The elegance of the hedgehog (by Muriel Barbery)

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I had never heard of Muriel Barbery, but her book ‘The elegance of the hedgehog’ was chosen for our local reading group. I liked the cover when my (used) copy of the book arrived, and thought the blurb on the back sounded very interesting. It was originally written in French, so I have been reading a translation; it’s also all set in Paris. 

Indeed, it’s not just set in Paris: almost everything in the book is set in a luxurious apartment block in Paris. There are two main protagonists in the book, and at first sight they seem quite different. Renée is the concierge; she’s middled-aged, widowed and tell us that she’s somewhat overweight. 

Paloma is a twelve-year-old girl who lives in one of the flats with her parents and older sister. Her parents are supposedly socialists, but they’re also very wealthy. Paloma has decided that she’s going to kill herself on her 13th birthday, as she sees a tedious adulthood ahead of her, and doesn’t think she can escape. 

Standing on my knees (by Jeff Lucas)

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I do like reading - and rereading - books by Jeff Lucas. He’s a British pastor who works in the United States, and he has a somewhat dry sense of humour that comes through in his writing. He acknowledges his failings - possibly exaggerating them at times - rather than trying to tell his readers what to do from the point of view of an expert. And I find his style very readable.

It’s almost exactly ten years since I read ‘Standing on my knees’, so it was definitely time for a reread of this book, which is about prayer. There are many available books on this topic, of course, as the author acknowledges. But many of them try to share the secrets they have learned, or the benefit of their experiences, rather than sharing, with the reader, in the many difficulties that may have to be overcome. 

There are ten chapters in this fairly short book, and I aimed to read one every day, though sometimes I took a couple of days over a longer chapter. I thought the subject was covered in a very encouraging, inspiring way. The first chapter looks at some of the people in history who were expert in praying; the author admires them, as he does with those called to be intercessors who have no problem spending significant amounts of time with God. But he tells us that this book is for ordinary Christians who sometimes struggle to spend more than five minutes in prayer, and whose minds tend to wander rather than focus. 

The Cupid effect (by Dorothy Koomson)

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It’s fifteen years since I read Dorothy Koomson’s novel ‘The Cupid effect’.  Unsurprisingly, I had totally forgotten the story as well as the characters. But I did vaguely recall that I had liked it the first time around, so was looking forward to rereading it.

The  main character is a young woman called Ceri, who lives in London. Since it’s an abbreviation of the Latin name Ceresis, I thought of the pronunciation as ‘Serry’, or possibly ‘Cherry’. But she’s greeted by an old friend as ‘Kerry’, so I’m assuming that’s the intended pronunciation. Not that it really matters. The book is narrated in the first person from her perspective.

Ceri is a likable and intelligent person, who gets far too involved in other people’s problems, particularly romantic or sexual ones. This isn’t deliberate on her behalf, but she’s a good listener, and people seem to gravitate towards her, telling her their life stories. This often includes things she would rather not know, and she becomes quite overwhelmed.

The exiles in love (by Hilary McKay)

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I’ve been enjoying rereading some of the books by Hilary McKay. She’s an author for children whom I discovered about fifteen years ago when another blogger recommended her excellent ‘Saffy’s Angel’. I reread that series last year, and then decided to reread the shorter ‘Exiles’ series. 

I read ‘The exiles’ at the end of December, and ‘The exiles at home’ in February. And I’ve just finished the third in the trilogy, ‘The exiles in love’, which I last read in 2012. Whereas the earlier two could be considered children’s books, this one is more for younger teenagers. And it’s slightly different in style. 

The Conroy family are still the main focus of the book, but each chapter opens with a brief dialogue, between Ruth and Naomi, evidently some time after the events which they are describing. It felt a bit weird at first, but I quickly got used to it, and by the final chapters had realised what was going on, though it’s all very low key.

But the bulk of the story happens when Ruth is nearly fifteen, and Naomi thirteen. Rachel is ten, and Phoebe eight. Their characters are quite distinct, and I liked catching up with them again. The story is about the summer when they - Ruth and Naomi, anyway - started exhibiting the family failing: falling in love with totally unsuitable people. 

It starts with a squashed hedgehog, which is rather sad, but Ruth then falls in love with the school bus driver. And she’s also rather keen on her new substitute teacher for Literature, who spends the lessons reading aloud from a variety of novels. Naomi finds him very attractive too. They’re the only two girls who have actually read most of the books in the school library, and Naomi in particular helps him to remember what he’s previously covered. 

Then Ruth starts to fall for a young man in the sixth form at school, who’s helping out his uncle at the butcher’s shop. Oh, and she’s passionate about Mr Rochester in ‘Jane Eyre’ and keeps reading the book until it’s almost fallen to pieces.

Into the mix comes Philippe, a French teenager, the grandson of an old friend of Big Grandma’s. He comes to stay with the Conroys for a fortnight, and turns out to be charming, friendly, and very helpful around the house. All four girls fall a little bit in love with him, and Rachel asks if he will marry her. He says he will… and he also helps Rachel to change her appearance for the better. 

Then the story moves to France where Big Grandma takes the four girls on a holiday, staying in a rather basic cottage with an outside toilet… there’s some humour as the girls experiment with their non-existent French as they try to go shopping…

I didn’t find this book quite as appealing as the earlier two, possibly because it’s more about Ruth and Naomi than about the younger ones.  Phoebe is determined to be a spy when she grows up, and Rachel eats anything and everything, although there’s no mention of her being overweight. But - perhaps since it’s supposed to be Ruth and Naomi remembering - most of the story revolves around them. We see very little of their parents, and not a great deal of Big Grandma.

Still, it’s quite cleverly done, and I did appreciate that the end of the book brings a definite closure to the Conroy ‘Exile’ trilogy.  Definitely recommended if you’ve read the first two, but it would seem a bit confusing to read this alone, as there are quite a few references to people who appeared in the earlier volumes.

Recommended to children of perhaps ten and upwards, or to adults who appreciate Hilary McKay’s style of writing.

Review copyright 2026 Sue's Book Reviews

The ideal husband (by Erica James)

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I have liked Erica James’ books since I first started reading them over 25 years ago. As she publishes each new one - and it’s around one per year - I put it on my wishlist as soon as it’s out in paperback. I was very pleased to be given ‘An ideal husband’ for my birthday, nearly a year ago. As I was re-reading my Erica James novels at the time, I put this one on my to-read shelf, and have only just read it this week. 

The main character is a very likeable women in her early sixties called Louisae. She’s driving home on a beautiful spring day, feeling as if, perhaps, there might be something to look forward to. She’s been struggling for a couple of months, trying to stay strong. Her husband of nearly forty years announced just after Christmas that he was leaving her for a much younger woman. 

Up to that point she had thought Kip was the perfect husband. He was kind, responsible, good with the children - and their two small granddaughters - and she loved him. She was looking forward to spending more time with him as their retirement years approached. Now the future seems bleak. But nothing prepares her for the shock of seeing a ‘for sale’ board in front of their home.