Always and forever (by Cathy Kelly)

(Amazon UK link)

I have read several books by Cathy Kelly over the past few years. They’re women’s fiction, often featuring several main characters, and set in Ireland. I very much liked most of them, and was looking forward to reading ‘Always and forever’ which I picked up inexpensively at a church book sale back in 2019.

The prologue introduces a woman from California called Leah who has decided to buy a large, run-down house which has been unsaleable for a while. The estate agent thinks she’s crazy, but she’s evidently quite wealthy, and sure it’s the right place to start her centre for wellness and healing. 

The action then moves to January, a year and a half later. And we met Mel, in the ladies’ room at her prestigious office, rapidly changing her laddered tights prior to an important meeting. Mel, we quickly learn, is a mother of two young daughters whom she loves. But she also works full-time in a high-powered job where she’s expected to put her career first. Mostly this works - her mother loves looking after her grandchildren, and they go to an excellent nursery. But Mel wants to be around for milestones, and doctor’s appointments, and feels that her boss - a woman, and a mother herself - is unfeeling. 

Then just as I was beginning to feel as if I quite liked Mel, a new chapter starts, with another new character. Cleo has just finished a hotel management course and has lots of ideas for renovating and refreshing her parents’ traditional hotel. It has been successful for many years, but it’s looking tired, and while it still attracts some loyal clients, more people are looking for more modern accommodation. Cleo’s two brothers seem only to care about money, and her parents are looking tired. But they don’t seem to have any respect for her at all.

I found Cleo a bit annoying, entirely lacking in tact, and wasn’t surprised that nobody seems to listen to her. And then after a lengthy chapter with Cleo and her family at loggerheads, yet another new person appears: Daisy, who lives with the love of her life Alex, and really wants to have a baby. They’ve been trying for a while and she’s decided they need to visit a fertility clinic. Alex isn’t happy about this, but Daisy is becoming a bit obsessed with the idea so he agrees, reluctantly, to go with her to the first meeting. 

The book continues, alternating viewpoints, and it took me until at least half way through to remember who was whom, and who their friends/partners/family members were. I was somewhat interested in the different subplots, although there is rather too much introspection for my tastes, but none of the people feel really three-dimensional or believable. Inevitably each of them meets Leah and spends some time at her healing centre trying different treatments; Leah has her own stresses of the past, but appears to be a superwoman, extremely wise and able to help everyone to overcome traumas and become more positive.

I did keep reading, although I skipped a few pages here and there when we were taken into flashbacks of one character meeting another in the past; it didn’t seem to matter at all. I had to look back, a few times, to remind myself who was whom, and although eventually I could remember the main characters, I regularly forgot minor ones. It’s not heavy reading, but my eyes started glazing over if I read more than a chapter at a time. Nothing much happened other than a great deal of discussion and navel-gazing. Then they visit the healing centre and everything looks much brighter.

‘Always and Forever’ was first published in 2005 and is one of the author’s earlier books, so perhaps that’s the reason I found it less appealing than the later books of hers that I’ve read. It’s not that it’s a bad book, and it ends reasonably positively, but it didn’t do anything for me. It would have been better with some significant editing, in my view.  I doubt if I’ll read this one again.

Review copyright 2023 Sue's Book Reviews

Party Shoes (by Noel Streatfeild)

(Amazon UK link)

I decided it was time to re-read my collection of Noel Streatfeild books, many of them stories I have loved since childhood. Although I acquired some in my teens, I’ve managed to find others as an adult, mostly second-hand. One of these is ‘Party Shoes’, which I originally knew as ‘Party Frock’. I discovered that on my grandmother’s shelves when I was about eight or nine, and read it regularly. It then took me many years to find it again, so I was glad that it was eventually republished, despite the new name. I last read it in 2010. 

The story is about the Andrews family, and is set in 1945, towards the end of World War II.  Dr Andrews is a hard-working GP, comfortably off (his oldest son goes to a boarding school) but not wealthy. This is in part because he has six children and is also bringing up his niece Selina, whose parents are prisoners in Hong Kong. His wife is a traditional housewife and mother who sometimes helps in his surgery.

The story opens when a parcel arrives for Selina, from her godmother in America. Dr Andrews has to pay an astonishingly high amount for customs duty: nearly four pounds, which Google tells me would be worth about two hundred pounds in today’s money. I wondered whether the amount was changed in the 2002 edition which I was reading, but apparently not.

Selina’s dress is gorgeous, with matching shoes and ribbons but she can’t think of anywhere that she might be able to wear it. So the family have a brainstorming session, and decide on an ambitious project: they will write and perform a pageant, hopefully in the grounds of a nearby converted abbey which is due to be sold in the next six months or so. 

Each of the four older children (John, Sally, Christopher and Phoebe) plan to write a scene, with parts for their much younger brothers Augustus and Benjamin. Selina will be the prologue and epilogue, introducing the pageant from the point of view of the spirit of England. And while it all sounds rather unlikely, things come together, the adults they speak to are supportive, and scenes are written

I like the fact that none of the children is overly brilliant, although they’re all interesting characters. Noel Streatfeild had quite a talent for making realistic children, if a tad caricatured here and there.  Sally is the dancer of the family, but although she’s good, she’s not considered outstanding. And she’s a nice, thoughtful child. Phoebe is the most arrogant, and also the cleverest and the best actress, but she’s also quite stubborn. 

Philip, the son of the owners of the abbey has been invalided from the war, and is talented at theatrical production. So he gets involved, and the small family-run affair gets larger and larger. I thought Philip was very well-written; he has excellent ideas, if a bit overpowering at times, but also has to learn to defer to the children as it was their idea. 

I had remembered the overall storyline, and one significant misunderstanding that’s sorted out towards the end of the book. But I had entirely forgotten the details, and how everything started to come together despite interruptions, unexpected problems, and even a potential (and unexpected) disaster.  Noel Streatfield wrote the book in 1946, so it’s full of historical background, as the war comes to a close and the village celebrates. But we see many of the problems that were common then such as ongoing food rationing, and the lack of possible material to buy for costumes. 

The production of the pageant feels realistic, probably because Noel Streatfeild herself worked for ten years in a theatre. And although Selina is really the main character, there is plenty that could appeal to boys as well as girls in this novel which was probably intended for children of around nine to twelve. Selina, Sally and Christopher are all twelve, and Phoebe is nine-and-a-half. The children all have a lot of independence, as was normal in the second half of the 1940s and are quite resourceful. 

Naturally a book like this, nearly eighty years old, has a somewhat dated feel to it as it was written as contemporary rather than historical fiction. But I love the way that books of this era can be nostalgic as well as giving a broad understanding of the social norms of the times. And I found that I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading ‘Party Shoes’. One chapter was very poignant, some were light-hearted, and the whole was an encouraging testament to determination and family loyalty. I even liked the ending; sometimes Noel Streatfeild’s books finish rather abruptly, but this one tied up its loose ends, and felt entirely satisfactory.

Recommended to older children who like this kind of story, or of course to adults who recall this kind of fiction from their youth. 

Review copyright 2023 Sue's Book Reviews

Airs and Graces (by Erica James)

(Amazon UK link)

I started reading books by Erica James over twenty years ago, and have liked them all. I’m currently re-reading my collection, some of them for the third time. ‘Airs and Graces’ is actually the first of her books that I ever read, and I re-read it in 2008. So when I picked it up to re-read again a few days ago, I had almost entirely forgotten the storyline.

I say ‘almost’ entirely, because I had vaguely recalled the opening scenes: two friends are meeting for coffee when they come across a runaway teenager called Jo-jo. They invite her to have a hot drink and a pastry with them, and end up looking after her, much to the disapproval of some of the neighbours. 

But I hadn’t remembered much more. Ellen is the main character, a likeable woman in her forties, who is recently divorced. It wasn’t amicable, but very unpleasant, forcing her to move to a much smaller house and leaving her almost penniless. So she’s started a home business selling dried flower arrangements, and it’s just starting to attract visitors.

Hermione is Ellen’s friend. She’s much older, but the two have a shared, quirky sense of humour, and enjoy each other’s company. Hermione is quite eccentric, some of it deliberately put on and some of it natural. She’s also extremely untidy. She is widowed, but very fond of her godson Matthew who is a painter of some renown. 

Then there’s Duncan, Ellen’s solicitor, who has been helpful and considerate through the lengthy process of her divorce. Now she’s no longer his client, he is interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with her. And although Ellen isn’t in love with him, she likes him very much. And she also appreciates that, if she married him, she would no longer have to worry about money…

It’s a character-based story, set mainly in the village where Ellen and Hermione live. Both have to think about changes, to ask themselves questions, and to examine how they really feel.  Hermione had not realised quite how lonely she was until she spends some time with Jo-jo - who is surprisingly good at cleaning, tidying and organising. 

There are other characters, including the family who bought Ellen’s former house: the husband, a gynaecologist, is known, bizarrely, as ‘Bonkers’. He seems rather affected and arrogant until his skills are unexpectedly called upon. His wife is very outgoing and sociable in a somewhat caricatured way but she’s good-hearted too. 

Then there’s Nadia, Duncan’s snooty and domineering mother who disapproves of Ellen and even more so of Jo-jo. There’s Simon, Ellen’s student son, and there’s Bernie, a neighbour of Hermione’s, who lives in a care home that bears little relation to her perception of homes for the elderly.

It’s a testament to the author’s character-building that I can remember the names and some of the characteristics of all these people clearly nearly 24 hours after finishing the book;  sometimes I have a hard time remembering the name of a main protagonist, let alone the minor characters. And while this isn’t the most exciting story - the plot is all a bit predictable - the people are believable, mostly with a good mixture of traits. It wasn’t a book I had to keep reading at all moments, but I liked it, and was pleased that everything - or almost everything - ended in a positive way. 

It’s an example of the author’s earlier works; her later ones are more incisive, with more surprises and more realistic denouements and changes of heart. But there’s little or no bad language, and while people go to bed with each other rather a lot, there’s no gratuitous detail. I would recommend this to anyone who likes gentle character-driven women’s fiction and doesn’t mind it being somewhat predictable. 

Review copyright 2023 Sue's Book Reviews

The Hypnotist's Love Story (by Liane Moriarty)

(Amazon UK link)

I was so impressed with the first book I read by Liane Morarty, ‘Big Little Lies’, that I put a few more of her novels on my wishlist and was very pleased to receive some for Christmas last year, and my birthday this year. It’s taken me this long to pick one of them from my unread book shelf. The one I chose was ‘The Hypnotist’s Love Story’. It’s quite a long novel, at 500 pages, but I finished it in just three days.

Ellen is the main protagonist; she is the hypnotist of the title, or rather (as she insists) a qualified hypnotherapist. She lives in a beachside house which she inherited from her grandmother, and runs her business from a light-filled room that overlooks the sea. 

In the first chapter we meet a few of her clients, and learn a little about her technique. She doesn’t promise miracles, and reminds people that they won’t do anything they regret. But she believes she can help one person to become less nervous about public speaking, another to relax about her upcoming wedding. She sees someone with unexplained leg pain and may be able to help her learn to deal better with the pain; someone else isn’t entirely sure what she wants.  

And there’s also someone (which I assumed was one of the named clients) who gives short, first-person accounts of her visit to Ellen for an undefined purpose. We don’t learn who she is until some way into the book, but we do know that she has a connection with Ellen’s new love interest.  

Patrick is a likeable man who was widowed eight years earlier, not long after the birth of his son. He was in another relationship for three years but broke it off, and was single for a while. Now he has met Ellen, and the two of them seem to have developed a spark of kinship as well as mutual attraction. He’s open about his past, and also lets Ellen know that his previous girlfriend is stalking him…

It’s an unusual storyline and I didn’t really know where it was going. I liked Ellen as well as Patrick, and felt that she was probably a very good hypnotherapist. At times she asks herself ethical questions: apparently the profession sparks several different viewpoints about whether or not it is ever acceptable to offer hypnosis, or even relaxation techniques to a family member or partner. 

This book doesn’t have the twists and turns of ‘Big Little Lies’, although there are a few unexpected events. It’s character-based almost entirely; I found it fascinating seeing the viewpoints of the kinds of people I would not normally come across. I found some of the minor characters a bit two-dimensional, and couldn’t always remember the names of Patrick’s parents, or Ellen’s friends or her quirky godmothers. But it didn’t much matter. The story - of a developing relationship as well as of the problems of a former partner who won’t let go - is intriguing. The interactions feel believable, and the main characters realistic. 

I particularly appreciated the lack of bad language, and that private bedroom activities take place firmly behind a closed door. The writing is good, building pace and characters in a way that made it very difficult to put down.All in all, I liked this book very much and would recommend it to anyone who likes thoughtful women’s fiction that’s a bit different from most. 

Review copyright 2023 Sue's Book Reviews

Black Sheep (by Georgette Heyer)

(Amazon UK link)

I re-read my collection of historical novels by Georgette Heyer regularly; they’re my comfort reading, but I try to limit them to one a month. I last read ‘Black Sheep’ in 2019 but - as ever - had forgotten most of the details of the story, even though I recalled, vaguely, the main outline of the plot. 

Abby is the main character in this. She’s twenty-eight, and a strong-minded, practical young woman with a good sense of humour. She sometimes rails against the rules imposed on society in the Regency era, but has no wish to bring shame or disgrace on her family. She lives with her much older sister Selina, and their orphaned niece Fanny, who is sixteen. 

Abby has been away, visiting other relatives at the start of this book and returns to her home in Bath to discover that Fanny has fallen in love. Selina rather likes Stacy, the young man who has captured Fanny’s heart, although she agrees that Fanny is rather young to think of marriage; she hasn’t yet had her debutante season in London, and had been looking forward to it. 

However Abby is suspicious of Stacy, partly fuelled by rumours having reached her old-fashioned and prudish brother. And it turns out that Stacy, while outwardly charming, is quite manipulative: Fanny is an heiress, and Stacy is seriously in debt. 

Then Stacy’s uncle, Miles, appears in Bath after a lengthy exile in India. He’s escorted home a young man, the brother of Fanny’s best friend. And while Miles never used to appeal to me much, I did like him when I read the book this time. He is confident without being arrogant, and clicks immediately with Abby due to a shared sense of the ridiculous. He also tends to scoff at convention, but is different in that he cares nothing for family ties.

It’s well-written, as I expect with Georgette Heyer, and is quite educational in the sense of explaining some of the cultures and customs of the era. Miles has rather a sordid past, although he insists he is now reformed. And while he has some things in common with his nephew (whom he had not seen for more than twenty years), he doesn’t have his worst faults and rather despises him.

The solution to Fanny’s infatuation (and the risk of her doing something she would regret) is partly solved by an attack of influenza. But Miles takes a part in a way that’s a bit high-handed, but also amusing. 

It’s a fast-paced and enjoyable novel, one whose ending I hadn’t entirely recalled although as each scene started I did remember the outcome. I still don’t really like what happens at the end - last time I read this, I was very unimpressed - but Abby goes along with it, and I’m not sure any other solution would have worked.

Not my favourite of Heyer’s novels, but still a good read. As with most of this author's books, it's available for the Kindle, sometimes quite inexpensively.  These books are usually in print in paperback too, and widely available in second-hand and charity shops. 

Review copyright 2023 Sue's Book Reviews

I Shall Wear Midnight (by Terry Pratchett)

(Amazon UK link)

I’m glad I decided to re-read all the ‘Discworld’ books by the late Terry Pratchett, in the order of publiciation as recommended by the official Discworld Emporium site. In this sequence, the fourth ‘Tiffany Aching’ book for older children and younger teens is 38th in the series. I last read ‘I Shall Wear Midnight’ back in 2011, not long after it came out in paperback. And I had totally forgotten the storyline. 

I do like Tiffany. In the first book about her, ‘The Wee Free Men’, she was nine: hard-working and likeable, but undisciplined, and unsure where she fitted into the world. She was very good at making cheeses, and fond of her old grandmother… she was thrust into adventure, and trained as a witch. Now, in this book, she is sixteen and established as the witch of the ‘Chalk’ area. 

As the local witch, Tiffany has to oversee births and deaths. She’s like a district nurse or health visitor, who assists elderly people, binds up wounds, looks after children, and is generally a good influence in the area. She’s often very tired but - on the whole - she loves what she does. She’s a bit miffed that her former friend Roland no longer seems to speak to her, and that he’s become engaged to a very fluffy girl called Letitia. But she’s very fond of his father, the elderly Baron, who is dying. Tiffany visits him regularly to ‘balance’ his pain, in a way that is explained somewhat scientifically, but is one of the more mystical or magical abilities she has. 

At the same time, Tiffany has a growing awareness that something evil is in the air. People who used to respect her are now suspicious; if a baby dies when she’s present at the birth, she is rumoured to be responsible. She learns about witches in former centuries who were burned at the stake, and discovers that, in kissing the Wintersmith (in the book simply called ‘Wintersmith’) she has unleashed an evil spirit, the ‘Cunning Man’, who had been benign…

Pratchett had a genius for weaving several different subplots together. Some of his Discworld books seem confusing for the first 50 pages or so, as so many viewpoints are introduced, with apparently unrelated storylines. This book is much less complicated, since Tiffany is the viewpoint character throughout, and although she’s older, it’s still intended for younger people, though probably teens rather than children. 

Some of the references to the ‘Cunning Man’ and his activities are potentially quite disturbing, as is the description of terrible domestic violence which happens early in the book. Nothing gratuitous, but not appropriate reading for a sensitive child, or even a younger teenager.

We also see both Tiffany and Nanny Ogg trying to explain the ‘facts of life’ to a young, innocent girl about to get married. Nothing explicit is said, but much is implied. It might go over the head of a younger child, but I suspect most children would find this novel a bit dull; there are no children in it.

There’s more of a crossover with the main Discworld books than there was in the earlier Tiffany Aching books. Tiffany has to visit Ankh Morpork at one point, and comes across ‘Wee Mad Arthur’ who is delighted to meet the Feegles - the small blue men who have sworn to protect Tiffany. She also meets someone I had given up hope of ever reading about again - the legendary Esk from the early book in the series, ‘Equal Rites’. 

I liked reading about Tiffany again. She has matured in positive ways since the earlier books about her. She’s kind and generous, and also quick-thinking and courageous. She’s quite determined, too, and mostly confident about her own abilities. There’s even a low-key romantic element for her, involving a young man with the brains to go to university, but no money.  

Inevitably there are some lighter parts of the book, and some humour, particularly where the Feegles are concerned. But it’s ironic humour, the kind that made me smile wryly here and there, rather than anything overtly funny.

Overall I thought this a very good addition to the Discworld books. Definitely recommended if you liked the earlier Tiffany Aching books, or if you’re a fan of the Discworld books in general. 

Review copyright 2023 Sue's Book Reviews

The Lilac Bus (by Maeve Binchy)

(Amazon UK link)

I’m re-reading the novels and short story collections that I’ve collected, over many years, by the late Maeve Binchy. I have an omnibus volume of three of her books which I decided to read (and review) one at a time. I read the four novellas which comprise the first of these, ‘Dublin 4’, in the middle of September. A couple of days ago started the second, ‘The Lilac Bus’. 

I’m surprised to find that I have never previously read this book - or, at any rate, not in the past twenty-five years or so since I started cataloguing and reviewing my books. I’m not sure whether to class it as a novel or a set of short stories, because in a way it’s both. However each story builds somewhat on the earlier ones.

There are eight separate long chapters, each telling the story of one of the people who travels, every  weekend, from Dublin to their home town of Rathdoon. The journey takes about three hours, and is not an official bus but a private arrangement with the driver, a young man called Tom.

The first section is about Nancy, a young woman who works as a receptionist for three doctors. She’s clearly good at her job, but not a particularly likeable person. We learn from her conversation, and other asides that she takes frugality to such an extreme that people think of her as rather mean. 

She thinks she’s helping by telling everyone how they can eat more cheaply, or where they can find money-saving coupons. Although she’s earning a good salary, she seems to begrudge every penny she has to spend. Nancy has a few eye-opening moments during this particular weekend. 

The next section looks at Dee, the doctor’s daughter in Rathdoon. In the first chapter it appeared that she was a kind, caring person as she sat next to Nancy on the bus, and listened to her talking at great length on many topics. But Dee has a secret, and something Nancy said makes her realise that her secret is not in fact what she thought….

Each section builds a little on the previous ones, enlarging on the knowledge we have already. There’s Mikey, who’s very good natured but annoys people by telling risque jokes. He travels back to stay with his brother and sister-in-law, and to help look after his very elderly father. There’s Kev, a rather nervous young man who turns out to have a secret life in Dublin which he’s very ashamed of, but sees no way out of. There’s Rupert, an upper-middle class academic who also has a secret of a very different kind, which he hasn’t been able to share with anyone. 

Judy is the oldest of the passengers, a woman who works at a herbal ‘New Age’ shop in Dublin, but is afraid it’s going to fail. Nobody really knows why her husband left her, taking their two children, a couple of decades earlier. She assumes everyone knows, but in conversation she discovers that they don’t: so she admits what happened in the past, and then makes a rather risky decision about the future. 

Celia, who likes to sit by Tom, is the daughter of the pub-owner in Rathdoon. She works as a nurse in Dublin and has some pleasant flatmates; but she can see that her mother is drinking too much. Her father died after being an alcoholic, and her siblings live around the world and can’t help. Celia feels as if she’s at her wits’ end, and knows she has to confront her mother somehow.

And Tom, who owns the bus, also has a life that none of the others know about. He observes them all, but doesn’t ask any questions. 

Each of these eight characters comes alive in Maeve Binchy’s word pictures, and their interactions with other people. I thought it was very well written and a clever idea, even if it is a tad unlikely that all eight passengers on a regular bus would have secrets or pasts that they are keeping from everyone else. But that doesn’t matter; nor does the slight caricaturing of some of the minor characters. 

A wide variety of situations are covered, and I found it a very readable, light novel (if that’s the correct word) with some mild humour here and there and some poignancy too.  Not all the situations are fully resolved - that’s an issue I have with many of the short stories by this author - but at least some of them are partly sorted out by the end of the weekend. 

Recommended if you enjoy Maeve Binchy’s writing, and if you like character-based books that examine several different slices of Irish life in the mid-1980s. 

Review copyright 2023 Sue's Book Reviews

Songbirds (by Christy Lefteri)

(Amazon UK link)

I first came across the Cypriot-English writer Christy Lefteri when our local book group read ‘The Bee-Keeper of Aleppo’ three years ago. It was a disturbing story in some respects, but extremely well-written and we all thought it enlightening. This month the choice is another book by this author, ‘Songbirds’. I was able to borrow it from a friend who had liked it (although acknowledging that it was not a happy story) and finished reading it a day or two ago. 

‘Songbirds’ is a shorter novel, and set in Cyprus. That gave me added interest as I have lived in Cyprus for the past twenty-five years. Although the main location of the book is Nicosia, and I am in a different city, there was much that was familiar in the culture, and some of the places mentioned. 

There are two viewpoint characters in this novel: Yiannis and Petra. Petra is a widowed mother with a daughter called Aliki. Until the start of the novel, she has been employing a young woman from Sri Lanka called Nisha as nanny and maid. 

It’s not uncommon in Cyprus for young women to come from Asian countries, leaving behind their own families, in order to work for a family, or someone elderly. This gives sufficient income to be able to support their families back home. Some employers are good and some are not. Petra was quite depressed after her daughter was born, as her husband had just died after a long illness, and Nisha was employed to bring Aliki up. 

Petra has never been deliberately unkind to Nisha; she’s one of the better employees of domestic workers. But she takes her for granted and has never really chatted with her. She knows that Nisha has a daughter back in Sri Lanka, a couple of years older than Aliki, but she knows little else about her.  Aliki, by contrast, adores Nisha and is quite remote from her mother.

Yiannis lives in the apartment upstairs from Petra and Aliki, renting it from Petra. And, as we quickly learn, he and Nisha have been lovers, although this has to be kept secret. Maids (domestic workers) are not expected to have personal lives. 

But Nisha has disappeared. That’s said in the first, brief section of the book and is the main theme of the whole novel. 

It would be a spoiler to say anything else about the story. This is a powerful, very well-written book which examines many issues in Cyprus: illegal poaching (which is where the title comes from) is a subject I knew very little about. I was vaguely aware of the way domestic workers are often treated as of less significance than locals, or other Europeans, and that some are abused; this book personalises these problems, making them feel more real. I hadn’t realised how the maids are often in serious debt to the agencies that bring them to Cyprus. 

Despite Nisha not appearing as a character, we see clearly the way she is caught in the middle, loving Yiannis, but also Aliki.  The book also explores some of what has gone wrong between Petra and Aliki, and sees a tentative beginning to some healing. 

The book is written in short chapters, alternating Petra and Yiannis, all told in the first person. This enables us to get inside their heads. We see how Petra feels regret at knowing so little about someone who has lived in her home for over a decade. We also see how Yiannis is torn, knowing that some of his activities are illegal - yet unable to earn enough money without them. And, worse, he feels caught in a net of crime, aware that if he tries to quit, he may be in trouble with those he works for. 

There are brief sections involving the decomposition of a dead hare, sections I found extremely unappealing, and which I mostly skimmed. They show the passing of time in an unusual way; and yet the novel takes place over just a few weeks. 

As it was nearing the end, I was reminded of a news item I had read about a few years back. I hoped I was wrong and that there would be a positive ending, but I wasn’t surprised when the mystery of Nisha’s disappearance was solved. As the author states in an epilogue, this news item inspired her novel. 

I’m glad I read this book, which I’m sure will stay with me for some time, although I doubt if I'll read it again. I didn’t feel any strong connection to either of the viewpoint characters, but I liked them both, for all their faults. I thought the mother-child relationships were very well done, and the picture of village life in Cyprus felt realistic. There’s much that’s traumatic in this novel, including the scenes involving poaching; but there’s nothing gratuitous. 

Definitely recommended. 

Review copyright 2023 Sue's Book Reviews