I’ve read some good books this summer (I’ll leave chronicling August until later). I remember some years ago, a blogger called Judith said that she doesn’t write many negative reviews any more (by that time) because she’d got really good at knowing whether she’d like a book or not prior to choosing it. I remember being mystified by this, but now I feel I’m getting there myself.

All books are works of fiction.

Elaine Chiew: The Light Between Us – Tian Wei lives in 1920s China; he finds a letter from a woman from the next century. In 2019 in Singapore, archiver Charlie finds a letter from a 1920s man, written to someone else. By placing their subsequent letters in the way they found their firsts, both Tian Wei and Charlie are able to begin a correspondence across time, and over time it may develop into something more as the pair share their worries and successes. Fans of The Lake House/Il Mare, and The Time Traveller’s Wife will enjoy this in particular, but the subject matter, especially in terms of Tian Wei’s time and life, will interest many others. Chiew’s writing style is focused on details but not at all in a way that becomes overly much – it’s difficult to describe, but her prose is singular and her focuses appealing.

Emma Cowell: The Island Love Song – Ella, Georgia, and Georgia’s daughter, Phoenix, have travelled to the Greek island of Hydra to spread their mother’s/grandmother’s ashes. For Ella, the trip is very difficult – she was last on the island as a teenager, one beautiful holiday with the love of her life before he suddenly and intentionally disappeared; he was a musician and years later she still has to bear listening to his hit song that was written about her. For Georgia it all needs to go strictly to plan but at the same time she probably needs this time away from her husband. And Phoenix is along for the ride. Ella’s turmoil comes to a head when she makes a surprise discovery, and the trip for her mother morphs into something else entirely. There’s a lot to appreciate here – setting, characterisation, and Cowell’s deft decisions when it comes to letting the reader know more; I shan’t be more specific than that to avoid spoilers, but suffice to say it’s a page turner and enjoyable.

Mark Stay: The Crow Folk – Wartime Britain. Faye Bright has grown up in Woodville, Kent (fictional village, real county). She helps her dad with his pub, she’s a local volunteer for the war effort, and she’s a bell ringer at St Irene’s. She’s also started to have some strange experiences and has found a spell book of her late mother’s which has left her, unsurprisingly, with a heck load of questions. One day animated scarecrows approach a group of villagers but none of the villagers believe what they’ve seen. Except Faye… and perhaps Miss Charlotte, the woman commonly thought to be a witch… and maybe also Mrs Teach, there’s always been something about her. So now not only is there a war on, but Faye’s got this book she wants to learn from (which also includes a recipe for jam roly-poly for some reason), and she’s got to work with the bonkers situation of scarecrows coming to life, led by a demon – who’s a scarecrow, too – while the fair number of villagers who saw these scarecrows don’t believe it happened. But they better do at some point – that demon’s not joking. This is a wonderfully comedic low fantasy fairly similar in tone to Terry Pratchett and Claire North’s The End Of The Day.

Mark Stay: Babes In The Wood – Pretty much straight after the episodes with the crowfolk, and getting towards the Battle of Britain, Faye and co have situation on their hands involving Kindertransport children, creepy artwork, and secret meetings. Brilliant again, this time with a little more darkness and specific WW2 themework.

Mark Stay: The Ghost Of Ivy Barn – We reach the Battle Of Britain. It’s coming soon to a witches’ circle near you (well, they hope). Also, there’s the ghost of a pilot in one of the villager’s barns that Faye needs to help. This book has the best dialogue in the series, I’d say, wherein the plan to get the Nazis not to bomb Britain is to communicate to them, in chant, ‘you cannot cross the sea’. In English.

Mark Stay: The Holly King – Book four sees the season of Christmas and the attempt by an ancient god to take over the village. Less travelling this time, if you count Kent to the coast as ‘travelling’, but as always, lots of fun.

Susan Muaddi Darraj: Behind You Is The Sea – A book of connected short stories about which I’ve been using the term ‘fractured narrative’, Muaddi Darraj’s story in stories focuses on American Christian Palestinians as they find their identities, as they work with horrible truths they discover, as they work with wonderful truths they discover, and as they work with the different generations. Focusing mostly on the same family and featuring a good few extremely poignant stories, this is a stunning book told in lovely prose that necessarily differs per point of view.

Was it a ton of reading? No, but it was a ton enjoyable and so far August has been just as good.

Episode 104: Matt Ottley

Charlie and Matt Ottley (The Tree Of Ecstasy And Unbearable Sadness) discuss Matt’s type I bipolar disorder and how it has influenced this, his latest book, and his life in general. As Matt is also a composer and illustrator and the book involves both, we also discuss in detail the creation of the music and artwork.

Please note that there are mentions of child sexual abuse and attempted suicide in this episode.

If you’re unable to use the media player above, this page has various other options for listening as well as the transcript.