"The patron saint of liars" by Ann Patchett (4th estate, 2003)

Part I is from Roses's PoV. In 1906 there are miracles at Habit - Joan Clutterbuck was 3 when she was saved. A posh hotel was built for pilgrims. After the stock market crash it was abandoned and taken over by Catholic nuns and called Saint Elizabeth’s. Rose, after 3 years of loveless marriage with Thomas, pregnant, escapes across the States to the Catholic haven where 25 unwed mothers are staying until they give their babies away. They all have stories to tell. Sun, 45, has been odd-job-man there since we was 18. Son asks Rose to marry him. She agrees, lives with him, has a child in 1969, Cecilia, continues working in the kitchen.

Part II is Son's PoV. He was engaged to a Cecilia. After Pearl Harbour he enlisted, got shot in the knee during training so never served. Cecilia didn't want a wounded husband. She drowned - he'd tried to save her then ran away. He thinks that Rose doesn't care much about Cecelia. After a while, he thinks that Rose cares little for him too. Joan dies, leaving Son and Rose some land and her house. Son and Cecilia move into their new house, Rose stays.

Part III is from the PoV of Cecilia, 15. Rose gives Cecilia driving lessons (she's kept the car that she arrived in). When Son has an accident, Cecilia drives him to hospital. It brings Son and Rose back together. Only now does Rose tell Cecilia about her parents. Rose disappears in the night. A week later, Thomas arrives, looking for Rose to tell her that Rose's mother had died. Thomas tells them that they'd been married. Cecilia seems not to suspect that Thomas is her father. Maybe Son and Thomas have a chat about it. Thomas leaves the next day.

[ This first novel has similarities to Barbara Kingsolver's first - The bean trees). In both a young woman leaves in a car, religion and babes/children are involved, and there are plucky old women. Part II is the least interesting. The language is elsewhere entertaining

• My mother liked to watch me get ready, like I had watched her get ready when I was a girl (p.15)
• There was a way she watched me when I was looking in the mirror. She thought I didn't see her. She would stare at me so intently and I knew she was trying to see me like a strange would (p.16)
• Everywhere you went you heard the water, the same way you heard your breathing, and would later hear the highway, or trains, or women's voices. But the sound was so much a part of everything that you couldn't hear it at all then (p.18)
• My mother had married Joe the spring after I left, and it made me sad in a way, not her marriage, but the fact that she felt she had to wait for me to go (p.28)
• We had three full nativity scenes, each as complicated as a chess set (p.94)
• It was one thing that my mother was forever missing my attempts to be close to her, but the fact that she didn't get my digs at her either made me insane

]

Other reviews

• shutupheathcliff (There is no magic cure, however, for the fear and sense of entrapment that brought Rose there. Ultimately, Rose can’t deny the person she truly is — and her attempts to pretend otherwise end up hurting people who care about her. Is Rose a likeable person? A good one? I would say no to both questions. But her story is beautiful.)
• plumlibrarian (Rose, the main character, calls herself a liar. She does lie. Big, huge, rending lies she tells. But that isn’t her greatest fault. Her greatest fault is cowardice. And her second husband Son and daughter Cecilia think she’s strong. Perhaps because she’s quiet and cold and doesn’t allow herself to be told what to do. But again, she’s not so much strong as she is cowardly. ... I believe that we, the kind and gentle readers, are expected to undergo a shift in what we feel for her. The first third of the book is told from her perspective and she’s clearly sympathetic. ... Who’s never felt trapped in a relationship we didn’t want as much as the other person? Who can’t relate to the fears and anxieties around being pregnant when you don’t want a child? And who can’t feel for a young woman putting a baby up for adoption? But the second third of the book is told from Son’s perspective. And he deserved much more than to marry a woman who didn’t love him and didn’t want to make him happy despite the fact that he took on her daughter and raised her as his own and never questioned her about her past. ... The people in Rose’s life are good people. They handle the situation with resounding aplomb and by their grace her own lack of courage is shown in even starker relief.)
• theliteraryflaneur (Towards the end, Rose becomes harder and harder to fathom, so it was quite good to have seen her perspective earlier.)

"One for the river" by Tom O'Brien (Ad Hoc, 2021)

A novella-in-Flash, maybe. I like the first Flash, "The best picture I never took", where Barry, who's conscious of being overweight, goes into the countryside with his camera and sees a boy die in a river. The pace slows in the next section when we learn about onlooker Aidan (brother of Colm, the dead boy), who hurt his leg in an accident that day and takes painkillers.

Barry's partner is Elle-Marie.

There are interesting asides (e.g. about chisels) which wouldn't have been out of place in a short story.

Barry has a darkroom. We get the standard darkroom imagery. He feels more comfortable behind the camera with a zoom lens. He photographs Aidan, who considers himself a sort of town fool. He starts taking photos for the local paper. We get the 5 stages of drowning and the 5 stages of grief. "The Weight" is a return to form after having lost momentum.

The best passage is "Aidan takes a blister pack of tablets and a chisel from his coat, laying them side by side. Several of the little coffins are empty, the foil folded back like an advent calendar"

"Summer Secrets" by Jane Green

An audio book.

Prologue - London, 2014. Cat has a daughter 13. She's been apart from her partner for 18 months. She's lonely and turning to alcohol.

London, 1998. When Cat was a young teenager she felt she didn't fit in, which is maybe why she writes. We learn about her early encounters with boys and vodka. Her current friend Jamie can't cope with her drinking. Her mother always seemed depressed but she cheered up when her father died. Her best friend is a gay colleague, Sam.

London, 1969. Audrey, a 24 y.o. American orphan au-pairing in London, is having a good time. She marries Richard. Her friends have babies. Her US aunt (surrogate mother) is moving house, so Audrey flies over to help. She's attracted to her aunt's neighbour Brooks, an artist, and has good sex with him.

London 1998. Cat's mother tells Cat that Brooks is really her father, and arranges a phone call. Cat wakes up with someone she doesn't remember. He's Jason, a recovering alcoholic. He takes her to an AA meeting. She recovers. Cat flies over to see her family (2 half-sisters - Julia and troubled Ellie). She wants to be liked. She socialises, stopping at 3 drinks. She finally feels that she belongs. She gets hopelessly drunk and sleeps with Julia's boyfriend. The sisters cut her off. When she returns, she loses Jason and her journalism job. She recovers, goes freelance, gets Jason back. They marry. Annie is born. Cat relapses when Annie's 4. She recovers. In her mid-30s all is ok. She has a glass and still feels ok. She relapses. Jason leaves with Annie. Cat goes to a clinic in the States. She recovers. Jason can't trust her and divorces her. She keeps hoping they'll get back together, but when Cara, 29, comes on the scene, it's difficult.

London 2014. She's at the stage of alcoholism recovery when she has to "make amends". She flies to Nantucket with Annie and Sam to make amends in person to her half-sisters. This time she goes to an AA meeting. Julie says that Cat saved her from marrying a bad man. Ellie is unforgiving. Cat meets Eddie, 42, an AA person's son but he turns out to be gay. Annie and Ellie's daughter are involved in a serious traffic accident - no lasting harm. Jason rushes over to the States. He tells Cat that he's broken up with Cara. Cat's sexual yearnings, awoken by Eddie, are now fixed upon Jason. Jason stays out after midnight. She starts looking for him. She finds Jason and Julia kissing on a bar. Julia sees her and smiles - Julie's revenge. Back in London at an AA meeting she recounts the Nantucket trip, and her relationship with Jason. At the end she realises Jason's there in the room! She goes to mum for comfort. She meets Matthew. She gets on with him, slowly.

The language is rather plain. "there is an audible gasp" - aren't all gasps audible? And there must have been a way to avoid her monologue in the final AA meeting repeating so much.

Other reviews

• bookreporter (Ultimately, SUMMER SECRETS is the story of three pivotal summers separated by decades - summers affecting the lives of Cat's mother, Cat herself, and even Cat's daughter, who's a teenager at the novel's close. This broad focus can make the novel seem unfocused at times, although Green does tie most of the threads together successfully (still, one wishes that we would have heard more from Cat's mother as an older woman rather than primarily as a young bride).)
• acomfychair (Her book is lovely, but I have to admit that it was a little forgettable. )

"Strangers in Time" by David Baldacci

An audio book

London, 1944. Charlie, 13, lives with his grandmother - his parents are dead. He's not been to school for a year though his grandmother doesn't know that. He's a petty thief. He meets by chance Mr Oliver, who owns a bookshop. His wife, who he met an university, died a year before, leaving an unfinished novel. His father was a maths prof. He's an air raid warden - he's won the George medal.

Molly Wakefield, 15, was evacuated out in 1939. She came from a good home. She wants to be a doctor. When she returns, only the maid is there. She learns that her mother has been in a Cornish sanitarium for 4 years. Her father has disappeared. She feels she's being watched. She meets Charlie.

When Charlie and friends Lonzo and Eddie try to break into the bookshop, a policeman interferes. Eddie and the policeman die.

Charlie and Molly lie to each other about their parents, before coming clean. Charlie's grandmother dies. Mr Oliver hints to Charlie and Molly that he works for MI5 and might be able to find Molly's father. Charlie breaks into the bookshop and finds a coding machine and German text. There are books with cut-out pages. Molly's house is bombed. Molly and Charlie move in with Mr Oliver - they're the children he never had. Lonzo is arrested and reveals Charlie as an accomplice. Charlie flees, gets a job as a telegram boy. Molly gets a job as a nurse. The police nearly kill Lonzo. They dump him at a bombsite and he ends up in Molly's hospital, then dies. The police responsible are sentenced. Molly learns that Oliver's wife killed herself in Cornwall. Oliver learns that Molly's father killed 3 British soldiers.

Oliver's wife used to be a spy. She became a double agent and so did Oliver. The doctor at the sanitarium invites Molly down and tells Oliver that he has info about his wife. Oliver, Molly and Charlie drive down. Molly sees her mother lobotomised. The doctor says he talked to Oliver's wife not long before she jumped. Molly decides to work at the sanitarium. They see Molly's father about to drive her mother away. His father said that the police didn't arrest the soldiers who assaulted Molly's wife, so he'd taken the law into his own hands. The doctor saves Molly's mother. She dies 3 days later. Molly's father is chased and dies. Oliver dies in another raid.

At the end, Molly is 51, divorced, with 2 children. She's a psychologist. She finishes Oliver's wife's book. She's in regular contact with Charlie.

There's a lot of info-dumping, which I didn't mind - little of the info was new to me, but it would be to many others, especially Americans, and the details are interesting. The dialogue sounded authentic - though "sidewalk" is used. The trouble is, it's all very slow, with little emotional uncertainty - from the start, Charlie has a heart of gold, etc..

Other reviews

• goodreads
• pleasereadittome (The pacing falters, and plotlines — some compelling, others unnecessarily convoluted — collide more than cohere.)

"The Wish" by Heather Morris

An audio book. The author says this is her first non-historical novel, and that she followed the dictum that you should know about what you know.

15 y.o. Jessie is terminal - a bone marrow transplant from her brother failed and another can't be found. Her social worker, Kelly, in in her late 20s. Jessie has a young brother Sam. Mandy, her mother, is calm. Her father Dean, a lawyer, is excitable. He and Jessie shared an interest in athletics. Stress has widened the difference between Jessie's parents. They live apart.

Alex, 29, grew up without parents (mum died at 7; dad not known), and wasn't impressed by social workers. He's a computer games writer, working in a company combining live video with computer graphics. He lives with his dog Max. [So Alex and Kelly will become friends. My guess is that Alex's missing father will turn out to be a suitable donor]

For her dying wish, Jessie wants a personalised interactive movie so that her family can remember her in her favourite places. Alex's company wants to help. He is called in - his colleagues have kids and find the thought of dying children too much. He and Kelly get off on the wrong foot, as do Jessie (with her mates) and Alex. [Wouldn't Jessie and friends have been in awe of a games writer? Wouldn't Kelly's looks have defused Alex's wariness of social workers? Wouldn't Jessie (with Kelly's help) have prepared a better proposal?]. Alex later returns, apologises, says it might be a lot of work but he'll try. He wonders how long he has to complete the task. He enlists help from colleague Steve and becomes less of a loner.

Jessie thinks that Dean is stuck in the anger phase of grief. Dean tells Alex to go away. Jessie's room-mate Amy has gone into remission and leaves. Alex take Jessie on a surprise balloon ride. The balloon dips over a lone dolphin. Jessie moves back home because nothing can be done. 3 weeks left. Alex is threatened with the sack. His colleagues help. Jessie's friends get the company boss to let the colleagues help. Alex shows him a spin-off product Alex's written in his spare time. The boss invites him to 75% of the profits. Alex is found to be a possible donor. He donates, but after 3 months Jessie's body is rejecting it. She has days to live. She makes Alex promise to befriend Kelly. A year later, Kelly and Alex are a happy couple.

Quite a high percentage of sentences start with an "-ing" word. There are sections where such sentences alternate with sentences that don't start with an "-ing" word.

She uses "he thinks to himself". She uses "dressed in a long cotton dress" which doesn't sound right either.

Other reviews

• novelgossip (At times, the premise teeters on the edge of sentimentality, and there are moments where it feels like it could slip into something overly polished or predictable, but for the most part, it holds steady in its sincerity.)
• goodreads

"Citizen of elsewhere" by C.J. Driver (HappenStance, 2013)

A pamphlet with poems from the London Magazine, TLS, Yale Review, Oxford Poetry, etc

• "The Eye of the storm" is the kind of poem I once wished to write - short, rhyming, teasingly enigmatic.
• "What Heyst said" starts with
  "I have come, the darkness says; to which the sea replies/ In whispers which will hardly reach the burning house/ Upon the island, Remember me and be afraid"
  and ends with
  "Witness this, my wife, my sleeping son. That man/ Is lost who learns too late to love. Remember me/ Asleep and walking in my private loveless light."
  The bits in the middle aren't bad either.
• I like "Cape nowhere: Cranes"
• I didn't think much of the longest poem - the 4 page "Walking to the Paradise gardens"

I'm surprised that I can find no reviews. He had 4 novels published by Faber.

"Tomorrow someone will arrest you" by Meena Kandasamy

A 97 minute audio book of poetry. It's not performance poetry, nor is it too hard to cope with aurally, but I can't drive, mop, or weed the allotment while I'm listening, like I can while listening to a novel. I think it might be useful in such books to highlight the titles somehow (i.e indicate where poems start/end). Of course, I didn't understand many of the allusions. I liked "A wild woman on a word hunt", the essay/poem about colour and cultures (Homer, Gladstone, etc), and several other pieces. I wasn't keen on the title poem. The endnotes give the political background, explaining the intentions. Here are a few quotes -

• when a cat shuts its eyes, the world does not turn dark (it's a Tamil proverb)
• [I] dream of monsoons back home as London rains on my window
• it was suffering that let you be seen

To my surprise, I liked the book.

• Ankit Rath (Kandasamy has been known to be a radical voice and a “one-woman political movement,” and it has often been reflected in her prior works ... Kandasamy employs every technique and style at her disposal, making for an anthology that is equal parts activism and experimentation. The collection has been conveniently and aptly divided into five sections, namely “The Poet”, “Her Comrade”, “Her Lovers”, “Her Friends”, and “Her Country” ... Tomorrow Someone Will Arrest You may not be the best of Kandasamy, but it is, in every way possible, the quintessential Kandasamy.)
• Shara Atashi (Kandasamy uses everything at her disposal – voice, language and form – to interweave documented reality and to prove that poetry is present in everything, even in true horror.)
• Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee (about the title poem, with background info)
• Jaideep Khanduja (For a book that purports to be a manifesto of resistance, it felt more like an overzealous cacophony—a relentless barrage of disjointed thoughts that never quite coalesced into something meaningful. ... One of the book’s most glaring weaknesses is how it handles its themes. Surveillance, oppression, identity—these are profound and important topics, but Kandasamy’s approach feels more like a lecture than an exploration. There’s no room for you, the reader, to think or reflect; ... Lines that should linger in your mind instead make you roll your eyes. For instance, the judiciary being described as “a graveyard of hope” is neither original nor impactful; it’s a platitude masquerading as profundity. ... I couldn’t help but wonder: who is the intended audience for this book? It’s too alienating for the casual reader, too heavy-handed for those seeking intellectual engagement, and too scattered for anyone looking for a compelling narrative. It’s a book that seems to exist more to make a statement about the author’s defiance than to truly connect with its readers.)
• Moumita Alam (She is straightforward without obscurity and the use of simple language and texture makes her stand out as a poet.)