Book Reviews

I haven’t done any book reviews recently so I thought I’d take a moment to review two books which I have particularly enjoyed reading in the past few months.

The first is

A Half Forgotten Song by Katherine Webb

This is a type of story I love, told from the point of view of a character in the present who is trying to solve a mystery in the past and from the point of view of a character in the past who gradually reveals the clues to solve that mystery.

The main character in the present day is Zach.  He is divorced and trying to run a failing art gallery.  When his ex takes his daughter to live in Boston with her new partner, Zach realises he needs to do something to stop himself from feeling like a complete failure.

Zach decides he needs to finish the biography he has been trying to write about Charles Aubrey, a painter who died during the Second World War.  Charles has always fascinated Zach, as he has been led to believe that his grandmother had a liaison with the artist before the war.

Zach’s quest leads him to Dorset, a place where Charles used to spend his summers. There he meets Mitzy, now an old lady.

As a young woman in 1937, Mitzy met and fell in love with Charles and through her, the mystery surrounding the artist’s past is revealed.

I couldn’t put this book down, as the secrets were gradually revealed to a satisfying conclusion.  Katherine Webb creates such a sense of atmosphere that I felt as though I was actually on the Dorset coast.

This is the third book I have read by Katherine Webb, and each book is better than the last.  I will definitely be reading her fourth book The Misbegotten.

The second book is:

The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty.

A friend gave me this book for Christmas and I absolutely loved it.

Set in Australia it is the story of Cecilia, a  middle class mother of three who thinks her life is completely sorted.   But then Cecilia accidently finds a letter, addressed to her in her husband’s handwriting.  On the front of the envelope he has written the words “Only to be opened in the event of my death”.

Cecilia’s husband John-Paul is very much far from dead, but can Cecilia resist the temptation to open the letter?  The answer is no, but once opened, Cecilia’s life and that of her family will never be the same again.

The story is told from three points of view, set in a small town.  The three stories intertwine and the story is told brilliantly.  Written in very short chapters, I found myself unable to put this book down, as I kept telling myself, just one more chapter.  It was a good job I was reading it over the Christmas holidays. 

Have you read any good books recently?