May we be Forgiven, A.M. Homes

Read on the Kindle. I realised I had read the whole short list for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2013 except this one and since this was the winner I thought I should give it a go. Other entries on the short list were:

• Bring up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel
• Flight Behaviour, Barbara Kingsolver
• Life after Life, Kate Atkinson
• NW, Zadie Smith
• Where'd you go Bernadette, Maria Semple

Harry Gold starts a misguided affair with his brother's wife.  The outcome is a tragedy which sets Harry on a course to redeem himself in any way he can.

This is a very dark comedy, and a very American book.  Hampered by the dense cultural references I felt as if I was missing some of the humour, satire and points to be made.

NW, Zadie Smith

Read on the Kindle, after amazon recommendation.

The four main characters in the book have all grown up on the same housing estate in North West London. Some have chosen paths which have taken them away from the estate, and some seem to be living the life with the hand they have been dealt, unwilling or unable to make the change.

My favourite character, and the one drawn most vividly was Natalie.  Once known as Keisha, she has pulled herself away from the estate by studying law and marrying well, but she has a secret that will eventually bring her middle class life crashing down.

Told from several different view points, and in several different writing styles this is a much more challenging read than the books I have been reading recently.

Instructions for a Heatwave, Maggie O'Farrell

Read on the Kindle after enjoying previous Maggie O'Farrell books, such as The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox.

London in the heatwave of 1976.  Gretta Riordan's husband Robert, a retired bank worker, leaves the house one morning to get a paper and does not return. Her strive to find him and bring him back involves her three grown up children: Michael Francis, Monica and the youngest Aoife.

The family dynamics between the main characters and their nearest and dearest are explored and exhausted as each of the children's marriages or relationships is put under the microscope, and the family history is gradually revealed.

I enjoyed this book, believed in the characters, and thought the downbeat ending was very apt.

The Chessmen, Peter May

Read on the Kindle after reading The Blackhouse and The Lewis Man.

Yet more weather in this book, where a freak storm leads to the draining of a loch, and the discovery of a light aeroplane, which went off the radar 17 years previously, and a dead body inside.

Once again the investigation involves Fin Macleod. We learn even more of his history, this time from his days at school and university working as a roadie for a Celtic rock band.

Another page turner from Peter May.  Each book of the trilogy weaves together the story happening in the present, told in the third person, with episodes from the past, usually told in the first person. Although this one the least convincing of the three to me, the trilogy as a whole is crying out to be made into a TV mini series.

The Lewis Man, Peter May

Read on the Kindle after reading The Blackhouse, the first book in the trilogy.

A body is found in a peat bog on the Isle of Lewis, and at first is thought to be hundreds of years old, but an Elvis Presley tattoo puts paid to that theory, and a DNA test linking the body to a local man seems to offer up a suspect for the murder.

Fin Macleod, now resident on the Isle of Lewis, but no longer a policeman, gets involved in the investigation, as there is a link to his childhood sweetheart.

Another gripping book in the series.  We learn more about Fin's history, and his relationships on the island develop.

Shall be moving swiftly on to part three.

The Blackhouse, Peter May

Read on the Kindle, Gillian's choice for Book Club.

Detective Inspector Fin Macleod, still reeling from the hit and run killing of his son, is sent from his home in Edinburgh to the Island of Lewis where he grew up on the behest of the police computer Holmes, which has linked one of his investigations with a murder on the island.

So far, so standard police procedural, however, Fin turns out to have a vast back story and a great deal of unfinished business on the Isle.

The author uses the bleak Scottish setting to good effect, there's more weather in this book than any I've read recently.

I found this book to be a real page turner, the ending didn't really ring true for me.  Liked it enough to download the second and third parts of the trilogy.