It’s time to get in our good books…
This month’s books are chosen by award winning crime author Lesley Thomson. Her book A Kind of Vanishing won the People’s Book Prize for Fiction in 2010. Her most recent novel, The Mystery of Yew Tree House, set in Sussex, was The Times Book of the Year 2023.
We are also very lucky to have Lesley Thomson visiting Bexhill Library in March so if you’re a fan, make sure you reserve your place!
Top fiction
Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
I’m a big fan. I recommend any of Mantel’s novels, but this is the one I’ve read recently, because I’m writing about a medium in my new book The Shrine. All of life (and death – it’s about a medium) is here, love, friendship, hate and the petty everyday concerns -house prices and dress sense that underpin our cares. This is laced with an undercurrent of cruelty to women, abuse and poverty. Mantel’s clever twist around the everyday life of a medium is touching, poignant and unexpected. Despite the darkness it’s at times laugh out loud comic. And for those, like me, who prefer to know, it has a happy ending!
Reserve the paperback of Beyond Black
He Knew He was Right by Anthony Trollope
I’ve been reading my way through some twenty of Trollope’s novels including the Barchester and Palliser series. I could have chosen The Way We Live Now which is as current now as when Trollope wrote it. But this novel is interesting and engaging. Trollope was ahead of his time with his portrayals of strong women being punished for it. His novels are peppered with pithy and inciteful observations had me constantly muttering ‘Wish I’d said that… well put …’
Reserve the paperback of He Knew He was Right
The Mysterious Mrs Hood by Kim Donovan
An account of the murder of the author’s great-great aunt in 1900 in the historical and political context of embers of Victoria’s reign. A fascinating story of ‘Mrs Hood’s struggle to survive and her violent death. Well researched (naturally, since Donavan is a librarian) and respectfully told, this is gripping and informative. Several months later it remains with me.
Reserve the paperback of The Mysterious Mrs Hood
Top audio and children’s fiction
Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
This book had a profound effect on the nine-year-old me. It was top of mind when I wrote The Mystery of Yew Tree House which features several strong octogenarians. As I get older it feels even more pertinent. When woken by the clock on the landing outside his aunt’s flat striking thirteen, Tom finds himself in Victorian England. In the daytime garden he makes friends with Hatty for whom the entire house is her family’s home. Without plot-spoiling I’ll say that this story underlines that elderly people were once young. An example of how writers crack open stereotypes and invite readers into the heart of the person within.
Reserve the paperback of Tom’s Midnight Garden
Reserve the eAudio of Tom’s Midnight Garden
Looking for more book recommendations? Check out our ‘Get in our good books’ articles from last year:
