The books here are not the best books published in a particular month. They are what I consider the best book that I have read that month. If you have read any of the books I list, I’d love to hear what you thought about them.
MY BOOK OF THE MONTH – FEBRUARY 2024
It was quite an easy decision this month and my book for February is:
FRANK AND RED by Matt Coyne.
Frank is now the embodiment of a grumpy old man. When his wife was alive, he was sociable and outgoing, but since her death he has retreated into the confines of his home. Only going into the garden if he absolutely has to, Frank lives his life, for the most part, inside the four walls of his house. Estranged from his only son, Frank’s only company is the ghost of his dead wife. Even his neighbours don’t bother him, though that is something he is grateful for. He doesn’t want to be bothered. He just wants to be left alone.
But then his next-door neighbour moves out and Red and his mum move in.
Six years old and bright as a button, Red has problems of his own. After his mum and dad separated, he and his mum have had to move away from his old house and everything he knew. He misses his friends; he misses his old school and, even though he constantly lets him down, Red misses his dad.
When Red first encounters Frank, he is determined to get to know him. Why is the man next door so grumpy? Why does he insist on ignoring Red? Red makes it his mission to find out. He refuses to be ignored.
This is a story of an unlikely friendship that is a total joy to read. If I could give this book 10 stars, I would. A definite contender for ‘Book of the Year.’
Matt was born and raised in Sheffield, which gets him a thumbs up from me, and FRANK AND RED is his debut novel.
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MY BOOK OF THE MONTH – JANUARY 2024
I’ve read some really good books in January but, in my opinion, the best book I read this month is:
IN THE HANDS OF WOMEN by Jane Loeb Rubin.
In the early years of the twentieth century, Dr Hannah Isaacson is an obstetrician at Johns Hopkins Medical School. One of just a handful of female doctors, Hannah, is appalled by the standard of care that women receive, especially those from the immigrant communities, and she makes it her mission to improve things. She wants to educate women about their health choices, but in a male dominated world where providing contraception is illegal, she has to deal with more and more botched abortions instead. Dr Isacson works alongside the real-life advocate for women’s sex education, Margaret Sanger, to get her message across but sadly, in the early 1900s, it was men that ruled the world and they have a battle on their hands.
But there is so much more than that to this book as it touches on subjects like the appalling conditions that some immigrants live in, the suffragette movement, and the misogyny and racism that Hannah and others faces on a daily basis.
The subject matter is, at times, disturbing, but is necessary to convey the severity of the situation that women found themselves in. While this is a work of fiction, it is based on facts.
The characters are well rounded and believable, and the book flows beautifully. I don’t want to call it an easy read because, as I have said, the subject matter is dark at times, but it is a page turner.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Following a diagnosis of ovarian cancer Jane’s research into the familial links associated with the disease led her to the discovery of her great grandmother who had been an immigrant in New York and had died of a ‘woman’s disease.’ How would a woman have coped with such a diagnosis in 1866? That and the ultra-conservative reproductive laws form the basis of this book.
Jane lives with her husband David in Northern New Jersey
In the Hands of Women is published by Level Best Books
You can read my reviews of all the books I read on goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/59045689?ref=nav_mybooks
MY BOOK OF THE MONTH, DECEMBER 2023
A KESTREL FOR A KNAVE by Barry Hines.
A Kestrel For a Knave is one of those books that I’ve meant to read for a long time, but just never got around to — until now. What a book.
Billy Caspar is a loner, an outcast. His father is long gone, he’s bullied, and he has no friends. To be honest, he doesn’t have a lot going for him. Until he finds Kes, a kestrel chick.
Billy raises her by hand and trains her to fly free and then to come back to him. It’s not an easy process, far from it, but Billy does it and finally he has something to be proud of. There is a bond and a mutual trust between the boy and the bird.
At last, Billy has a friend.
The outlook for Billy isn’t good. He’s about to leave school and without qualifications, his job prospects are poor. He doesn’t have much of a future, but at least he has Kes and she gives him hope good things can happen.
When Billy speaks, he speaks in a Yorkshire accent, and the dialogue reflects that. Those not familiar with the accent might take a while to get used to it, but if, like me, it’s your native tongue; the dialogue flows beautifully. Listening to Billy, I was there with him, on the council estate in the ‘60s.
This book is raw and cruel, but absolutely real. It is an honest evaluation of how life was in those days, which some may find difficult to read. But it’s authentic, and that makes it powerful.
Barry Hines was born in Barnsley in 1939. Best known for writing A Kestrel For a Knave, Barry also wrote plays for both television and radio. In 1984 he wrote the Bafta award winning Threads, which tells the story of a nuclear attack on Sheffield. Barry died in March 2016.
MY BOOK OF THE MONTH, NOVEMBER 2023
Choosing a ‘book of the month’ was tricky this month because I have read some excellent books in the last few weeks. However, choose I have, and my choice for November is:
A NOISE DOWNSTAIRS by Linwood Barclay.
Driving home one night, Paul Davis sees a colleague driving erratically. Being the good citizen that he is, he follows the colleague to check they’re OK. Does the colleague thank him? No. He whacks him over the head with a shovel and almost kills him. If a police officer hadn’t come along, the colleague would have killed him. He has two bodies to bury already, so what difference would one more make?
The road to recovery is long, but with the support of his wife Charlotte and his therapist, Dr White, Paul hopes to return to his job as a university lecturer. He thinks that writing about his experience might help and Charlotte brings home an Underwood typewriter to spur him on. It’s more decorative than useful, but Paul puts it in his office as inspiration.
One night, Paul wakes up to a noise coming from downstairs. ‘Chit, chit, chit, chit, chit.’ It is the sound of someone using the typewriter. The trouble is that only he can hear the noise.
Already suffering PTSD, Paul thinks he’s going mad. He forgets to do things; he forgets things he’s been told, and worst of all, every night, he hears someone using the typewriter.
You know you’re onto a winner when you can’t wait to turn the page, and I honestly couldn’t turn the pages quickly enough on this one. One minute I thought I knew what was happening, only to find that I was completely wrong the next. For me, Linwood Barclay is right up there with Ed McBain as a master of his genre, and I have no higher praise than that.
Working on newspapers before giving that up to concentrate on books, Linwood Barclay now has over twenty novels to his name, many of which have either been adapted, or are in the process of being adapted for TV or film.
A NOISE DOWNSTAIRS was published by Orion in 2018.
MY BOOK OF THE MONTH OCTOBER 2023
A PLAGUE ON BOTH YOUR HOUSES by Robert Littell
Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and before the new regime can get a foothold, it is a time of uncertainty in Moscow. To fill the void, rival mafia gangs emerge, offering protection (or ‘roof’) to the new privately owned companies that are popping up. The family with the most ‘roofs’ rules the city. It is a period known as the ‘Great Turf War’.
When Roman and Yulia meet, there is an instant attraction and one big problem. They are the children of opposing mafia godfathers. His father is the leader of a Russian mafia family, and her father is head of a Jewish one. Their families are sworn enemies.
Can Roman and Yulia escape the clutches of their families and build a future free from the lives their fathers have mapped out for them? It won’t be easy and they will both face tests along the way. To their families, loyalty is everything, and that loyalty will be tested.
Told from various points of view, the books moves between the past and the present. Sometimes the reader learns part of the ‘back story’ and sometimes the ‘front story’, and together they form a whole. Each chapter starts with a note of who the subject is and if it’s the front or back story, so the books flow seamlessly.
If you check the ratings on Goodreads, this book currently averages out at 3 stars, so maybe it’s not for everyone, but I really enjoyed it.
A PLAGUE ON BOTH YOUR HOUSES is published by Blackstone Publishing and has the expected release date of 6th February 2024.
Robert Littell is an American author, now living in France, who specialises in spy novels, often involving the CIA and Russia.
Colette Mccormick - author 