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The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
Australia, 1926. After four harrowing years fighting on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns home to take a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.
Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them…
I know this book is very popular and has received rave reviews online but unfortunately I couldn’t get on board with it. It took me weeks to finish as I found it dull and repetitive – it was as if I was reading the same chapter over and over. I failed to connect with any of the characters and I found the plot a little too far fetched.
Not much else to say about this one. It had some beautiful descriptive writing and I managed to make it to the end – hence the two stars – but overall I was left disenchanted.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life.
When she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated. Regardless of why Evelyn has chosen her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.
Summoned to Evelyn’s Upper East Side apartment, Monique listens as Evelyn unfurls her story: from making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the late 80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way. As Evelyn’s life unfolds—revealing a ruthless ambition, an unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love—Monique begins to feel a very a real connection to the actress. But as Evelyn’s story catches up with the present, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.
Oh I loved this – it’s without a doubt the best book I’ve read so far this year. It was so believable there were times I was convinced I was reading a real autobiography. I adored Evelyn and the minute I finished the story I missed her. Her character was so well written and I loved how unapologetic and empowering she was.
The relationships in Seven Husbands were a thing of beauty. Evelyn’s friendship with Harry and her love for Celia had me invested right from the beginning. I was sent through all the emotions – I laughed, I cried, I got angry. This book well and truly rekindled my interest in Hollywood’s Golden age whilst also showcasing the terrible side of fame. The misogynistic directors, ruthless paparazzi and controlling contracts sounded so familiar to biographies I’ve read about Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe. It broke my heart that Evelyn, Celia and Harry weren’t ever able to present their true selves to the world.
If I had one tiny criticism to make it would be that I didn’t connect with Monique all that much. Whenever the story flipped to the present day I was desperate to rush to the next chapter and get back to Evelyn. However, I thought the way the author wove the two timelines together was clever and the ending tied up nicely. I semi-predicted the ‘twist’ but I’d enjoyed the book so much this didn’t bother me.
Five glorious stars! I really hope they make this into a film.
A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman
Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?
Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations.
This took a little while for me to get into but I did enjoy it. It was a bit cliche in places but well written and had some nice quotes. I liked the characters (Sonja and Parvaneh especially) although I found Ove a little unrealistic – maybe I’m a cynic but I don’t think anyone that rude would ever be given the time of day. He was cantankerous boarding on plain cruel! Also, I found it strange that he was only in his late fifties yet was written as if he was in his seventies/eighties.
Overall a pleasant read with some really lovely chapters (I especially enjoyed the parts where Ove was first meeting/courting his wife). However it didn’t really live up to the hype for me.
Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins
When the eight-year-old daughter of an Oxford College Master vanishes in the middle of the night, police turn to the Scottish nanny, Dee, for answers. As Dee looks back over her time in the Master’s Lodging – an eerie and ancient house – a picture of a high achieving but dysfunctional family emerges: Nick, the fiercely intelligent and powerful father; his beautiful Danish wife Mariah, pregnant with their child; and the lost little girl, Felicity, almost mute, seeing ghosts, grieving her dead mother.
But is Dee telling the whole story? Is her growing friendship with the eccentric house historian, Linklater, any cause for concern? And most of all, why was Felicity silent?
Roaming Oxford’s secret passages and hidden graveyards, Magpie Lane explores the true meaning of family – and what it is to be denied one.
This was a beautiful book – atmospheric, wonderfully written and full of carefully crafted characters. I loved the rich descriptions of Oxford and the anecdotes about its famous former residents. Magpie Lane had all the ambience of a 19th century gothic novel – I had to keep reminding myself it was set during the present day.
I listened to it on Audible and the narrator did an amazing job. I finished it in two days as I was desperate to untangle the mystery.
The only thing holding me back from giving a higher rating is the fact I found the ending a bit anticlimactic. The story was also a little slow in places. Despite the negatives, however, it was an enjoyable read overall.
What have you been reading recently? x
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