The Diplomat by Chris Womersley

 Edward, the narrator of this story, is like a reincarnation of Modigliani minus the masterpieces.

Edward despises his fellow Australians; they are overweight, badly dressed, insensitive and culturally unaware although he makes exceptions for his and his wife’s parents, which is rather sweet. He and his supremely talented wife, Gertrude, escape to Europe where they hope to live a fulfilling, artistic life.

Chris Womersley has created a very real and quite heart-breaking character. Edward is self-destructive but also self-aware. He is completely honest in acknowledging his faults and his mistakes, of which there have been many.  He hates conservatism but doesn’t pretend to have lived up to his belief in his own superiority in following his alternative path. He is sad and kind and overwhelmed by grief and guilt but is still able to come up with wryly amusing and touching comments on his attempts to survive the life he has created.

I took this book to bed with me and had to stop reading for a while in order to get some sleep and then picked it up next morning and didn’t put it down again until I had finished reading it. It was utterly compelling, and brilliantly written. It is a 5 star plus read.

Published by Picador, Pan Macmillan Australia.

A Remarkable Woman by Jules Van Mil

 

Avril Montdidier is a heroine in every sense of the word. As a young girl she basked in the love of her mother, Yvette, and her friend, Guy, in the beautiful French countryside around Tours, until the Second World War and its aftermath turned her world upside down. 

Avril’s bravery and strength of character led her to look for a new life in Australia, backed by her experience working for Christian Dior in Paris and the practical knowledge and skills she had both inherited and learned from her mother.

In A Remarkable Woman Jules Van Mill has created a memorable, loveable, compassionate character with Avril Montdidier; she brings Australia to life from inner city Melbourne to the western slopes of the Darling Downs and fills them with real people, most good, some bad, as should be expected.

Anyone who remembers the books of Judith Krantz will call to mind the strong, beautiful women, the fashions and the boutiques in her stories. I got a similar appreciation of those subjects from A Remarkable Woman. There are also quite a few male characters in the cast and they are all three-dimensional and recognisable and, in a couple of cases, rather dishy.

This very well rounded story has all the elements of happiness and sadness, comedy and drama, city life and country life of an excellent work of contemporary fiction. I was very sorry to come to the end. I could have gone on reading for a lot longer!

Published by Macmillan.

The Replacement Wife by Darby Kane

 

The Replacement Wife is suspense fiction at its absolute best. The characterisations are scarily real: Elisa, her husband, Harris, and his brother, Josh, have always had a harmonious relationship, with Elisa and Harris being protective and comforting of Josh through his troubled life. Something happens which has Elisa questioning their situation and thus begins a nail biting, suspenseful, utterly compelling story.

Darby Kane is a brilliant writer. I am not always a fan of this genre; sometimes a book or, especially, a movie like this can have me yelling things at the characters like: ‘Can’t you see what is happening? Just listen to her!’ and so on, but this story is told smoothly and perfectly and had me turning the pages at a furious pace, eager to see where it was going, but at the same time not wanting to come to the end of such a very enjoyable read.

I am going to look for more Darby Kane books now. I found this one by chance at Libby, the on line library.

Very highly recommended!

Published by William Morrow, an imprint of Harper Collins.