Eleanor & Park

Eleanor & Park – Rainbow Rowell

Don’t let the authors name put you off – this is anything but free love view of the world. Eleanor and Park is an extremely intelligent coming of age tale set in the reality of 1986 USA. Park keeps his head down, he’s grown up and been to school with the same bunch of kids his whole life and he knows exactly where he fits in the scheme of things, until the day Eleanor gets on the bus and he feels obliged to offer her the seat next to him. Eleanor has just been allowed to move back home after being kicked out by her low-life stepdad, she’s aware that she looks different – stands out – and this is the exact opposite of what she wants. Over the next few months their mutual sufferance of each other becomes a tentative friendship, which then becomes that most precious of all things – first love.

What makes this so much more than just another coming of age novel is the intelligence of Rowell’s writing. Her depth of understanding and the art with which she relays the characters feelings and experiences is transcendent and places this novel among the best I’ve read. This novel is so easy to relate to, every new experience is one we’ve all had, as readers we get to experience every first touch and thought in such an authentic way that this will be a novel that stays with us all.

Park Lane

Park Lane – Frances Osborne 

Following in the footsteps of ’Downton Abbey’ and the revitalised Upstairs Downstairs’, this war time novel certainly did not follow the path I was expecting. At its heart are Bea and her sometimes maid Grace, two women who come from extremely different backgrounds. Yet these characters both bring to ‘Park Lane’ a different snapshot of what life was for women just prior to WW1 and during. Grace has come to London to make something of herself as a secretary yet finds herself unable to gain employment anywhere but as a maid in Bea’s family mansion. Bea is a rich young woman on the scary side of twenty, not yet married and desperate to make her mark on a world where women are decidedly second class citizens.

There was a lovely symmetry to this novel, as the notion of class became something of a nonissue in that neither woman was free to follow her dreams and constantly subjected to the mores of a world teetering on the edge. This is a novel that is truly about these women and their experiences, as Bea fights for the vote and then does what she can in France during the war, and Grace struggles with her class and the question of marriage or freedom. It was well written, skipping seamlessly between the two women and back again, and as an example of the world of a young woman prior to WW1 it stands above many of the offerings I’ve read to date.

Gold

Gold - Chris Cleave

This is the perfect novel to read concurrently with the London Olympics as it demonstrates with adroitness the lengths athletes must go to in order to stay at the top of their game. At the heart of ‘Gold’ are two women, Zoe and Kate, they are Cyclists, best friends, training buddies and have been rivals for the gold since they were nineteen. At thirty-two both women has had her share of wins and losses both on and off the bike, yet their abiding friendship remains. Cleave takes us on the girls journey to their final Olympics in London whilst seamlessly telling the story of the various failures and successes that have led them to this point.

I found this book to be a revelation – I’ll readily admit that I wasn’t enthusiastic about the prospect of reading about sport. Yet ‘Gold’ is about so much more than Cycling, despite the fact both women were defined by it. The sport is both ever-present and at the same time somehow serves as a prop to the narrative that unfolds around it. The characters were finely drawn and so real, oft times confronting yet at the same time endearing, their circumstances are so different to the general public yet their issues so pervasive. The writing was beautifully refined and at the same time subversive and the suspense that built in Cleave’s capable hands had me racing to the finish…pun intended.

The Recluse

The Recluse - Evelyn Juers

There is an urban myth in Newtown that the inspiration for Charles Dickens archetypal Miss Havisham was based on a woman who lived here in the 19^th century. Eliza Donnithorne was allegedly jilted at the altar and never recovered, the wedding feast remaining on the table until her death. Sound familiar? However, this book is anything but a retelling of Miss Havisham’s sad end, instead Juers delves into the history of the Donnithorne family and examines the fables that made Eliza the myth she is today – who came first? Eliza or Miss Havisham?

I must admit that at times I found myself cast adrift as Juers recounted history of the family – jumping back and forth between cousins and distant family members I struggled to keep straight and see the point of. Nevertheless this was a thoroughly researched collection and I was fascinated at how Eliza has become a local legend simply by becoming a recluse – the only hard evidence to be found were letters to her lawyers and family that stated she was unwell and an avid reader. So the real question is – does a woman have to have a tragic past to decide she would prefer to spend her life alone reading? This reader certainly hopes not!

The Baroness

The Baroness – Hannah Rothschild

This is the biography of a woman. It is also the biography of a family and the world that created them. Hannah Rothschild was always interested in the things her esteemed family wouldn’t talk about- her aunt Nica (Pannonica) Rothschild. This was a woman who lived her life to the beat of a different drum, known as the Baroness of Jazz, she spend the latter part of her life consumed by the Jazz scene of the 50’s and 60’s, rejecting the world of wealth and privelidge to spend her time with the struggling musicians who so enthralled her.

Hannah Rothschild has spent her life documenting those of others via film. Her passion to discover the life of her aunt has led her to write this biography in a way that only a family member can. The Rothschilds are renound for their secrecy and as this book continues the reader sees the lengths that Hannah needed to go to in order to create anything at all. She follows the story of her family from their squalid beginnings in Juddengasse (or Jews-Alley) to their indespensibility amongst the powers of Europe due to their dominant banks. This was a well written, fascinating peek into the world that created Nica and her rebellious life thereafter. A life that enveloped the developing Jazz scene in the USA and the extremely taunt race relations therein, in particular her defining relationship with Thelonius Monk who was considered one of the giants of the scene.

Snake Ropes

Snake Ropes – Jess Richards

Every lock has a key, and every key tells a story.

Snake Ropes is one of the most atmospheric books to be released in the last few years. Set on an island that is ‘off the map’, complete with its own rich dialect and mythology, it follows the story of two girls. Mary, a native to the island, who can touch any piece of metal and root out the secrets of those who’ve held it, has had her brother taken by ‘the tall men’ who come to trade the island folk for their fish and crafts, and occasionally take more than they should. Locked in a house on the other side of the island is Morgan, a girl who can see ghosts and desperately wants to escape the prison of work and family her mother is content to have her die in. Snake ropes follows these women as they seek to unlock the secrets surrounding them.

Jess Richards grew up watching boats sail from Scotland to Ireland, this is evident in the wonderful immediacy of the island and the feeling created in the reader. This was a stunning debut novel – well written and extremely satisfying in its completeness.

The Younger Man

The Younger Man – Zoe Foster

Written by the inestimable Miss Foster, former editor of Cleo, this is intelligent chick lit at its best. The tale begins with our mature heroine Abby kicking lovely young Marcus out of her bed (and life). But Marcus has other plans for Abby, and he’s not about to let her get away. Add to this a major overhaul for her small business, Allure, and the dramas of her two best friends, and Abby has her plate well and truly full. Will Marcus win Abs over? Or will she let her prejudices about age stop her from falling for the first man she ever felt she could trust?

I really enjoyed the tone set by Foster, and adored the fact that ‘The Younger Man’ was set in Sydney – it’s so refreshing to read about women in our real world. The conversational tone of the novel was witty and endearing in the way Foster has cemented her rise to love guru and all around good gal on. My only trouble was, can such a man as Marcus really exist? At any age, let alone at 22? Miss Foster, I’m putting the call out – have you really met a man like him? …and if he’s single…can I have his number??