Books, writing, art & design…
Just a short update to let you know about my new blog. I wanted my blog to be a little more specific so I have moved all of my Children’s Fiction reviews on to a new blog called ‘Swimming in Books‘.
I will continue to post round-ups of my favourite adult fiction here occasionally. You can also find my reviews on Goodreads.
And to finish off, here are the top ten MG books I’ve read this year…
‘Tyger’ by SF Said, illustrated by Dave McKean
Like the William Blake poem of the same name, ‘Tyger’ is an unearthly creature brimming with magic and mystery.
In a strange alternate world, where the British Empire has never ended, a young boy called Adam has uncovered something incredible in a rubbish dump in London – a mysterious, mythical, magical animal. A Tyger. Adam must help the creature to evade capture, but in the process his eyes are opened to a plethora of new worlds existing in parallel to his own and he realises that the survival of the Tyger is more vital than he could possibly have realised.
‘Tyger’ is a spellbinding, lyrical story about the spark inside all of us that has the potential to change the world. It is also an exquisitely illustrated book and would make an excellent gift. Highly recommended!
‘Wren’ by Lucy Hope
Wren lives in a grand old house on the island of Anglesey in Wales in 1870. She loves to go out rowing on the Menai Strait in her coracle but above all she longs to soar through the sky, like her mother did before she died in a tragic accident. Wren’s father thinks she’s running wild and bringing their ancient family name into disrepute so he meets with the sinister ‘Aireys’ about sending Wren away to their school for the re-education of wayward girls, which only spurs her on to build a flying machine so she can escape. And there’s something going on with Wren’s house—cracks are appearing in the walls, and she keeps hearing strange noises as though the house is singing…
Once again, Lucy Hope’s signature blend of madcap inventions and historical fantasy proves a compelling combination. Wren is a plucky and determined protagonist and I adored Aunty Efa in her steampowered wheelchair. I have Welsh ancestry and it was lovely to read a story steeped in Welsh mythology and culture. ‘Wren’ is a quieter story than ‘Fledgling’, to begin with, but the house itself and the mystery at its heart is an inspired spark of imagination, and the finale of the story builds to a stunning crescendo. Absolutely loved this!
‘The Light in Everything’ by Katya Balen
Zofia and Tom are opposites: Zofia is bold, brave and loud while Tom is quiet and fearful. Zofia is training herself to withstand the cold seawater and swim to a rocky outcrop the locals call ‘Fiji’ while Tom makes paper cranes and sleeps with the lights on to drive out the dark. But when Zofia’s dad and Tom’s mum move in together, they must learn to get along, especially because their parents are also expecting a baby together.
The story is told from both Tom and Zofia’s perspectives in alternating mini-chapters that make it impossible to put the book down and I finished it within an afternoon. Like October, October, the book cover is a stunning work of art in its own right—created by illustrator, Sydney Smith.
‘The Light in Everything’ is a quiet story, but it is exquisitely written, full of big emotions, vivid descriptions and authentic, heartrending moments. The protagonists are only 11, but I would highly recommend this book for KS3 as well as KS2 readers.
‘The Thief Who Sang Storms’ by Sophie Anderson
“The Island of Morovia is shaped like a broken heart. The humans live on one side of the island, and the alkonosts – the bird-people – live on the other. But it wasn’t always this way…”
Linnet is an alkonost and lives in the swamp with her father, Nightingale, and the rest of the alkonosts – banished from their homes by the humans after a terrible tragedy caused a bitter divide in their society. Linnet dreams of one day using her singing magic to heal the broken heart of Morovia and bring the humans and the alkonosts back together, and she especially longs to be reunited with her best friend, Hero. But her magic hasn’t arrived yet and Linnet is worried that it never will.
But when Linnet steals a trinket from the humans, her father is arrested for her crime, and Linnet must find a way to rescue him from the fortified human keep before he is sentenced and sent to the quarry – forever out of her reach. Even though she has no magic, Linnet discovers that she is not powerless and there are other kinds of magic in the world.
‘The Thief Who Sang Storms’ is a timely story of division and reconciliation – another beautifully lyrical and poignant tale from a master storyteller.
‘The Insiders’ by Cath Howe
Ted, Callie, Zara and Nico are best friends, but when Ted stops going to Callie’s house after school, the other three discover a secret hole in the fence that leads to their school playground and they investigate without him, their friendship group is split apart. And there’s something strange going on in the school at night…
This story has a particular resonance for me as Cath used to work at the same school I work at now and so there were lots of familiar spaces and references in the book.
Yet another compelling and empathetic story about friendship from the author of ‘Ella on the Outside’ and ‘Not My Fault’.
‘When Stars Are Scattered’ by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
Omar and his brother Hassan are Somali refugees, living in a camp in Kenya. Omar looks after his disabled brother, goes to school with his friends and dreams of one day being resettled in America, but above all Omar longs to find his mother who they were separated from when they fled from the war in Somalia.
This incredible true story is beautifully told and wonderfully illustrated in Victoria Jamieson’s warm and accessible style. Brilliantly done!
‘The Girl Who Lost a Leopard’ by Nizrana Farook
Selvi spends a lot of time roaming the mountains and forests of Serendib but she’s not lonely because she has Lokka the leopard to keep her company. But when a gang of poachers set their sights on Lokka, Selvi must try to convince him to go somewhere safe. But she won’t be able to protect Lokka alone…
Another thrilling, perfectly pitched, animal adventure. Loved it!
‘The Sky Over Rebecca’ by Matthew Fox
This story begins with a mysterious snow angel. Kara lives next to a lake in Stockholm, Sweden, with her mother. When she spots the snow angel, she doesn’t immediately notice what is strange about it – it is only later that she realises that there were no footprints leading to and from the snow angel. But this is only the beginning. On an island, on the middle of the frozen lake, Kara meets Rebecca, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl, desperate to get her disabled brother to safety away from the Nazis. Kara must work out a way to help Rebecca, despite living in a completely different time.
It’s an ambitious concept that doesn’t get tied up trying to explain itself too much, and the time-slip technicalities remain quite lyrical and vague throughout. Kara is a lonely girl who finds a friend in Rebecca, and through their encounter finds the courage to open herself up to others.
This is a haunting story of friendship and bravery, saturated in nordic-noir atmosphere. The ending is beautifully and sensitively wrought and made me cry – a lot! (It’s also a great story for Holocaust Remembrance events in schools.)
‘Adam-2’ by Alastair Chisholm
Adam-2 has been hiding in a basement repeating the same daily routine, as per his father’s instructions, for more than 200 years, when he is discovered by two children and he learns that the world has vastly changed since he last left the basement. The humans and the robots have been at war for many years, each trying to destroy the other. But Adam is different to the other robots and perhaps he holds the key to end the war once and for all.
I love a robot story and Adam-2 delivered on action, excitement as well as emotional engagement.
‘Zeina Starborn and the Sky Whale’ by Hannah Durkan
Zeina Starborn has grown up in the smog-filled city of Ravenport, dreaming of adventure in the skies, inspired by her idol, airship pilot Vivianne Steel. When she accidentally meets the wealthy but timid heir to the Willoughby Hotel empire, Jackson, she receives an amazing opportunity to visit the Willoughby Whale hotel – normally out of reach to a ‘Below’ like her. When they get to the hotel, it is even grander and more exciting than Zeina could’ve imagined, but it is a closely guarded secret how they have they tamed the sky whale to accept the hotel built on its back. When Zeina receives an even more exciting offer from Vivianne Steel herself, she can’t resist dragging the reluctant Jackson along into a perilous voyage involving sky whales, smog rats and treachery.
I loved the ‘sky whale’ concept, combining steampunk technology with fantasy creatures, and Zeina is a wonderfully intrepid and determined character. The story also touches on important themes like air pollution, wildlife conservation and wealth inequality. A thrilling, vividly-imagined adventure, perfect for fans of Vashti Hardy and Annaliese Avery.
Here are the top ten YA books I’ve read this year…
‘We Are All Constellations’ by Amy Beashel
When she was ten years old Iris’s mum died in a fire, which has made her dad a little overprotective. Particularly as Iris is into ‘urbex’, urban exploration, which comprises sneaking into abandoned buildings—often at night. But Iris is fine. As her mum wrote four times inside the paper fortune-teller she gave Iris before she died: ‘You will be strong.’ Iris is always strong. But when she discovers she’s been lied to about her mother’s death fissures start to appear in Iris’s strong façade and in the memories she has of her mum. If she allows the thoughts and memories to emerge she may just have to acknowledge that her mum wasn’t perfect and that perhaps she is just like her. As the cracks deepen, Iris pushes everyone away but ultimately learns that we are never just one thing—we are all constellations.
This book does deal with a lot of heavy issues, but the author handles them responsibly with great warmth and sensitivity. I would highly recommend it for age 13+. ‘We Are All Constellations’ is a brilliantly insightful, heartbreakingly lyrical book. Amy Beashel is a shining constellation of stars and I will look out for whatever she writes in the future.
‘Six Crimson Cranes’ by Elizabeth Lim
I really enjoyed Elizabeth Lim’s ‘Spin the Dawn’ duology but I think this book was even better.
When her stepmother discovers that Princess Shiori has forbidden magic, she banishes Shiori and turns her six brothers into cranes, warning her that she can never explain her curse as one of her brothers will die with every word that she speaks. But in her exile Shiori discovers an unexpected ally and together they set out to free Shiori’s brothers and uncover a plot to overthrow the emperor.
‘Six Crimson Cranes’ is an East Asian-inspired fantasy version of the Grimm Brothers’ fairytale, ‘The Six Swans’. An utterly captivating story.
‘As Good as Dead’ by Holly Jackson (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #3)
I am very late to this party but so glad I made it in the end. I binge-read this entire series in 3 days flat.
In book 3, Pippa is traumatised by her last case and struggling to cope with the memories and someone is stalking her: leaving strange chalk drawings and dead birds on her driveway and threatening messages online. The police don’t believe her, and once again Pippa is left to investigate alone. But soon her investigations link her stalker to a well-known serial killer, supposedly behind bars for his crime. What if the real serial killer was never caught? What if he’s coming for her?
I did NOT anticipate where this book was going and it was a LOT darker than the previous two books…wow! An incredibly stressful, twisty-turny read as well as a hard-hitting commentary on how the judicial system fails victims of sexual abuse. Brilliantly done. Can’t wait to read her new book, ‘Five Survive’.
‘Waking the Witch’ by Rachel Burge
Ivy has grown up in foster care and has learned to rely on herself for everything, but one day she finally gets a lead on the identity of the woman who abandoned her as a child—the address of a lighthouse on a remote Welsh island. But as Ivy searches for the truth about why her mother abandoned her, strange things begin to happen. In order to solve the mystery, Ivy must figure out who she really is and how to release her own power.
This is a an utterly compelling, darkly atmospheric novel that swept me away from the first page. I loved the juxtaposition of Ivy’s contemporary story with the ancient Arthurian myths and the witchy allure of the lighthouse itself. An empowering and refreshing feminist lens on a classic tale. Brilliantly done.
‘I Kissed Shara Wheeler’ by Casey McQuiston
Shara Wheeler disappears on Prom night and Chloe Green is furious about it. Shara is her academic nemesis and Chloe is sure this is some elaborate plot to show her up and steal the top spot from her. Chloe is determined to solve the mystery of Shara’s disappearance but she’s not the only one on the case. And she’s not the only person that Shara mysteriously kissed before she disappeared either…
I loved this! A slow-burn romance, a mysterious disappearance, friendship, journeys of self-awareness and lots of snarky dialogue…brilliantly done.
‘Unraveller’ by Frances Hardinge
This is the story of Kellen and Nettle who live in a world ruled by commerce but bound by magic in the form of strange creatures who inhabit the Deep Wilds and ‘Little Brothers’, super-creepy spider-like creatures who ‘gift’ humans the ability to curse those they hate.
Kellen was bitten by a Little Brother as a child and has the ability to unravel curses, though it takes more than breaking a spell to free someone from the trauma of being cursed, as Nettle knows. She was cursed by her stepmother and is still haunted by the time she spent as a heron and by the fate of her brothers and sister. Those who have cursed are locked away to stop them cursing again but when the cursers begin to go missing, it seems that someone might be trying to build an army of cursers—an army with a particular grievance against Kellen, the Unraveller. With the help of a mysterious stranger called Gall and his sinister Marsh Horse, Kellen and Nettle must track down the missing cursers and figure out what on earth is going on.
This book is weird, even by France Hardinge’s standards: a complicated web of a tale, with so much depth and so many layers that you feel tangled up in it. But never fear, this consummate storyteller patiently positions each strand and, like Charlotte, spells out her message with sparkling clarity by the end. Yet another achingly beautiful, heart-stabbing, brain-twisting story from the Queen of Fairytales.
‘Fight Back’ by A.M. Dassu
Aaliyah is an ordinary teenage girl. She is thrilled when her parents let her go to watch her favourite K-Pop band, but halfway through the concert there is a terrorist attack. Aaliyah is not physically injured but she is deeply traumatised and this is compounded by her friend’s brother’s racist reaction to her after the bombing. And even worse, her friend starts avoiding her as though she agrees with him that all Muslims are terrorists. When her school decides to ban religious clothing, like her hijab, Aaliyah decides that it is time to stand up for herself and fight back.
It’s a harrowing but vitally important subject – AM Dassu handles the terrorist incident itself and Aaliyah’s response with great sensitivity. A wonderfully inspiring and empathy-inducing story – highly recommended.
‘Such a Good Liar’ by Sue Wallman
Wealthy and spoilt, Lydia Cornwallis has arrived on an exclusive private island to get some summer tutoring and meet up with a connection of her mother’s – the Harrington family. But Lydia is not who she seems and she’s on the island with a very specific purpose in mind. All she has to do is convince the Harringtons and their friends that she’s one of them so they’ll accept her into their social group and give her the opportunity to get her long-plotted revenge on the Harrington sisters. But there’s a storm coming in and the island is about to be cut off from the mainland. Does Lydia have the nerve to carry out her plan and make her escape afterwards?
‘Such a Good Liar’ is a fast-paced, anxiety-inducing thriller with plenty of twists and turns. The ending what not what I expected, but it was suitably satisfying and definitely leaves the door open for a sequel – I’d love to know what ‘Lydia’ gets up to next!
‘Legendborn’ by Tracy Deonn
The last words Bree says to her mother are in anger over her early college acceptance, before her mother is killed in a car accident. So when Bree arrives at college at 16, she is full of fury and resentment that her mother has been taken away from her. But on her first night she sees something she isn’t supposed to see and becomes embroiled in a dangerous secret society. I didn’t entirely follow all of the ins and outs of the Legendborn society, but the story was so gripping and compelling that I just went with the flow. And the ending was a brilliant twist.
I loved this mix of Southern Gothic witches and Arthurian mythology, featuring a character grappling with grief and prejudice in contemporary America. Can’t wait for book 2! (I’m Team Sel, just saying.)
‘Iron Widow’ by Xiran Jay Zhao
In a futuristic East-Asian-inspired fantasy world, male pilots compete for glory and fame in their giant Chrysalis mechs but each male pilot is partnered with a female ‘concubine pilot’ who sacrifices her energy and sometimes her life to power the Chrysalis. Inspired by Wu Zetian, the only female Chinese Emperor in history, Iron Widow is the story of a girl who volunteers as a ‘concubine pilot’ in order to avenge her sister’s death at the hands of a pilot.
This is an extremely dark, violent and patriarchal vision of the future, and Zetian has to be willing to sacrifice everything to break through the barriers that have been placed before her because of her gender. Loved this thrilling world and Zetian’s kickass attitude and relentless, take-no-prisoners ambition.
I’m splitting my ‘books of the year’ into age categories again, as it is too difficult to compare them directly. Here are my top ten adult books of the year, in no particular order.
‘Babel’ by RF Kuang
After his mother dies, Robin is taken away from Canton by a mysterious benefactor, Professor Lovell, and raised in England towards the goal of entering ‘Babel’ – the prestigious institute of translation, based in Oxford.
Though Babel relies on foreign students for their knowledge, Robin discovers that Victorian Oxford is not particularly welcoming to people of colour, but he becomes friends with Rami, Victoire and Letty, who are all similarly looked down on for their nationality or gender.
Robin is exhilarated and grateful for the educational opportunities he has been given, but begins to realise that Babel is not the utopian hub of international cooperation it purports to be. As Robin learns, translation is always an act of betrayal. There is no way to directly translate from another language, word for word, without distorting meaning. And this interpretation gap is the spark that enervates the magical silver bars that power the empire and subjugates the colonies.
‘Babel’ completely lives up to the hype. The magic system is brilliantly conceived and the foundational concept of the Biblical ‘Tower of Babel’ transposes perfectly into the age of Empire while bringing the violence and injustice of colonisation into sharp focus.
‘Lessons in Chemistry’ by Bonnie Garmus
The synopsis of this book doesn’t sounds promising, and I utterly failed to sell my book club on it based on the blurb, but it has so many rave reviews that I couldn’t resist and I was so glad I did – I couldn’t put this book down!
Elizabeth Zott is a rare creature, a female scientist in the 1960s, and as such she is not taken seriously by the male members of her team, they take credit for her ideas and worse. Apart from one man, that is. Fast forward several years and Elizabeth Zott is the presenter of a hugely popular and subversive cooking show in which she inspires women to follow their dreams, under the cover of teaching them how to cook nutritious meals for their families.
Elizabeth Zott is a brilliantly compelling character suffering through a terribly tragic life. I wanted a happy ending for her more than any other character I’ve read about this year…
‘The Marriage Portrait’ by Maggie O’Farrell
Inspired by Robert Browning’s poem, My Last Duchess, ‘The Marriage Portrait’ tells the story of sixteen-year-old Lucrezia who was rumoured to have been murdered by her husband, the Duke of Ferrara, in 1561.
The story jumps back and forth between the fateful night when Lucrezia realises her husband plans to kill her, and the story of her life leading up to this moment as the unusual, overlooked and strong-minded middle child of the de Medici family of Florence. Lucrezia is a fascinating character, full of vigour and creativity, but ultimately betrayed by a society that viewed her as nothing more than property – of value only for her capacity to produce an heir for her husband.
Once again, Maggie O’Farrell fills in the gaps of history with incredibly rich colour and texture that brings the past to vivid immediacy. Perhaps not quite as emotionally devastating as ‘Hamnet’, but just as exquisitely crafted.
‘The Island of Missing Trees’ by Elif Shafak
I read this book on a bus and then a plane, and was still thoroughly captivated…despite the story being partially narrated by a fig tree!
A Greek boy and a Turkish girl fall in love and meet up in a taverna on the island of Cyprus in the 70s. The only witness to their conversations is a fig tree, until the day they are torn apart by civil war. Forty years later, in the UK, their daughter struggles to understand why her parents never talk about their past and have been entirely cut off from their Cypriot family. (A cutting of the original fig tree lives on in their garden…)
An empathetic and redemptive story about love, war and generational trauma. Brilliantly done.
‘The Book of Form and Emptiness’ by Ruth Ozeki
When fourteen-year-old Benny’s father tragically dies, he begins to hear inanimate objects talking to him. And thus begins a book that is narrated by…a book. You’d be right to assume this is a strange and experimental story, but that doesn’t mean that it is not plot-driven and emotionally engaging.
As Benny finds refuge from his grief, and the voices, in the large public library in town, his mother finds refuge in hoarding. On the other side of the world a Mari Kondo-style monk becomes the star of a TV show about tidying up your living space and your life. But this book never does quite what you expect it to do…
A wonderfully humane and heartfelt story, told in a witty and innovative style.
‘The Night Ship’ by Jess Kidd
Based on the real and horrific historical events surrounding the shipwreck of The Batavia in 1628, ‘The Night Ship’ tells the story of two children, separated by 350 years but linked by trauma and tragedy.
After her mother’s death, Mayken boards the Dutch East India Company ship, the Batavia, with her nursemaid to make the long journey to join her father in Batavia (Indonesia). En route, the ship is separated from the convoy and wrecked on a reef off the west coast of Australia. The survivors, including Mayken, battle for water and food on a tiny, desolate island.
In the 1980s, Gil travels to the same small island where Mayken was stranded, to live with his grandfather after his mother’s death. Gil is lonely and angry but feels some sense of kinship with ‘May’ the ghost a small girl who is said to haunt the island. And as each of their stories unfold, both Gil and Mayken face terrible darkness and danger.
‘The Night Ship’ is very different to ‘Things in Jars’, but just as compelling and darkly atmospheric. It’s a gripping and heartbreaking read that is somehow also weirdly redemptive, despite all the heart-of-darkness horror.
‘Nightbitch’ by Rachel Yoder
This is a controversial one and definitely won’t be for everyone.
One night, exhausted and frustrated with the mind-numbing tedium of looking after a two-year-old, an artist-turned full-time mother releases her inner ‘Nightbitch’.
A hilarious, angry and transgressive rant about motherhood. I think anyone who has ever had a baby can relate to some of the feelings expressed in this novel. The surreal style (as well as the bizarre content) reminded me of Sayaka Murata.
‘The Gifts’ by Liz Hyder
1840. London is full of rumours of angels and surgeons compete to find a genuine specimen. While in the countryside, a pair of wings miraculously grow from a woman’s back.
A tale of mysteries, miracles, difficult women and angels, set in Victorian London. There are a lot of characters and storylines to follow at first but all the threads tie up beautifully at the end. A captivating story, perfect of fans of ‘Things in Jars’ and ‘The Leviathan’.
‘The Golden Enclaves’ by Naomi Novik (The Scholomance #3)
I love an intensely complicated fantasy world, but The Scholomance series is on another level and I feel like I don’t understand half of the magic that is going on. But it is such a compelling world and El is such a brilliantly misunderstood, hilariously wry and self-destructively sincere character that I loved every minute of these books. Not to mention her relationship with the annoyingly heroic Orion who keeps saving her life, whether she wants him to or not.
And boy does it all pay off in Book 3. El, Orion and their friends spend all of books 1 and 2 trying to survive and then escape the Scholomance – their magical school that is trying to kill them – so I wasn’t sure where on earth the author was going to go with Book 3. And then there was that horrific, devastating cliff-hanger ending…
But despite all the carnage and tragedy, El has escaped the Scholomance with a spell book explaining how to build a ‘golden enclave’ – a legendary place of sanctuary – much superior to the current elitist and divisive enclave system that El’s mum has brought her up to revile. But before El can start building a better world, someone starts to attack the Enclaves and she is called in to protect the very system she wants to tear down. In the process she learns a horrific secret about the origins of the enclaves and finally begins to understand her own ominous destiny.
It is all explosively, dazzlingly and confusingly wrapped up by the end – with plenty of world-weary cynicism but also a tiny spark of hope for the future.
‘Legends & Lattes’ by Travis Baldree
The cosy D&D-style fantasy I never knew I needed!
Viv is an orc who has got tired of a life of violent adventuring and decides to settle down and open a coffee shop. But of course, even in this quiet life, she has to contend with local gangsters, jealous rivals and the twists and turns of fortune. Lucky for Viv, she manages to gather around herself a team who buy into her vision and support her in her dream.
A charming story of found-family and romance with lots of hilariously anachronistic Starbucks references. Absolutely captivating!
Wren lives in a grand old house on the island of Anglesey in Wales in 1870. She loves to go out rowing on the Menai Strait in her coracle but above all she longs to soar through the sky, like her mother did before she died in a tragic accident.
Wren’s father thinks she’s running wild and bringing their ancient family name into disrepute so he meets with the sinister ‘Aireys’ about sending Wren away to their school for the re-education of wayward girls, which only spurs her on to build a flying machine so she can escape. And there’s something going on with Wren’s house—cracks are appearing in the walls, and she keeps hearing strange noises as though the house is singing…
Once again, Lucy Hope’s signature blend of madcap inventions and historical fantasy proves a compelling combination. Wren is a plucky and determined protagonist and I adored Aunty Efa in her steampowered wheelchair. I have Welsh ancestry and it was lovely to read a story steeped in Welsh mythology and culture.
‘Wren’ is a quieter story than ‘Fledgling’, to begin with, but the house itself and the mystery at its heart is an inspired spark of imagination, and the finale of the story builds to a stunning crescendo. Absolutely loved this!
This is the story of Kellen and Nettle who live in a world ruled by commerce but bound by magic in the form of strange creatures who inhabit the Deep Wilds and ‘Little Brothers’, super-creepy spider-like creatures who ‘gift’ humans the ability to curse those they hate.
Kellen was bitten by a Little Brother as a child and has the ability to unravel curses, though it takes more than breaking a spell to free someone from the trauma of being cursed, as Nettle knows. She was cursed by her stepmother and is still haunted by the time she spent as a heron and by the fate of her brothers and sister. Those who have cursed are locked away to stop them cursing again but when the cursers begin to go missing, it seems that someone might be trying to build an army of cursers—an army with a particular grievance against Kellen, the Unraveller. With the help of a mysterious stranger called Gall and his sinister Marsh Horse, Kellen and Nettle must track down the missing cursers and figure out what on earth is going on.
This book is weird, even by France Hardinge’s standards: a complicated web of a tale, with so much depth and so many layers that you feel tangled up in it. But never fear, this consummate storyteller patiently positions each strand and, like Charlotte, spells out her message with sparkling clarity by the end.
How can a book that is so bloody and gruesome (there is a LOT of decapitation) also be filled with so much kindness and redemption? It’s a mystery. Frances Hardinge was clearly bitten by a magic literary spider as a child.
Yet another achingly beautiful, heart-stabbing, brain-twisting story from the Queen of Fairytales.
Ivy has grown up in foster care and has learned to rely on herself for everything, but one day she finally gets a lead on the identity of the woman who abandoned her as a child—the address of a lighthouse on a remote Welsh island. But as Ivy searches for the truth about why her mother abandoned her, strange things begin to happen. In order to solve the mystery, Ivy must figure out who she really is and how to release her own power.
This is a an utterly compelling, darkly atmospheric novel that swept me away from the first page. I loved the juxtaposition of Ivy’s contemporary story with the ancient Arthurian myths and the witchy allure of the lighthouse itself. An empowering and refreshing feminist lens on a classic story. Brilliantly done.
Based on the real and horrific historical events surrounding the shipwreck of The Batavia in 1628, 'The Night Ship' tells the story of two children, separated by 350 years but linked by trauma and tragedy. After her mother's death, Mayken boards the Dutch East India Company ship, the Batavia, with her nursemaid to make the long journey to join her father in Batavia (Indonesia). En route, the ship is separated from the convoy and wrecked on a reef off the west coast of Australia. The survivors, including Mayken, battle for water and food on a tiny, desolate island. In the 1980s, Gil travels to the same small island where Mayken was stranded, to live with his grandfather after his mother's death. Gil is lonely and angry but feels some sense of kinship with 'May' the ghost a small girl who is said to haunt the island. And as each of their stories unfold, both Gil and Mayken face terrible darkness and danger. 'The Night Ship' is very different to 'Things in Jars', but just as compelling and darkly atmospheric. It's a gripping and heartbreaking read that is somehow also weirdly redemptive, despite all the heart-of-darkness horror. Highly recommended!
Euphemia (Effie) Reeves is an ideal housemaid. Though she is underpaid and overworked, she manages to channel her anger into her stitching and creates beautiful embroidery. However, she longs to be truly seen by the upper-class members of the household—in particular by the handsome Benedict Ashbrook, who shows a modicum more consideration for the servants than the rest of his self-centred family.
So when Effie meets a faerie called Lord Blackthorn, despite everything she’s heard about the dangers of faerie bargains, she is drawn into a wager—he will make her into a lady and she will win Benedict’s heart. But although Lord Blackthorn is a very charming and well-intentioned faerie godfather, his attempts to help Effie have unintended and sometimes disastrous consequences.
Regency magic is one of my favourite genres, but I love how Olivia Atwater brings something extra to her books as well—an awareness of social inequality. In ‘Half a Soul’ Dora is consumed by the plight of children in workhouses and is willing to use her own status to create awareness and offer practical help. And ‘Ten Thousand Stitches’ is a Cinderella story with a difference, as Effie is not content to improve her own circumstances but is concerned with the working conditions of all the servants in her own household, and everywhere else. One could argue that it is anachronistic to bring 21st Century sentiments into a Regency setting, but no more fantastical than introducing faeries.
‘Ten Thousand Stitches’ is another charming and whimsical romance about finding yourself, channelling your anger and being kind to others—a perfect escapist read. I can’t wait to read the next Regency Faerie Tale.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a such a versatile writer, every book is written in a different genre, and yet she maintains the same rich character development, the same immersive scene-setting and the same lyrical storytelling.
When Noemí Taboada receives a concerning letter from her recently married cousin, she sets off to find out what is going on.
“You must come for me, Noemí. You have to save me. I cannot save myself as much as I wish to, I am bound, threads like iron through my mind and my skin and it’s there. In the walls. It does not release its hold on me so I must ask you to spring me free, cut it from me, stop them now. For God’s sake…”
Catalina has always been a little dramatic but when Noemí arrives at the family home, High Place, she encounters a sinister and foreboding atmosphere, an oppressive patriarch (Catalina’s father-in-law) and her cousin reduced to a shadow of her former self.
Does Catalina need a psychiatrist or could there be some truth to the wild allegations she is making about her husband’s family and the nature of the house itself?
Shirley Jackson meets Jeff Vandermeer in this extremely sinister and disturbing gothic horror that will put you off eating mushrooms!
Nine PM Writer 