Spring Essential Reads
The Beach House
By Jane Green
RRP $32.95
Jane Green has become a nationally bestselling author with legions of fans through her novels about the true-life dilemmas of real women-their relationships, their careers, their loves, their triumphs and disappointments. In this her latest book, The Beach House, Green tells the story of Nan an independent, free spirited eccentric woman living in a big house on the hill in Nantucket. Nan is a woman who refreshingly doesn’t give a hoot what people think, revels in shocking people and whose husband died twenty years ago. As financial management has never been one of her strong points, she finds out that her savings are almost gone and she must do something drastic to avoid having to sell her beloved home on the hill to developers. So Nan takes out an ad to rent rooms for the summer and slowly the house fills with noise and laughter and tears. As the eclectic group get to know one another in Nan’s house, each of their lives are impacted by each other in ways they could have never foreseen. Warm, witty, and as wise as ever, this is a story of friendship, of family, and of life coming full circle. If you have never read a Jane Green book now is the time to start, especially if you are looking for something to take on holidays with you. If you are a Jane Green fan, never fear The Beach House will not disappoint.
This Charming Man
By Marian Keyes
RRP $32.95
If you have been a long time fan of Marian Keyes novels then be prepared to be disappointed this time round. This Charming Man, is anything but charming. It is a massive novel of phone book size proportions that unfortunately fails to excite or even entertain. Since “Lucy Sullivan is getting Married” and “Watermelon” both written in the mid 90’s Marian Keyes has kept us glued to her pages of love lives and true-to-life dilemmas of women but this one didn’t live up to her standard. Keyes habit of writing in the first person was a familiar trait that previously had you laughing out loud but not on this occasion. The main four characters are one dimensional and tedious to say the least, It traces the intertwined stories of stylist Lola, journalist Grace, Grace’s sister Marnie, an old friend Alicia and the man that binds all their lives, Paddy de Courcy. Maybe we have just come to expect too much from Marian Keyes after all she has sold over 16 million books in 35 countries so perhaps she just got us on a bad day?
The Forgotten Garden
By Kate Morton
RRP $32.95
It must be hard to follow up on your first novel when it was an international best seller, but seems that Kate Morton has done it again. Her English teachers in south-east Queensland must be awfully proud of her! The Forgotten Garden is the story of Cassandra, Nell and Eliza whose lives are all related and interlinked. A woman on a quest to find out the truth about her family, a mysterious Victorian authoress, a book of dark fairytales and long-hidden secrets. It tells of a poor little rich girl and her ambitious, devious mother who only wants the very best for her daughter. Their story is told over a century as you the reader weave together all the loose ends. Morton takes us from one side of the globe to the other, firstly following Nell from Australia to Cornwall to search out her origins, and later, with Cassandra, Nell's granddaughter, who hopes to find the answers to so many questions that have haunted Nell throughout her life. Even though it is a large novel that transpires over many years, the refreshing thing Morton has done is to keep you guessing right until the end. It will surely keep many people eagerly awaiting the third novel from this talented Aussie author!
Novel about my Wife
By Emily Perkins
RRP $29.95
In this novel by Emily Perkins, the main characters are Tom, skinny, Fortish and English madly in love with wife Ann, who is an Australian scultptor. They move to large old semi-derelict house in Hackney with a baby on the way and seems like life is perfect until Ann becomes convinced she is being followed around their new home. This is a dark and mysterious novel but the weirdest thing about this book is that it is written by a woman from a man’s persepective on marriage. This seemed to be to almost be impossible to achieve but Emily Perkins does it very well. She exposes the minutiae of a marriage, ups and downs, day to day life, with the sinister background of a stalker chasing the wife. “Novel about my Wife is a fascinating portrait of a marriage, in all its labyrinthine complexity and tenderness. A beautiful, shocking book, it had me gripped from its very first sentence” says Maggie O’Farrell. Worth a read this spring!
