The Children’s Bach – Helen Garner.

As a continuation of my holiday reading (Five...Australian novels), I spotted this new edition of Garner's 1984 novel about a family in Melbourne in my local Waterstones. Whilst there are two key male characters in The Children’s Bach, it is largely a novel of female spaces and experiences, from the sometimes squalid but homely house …

Learwife – J. R. Thorp

‘There were gaps in this too terrible to be filled. And yet I wanted to know; I have always wanted to know, even when the knowledge damned me.’ This novel makes you think, ‘ah, yes, of course’ - because those two girls didn’t inherit their greed for power and love just from their father, although …

Forest Silver – E. M. Ward (British Library Women Writers)

At the heart of this 1941 novel is seventeen-year-old Corys Bainrigg, the owner of Bonfire Hall and its land in the Lake District. The rather child-like Corys has been left this responsibility by her grandfather in recognition of the fact that she alone has a significant emotional connection to the place, given that most of …

Orlando King – Isabel Colegate

The story of Orlando King and his daughter, Agatha, is told in a trilogy (Orlando King, 1968; Orlando at the Brazen Threshold, 1971; Agatha, 1973) and collected together in this volume by Bloomsbury. It spans the looming threat of the Second World War and the Fifties, with their fears of international espionage and political repositioning. …

The Green Man of Eshwood Hall – Jacob Kerr

‘Suddenly the Green Man was on the move, swaying and hurdling across the driveway, riding the great chariot of his own limbs, a rolling cascade of branches and flung bushes, thrashing his arms for balance as though he was crossing a tightrope, and finally toppling over at full stretch until just his fingertips touched the …

Glorious Exploits – Ferdia Lennon

At the moment I’m struggling to find time to read, let alone write about what I read. But sometimes you come across a book that is so compellingly brilliant that you have to talk about it. And so it is with Glorious Exploits, a book which I have read in intense bursts over the past …

Five … Australian novels

Happy New Year, everyone! I spent Christmas in Australia this year and used my time sensibly, reading as many of my sister-in-law's books as possible . Here's my (very) brief reviews, initially posted on instagram - it was brilliant finding some new-to-me authors. I would certainly recommend Dalton and Laguna (and I note that Boy …

Stories for Winter and nights by the fire – British Library Women Writers

Last year’s Stories for Christmas was a marvellous treat, a collection of stories organised around the key moments of the festive period itself. This collection is a slightly looser set of connected tales, based around winter more generally, and as such, it is perhaps even more enjoyable because it doesn’t have the constraints or, dare …

The Whalebone Theatre – Joanna Quinn

The Whalebone Theatre spans the period from the end of the first World War to the end of the Second and, as such, is full of characters who've lost loved ones, who are aiming to find something new, or who are similar going to see their lives change irrevocably as the decades sweep on. The …

The Promise Tree – Elisabeth J. Hobbes

There’s so much I loved about this historical fantasy tale of love and loyalty from Elisabeth J. Hobbes. As with her earlier Daughter of the Sea, Hobbes has combined her love of history with her fascination of mythology, and spun a tale that becomes utterly believable. Set in a mill town on the eve of …