A Great Start to a Bookish New Year

Dear friends. A new year stretches ahead with the promise of outstanding fiction. January has got off to a superb start. I read most of the books below a few months ago. They're all published this month.

It was great to see two wonderful female authors from the Virago stable being republished with gorgeous new covers, Molly Keane and Patricia Highsmith.

Thanks to NetGalley and the various publishers for advance digital copies in return for an honest review.

2025 READING GOALS

Last year my goal was reading 100 books and I succeeded, reading 108. I'd resolved to try new genres but after trying samples for science fiction and fantasy, I had to give up.

This year I'm going for 110 books, which is being tracked over at Goodreads.

Book of the Month: Nesting by Roisin O'Donnell (5 out of 5 stars)

I predict this will be one of the most talked about books of 2025.

A young woman, Ciara, struggles to break free from the coercive control of her husband. With two small children and no income, how can she achieve this?

She manages to secure a room in a rundown hotel, offered as a refuge for a tiny number of women in her position, but humiliation and despair are her constant companions. Ciara can't escape to the sanctuary of her mother and sister in England because her husband puts a stop to it, using the children as weapons in his legal battle. When he actually gets access rights, he can't cope with his daughters. His desperation to control Ciara puts one of the children in grave danger.

A searing tale of courage and resilience in the face of adversity. I rooted for Ciara, and the friends she makes, all the way.

This Sweet Sickness by Patricia Highsmith (4 out of 5 stars)

"Nothing was true but the fatigue of life and the eternal disappointment'.

David, a successful scientist, spends the weekend in a boarding house and his weekends with his ailing mother. Or does he? David is an obsessive and delusional stalker, convinced that Annabelle, a woman whom he dated briefly, will marry him. Annabelle has married someone else, but she seems to encourage Dave and doesn't seem intent on putting an end to his letters and visits. We only see things from David's point of view, and he thinks he's quite rational. A nail biting ending as he floats in and out of lucidity.

Good Behaviour by Molly Keane (4 out of 5 stars)

A sublime, droll and occasionally dark account of life for hard up gentry in the 1920s-30s. It starts with Aroon St Charles murdering her mother with a rabbit mousse, and asking the maid to keep it warm for her luncheon.

We go back to Aroon's childhood where she was neglected by her mother, who hardly ate anything and looked askance at her daughter's empty plates. Her father was too interested in hunting and womanising.

Aroon finds comfort with Mrs Brock the governess, a wonderful comedy creation who will always remind me of a sleek seal swimming. Aroon develops a monumental and ever lasting crush on Richard, the very good friend of her brother Hubert.

Social mores and repressed family behaviour create a book that crackles with tension, although the writing is at times laugh out loud funny. My heart aches for Aroon as she struggles in various social settings, and is constantly blamed when things go wrong.

It's wonderful to see this masterpiece re-published. Molly Keane was in her late 70s when it first came out.

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney (4 out of 5 stars)

Author Grady Green calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared.

Full of chills, thrills and surprises. What starts as the benign account of a grieving author going to a remote Scottish island to write turns into a nightmare of whispers, changing perceptions and terror. Had to read through the night to finish it.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (3 out of 5 stars)

I chose this after needing a book and seeing it was voted the top mystery/thriller of 2024 by Goodreads members.

The action is centred on a summer camp for rich kids and set in the 70s.

The very slow, gradual start was in keeping with the relaxed vibes of Emerson camp. But by 60% on my Kindle, I was getting restless at the lack of red herrings. The stereotypes were also getting me down. The wealthy Van Laar adults and their friends were all boozing, braying, cold hearted types.

By 70% the pace had speeded up considerably and at last we were making progress and discoveries.

A fiendishly complicated plot but well executed in the "reveals" with a pleasing ending. I'm surprised nonetheless that Goodreads readers considered this the best mystery / thriller of last year.

The Day of the Roaring by Nina Bhadreshwar (3 out of 5 stars)

Got off to a great start but became cluttered and frantic with too many plotlines.

The plus points: I loved the dialogue, which was authentic for a change, and referenced regional accents and slang. I admired the DI, who was really up against it in terms of snarky male colleagues and a sinister ex, also a DI.

The minuses. The murder of a headmaster converged into numerous lines of investigation. Fraud at the school; female genital mutilation; outrage against former UK colonial rule in Kenya; police malpractice; attempts to frame everything as drugs or gang related, and trouble in the DI'S mother's book club. Too much going on! I appreciate the need for red herrings in crime thrillers, but a lot of dialogue among the "persons of interest" took the plot no further forward.

NON-FICTION

Deprogram Diet Culture: Rethink Your Relationship with Food, Heal Your Mind, and Live a Diet-Free Life by Dr. Supatra Tovar

We're normally inundated with diet books by z-list celebrities at the start of the year. Fortunately this appears to be a dying trend. Tovar's book is aimed squarely at people like me, a calorie counter since age 12, who thinks of food as good or bad, and days as bad (too much food) or good (the right foods).

I'm not sure all the tips will entirely get me over my bad relationship. Some were a bit basic, like avoiding certain influencers on social media. This is probably age related, as I only follow women of a similar age to me who are inspiring.

But there's plenty on why diets don't work, and some science and case studies on how to change mindset. Nothing new or ground breaking, but a positive step in acknowledging how society and culture has made it so difficult for women of all ages to have a healthy relationship with food.