Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey

This book was the winner of the 2014 Costa First Novel Award.  One of the descriptions on the inside cover of the book portrays it as a dark psychological thriller, but I would say it is a story about relationships and loss.  Maud Horsham is eighty-two and suffering from dementia.  She knows she forgets things, but one thing she is certain of is her friend Elizabeth is missing.  No matter who she tells, no one seems to believe her.  As she goes on her quest to find Elizabeth her present gets tangled up with her past.  As the book progresses she is living more and more in the past in a time just after the war when her older sister Sukey disappeared.  Maud’s daughter Helen tries her best to care for her mother and the reader feels Helen’s helplessness, sorrow and guilty irritation.   We see how frightened Maud gets when she forgets things or goes wandering and doesn’t recognise her surroundings.  We see her confusion, mixed with relief, when she finds notes she has written to herself to record the things she is trying to hold on to before the memory slips away.  The author describes all these things convincingly.   I feared it would be a depressing read and it was sad in parts, but also darkly comic.  A thought provoking read.

Her by Harriet Lane

I enjoy a psychological thriller and this looked promising judging by the reviews on the cover. The structure was interesting in that the same events are told from the point of view of two women, but the disadvantage to this is it can get repetitive. The story starts with what seems to be a chance meeting between two women, Nina and Emma. Only they have met before some twenty-odd years ago, but only Nina remembers this. Emma is struggling with parenthood; she has a toddler, Christopher and is expecting her second child. Nina is a successful artist with a teenage daughter. It is clear from the start that Nina befriends Emma for a reason. As the story unfolds it is apparent that she wants to get back at Emma for something that happened when they were teenagers. There is a strong sense of place from the author’s writing and each woman’s voice is distinct. The day to day lives and the emotions of both the women are portrayed in minute detail, but I found the style over descriptive and felt it slowed the pace down. I was eager to find out what it was Emma had done to Nina and what Nina was going to do about it.

Rokitansky By Alice Darwin

I was lucky to meet Alice at a writing workshop we were attending.  It is always nice to hear authors talk about their books.  She told me how she self-published Rokitansky and what it was about.  It sounded intriguing so I downloaded a copy onto my kindle.  Rokitansky Syndrome is a condition I knew nothing about until I read this book. 

The story opens with fifteen year-old Moira who is told that she’s got a medical condition, which the medical profession don’t know much about, but which means she will never be able to have a baby.  After their initial shock and grief her parents are embarrassed and Moira is expected to get on with her life and not mention her medical condition to anyone.  The next chapter is about Tori and Harry, a couple who are embarking on the journey of finding a surrogate mother.   Their journey will be long and emotionally challenging.  Then we see Mrs Brown.  A woman nearing the end of her life, but eager to look after the elderly residents of Godalming Lodge and to tackle the pile of paperwork that seems to always be with her.  It is clear that all isn’t as it appears to be with Mrs Brown.  The book continues with each chapter written in this order until its conclusion where all the strands are neatly pulled together.  I was a bit puzzled about how the three stories were linked, but then came the twist, which I wasn’t expecting.   Alice uses some beautiful and original language in her descriptions.  It is an emotional read, but hopeful too.

The Accident by C L Taylor

I always enjoy a psychological thriller and this was no exception.  Sue Jackson’s fifteen year old daughter, Charlotte, is in a coma.  She has been knocked down by a bus.  Everyone believes it was an accident, except Sue who has read an entry in her daughter’s diary that makes her think otherwise.  Sue’s husband Brian is increasingly worried about his wife’s paranoia and tries to convince Sue that what happened to Charlotte was an accident.  Sue grows increasingly suspicious of those around her, including Brian and Charlotte’s friends.  In trying to find out what really happened to Charlotte Sue is forced to confront the secrets of her own past and the abusive relationship she was involved in twenty years ago.  The chapters alternate between the present day and Sue’s past, which is written in diary form.  It was a gripping read and I can’t wait to read the author’s next novel due out in April.  

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Based on a real event this is the story of Agnes Magnusdottir who, in 1829, in Northern Iceland, was tried and sentence to death for her part in the savage murder of her lover, Natan Ketilsson.  Once convicted, the authorities decide that until a date is set for her execution, Agnes will be placed under the care of District Officer Jon Jonsson and his family and she will live and work on their farm.   The descriptions of the harsh Icelandic environment were atmospheric and the portrayal of the austere hardship of agricultural life was well done.  It took me a while to get used to the style – the chapters switch between first person point of view and third person point of view, but in the end I thought this worked.  Agnes’ account was told in first person and as such I felt more attuned to her emotions and fears.  I would have liked to know more about the other characters in the story especially the priest Toti, whose task it is to bring Agnes closer to God.  I wish I had read the author’s notes first as the background to how she came to write the story and the research she undertook was interesting and made me understand the story more.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

The book explores the theme of Asperger’s Syndrome in a light-hearted way.  Don Tilman is thirty-nine and a professor of genetics at a university in Melbourne. He is aware that his brain is wired differently from most people.  He struggles in social situations and has to plan every minute of his day to a strict timetable.  If, on occasion, he has to deviate from his timetable it causes him lots of stress.  He has heard that men live longer if they are married so he compiles the wife project, a scientific test to find his perfect partner.  Then in walks Rosie and his structured life is thrown into chaos.  Rosie enlists Don’s help to find her real father and together they embark on the father project.  The story is told from the point of view of Don and, seeing the world through his eyes, made for an interesting read.    

Two Women by Laurie Lee

A short read – I finished it in an evening.  The book is composed of photographs and prose demonstrating a man’s love for his wife and daughter.  The book opens with this evocative sentence, which sets the scene for a haunting narrative: “The photographs in this book are of the two women who have occupied most of my late adult life, enclosing it in a double embrace, like bookends.”   I always enjoy Laurie Lee’s poetic way with words and this was no exception.