Lost for Words by Stephanie Butland

A book about a second-hand bookshop with a quirky owner and the dry, snippy young woman who has sentences from books tattooed on various parts of her body who works for him? Set in England? With a mystery and, maybe, a love story as well? With references to literary and genre greats? That celebrates the written word? What’s not to love? Certainly, the wonderfully titled Lost for Words is a book to capture your heart.

Centred on Loveday Cardew, a woman with a mysterious past and an inability to speak of it, we follow her slow awakening to trust and her dark memories. Invited to a poetry reading – more a slam contest – in an old pub in the village where she works, Loveday attends against her better judgement. Listening to the words of others, and one person in particular, Loveday finds herself, as many of us do through the power of words, transported and moved. Over time, she slowly begins to understand she’s not the only one with an uncomfortable past and memories she’s tried to forget. Nor is she the only person afraid of heartbreak and loneliness.

But it’s not until, through a great act of courage and sacrifice, that Loveday learns the most important lesson of all.

Beautifully written and filled with whimsical, clever and unforgettable characters, this is a rich and haunting book that will move and charm you and often both at the same time. When I’d finished it, there was a sense of loss so great, I almost started reading it again so I didn’t have to leave this wonderful world Stephanie Butland has created. Delightful and deep.

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Cragside DCI Ryan #6 by LJ Ross

The sixth book in the DCI Ryan series, Cragside, opens with Ryan and Anna recovering from the events in the pImage result for Cragside L J Rossrevious book and the destruction – physical, psychological and emotional – The Hacker left behind. Likewise for McKenzie and Phillips. Temporarily relocated to the grounds of a manor house, Cragside, due to the fire that gutted Anna’s cottage, when Ryan and Anna are invited to a murder-mystery party, the last thing they expect is for a real body to turn up.

When more bodies start appearing, Ryan understands something sinister is afoot. Worse, a new appointment is about to be made at Northumberland Constabulary, an appointment that bodes nothing but ill for Ryan.

Once again, Ross creates a wonderful balance between intrigue, romance, personal relationships, office politics and the various suspects of the crime. Location also becomes a character in the novel, the house and the lands upon which it sits, adding atmosphere and tension (as well as beauty) to the narrative.

Managing to capture a great deal in a few words, Ross’s books are just getting better and better. It’s no wonder that as soon as I finish one, I quickly purchase and start the next. A good read indeed!

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Small World by Martin Suter

19460578I wasn’t at all certain I was going to enjoy Small World by Martin Suter as, when I began reading it, I was uncertain what the story was about. Sure, there was the interesting blurb that mentions a sort of lost soul and Alzheimers, but the first few chapters gave no indication the book was going in the direction promised. But, because the writing was wonderful, the characters so well drawn, I persevered… then, bang. I couldn’t put the damn book down.

The novel centres on the affable and quite debonair Konrad, a man in his sixties whose claim to life is that he’s a close friend of the famous and fabulously rich Koch family, and one time indispensable playmate of the eldest scion, Thomas. Only, Konrad has been quite dispensable for some time now, shoved away as a caretaker in one of their many properties, this one in Greece, hardly seeing his so-called “family”, relying on their financial goodwill for support and drinking his way into his twilight years. The matriarch of the clan, Elvira Koch, would rather he was gone for good and his once bosom buddy Thomas, would be happy to forget him. When an accident in the house he is minding occurs, Konrad is forced to return to Switzerland and there his life undergoes a miraculous transformation: he falls in love.

But sadly for Konrad, the good times are not destined to last. Slowly, inexorably, he begins to lose his marvellous mind and the memories of the past, all of which have sustained him and provided great conversations in social situations. Unwilling to admit he’s struggling, it’s not until circumstances mean he can no longer deny it that Konrad’s left with no choice but to surrender to his fate.

Only, there’s one member of the Koch family who won’t allow that to happen. Determined to help Konrad keep the core of his self and the memories stored there alive, she does everything she can to provide the best medical care that her grandmother-in-law, Elivira’s, money can buy. But there are those in the Koch clan that don’t want Konrad’s memories restored, nor the truth that he has buried there to come to surface, and they’ll do anything to prevent that happening.

Part mystery, part exploration of memories and how the recollection of these, the accumulation of many of years of living construct the self and how losing them ultimately unravels identity, as well as insights into medical care and generational differences, it’s also a book that uses the past to redefine the future.

The further I plunged into the novel and the smaller Konrad’s world became, the greater the possibilities for plot, character and climax became. The way the onset and grip of Alzheimer’s is described is painful but also gripping. Konrad’s descent into the past, a part of his life that no longer has relevance in the present and his desperate and confused clinging to it is hard to read, but also provides a window into a rarely, in literature at least, discussed condition.

Konrad is wonderfully crafted and so very real. The finale is not easy to see coming and the twists and turns before the reader arrives aren’t so much the thrill the blurb promises, but are utterly compelling.

A terrific and nuanced read that makes you think in so many ways…

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The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick

30107954The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick is a simply magical story about a sad and rather lonely widower, named Arthur Pepper who, a year after his wife dies, finally faces up to the emotionally painful task of sorting his beloved Miriam’s clothes. Among her belongings, he finds a quite beautiful and ornate charm bracelet. Unable to recall seeing it, let alone his wife wearing it, Arthur can’t help but be intrigued by what the charms signify and wonders if they could possibly represent an aspect or aspects of his wife, about which he remained blissfully unaware.

When he concludes that the engraving on the small gold elephant charm is actually an international number, the normally orderly and ordinary Arthur does something extraordinary: he rings it. What he learns from that phone call sets Arthur on an incredible journey into his wife’s past and the woman she once was. But it also takes the usually reticent Arthur on his own voyage of personal discovery as he meets people who wouldn’t usually cross his path, travels to exotic locations and finds his normally tight boundaries challenged and shifted in ways he’d never conceived. The more he learns about his wife’s past, the more he learns about himself, them as a couple and even as a family. Scared his life up until now has somehow been fraudulent, a lie he ignorantly lived, Arthur is both anxious but determined to uncover the truth: who was his Miriam and why on earth did she settle for him, if she even did?

Heart-wrenchingly lovely, unexpected in wonderful ways, this is a novel with soul and more than a little charm. I found myself thinking about it for days afterwards and cannot recommend it enough. Lyrical, insightful and moving it is a reader’s delight.

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