Opening Night by Sara Baume

 

When the writer and sculptor, Sara Baume, first met her, the artist Mollie Douthit was living alone in a cabin in the west of Cork and preparing a series of paintings from her life for an exhibition in Dublin. Sarah had undertaken to write a book about Molly’s life, and she spent the following two years in Molly’s company, recording in minute detail Molly’s way of life.

Opening Night is filled with descriptions of Molly’s paintings as well as reproducing many of them on its pages. I read the book online as an ARC, thanks to NetGalley, but I think a paper copy would be something to treasure, for the paintings.

Sara and Mollie had a lot in common; Sara also lived a rather pared down existence in the west of Cork, although with her partner, Mark, and her beloved dogs; and Molly’s circumstances did change somewhat over time. 

Sara records meticulously not only Molly’s paintings, but the clothes she wears and the food she cooks, and to complete the picture Sara describes her own clothes and meals. The two women had much in common, but, Sara wondered: ‘I was her friend of course, but she was also my material. I was beginning to find it difficult to discern whether my attachment to Mollie came from sincere affection and concern, or from the crazed desire to make good art.’

Opening Night is an intense read, with biographer and subject each equally devoted to her own art. 

Published by Farrar, Straus and Girraux

The Shock of the Light by Lori Inglis Hall

 

Tessa and Theo are twins living a happy, privileged life with their French mother and English father in England at the start of World War Two, and sharing a strong, loving bond. While Theo becomes a RAF pilot, Tessa, his equally strong spirited and brave sister, is dismayed at the prospect of the typing pool, or the FANYS (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry). When Tessa is recruited to spy with the French resistance she joins up gladly.

I didn’t know until I read The Shock of the Light that English women who were captured in France while spying did not have the protection of being treated as prisoners of war because they did not wear uniforms. Lori Inglis Hall has brought a staggering reality to the fear of not knowing who to trust while at the same time being under the same suspicion. It’s hard to imagine someone growing up in a safe home suddenly facing a brutal, non-discriminating enemy, and the prospect of capture, physical cruelty and even death every day.

I remember reading Martha Hall Kelly’s The Lilac Girls and finding out for the first time about Ravensbrook, the unbelievably sadistic women’s concentration camp. I do hope schools these days are teaching children how they came to inherit the freedoms of the world they are living in, and how precious those freedoms are.

Theo has his own story line and he is a memorable, beautiful character. Reading this book is an intense, emotional experience. It covers the full spectrum of happiness and heartbreak; strengths and weaknesses; love and betrayal; and I am very happy to add this bit: the calming, healing influence of cats on human’s lives.

Published by The Borough Press

A World of Silence by Jo Skinner

 In her novel, A World of Silence, Jo Skinner has written about partner abuse, following the thread from traumatic childhood to dysfunctional adulthood. Jo has also raised the part animals play in providing comfort in times of despair, and the horrifically cruel way in which an animal is sometimes treated by a perpetrator as an ultimate act of control. In the area where I live a man who has confessed to the murder of his former partner is in jail awaiting sentencing; one of the charges against him was animal cruelty.

This riveting book tells the story of people who are, on the surface, educated, attractive, successful, and even famous; but domestic violence and partner abuse don’t discriminate, do they? It’s all too real, and all too sad.

Published by Hawkeye Publishing

King of Beasts by Tony Park

 

Disclaimer: Tony Park is my son; that being said, however, Tony has come up with an absolute belter in King of Beasts.

As in some of Tony’s previous books the prologue is from the point of view of an animal, in this case Nhena, a rare white lion. Nhena is coming to the end of his days, he is old and battle-scarred, and eligible to be hunted legally if he strays on to a Reserve whose owners have offered a licence to kill to prospective trophy hunters. Sonja Kurtz is back, this time trying, with limited success, to curb her wilder instincts while assisting her partner, Hudson Brand, in the running of the adjoining Reserve;  Sonja’s daughters, Emma And Fiona, are in trouble in Ukraine; Mike Williams is in South Africa attempting to rebuild his business after the Covid devastation, and Sarah Thatcher is working for the BBC out of England. 

Vasilly Orlov, another character from the past, has been released from prison in South Africa and has various scores to settle.

The story centres on drones, their amazing capabilities and deadly as well as benevolent uses; that is, on top of questions into the moral and ethical justifications behind trophy hunting; industrial espionage; a kidnap; a vendetta, and a rekindled romance or two. The South African bush, as ever in Tony’s books, is so real you could touch it, smell it, breathe it in and lose yourself in it (if you are that way inclined). The final chapters hurtle along in a heart-stopping race towards the finish. Well done, Tony!

Published by Pan Macmillan

Kill the Thing You Love by M R Collings

 Kill the Thing You Love is a dark, mysterious, psychological drama. 

Finn is a psychiatrist who lives with his closest friend and confidante, Sigmund, a Flemish Giant rabbit. Finn’s main interest is in patients who present with wanting to get rid of a tormenter who may or may not still be in their lives. Finn has many dark secrets and problems of his own.

Ethan lost Fawn, the love of his life, who died when they were both eighteen. Now, eighteen years later, she seems to have reappeared.

Gillian is Ethan’s wife, the one who saved him by helping him overcome the heartbreak and trauma of Fawn’s death.

Faith is ??

I found this book fascinating, gripping and hard to put down because I needed to keep up with all the twists and turns along the way. It deals with two time lines, Then and Now, which fit into the story very neatly. And it has a  punch-packing ending, keeping the darkness and mystery alive right up to the finish.

Now I want a Flemish Giant rabbit.

Published by Thomas and Mercer.

 I love memoirs, I love Africa, and I love true heroes. School for Life by Annabelle Chauncey is all three rolled into one. At twenty one Annabelle, together with her friend, Jessie, left Sydney for Kenya as part of a volunteer programme, intending to teach English to African school students. Finding they had arrived in time for the annual two months school holiday shut down, Annabelle and Jessie decided to leave Kenya after four weeks to travel to Uganda with Dave Everett, a fellow Australian volunteer, and his mate, Luke.

So began Annabelle Chauncey’s remarkable career. She had been shocked by the poverty and degradation of the land of Uganda and its people and what she saw as a hopeless future for its children; but I’m sure I’m not the only one who has read Annabelle’s story and remembered Bobby Kennedy’s quote: “There are those that look at things the way they are and ask why: I dream of things that never were and ask why not?”.

 It is truly inspirational to follow Annabelle’s story, starting with her stated aim of teaching English as a second language to children; to building schools; bringing water and electricity to villages, and to improving the lives of children and their families as well. There are some beautiful photographs in the book which illustrate how much Annabelle and the people around her have achieved in an amazingly short time. 

Annabelle’s parents must be bursting with pride for their beautiful daughter. I am, and I have never met her! Annabelle’s has been a life well lived so far, and with many, many years ahead of her.

Published by Pan Macmillan 

Storm in a B-Cup by Lindy Dale

 

Storm in a B-Cup is a novel, but obviously based on the author’s true life experiences, which was confirmed in Lindy Dale’s acknowledgments at the end of the book. 

Sophie, the narrator, tells her story from discovering she had breast cancer, through to the various successful and failed treatments; the ways in which her son, Rory, and her partner, Brendan were affected, and the reactions of her family and friends. Finding out who loves her    and who doesn’t makes her stronger in surprising ways. She has to jump over some pretty high hurdles!

Lindy Dale’s gentle touches of humour in some of Sophie’s most difficult moments are almost unbearably poignant. It’s a good story which balances the bad moments with the good, and with some lovely and loveable characters along the way.

Lindy Dale is a survivor, fortunately one of many, and I’m sure Storm in a B-Cup has been inspirational to a lot of people.