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.