Six Brilliant Reads: Autumn Stories

Traditionally the season of harvest or, according to Keats, “mists and mellow fruitfulness”, you might discover plenty of atmosphere with fiction set in autumn. Being cosy with a book is a lovely way to enjoy autumn, too, so here are six excellent autumn inspired reads.

Ali Smith’s Autumn, is the first of a quartet of seasonally-themed novels, this one describing the lives of two very different people: Daniel, is a century old, living in a nursing home, where he is visited by Elisabeth, a lecturer in art who had once been the little girl who lived next door. Written with verve and wit, the novel develops ideas about love and friendship, ageing and art, the story set at the time of the Brexit vote in Britain.

Also part of a seasons series is Deeds of Autumn by Swedish crime fiction author, Anders De La Motte. A gathering of friends at an abandoned quarry ends in tragedy in 1990. The police rule the death as an accident, a decision that doesn’t sit well with the local community. In 2017, Anna Vesper, is a new chief of police, spurred by rumours to reopen the case. Deeds of Autumn, and the others in the quartet can each be read as standalone novels and are described as atmospheric and enthralling.

Swedish crime continues with An Event in Autumn by Henning Mankell, a novella in the popular series following beleaguered Swedish detective Kurt Wallander. Kurt’s in the autumn of his life, retirement beckons, when he decides to buy a new house and acquire a dog. Investigating the garden at a house that might suit him reveals the skeletal remains of a woman, but identifying the victim is difficult as there are no missing persons in the district that fit the criteria. It’s a mystifying cold case that he’ll delve into with help from his daughter Linda, now a police colleague.

At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier is set in 19^th century America, starting in Ohio where the Goodenough family plant an apple orchard. But their harvest sows a family discord – James loves the apples that remind him of happier times in Connecticut, while Sadie takes solace in the applejack they make. The hard life and dysfunction in their family drive young Robert west to seek his fortune at the time of the California goldrush in this carefully researched novel.

The Cruelest Month is the third in Louise Penny’s Three Pines mystery series featuring Canadian Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. In this story, someone seems to have died of fright during a séance at on old abandoned house. Long buried secrets are set to emerge, including one that could lead to the downfall of the chief inspector himself. While the cruelest month of the title is April according to T S Eliot in his ground-breaking poetic work, "The Waste Land", and that's spring in Canada, it's also Easter at Three Pines, so this one just squeaks in.

Continuing with an Easter theme, it's hard not to think about all the chocolate. So our last favourite autumn read is Chocolat by Joanne Harris, the first in a series of novels set in France. Here we meet Vianne, making a new life for herself in a village full of secrets, where she sets up as a chocolatier. With the approach of Lent, she soon upsets the local priest, her chocolate such a temptation in the season of self-denial. Bon appetit!

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