Another World by Pat Barker

This is a dark tale of a modern dysfunctional family.  Nick and Fran have moved to an old Victorian house on the edge of a rough estate.  They are hoping the bigger house will give them the room they need to reconcile the different strands of their respective families.  The story opens with Nick going to meet his teenage daughter who is coming to stay with them while her mother, his first wife, recovers from an illness.  Meanwhile, the heavily pregnant Fran is trying to cope with their toddler, Jasper and her eleven year-old son, Gareth.  Gareth has behavioural problems and is jealous of Nick and his step-brother.  On top of all this Nick’s grandfather, Geordie, a First World War veteran, is dying and it falls on Nick to help care for him in his final days, thus leaving Fran to cope with all the conflict on her own.  Whilst redecorating the house the family uncover a sinister painting of the Fanshawe family the previous Victorian occupants of the house.  Nick can’t stop thinking about the grotesque painting and researches the Fanshawe family only to discover that the youngest Fanshawe child died in horrific circumstances.  At times, Nick fears that history may be repeating itself.  Meanwhile, he sits by his grandfather’s bedside and tries to alleviate Geordie's suffering as Geordie struggles to lay his own ghosts to rest.  I enjoyed seeing the situation through all the character’s eyes and the different narrative viewpoints were handled in a seamless way.  The writing is dark, but there is humour too.  The characters were strong and believable.  The story could have ended in a more brutal way, but I’m glad it didn’t.   I thoroughly enjoyed  Pat Barker’s writing style.

Ours Poetry Anthology

A collection of poems from professional and non-professional contributors on the theme of 'Motherland'.  10% of sales go to the WorldWide Orphans Foundation.  My talented cousin, Frances Andrews, has a poem published in this anthology.

The Last Letter from your Lover by JoJo Moyes

A while back I read Me Before You by JoJo Moyes, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy The Last Letter as much.  It was an easy read, but it jumped too frequently between the past (1960) and the present (2003) and the characters didn’t engage me enough.  It is about a love that is lost and then found.  

The Steep Approach to Garbadale by Iain Banks

This is the first novel by Iain Banks that I have read and I enjoyed it. Although the main narrator is Alban Wopuld the story opens from the point of view of his cousin, Fielding.  The Wopuld family made their fortune on a board game called Empire.  After working for the family firm for a number of years Alban has turned his back on his family to seek a different route in life.  He is still haunted by his mother’s suicide, which happened when he was a baby.  He is also trying to escape his infatuation with his cousin Sophie who was his first love.  Fielding persuades Alban to return to the family’s highland estate, Garbadale for the company’s Extraordinary General Meeting and the 80^th Birthday of his grandmother.   I thought all the different points of view would annoy me, but each character has their own unique voice and hearing their views and thoughts helped to build a picture of Alban.  All the action is saved for the end.  

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

This was shortlisted for the Man Booker Price 2009.  I don’t normally read ghost stories, but this one caught my eye.  The prose is beautiful and the characters realistically drawn.  The story centres around a crumbling Georgian mansion called Hundreds Hall in rural Warwickshire.  Its owners, mother, son and daughter are struggling to keep the house running.  Times are changing, this is post war Britain and the once grand house is now in steep decline.  Dr Faraday is called out to the house to see a servant girl who has been taken ill.  He has visited the house once before, on Empire Day Fete, when he was ten years old.  His mother used to work at the house many years before.   He is shocked by the state of the house and its inhabitants.  Then mysterious things start to happen and Dr Faraday gets more and more entwined with the family’s lives.   I won’t spoil it for you!  Well worth a read and one of those stories that stays with you.   

Foreign & Far Away by Writers Abroad

This is the fourth anthology published by Writers Abroad.  It is a collection of fiction/non-fiction short stories and poetry.  Author Amanda Hodgkinson has written the foreword.  There are some wonderful examples of evocative writing exploring the relationship between people and the places in which they live.   I am delighted that one of my stories appears in the anthology.  It is an ideal book for dipping into from time to time.  All proceeds from the sale of the book will go to Book Aid International.  

On Writing By Stephen King

Part memoir and part writing manual I found this book extremely readable.  It is written in a no-nonsense, witty and interesting way.  Even if you are not an aspiring writer it gives you an understanding of the writer’s craft.  It also gives you an insight into the mind of one of the bestselling writers in the world.  It is an account of his early life and how these episodes influenced his writing.   It finishes with the horror of his near fatal accident in 1999, when he was mowed down by a van driver and how writing helped him to recover.