Catching up

I seem to be in a perpetual state of 'Catching up' so it's nothing new that I'm three books behind with my reviews. Let's see if I can be brief for once. (Hint: nope, didn't manage it, 'bout time I stopped kidding myself I can do it. )

First up, The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson.

Constance Haverhill is currently on the south coast of England, acting as a companion to the mother of her previous employer, a Lady of the Manor type, who kept Constance's mother close by as they had been close friends for years. Sadly, her mother has now died. Constance has been running the estate farm but now her brother is back from WW1 with a wife and Constance, for several reasons, is not required. So here she is, temporarily in a seaside town with no idea what her future holds. Enter Poppy Wirrall who has been riding a motorbike during the war and doesn't want to give it up. So she's starting a business ferrying women about the town in a sidecar attached to her motorbike. It's not long before Constance is involved with Poppy and her business and that of trying to entice Poppy's brother, who lost his leg in the war, to help restore an old aircraft. I think I first heard about this book on Constance from Staircase Wit's blog. It was one of her favourite books from last year (I think) and I can see why as it's a delight. Yes, it's full of get-up-and-go and fun ideas. But it also has serious issues as a theme, that of men returning from the war and needing their old jobs back, or new ones. And it was really hard for the women too because they had learnt independence and liked being useful. And some, like Constance, were cast adrift with nowhere to go and no prospects: she needed a job to live. The book is full of interesting, very individual characters whose lives and futures I became very caught up in. It maybe overdid the female angle just a smidgeon but I could forgive this quirky book that because it was so well written and 'fun'. 

Next, The Shell House Detectives by Emylia Hall.

Ally Bright, a woman in her sixties, has a beach house on the coast of Cornwall. She's been a widow for a year, her husband, Bill, was a retired policeman, still rather immersed in the community, whereas Ally liked to live a more solitary life as an artist. Her peace is shattered one night when a young man, in quite an agitated state, knocks on her door looking for her husband. Feeling unable to help him, Ally sends him away. Next day, ex-policeman, Jayden, is one of the people to find the young man at the bottom of a cliff, barely alive. Did he jump or was he pushed? Ally, feeling partly responsible, and Jayden, missing his policing days, set about finding out. This was so good. For my money, it wasn't purely a murder mystery story. The found family aspect, the concentration on the characters, what their lives were and why they were as they were, made this more of contemporary fiction book with a strong element of crime. I would also not put this into the 'cosy' crime genre. What I also loved about the book was its very strong sense of place. I know the area where it's set, the north Cornish coast, not up near the Devon border, but right down in the Penzance/St. Ives area of West Penwith. As someone from that area, it was the perfect setting. I already have book 2 on my Kindle, it takes place at Chistmas so I may well leave it until November or December to read that.

Lastly, The Man in the Dark by Susan Scarlett, written in 1940 by the author, Noel Streatfeild, of Ballet Shoes fame.

Marda Mayne is 26, and the eldest sibling of a GP and his wife. Until now she's worked as a dispenser in her father's surgery but finances suddenly become tight and Marda decides to find another paying job. She's taken on by one, James Longford, as a companion to his 17 year old American ward, Shirley, who is about to come and live with him, having lost her father. James was blinded in a racing car accident and has withdrawn into himself, becoming a recluse as he doesn't want to be a burden or to have his friends pity him. It doesn't take sparky Marda long to realise that things in this mausoleum of a household need to change and with Shirley's help the two set about their mission to bring light and joy back into the house. So, this was a delightful, undemanding read, no mention of the war so I presume it wasn't actually written in 1940 but possibly a few years earlier. The whole point of the story was that of bringing James back into the real world and that was well done. I liked Marda and her sparkiness and common sense, Shirley was a trifle more annoying, especially her rather overt attentions to James but her heart was in the right place, unlike James' awful sister. This is a lovely, gentle, amusing read, republished by Dean Street Press, that I would recommend to anyone feeling the need for that kind of thing at the moment. At £2.99 the Kindle versions of these republished books are very reasonable and I have quite a collection now. 

I was going to say that that's me up to date but I've actually also just finished Nigel Slater's new book of memoir type essays, A Thousand Feasts, mainly about food, but I'll talk about that another time as this post is long enough. I'll just leave you with this bookish quote from him, which made me laugh:

 Annotations tell a story too. My aunt put a simple pencil tick in every Mills and Boon romance she borrowed from the library so she could spot those she'd read. An entire literary lifetime of stories of 'doctor falls in love with nurse'. I have a cookery book, picked up in a charming shop near Kew gardens, that is annotated by the previous owner. A recipe for 'Moist fruit cake' comes with the grumpy addition, 'No it isn't'.

I hope you're all well and finding as many good books to read as I am. :-)