Category Archives: Book reviews

Book Review: The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden

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Set in Holland in 1961, two women are thrown together for the summer with consequences which affect their lives.

The book begins with reclusive Isabel who lives alone in the family home. Her two brothers are out in the world, Hendrik lives with his boyfriend, while womaniser Louis has a girlfriend, Eva who he foists onto Isabel while he’s away with work. Obsessive, compulsive Isabel despises the extroverted Eva which makes for a tense atmosphere in the house.

This is a masterful novel with a twist, I didn’t see coming. The shadow of World War Two permeates through the narrative, stalking each character with a trauma each is not keen to revisit. Eva has her own secrets which she keeps bottled up while challenging Isabel’s way of life in ways she never imagines. The relationship between the women changes in unexpected ways. There is quite a bit of sex which while done well began to become a little protracted for my liking. The story certainly zips along in the last third bringing the whole story to a satisfying end.

It’s a riveting read filled with obsession, passion and betrayal. It’s also about dispossession and rights of those who were displaced during the war.

Beautifully written with well developed characters, I enjoyed this Booker Prize short listed novel for 2024.

Book Review: Ghost Cities by Siang Lu

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What a crazy wild ride this book took me on. It was fantastical as it was imaginative, absurd yet amusing. Ghost Cities also won the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award.

This is a dual timeline, dual character novel where one time line is set in ancient Chinese times where a powerful and dictatorial Emperor governs with cruelty. The other timeline is present day centered on Xiang ,a Chinese translator who is fired from his job because he doesn’t speak or read Chinese. He is then known as #BadChinese and becomes an humiliating internet sensation. He attracts the attention of an eccentric film director known as Baby Bao and offered a media role at his giant movie set in a Chinese empty city.

Each timeline parallels the ruthlessness of the emperor/director who without any accountability do whatever they please for their own self-satisfaction.

Ghost Cities reminded me of the Truman show while the ancient times explored the cruelty of dictators. Indeed, the petulance of the emperor reminded me of American politics while other aspects were reminiscent of numerous dictators around the world who have and continue to create havoc for their hapless citizens.

There are stories within stories about master manipulators, chess games, mountains, architectural beauty and decadence along with undercurrents of subversion, both small and large.

It’s a truly interesting book which has multiple levels, and I found myself drawn into the ancient world a little more than the present day. There were times where I devoured sections and some parts which dragged, namely the present day which meandered a little too slowly for my liking.

Overall, however, this one is worth trying if only for the bizarre and bold telling.

Book Anniversary: Sugar Creek

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Time has flown since Sugar Creek was released to the world and I’ve received many messages of support and love for this book.

Many have told me that once they start reading it, they can’t put it down until the end. I don’t know about you but as a reader that’s the sort of book I love too.

Do you like to read a book about two strong women in different timelines? I loved writing about Dana, a struggling doctor in 2000 and Ellen, an unmarried mother looking for justice in 1948.

Sugar Creek is discounted at the moment so if you’re looking for something to read over the holiday period then you might just like this one. It’s available on Amazon and the link is below.

Book Review: Saigon Siren: Memoir of a Stroke Recovery by Antonio Iannella

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As the title suggests, this is the true story of Antonio Iannella’s brush with death when at the young age of thirty-eight, he had a stroke while on a family holiday.

The story of his recovery is detailed and gives the reader a genuine idea of what having a stroke is like but more importantly what happens in the recovery stage.

He details the moments before and after the stroke and the trauma of being in a foreign country dealing with a language barrier as if what happened wasn’t enough to contend with. As you could imagine those obstacles would cause inordinate stress.

Taking us behind the scenes, Iannella shows us in detail the remarkable people who worked on his recovery. He had been unable to walk, could barely talk and effectively paralysed from the neck down. The occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech pathologists as well as the rest of the medical doctors and nurses were numerous but integral to his recovery. It gave me a thorough appreciation of the amazing people in our medical system.

This is a book of enlightenment which is also filled with useful information and inspiration. Iannella doesn’t take himself too seriously either as there are some quite genuine laugh-out loud bits as he nicknames his helpers, and makes light of some of the more serious issues he faces.

“Wrapped like a burrito, I was suspended above my bed. … hanging mid-air like an Italian salami my dad would tie to the rafters.”

There are metaphors for just about everything and maybe a bit too many but sometimes they’re needed to lighten the darkness of his horrendous experience.

It’s a well written and hopeful story. Give this one a go.

Book Review: Orbital by Samantha Harvey

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A book about people in space as well as being a Booker Prize Winner for 2024? I’m in.

This is a story about a day in the life of six astronauts on a space station. The astronauts, four men and two women come from Russia, America, Japan, Britain and Italy. They’ve left their families and friends for several months and we glimpse their day, working, playing, eating and sleeping.

The novel is broken up into sixteen chapters because the space station whizzes around earth sixteen times giving them a view of the world, many times over. Each time still fills them with fascination and wonder from their unique perch.

There’s no real plot or suspense or mystery but that is intentional. We learn that they do as we do, eat, sleep, work just like anybody else yet in very different circumstances. Their dehydrated food and the view of whatever continent they pass, the jobs they do on board, their relationship with each other and the connection they have with their loved ones at home and their cultures is anything other that ordinary.

It’s a meditative read as the mundane tasks at home take on a different challenge in space.The writing is completely descriptive, and lyrical immersing the reader into the every day of the astronauts.

Pietro will go and monitor his microbes that tell them something more about the viruses, funguses and bacteria that are present on the craft. Chie will continue growing her protein crystals, and attach herself to the MRI to have one of many routine brain scans that show the impact of microgravity on their neural functioning.

The author touches on many issues from global warming to politics, love and loss, art and culture but there is not really any development of any theme. Some of the details such as the MRI machine mentioned above seems a little fanciful and hardly realistic.

Still it’s science fiction so we suspend belief, don’t we?

I enjoyed the writing and the descriptions were incredible yet the repetition did become a little tedious. I was more interested in the relationships between the astronauts and while there was some attention, it was less that I wanted. We see glimpses of who they are but not enough to really get to know them.  I did however have to remind myself that this is one day and nothing of any consequence really happens.

 It’s a short read and a very memorable one. If you like a pure literary journey then this one is for you.

Book Review: Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See

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Set in fifteenth century during the Ming dynasty, this story is about Tan Yunxian, a women born into a wealthy and influential family. She is brought up by her grandparents when her mother dies and under their teachings, begins training as a doctor. She meets midwife trainee, Meiling and they forge a powerful friendship even though their paths take different directions.

This is based on the real Lady Tan who wrote one of the first medical books for women. The author has re-imagined her life, the tribulations of being a woman with bound feet and the hierarchical system in China at the time. The research is impeccable and truly enlightening.

The practice of binding feet is tough to read, making the reader squirm at the vivid description. The practice of medicine and midwifery do the same so if you are at all squeamish you might find it even more difficult.

There is however a lot of medical information and some repetition which sometimes edged on an information dump. Nevertheless, it was interesting and enlightening.

The relationship with Meiling was heart-warming at times, although Lady Tan was naïve about the world outside of her inner comfortable sanctuary. She always seemed remote, lacking curiosity about the lives of others less fortunate. This didn’t always make her particularly likeable as a character for me.

To be fair, the author covered a lot of ground and perhaps at the cost of a full development of Tan’s relationships with other. Indeed, she cures her nasty mother-in-law and I would have loved to see how their relationship changed.

The second half of the book picks up pace as a mystery is resolved but the main star is the medical practice and the treatment of women in a male dominated world.

It’s a long book but certainly well worth reading.

Book Review: A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan

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Set during a summer holiday on a New Zealand beach, a family of two adults, a ten-year old Alix and her fifteen year old sister Vanessa spend their summer enjoying the beach. This is a summer that will impact each of them.

The holiday house, the heat, the beach and the feel of summer are beautifully described all told through the eyes of the Alix who is smart and observant of everything going on around her. And there is plenty.

She meets a young boy Kahu who tells her about a missing nine-year-old girl who was thought to have been swept out to sea a few years earlier and they set about to solve the mystery of her disappearance. But as children do, they become distracted and explore only to stumble on things they don’t understand.

This is a story with mystery as well as tension as the author explores family relationships, teenage angst and creepy neighbours.

This isn’t an overly long book but it packs in a lot. It seems slow paced in the beginning but it all serves a purpose to build and distract for when we look away for a second something else comes into focus. The second half of the book ramps right up as the tension escalates and we fear for Alix when she walks headlong into  a few difficult  situations, we’re not sure she can get herself out of.

The ending is quite satisfactory leaving the reader to bring together the loose ends without the need to be told. Yes we can draw all of our own conclusions.

I really enjoyed this one. The writing is tight, the characters from a child’s point of view, have depth and it draws you right in.

This is so much more than a who done it. Check this one out.