Catching Up with Hastings Book Chat

The team at Book Chat started the year off with a stash of historical novels, along with more fiction where the past haunts the present in varied and interesting ways.

Our first historical novel was Dusk by Robbie Arnott, which takes the reader to nineteenth century Tasmania and the pursuit of a puma, which is killing shepherds. Out-of-work siblings Iris and Floyd join the hunt when they learn of the bounty. A beautifully written novel with spare prose about “loss and redemption; fight and surrender”.

Bernice Barry’s Sarah Evans follows illiterate, young Sarah, living in poverty on the streets of London. Struggling to feed herself, she is found guilty of a crime she didn’t do. The novel describes the desperate times, Sarah's feelings of powerlessness and how she finds the strength to stand up for herself. Inspired by the lives of the author’s own family, the novel really brings the time to life and makes you feel for the characters.

Another reader enjoyed Kāwai: tree of nourishment, Monty Soutar’s second book in his trilogy following generations of a Māori whanau from pre-colonial to modern times. This book describes the arrival of colonists through the eyes of Hine-aute, and a time of great change. Our reader didn’t enjoy this book as much as the first in the series (Kāwai: for such a time as this), but found it interesting, nevertheless.

The Space Between by Lauren Keenan was another look at colonial times in New Zealand, this time from the point of view of two women: Frances, a newly-arrived English woman; and Matāria, a Māori woman married to an Englishman, Henry White. This is the man who jilted Frances years before. We’re in Taranaki in the 1860s as conflict between iwi and settlers begins to simmer. A really interesting read.

Some of the books we read took us into the past with one narrator, with another timeline in the present day. Jade Beer’s book, The Palace Dressmaker takes you back to London, 1988, where Meredith has landed the dream job of creating the wedding dress to be worn by Diana, Princess of Wales. The story flips forward to 2018 when Jayne discovers a wonderful dress in her neighbour's flat and determines to learn Meredith’s story. Our reader enjoyed Meredith’s narrative but the modern-day timeline was somewhat less than riveting.

Similarly told in dual timeframes, By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult takes you back to late 16^th century England, where Emilia is mistress to the Lord Chamberlain. With the opportunity to see all the theatre she likes, she determines to write her own plays, work that will only be produced if she uses the nom de plume of a man. In the present, Melina Green is also a playwright struggling to get her work on stage, with a new play inspired by the life of her ancestor, Emilia. An enjoyable read that is a refreshingly different kind of book from this author.

We love Colm Toibin (Brooklyn and Long Island) and this time heard about an earlier work of his: The Heather Blazing. The story is set in Ireland where Eamon is a High Court judge, but is distant emotionally from his family. He explores the past and his family's involvement in the 1916 Rising and War of Independence. A terrific character study with interesting glimpses of real historical figures.

Among the contemporary fiction on the table, Claire Keegan’s Foster is a beautiful, heartstring-tugging read. The story follows a young girl’s experiences with a foster family where she finds a warmth and affection she’s never had before. Keegan really knows how to convey a lot within a few pages.

One reader was pleased to have read Lioness by Emily Perkins, which she described as a clever novel. The book won the Ockham NZ Book Awards last year, and its story describes Therese’s life of luxury and the wealthy family she has married into. There’s a corruption scandal to do with her husband’s latest development, and the fallout is devastating. Therese begins to discover another way to live.

Another reader discovered a top read by Anna Jacobs. Moving On is a rare contemporary novel by the author of numerous historical sagas. This book sees Molly Peel, downtrodden for years in an unhappy marriage, who makes the decision to change her life. But her family and ex-husband continue to make life difficult for her. Can she find a way to build a life on her own terms?

A Week in December is the 2009 novel by Sebastian Faulks which is set unsurprisingly over seven days just before Christmas, and follows the lives of seven very different characters. You get a lot about the world of finance as one of them is a hedge fund manager, which was hard to follow for our reader. However you could easily skim this and still find this a very enjoyable read over all.

The Rope of Man by Witi Ihimaera is two books in one: Tangi, an earlier work of Ihimaera's, describing a son returning to his marae for a family tangi; and The Return, where the man is now in his fifties, a successful TV anchorman travelling back to NZ where his mother is dying. Our reader really enjoyed the first book which was set in 1973 and which won a Wattie Award, but was less impressed with the second.

Naomi Ishiguro is the daughter of Booker winning author, Kazuo Ishiguro. Her debut novel is Common Ground and follows two very different young men who meet on Goshawk Common – Stan bullied and missing his late father and Charlie, confident and questioning, and also a traveller. Years later when they meet, things have changed for both of them. Our reader quite enjoyed this, but felt its plot needed more complexity.

The group really enjoys crime fiction, so there was also a bunch of mysteries, with two Ann Cleeves on the table. The first was Wild Fire, number eight in the Shetland series featuring police detective, Jimmy Perez, where he investigates the death of a nanny found hanging in a barn. The Seagull is the eighth Vera Stanhope novel, which has the detective revisit events surrounding her dodgy father, and the nightclub where he and his mates were regulars. Everyone at Book Chat enjoys Ann Cleeves’s books, always to be counted on for a reliably good read.

Another Agatha Christie fan picked up a television series tie-in edition of Murder Is Easy. This book was written in the 1930s and considered one of Christie’s best. Our reader had to agree, stating that while there were plenty of likely suspects, guessing who the killer was had her completely stumped. The story follows a young man travelling by train to London, where he shares a carriage with an old woman planning to visit Scotland Yard. She wishes to raise concerns about a number of suspicious deaths in her village.

Another recurring author at Book Chat is Tim Sullivan whose autistic detective, DS Cross, may have issues around reading social cues, but his murder solving rate is like no other. Although there is humour in his exchanges with colleagues and witnesses, the group's feeling is that the character is sensitively drawn. In The Teacher an elderly man is found dead in his home. It looks like he fell down the stairs, but on examination it seems he has been stabbed. The retired teacher was not a popular man, making people’s lives a misery. Cross will have his work cut out narrowing down the list of suspects.

One reader picked up A Confidential Agreement by Rita Ann Ryan, eager to read a mystery set in Napier. Frida Delaney has just retuned home to New Zealand, only to get caught up in a murder enquiry when she discovers her neighbour’s body. The daughter of a policeman, she can’t sit by when she thinks the police have got things wrong. Our reader enjoyed the book, but did say there were a lot of characters to keep track of.

The psychological thriller of the day was The Perfect Wife by J P Delaney. The story follows Abbie, a woman who wakes with no memory and the man who claims to be her husband - a wealthy entrepreneur in robotics. Technology has saved her life, he says, and she’s a miracle of science. As memory starts to return, Abbie begins to have doubts about him. A nicely disturbing read that is packed with surprises.

And returning to historical fiction are two more thrillers set in the past. The Berlin Agent by Stephen Ronson is a World War Two era thriller. As England prepares for invasion, following the fall of Paris, two unlikely heroes emerge: farmer John Cook and society heiress Lady Margaret. When they discover a spy in their midst, they find themselves working to discover who that might be.

The group reads everything by John Boyne, including his novel Next of Kin, which is set in London in 1936, the time of the scandal surrounding Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson. Then we have the Montignac family, left anxiously awaiting the reading of a will. Owen has run up huge gambling debts and needs a payday, only to find the bulk of his late uncle's estate goes to his cousin Stella. Owen makes a cunning plan. A well-plotted and as usual stunningly written novel.

Hastings Library Book Chat meets on the third Wednesday of the month at 10:30 am. Pop along for some insightful, lively and bookish discussion.

22 January 2025

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