Review of SWEET PEA by Kit de Waal (New Release)

 3.5 Stars

This novel, under its UK title, The Best of Everything, appeared on the longlist for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction.

The novel is set in Birmingham, England, over a span of 20 years beginning in 1972. Paulette, an immigrant from St. Kitts, is 29 when the novel opens. She works as an auxiliary nurse. She has a man in her life, Denton Fitzpatrick, whom she hopes to marry and with whom she hopes to have a family. When Denton dies in an accident, her dreams come to an end. Garfield, Denton’s best friend, tries to help her through her grief and eventually they become a couple. They have a son named Bird. Then Paulette meets Frank, the man responsible for the accident which took Denton’s life. She learns that he is struggling to care for his grandson Nellie. Slowly she brings Nellie into her family and has two boys to care for. Of course Paulette’s life is not without difficulties and sometimes her life spirals out of control.

This is very much a novel of characters and Paulette is the central figure. She is a complex character which makes her very realistic. She is kind and compassionate as evidenced in her actions towards Frank and Nellie. She loves her son more than anything, giving him the best of everything she can afford. The problem is that she needs his presence to give her life purpose and meaning. When Bird is away spending time with his father, she thinks only of his return. This of course becomes more of a problem as Bird grows up. She takes solace in drinking.

What also stands out is her poor choices when it comes to men. When Denton dies, she learns that he had a life about which she knew nothing. It’s obvious that he didn’t love her as she loved him, yet she spends years pining for him. Years later, she still believes, “If Denton hadn’t have been snatched from the earth, her life would have run along different tracks, smooth and straight.” Knowing Denton’s secrets, it’s obvious Paulette is deluding herself. After Denton she has a string of affairs with married men; one poor choice follows another. She’s obviously lonely, but she seems a poor judge of character when it comes to men.

She has a blind spot when it comes to Bird as well. Her friend Maggie tells her that “’Bird’s had the wool pulled over your eyes since he was a baby. You think the sun shines out of his arse but he’s as selfish as they come and loves himself into the bargain.’” Paulette’s friendship with Maggie suffers because Paulette is too stubborn to admit that there is some truth in Maggie’s comments. She also, like most humans, does not see herself very clearly. She is angry at Frank because he tells the story of the accident “with himself right plum in the centre” as if he were the victim. She never acknowledges that she does the same, not fully considering that there are many victims.

Paulette does experience growth. The kindness she gave is not forgotten and she is helped to find her way. She learns that she does not need others to give her life purpose; she can find a purpose for herself. In the end one can only cheer for this deeply human character.

The novel touches on a number of serious topics: grief, motherhood, the immigrant experience, and raising a black son in a predominately white society with systemic racism. Nonetheless, most readers will find the ending satisfying.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Review of NO SONG FOR THE DEAD by Jussi Adler-Olsen, Stine Bolther, and Line Holm

 3.5 Stars

This is the 11^th Department Q novel but with a difference: Jussi Adler-Olsen has co-written it with two journalists.

Since Carl Mørck has retired to write books and is no longer head of Department Q, a new transfer is added to the team of Assad and Rose. Helene Henry doesn’t really want to be there and has secrets about her past she doesn’t share with her colleagues. Carl brings them an audio recording that has the team re-opening a case that four years earlier had been deemed a suicide after an attempted murder.

Other crimes are also investigated, all connected to a prestigious school and its boy choir and events there thirty years earlier. As expected, all the crimes end up being connected. The point of view of the perpetrator is given throughout so the reader knows the motives for the various crimes. In fact, the prologue makes much obvious from the beginning, especially that a childhood trauma has had long-lasting consequences. Will the team be able to identify the perpetrator and stop him?

This didn’t really feel like the old Department Q novels which I enjoyed. Carl is largely absent and I missed the relationship between Carl and Assad. In addition, I didn’t care for Helene. She has too many secrets; in fact, it’s difficult to understand how she is allowed to continue working in a police department. Obviously there will be a sequel to fill in her mysterious past.

What I actually enjoyed the most is that I was travelling through Denmark as I read this book, and I visited many of the places used as settings in the novel.

Review of OUR NOBLE SELVES by Kate Atkinson

 4 Stars

This novel is set during the build up to the 1951 Festival of Britain, a national exhibition intended to boost post-war morale and celebrate British achievements in science, arts, and design. Harry Flynn, the protagonist, is a former war reporter and survivor of a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp where he was forced to work on the Burma Railway. Struggling with adapting to normal life, he ends up working with a group of people in the planning department. Then Harry finds himself a prime suspect when a French woman disappears after being on a date with him.

It becomes clear quite quickly that many of the people Harry works with and encounters are members of MI5, the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency, and MI6, Britain’s Secret Service which collects foreign intelligence and conducts covert operations. No one is what s/he seems; everyone has secrets.

The novel begins slowly; it seems aimless at the beginning. Then, with the introduction of the mystery, the plot becomes quite convoluted. Everyone is connected somehow and it is sometimes difficult to remember who is who and how they know each other. The mystery also relies on a lot of coincidences.

Harry suffers from PTSD. He tries to get on with his life “by treating the past as if it barely existed,” but memories are often triggered by everyday occurrences. There’s a time when “he simply couldn’t be bothered with the tiresome business of being alive.” He describes himself in heart-breaking ways: “He wasn’t whole, he would never be whole” and he feels himself “a figure of straw, insubstantial and unenduring.”

It is comforting that Harry does find a new purpose via thirteen-year-old Veronica. The story is really about the power of love and connection, both of which he finds unexpectedly but help heal him. He can perhaps leave behind the “ball and chain of history” and focus on “Pastures new, rather than the old memory lane.”

Despite references to the horrors of war, there are humourous moments, often involving the Boy whose lack of education leads to, for example, his thinking a man named Denholm was once a king named Lear, not realizing Denholm was an actor. There is also banter among the members of the department.

I always look forward to a Kate Atkinson novel and this one, like her others, does not disappoint.

Review of WOLF SEASON by Wesley King (New Release)

3.5 Stars 

This novel blends genres: suspense thriller, detective procedural, romance, and horror.

After a 7-year absence, Everett Johnson returns to his hometown of Killdeer, Montana, when he hears that his father, the local sheriff, has disappeared. Everett joins his brother Connor, the interim sheriff, in the search for their father who was, at the time of his disappearance, investigating the murder of 17-year-old Orsie Armel. Everett reconnects with Bernadine, Orsie’s cousin and the only woman he has ever loved. The remaining six Armels, owners of a large acreage, are a group of reclusive, rather feral women. Since the deaths of three Armel men, the women have not allowed men on their property.

Everett discovers a pattern of mysterious disappearances and deaths, some of which seem connected to hints of supernatural phenomena. As is repeated several times, there is a cost for everything, and it’s soon clear that there will be a cost to uncovering the truth, in this case the tearing apart of both Everett’s family and that of Bernadine.

I found Everett a difficult character to like. Some of his choices and promises, like handing over Orsie’s killer to the Armels, are not commendable. His love for Bernadine has shaped virtually his entire life and continues to do so. This love and loyalty should be admirable, but they do not always allow for a clarity of vision. And for a person who loves someone so much, he knows very little about his beloved and is okay with that?

I am not a fan of supernatural fiction so the inclusion of a supernatural element was not to my liking; I’m obviously not the intended reader. First of all, there’s a reliance on tropes like the malevolent old woman and metamorphosis.  And the novel reminded me of the short story “The Monkey’s Paw” by W. W. Jacobs in which wishes are granted but with an enormous price.

A suspenseful atmosphere is created from the beginning through the use of death imagery, descriptions of the menacing wilderness, references to a generational blood feud, and the appearance of mysterious figures like the Hill Man and an ancient woman.

The book is well-written; though it’s the author’s first adult novel, he is an award-winning writer of young adult fiction. Unfortunately, it’s not my type of book though, undoubtedly, others will enjoy it.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Review of HIDEAWAY by Nicole Lundrigan

 3.5 Stars

Readers should be forewarned that this is a disturbing read about child neglect and abuse by a parent.

Gloria Janes is unhappy: her husband Telly has left and is now living with another woman. Gloria blames her son, 13-year-old Rowan, for Telly’s leaving so one stormy night she locks him out of the house. He runs to find Carl, a homeless man he encountered previously. Because Carl showed care and concern for him, Rowan thinks Carl is harmless, but he suffers from paranoia and his sometimes erratic behaviour can put him and others in danger. Gloria tells herself and her 7-year-old daughter Maisy that Rowan will be found and that Telly will return so they will be a happy family again. But then there are reports that Rowan drowned in an altercation with a man in a boat.

The novel is narrated from the children’s viewpoints. Rowan’s sections focus on his adventures with Carl whereas Maisy’s chapters describe life at home without her brother and the search to find him.  Because of their ages, both narrators are not totally reliable; they don’t always understand what they are seeing and hearing. Maisy, in particular, is naive.

The villain of the novel is definitely Gloria. She’s a narcissist who manipulates others to get what she wants. After Telly moves out, she starts stalking him and his new girlfriend. Obsessed with getting him back, she’s always scheming to lure him. She even uses Rowan’s disappearance to try and guilt Telly into returning. It’s obvious she doesn’t really care about Rowan’s being missing because she always makes herself the centre of attention. She gaslights Maisy, often telling her she only imagined what she saw or heard. She uses both love bombing and fear of punishment to gain control and create dependency.

Telly is not as repulsive as Gloria, but he is certainly ineffectual. He too is self-absorbed and so not available when needed. He basically runs away and makes little time for his children; at a crucial time, he pushes Rowan away. It’s understandable that Rowan and Maisy are unaware of Gloria’s duplicity and manipulation, but it’s difficult to comprehend how he wouldn’t be wise to her devious plotting and be concerned about its effect on his children. I suspect that their estrangement might be the result of Gloria’s controlling actions. It is perhaps possible to have some sympathy for him at the end but his virtual abandonment of his children tempers that sympathy.

The characterization of Maisy is interesting. Some of her behaviour seems very authentic. For example, her confusion is understandable: Gloria has told her repeatedly that she has an overactive imagination, so her gaslighting is very effective. And Gloria’s tales of wolves, also repeated frequently, explain Maisy’s bewilderment when events take a dark turn. It’s typical for a child like Maisy to be torn between wanting to please a parent and to keep a sibling’s secret. There are times, however, when Maisy seems older than her age because she makes astute observations, and other times when she seems younger as suggested by her total obliviousness.

The book is not an easy read. Seeing the neglect and abuse to which the two children are subjected makes the reader hope that an adult like Mrs. Spooner will rescue them. The pace is slow and that just prolongs the discomfort the reader will feel. One could hope that people like Gloria do not exist in the world, but that unfortunately is not true.

Review of PASSENGERS by Alexander Maksik (New Release)

 3 Stars

Though the themes are different, this novel reminded me of Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot. Because nothing major happens, the characters must find ways to distract themselves through conversation. And even when the characters talk about leaving or taking action, they move very little. Just as Godot never arrives, their flight never takes off.

Ivan, 75, meets his daughter Nina, 29, in the Los Angeles airport. They are travelling to Paris where Ivan lived for a few years as a young man. He wants to show Nina where he lived and to share his early life with her; perhaps the trip will bring them closer together. Their flight is delayed and then delayed again and again. Soon all flights are delayed. Security tightens and no one is allowed to leave the airport terminal. Obviously something is terribly wrong but no one has any information.

The father and daughter spend their time talking. They discuss many issues. They express their grievances and regrets and talk about their relationship. Nora, Ivan’s wife and Nina’s mother who left her husband and child 12 years ago to follow her dreams, is often mentioned. Ivan frequently talks about his memories of Nina as a child. Because the third-person omniscient point of view is used, the reader also learns Ivan and Nina’s thoughts. Ivan, for instance, worries about whether he was a good father: did she inherit his lack of ambition? And Nina has so many conflicting emotions when it comes to both her parents.

The novel is obviously very character-focused. Ivan is nostalgic, often focused on the past. His love for his daughter is all-encompassing, the depth of which he cannot find words to express, matched only by his love of nature. He describes himself as “a sucker for the sweet syrup of nostalgia, a weakness for sentimental reverie, a man more moved by his daughter and the past and the balm of night air than anything else.” He is cautious and unambitious, “more afraid of losing what they had than determined to have more.” Of course it’s interesting to see how they view each other. Nina thinks she understands why Nora left him: “His self-pity, his hunger for attention, his constant reconfiguring of the past, the conviction that he was always being slighted and misunderstood.”

Nina irritated me. She tends to be self-centred, negative and judgmental. She is upset that Ivan “could never just listen to her. When would he come to understand that there was no more advice left to give?” But then “she was furious that her father had run out of useful lessons.” She often behaves like someone much younger. She does admit, “She could not go on behaving like she was fifteen. It was embarrassing. All this petulance.” I could not agree more. She thinks it’s a daughter’s privilege “to be angry without regret, without concern, without responsibility to fairness.” She’s upset with her life “and all its myriad disappointments and dissatisfactions,” but expresses her unhappiness through anger at what she perceives as her father’s faults, including his need to provide constant advice.

Nora, the absent wife and mother, never appears in the novel, but we learn a lot about her too. Clearly she is single-minded, focused on following her own desires and ambitions. In a flashback, Nina remembers her mother telling her, “’There are things I want to do. Just as there are things you want to do. And we should do them because if we stay where we are out of fear, or expectation, or loyalty, well, then we will never do anything at all, and we’ll hate ourselves forever.’” And what Nora wants to do she is convinced she can do only if living alone. Nora and Ivan are clear foils: he returned from Paris and fell into his father’s business reluctantly, out of cowardice, because “Every step [was] in direct opposition to desire.”

There is some suspense. From the beginning, there’s a suggestion that something is wrong. Ivan comments on the peculiar yellow sky. Then there is reference to earthquakes. Later a trio of fighter jets streak across the sky. People in the airport start behaving strangely. And there are guards preventing anyone from leaving. What is responsible: “the president and his goons” or climate change or the arrival of aliens? But readers should not expect an explanation.

I found reading this book to be a slog. I got tired of the endless introspection and inertia. Perhaps the fact that I will soon be travelling and spending time in five airports made this book too unsettling for me at this time. I do not want to be stalled, either physically or psychologically, as Ivan and Nina are.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Review of MR. WINTERBOURNE by Clara van Houten (New Release)

 4 Stars

This short psychological drama proved to be a real gem.

The novel, set primarily in London, spans 25 years, from 1997 to 2022. Debra Cowdry is an aspiring novelist whose manuscripts are repeatedly rejected so she finally submits one using a male pen name, Alec Winterbourne. The novel is accepted almost immediately and her literary career is launched. By chance she meets a man with the name she invented for her pseudonym and the two start a relationship. As her success builds, there is increasing pressure for public appearances by the author. Maybe Alec could step in and pretend to be the author? What could go wrong?

Having known about George Eliot, George Sand, and Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, male pseudonyms adopted by female writers, I was interested in how this author would approach the issue of women using male names so their work would be judged fairly and be published. Given the short length of this book, I was expecting a light read but was pleasantly surprised to find an in-depth exploration of identity.

Debra constructs an identity and initially she has a literary agent to protect her and help her continue the facade. As more or her novels are published and she receives more recognition, her identity takes on a life of its own. She even overhears women on a bus speculating about why the author is a recluse. Then she wins literary awards and has to watch someone else receiving the acclaim for her talent. She realizes her life is “owned by people who had not lived a single day of it, while she herself receded further and further into somebody else’s account.” When she decides she wants to get her life back, she realizes how difficult, if not impossible, it will be to reclaim her real identity: “I had signed myself out of my own story so thoroughly that proving I still belonged in it might turn out to be the hardest thing I had ever had to write.”

The novel is written in a brisk, understated style. There are no unnecessary details; those details included convey so much. Suspense is built gradually. It becomes clear that the deception is slowly spinning out of Debra’s control and that someone else has power over her life. Then there are the many instances of foreshadowing, things that indicate all will not end well. For example, she observes that “Alec didn’t look at me. That was, afterwards, the detail I kept returning to” and that she has a fear “I couldn’t yet justify.” I predicted some of what happens, but there are unexpected twists that take the plot in an entirely different direction.

I read this book in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it. The ending is not what I expected, but it is very satisfying. Like Mr. Winterbourne, I gather that the author’s previous novel released earlier this year, Everything He Never Told Me, is, as described on her website, about “the private battles and public sacrifices of women fighting to define their own lives.” I’m recommending Mr. Winterbourne and adding Everything He Never Told Me to my to-be-read stack.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.