Category: Recommended books

Five words from the blurb: WWII, Exeter, girls, school, destroyed

Clare Morrall is a fantastic author. I’ve enjoyed all of her books – especially Astonishing Splashes of Colour, a book packed with wonderfully dysfunctional families. She has a talent for constructing realistic, flawed characters that you can’t help forming a deep attachment to. After the Bombing is equally rich in character development and I loved it, despite the fact it tells a story I’ve heard many times before.

After the Bombing is set in Exeter during the extensive bombing raids of WWII. It tells the story of Alma, a fifteen-year-old girl who is forced to evacuate her boarding school when it is damaged during an air raid.

The plot is very simple, but this didn’t matter as the characters were so strong. I felt as though I knew Alma and her friends so well I could predict their thoughts and actions. Some sections of the book showed what life was like for Alma in the 1960s and in many ways these were the most interesting. They showed how the war continued to affect the adults decades later and how quickly the past was forgotten by the younger generation who hadn’t lived through the trauma of war.

The book was very well researched, with beautiful details of everything from the food they ate to the music they listened to. I’m not familiar with Exeter, but I’m sure that those who know the city will be interested in the local history and the descriptions of how landmarks were changed by the war.

At the top of the bank, it’s possible to see the rose garden and the statue of the Goldwyn’s girl that used to stand outside Merrivale. An iconic photograph of this statue was published in the Western Morning News after the bombing. The young girl stood triumphantly in the midst of chaos, miraculously untouched, a symbol of Exeter’s ability to survive and rise again.

After the Bombing was packed with atmosphere and is one of the most vivid books about ordinary people living through the war that I’ve read. Much of the book reminded me of The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, but I think After the Bombing is the better of the two as its simpler structure left the characters to shine.

Overall, this is a wonderful piece of story-telling and is proof that Clare Morrall is capable of turning the simplest of stories into an emotional delight. Highly recommended.

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Five words from the blurb: baby, disabled, motherhood, France, cookery

The Mouseproof Kitchen is a searingly honest book about the mixed emotions experienced by parents when they have a disabled child. The book begins with Anna giving birth to Freya, a baby with profound disabilities. Freya will never be able to walk or talk like ‘normal’ children and is plagued by a series of medical problems. Confused and upset Anna persuades her husband, Toby, to move to France in order to escape their claustrophobic city life. The dilapidated house they purchase on a whim takes their mind off Freya’s problems initially, but the emotional turmoil builds as Anna and Toby battle with their shattered expectations of parenthood.

The characters and emotions in this book were so vividly described that most of the time I felt as though I was reading an autobiography. Saira Shah has a child with cerebral palsy and it is clear she has put much of her personal experience into this novel. The honesty and complexity of the emotions were insightful and never became sentimental. I’m sure they’ll give comfort to anyone who has experienced something similar.

The writing was thought provoking throughout and it raised interesting questions about modern parenting and the role of the disabled in society. I found myself highlighting numerous passages and I’m sure I’ll be thinking about the issues involved for a long time to come.

I listen to the rough rasp of her breathing, wondering what I’ll do if the breathing stops. In some ways, it would be the easiest thing. In other ways, unbearable. We lie, the baby and I, in this womb of a bed and hide from the outside world. 

The book also contained wonderful descriptions of France – giving glimpses into everything from the problems of renovating houses there, to the joy of preserving figs and cherries. The food aspects of the book were particularly interesting to me and I loved reading detailed descriptions of various traditional French recipes. 

As you can tell, I loved this book. Some might complain that there were too many coincidences, but I was so wrapped up in the lives of these wonderfully drawn characters that I didn’t care. I highly recommend The Mouseproof Kitchen to anyone who enjoys reading about realistic characters battling with complex emotional issues.

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Five words from the blurb: love, science, emotion, incompatible, perfect

Books about Asperger’s Syndrome are normally depressing so it was refreshing to read The Rosie Project, a wonderfully entertaining book that highlighted the positives of the condition.

Don Tillman is a highly regarded geneticist, but is clearly on the autistic spectrum and struggles with relationships. He decides to find himself a wife and so creates a detailed questionnaire to ensure he only dates those with the same likes and habits as him. Unfortunately his questions rule out almost everyone. But then Don begins to fall in love with a totally incompatible woman and realises that love cannot be governed by strict rules.

I loved this book! I laughed so much that I had tears streaming down my face. I’m sure that most people won’t have the same strong reaction, but the humor really resonated with me. I recognised so many of the character traits – the literal thinking was especially accurate and often shown in an amusing light:

And now the institution that I was paying to supply us with a meal – the service provider who should be doing everything possible to make me comfortable – was putting arbitrary obstacles in my way. My Gore-Tex jacket, the high-technology garment that had protected me in rain and snowstorms, was being irrationally, unfairly and obstructively contrasted with the official’s essentially decorative woollen equivalent.
‘My jacket is superior to yours by all reasonable criteria: impermeability to water, visibility in low light….Vastly superior tensile strength…’
To illustrate this last point, I took the lapel of the employee’s jacket in my hands. I obviously had no intention of tearing it but I was suddenly grabbed from behind by an unknown person who attempted to throw me to the ground.

I also loved the way that the book highlighted flaws in the general population. It showed that everyone has their quirks and those with Asperger’s are no stranger than others.

The Rosie Project may appear to be an entertaining romance, but it uses humor to highlight many important issues. The fact that this book will appeal to a wide variety of people makes it very special and I hope that its messages of tolerance and acceptance will spread far and wide.

Highly recommended.

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