Another year has come to an end and what a year it has been. I admittedly have neglected this blog but aim to be more attentive in 2024.
In 2023 I managed to read over 100 books in a variety of genres and take a new role as a School Events Coordinator in a Children's bookshop in North London. I have also enjoyed working on freelance projects with some wonderful new clients to create impactful book launch events and offer consultancy on PR strategies and marketing. I'm finally in the industry I was meant for and I am one very happy and grateful bookworm.
Anyway enough about me, let's get into to the books!
Here are my 23 favourite reads from last year:
1. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
If you would like to read more classics but feel intimidated by the Russian literary giants, ‘Crime and Punishment’ is a great place to start.
Blurb: Raskolnikov, a destitute former student, living in the slums of St Petersburg robs and murders a mean old pawnbroker woman without remorse or regret. He imagines himself to be a great man, likening himself to Napoleon: acting for a higher purpose beyond conventional moral law.
But as he embarks on a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with Porfiry, the suspicious detective, Raskolnikov is pursued by the growing voice of his conscience and finds the noose of his guilt tightening around his neck.
This story is a layered one, it highlights how education, class, poverty and the society we live in can affect us. It also examines how we create and adjust our moral compass, and that our behaviour and attitudes towards others are directly related to our sense of self. There is a lot to unpack in this book if you're willing.
If you're interested in psychology and ethics, this is a great one for you. The plot can be complex but the language isn't overly difficult.
Five Word Review: Insightful, melodramatic, complex, morose and engaging.
'To go wrong in one's way is better than to go right in someone else's'
2. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
I read this book almost a year ago and I can still remember the characters and how they made me feel. When a book is this memorable, you recommend it to everyone.
Blurb: Sam and Sadie; college friends, often in love, but never lovers - become creative partners in a dazzling and intricately imagined world of video game design. Success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality. It is a love story, but not one you have read before.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is a character-based tribute to non-romantic love. It will appeal to almost any reader because it is about the universal truths of life, creativity and friendship.
For my full review and favourite quotes Click Here
Five Word Review: Emotive, unique, life-affirming, consuming, escapism.
'Winning is accepting that there are some races a person cannot win.'
3. Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson
Caleb Azumah Nelson has a way with words that often leaves me speechless. I loved his debut novel Open Water - read my full review here, but I think this one is my favourite. The narrative pulled me in more.
Blurb: Set over three summers, from South London to Ghana and back again, ‘Small Worlds’ is a novel about the worlds we build for ourselves. The worlds we live, dance and love within. Through Stephen's inner consciousness, we are given the experience of the 2nd generation immigrant, growing up knowing that a part of you belongs elsewhere.
Small Worlds colourfully illuminates how language fails, music transports, dancing releases, food soothes, and how our inherited cultures connect us.
It includes themes of masculinity, love, purpose, grief and belonging. Illustrating how our family often teaches us who we are before the outside world does. They are where we learn connection, closeness and intimacy. To know them is to know ourselves.
The musicality and descriptiveness of Azumah Nelson's prose are unmatched. The main character's emotional state become a visceral experience for the reader.
This tiny but mighty book is also an ode to the intimate nature of art in all forms, it is a love story of many layers. A great recommendation for music and art lovers too!
Five Word Review: Moving, sensory, poetic, a captivating coming-of-age.
‘We give no goodbyes – we know death in its multitudes, and goodbye sounds like an end – instead, after our embrace, the soft pounding of fists accompanied by, in a bit, which is less a goodbye, more a promise to stay alive’
4. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
An invigorating piece of magical realism rich in humour and pathos.
Blurb: In life, Maali Almeida (1955-1990) is a war photographer on the side of whoever is paying, a cynic, gambler and closeted gay man. Maali is self-involved and self-destructive, a man playing with fire, disconnected from those around him.
In death, he wants to ensure his life's work has meaning by getting his photos into the right hands and finding his killer. In doing so, he endangers those he loves, and so tries to protect them.
Karunatilaka treats the big ideas with simplicity and clarity. Giving lightness and humour to dark situations, juxtaposing the absurd with the logical and the gruesome with the playful. The effect is astounding and truly unforgettable.
Although the opening of the story relies heavily on the political details of Sri Lanka, it is more of a commentary on humanity, religion and the civil unrest of a war-torn country. Try not to get too bogged down with the political details or the slow-paced start as the descriptive prose is rich in symbolism and gives the reader much to think about. The dialogue says much with very little. It's genius.
Five Word Review: Brilliant, thought-provoking, funny, captivating, profound.
'How much the twenty-nine-year-old you, the eleven-year-old you and the seventeen-year-old you would've hated each other. And how the dead you loathes them all.'
5. Babel by R F Kuang
Babel is Dark Academia at its best! This book has it all, a gripping plot, great characters, and an important political discourse about the power of language, the violence of colonialism, and the sacrifices of resistance.
Blurb: Oxford, 1836. The city of dreaming spires. It is the centre of all knowledge and progress in the world. And at its centre is Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows.
Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by a mysterious guardian, Babel seemed like paradise to Robin Swift. Until it became a prison... but can a student stand against an empire?
Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.
Babel examines race, class and gender within the institution of Oxford University and the British colonies in the 1800’s. Kuang's writing explores the concept of language as a tool of power and oppression, highlighting the ideology and hypocrisy behind colonialism, capitalism and patriarchy.
A story about friendship, belonging, betrayal and rebellion. Kuang cleverly illuminates the history of British/white supremacy and seamlessly connects scholarly life with war and colonialism.
The plot is slow-paced at times and not an easy read but in return, you get a sophisticated and unpredictable narrative that will stay with you for a long time.
Five Word Review: Distinctive, transporting, provocative, satirical and essential.
‘This is how colonialism works. It convinces us that the fallout from resistance is entirely our fault, that the immoral choice is resistance itself rather than the circumstances that demanded it.
6. Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
I’m including the whole series in this recommendation (all 4 books). Each book is made up of a few immersive and comforting short stories that will completely transport you.
Blurb: Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s deeply moving Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot, explores the age-old question: what would you do if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?
This unforgettable series is about a small Japanese cafe that offers its visitors the chance to travel back in time. But there are rules…
The repetition of the writing is hypnotic, the setting envelopes you and the characters are vivid. Each story will have you contemplating your own life and character. The wisdom and warmth within these pages make it stand out as a favourite read.
I highly recommend this series to anyone who is a fan of Japanese Culture, or just looking for the perfect cosy weekend read. Also to anyone who is either a huge fan of / or just dipping their toe into translated fiction. These books will not disappoint.
Five Word Review: The book equivalent of a hug, heartwarming, hypnotic, intimate and reflective.
‘I was so absorbed in the things that I couldn’t change, I forgot the most important thing.’
7. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F#ck by Mark Manson
I was unsure whether to recommend this book as it's a tough-love approach to personal growth that isn't for everyone. However, it had such an effect on me, that I couldn't leave it out. If you're looking to shake things up, this is a great place to start.
Blurb: In this generation-defining self-help guide Mark Manson says. "Let's be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." Manson doesn't sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is - a dose of raw, refreshing, honesty that is sorely lacking today.
Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited. Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them.
Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek.
This is a great no-nonsense guide for those who are sweating the small stuff, but who feel that self-help books aren't for them. There are limitations to this book, that I could go into in great detail, but for some, it will be life-changing.
If you want to be braver, happier or just make a change, this could be the audiobook for you.
Five Word Review: Limited but eye-opening, challenging, refreshing and motivating.
‘It’s worth remembering that for any change to happen in your life, you must be wrong about something. If you’re sitting there, miserable day after day, then that means you’re already wrong about something major in your life, and until you’re able to question yourself to find it, nothing will change.’
8. Bellies by Nicola Dinan
A wonderfully moving debut novel. Bellies is a love story about growth, relationships, friendship, self-discovery and vulnerability.
Blurb: It begins as your typical boy meets boy. While out with friends at a university drag night, Tom buys Ming a drink. Confident and witty, a charming young playwright, Ming is the perfect antidote to Tom's awkward energy, and their connection is instant. But, shortly after they move to London to start their next chapter, Ming announces her intention to transition.
We follow Tom and Ming as they face shifts in their relationship in the wake of Ming's transition. Through a spiral of unforeseen personal, professional and life-altering crises. Tom and Ming are forced to confront the vastly different shapes their lives have taken since graduating, and each must answer the essential question: is it worth losing a part of yourself to become who you are?
Bellies is an unforgettable story of youth, intimacy, hunger and heartbreak, at once boldly original yet fiercely familiar, which unabashedly holds a mirror up to our most vulnerable selves and desires.
Bellies is a beautifully written story, not fast-paced nor action-packed, but it is no less engaging. Told using a split POV that feels both holistic and effortless in its execution.
Dinan writes lovable, multi-faceted characters we watch develop and grow on the page. There is such a comforting warmth in the portrayal of her characters and the plot itself. The story captures the human heart in early adulthood and illustrates in the most beautifully mundane way, how those we hold closest impact who we become.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for queer/trans romance with warmth and depth, but more so to those who enjoy a reflective and character-based story such as Sally Rooney’s Normal People.
Five Word Review: Gripping, remarkable, intimate, tender and patient.
‘You can take charge of your own life without it being an admission of guilt or fault.’
9. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
A feel-good, thoughtful, witty and engaging historical/feminist fiction -This Book is popular for a reason.
Blurb: Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with--of all things--her mind. True chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ("combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride") proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.
A shrewd and witty comment on societal ideals. Bonnie Garmus’s writing style felt original and refreshing. The plot will keep you completely hooked, featuring an unforgettable protagonist and a whole host of lovable characters including a dog called Six-Thirty who will always be my favourite.
A perfectly paced, easy, enjoyable read that I would recommend to anyone.
Five Word review: Gripping, heartwarming, observant, delightful and vibrant.
‘Courage is the root of change—and change is what we’re chemically designed to do.’
10. Just Sayin' - My Life in Words by Malorie Blackman
Malorie Blackman is a national treasure, writing for children and adults alike challenging the issues of representation in fiction and shaping British culture.
Blurb: Malorie Blackman OBE is one of Britain's best-loved and most widely-read writers. She is also a writer whose own life has been shaped by books, from her childhood in south London, the daughter of parents who moved to Britain from Barbados as part of the Windrush Generation, and who experienced a childhood that was both wonderful and marred by the everyday racism and bigotry of the era. She was told she could not apply to study her first love, literature, at university, even with her academic potential, but found a way back to books and to a life in writing despite many obstacles.
This powerful and inspirational memoir gives us a glimpse into the resilience and determination that Malorie Blackman has cultivated while battling with a poorly treated lifelong illness, racial discrimination, personal loss and 83 rejection letters from publishers in order to create undisputed classics such as the Nought and Crosses Series along with 70+ pieces of fiction, change the face of children's publishing and become the Children's laureate.
Biographical and political, candid and funny, Malorie treats us to a narrative filled with honesty and vulnerability that can only add to our respect for this literary icon.
If you're a fan of writers' memoirs or her books, you will love this one. The audiobook is great too.
Five Word Review: Illuminating, inspiring, empowering, endearing and emotive.
‘I was going to wait until I get to my 1000th rejection letter and I wouldn’t have even given up then, I would have just had a little sit-down and asked if this is working.’
11. The Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne
This is one of my all-time favourite reads EVER!
When I realised that John Boyne also wrote ‘The Boy in the Stripes Pyjamas’, I assumed I would have to brace myself for an emotional rollercoaster ride. But despite the tragic and unexpected events within this story. There is so much humour and warmth. I have never laughed out loud so many times while reading.
Blurb: Forced to flee the scandal brewing in her hometown, Catherine Goggin finds herself pregnant and alone, in search of a new life at just sixteen. She knows she has no choice but to believe that the nun she entrusts her child to will find him a better life.
Cyril Avery is not a real Avery, or so his parents are constantly reminding him. Adopted as a baby, he’s never quite felt at home with the family that treats him more as a curious pet than a son. But it is all he has ever known.
And so begins one man’s desperate search to find his place in the world. Unspooling and unseeing, Cyril is a misguided, heart-breaking, heartbroken fool. Buffeted by the harsh winds of circumstance towards the one thing that might save him from himself, but when opportunity knocks, will he have the courage, finally, take it?
I was completely immersed the whole way through. The deeply flawed characters are so beautifully crafted and the dialogue is excellent. Themes include love, identity and self-acceptance. It is also a scathing commentary on old traditional beliefs and the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church.
John Boyne is a master storyteller, and I can't wait to read more of his work. I would recommend it to everyone. It will hold a special place in your heart for years to come.
Five Word Review: Captivating, powerful, deeply moving, unforgettable and hilarious.
‘I've always believed that if women could only collectively harness the power that they have then they'd rule the world’
12. Love after Love by Ingrid Persaud
Set in Trinidad and New York, this emotive and compelling story is about love and how it drives us. The narrative asks us to think about forgiveness and offers hope to those who have loved and lost.
Blurb: Meet the Ramdin-Chetan family: forged through loneliness, broken by secrets, saved by love.
Irrepressible Betty Ramdin, her shy son Solo and their marvellous lodger, Mr Chetan, form an unconventional household, happy in their differences, as they build a home together. Home: the place where your navel string is buried, keeping these three safe from an increasingly dangerous world. Happy and loving they are, until the night when a glass of rum, a heart to heart and a terrible truth explodes the family unit, driving them apart.
A brilliant character-based novel, focused on 3 different characters, each given a first-person narrative of their own. This cleverly gives the reader such proximity, that we cannot help but get to know and love each one of them. I became so attached. I enjoyed the use of dialect too, it made the characters jump off the page as if I could hear them speaking.
So subtly and beautifully told. Simple and yet profound. I would gladly recommend this treasure of a book to anyone.
Five Word Review: Affectionate, heartbreaking, hopeful, enthralling and beautiful.
'And who can’t bring peace or add a little comfort to my life can move right along’
13. Lonely Castle in the Mirror Mizuki Tsujimura
A sweet whisper of a book about young people and the importance of belonging. I found so much empathy and warmth in the writing, I was completely charmed by it.
Blurb: Would you share your deepest secrets to save a friend?
In a tranquil neighbourhood of Tokyo, seven teenagers wake to find their bedroom mirrors are shining.
At a single touch, they are pulled from their lonely lives to a wondrous castle filled with winding stairways, watchful portraits and twinkling chandeliers. In this new sanctuary, they are confronted with a set of clues leading to a hidden room where one of them will be granted a wish. But there's a catch: if they don't leave the castle by five o'clock, they will be punished.
As time passes, a devastating truth emerges: only those brave enough to share their stories will be saved.
Mizuki Tsujimura handles tough topics using magical realism and lovable characters. A captivating and highly readable story with a gripping, twisty plot. Perfect for shutting off the rest of the world. It explores the importance of friendship, mental health, the effects of bullying and the hardships of adolescence.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves Young Adult fiction, Translated fiction or anime.
Five Word Review: Mesmerizing, heartfelt, magical, atmospheric and emotional.
'If you try hard, you will always see results, and it will never be wasted no matter what you end up doing in life.'
14. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
I could write an essay on these books. I think they should be studied in schools and I cannot wait to read more of Elena Ferrante’s work.
Blurb: The My Brilliant Friend Series - Also known as ‘The Neapolitan Novels’ or ‘The Neapolitan Quartet’, are a four-part series of fiction by the pseudonymous Italian author Elena Ferrante, translated into English by Ann Goldstein.
The series follows the lives of two perceptive and intelligent girls, Elena Greco ("Lenù") and Raffaella Cerullo ("Lila"), from childhood to adulthood and old age, as they try to create lives for themselves amidst the violent and stultifying culture of their home – a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Naples, Italy. The novels are narrated by Elena Greco.
I’m recommending the whole series because it is written as one book and each story seamlessly continues into the next.
Elena Ferrante’s characters are so real to me, that I would not be surprised if the book was an autofiction, based on real people and events. Her razor-sharp prose is untouchable. This is a novel that sets a literary standard not many can live up to.
The quartet is a saga about female friendship. The reader sees all the characters grow and change, throughout their lifetime, there is a closeness between them all that can only come from growing up in such a neighbourhood. Ferrante’s ability to capture and replicate these relationships is mesmerising. With a rich sense of setting Naples itself is one of these characters.
The narrative takes us from emotionally astute illustrations of that first childhood friendship, with its jealousy, comparison, competition and validation to a coming of age and gaining independence from the family home and each other. The girl's paths separate but they are never truly far from each other. We see their class struggles, professional achievements and personal failures; The novel has much to say about motherhood as the women search for a sense of autonomy well into old age. With elegance and savagery, there is a duality to everything that happens in this story. The character's lives are truly captivating and I fell in love with them.
Recommending this to everyone and anyone.
Five Word Review: Magnetic, intense, sophisticated, addictive and brilliant.
‘The waste of intelligence. A community that finds it natural to suffocate with the care of home and domesticity so many women’s intellectual energies is its own enemy and doesn't realize it.’
15. Every Smile You Fake by Dorothy Koomson
An absolute page-turner that you will fly through because you just have to know what happens next. OUT FEB 2024
Blurb: Please take care of my baby. But don't try to find me. You'll put him in danger. x
Profiler and therapist Kez Lanyon is shocked when she finds a baby on the backseat of her car, with an unsigned note asking her to take care of him.
Kez has a pretty good idea who the mother is - Brandee, a popular social media star with a troubled background, who once lived in Kez's house. Brandee recently dropped out of the limelight and if the internet rumours are true, Kez knows Brandee's life is in danger.
Kez is torn. Should she simply take care of the baby as she's been asked, or should she risk her whole family by using contacts from her previous job to save this young woman?
Time is running out for Brandee. Can Kez find her before it's too late?
Dorothy Koomson is always a safe bet for anyone looking for their next thrilling read, but this one brings an added dimension and a fresh style and structure. It will have you suspecting everyone.
It was a stand-out read for me because I could not put it down. I didn’t always like or agree with the characters, but I believed in them. The twisty turns of the plot kept me guessing all the way through and the sinister undertones made me fearful for our youth. Great for entertainment and escapism, but will make you think too.
Five Word Review: Engaging, topical, unpredictable, fast-paced, escapism.
'You truly belive that the world is out to get you, which is how you explain why you've never amounted to anything. The reality is, mate, the world doesnt even knw you exist.'
16. Those People Next Door by Kia Abdullah
A timely, fast-paced domestic/courtroom thriller that had me on the edge of my seat. I didn't see any of it coming.
Blurb: You can choose your house. Not your neighbours.
Salma Khatun is extremely hopeful about Blenheim, the safe suburban development to which she, her husband and their son have just moved. Their family is in desperate need of a fresh start, and Blenheim feels like the place to make that happen.
Not long after they move in, Salma spots her neighbour, Tom Hutton, ripping out the anti-racist banner she put in her front garden. She chooses not to confront Tom because she wants to fit in. It's a small thing, really. No need to make a fuss. So Salma takes the banner inside and puts it in her window instead. But the next morning she wakes up to find her window smeared with paint. This time she does confront Tom, and the battle lines between the two families are drawn.
As things begin to escalate and the stakes become higher and higher, it's clear that a reckoning is coming... And someone is going to get hurt.
I have found a new favourite thriller author. The twisty and intense plot about what we will do to protect our own has stayed with me long after reading it. A must-read for thriller fans.
Five Word Review: Evocative, thrilling, gripping, reflective, unpredictable.
‘If you can’t tell the objective truth anymore, then this country really has gone to the dogs.’
17. Stretch Marks by Rio Merrix
Rio's second poetry collection 'Stretch Marks' is a collection you won't forget in a hurry.
Blurb: Life's processes often come with painful transitions. I hope this collection can remind you, if only for a short burst of time, that healing is a possible journey to walk on - A trek, but available to you nonetheless. I hope these pages carry to those parts of yourself that you often lock away and refuse to look at.
With poems that unpack themes such as grief, mental health, transformation and inner healing, Stretch Marks unravels the light and dark of some of life's hardest moments.
Exploring how we bounce back when our limits are pushed and life stretches us to our capacity.
This collection poses the question: How do we find our wings in the depths of adversity?
Rio writes about her journey, from breast cancer diagnosis and treatment to motherhood and the loss of her father. This collection is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. It is raw and vulnerable and so beautiful for it.
Having heard some of the poems read aloud by Rio Merrix and connected with so much of the sentiment within her words. It had to be on my list of recommendations.
I would recommend this collection to those who love poetry but also to those who have never felt poetry was accessible to them. If you have undergone any type of metamorphosis in your lifetime, you'll find something to relate to within these pages.
Five Word Review: Accessible, stripped-bare, emotional, beautiful and inspiring.
'If you look into my eyes and gaze long enough you will find a thousand women, a thousand voices, chorusing a thousand songs.'
18. People Person by Candace Carty-Williams
I think this is my new favourite Candace Carty-Williams novel. I loved Queenie, but I think the characters in this book give it the edge.
Blurb: If you could choose your family... you wouldn't choose the Penningtons.
Dimple Pennington knew of her half-siblings, but she didn't really know them. Five people who don't have anything in common except for faint memories of being driven through Brixton in their dad's gold jeep, and some pretty complex abandonment issues. Dimple has bigger things to think about.
She's thirty, and her life isn't really going anywhere. An aspiring lifestyle influencer with a terrible and wayward boyfriend, Dimple's life has shrunk to the size of a phone screen. And despite a small but loyal following, she's never felt more alone in her life. That is, until a dramatic event brings her half-siblings Nikisha, Danny, Lizzie and Prynce crashing back into her life. And when they're all forced to reconnect with Cyril Pennington, the absent father they never really knew, things get even more complicated.
People Person is about family and the unexpected form that might come in. The book paints a vivid picture of a fractured family, that unexpectedly comes together when needed. Using a comical and light-hearted tone, Carty Williams manages to weave many important messages about racial discrimination, toxic relationships and generational trauma into a slightly melodramatic but completely arresting plot. Greatly drawn characters, whose dialogue jumps off the page and an empathetic and hopeful overall message. I loved it!
Five Word Review: Topical, warm, perceptive, humourous and hopeful.
'Even though he didn’t really know his children, he loved them all the same. Each got twenty per cent of the love he had to offer. No more, no less.'
19. Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin
Pin's writing feels otherworldly. It is a literary fiction with deep roots and branches that reach across continents, time and spiritual plains.
Blurb: The Vietnam War has ended; siblings Anh, Thanh and Minh are put on a boat to Hong Kong by their parents, who along with their four younger siblings intend to follow shortly after. When the remaining family don't survive the danger-filled crossing, the 3 siblings are left with only each other to cling to. They bounce from fetid refugee camps to prison-like resettlement centres and finally stop in Thatcher's Britain. Given no alternative, An takes the sacrificial role of mother and they muddle on; trying to carve out a place for themselves and come to terms with all they have lost.
This is a heartbreaking story, so intimate and delicately layered. Cecile Pin takes the multiple POV to a whole new realm. We get the story of the siblings, the voice of their brother's spirit watching over them, an American soldier and the unnamed writer/researcher who is compelled to find out more and tell the story of her mother's beginnings.
Wandering Souls is very much about the power of stories and belonging. I loved this beautifully written multi-faceted story of grief and otherness filled to the brim with hope, resilience, and survival.
Five Word Review: Unforgettable, harrowingly beautiful, heartbreaking, and thought-provoking.
‘In the years to come, Thi Anh would let the harrowing memories of the boat and the camp trickle out of her until they were nothing but a whisper. But she would hold on to that last evening with all her might, from the smell of the steaming rice in the kitchen to the touch of her mother’s skin as she embraced her for the last time.’
20. The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
The Lost Bookshop is a gorgeous mix of historical and contemporary fiction with a large dose of magical realism.
Blurb: On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found…
For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.
But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that they're the ones found in the pages of their own stories, which are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. By unlocking the secrets of The lost Bookshop, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder… where nothing is as it seems.
The Lost Bookshop is a gripping easy read. With great characters, plenty of mystery and suspense as well as a seamless execution of multiple POV (points of view) and dual timeline.
It celebrates the magic of books and stories, bravery and self-acceptance. The characters are rebelling, running from toxic relationships, family commitments or subverting gender expectations but ultimately seeking a sense of purpose, real belonging and safety. I loved the dual timeline, how the past shaped the present and how intertwined it all became.
Ann extremely enjoyable and transportive story everyone will enjoy.
Five Word Review: Magical, endearing, cosy, mysterious and satisfying.
‘The thing about books… is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.’
That concludes my annual round-up of book recommendations and if you've got this far, then thank you! I hope you have managed to find your next great read in this list and that you enjoy it as much as I did.
I will be keeping my posts a little more short and sweet from now on. I Promise!
Until then... Happy New Year and Happy Reading!
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