I’m a bit late sharing this as we’re now somehow in August but I wanted to pull together the books I’ve loved so far this year. I’m writing more regularly about what I’m reading over on my Substack so do check that out!
A Trace of Sun by Pam Williams
The story follows Raef, who is left behind in Grenada while his mother, Cilla, moves to be with his father in England in hope of a better life. Seven years later, they are reunited but they have grown, literally, oceans apart. The little boy she left behind on the beach has shifted into a quiet, contemplative teenager struggling to belong in his changed family. There is a new little sister to contend with, as well as tension with his father.
I thought this would explore the strained family relationship and the difficulties of adapting to life in the UK, which it does, but it also dives deep into the lasting impact of abandonment and mental health.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
A modern day version of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, this classic bildungsroman follows Damon Fields, known as Demon Copperhead for his red hair, throughout his youth and into adulthood.
Born in a trailer in Lee Country, Virginia, Demon has a hard start in life. His single, teenage mother has also had it tough and spends much of his childhood in and out of rehab, which sees Demon left to either fend for himself or run riot with the neighbours and his best friend, Matt Peggot, affectionately known as Maggot.
Kingsolver uses all of the themes from Dickens’ source material: a child with the odds stacked against him, absent parents and the reliance on the kindness of strangers. If you’re familiar with the story, the narrative arc won’t offer any surprises. The writing does bring newness into the narrative though and as Demon moves from situations that go from bad to worse: a foster home on a farm where he’s used as a child labourer with other young boys, to a placement with a family that keep him in a kennel and send him to work on a rubbish dump to finally finding his place with Coach Winfield.
Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan
As conflict erupts in Jaffna between the Sinhalese dominated state and the Tamil separatist groups, Sashi’s family is pulled apart at the seams. Her eldest brother is killed in anti-Tamil riots and two of her brothers, Seelan and Daylan, turn to the militant Tamil Tigers.
This is a story of choices. Stay or go. Hurt or be hurt. Aspiring doctor Sashi’s boundaries become blurred as she’s drawn into the world of the Tigers, of her brothers, when she’s asked to work at a field hospital by K, a high-ranking militant that she grew up with. Sashi reckons with herself throughout, driven by a desire to help people, but confronted with the realities of war and, through her character Ganeshananthan holds up a mirror to the reader and shows all their human contradictions.
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors
Two strangers meet by chance in a lift after a New Year’s Eve party. Cleo is a twenty four year old artist, studying in New York on an expired student visa, and Frank is an ad agency owner twenty years her senior. They get married a few months later.
I devoured this on the beach in Nice and it was hard to put down as you’re drawn into the tangled web of their lives. That said, it’s not particularly deep and the characters are a little flat. She’s a tortured artist, he sold out on his creative dreams. Of course, frustrations rise as they each realise married life is not all it’s cracked up to be. But Mellors does write compellingly and beautifully which is enough to keep you reading.
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
I read Americanah a few years back and have had this on my list ever since. Recounting the largely forgotten, or untold, Biafran war, Adiche takes us on a journey that sees war move from a hypothetical through to the devastating, brutal reality.
We begin with Ugwu, taken from a rural village in Nigeria to become the house boy to university teacher Odenigbo and are soon introduced to twin sisters Olanna and Kainene who are both starkly different, including in their choice of men. Olanna falls for Odenigbo, while Kainene meets Richard, a British man who takes up the Biafran cause. This is a world of wealth, where politics is discussed over dinner, Ugwu is sent to school, where war seems like an abstract concept to be debated about. Until, the rumours of conflict become an all out war on their doorstep and the character’s lives are thrown into total disarray.
Adiche’s mastery of small details is what makes her work so compelling. Each character is deeply, at times disturbingly, flawed and we are shown how conflict makes them complicit in cruelty.
Other reads from the last few months which are worth a mention:
- Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors 4/5
- Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa 4/5
- Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin 3/5
- Exciting Times Naoise Dolan 3/5
What’s on your TBR list?
