Family matters (by Helen Parker)

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I started reading Helen Parker’s books for teenagers because, years ago, she was part of our local writers’ group. I read ‘Hide and secret’ a few years ago and thought it both interesting and well-written. I enjoyed the stand-alone sequel, ‘Island treasure’ too, when I read that a year or so later, although I would have liked more about the characters in ‘Hide and secret’.

So when the third book, ‘Family matters’,  was published, I put it on my wishlist and was given it last Christmas. I just finished reading it. I hadn’t really remembered the characters from ‘Hide and secret’, but realised after a few chapters that some of them were in this book: in particular Ruth, whose early years were spent in Cairo. She is now 14 and goes to a high school in Edinburgh. She still doesn’t feel entirely at home there, but she’s reasonably settled. Most of her local friends are ones who also belong to her church youth group.

One of Ruth’s friends is Lucy, who is excited that her mother has a new boyfriend, Zak. He’s very generous, and she hopes he might be her stepfather. Ruth has other friends with stepfathers, and they all like them very much; some of what Lucy says feels a bit strange, however. Not that he’s behaving inappropriately to Lucy, but she isn’t quite sure how to deal with a new man in the family - and one or two of the things she says don’t quite ring true.

Shopaholic and baby (by Sophie Kinsella)

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I am thoroughly enjoying rereading the ‘Shopaholic’ series by the late Sophie Kinsella. I was surprised that I liked them when I first picked them up, around fifteen years ago; they are well-written with a lot of humour, and some quite poignant moments too. 

I finished ‘Shopaholic and sister’ last month, so it was time for the next in the series, ‘Shopaholic and baby’, which I previously read in 2012. I hadn’t remembered anything about it, other than that it was mostly about Becky’s pregnancy rather than her life as a new mother. She had just discovered that she was pregnant at the end of the previous book, so this one is set not long afterwards.

Naturally, Becky - a compulsive shopper - is excited at the thought of new purchases for her baby, even quite early in her pregnancy. She peruses catalogues and visits shops and specialist showrooms… she’s in the fortunate position of being married to a wealthy businessman, Luke, who doesn’t seem to care what she spends on baby equipment. 

In the fifth at Malory Towers (by Enid Blyton)

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I’m a bit surprised to find that it must be at least thirty years since I last read Enid Blyton’s ‘In the fifth at Malory Towers’. The six-book series was my favourite as a teenager; apparently I read it three times in the 1970s, and I’m sure I must have read it at least once or twice as an adult… but I had not remembered most of the details. 

This book takes place in the term immediately after the previous book, ‘Upper fourth at Malory Towers’, which I reread last month. Darrell and her friends have passed the School Certificate (a kind of precursor of GCSEs) and have moved up to the fifth form. Alicia and Gwendoline did not pass the exam, but Alicia was ill and Gwendoline was faking illness, and both are now too old to stay in the fourth form. 

Darrell’s younger sister Felicity is in her second term, still in the first form, and is passionate about lacrosse. Darrell is delighted to be put in charge of sports for the younger girls, but worries that she’s showing favouritism if she puts Felicity in one of the teams.

An innocent diversion (by Kathleen Rowntree)

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It’s a bit of a shock to realise that it’s twenty-four years since I first read Kathleen Rowntree’s novel ‘An innocent diversion’. So it was more than time to reread. I had, unsurprisingly, forgotten everything about it - all the people and storylines felt entirely new to me. I quite like that feeling, knowing that I did enjoy the book first time around.

There are two main characters, and the author succeeds in making them quite distinct. Fran is the one I related to the most. She’s in her fifties, and married to a farmer. She looks after the house, cooks for whoever needs meals, and also does some of the farm chores. Her husband, Steve, is a decade older than she is, and a very likeable man. The two are still close. 

Fran has some bad days, particularly the anniversaries of events from her teenage years which are still poignant to her. It’s fairly soon clear what has made her depressed at the start of the novel, though we don’t get the details until much later in the book. But Steve is understanding, and kind; and Fran appreciates him. They have two daughters: Heather, who works in an upmarket shoe shop, and Janie, who is in her mid-teens and rather geeky. Heather and Janie are totally unalike, and don’t get along. 

Go set a watchman (by Harper Lee)

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I read Harper Lee’s classic novel ‘To kill a mockingbird’ when I was in my teens at school. I don’t know that I really understood it, and was not inspired to read it again. Not until last month, that is, when I read it with an open mind, and very much enjoyed it. The reason was that the author’s other novel ‘Go set a watchman’ was chosen as this month’s local reading group book.

I did understand that it’s not - and was never intended as - a sequel to the first book. It was written first, and the publishers asked Harper Lee to write about earlier events. She did so, and the subsequent book became highly popular and is now considered a classic. ‘Go set a watchman’ was thought to be lost until it was discovered and then published about a year before the author died. 

I read it over the past few days. It features many of the same characters as ‘To kill a mockingbird’, and almost functions like a sequel although there are a lot of flashbacks. The girl formerly known as Scout is now twenty-six and goes by her full name of Jean Louise. She’s been working in New York, but is travelling back to her home town of Maycomb for her annual vacation.

Strangers in company (by Jane Aiken Hodge)

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I’ve been reading some of my books by Jane Aiken Hodge over the past few months. She wrote some historical novels, which were very well researched (if a tad too political for my tastes, at times). She also wrote some contemporary fiction, mostly light thrillers. One of this latter category is ‘Strangers in company’ which I last read in 2008. Unsurprisingly, I couldn’t remember anything about it. 

Marian Frenche is the main character in this book. It was published in the mid-1970s, so that’s the era in which it’s set. Marian, who is in her late thirties, has taken on an unusual job: she’s going to be chaperoning a young woman called Stella on a Greek coach tour. She’s paid very well for this, and she needs the money: her eighteen-year-old twins have left home, travelling to live with their father in the United States. And his financial support has stopped. 

I’m not quite sure why so much is made of the twins and the fact that their father is quite famous: other than missing them desperately at times, they don’t have much relevance to the plot, and we never meet them. But their absence sets the scene for an intelligent motherly woman who needs a job and is willing to try almost anything. Stella is known to be moody, and Marian is told not to let her get too close to any other members of their tour party.

The Chalet School reunion (by Elinor M Brent-Dyer)

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In my gradual, one-per-month reread of Elinor M Brent-Dyer’s lengthy Chalet School series, I reached the one noted as 50th in the original series. I last read ‘The Chalet School reunion’ about nine years ago, although before that I hadn’t read it for at least a couple of decades. 

Indeed, it’s not a book I really recall at all; possibly because it’s one of the non-school ‘holiday’ books which I appreciate all the more as I get older. This one is mainly about Grizel Cochrane, one of the original members of the school who returned, for a while, as a music teacher. She’s spent the last few years in New Zealand working with a friend, but is about to return to Europe after the business folded. 

Before going to the UK to wind up some business affairs, Grizel plans to visit Joey Maynard at her home in Switzerland - which appears to expand any time guests are expected. Grizel and Joey were the two founding members of the school, so Joey decides to host a mini reunion with other ‘girls’ who were around at the start - not that all of them are available.

The book club (by Mary Alice Monroe)

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I hadn’t heard of Mary Alice Monroe when I saw her novel ‘The book club’ on a church bookstall nearly two years ago. But the cover looked appealing, I liked the sound of the title, and the blurb on the back sounded exactly like my kind of book. I finally picked it up to read a few days ago.

It should have been very appealing: all the ingredients are there. There’s a brief prologue that hints at the rest of the story. Then quite a dramatic first chapter, where it’s obvious what’s going to transpire, but the tension is nicely done. We meet Eve in that first chapter, a reasonably happy and comfortably off housewife with two teenage children. She’s feeling as if something isn’t quite right in her marriage, but her husband Tom is about to go on a business trip. So she hopes to sort everything out when he returns. 

It’s no spoiler to say that Tom doesn’t return: this is what we know, from the start, is going to happen. And much of the novel is about Eve, how she grieves, what regrets she has, and how she eventually starts to find new meaning in her life.

Goodnight, beautiful (by Dorothy Koomson)

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In re-reading my novels by Dorothy Koomson, I wondered if I should skip ‘Goodnight, beautiful’. I first read it in October 2014 and didn’t remember anything about it; but glancing at my rating on LibraryThing, I’d given it fewer stars than any of the other books by this author. And a comment saying I wished I hadn’t read the blurb on the back of the book, as it had too many spoilers.

I decided to reread it anyway, and am very glad that I did. I didn’t look at the back of the book this time; I don’t know if the blurb changed in subsequent reprints of this book, but in my view it gives away far too much of the plot. I had to figure it out this time, and it did feel a bit confusing at first.

The story is told by two different women, Nova and Stephanie. Nova is married to George, and Stephanie is married to Mal. The main connection is that Nova and Mal grew up together, almost like brother and sister, and were extremely close friends. They both insist that this friendship never turned into a romantic relationship. 

Anne of Windy Willows (by Lucy Maud Montgomery)

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Although I have dipped into many of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s ‘Anne’ books fairly regularly over the past few decades, it must be close to thirty years since I read ‘Anne of Windy Willows’. My only memory of it was that it involved rather a lot of letters, and in general I’m not a fan of epistolary novels.

However, I’m reading the series in order at present, about one per month. Since I finished the third book, ‘Anne of the Island’, at the end of July I decided to read the fourth one - which is also sometimes known as ‘Anne of Windy Poplars’ - in the past few days.

This book covers Anne’s three years as head of a school, working and saving money as she waits for her fiancé Gilbert to finish his medical training. And while there are several letters to Gilbert expressing Anne’s personal opinions and impressions, there’s also plenty of direct narrative.

To kill a mockingbird (by Harper Lee)

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I had to read Harper Lee’s classic novel ‘To kill a mockingbird’ when I was a teenager - I guess about fourteen. I don’t think I enjoyed it all that much. But I’m not sure I really understood it. The issues of segregation were completely new to me, in the UK in the 1970s, and I didn’t get why there was so much dialect even amongst the supposedly educated white people. 

I’ve had a copy of this book sitting on our shelves for the past thirty or so years, and kept thinking that maybe I should reread. But I only got around to doing so this week, and the reason is that the recently discovered sequel, ‘Go set a watchman’ is next month’s local reading club choice. I’m not quite sure how a sequel can have been written before the main book which shot the author to fame, but perhaps I’ll find out more when I read it.

In the meantime, I’ve been reading ‘To kill a mockingbird’ over the past few days. I knew, vaguely the story - that a white lawyer in a town in the deep south of the United States was defending a black man, accused of a crime. But I hadn’t remembered any of the details, nor the outcome. And I found it quite a gripping storyline.

Shopaholic and sister (by Sophie Kinsella)

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I’m thoroughly enjoying rereading the ‘Shopaholic’ series by the late Sophie Kinsella. Undoubtedly ‘chick-lit’, with a heroine who has almost nothing in common with me, lifestyle-wise. And yet the author managed to create, in Becky Brandon, a thoroughly likeable young woman despite her addiction to shopping and general self-centredness. She can also be extremely generous, and she cares deeply about her family and friends.

I finished ‘Shopaholic ties the knot’ last month, in which Sophie and Luke finally get married, after a lot of indecision and confusion, and potential disasters. I love the way that no matter how deep a hole Becky manages to dig for herself, there’s always some way out. Often something related to her personality or her previous professional skills.

Shopaholic and sister’ is the next in the series. I first read it in 2007, and as far as I recall it was the first novel by Sophie Kinsella that I had read. I didn’t expect much, but thought the writing style excellent and the story well-crafted. It didn’t matter that I started part-way through the series and collected the other books somewhat at random. 

Upper fourth at Malory Towers (by Enid Blyton)

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In the past few decades I’ve dipped somewhat randomly into Enid Blyton books from time to time, particularly the school stories. But this year I’ve been reading the Malory Towers books in order, at around one per month. I was surprised how much I enjoyed ‘Third year at Malory Towers’ in July; I’ve just finished (almost in one sitting) the fourth book, ‘Upper fourth at Malory Towers’, which I last read in 2015.

I’m familiar with most of the storylines, of course; I read these books almost every year when I was a teenager; but with more than ten years since my last read, I had forgotten a lot of the details.

This is the year when Darrell’s sister Felicity finally gets to go to Malory Towers. She’s been ill - we don’t know what the problem was - so her first term is the summer term, Darrell’s last in the upper fourth form. Darrell is very excited about showing her sister around, so feels a bit annoyed when Alicia’s young cousin June decides to take Felicity under her wing. 

Outside, looking in (by Kathleen Rowntree)

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I’m enjoying my gradual re-reading of Kathleen Rowntree’s novels. She only wrote nine, but each of them is quite distinct, with different settings and styles. I hadn’t read ‘Outside, looking in’ for twenty-five years, so it’s not surprising that I had entirely forgotten the people and the story.

This is a ‘village’ style novel, featuring some believable people and some caricatures. There is quite a large cast, and I never fully remembered who was whom amongst the more minor ones. But I did like Kate, who is one of the main characters. She’s only in her forties, but was widowed a year earlier after nursing her husband through a terminal illness. She works part-time as a teacher, and is mostly coping - at least on the surface. But she has a lot of fears, and is somewhat obsessive about checking the house for intruders every night. 

Just down the road from Kate lives Will, who was a close friend of Kate’s husband. Will’s wife Sylvie is suffering from early Alzheimer’s, and seems to be regressing. Will works from home, and has taken time off to look after his wife; but one day a week he has to travel or go to the office, and Kate takes over for that day. There are daily visits from nurses, too, but - so far - Kate has looked after Sylvie without problem.

Greek wedding (by Jane Aiken Hodge)

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It’s nearly twenty years since I read Jane Aiken Hodge’s historical novel ‘Greek wedding’. Unsurprisingly, I had entirely forgotten what it was about, and all the characters involved. It’s set in the 1820s, during the Greek war of independence, something I knew very little about.

Phyllida is the heroine of this novel, and we first meet her when she and her aunt Cressida are making a desperate escape from a Sultan’s harem in Constantinople. They plead to be taken about the ship Helena, which is owned by the grumpy Brett Renshaw. Indeed, Brett is not just irritable, but very depressed, and considering ending everything. 

The two women are rescued, though Brett is not happy about it, and they soon learn that Helena was supposed to have been his honeymoon ship. But when he learned that he was not to be a Duke, due to a baby being born to his uncle, she jilted him - or, rather, made him appear to jilt her. It’s not surprising that he’s unhappy.

Anatomy of a scandal (by Sarah Vaughan)

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I hadn’t previously read anything by Sarah Vaughan. And I very much doubt if I would have picked up her novel ‘Anatomy of a scandal’ if I had seen it on a stall; the cover is mainly black and it looks like a thriller. Really not my favourite genre. However, it was allocated for this month’s local reading group, and I was able to find it from ‘World of Books’ last year. I didn’t start reading it until a few days ago, but it wasn’t difficult to finish it in just three days despite it being nearly 400 pages.

The chapters are mostly short, each one head by the name of the viewpoint character and the date in which the chapter is set. This is helpful, as the timeline switches to the past fairly often, as the story unfolds. It opens in the ‘present’ of the novel, 2nd December 2016. Kate is the viewpoint character here; she’s a barrister who has just lost a case. 

We see her surroundings, feel her frustration. And she makes it clear that her wig and gown help her into the role that she plays in court. She tries only to prosecute when she’s pretty sure the defendant is guilty, but she knows that the system isn’t perfect: that what matters more than truth is the way it’s painted by the lawyers.

The Chalet School triplets (by Elinor M Brent-Dyer)

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It’s only nine years since I last read ‘The Chalet School triplets’, one of the later volumes in the lengthy series by Elinor M Brent-Dyer. It's book 49 in the original list. But it’s not one I reread regularly when I was younger, and I found that I hadn’t recalled any of the story-lines.  

The last time I read this, I only had the Armada paperback edition. It was supposedly only shortened in minor ways, but ‘frequently’.  So I was very pleased when I was able to acquire a Girls Gone By edition in the intervening years, containing the full original text, with the bonus of a relevant short story at the end.

This book focuses on Joey Maynard’s oldest offspring, her triplets, who are now approaching sixteen. They are some of my favourite characters in the book, and I find them all three-dimensional and believable. They look quite different: Len is tall, slim and auburn, Con is shorter, with very dark hair, and even more slim. Margot has curly red hair, and is slightly more stocky, though there’s a discrepancy in the book making it uncertain whether she’s a little shorter than Len, or a little taller. It doesn’t matter: minor mistakes like these are common in these books. Somehow, they add to the charm. 

On the edge (by Sarah Turner)

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I liked ‘Stepping up’ by Sarah Turner so much when we read it for the local book group a couple of years ago that I put another of her novels on my wishlist. I was given ‘On the edge’ for Christmas and have just read it in the past couple of days.

It took me a few chapters to get into it, but once I was about a quarter of the way through it became difficult to put down. The narrator is called Joni. She’s nearly forty, and has been living with Lewis for the past ten years. Joni hates surprises, and likes to be prepared for any eventuality. She’s really eager to have a baby, and has planned every detail, including the most likely times for conception. 

But before we meet her, there’s an online group discussion, presumably something like Whatsapp although it’s not specified. Someone called Sue, who is not entirely au fait with groups or emojis, sets it up and invites Joni along with four other people. And she tells them that she’s been given the task of organising a week in Joni’s late grandmother’s house, where they have to follow some instructions before hearing her will.  

All my lies are true (by Dorothy Koomson)

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The first time I read Dorothy Koomson’s gripping novel ‘The ice cream girls’, I felt that there were some unfinished threads; I knew the author only wrote stand-alone novels, but wished she would write a sequel. So I was very pleased when I learned that she had done so, some years later. I was given ‘All my lies are true’ for my birthday a few months ago. I didn’t read it immediately, however; I waited until a few weeks after I had reread ‘The ice cream girls’, to remind myself of the characters and details of the story.

It probably isn’t necessary to have read it first, but I would definitely recommend it, even though this novel is complete in itself, and starts ten years after the end of ‘The ice cream girls’. This one mainly features Verity, daughter of Serena and Evan, who is now in her mid-twenties. She’s moved out of the family home but, until a year or so previously, was very close to her parents. But she’s grown more and more distant. Serena is sure she has secrets, but is pushed away any time she tries to approach the topic - or any other conversation.

As with other books by this author, the timeline moves back and forwards regularly, with each section headed by the date. So it’s not long before we learn that Verity has been dating a man in his thirties called Logan. He spends a lot of time in her flat, and they have declared their love for each other. But they haven’t told either of their families anything about their relationship, and neither of the has met the other’s family. 

Anne of the Island (by Lucy Maud Montgomery)

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I thoroughly enjoyed rereading ‘Anne of Green Gables’ a couple of months ago, and the first sequel, ‘Anne of Avonlea’ in June. So in the past few days I’ve reread the third book in the series, ‘Anne of the Island’, which I haven’t read since 2006. However, I must have read it more than once as a teenager or young adult, as much of the story was still familiar to me. 

This book, which was published in 1925, covers the four years of Anne’s university degree at the fictional Redmond college. She’s delayed her entry because Marilla’s eyesight is going. But Mrs Lynde is going to move in, so Anne is free to go. She’s going to be joined by some of her closest friends, and is pleased that Gilbert Blythe will be there too, in the same year. They had a friendly rivalry at school - once they put aside their feud - and are good friends. But Gilbert wants more than friendship, and Anne is not interested…

There’s not a whole lot of plot to this book. We meet some new folk, and in the second year we see Anne and three of her friends installed in a wonderful house known as Patty’s Place. It’s owned by two women who have decided to travel the world.