I cannot recommend this book highly enough, in fact Magpie Lane could be my book of the year. Yes, I know it’s only the first of May, but this hauntinI cannot recommend this book highly enough, in fact Magpie Lane could be my book of the year. Yes, I know it’s only the first of May, but this haunting tale of family life among the privileged cloisters of Oxford academia will be tough to beat.
Eight-year-old Felicity is missing, and suspicion falls upon her middle-aged Scottish nanny, Dee, a secretive, prickly character whom we only get to know slowly (and whom we never quite trust, but maybe that’s just me.) To say Felicity has issues is putting it mildly; mourning the loss of her mother, frightened by the strange old house, she’s a selective mute, physically incapable of speaking to all but a select few. Her high-achieving father and glamorous Scandinavian stepmother seem oblivious to her pain, leaving her to rely increasingly upon Dee, who responds in turn to the lonely lost little girl.
And then Felicity is really lost. A frantic police hunt ensues. The narrative alternates between Dee in police custody, interviewed by increasingly suspicious officers, and fending off her employers’ accusations (which seem outlandish, but are they?) and flashbacks when we learn more about Dee’s life with this dysfunctional and disturbing family.
I am in awe of how Lucy Atkins writes about Oxford. I know to my cost how hard it is to set a novel in so famous a city, but Lucy gets under its skin, revealing its dark and haunting secrets; she shows us an Oxford beneath the surface. This book toys with the Gothic, but with a very light touch, the creepiness is subtle, the sense of dread so cleverly woven into the day-to-day narrative that we hardly notice until we find ourselves terrified.
I’m a couple of chapters away from finishing as I write this and hardly dare go on. I so much want it to end well for Dee, Felicity (and Linklater, the weirdest love-interest ever) but don’t see how it possibly can. Whatever happens, though, I know I’m in safe hands. Lucy Atkins is an astonishing story-teller. ...more
“It was a strange feeling, that he would be outlived by his socks.”
The Exiteers (there’s something so wonderfully Stephen King-esque about that name)“It was a strange feeling, that he would be outlived by his socks.”
The Exiteers (there’s something so wonderfully Stephen King-esque about that name) are a West Country based secret society that supports an individual’s right to choose the time and place of his own death - and offers practical help along the way. 75-year-old Felix Pink is an experienced member who’s provided comfort and solace to many terminally ill in their final moments. But a job with new partner, Amanda, goes badly wrong when the wrong patient dies. Was it a dreadful accident, or has Felix been set up? Determined to do the right thing, Felix finds one barrier after another on his road to redemption.
Equally at a loss with life is reluctant detective Calvin Bridge, who wants nothing more than a) an easy, stress-free existence and b) to keep his family’s criminal past a secret. The narrative of Exit follows the two men in turn as they wend their way through this fresh, constantly surprising, comedy of errors.
A comedy, you say? From the queen of suspense, Ms Bauer?
Euthenasia is a difficult subject, and this could have been a very dark book, but it is testament to Bauer’s skill as a writer that she makes it the opposite. Exit is warm, funny and honest, constantly life affirming, whilst never making light of the subject matter at its heart.
I’ve made no secret of being a massive Belinda Bauer fan: her books are always original, stylish and superbly written. This one, though, is a rare joy – a crime novel that manages to be moving, funny and uplifting. It is the perfect book for these grim times. ...more
Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist with the states of North Carolina, US and Montreal, Canada, isn’t in the best place. She has ongoing healtTemperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist with the states of North Carolina, US and Montreal, Canada, isn’t in the best place. She has ongoing health problems and has had a major - and public - disagreement with her new boss: a woman for whom Tempe has zero professional respect. Her consultancy work has dried up and when the book opens, she’s pretty much out in the cold. So, when a faceless, handless corpse, mutilated by wild hogs turns up, any investigative work she does is entirely unofficial. She pretty much becomes a private investigator, helped at times by a police officer mate. From there on, the plot gets a bit complicated. The dead man, who has several identities, might or might not have links to long missing children. Conspiracy theories abound, the dark web features frequently, Tempe might have a stalker, who might be the faceless corpse, and there was a government sponsored sinking of a Russian ship on which thousands of people died. I might have got that wrong. A few days after I finished the book, much of the detail has slipped away. All in all, this was a fairly unmemorable book. Years ago, I was a massive Kathy Reichs fan. I loved her first novel, Deja Dead, and the following three or four in the series. Her books were stylish, original and thrilling. She was a new and addictive voice in crime fiction, with stunningly inventive plots and fascinating forensic detail. Nineteen novels on, I’m not so sure. The plot of this one felt stretched, over-complex, loose. I got tired of the number of chapter-ending Eureka moments Tempe had, and frustratingly kept from the reader; there are other plot devices, other ways of keeping the reader hooked. The writing style, too, was annoying. Reichs writes in short, staccato sentences, littered with technical jargon, acronyms and slang, often missing verbs entirely. A few carefully placed semi-colons might have made for easier-to-read prose. The ending, frankly, fizzled out; instead of seeing Tempe catch the villain, she (and we) were left to hear about it second hand. Reichs is hugely successful, with thousands of loyal fans, so I’m sure this book will do well. For me, though, it simply proves what I’ve thought for some time: even the best of crime series can get tired....more
Monica and Gus, a British couple in their seventies, run a vineyard in Spain. They started it from scratch, decades earlier, at the expense, possibly,Monica and Gus, a British couple in their seventies, run a vineyard in Spain. They started it from scratch, decades earlier, at the expense, possibly, of their children’s happiness. Gus’s unexpected stroke at the end of the first chapter throws the family into panic. All three grown-up children live in Britain; all are juggling problems of their own. But the crisis can’t be avoided and, somehow, they’ll have to settle their differences and work together to sort out Mum & Dad.
So, this was my first Joanne Trollope for a long time (I remembered, when I saw her list of previous books, reading Marrying The Mistress) and it took me a while to see the appeal, because hers are books in which, relatively speaking, very little happens. I like a book in which a lot happens, from the very first paragraph.
Trollope’s books are about people and the everyday, if difficult, circumstances in which they so often find themselves. Mum & Dad, specifically, is about the sandwich generation, the adults in their forties and fifties who are caring for both dependent children and elderly parents. On the surface, it’s about juggling, family tensions and the secrets we keep, even from those closest to us. Deeper themes that emerge as we read on include missed opportunities, finding one’s best self, and the value that each generation can have for those who came before and after.
I had some issues with the writing, especially in the opening chapter. Too much, it seemed to me, was told to the reader, in expository text, rather than shown naturally through events. I sometimes wonder if very successful writers can get a bit lazy? Similarly, I found some of the dialogue quite stilted, maybe a little unrealistic. Ultimately, though, my main concern was that whilst the issues raised by the book were important and engaging, not enough time and space was allowed to properly explore them. Resolutions were presented rather quickly, characters who’d behaved badly got off too lightly, and it all seemed to be a little too easily wrapped up by the end.
I didn’t dislike the book. I can see the appeal of this sort of family drama and I'm giving it a solid three stars. In the end, though, it rather confirmed by previous view that Joanna Trollope isn’t really to my taste.
Detective Sergeant William Oliver Layton Fawkes hasn’t long been reinstated in his job with the metropolitan police. After attacking and harming a susDetective Sergeant William Oliver Layton Fawkes hasn’t long been reinstated in his job with the metropolitan police. After attacking and harming a suspect in the Old Bailey, seconds after a not-guilty verdict, Wolf and most of his friends understandably thought his career was over. Sectioned, losing his home and his wife, Wolf’s life had pretty much ground to a halt. But then the same suspect was caught red-handed, on the scene of another murder and Wolf was largely vindicated. He was allowed back, possibly hoping for a quieter life.
Not a bit of it, because just across the street from his new flat, a gruesome stitched-together corpse is discovered hanging from the ceiling. At least one of the body parts, the head, belonged to the very man Wolf nearly served time for. Within hours a message is received by Wolf’s ex wife, a tv journalist, listing the next victims, starting with the mayor of London and culminating with Wolfe himself. The police investigation becomes some sort of bizarre reality TV show, all conducted in the public eye, with the world’s press running a grotesque live count down to the next murder.
It’s not for the faint-hearted, but it is original, fast paced and full of surprises. ...more
Taking place over just 24 hours, this novel is nothing if not fast-paced and heart-thumping.
A body of a “You have six seconds to read this message.”
Taking place over just 24 hours, this novel is nothing if not fast-paced and heart-thumping.
A body of a 15 year old girl is found not long after she sends a social media message to her friends. It looks like suicide until a second girl disappears. This one is Lottie, the younger sister of a senior investigating officer with the Metropolitan Police. As the story unfolds it becomes clear that the kidnapper is playing a deadly game of hide and seek with the police.
The victim is a young woman with a high social media profile of her own, giving rise to speculation that she might be partly to blame. Did she bring this on herself, by putting herself out there?
The kidnapper uses Snapchat to send messages to the police, especially DS Nasreen Cudmore and her journalist friend, Freddie Venton, teasing and taunting them, continually reminding them that they have just 24 hours to find her alive. Each snapshot message lasts for a just a few seconds, an effective means of ramping up the tension that Clarke using to heart-pounding effect.
“Each was only second best, and they wore each other like hand-me-down coats.”
Recently widowed young mother, Cora Seagrave, moves from her home in Lo“Each was only second best, and they wore each other like hand-me-down coats.”
Recently widowed young mother, Cora Seagrave, moves from her home in London to the village of Aldwinter in the Essex marshes. A chance encounter brings her into the acquaintance of William Ransome, the local rector and his family, and a friendship ensues. Cora, a keen amateur palaeontologist, is intrigued by stories of the Essex serpent, a mythical creature that might be living among and preying on the folk of Aldwinter. Hopeful of a ‘living fossil’ she is as fascinated as the village folk are terrified and the rector repelled.
On the surface this could be just another story, albeit beautifully written, of a young woman struggling to find her place in the world but, ultimately, this is neither fairy tale, nor coming of age novel, nor Gothic fantasy, although it has elements of each, but a story of relationships and a forbidden – and at the same time, quite blessed – love. The crooked imp of a surgeon, the passionate socialist reformer, the beautiful consumptive, the autistic child, the wealthy would-be philanthropist: all make Cora the centre of their world, each demanding a great deal from her, each blaming her when she cannot provide it.
It is also, completely, a story of its fictional time. London in the 1890s saw Darwinism challenging religious thought and religion still battling to hold back the fungus-like creep of superstition and paganism. It was the time when ambitious, pioneering surgeons pushed the boundaries of what their conservative colleagues deemed acceptable and when the many thousands who lived in squalor and degradation were starting to rise up and demand change.
Wonderfully realized, beautifully crafted and perfectly formed. The Essex Serpent is a Dickensian masterpiece for modern times. ...more
Louise is the single mum of a six year old boy, working part time at a local firm of psychiatrists, trying not to resent her ex husband’s new wife’s pLouise is the single mum of a six year old boy, working part time at a local firm of psychiatrists, trying not to resent her ex husband’s new wife’s pregnancy. One night she almost, but not quite, hooks up with a handsome stranger. The attraction is palpable. Next day, she discovers that David is not only married but also her new boss. The scene when she recounts hiding in the office toilets for 20mins while the beautiful couple tour the offices is sweet and endearing in a slightly goofy rom-com kind of way.
How soon it all goes dark. Because David’s beautiful, adoring, but emotionally fragile wife, Adele, is determined to make Louise her new best friend. She engineers a meeting, lays on her own version of charm, and soon has Louise as eager to be her friend as she is to get romantically involved with Adele’s husband.
So far, so messed up? Hold onto your hat because it all gets worse. David isn’t necessarily the charmer he appeared when Louise first met him. Through Adele’s eyes we see a disturbingly controlling, possibly dangerously manipulative man with dark secrets. This couple have a past, which gradually unfolds its mysteries as the story develops. And, Adele knows things she has no natural right to know. How is she doing it? What is this weird skill she is trying to teach Louise?
This book has been heavily promoted on social media for some months now, alongside the hashtag #WTFthatending. Now, I’m always nervous when publicists talk about a brilliant twist in a novel. It always strikes me as a hostage to fortune. The minute the reader knows a twist is coming, he or she will be desperate to spot it in advance and will probably do so. To forewarn of a twist is to ruin it. Especially to someone as twisty and turny as me. I had no doubt I’d have that ending sussed long before I got anywhere near it.
I didn’t have a clue. It knocked me for six. It left me shaking for several days. This is a truly exceptional book from a master of the dark, weird tale. ...more
“Be honest, dear reader, who wouldn’t rather be dead?”
The killer in Belinda Bauer’s latest thriller is obsessed with the beauty of death, with its ar “Be honest, dear reader, who wouldn’t rather be dead?”
The killer in Belinda Bauer’s latest thriller is obsessed with the beauty of death, with its artistry, with all its rich pageantry. He kills in public places. He even announces his kills before he commits them. He fly-posts, warning of an ‘exhibition’, giving the date and time. Our killer needs an audience.
So does our heroine. Eve Singer is a crime reporter on a TV news channel. She and her trusty side-kick, cameraman Joe, race to be first on the scene of any violent crime, to catch the blood gleaming on the pavement before it cools, to record the last words of the murder victim.
Two halves of the same coin; and then chance brings them together. From that moment on, the killer has two obsessions. Death and Eve. He makes contact. She is torn between knowing she has to report him to the police, and wanting to get the scoop of her career. As he reels her in, we become ever more scared that the next murder she attends could well be her own.
Belinda has many strengths as a writer. The originality of her plots, her trade-mark black humour, her stylish similes, but it is her characters which really bring this book to life. The hard-nosed crime reporter is a bit of a cliché in crime writing but we soon come to love kind, patient, troubled Eve. We adore Joe. We’re fond of Eve’s elderly father Duncan, and her nosy next door neighbour. Such is Belinda’s skill, though, that we find ourselves caring rather too much about characters she swiftly kills off. I nearly got her on the phone to complain when one particular victim met an untimely end.
All in all a thoroughly enjoyable, beautifully written, suspenseful thriller. Exactly what we’ve come to expect from Belinda. ...more
I have a theory, and India Knight clearly shares it, that dogs make us better people. I’m a dog owner. I’ve had a dog for 10 years and would never nowI have a theory, and India Knight clearly shares it, that dogs make us better people. I’m a dog owner. I’ve had a dog for 10 years and would never now be without one for long. There are few bigger fans of dogs than I.
And yet even I fall into the trap of taking my dog for granted. Of not giving her the time and attention she needs. Of treating her as a bit of a nuisance. And this book reminds me not to do that. It reminds me of how wonderful she is, and how patient and kind, of how much she loves and wants to please me.
The Goodness of Dogs struck so many chords with me. And I’m sure it will with most dog owners. I particularly liked the bit about dog haters. There are people out there, odd people I admit, who don’t like dogs. Now that’s fair enough, but having an attack of the vapours just because one comes near you just isn’t on. India, in her lovely bossy, head-girl style, takes the Nervous Nellies on and shuts them up.
This is a great book to give someone thinking of getting a puppy, who has recently bought a dog, or just someone who loves dogs. It’s packed with good advice about choosing and caring for a dog, some of it quite new to me, but it’s so much more than a puppy owner’s manual. It’s a celebration of dogs.
It’s also a beautiful book. A small, chunky hardback with a lovely matt cover and full of really gorgeous dog paintings and drawings. A great Christmas gift.
A small village in Germany-occupied Poland in 1944. Paul Brandt, a German soldier, is traveling home from the Eastern Front. He’s considered to be a hA small village in Germany-occupied Poland in 1944. Paul Brandt, a German soldier, is traveling home from the Eastern Front. He’s considered to be a hero, but he has a badly burned face and he’s missing an arm.
His home village has changed, dominated now by what’s being called a ‘rest hut’ but is actually a luxurious villa serving the Nazi officers who work at a nearby concentration camp. Brandt’s family are outraged when he takes a job there, but as the story unfolds we learn that he has secrets of his own, and good reason for doing so. One of the slaves at the hut is a woman whom he knows.
Meanwhile, the Russians are coming! The Russian front comes ever closer and everyone knows what will happen when they arrive. And then there’s the wild card in the novel: the female Russian tank driver who is on her way too.
This is not always an easy book to read - novels about the Second World War rarely are – and at times it becomes quite harrowing. Ryan doesn’t dwell on the human cruelty, but our knowledge that it’s all happening, not very far away from this village, make for a poignant and difficult read.
Nor is it predictable, or clichéd in its treatment of the subject matter. The German officers show the sadism we might expect, but at the same time we see their fear of the future, and of the imminent Russian advance.
Ultimately, The Constant Soldier is a novel about a good man, trying to do the right thing in a world where even the most basic ideas of good and evil have been twisted into something barely recognizable. It’s also about how ordinary people can be driven to do terrible things and how they face up to the consequences.
Ryan has won and been shortlisted for lots of awards and it’s easy to see why. The Constant Solider is beautifully written but also very simply written. One of the hardest tasks facing any writer is to take powerful emotions and convey them using simple language. Without dwelling on the dreadful atrocities, but with a subtle and deft touch, Ryan manages to convey the full horror of one of the worst periods in human history. ...more
River Cartwright made a big mistake. As big as they come. Heading up an MI5 operation to apprehend a known terrorist, River made the wrong call. Or maRiver Cartwright made a big mistake. As big as they come. Heading up an MI5 operation to apprehend a known terrorist, River made the wrong call. Or maybe he was fed the wrong information. That’s what he claims, but it makes no difference. The Op goes badly wrong, and River’s career hits the pan.
Fortunately for River he has connections. His grandfather is one of the most famous and revered ‘spooks’ of all time, and sacking his much-loved grandson isn’t really on the cards. So River, rather than being shown his P45, is consigned to Slough House, a despised, far-bastion of ‘Five’ that fills its day with tedious and menial administrative tasks.
Enter a cast of characters that can best be described as losers and misfits. All of them have secrets. None of them like each other. There’s the ex-alcoholic secretary, the socially inept IT expert, the couple who think they’re having a secret affair. This motely crew is headed up by overweight, ill-mannered slob, Jackson Lamb. Every Slow Horse has done something wrong, something that led to their exile, and finding out what that something was occupies both them and us for much of the book.
Few residents of Slough House (a group known as the Slow Horses) last long. Boredom and frustration gets to them sooner or later. They resign and disappear. Problem solved.
So, when a young man is kidnapped and held by terrorists, who threaten to execute him publicly at a given time if their demands aren’t met, you’d better hope his fate is in more competent hands than those of the Slow Horses. Except, that’s exactly how it turns out and, guess what, the Slow Horses turn out to be pretty sharp operators after all. They kick ass! Herron spends some time building up their characters but it proves to be time well spent because as we near the climax, the emergence of ninjas from the pantomime horse costumes isn’t just believable, its hugely satisfying.
Slow Horses is clever, original, thoroughly researched and the most enormous fun. Highly recommended. ...more
1885, and Lieutenant Colonel Allen Forrester of the US army is leading a small expedition from Perkins Island in the Gulf of Alaska, up By Eowyn Ivey
1885, and Lieutenant Colonel Allen Forrester of the US army is leading a small expedition from Perkins Island in the Gulf of Alaska, up into the mainland, specifically the uncharted territory around the little known and dangerous Wolverine river. His team face dreadful physical difficulties: treacherous rapids, frozen ice sheets, lack of food, storms and hostile native people. Strangest of all, are the mythical half human, half animal creatures he encounters. Some of them tolerably friendly, others not remotely so.
The harsh landscape is a key feature of the book, as it drives the tension and pace of the novel. The expedition is constantly battling against the seasons and the imminent changes in weather. They have to get up the river before the ice starts to melt, they have to cross the lake before the food runs out. And so on…
Allen’s adoring and adored wife, Sophie, is forced to stay at the Vancouver army barracks, expecting their first child. She is not a typical Army wife. Quite the opposite, in fact, she is rather ostracized by the more conventional wives. Bored and lonely, battling demons of her own, she takes up photography.
The story is told through entries in Allen and Sophie’s diaries and in letters they write to each other, interspersed with descriptions of museum artifacts and a contemporary letter exchange between Allen’s great nephew and the manager of a museum of local history in the town of Alpine. It’s a style of narrative I particularly love, as we get to see the same events through different eyes, and often at different periods of history.
Like many others I loved The Snow Child, Ivey’s first book, and this too shows her skill at painting the treacherously beautiful landscape of Alaska, where the boundary lines between the human and the animal, the living and the dead are far from distinct and reliable. A shaman is believed to turn into a raven, a young woman has feathers growing from her wrist, a human baby is born from a tree root. It’s all strange and magical and fabulous.
This novel is a delightful mix of historical adventure, love story and magical realism. Thoroughly recommended. ...more
A very devout Catholic family travel with their priest, and some fellow members of their church, to the Loney – a wild stretch of the Lancashire coastA very devout Catholic family travel with their priest, and some fellow members of their church, to the Loney – a wild stretch of the Lancashire coast. They’re hoping to pray for the health of one of the sons - a mute, slightly retarded boy called Hanney. The narrator of the story is Hanney’s brother, Smith. They stay at a run down, creepy old house called The Moorings.
The house is immediately full of tensions. Smith and Hanney’s mother doesn’t particularly approve of the new priest. Some of the party never wanted to come to Lancashire in the first place, and they’re quick to find fault with everything. The whole house is out-of-sorts and grumpy, made worse by the fact that it never stops raining. But the tension spreads beyond the house to the surrounding area. There is a strange girl in a wheelchair, who might be pregnant, and who might be a prisoner. There are grim, ritualistic symbols in the woods. Strange artifacts are found in the house. The locals are menacing. There’s a touch of the Whicker man about this book.
Throughout the novel, there is a juxtaposition between the organized religion of the catholic visitors and their accompanying priest and the much older faith – the pagan faith, that is subdued but still very much in evidence in the area.
Like the best Gothic novels, ultimately the story sits in a sort of limbo between the supernatural and the strange. We’re not sure whether something paranormal has actually happened, or whether the characters are over-wrought and hysterical. ...more
Peter James is one of our most successful crime writers, and he’s known for unusual, gritty, blood-curdling plots. This one, though, is a lot of fun. Peter James is one of our most successful crime writers, and he’s known for unusual, gritty, blood-curdling plots. This one, though, is a lot of fun. I’d go so far as to describe it as a black comedy.
It’s the story of a young woman called Jodie Bentley who, as a child, dreamed of being beautiful and rich. She doesn’t want to work too hard, so she plans to get rich by marrying wealthy men, and then getting rid of them. She’s a Black Widow.
She’s also a poisoner. And not just any old poisons, but poisons from venomous animals such as snakes, spiders and scorpions. If you’re particularly phobic about any of these creatures then this might not be the book for you, because Jody has a reptile house in her Brighton apartment, and she harvests her unusual pets to give her the murder weapons she needs. She even manages to get on the wrong side of the Russian mafia and a hit man called Tooth comes looking for her.
People who’ve followed the Roy Grace series for a number of years will know that his wife vanished years earlier and the anguish of not knowing what happened to her has shaped Roy for much of that time. This book finally ties up that particular plot strand. ...more
A woman in middle age is telling us the story of what happened to her as a young girl in California. Her life back then was dull and empty. Her parentA woman in middle age is telling us the story of what happened to her as a young girl in California. Her life back then was dull and empty. Her parents were divorcing, she was losing touch with her friends. She was sad and lonely. We can all relate.
And then she fell under the spell of a commune in her neighborhood, a cult led by a charismatic leader called Russell. The cult is into sex, drugs, a feral lifestyle, all the usual stuff. They’ve convinced themselves that their way of life is separate and above that of the rest of the world. They’re a group apart.
This book brings home what a dangerous time adolescence is, when a great void opens up inside young people, a void that its so easy to fill with darkness.
Drawing very obviously on the case of Charles Manson, and hugely evocative of the 1960s, this is a story about female adolescence and the need to belong, about being an outsider and cult violence. A gripping and haunting read. ...more
This is the memoir of a writer called Lucy Barton, looking back upon a prolonged stay in hospital that she underwent in the 1980s. Deeply lonely, sepaThis is the memoir of a writer called Lucy Barton, looking back upon a prolonged stay in hospital that she underwent in the 1980s. Deeply lonely, separated from her husband and her two young daughters, she’s surprised, one day, when her estranged mother arrives to visit. And the visit brings back so many long-buried memories for Lucy, of what transpires to have been an impoverished, abusive upbringing in rural Illinois.
They pass the time gossiping about people they once knew, and in doing so circle around the important stuff. The stuff they can’t broach openly. Her mother stays for five days, and sleeps each night in a chair, which suggests a devotion to her daughter, but this is the first time they’ve met in many years, and as the story progresses, we see a coldness, a detachment in the mother and a desperation on Lucy’s part. She longs for her mother’s love, but her mother seems to be withholding it. She never tells Lucy that she loves her, and Lucy tells us that this is OK, but who is she really trying to convince?
One of Elizabeth Strout’s skills is in showing us so much, through the minimum use of words. Towards the beginning of the novel, Lucy tells us that her husband is busy, so that he can’t visit her very often, and also that he hates hospitals because his father died in one. And that really tells you all you need to know about the marriage. As we see more of the relationship between Lucy and her mother, we learn a great deal about what formed this unusual woman, and what makes her tick.
There are numerous themes in this short, powerful novel, one of the most important being that we can never escape the impact and effect of our origins. Lucy Barton, for all her New York veneer, is still the neglected, lonely little girl, desperate for palpable proof of her mother’s love. ...more
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