Our current reading

The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson

I picked up this novel in a rented flat in Tenerife, one among many, most of which didn't appeal. The cover nearly put me off, as it was reminiscent of chick-lit. However, the book proved to be quite gripping from a reader's point of view, and the structure very interesting from a writer's. There are two protagonists, as in the title. The story is told by them both, interweaving the past and the present. It is very cleverly done. Well worth a read, and ideal for holiday time. I won't spoil it by revealing who done it! (Marion)

My Name is Salma by Fadia Faqir

Gripping storytelling in this, Faqir's third novel. Faqir, who is Jordanian by birth creates multi-layered atmospheres through her rich descriptions of people and place and interweaves present and past seamlessly. Salma is a Bedouin Arab, who becomes pregnant before marriage and as a consequence is then a candidate for an 'honour killing'. To save her life she is spirited away to prison, where she gives birth to a daughter who is taken away immediately after birth. Salma eventually makes her way to Britain as an asylum seeker and painfully rebuilds her life, never forgetting the daughter she longs to see again. It's a book about creating a new world when you have lost everything. (Elaine)

Mudbound by Hilary Jordan

This book we both loved! And that says something as our tastes can differ quite markedly. I read it very quickly, absorbed and intrigued, and immediately ordered a copy for Elaine. The story is set on a farm in the deep south of the USA just after the second world war. Racial prejudice, family betrayal and the hard life that is the day-to-day existence of both black and white, workers and their masters, are recounted by several of the main characters in the book. Another debut novelist. Another superb storyteller. This book gave us much food for thought about alternative structures and viewpoints for our second novel. (Marion)

Any Human Heart by William Boyd

I'm making a concerted effort to read more male authors and Boyd is long overdue. This took a little time to get into but I'm glad I persevered. It's written as a diary (subtitled The Intimate Journals of Logan Mountstuart) sequentially, but with plenty of back story. Boyd manages to weave a gripping tale, even though it's annotated in parts, just as in a real diary. Logan lives a long and interesting life with several changes of career across various continents, meeting many famous characters such as Picasso, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Virginia Woolf in the course of his work and play. Entirely believable - and Boyd deserves a medal for all the research he must have done to be able to write this book. (Elaine).

Our previous selections