hits America and they go into lockdown together in a borrowed coastal house in Maine. Lucy recounts her difficulty navigating this intense period of time and describes new discoveries regarding her personal history and events to do with her family life.

By now Lucy has come to feel like an old friend. I have a deep affection towards her but I also find her slightly irritating. She has a particular idiosyncratic way in which she sifts through the past alighting upon significant moments she remembers with great clarity while other aspects of her personal history and life seem mysterious to her. Of course, this is very relatable and it's what gives Strout's stories great humanity. But Lucy's ponderousness and low self-esteem can also be trying. This is certainly deliberate as William and her adult daughters occasionally express their impatience with her. However, as we come to understand the continuing impact her impoverished and difficult familial relationships have had upon her life these aspects of her personality make much more sense.

My experience of this novel was influenced by reading the entire book aloud to my husband while we were on a recent long road trip. It really brought the story to life as we laughed or gasped at certain parts and discussed it in between sections. As always I'm delighted at affectionate jibes Strout makes about life in Maine such as how fiercely cold it gets, but there's also a particular reason why Lucy intensely hates being cold. Strout also doesn't shrink from revealing darker aspects of Maine life such as the insular nature of some of its citizens who are hostile to outsiders. Since Lucy's narrative is quite straightforward and chatty it made reading it aloud particularly pleasurable. I think there's also a deceptive simplicity to Strout's writing which touches upon really profound subject matter from the evolving nature of love to deep political divisions in America while also representing the foibles and peculiar details which make us human.

Barton drops in plenty of “catch up” information throughout this novel in case readers haven't read or have forgotten details from the previous books. So it can certainly be read as a stand-alone book. However, I can't imagine coming to this novel without having read the previous books and my appreciation and understanding of it was certainly enhanced since I've travelled the entirely of this extensive journey with Lucy. A knowledge of Barton's entire oeuvre is also handy as characters from her previous books such as “The Burgess Boys”, “Olive Kitteridge” and “Olive, Again” make appearances in this new novel. Knowing something of these additional characters gives Lucy's interactions with them an added poignancy and also gave me a feeling of being fully immersed in the fictional alternate universe which Barton has created.

Many dramatic things occur in this novel and shocking secrets are revealed. There's an acknowledge irony to this since it's also about a period of time stuck in a house where circular routines are established and nothing of significance seems to occur for many months. It's an ideal time for mulling things over and Lucy also develops some strong connections with a few local individuals. The story builds to quite a moving conclusion where Lucy arrives at certain revelations. At the same time, she knows the future is always unclear and she becomes equally sure that she knows nothing. This really embodies the quiet genius of this character and it's no doubt why Strout has a continuing preoccupation with Lucy's story. One of Lucy's mortal fears is how we never know when we might see someone for the last time. I don't know if this will be the last book to feature Lucy Barton, but I'm certainly glad to have encountered her again and this latest novel has given me an even deeper appreciation for the previous books.

Babysitter by Joyce Carol Oates

The opening of “Babysitter” obsessively focuses on a few moments in time as a woman ascends in a glass hotel elevator to the 61st floor and walks down a corridor to a room with a sign on the door that loudly declares “PRIVACY PLEASE! DO NOT DISTURB”. Hannah is a wealthy wife and mother living in a Detroit suburb in the 1970s. She has arrived for an assignation and to engage in an affair with a mysterious man she met briefly at a party. Like in a fairy tale, violating the message on this door and entering the room will irrevocably alter her life to liberate or destroy it. However, this story isn't as concerned with consequences as it is in moments in our life when there is a profound shift from one stage to another. So the narrative catches in a time loop like a snippet of film which plays over and over: “The vision overcame her. And this, too, cinematic, in a flash. Yet, strangely, not a vision so much as a memory.” The style of detailing the minutiae of a seemingly ordinary action is reminiscent of Nicholson Baker's “The Mezzanine” and by following Hannah in these brief moments we come to understand her position in life and her milieu of white upper class privilege. She is a passive woman living amongst deadly powerful men who make their own rules and dominate the people around them. This novel presents a vivid, hallucinatory and thought-provoking portrait of those whose lives brush against an elusive serial killer preying upon children.

It's easy to criticise a character such as Hannah who is preoccupied with brand labels and social status. She takes her housekeeper Ismelda for granted as she's frequently left to care for Hannah's children and Hannah's grand house. Hannah neglects her children unless she's being hysterically attentive to them. But she also had a difficult upbringing with a possibly violent/abusive father. Her husband is frequently absent and callous towards her. She seems to have no close friends and she becomes trapped in a perilous or even deadly situation. As she gradually becomes aware of the danger of the men around her, she becomes trapped in a circumstance where she's completely lost control. The story also focuses on a young man named Mikey who was an orphan and comes from a troubled background. He's a sort of fixer that takes care of dodgy jobs for nefarious men. Just like Hannah, he underestimates the absolute power and sway of these men who only show favour to Hannah and Mikey when they can use them. However, Mikey is a chameleon who reinvents himself and develops a psychological armour to shield himself from the world. He's lawless but has a moral centre from which he deals out his own sense of justice. It feels tragic that there is a deep disconnect between Hannah and Mikey because they could be natural allies, but they have such different personalities and ways of coping.

The story doesn't only report on the murder of children by a deranged serial killer, but also the state sanctioned murder of an innocent black man who is targeted by police after Hannah returns to her home in a dishevelled and damaged state. Yet the public accept this as justified and it quickly passes out of their minds. Oates' National Book Award winning 1969 novel “them” is partly about the racial tensions which led to a “riot” or “rebellion” in Detroit in 1967. The endemic racism in the city is still very present during the later 1970s when “Babysitter” is set and the shadow of these events loom over the characters. In his racist paranoia, Hannah's husband is quick to persecute a black man regardless of his total innocence. As always in Oates' fiction, notions of justice don't naturally align with the law as the ideologies governing these characters' lives are the truly ruling factor. It's hypnotic how this novel captures the resulting psychological chaos of living in a world of predators and prey. The tension of whether this horrific serial killer will be stopped is depicted alongside a woman whose reality is broken as she's trapped in a perpetual nightmare.

You can watch me discuss “Babysitter” with Joyce Carol Oates here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StX-dEuDo3A

The Booker Prize 2022 Shortlist

Here are the 6 novels shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize! A new video is up on my YouTube channel discussing all these books and fun info about the list as well as the exciting news that the Booker is sponsoring me to follow this year's shortlist: https://youtu.be/rJeF4NoymaA Yes, she is official! This is a lovely thing which will allow me to engage with readers even more than I usually do about this prize season, but I'll continue to give my honest thoughts about the nominated books and the list as a whole.

I correctly predicted that 4 of these novels would make the shortlist and I've read 5 of them. I'm thrilled Bulawayo, Everett, Keegan and Karunatilaka made it! Their novels are extraordinarily clever, emotional and excellently written. Moreover they are all a JOY to read. Though this novel by Strout isn't my favourite or one of my personal tops from the longlist or my fav from the Lucy Barton series (the 4th novel in the series “Lucky by the Sea” will be published in the UK on Oct 6th), I love her writing and this is a very moving and deceptively simple story. I've not read Garner's short novel yet but I've heard such mixed opinions I'm so intrigued to get to it.

It is a shame “The Colony” by Audrey Magee and “Nightcrawling” by Leila Mottley didn't make the shortlist. I loved both of these and would encourage anyone who hasn't yet read them to get to these as well. There are also other books from the longlist I've not read yet which I'm still intending to explore.

What do you think of the list? Any favourites, disappointments or books you're looking forward to?

I'm looking forward to following this exciting prize season even more closely!