"Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen

An audio book. Some well-regarded writers regularly re-read this. I've never read it. Having now read some chapters I can't yet find much to like.

Mr and Mrs Bennet have 5 daughters. The live in a Hertfordshire village. The family wealth will go to a male relative, Collins. Mrs Bennet wants to marry her girls off. There's Jane (the eldest), Lizzie (the main character), Mary (plain - a nerd), Kitty and Lydia, the youngest. The latter 2 are considered shallow by their father - they prefer soldiers to rich men. Mr Darcy isn't obviously pleasant - he seems too proud. Mr Bingley, new to the area, seem nicer. He has sisters.

There's banter - is humility really boastfulness? Is it carelessness of taste? Does Lizzie belittle women in general to elevate herself in comparison? Who fancies whom?

Wickam tells Lizzie that Darcey treated him badly. In conversation, Lizzie goes meta when talking to Darcie, talking about how such conversations should be conducted.

Collins arrives and thinks about proposing to Jane, but her mother says she's already spoken for, so he proposes to Lizzie. She rejects him. Her mother doesn't want to talk to her again. Her father wouldn't have talked to her again had she married him. Collins proposes to Charlotte, Lizzie's best friend. She accepts. A few months later Lizzie stays in London for 6 weeks with the married couple. She's surprised that Charlotte is satisfied. She meets bossy Lady Katherine who knows what's best for everybody.

Darcy proposes to Lizzie who rejects him. She thinks that he's stopped Jane's marriage and has been unkind to Wickam. Darcy defends himself, giving evidence to support his case, evidence that makes Lizzie think that she's been a poor judge of character.

Jane, nearly 23, is getting old. Lizzy tells Jane what Darcy said about Wickam but not about the reasons for her hoped for engagement being called off. Lizzie knows that her parents married too young. Her father finds her mother's ignorance amusing, but love has gone.

Lizzie finds herself near Darcy's main house. Darcy's maid tells Lizzie that he was a pleasant child. She thinks that people think him proud but he's short of words rather than lofty. Lydia follows the soldiers to Brighton, then disappears with Wickam. Her uncle contacts her father saying that he's brokered a deal - Wickam and Lydia will marry as long as her father promises some money. Her father hears that Wickam owes £1000 in gambling debts in Brighton alone. He suspects that the uncle is helping out financially without saying. They find out that Darcy was at the wedding and had given the money. Lizzie thinks he did it for her sake. The couple (Lydia's 16) go to live in Newcastle. Her mother's happy.

Jane and Bingley get back together. On hearing that Darcy and Lizzie might be getting together, Lady Katherine tells Lizzie that it would be a disgrace. Lizzie stands up for herself but later can see her point of view. Darcy proposes. Lizzie wishes she hadn't expressed her initial views about him so clearly - she has some backtracking to do. She asks him what initially attracted him to her (her impertinence?) and why he'd sometimes reacted coldly in the past. Lydia asks Lizzie for money.

I'm not convinced.

"A game for all the family" by Sophie Hannah

An audio book.

On the way from London to their new home in Devon Justine (43, with daughter Ellen, 13, an husband Alex, an opera singer) feels a sense of belonging to a house they pass. She wonders what she wants to be in this new life - she's given up her old life because she stuck her neck out for Ben Larenzo. Ellen just wants her to be more normal.

The new house has one phone and bad mobile reception. Ellen seems withdrawn. She writes a story set in the house about Pareen, the youngest sister (of 3) who throws a child, Malarky, to its death from a window. Justine receives a call from a female - "I know you came here to scare me but it won't work. I know who you are". Later the voice tells her to go away, that there are 3 graves, one smaller than the other 2. The voice thinks Justine's name is Sandy. Justine goes to the police.

Ellen tells her school that her mother wants her to concentrate on her story and not do other homework. She tell Justine that she's upset because her best friend George has been suspended. Justine goes to the school. They say that George doesn't exist, though there's a girl with the same surname. Ellen thinks that the sister's going to be suspended too. Justine begins to believe Ellen's idea that the school is hiding something.

Ellen's written story develops. It's set in the house they live in. The sisters are kept home from school in case of reprisals - somebody tried to hang Pareen (or did she fake it to engender sympathy? One sister fears that her academic hopes are being shattered. After Pareen murders twice more, the parents decide to fake evidence to ensure that the police take her away. Then Pareen is murdered.

Ellen takes her mother to see George - but only from such a distance that it could be anyone. The only online mentions of George's parents are about their academic jobs. A schoolboy says that George exists but isn't supposed to be mentioned. A teacher tells Justine the same thing. Finally the head says that George has a security-crazy mother (and weak father) who thinks that the family is in danger (hence their false names).

Justine on a whim goes to the house they passed in London and is offered a dog, Figgy, there, which she takes home. Ellen thinks it's to replace George.

Justine comes home one day to find George playing Monopoly with Ellen. Ellen and George have decided to become engaged, marrying after university. George is gay, which is no problem. Justine reads the story George wrote, given to her by the head. It's based on her London experience. Ben Larenzo had been signed up by Justine's TV company when he defended someome accused of wife-battering. The company dropped Ben, and Justine's series idea too.

Justine thinks that George's mother, Anne Donbervand might be the caller. She hires a detective, who discovers that nothing odd happened in Anne's family - no murders, no name-changing. She thinks that Arwen, the woman from the London house, might be a relative of Anne, and that Anne might be in the family that Ellen's been writing about. Ellen confirms that her story came from George. Justine thinks that she might be the middle sister in Ellen's story.

A hole (a grave) appears in Justine's front garden overnight. Justine finds and talks to Anne's sister Sarah, who says that Anne's in little contact with her family but that nothing funny happened in their family - no murders. Then Justine talks to Stephen, Anne's husband, who hands show that he's been digging. She urges him to deal with his family before something worse happens. She goes home. Anne enters her house with a dead squirrel, denies everything then leaves. Justine goes to Anne's house, breaks in and lets George out. Justine's family go to hide at Arwen's. Justine explains to Ellen that George's story isn't true even though George may believe it. Justine works out that Anne's sister was allergic to dogs, so Anne's family had to get rid of the family pet, Malarky. She thinks that 2 of the sisters in Ellen's story are aspects of Anne

Ellen's story ends with a challenge to the reader to determine Pareen's murderer - all the required facts are there, it claims. Arwen thinks she knows the answer. Arwen and Justine send a message to Anne, claiming it's from a sister in Ellen's story. Arwen pretends to be the sister and brings Anne back to her house, staying in character. Justine's there, being herself, hoping to bewilder Anne by pointing out correspondances between life and Ellen's story. Anne starts strangling a dog. Justine gets into a fight with her and kills her. She never learns why Anne wanted her dead. They dispose of the bod in Anne's garden. Stephen may know this. Ellen and George had worked out that Pareen was murdered by her parents. How does that correspond to something in the real life plot?

The Ellen/Anne/Justine scene at the end is much the best in the book, but doesn't justify the longeurs. The Ben Larenzo storyline doesn't add up to much. Alex's career is soon all but forgotten. The book could be read as an investigation of lying - lies to sustain an imaginary world, white lies, etc.

"The Mother" by T.M. Logan

An audio book.

A mother attends her own funeral.

Heather, a mother with 2 sons aged 4 or under, is grumpy when her MP husband Liam comes home late again. His parents own a big company. He's been talking to women on his phones. He hints that there's a whistle-blowing situation at work. He sleeps downstairs. Next morning she finds pills and alcohol by her bed. Her murdered husband is downstairs. She remembers nothing, but on her phone are pictures of a dishy blonde sent from her husband's burner phone. She's convicted of murder. She spends 9 years in prison during which she doesn't see her sons. She wasn't allowed out for her mother's funeral. When released, she befriends Jodi in a half-way house. Heather wants to clear her name so she can see her sons. She gets in touch with Owen (ex-Guardian) who's written articles online about her innocence. She collects from storage a box left by her mother for her. She meets her sister-in-law Amy, who's not too against her. She's being followed by thugs. She tracks down her case's main detective - he's in a hospice. She manages to access his e-mail account, discovers that he was writing a book. She breaks into his house to get a draft. There are clues that a US company, North Star, exploited a corrupt MP to gain access to the UK.

She's kidnapped in a van, the draft and her phone taken, and her life is threatened. She's released. Amy is threatened and released. Owen takes Heather and Jodi to stay in his house. Safer. Heather wonders how the thugs knew where she'd be. Had they paid Jodi? A bank statement shows that £75k was paid by North Star not long before her husband's death.

She gets an emergency call from Jodi and finds her dead - overdosed. She exchanges IDs with her. Amy's in on the trick, identifying the dead body as Heather's. She attends her own funeral. She lies low, hoping that Owen will present the evidence to the poice. He doesn't. Suspicious. She's sent a photo showing Amy dead from overdose and is told to give herself up or her sons will die too. She arrives at the family residence as ordered. Amy's ok. Actually she's planned everything. Heather's father had been leaking info to the family company and was about to confess when she threatened him, accidentally killing him. She told her father the truth only 2 years later. She fabricated the conspiracy evidence. Heather's about to die when Owen and her sons save her.

I enjoyed reading this. Lots of plot. At the end though, through the misted clear-plastic bag over her head she sees a surprising amount of detail.

"A colder war" by Charles Cumming

Wallenger (UK spy?) is in Turkey, heading for Greece. Ryan is with him.

Evru is a Turkish journalist. She and Ryan have been going out for 5 months. She's arrested. Borak Turance is a policeman.

London 3 weeks later: Tom Kell, ex-spy, 44, divorced, hears from his ex-boss Emelia (c.50) that Wollanger's Cessna blew up. SIS HQ didn't know why he was there, nor did his wife. He was a womaniser - Emelia was one of his secret lovers. She sends him over to investigate. He lost his job because of the "Witness A" incident - something he became the scapegoat for, to protect the government?

Wallenger's daughter Rachel, 31, is also a spy, but Kell doesn't know it. They sleep together in Turkey.

Tremane is one of the British workers in Turkey. Wallenger was the boss. Emelia offers the job to Kell. He realises that Emelia has told him the full sorry - the bomb that kill Wallenger was Iranian. She meets him in Turkey. Other informants have been killed. She thinks there's a mole - Mary Beck? Tremane? Cleckner (american)? Maybe the mole is killing to prevent being revealed. It's be embarassing if the mole's american. Kell finds where in Turkey the dead letter box is.

Ryan Clekner goes to London, he’s under heavy surveillance. Kell watches him sleep with his new girlfriend Rachel. Clekner meets his Russian handle Menasian. Clekner asks Menasian for explanations of murders. He says that Rachel is his girlfriend and shouldn’t be harmed. Emilia explains to Kell that Rachel only did it because Emilia told her that Chekner was involved with her father’s death.

Menasian and Clekner independently realise that Clekner has been exposed. From Istanbul he flees by ferry to Odessa. Clekner thinks it was a Russian error – he thinks he’s not made a mistake (he used elaborate counter-surveillance tactics), and that the British don’t use honeypots. He trusts Rachel. Kell decides that they shouldn't tell the US about Clekner. They arrive in Odessa, get Clekner and take him to a light aircraft. It lands, but not where he’d planned. Emilia is there. She’s decided to give Clekner to the Americans after a quick interview. Kell gets a call from Menasian saying that Rachel will die unless she’s exchanged for Clekner. Emelia finds out that she’s already dead. Later, the Americans kill Chekner.

I like his writing. He uses "thought to herself", though only once, I think.

Other reviews

• goodreads
• Arnold Taylor

"Walking on tiptoe" by Elizabeth Barrett (Staple, 1998)

Poems from Stand, London Magazine, Rialto, Envoi, etc.

Though I enjoyed the book as a whole, I wasn't knocked out by any particular poems. I preferred the second part (about her family - births and deaths) to the first, "Autumn in Georgia" being perhaps my favourite piece. Poems like "Tenner" don't grab me. "Ecclesall Woods" could easily be made into an excellent story, or Flash - the plot and symbolism is all there.

"The Midnight Feast" by Lucy Foley

An audio book Multi-PoV. Multi-reader.

One time-line is the day before the summer solstice, another is the day after - 2025. The Manor, on the Dorset coast, has been opened on summer solstice by the owner Francesca (whose new husband is Owen). It's a posh hotel with extras. Michelle is the manager. Some of the locals resent it, complaining about rambling access, and access to a beach. Francesca thinks that the nearby Seaview farm is a smelly eyesore.

Bella (real name Alison), a drunk mother, visits. For some reason she hates Francesca. She wants closure. She doesn't want to be alone. She chats up Eddie, a young barman whose father owns the farm. He hasn't told his parents where he works, or The Manor about where he lives.

Bella goes to a cave to recover her diary/journal from 15 years before. We learn about her holiday then, when she and Francesca were friends (she's flat-chested, Francesca's rich, local but not pretty). She watches Owen emerge naked from the sea. Later, Eddie sees Bella sneaking around private parts of the Manor. Owen and Fran haven't long been married. He's put a tracking app on Fran's phone.

Michelle used to work in the chippy. She knows that Owen, now a prize-winning architect, used to be awkward and came from a poor local family. Girls used to feel sorry for him. He doesn't want his past to be exposed. She saw him with fire-making equipment on the day that the pub was burnt down.

Back in 2010 Alison had seen a girl, Cora, with Lord Meadows. She'd told Fran. Eddie had later found him dead.

Fran recognises Bella and invites her for a chat.

On the day before Solstice there was blood in the wood. Bella and Eddie saw 12 black-hooded, beak-faced figures with feathered staffs and a bag containing the remains of a bull.

On solstice eve Fran on CCTV sees Owen and Michelle having sex. She's calm about it - she needs both of them for the big launch.

In 2010, Fran made people think that the local myth about birds was true. She made fun of Alison then because she was going out with a local, Jake. In 2025 Eddie finds a bird costume among his dad's stuff and gets rid of it. There's a Hitchcock moment at the Manor when birds flock - someone has spread birdseed.

Bella realises that Jake and Eddie are brothers. She shares her old diary with Eddie. Someone drugs the drink on solstice night. Things get wild. The Manor catches fire. 2 die. Eddie saves many people.

In 2010 Cora was given poisonous mushrooms by Fran (who'd thought they were magic). Cora dies. Fran tries to pin the blame on Alison and Jake. Alison and Jake are paid £3k to keep quiet. Fran's grandad deals with the body. In 2025 Bella gets builders to dig where she thinks a body has been buried.

In 2010 Jake turned to drugs, stealing from his family. He had to leave the village.

Bella tells Fran that she wrecked her life. She threatens to expose Fran, orders her to leave. She drives away (having set The Manor alight first?). Eddie scares her in a bird suit and she dies in an accident.

Owen's mother was Cora (she had him when she was 16)! The detective is Jake! He specialises in cold cases. He'd sent Bella info to make her curious. The bird costume belonged to Eddie's mother, not his father!

2 months later, Owen has inherited everything. Alison (who wants to start a new life) and Jake (who has already started one) are friends.

I think it would be harder to keep secrets about identities in a village than the novel suggests, and Fran's cold calculation doesn't convince, but maybe that lack of realism is worthwhile so that there can be a sequence of surprises at the end. It's a page-turner.

Other reviews

• crimefictioncritic (Foley puts the reader in the heads of many of the characters of this book, so we learn who they are and what they are like first hand, as well as from the opinions of the other narrators. This multiple narrator approach made it a challenge to identity the protagonist of the book, but there was never any doubt about the identity of the antagonist, although it wasn’t until near the end when the reader learns just how villainous the person is.)
• themelodramaticbookworm (The writing itself is clunky and unclear. More often than not, it feels like a jigsaw puzzle that has been pieced wrong, and that is the exact opposite of what a mystery/thriller is supposed to feel like. Even though some of the threads that connect the characters are well-done, it is overshadowed by the fact that there are way too many details and characters who just make the story feel crowded without helping it in any way. ... And no matter what, it doesn’t quite manage to capture the thrill that is required of a plot like this. Everything feels contrived, like a hastily put together mish-mash of things that are expected in a mystery/thriller that has death in it.)

"No land to light on" by Yara Zgheib

An audio book.

Sama (a Harvard PhD student - bird/human migration) is waiting at arrivals at Boston airport, pregnant. Her waters break. She has an emergency birth at 28 weeks. Her husband Hadi (a refugee) already lives there, but he's having trouble when returning at customs. He's been in Jordan dealing with his father's death. He's sent back to Jordan. Later he finds out that Trump has banned flights. It's 2017.

We go back to how they met, and Sama's departure from Damascus. The PoV switches between him and her. She wanted to go to the US. He fled there, missing home. The timelines jump around - not confusingly, but more than strictly necessary.

He's worried about being returned to Syria from Jordan - he's a wanted man there. His Jordan visa only lasts a month. His US visa has been revoked. He visits the US embassy in Jordan, but Trump's ban had started so suddenly that nobody knows what to do. But at least he can sometimes phone her.

He fears (puzzlingly) that his son won't speak Arabic. He suggests that she takes the baby from the incubator and fly to Jordan - or anywhere. The baby is very premature, quite likely to die. She spends nights in the hospital. He survives. She packs her husband's possessions into 2 cardboard boxes. He leaves his Jordan hotel room, throws away his passport.

Her prof tell her that he and his mother had to flee from Hungary, that his unhappy mother never properly learnt English. He never saw his father again. But he has faith in the American Dream.

Symbolic bird migration details are inserted. There aren't so many migrating birds nowadays - they're often hunted in the middle East and elsewhere. They grow anxious when it's time to leave, leaving altogether. Their flight-paths sometimes make little sense. They have an important role in spreading seeds, giving plants a chance to survive climatic changes.

I don't find admin/redtape problems interesting even if they're unfair. And the reasons for their attraction to each other aren't obvious.

Other reviews

• Zachary Houle (No Land to Light On, despite its crucial subject matter, is deeply flawed in places. There’s text interspersed throughout the novel about the migratory pattern of birds (Sama’s area of expertise) that doesn’t add much to the book — and, at times, I wasn’t sure what the point of these interjections was or what they had to do with the events between Hadi and Sama. ... Finally, there isn’t a lot of backstories to these characters aside from when they met and how their romance developed)
• Lorraine Berry