Tag Archives: books by women

Book Review: Nesting by Roisin O’Donnell

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I’ve read a spate of Irish authors in the last couple of years and here is another one to add to the list.

It’s a powerful story and if you’re looking for a tension packed novel then this one is for you.

Ciara, a mother with two small children lives with a controlling and emotionally abusive husband. In one impulsive moment of desperation, she hastily grabs some clothes, puts her children in the car and escapes from the family home. With no money, no home and no job she is adrift in a system difficult to navigate during Ireland’s housing crisis.

The themes of abuse, coercive control as well as systemic issues where women face an uphill battle just to feel safe and secure is played out well in this story.

There are a range of emotions from sympathy to outrage to helplessness. And while this may be set in Ireland these issues are certainly not isolated to that country. I’d suggest it’s endemic across the world where patriarchal systems fail to cater adequately for women who need help. The author has put this front and centre which is why this is a powerful novel, shortlisted for a number of prizes.

It’s not all doom and gloom though as Ciara finds support not just from her family but also friends who provide a crutch for her, emotional as well as physical. Heart-wrenching at times, it’s  a hopeful read.

Book Review: Theory and Practice by Michelle De Kretser

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This story takes us to the 1980’s in Melbourne where a young Sri Lankan woman is undertaking a post-doctoral study of Virginia Woolf. She has moved from Sydney leaving behind a broken relationship. She considers herself a feminist but embarks on a relationship with Kit, who is her friend, Olivia’s boyfriend. Despite his insistence that he and Olivia have a deconstructed relationship, the woman is torn with her guilt for Olivia and her own desires. 

“Sometimes jealousy was a visitor from an alien galaxy that had nothing to do with me. Sometimes it was a frightening growth in my body for which science hadn’t discovered a cure.”

The woman contrasts Virginia Woolf’s middle-class Englishness with the tea pickers in colonial countries whose work in abysmal conditions enabled Woolf to the lifestyle she had at the time. And I found this to be an intriguing along with the other themes of racism and colonialism.

The characters are never completely likeable and it almost reads like a memoir. I found the story meandered in parts and found it difficult to connect with the narrator.

An okay read but not a memorable one.

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: 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.

Book Review: Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

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This is a breathtaking and moving novel about a family of four who live on a remote island called Shearwater, which houses the world’s precious seed bank. The island, close to Antarctica is eroding rapidly and climate change is well and truly wreaking havoc. The island was once host to research scientists who have since gone leaving only the caretaker family, a man and his three children. They are to save the seed bank from the rising ocean until a ship comes for them. To complicate matters, the teenage daughter, Fen finds a woman, Rowan washed ashore during a storm and herein lies the mystery of why and how she got there.

Sound intriguing? It is and it’s a page-turner you won’t want to put down. Quite apart from the exquisite writing which is evocative of a harsh landscape, McConaghy provides depth with each character and a tension packed mystery.

The family don’t know why Rowan is there and she equally mistrusts them despite the fact that they nurse her back to health. Dominic, the father has raised his teenagers, Raff and Fen and nine-year-old, Orly for the last eight years. Their mother is there with them in spirit and we learn later what happened to her. Rowan is herself a victim of a devastating bushfire and there are secrets everywhere. However, Rowan provides a connection with compassion and is a conduit to heal not just for her but for each member of the family.

Orly is an unusual child who feels the weight of the job to save the seeds. The idea of how important they are is portrayed from his point of view which at times is a bit of an information dump. Despite his intelligence it takes a leap to see him as a nine-year old voice and this is the only minor downside.

The family live in a lighthouse in a place as inhospitable as it comes. As a reader, I felt the howling wind, the horizontal rain and the bitter cold. I was also moved by the plight of the penguins, seals and whales once brutally hunted but now thriving in the remoteness despite the ticking time-bomb of a rapidly vanishing land.

McConaghy doesn’t allow us to read lightly and we can’t avoid the picture she paints of what could and will be in all of our futures. Mixed with this though, is hope for the family and Rowan as they prepare the move to the mainland leaving behind the ghosts which have haunted them.

This is McConaghy’s third novel and I think her best yet. I loved it.

Check this one out.