Swimming Home, Deborah Levy

Read on the Kindle, from the Booker Prize 2012 short list.

A middle class family holiday in the South of France is interrupted by the arrival of Kitty Finch, mentally unstable botanist and poet.

A very short book, and very evocative of place, at least.  You can feel the heat of the sun, hear the insects and smell the pine trees.

Unfortunately the characters are unsympathetic, and whilst the final tragedy was always lurking in the background, it's hard to care when it happens.

In an ironic twist, I actually managed to leave my Kindle at the swimming pool after I finished this book during the children's swimming lesson.  Luckily it was handed in and I got it back.

The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton

Read on the Kindle (downloaded for free!), after reading The Innocents by Francesca Segal, which is based on this book.

Newland Archer, a gentleman from one of New York's leading families, is about to marry May Welland, similarly from a good, old-fashioned family, when he meets her wayward cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, recently returned from Europe where she has deserted her philanderer husband.

The same story was picked up by Francesca Segal and transposed to modern day North London, set amongst the close knit Jewish community.

The strict behaviour code and expectations placed on Newland seem so old-fashioned now, and the pressure on him to do the right thing almost unbearable.

This is not an action packed book, very little actually happens, but beautifully put together nonetheless.

The Woman In The Fifth, Douglas Kennedy

Read in paperback for Book Club; Vanessa's choice for the February meeting.

Originally read in 2008, borrowed from Granny.

Harry flees to Paris when things go wrong for him at the American college where he was teaching.  Things go wrong for him in Paris when he falls ill, then moves into a dodgy room in a dodgy area, then when he takes an illegal job as a night watchman.  What could have been a light in the darkness, when he meets a beautiful Hungarian translator at a party, in fact leads to things going even more horribly wrong.

This book is very atmospheric and readable for about the first 200 pages, after which a particularly daft "twist" just ruined it for me.

The Lost Daughter, Diane Chamberlain

Read on Kindle for Book Club, Rachel's choice for April.

I'm reading the Book Club books out of order, because I've been poorly and have been spending a lot of time in bed.

This book is very much in the vein of Jodi Picoult, an author whose books I have enjoyed.  This is the first Diane Chamberlain I've tried.

CeCe Wilkes, a sixteen year old waitress, is courted by Tim Gleason.  Tim tells her the story of his sister on Death Row and enlists CeCe's help in a scheme to set the sister free.  Of course things do not go according to plan, and CeCe is forced to go underground, and change her identity.  Years later, her actions catch up with her.

I am fond of these issues/dilemma books, and this was a good example, although you knew from the outset how the story would pan out, the very ending was not given away at the start. A nice touch was the inclusion at the start of each chapter of letters written to CeCe by her mother, who had died when she was 12.

The Innocents, Francesca Segal

Read on the Kindle.  Winner of the 2012 Costa First Novel Award, and the 2012 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction.

I picked this book because I saw that it had won the Costa First Novel Award, and I'd already read Bring Up the Bodies, which won the 2012 Costa Novel Award.  I've subsequently found out that it's based on the Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton - a book I've not read.

I very much enjoyed this story of Adam Newman, a steady guy from a solid North London Jewish family.  He has been dragging his heels in proposing to his long time, "perfect" girlfriend Rachel, and his world is turned upside down by the arrival of Rachel's exotic, American, model cousin Ellie.  One of the things I loved was the depiction of the tight knit Jewish community where everyone knows everyone else and everyone knows everyone's history. Francesca peppers the dialogue with Hebrew/Yiddish, but does not feel the need to translate, leaving the reader in the same boat as the younger Jewish generation.

A slightly mawkish ending spoils this tense novel. I will be looking out for any more books published by this author.