This is a brilliant new instalment in Nicola Upson’s ‘Golden Age’ crime series featuring Josephine Tey as detective. It’s a genius idea to have an actual crime writer as a detective, something that Upson has sustained beautifully over 11 books – ‘Shot with Crimson’ being the latest.
I’ve followed this series from the start and was delighted to be granted a copy of ‘Shot with Crimson’ for review by NetGalley. As always, opinions are entirely my own.
March was a busy month for me…unfortunately, mainly in the work sense with an enforced Covid break in the middle. I read 9 books this month, putting me at 30/120 on my Goodreads target for the year.
I’m delighted to welcome you to my stop on the blog tour for ‘After Agatha: Women Write Crime’ by Sally Cline.
Thanks to Oldcastle Books for inviting me on the tour and for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
From the Publisher:
Spanning the 1930s to present day, ‘After Agatha’ charts the explosion in women’s crime writing and examines key developments on both sides of the Atlantic: from the women writers at the helm of the UK Golden Age and their American and Canadian counterparts fighting to be heard, to the 1980s experimental trio, Marcia Muller, Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton, who created the first female PIs, and the more recent emergence of forensic crime writing and domestic noir thrillers such as ‘Gone Girl’ and ‘Apple Tree Yard’.
After Agatha examines the diversification of crime writing and highlights landmark women’s novels which featured the marginalised in society as centralised characters. Cline also explores why women readers are drawn to the genre and seek out justice in crime fiction, in a world where violent crimes against women rarely have such resolution.
The book includes interviews with dozens of contemporary authors such as Ann Cleeves, Sophie Hannah, Tess Gerritsen and Kathy Reichs and features the work of hundreds of women crime and mystery writers.
My Review:
I’m a keen reader of crime fiction – and have been since I first discovered the genius of Agatha Christie as a teenager (many moons ago…)
It was with this enthusiasm that I approached ‘After Agatha’, keen to understand the legacy of the great writer herself and the work of those that have followed her.
The book begins with a discussion about why women read crime and the work of Agatha Christie (and other Golden Age writers). It then moves, partially chronologically, partially thematically, through different aspects of women’s crime writing. Each aspect is given a chapter – for example, there are chapters on Private Eyes, Women in Forensic Science and Domestic Noir (among many others).
I think it would be fair to say that Cline has researched her material thoroughly. Each chapter explores a range of writers and books and makes interesting connections between crime authors and the content of their work. There are a few spoilers along the way, so just be aware – especially in regard to early books in older series which Cline assumes everyone has read.
For those who have already explored the genre in some detail, there is lots to like here. It serves as a reminder on old favourites, plus a catalogue of what is out there in each genre sub-section. I really appreciated some pointers in areas that I like – for me, that’s forensic sciences and police procedurals – and skimmed some of the ones where I have less interest.
As a catalogue of what is available, it is useful. It also features interviews with a range of writers which I found really interesting – in hindsight, I think I’d have liked more insight and analysis, less of the listing of different writers in places.
My only real query was why crime fiction by Black and disabled writers (or featuring Black/disabled protagonists) were grouped in one chapter. Although both groups are marginalised, it felt like the issues were different and that there was plenty more to say in some cases – for example, I’ve read some contemporary crime fiction by Black authors which didn’t make the book. I realise this isn’t intended to be exhaustive, but I thought there was more to say.
That said, this is an interesting read. I liked the fact that I ‘met’ new writers and heard from old favourites. I also appreciated the pointers towards writers I haven’t read before – even if my bank balance might not be so keen! I’d especially recommend this to those who enjoy crime fiction and who want to read more widely in the genre.
About the Author:
Sally Cline, author of 14 books, is an award-winning biographer and fiction writer. She is Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Research Fellow at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, and former Advisory Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund. Her biography on Radclyffe Hall, now a classic, was shortlisted for the LAMBDA prize; ‘Lifting the Taboo: Women, Death and Dying’ won the Arts Council Prize for non-fiction; and her landmark biographies on Zelda Fitzgerald and Dashiell Hammett were bestsellers in the UK and US. She is co- Series Editor for Bloomsbury’s 9 volume Writers and Artists Companions. Formerly lecturing at Cambridge University, she has degrees and masters from Durham and Lancaster Universities and was awarded a D.Litt in International Writing.
I’ll admit I perhaps didn’t come to this book for the most obvious reason. I didn’t actually know anything about Barbara Pym or her books, but have read and enjoyed several biographies by Paula Byrne and so was keen to read this. I’m grateful to NetGalley and Fourth Estate Books for my copy of her latest book in exchange for an honest review.
Happy publication day to this unusual tale of gay friendship!
I didn’t really know what to expect from this book, but the 1920s setting and the concept seemed interesting – two childhood friends, Bettina and Bart, decide to marry in order to hide their same-sex preferences from a disapproving world. They hope that marriage will bring them a respectability that will allow them to carry out their love affairs in private.
The story opens in 1921 when Bart and Bettina share a moonlit kiss that convinces both of them that their sexual preferences aren’t for each other! What follows is a story of a marriage that is a giant cover-up – although, to the outside world, it looks conventional and produces children. Instead, Bart becomes involved with a French lover, Etienne, and Bettina conducts her own love affairs. As the pair progress through the 1920s and 1930s and into World War II, neither have any sense of where their deceptions will lead them.
I think I had hoped that this would be a heart-warming tale in which the friendship between Bart and Bettina would mean that they have each others’ backs even through the tough times. It doesn’t exactly play out like this as both characters are spiky and tough so they do seem to spend a lot of the novel either not together or not liking each other – I thought this was a shame as it undermined what I hoped would be a message about the power of friendship. It just isn’t that sort of book!
Instead, it is funny and shocking at times and quite graphic – there’s no cosiness in this version of the past. In fact, it reads as quite modern in the social sensibilities and language used – occasionally jarringly so, but this may be because I am used to more conventional historical fiction. It is also quite sad in places, particularly the framing of the novel in more modern times.
This was definitely a novel that kept me reading – it moves through time and space at speed and there really isn’t a dull moment. I enjoyed the varied settings and the historical backdrop, from Hollywood glitz to the very unglamorous work of the Land Girls of WW2. Although I can’t say I liked either of the lead characters, their story was interesting and thought-provoking.
I’d recommend this to anyone interested in the sexual politics surrounding LGBT issues in the past – it certainly doesn’t hold back on the challenges that people like Bart and Bettina must have faced in a much less permissive society than our own.
If you’d like a copy of this book, please use my Amazon Affiliate link below – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.
Welcome to my stop on this blog tour for Julia Parry’s book, ‘The Shadowy Third: Love, Letters and Elizabeth Bowen’.
This blog tour is organised by Random Things Tours and the book was published on 25th February, 2021. Thank you to the tour organiser, publisher and author for my free copy in exchange for an honest review.
From the Publisher:
‘A fascinating and moving portrait of love, loyalty and infidelity.’
Sarah Waters
A sudden death in the family delivers Julia a box of love letters. Dusty with age, they reveal an illicit affair between the celebrated twentieth-century Irish novelist Elizabeth Bowen and Humphry House – Julia’s grandfather.
So begins an intriguing quest to discover and understand this affair, one with profound repercussions for Julia’s family, not least for her grandmother, Madeline. This is a book about how stories are told in real life, in fiction and in families.
Inspired by Bowen’s own obsession with place and memory, Julia travels to all the locations in the letters – from Kolkata to Cambridge and from Ireland to Texas. The reader is taken from the rarefied air of Oxford in the 1930s, to the Anglo-Irish Big House, to the last days of Empire in India and on into the Second World War.
The fascinating unpublished correspondence, a wealth of family photographs, and a celebrated supporting cast that includes Isaiah Berlin and Virginia Woolf add further richness to this unique work.
The Shadowy Third opens up a lost world, one with complex and often surprising attitudes to love and sex, work and home, duty and ambition, and to writing itself. Weaving present-day story telling with historical narrative, this is a beautifully written debut of literary and familial investigation from an original and captivating new voice.
Praise for ‘The Shadowy Third’:
‘The Shadowy Third reveals the secret life of the author of ‘The Death of the Heart’, a title that applies to the man and women whose sepia- covered correspondence led to this riveting memoir.’
MARLENE WAGMAN GELLER (Women of Means: Fascinating Biographies of Royals, Heiresses, Eccentrics and Other Poor Little Rich Girls)
‘.. a captivating mélange of memoir, biography, social history and literary evaluation.’
ELEANOR FITZSIMONS (Wilde’s Women and The Life and Loves of E. Nesbit)
‘Even if you have never read Elizabeth Bowen’s novels and have never heard of Humphry House, his granddaughter’s quest will hold your attention as it held mine.’
ANN THWAITE, award-wining author of AA Milne: His Life (Whitbread Biography of the Year)
My Review:
OK, confession time. As an English Literature graduate, I should probably be more au fait with the works of Elizabeth Bowen. Given that I focused on women’s writing, she really should have come up more on the course. And I really should have read her work since I left university, some time in the Dark Ages.
However, my lack of knowledge of Bowen and her works didn’t dent my enjoyment of this book at all. This is a book packed with interesting people, places and events – personal, literary and on the world stage. It is an impressive and engaging piece of non-fiction writing and I genuinely could not put it down.
Essentially, the story is one of a love triangle between Elizabeth Bowen, Humphry House and Madeline Church (later House). However, this is a reductive description – the affair only lasts a few years in the 1930s – as it also encompasses the wider lives and relationships of these three key figures, as well as a meditation on writing and storytelling.
The book begins with the author, Julia Parry, being given the collected correspondence between Elizabeth Bowen and Parry’s own grandfather, Humphry House. These letters come to Parry via her uncle, but it becomes apparent that Humphry’s wife, Madeline (Parry’s grandmother) has ‘curated’ the letters – burning some, including her own letters from the period, and annotating others. This is fascinating in itself as this woman – the ‘wronged’ party in the affair between Bowen and House – ultimately gets some control of the story told while paradoxically removing her own ‘voice’ from the account.
Parry picks up the story as being essentially one of place – important to Bowen and also filling in key information in the story of this 1930s love triangle featuring the author’s grandparents and Elizabeth Bowen. Each chapter focuses on a different location that plays an important part in the story, from the marital homes of the Houses, Bowen’s ancestral home in Ireland, Bowen’s London home and India, where Humphry House worked for a period.
These places have changed in the interim, but it is fascinating to read about Parry visiting them and reflecting on their significance to her ancestors and the story she is telling. The pictures included in the text are a huge bonus for the reader too – we can visualise these places and people too. This book is part travelogue and it is an engaging way of structuring the story. I loved the look at the last days of the Empire in India, the elitism of 1930s Oxford, the lives of the Irish country estate and the Bloomsbury set.
Obviously, the main draw for this book is the figure of Bowen herself, as well as cameo appearances by Virginia Woolf and Isaiah Berlin. This is a book that has literary importance and will be of especial interest given the recent re-issuing of Bowen’s books in 2019 to mark 120 years since her birth. We do gain an insight into the woman herself through her own words, plus see previously unpublished photographs of her from Parry’s family’s collection.
Through the letters, we see a complex woman who was – in many ways – out of step with her time. She is often contradictory, blunt and critical, but could also be a thoughtful, intelligent and incisive correspondent. Her judgements on Madeline are often harsh and her gift of a tea set seems a comment on Madeline’s role within the domestic sphere compared to Bowen’s own in the literary world – she could, it seems, be spiteful. However, balanced with this is a woman in an unconsummated marriage to an older man so maybe her extra-marital affairs are more understandable in this context. I’ll be honest – I found Bowen the hardest of the three figures to get a grasp of as I was reading because my feelings towards her fluctuated all the time.
For me, the most interesting figure was actually Madeline, Parry’s grandmother. I felt that the narrative was at its most interesting when we saw this woman – dismissed as dim by her husband, sneered at for her domesticity and unappealing children by Bowen – step into the limelight. As a modern reader, I found it difficult to understand her acceptance of the affair between her husband and Bowen, but also was riveted by the strength of the woman who followed Humphry to India, raised children without him, flew in a tiny plane in Calcutta in the 1930s and ultimately successfully picked up Humphry House’s literary project after his death.
And that brings me to Humphry. I am incredibly aware of this man as being the author’s grandfather so I am reluctant to be too critical. He was clearly – let us say – a ‘product of his time’, someone who very much lived the realities of the sexual double standard. He did warn Madeline before they married that he would not be faithful and seems the weakest of the three – the true ‘shadowy third’ (in my opinion) caught between two redoubtable, interesting and successful women. His appeal to these women is slightly difficult to understand as his own words reveal him to have an inflated sense of his own intelligence when his spotted career history and failure to pass the War Office’s IQ test tell otherwise.
I could wax lyrical about this book for much longer, but I think it is one that readers should discover for themselves. It absolutely should not be approached as an academic text or a definitive view of Bowen – it is something altogether more nuanced and interesting. It allows us to see fascinating glimpses of Bowen, different places and times, plus the sexual mores and lives of women from a period that is not our own. It also allows us to meditate (with the author) on place, the fabric of our lives, notions of legacy and narrative – and I adored it.
About the Author:
Julia Parry was brought up in West Africa and educated at St Andrews and Oxford. She teaches English literature and has worked as a writer and photographer for a variety of publications and charities. She lives in London and Madrid. This is her first book.
The genre I’ve read most this year is – hands down – historical fiction. I love a story set in a vivid and colourful past and am particularly drawn to the Victorian era – although I can be tempted into other time periods occasionally!
For the purposes of my list, I’ve included books set more than 50 years in the past and published this year(ish!)
Affiliate links are provided – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases (at no extra cost to you).
Without further ado, here are my top 10 historical reads of the year ranked from 10 to 1 *cue ‘Top of the Pops’ theme tune*…
10 – ‘Jeeves and the Leap of Faith’ by Ben Schott
It might not quite hit the spot like an authentic Wodehouse Jeeves and Wooster novel, but it is joyous and funny and well worth a read. Bertie’s antics as an undercover spy in this novel are always entertaining and – luckily – faithful valet Jeeves is never too far away. You can read my original review here.
9 – ‘Midnight at Malabar House’ by Vaseem Khan
This is an excellent murder mystery set in Bombay as 1949 turns into 1950 and heralds a new decade of Indian independence. Inspector Wadia, India’s first female police officer who has been rather side-lined in her career, is called in to investigate a high-profile and politically sensitive killing. This looks to be the first book in a very promising series! You can read my original review here.
8 – ‘V for Victory’ by Lissa Evans
Set in London during World War II, this is the third (and, I think, final) book in Lissa Evans’ excellent series that started with ‘Crooked Heart’ and then ‘Old Baggage’. It weaves together the stories of those caught up in the war and is just packed with charm and a whole host of fascinating characters. You can read my review here.
7 –‘People of Abandoned Character’ by Clare Whitfield
This is a seriously sinister book! Set in London during the height of the Jack the Ripper murders, the story follows Susannah, a newly-wed nurse who starts to suspect that her husband is involved in the crimes. My review is here.
6 – ‘The Betrayals’ by Bridget Collins
Collins’ second novel (after the brilliant ‘The Binding’) is an absolute treat! It is set in a university sometime in the first half of the twentieth century – my money is on the 1930s – and centres on a mysterious ‘Grand Jeu’ that is played by academics. The book is multi-layered and almost impossible to untangle in order to do it justice in a review. You can read my (attempt at a) review here.
5 – ‘The Graves of Whitechapel’ by Claire Evans
Regular blog visitors will know that I’m quite obsessed with books set in the Victorian era and this is just one example – set in 1882 on the grimy streets of East London, it is an atmospheric and pacey murder mystery. You can read my original review here.
4 – ‘Death in the East’ by Abir Mukherjee
I read this series of books all in the wrong order, but was absolutely blown away by this – the fourth instalment in Mukherjee’s series set in 1920s India (cut with flashback scenes in the Whitechapel of 1905). This is absolutely excellent historical crime fiction and I cannot wait to see what Captain Sam Wyndham and his Sergeant, Surrender-Not Banerjee, do next! My review is here.
3 – ‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ by Stuart Turton
Another historical crime novel, this time set on a ship sailing from the Dutch East Indies to Amsterdam in 1634. The voyage seems cursed from the start after a mysterious event at the docks and the strange collection of ship-mates have an eventful trip ahead of them! My review is here.
2 – ‘The Quickening’ by Rhiannon Ward
I absolutely loved this spooky, gothic tale! Set in 1925, it tells the story of a pregnant woman who takes a photography commission at the creepy Clewer Hall in order to make ends meet. As she works, she begins to uncover a story surrounding a seance that was held at the Hall in 1896 – an event that has had lasting repercussions. You can read my review here.
Also, at the point I wrote this, this book is 99p on Kindle – definitely worth snapping up now!
1 – ‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth’ by Matson Taylor
Only just squeaking into my historical list by a few years, this is a glorious coming-of-age novel set in 1960s Yorkshire. I fell in love with sixteen year-old Evie and her quaintly naïve telling of her story. It is funny and charming and copies may well be gifted by me quite a few times this Christmas! You can read my original review here.
Happy publication day to this beautiful piece of historical fiction!
Bridget Collins’ first book, ‘The Binding’ was one of my favourite books of last year, so I was very keen to get my hands on this one. I had literally no idea what to expect in terms of plot, but was hoping that it would be every bit as immersive and compelling as ‘The Binding’.
The story follows Leo Martin, a disgraced politician, who is sidelined from ‘The Party’ and sent back to his old university, Montverre. Here, he can continue his work on the ‘grand jeu’, a mysterious game that seems to have elements of music, mathematics and mysticism. The narrative follows him as he experiences life as a guest at the college and, in particular, his building of a relationship with the Magister Ludi, a teacher and ‘grand jeu’ expert.
Alongside this, we read of Leo’s first stay at the school as a student when he built relationships with fellow scholars that continue to impact his present experiences.
As with ‘The Binding’, it’s so hard to do justice to the plot and characters as the whole book is so intricately crafted and it all slots together beautifully in the end – but it’s virtually impossible to describe as everything is linked! Collins has created a book which is so incisive on humanity and relationships, yet so difficult to pin down in other regards.
It is a historical novel in the same way ‘The Binding’ was – a sense of rich history, place and time, without it ever being made totally clear. Instead, the reader is left to put together the puzzle pieces – for my money, I think Montverre is in a (possibly imagined) European country and the historical markers (e.g. a reference to the Depression) make me think this is 1930s, although I really am not sure. It’s certainly rooted in reality, even if the reader is on constantly shifting sands in relation to understanding some elements – there are references to places and historical events throughout and the corruption of the country’s government reminded me of 1930s Germany – however, in this case, the persecution is of Christians. The ‘grand jeu’ itself is another mystery and one I still have no clear idea about.
However, none of this matters – as long as you are prepared to be swept along by the narrative. The novel centres on the theme of – surprise! – betrayal, but again this is multi-layered and there are many perceived and actual betrayals in the book. Again, the reader is on shifting sands as situations and motivations become clearer and sympathies shift.
Overall, I’d recommend this to anyone who loves historical fiction and dense, rich narratives. The only proviso is that you have to accept that not everything is clear – this is deliberate, but I know that some readers will find it uncomfortable. If you’re prepared to go with the flow, this is a glorious and immersive read.
With thanks to NetGalley for providing a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
You can buy a copy of this book using my affiliate link below – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases. You’re going to want a hard copy of this as it is BEAUTIFUL!
Header photo with thanks to Marius Masalar for sharing their work on Unsplash.
The third book in our week-long jaunt through books released on 20th August is the latest Hercule Poirot mystery by Sophie Hannah.
I’m an avid Agatha Christie fan, but this is the first of the ‘new’ Poirot books that I’ve read by Sophie Hannah. The idea in principle is sound – take one of the world’s most famous fictional detectives and drop him into a new mystery that bears all the hallmarks of Christie’s own fiendish plots. What’s not to like?!
In this book, Poirot is accompanied by Inspector Catchpool, a slightly tamer substitute for the charming Hastings in the originals. Catchpool becomes our narrator for the book and – it s fair to say – is several steps behind Poirot and his ‘little grey cells’. As the reader follows Catchpool’s narration, we sometimes stay in the dark and occasionally make connections that he doesn’t.
The duo are travelling via motorcoach to Kingfisher Hill, an exclusive gated development where the Devonport family live. One of the Devonport sons has died, a woman has confessed and faced the gallows, but will the correct killer be brought to justice?
Alongside this plot, a nervy woman on the coach catches the police detective’s eye with her pronouncement that she will die if she chooses a certain seat and he is left trying to piece together the true stories behind the lies.
I wanted to love this and it did draw me along- there are lots of red herrings and shady characters in the spirit of the original books. However, I was slightly disappointed in the denouement and thought it lacked the spark that Christie’s books have.
Overall, I enjoyed this book as a light read even when I wasn’t always convinced by the plot development. It would love to read more in the series as it was lovely to return to Poirot, a firm favourite for me.
I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
If you would like to pre-order this book (out Thursday!) then the link is below. It is an affiliate link, so I may earn commission at no extra cost to you.
