Turn Up the Heat and More from Book Chat

20 July 2026

Books that ticked off challenges for Turn Up the Heat made the table at this month’s Hastings Library Book Chat. Among them was The Other Mother (a book translated from a language you don’t speak), which was originally written in French by Michel Bussi. It was a cracking read about what happens when a four-year-old boy says his mother isn’t his real mum. The only person who believes him is the school psychologist. Can he persuade the police to take an interest?

Another book in translation, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman, is a novella following three men from different generations of the same family. It’s a beautifully told slice-of-life story, about the grandfather slowly losing his memory, sharing his past with his grandson, Noah. Ted has waited his entire life for his father to find time for him, but in Noah the father and son have a common bond. A bittersweet, wise and heartbreaking read.

TUTH challenge - a book written by a Māori or Pasifika author – can be ticked off with Return to Blood by Michael Bennett. This is the second novel featuring Hana Westerman as she adjusts to civvy life with a fresh start in a quiet coastal town. Discovering a skeleton in the dunes near her house is unsettling, particularly as this is the same spot where a school friend of hers was found buried twenty years earlier. Our book clubber thought this a brilliant read.

If you’re wanting to complete the Turn Up the Heat Challenge: to read a book set in a village or small town, Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout might fit the bill. In this story following ongoing character Lucy Barton, our protagonist is persuaded by her ex-husband to leave New York when the Covid pandemic hits. The two escape to a house he’s rented in Maine. It’s only meant to be for a couple of weeks, but the months-long stay is a chance to consider the past, re-examine their relationship and the way human connection can sustain us when as the world becomes chaotic. Our reader particularly loves the series as she had stayed in Maine, as well as the gentle wisdom of the storytelling.

Taking us to Moor Barton, a South Devon village, was Deadly Remains, number 29 in the Wesley Peterson detective series by Kate Ellis. Our reader loves this series, a go-to author who is always interesting for the archaeological aspects of the story, courtesy of Peterson’s friend and advisor, Neil Watson. Here Watson is studying the site of a crashed World War II plane on Dartmoor, while Peterson is investigating the death of a celebrity ghostwriter.

A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale qualifies as the “first book in a series”, Gale having recently published a sequel to his story following the ups and downs of a character based on his great grandfather, Harry Cane. In the first book, Harry leaves his family to avoid disgrace, opting to try farming in rural Canada. It’s a hard life, but fortunately there are helpful neighbours and a promise of happiness. This is a heartbreaking story that really moved one of our readers. The second book, Love Lane, sees Harry return to his family in England for a visit.

Many of us are keen to read Land by Maggie O’Farrell, so when one reader reviewed it, she was reluctant to give away a lot about it. The book starts in 1865 with a father and son working for the Ordnance Survey project mapping Ireland, a task that is worsened by the Great Hunger and the British soldiers in charge. These events have ongoing effects on young Liam and his family. Our reader really enjoyed the story, found the book easy to read and interesting. This book is perfect for the challenge, “a book with a one-word title”, or also “a book that teaches you something new”.

Another “one-word title” was Reputation by Sarah Vaughan which follows what happens when a respectable woman MP is accused of murdering a tabloid journalist. Emma Webster is often in the spotlight, which is also hard for her fourteen-year-old daughter, as there is relentless bullying. This is a novel about reputation, obviously, as well as online abuse and a woman pushed to her limits. A quite good read said our reviewer.

The Nine Lives of Kitty K by Margaret Mills describes a little-known corner of New Zealand history, in this case the 1890s goldfields. The Kitty of the title is Kitty Kirk, a pioneering woman who became a legend for her daring deeds, still talked about almost a century after her death. This book could definitely count towards the Turn Up the Heat challenge: a book that “teaches you something new”.

Under Water by Tara Menon was chosen for a book “picked purely for its cover”. The story encompasses two natural disasters, the Boxing Day tsunami, which affects young Marissa who lives on an island in the Andaman Sea; then a devastating storm eight years later when she’s living in New York. A really good debut novel with an environmental message, according to our reader.

The Names of a Hare by Bernice Barry was also chosen for its cover, a historical novel taking us to the time of witch hunts, this time in Cornwall, where women healers were targeted. The main character is a young girl who has an unusual gift – she can leave her body and fly. As witchfinders close in, she changes her name and moves on. The story vividly recreates the time and setting, a slow burner but worth persevering with.

A further book chosen for its cover was The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens, the story of Hana, a Bosnian woman living in Minnesota, who tries to lead a quiet life under the radar. When a detective tells her that her best friend has been murdered, shadows from the past are stirred up, dating back to the Bosnian War. Hana begins to fear for her life, while left with her friend’s young grandson to care for.

More librarians and another war are the focus of The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson, a novel set during WWII. Both heartbreaking and heartwarming, we follow two women who develop a roaming underground library. When one of the women ends up in a Polish concentration camp, her friend wonders if they can they ever be reunited? A compelling read about friendship against the odds.

Other books that were highlighted by the book clubbers included Patricia Cornwell’s memoir True Crime. The author of the Kay Scarpetta novels about a forensic pathologist, Cornwell reveals her inspiration for her writing as well as the trauma she experienced as a child. The book races along, was really illuminating and has no judgement. Well worth reading.

Another reader was taken with Anthony Quinn’s Our Friends in Berlin, a cracking thriller bringing the world of espionage at the time of World War II to life. We’ve got Nazi sympathisers and a plot to aid Hitler’s war machine. A novel about deception and loyalty, this was a tense read packed with surprises.

Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell was a better than expected read – a cleverly plotted story about how a recently widowed woman falls prey to a charming man, a supposed friend of her late husband’s. There are several parallel stories here to create an engaging page-turner.

You may have seen Long Bright River on the small screen. The book by Liz Moore is the suspense novel that inspired the show. Mickey is a police officer in Philadelphia, constantly on the lookout for her missing sister, a victim of opioid addiction. When other prostitutes are found dead from overdoses, Mickey has a battle on her hands to convince her superiors that there’s a killer out there, and to save her sister.

Another reader caught up with Douglas Stuart’s first novel, Shuggie Bain which they described as both literary and heart-wrenching. This Booker Prize winner is the story of a sweet and lonely boy growing up in public housing in Glasgow. It’s the 1980s, times are tough and Shuggie’s mother does her best to find happiness any way she can.

Our dystopian read of the day was The Water Takes by Sarah Walker, a very dark yet interesting novel which is a kind of apocalypse survival story. Two characters, Pam in her seventies afraid of dying alone, and Charlotte, Pam’s 10-year-old neighbour, become unexpectedly dependent on each, and each having different skills as they navigate a severely altered world.

The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney takes us to New York and a family of four siblings whose lives have been shaped by a shared inheritance. But their fund is endangered by older brother Leo’s bad behaviour, while the other three are desperate for various reasons for the money that will solve their problems. The story explores with wit and acuity what money does to sibling relations.

Among the most original storylines at Book Chat was Maybe Baby by New Zealand author Emma Neale. When his wife dies, Nate hopes to honour her life by finding a way to have a baby using their stored embryos. Unable to find a surrogate mother, he tries a radical new medical procedure in London. This was a well-researched enjoyable read.

Posted by JAM

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