I’m thrilled to announce that on Wednesday 26th February, I’ll be doing a live podcast recording under my podcast’s new name, Author’s Afterword, with guests Alex Hay, Stacey Thomas, and Lucy Barker. It’ll be held at Goldfinch Books in Alton, Hampshire, and will consist of a general bookish conversation with time for audience questions and book signing afterwards. I’m over the moon that Alex, Stacey, and Lucy have agreed to join me – they are fantastic both alone and as a group and I’m looking forward to a second round of conversation with them following Milestone Episode 2.

Tickets are available from Goldfinch Books here. It’s a great, fairly new, indie bookshop with a great bar and I’m happy to say it’s fully accessible. Hope to see you there!

And, because it’s only right, given it’s a podcast event, here’s the announcement in audio:

Alex Hay is the author of The Housekeepers, an Edwardian heist novel which sees a group of disgruntled former employees and associates plan to clear a Mayfair mansion of all its contents over a 24 hour period whilst the mistress of the house hosts a ball. Optioned for film, The Housekeepers was the Waterstones Thriller of the Month for May 2024. Alex’s new novel, The Queen Of Fives, is set in the Victorian era and focuses on a confidence trickster who has five days to win the hand of the richest man in England and make off with his money. It will be published in the UK on 30th January 2025.

Lucy Barker is the author of The Other Side Of Mrs Wood, a comedic tale of Victorian mediumship.  The eponymous Mrs Wood is getting on a bit, at least by Victorian standards, and when she spies a young woman watching her house she seizes both the moment and the girl and suggests an apprenticeship – that’ll keep her at the forefront of everyone’s minds! But Miss Finch has a way about her and soon Mrs Wood finds herself with a particularly gifted student who is close to stealing the spotlight.

Stacey Thomas is the author of The Revels, a beautifully written novel set during the witch trials. We follow Nicholas, a man who can hear the dead sing, as he attempts to end the witch hunts.  With a theatrical atmosphere courtesy of the period and James I’s obsession with stamping out anything related to the Occult, Thomas shows us the horrific reality of the time to stunning effect.

I mentioned in my last reading life post that I was working on the idea of soon adding to my reading list books I’d let fall by the way side; I think it would be a bit silly to focus too much on new books and not use the list as an opportunity to read some books I really should have already read.

I know I’m not the only one to have this happen – you acquire a book in whatever way, are very excited about it, and then all often have other books to read first or you decide to wait a bit before reading it, and then because you haven’t capitalised on that initial excitement you lose at least some measure of interest in the idea of reading it. The book is no longer new and shiny. The honeymoon period is over.

(It was quite damning writing that because it made me think of the times I have read a book when it was still exciting and how – as long as the book is at least an average read – it categorically is a better experience to read when the iron is hot.)

So I guess my main question was, can that excitement be regained, reconstructed?

I think it depends on seeing it as a new start, effectively wiping the excitement slate clean, or perhaps alternatively, leaning in to why you were excited originally… so long as your excitement extended beyond ‘new book!’ Certainly you have to let go of any guilt or feelings of burden you might have over not having read the book already. I think the only big issue with achieving this would be if you received the book with an effectively time-limited period in which to read it – say a review copy you didn’t get to (I used to get a fair number of unsolicited books). But it’s not impossible even then.

I’ve a particular book in mind as I write this: N M Kelby’s White Truffles In Winter. I acquired it so long ago I had to check my archives to find out whether I’d bought it or been sent it for review… I got it in August 2013 only three years into blogging and when I was yet to always declare whether I’d purchased or received a book. So I haven’t a clue.

It was so long ago I had it on my (albeit later abandoned) Long Awaited list… in 2019. It was so long ago the author isn’t on social media or to be found online at all – for whatever reason she hasn’t published anything since. (I will avoid making any theories here!)

I remember being taken by the title, cover, and the thought that it might be a perfect choice for Christmas, which I think is understandable. I left it for longer than I’d planned and then found out the title didn’t much reflect the contents; it was simply one of the first of those books with a title that worked as a marketing tactic – oh it did indeed!

I think of it now and then but the magic of before is gone; I wonder if I have to do something else in regards to that loss, perhaps just accept that it’s long gone and just read the book regardless.

I’d like to know from you all: what do you do about books you’ve left unread for too long? Do you get to reading many of them later? If so, how has the experience of reading them been?

Episode 111: Elaine Chiew (The Light Between Us)

Charlie and Elaine Chiew discuss early 20th century Singaporean photography and its influences on Elaine’s novel in depth, which involves looking at social issues and the history of the qipao. We also dive into the time travel aspects and the use of Chinese spirit-mediums.

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

November did not go nearly as I thought it might but in terms of reading, when AnAn died I was reading a couple of really good books, the Hay and the Stokes-Chapman – having those to fall back on later was very helpful in getting me back to some sort of routine and I’m happy to say I completed four books.

Alex Hay: The Queen Of Fives – Quinn, the current Queen of Fives among a group of tricksters in Spitalfields takes on what will be her masterpiece, conning the richest man in the country into marriage in order to fleece him of his money. She has a few close friends helping her, however what none of them know is that there is a Man In The Blue Waistcoat and Lady In The Cream Dress that have their own ideas of what should happen. This is Hay’s second book and if you thought his first was excellent (I sure did!) you’re going to be blown away by this one. It’s got the same over all vibe in terms of this-is-an-Alex-Hay-book but has a lot of new concepts in it. It’ll be published late January and I highly, highly, recommend it.

Lee Seong-bok: Indeterminate Inflorescence – A book of aphorisms from university lectures by the famed South Korean poet, collected by his students. Strange comparisons made at times but over all a lovely book. I would recommend reading up to a couple of sayings a day as opposed to the all-at-once method I used given it was for review.

Raven Leilani: Luster – A young working class woman, Edie, looses her job after her team’s put up with ‘issues’ with her and she ends up moving into the house of the older man she had been seeing after meeting his wife and adopted child who, like Edie, is black. Said older man is in an open marriage (at least that’s what he says) and the wife seems to get on with Edie but Edie knows she needs to move back out but the occassional sex continues. This is quite a unique book, a bit like Megan Nolan’s Acts Of Desperation but more relatable and with more going on. I feel I may have ‘missed’ some of it, so to speak, which I put mostly down to not being American, but the vast majority of it was accessible. There’s a lot of good stuff here about the experience of Black Americans, subtle and overt racism, poverty and the difficulties of getting a job, and manipulation. There’s also fun to be had in video gaming and Comic Cons.

Susan Stokes-Chapman: The Shadow Key – In the mid-1700s, Dr Henry Talbot from London is given the position of doctor to a wealthy family in Wales. When he gets there he finds a community hostile to his arrival, a house full of secrets, his charge is a woman seemingly mentally ill but with off symptoms for it, and his employer is mysterious and at odds with his niece who favours the working people on their land. And Henry’s home, the gatehouse, has been destroyed. The Doctor needs to work out what’s going on and find out why the local people are trying to kill him. This is a wonderfully immersive and Gothic book with a strong sense of place and a steady use of pace and secret reveals.

I have already finished one book in December and have two more I want to complete by the end of the month if I can with others I’ll finish if I can.

A few more books here since the last, recent, post – it’s my birthday month.

Aliya Ali-Afzal: The Big Day – Tasneem Abdur-Rashid featured this book on her Instagram and the premise was it; I put it on my list.

Ashley Poston: The Seven Year Slip – When I was more active on TikTok earlier this year, this book was doing the rounds and the time travel aspect and nod to Marilyn Monroe’s film were enough for me.

Christina Courtenay: The Runes Of Destiny – The second book in Courtnay’s series of Viking time travels, I read this book a few years ago in ebook and very much wanted the series in hard copy. I’m yet to read books 3-5, I hope to do so soon.

Natalie Jenner: Austen At Sea – From the author for review; the book is out in May. This book sees a cast of characters including Louisa May Alcott travelling across the Pond and discussing Austen; the two main characters, who, if I recall correctly, are fictional, are travelling to meet Sir Francis Austen for a purpose they do not yet know. I have high hopes for this book and I have a feeling Jenner will meet them. This book is the exact sort of thing she does very well.

Nydia Hetherington: Sycorax – From the publisher for podcasting purposes, this is a retelling/expansion on the story of Sycorax from Shakespeare. The Tempest is probably my favourite of the Shakespeare plays I have studied or seen so I’m very much looking forward to reading it and also talking to the author about it.

Phoebe McIntosh: Dominoes – I originally put this book on my TBR after reading Andrew Blackman’s review. Then I got the ebook on Netgalley, but couldn’t read the format. This hard copy was a surprise to me – I had forgotten I had added it to a wishlist but I’m very glad to have it now.

I’m looking forward to working some of these into my reading list soon; the Hetherington has a time set, effectively, but the others don’t. That said, I’m very likely to re-read the Courtenay because I enjoyed it so much – it has time travel one way and then both characters go to the future which I absolutely love.

Choosing what’s best for yourself.

Keaton has been told that her cheating ex (who was cheating with his ex-wife) and her boss (the ex-wife) are having a baby and the boss wants Keaton to take a promotion to help out on a higher-up level. Keaton decides she’s had enough. At the same time, her mother and uncle are looking to put their old family home on the market – finally, after many years of leaving it abandoned after their parents’ early deaths, they want to sell. So Keaton sets off to North Carolina to clear the heritage house she’s never been to and spend some time thinking about her next moves for her life. It won’t be simple, however – when she gets to Beaufort, NC, she falls in love with the house, the people, and her nextdoor neighbour is seriously hot. And she finds out something her mum does not know – many of the townspeople still talk about the sudden disappearance and presumed death of Rebecca and Townsend St James. The car crash that was rumoured may not be the real story.

A Happier Life is a dual timeline, dual narrative tale (with a brief third) of discovery in all its forms. It sees a bit of a change from Woodson Harvey’s recent work; one of the defining elements of 2022’s The Wedding Veil was a mystery and 2023’s The Summer Of Songbirds had a couple of things to iron out in this same vein, but A Happier Life is particularly high on it as to reach it as a genre categorisation. It also has a vastly different sort of ending that has proved controversial (more on that later). But in sum, this book does scratch any itch you might have to read more of the author’s work.

The basic features of a great Woodson Harvey novel are all here. (I do consider her to be an excellent writer.) You have the focus on characters and characterisation; the importance of family, never in any way overbearing, all very lovely and natural; and the wonderful North Carolina/Southern women’s fiction atmosphere that, in this Brit’s necessarily detached view, makes for a very homely and friendly setting.

Nevertheless that Keaton probably should have nipped her relationship with her co-worker-who-was-her-boss’s-husband in the bud, her journey of personal and familial discovery is lovely to read. Whilst she guards her heart very strongly for a while, the goodness she finds in the seaside town wins her over slowly as you know it will. She is the first narrator to be introduced, and arguably the main one.

Narrator two is Keaton’s unknown grandmother, Rebecca, who died long before Keaton was born. Her narrative is definitely more filler-in than completely fully-fledged, simply because we rely on her narrative to find out secrets, but she’s a good character also. (One of the defining aspects of Woodson Harvey’s novels and the reason starting one of her books feels so wonderful is that you know you’ll be greeted by a plethora of good people.)

To speak of the other main characters singularly would spoil the story; there’s only one further that is safe to discuss and that is Salt the dog who is modelled after Woodson Harvey’s own bundle of fur. Salt brings people together as all good boys do and is winsome – he is paramount to the plot.

(What I can say about people as a group is that Keaton’s friendships are lovely and Rebecca’s dinner parties are similarly good; Rebecca’s narrative is in part about menus and creating guest lists of compatible people, and food. Woodson Harvey includes a couple of recipes in the end pages of the book.)

Having chosen to set her novel in the town she lives in herself, Woodson Harvey’s use of location is, needless to say, on point.

There is a romance – it is sweet, well-written, extremely realistic as the author’s past novels have also been, and moves at a good pace. Woodson Harvey writes her romantic heroes very well.

The mystery itself unravels slowly – whilst it’s a focus it’s not the focus until the end; there is plenty of other story content here and you never feel it’s taking a while to get there (and truly the book spans a fairly short period of time in both narratives, anyway). And as the mystery concerns the ending I mentioned, let’s get to it. I’ll try my best to avoid spoiling it.

Given I’m writing this so late after publication and, indeed after my own reading of the novel, I might as well address the fact that some readers have been disappointed with the ending of A Happier Life due to the marketing and the cover (and, I expect, the author’s previous work being different). This book is indeed not really the beach read some expect. The conclusion of the mystery is a very bold choice, I feel, and whilst I understand the view of those who find it upsetting and not ‘right’, I personally see Woodson Harvey having used it in the star-crossed lovers sense, soul mates, and so on. Is it a surprise? Yes, it is, particularly given the choice Woodson Harvey makes as to where to end the book, but it does fit the point she was trying to make (succeeds in making, I would say) about the love between the two people.

So A Happier Life, then, is different. The title is shorter (it was initially titled The House On Sunset Lane, changed perhaps to give prospective readers pause). It doesn’t feature photos on its cover, instead a drawing. And the story, whilst still family and person and location and historically focused, is different in tone.

But it is, dare I say, objectively, a very decent read and a suitable progression of the author’s work.

Publisher: Gallery Books (Simon & Schuster)
Pages: 357
Type: Fiction
Age: Adult
ISBN: 978-1-668-01219-2
First Published: 25th June 2024
Date Reviewed: 21st November 2024