sarahmatthews's reviews
66 reviews

Foster by Claire Keegan

emotional reflective medium-paced

Foster by Claire Keegan

Read in Braille

Faber and Faber

Pub. 2010, 89pp

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This is my third Claire Keegan novella and she’s become one of my favourite writers! I chose to read this one in Braille as it slows me down and makes me consider every word and sentence more closely, which is part of the joy of reading her, no word is wasted.

In this story we’re following an unnamed narrator, a child who’s been taken to stay with relatives she hardly knows in order to take the pressure off her mother who’s expecting another child to add to an already large family.

Distance is put between the narrator and her relatives as she refers to them as “Kinsella” and “the woman”, and from the beginning the child is trying to figure out how to feel about the situation she’s been thrust into, as seen in this small exchange at bedtime:

“She is just about to hang a blanket over the curtain rail, to block it out, when she pauses.

‘Would you rather I left it?’

‘Yeah,’ I say ‘yes.’

‘Are you afraid of the dark?’

I want to say I am afraid but am too afraid to say so.”

As the novella progresses family secrets slowly emerge, and we start to get a sense of the contrast between the attention she’s receiving here and what she’s accustomed to:

“Kinsella takes my hand in his. As soon as he takes it, I realise my father has never once held my hand, and some part of me wants Kinsella to let me go so I won’t have to feel this.”

There’s a lovely moment where Kinsella sets her a challenge to run to the post box and back, timing her on each run and it becomes a fun game, a motif that returns later on.

This is a powerful novella with beautifully written, complex characters, which is firmly rooted in rural Ireland. I thought Claire Keegan captured very effectively the feeling of confusion young children have in the adult world and the language she uses to tell the story reflects that so well.

A sad and poignant story that’s masterfully constructed, and one I’ll be thinking about for a while. I’m also intrigued to find out if the recent film version is a good adaptation. 

I read this for Novellas in November #NovNov hosted by Rebecca of Bookishbeck and Cathy of 746Books.  

  

Resistance by Owen Sheers

tense slow-paced

Resistance by Owen Sheers

Read on audio

Narrator: Richard Coyle

BBC Audiobooks

Pub.  2007

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I read this book for my first ever book club and it was a great choice for a discussion; I’m not sure I’d have picked it up otherwise.

Going in I knew it was an alternative history where we’re following characters in a remote Welsh valley during WW2, where the D Day landings have failed and Germany now occupy the UK. The only other novel of this genre I’ve read is Rule Britannia by Daphne du Maurier which was fascinating as it was written in 1972 and kind of foresees Brexit. I remember enjoying it but also finding it a little bonkers! 

This book is written in a very different style and, even though plenty happens, it is quite slow paced in the beginning with a lot of description of landscape. I liked the lyrical scene setting but, wow, were there a lot of similes! The author is an award winning poet so I guess he was particularly concerned with creating a sense of place. There were parts where the landscape was beautifully evoked and other sections where I just wanted the story to get going.

A group of German soldiers have been deployed to a small farming community on a secret mission. When they arrive a harsh winter sets in and they find themselves lending a hand to the women who’ve been suddenly abandoned by their husbands, presumably to take part in the efforts of the British resistance. The Nazi troops are  worn down from fighting across Europe and are relieved to be away from the front line. It soon becomes clear that if they’re all going to get through the winter they need each other and the boundary between the opposing sides is blurred. 

The women don’t want to become collaborators but the pressures of a bleak winter of farming in this isolated environment mean they’re given no other option than to accept help. This difficult tension is well explored, especially in the characters of Sarah and Albrecht. I didn’t think I’d enjoy the writing about farming but found I really got into it and the chapters describing this horrendous, treacherous winter were excellent. 

One of my favourite characters (who I’d have liked more of in the book) is George, a teenager who’s picked out during an assessment at the start of the war to be part of the UK underground intelligence. He works at night, observing the movements of troops from his vantage point, writing on rice paper so he could eat it if caught. I enjoyed the details we find out from his point of view:

“The newspapers stopped coming, and there was less news, more light music on the radio. Through it all they kept broadcasting light music. George suspected the songs chosen, and the order in which they were played were a code, but he couldn’t be sure.”

The turning point for me comes when Maggie takes a prized colt to a show in a  village outside the valley and one of the Germam officers accompanies her, dressed as a civilian. After this scene I found the story really picked up to a gripping conclusion.

This novel provided some great talking points for our group, most of whom enjoyed it, and we were very interested in the afterward which explained how much of the detail about the resistance was based on real plans drawn up during the war. Overall a fantastic concept and a great read.

Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers

mysterious medium-paced

Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers

Read on audio

Narrator: Jane McDowell

Pub. 1935, 464pp

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This book is the third in the ongoing saga of Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane that I’ve been working my way through this year. It starts with Harriet returning to Oxford University for “Gaudy Night”, an annual chance to meet up with past students, where they indulge in some nostalgia. Harriet hasn’t attended before and is persuaded by her old friend Mary to go along. As a famous novelist (and a notorious person due to events that took place in previous books strong Poison and Have his Carcase), Harriet spends the evening chatting to women she bearly remembers and makes judgements and observations about them, and they’re doing the same to her. Right from the beginning this feels like a different type of mystery, as we spend time with female Oxford Dons, Bursars, research fellows, librarians and other academics. They enjoy pondering each other’s life choices, discussing the role of women in the workplace and the tension felt by many between striving for a fulfilled intellectual life and a content married one. here’s an example of one of these heated exchanges:

“‘The fact is, though you’d never admit it, that everybody in this place has an inferiority complex about married women and children. For all your talk about careers and independence you all believe in your hearts that we ought to abase ourselves before any woman who has fulfilled her animal functions.’

‘That is absolute nonsense!’ Said the Bursar 

‘It is natural I suppose, to feel that marrried women lead a fuller life’ began Miss Lydgate. 

‘And a more useful one’ retorted Miss Hillyard ‘look at the fuss that’s made over Shrewsbury grandchildren look how delighted you all are when old students get married, as if you were saying ‘ah ha, education doesn’t unfit us for real life after all’ And when a really brilliant scholar throws away all her prospects to marry a curate, you say perfunctorily, ‘what a pity, but of course her own life must come first’”

Strange, abusive letters start to appear in Shrewsbury College and other odd stunts. The existance of the women’s college at Oxford still feels very fragile so the Dean is understandably anxious for these incidents to be dealt with quietly, described as “A cross between a poltergeist and a poison pen”, without involving any official outside channels that might draw attention and risk parents refusing to send their cherished offspring to the university.

Harriet receives a heartfelt letter from the Dean for help and takes on the task to investigate, and she’s soon perplexed :

“Crime was too easy in a place like this, the college was too big, too open. Even if a form had been seen crossing the quad with a bolster, or indeed for that matter a complete set of bedding and a mattress  nobody would think anything of it. Some hardy, fresh air fiend sleeping out. That would be the natural conclusion. Harriet, exasperated, went over to Bodley and plunged into her researches upon Le Fanu. There, at least, one did know what one was investigating.”

I had suspicions of who the culprit was but didn’t have it all right. The mystery was almost in the background for me as I was so fascinated by everything else going on; this book was written in 1935 and brings into focus some of the attitudes of the time around class, and the role of women. Eugenics is discussed and Hitler’s Germany is referred to several times. I really enjoy Dorothy L Sayers’ writing and found this one surprising, complex and unusual. Lord Peter is drafted in when Harriet’s worried things are escalating and their scenes together are always brilliant, especially one which takes place on the river and another involving a very strange self defence lesson! Highly recommended. 

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

medium-paced

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

Read in Braille

Hamish Hamilton

Pub. 1945, 192pp

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This funny, charming book starts off in the English countryside, in the early 1900s, at the Radlett family house, describing life growing up in the home of a very eccentric and overbearing father (based on Nancy Mitford’s own), it’s a satire of the aristocracy that’s witty and surprising.

Our narrator is Fanny, cousin to the 7 Radlett children, who stays with Uncle Matthew and Aunt Sadie often due to her absent and rather disgraced parents. 

Fanny is brought up by Aunt Emily, a genuinely thoughtful and caring person and spends a large amount of her holidays with her cousins. She’s most friendly with Linda, who we realise as the narrative progresses is the centre of the novel. Linda’s quite a character; self absorbed, outspoken, a risk taker, and hopelessly in love with the idea of being in love.

Fanny and Linda see Linda’s older sister, Louisa, find a husband and escape from the restrictions imposed by Uncle Matthew and are impatient and jealous. Two years later, when it’s their turn, they persuade Aunt Sadie to let them spend their summer season in London, and spend it yearning for their adulthood to begin:

“It was a house with so little character that I can remember absolutely nothing about it, except that my bedroom had a view over chimney-pots, and that on hot summer evenings I used to sit and watch the swallows, always in pairs, and wish sentimentally that i too could be a pair with somebody.”

They go to dances and enjoy the feeling of being grown ups for a few weeks. Linda’s story continues from here with many dramatic twists and turns. As the outbreak of World War 2 grows closer she finds herself in Paris:

“She always loved the spring, she loved the sudden changes of temperature, the dips backward into winter and forward into summer, and, this year, living in beautiful Paris, her perceptions heightened by great emotion, she was profoundly affected by it. There was now a curious feeling in the air, very different from and much more nervous than that which had been current before Christmas, and the town was full of rumours. Linda often thought of the expression ‘fin de siecle’. There was a certain analogy, she thought, between the state of mind which it denoted and that prevailing now, only now it was more like ‘fin de “vie’.”

this is a wonderful coming of age story (always a treat) and I’m so pleased that it’s the start of a series! Having been written when it was, however, there’s some outdated language, reflecting many of the views held at the time. 

There are some great comic creations ; I particularly liked Davey and Lord Merlin for their eccentricity and warmth. The writing is so funny, the characters endearing because of and despite their many and obvious flaws, and I enjoyed being in their fanciful world for a while.

The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark

challenging dark tense fast-paced

The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark

Read on audio

Narrator: Carol Anne Line 

Penguin Modern Classics

Pub. 1970, 107pp

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I’d heard that this is one of Muriel Spark’s most unhinged books, and , yes, it’s quite a ride! I decided to give it a go for the #1970Club and I went in rather cautiously, avoiding the introduction by John Lanchester which was sure to be full of spoilers.

And what did I find? Well, the story begins with Lise, a bored office worker in her thirties, leaving for a holiday. She’s bold and confrontational, with a brilliant scene in a department store where she buys some ill considered, mismatched clothes with garish colours. She pretends to leave then returns to listen in on the shop assistants talking about her, and she laughs loudly at them for her own amusement:

“The sales girl, thinking her customer is already on the escalator out of sight, out of hearing, has turned to another black frocked sales girl ‘All colours together!’ She is saying ‘those incredible colours! She said they were perfectly natural, natural… here in the north, she said’ her voice stops as she sees that Lise is looking and hearing. The girl affects to be fumbling with a dress on the rack, and to be saying something else, without changing her expression too noticeably. Lise laughs aloud, and descends the escalator.”

We then follow Lise back to her blank, impersonal apartment and off to the airport, causing a stir wherever she goes.

This is a difficult book to say too much about without spoilers but I’ll just say that it’s twisted, with a creeping sense of dread, and the ending will make you gasp!

Muriel Spark’s writing is superb as always, full of detail and phrases that stop you in your tracks. There are some quite fabulous characters and darkly comedic scenes, especially on the flight, that pull you into the story. I’ve read several books by Muriel Spark now and was not surprised to find that once I finished it I wanted to go back and start all over again to catch all that I’d missed.

Honestly, reading this one reminded me of how I felt when I read Crash by J. G. Ballard many years ago. Obviously a very different book but there was that same sense of questioning, disbelief, and wonder at the deranged imagination of the author. This book will stay in my mind for a long time and I’m still not quite sure what I think. There’s a feeling of dislocation as a reader, not quite being sure who’s consciousness we’re viewing from at times, and a growing understanding that something explosive is coming but being given just a few clues. Indeed, who was in the driver’s seat?

Books that are this unsettling can be refreshing, as long as, in this case, you’re in the mood for a warped story full of tension where the characters don’t share their thoughts and feelings and which isn’t all neatly tied up.

I read this for the #1970Club where readers choose books from a chosen year to read and review, hosted by bloggers Karen and Simon.  

The Woods in Winter by Stella Gibbons

medium-paced

The Woods in Winter by Stella Gibbons 

Read on audio

Narrator: Gabrielle Baker

Tantor Audio  

Pub. 1970, 224pp

This is my second Stella Gibbons, after reading Nightingale Wood a couple of years ago. I found it to be a delightful, easy read, set in the 1930s, with characters that have some bite.

firstly we meet Ivy and Helen who live in Kentish Town and Hampstead respectively, Ivy being charwoman for poet Helen, visiting regularly but in acordance with her own routine. Ivy is the star of the novel, a woman in her 40s, (“closer to 50 than 40” as frequently observed by those who meet her), who’s been widowed 3 times and is unprepared to put up with the usual expectation of social norms such as politeness and small talk. She lives like on her own terms but has a friendly relationship with Helen, a sensitive, nervous younger woman who’s become entangled with a wealthy man from a more prosperous set who she’s loosely connected to through a friend, Coral, a rather unlikeable, haughty sort who looks down on people like Ivy. Helen struggles with this friendship at times, recognising her friend’s snobbish lack of empathy towards Ivy.

At the start of the book Ivy receives a letter which she’s unable to fully understand and takes it to Helen who explains that she’s been left a cottage in the countryside by her great-uncle and, after mistrusting the letter and having to be persuaded it’s all legit, she moves there. Just before leaving London she sets a dog free that’s been barking non stop near her home and takes him with her, naming him Neb. They make great companions and, as he was mistreated, he will only behave with Ivy.

We see Ivy adjusting to life in the country, a huge contrast to her London existence. At one point she meets Helen who’s out for a walk with her on-off boyfriend:

“Now it was December, the last leaves had gone and the beeches stood naked and strong, breathing out calm, or rocking slowly in the tearing winds that whirled their copper carpet in showers. With her winter hat rammed well over her brow, and followed by Neb, leaping and pouncing after the flying leaves, Ivy walked in the woods, with step light as the racing clouds above… One Sunday she met Miss Green, walking with a young gentleman…

“How d’you think Nebbie’s looking now?”

His beautiful! He matches the leaves.” Neb was rushing around in crazy circles some way off, sending up tawny clouds all around him.

“And you’re liking it, living down here, are you?”

“Suits me fine Miss”

Helen studied her, with one quick stare which took in an increased thinness, a brighter eye, a still browner face and some kind of change in the line of her mouth, a softening in it’s grimness?”

Countryside living seems to bring out the dormant witchy side of Ivy as she manages to tame Neb and she’s happy to live with all manner of creatures including mice and cockroaches!

Woven in with this narrative are several other storylines centring around Helen and her friends Coral and Pearl, who set up a tea room in a nearby village, and the local residents who don’t quite know what to make of Ivy. 

I’m so glad I discovered this gorgeous piece of storytelling through the #1970Club reading event  hosted by bloggers Karen and Simon. 

The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch

Read in Braille

Vintage

Pub. 1963, 272pp

___

Marian Taylor is a young teacher who travels from the UK to take up a position as a governess in an isolated house somewhere in the wilds of Ireland, what could possibly go wrong?!

When she arrives she’s met by Gerald who explains that she’s not been employed to teach children as expected but will be a companion to the lady of the house, Hannah.

 There’s a feeling of tension from the start, and of course, as this is Iris Murdoch, some beautiful writing about landscape, with the dangerous wild sea crashing on the rocks ever present. Here’sMarian gazing out of the window during the car journey to the house at the opening:

“It was the sea here which seemed black, mingling with the foam like ink with cream… she found the vast dark coastline repellent and frightening. She had never seen a land so out of sympathy with man.”

The first few chapters gave me Daphne du Maurier vibes as there’s a distinctly gothic atmosphere. When the perspective shifted to Effingham, another outsider who joins the story as he’s visiting his former tutor, Max, who lives in the only neighbouring house, I was thrown a bit but soon adjusted and found his storyline very engaging. The’s a brilliantly gripping scene where he stumbles into a bog! Also, he’s got a huge ego and believes a number of the women are in love with him! There are several points where he brings light relief to quite a claustrophobic story. 

Effingham and Marion are convinced that there’s something up with Hannah, who never leaves the house, and try to find out what’s going on. It turns out that her husband has kept her there under the watchful eye of the servants,  has been in New York for about 7 years, and that the history of their relationship is more complicated than it appears at first. They’re firmly in favour of setting her free but is that what she wants? There are questions around freedom, morality, guilt, and spirituality, and Max tries to talk this through with Effingham who’s become besotted with Hannah but he can’t take it on board. 

The characters all seem to be under some kind of spell and towards the end it all becomes much darker and melodramatic and people start falling in love with each other at the drop of a hat! I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the intensity of it all.

Iris Murdoch  intimidates me a bit as she’s a philosopher and I’m sure a lot of metaphor and deeper meaning was lost on me on this reading of the novel. I imagine it’s one that could be studied in depth as it’s pretty complex, but I found it easy to get into, with beautiful writing, deeply weird characters and an  astonishing amount of whiskey drinking!

The Past by Tessa Hadley

reflective medium-paced

The Past by Tessa Hadley

Read on audio

Narrator: Antonia Beamish

Vintage

Pub. 2015, 362pp

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I was straight back into the rhythm of Tessa Hadley’s writing with this book and knew I was going to enjoy it from the first chapter. The story is about four grown up siblings, Harriet, Roland, Alice and Fran, who agree to spend 3 weeks in their grandparents’ country house in order to decide whether to sell up or renovate the old, rather shabby place. It’s a beloved house that they’ve all been visiting since childhood so it holds some precious memories.

Tessa Hadley always gets straight into the inner thoughts of her characters and there’s always plenty of small observations and phrases that are relatable, such as Alice arriving with 20 year old Kaseem, her former partner’s son:

“She was 46 and she was afraid of failing to interest him, she would be crushed if he didn’t like it here” 

There’s some great writing here about the complex nature of families and how they relate to each other in such a closed environment, with all their shared history and longstanding resentments. there’s very little phone reception and the younger characters, Molly and Kaseem find it hard to be cut off from their city life to begin with. the younger children, Ivy and Arthur, are brilliantly depicted as they trail around after Molly and Kaseem, trying to be part of whatever they’re doing.

The siblings are all very distinct, a group of slightly quirky, middle class, well educated adults who’s mother sadly died when they were teenagers. The secon part of the book flashes back to 1968 to follow a short period in their mother Jill’s life and it explained why the siblings turned out the way they have, with a storyline I wanted to return to!

Tessa Hadley writes brillian dialogue, I loved this bit, a conversation between mother and daughter:

“‘Isn’t it lovely here Het?’ She said ‘Look at the swallows going mad in the field. They’re drinking insect soup.’

‘What’s insect soup?’

‘The air is full of creatures we can hardly see, the birds are feasting on them.’

They stood at the field gate, watching in close companionship” 

If you enjoy authors like Barbara Pym, Anita Brookner and Iris Murdoch this one’s for you. 

My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley

tense medium-paced

My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley

Read on audio 

Narrator: Helen McAlpine

Granta Books

Pub. 2021, 208pp

___

This has to be the best audio narration I’ve heard all year! It’s the story of Bridget and the relationship with her family, most notably her mother, Helen (known as Hen), who can be a difficult person to connect with. The narrator shifts seamlessly between accents, bringing these distinctive characters alive and helping the reader  feel the impact of the complex feelings expressed in this story.

There’s agonising tension and miscommunication and an unwillingness on both sides to lay bare difficult feelings for fear of damaging a fragile relationship permanantly.

Bridget narrates the story, and you feel the pressure she’s under to keep contact even when it’s incredibly fraught, awkward and painful. There was certainly fault on both sides for the distant relationship, with Bridget being unwilling to let her mother too close, for reasons we never quite get to. 

Hen is a character who on the surface appears outgoing and forceful but is shown to struggle deeply with relationships and can’t find fulfilment in her life, though at times she really tries:

“‘I’m putting myself out there’ she told me, and ‘You’ve got to be in it to win it. I’m pursuing my own interests’ she said, quoting the advice routinely given for meeting like-minded people.”

Later on they’re meeting for their annual dinner and conversation is horribly strained:

“If there was something going on in the news I could try that, but there too she would resist being put on the spot. And sometimes, as when I was little, she simply didn’t reply at all. She only smiled and stayed very still, or else just said ‘yes, yes”, or ‘no, yes” while straightening her cutlery. And then she was back to looking at me, waiting happily for my next gambit.”

Some of these exchanges are on the edge of being funny for their toe-curling awkwardness and reminded me of conversations I’ve had with people who’re just on a totally different wavelength to me, and, wow, those silences can be excruciating!

As the narrative developed my feelings towards the characters shifted and I adore fiction that does this to me so subtly, creating a sense of unease.

A truly unforgettable read.

   

  

Mary Swann by Carol Shields

funny mysterious slow-paced

Mary Swann by Carol Shields

Read as e-book, using a mix of Braille and text to speech

World Editions

Pub. 1987, 320pp

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It’s rare that I read much about a book before starting it but I loved Larry’s Party by this author which has a brilliant concept behind it and I guessed Mary Swann might have a similar approach, so to get the most out of the experience I figured I ought to go in with a few clues.

This is a satirical look at the literary academic world through the eyes of four characters who’re all preparing to attend a symposium on a (fictional) poet called Mary Swann.

The first part is told from the perspective of each participant; the academic Sarah Maloney, the biographer Morton Jimroy, the librarian Rose Hindmarch and the publisher Frederic Cruzzi. They’re all then brought together at the end for the big event.

There’s mystery surrounding Mary Swann that they’re fascinated by; why was she murdered by her husband, what’s special about her apparently ordinary poetry, and why are artefacts concerning her work disappearing? This is enough infomation to get going and without it I think I’d have given up fairly quickly as the pace is slow and the characters rather unlikeable, though, of course, that's part of the point.

What drew me in was the wonderfully witty and insightful writing, highlighting the absurdity of each character. They're all obsessed with Mary Swann; very much from the perspective of how her tragic life can benefit their own. There’s a great scene where Rose Hindmarch and Morton Jimroy go out to dinner and he’s making all kinds of intellectual insights into a poem and Rose can’t quite bring herself to put him straight on what it was likely to have really been about. For her part, Rose is so flattered to be invited to the symposium she’s unable to be totally honest about how little she really knew Mary Swann. And it’s amusing how she was so keen for the Mary Swann Memorial Rooms to be a success (and so underwhelmed by Mary’s real few lasting possessions she’s been offered), that she uses money given through grants for the project to buy second hand items:

“…she has considered, then rejected, the idea of placing a small card in the doorway advising visitors that the contents are similar to those found in Mary Swann’s rural home. But quite rightly she has decided that such a notice would be a distraction and that it might inject a hint of apology of insufficiency. (The charm of falsehood is not that it distorts reality, but that it creates reality afresh.)”

There’s a lot of self-deception going on here, looking at how literary reputations can be shaped by those who obsess over them, and commenting on how we often live our lives telling ourselves and others all kinds of half truths to justify our actions.

The last section, at the symposium, is written in the form of a film script which I enjoyed for it’s quirkiness and for the brilliant stage directions, e.g. “MUSIC: A skirling tune, strings mainly, with some bagpipes.” The scenes of the symposium are hilariously cringey as Shields pokes fun at the pettiness of academics trying to get one up on each other. So many egos!

At the very end of this edition there was a lovely surprise for me as a blind reader where the cover is described; the font used, the colours chosen and composition: “The letters form a rotating vortex; a play between form and counter-form, hovering at the border of recognisability and readability.”

All in all this was a compelling read with a dramatic and entertaining conclusion, and one that would make for a great reread in future.