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Kiran Dass finds four books to match our feelgood giveaway below
A MAN CALLED OVE
by Fredrik Backman Whimsical, offbeat and charming, this Swedish best-seller celebrates the power of community and second chances. Ove is a grouchy, misanthropic widower whose stubborn, righteous and short-fused nature has him known in his neighbourhood as “the bitter neighbour from hell”. At odds with the modern world and struggling to get over the grief of losing his soulmate and wife, Ove is lonely and contemplates suicide. But the comic stakes are raised when his grim plans are constantly thwarted by his nosy neighbours. Eventually, he befriends an Iranian immigrant and slowly immerses himself into the neighbourhood, even adopting and caring for a rescue cat. It’s not long before Ove realises the importance of community and friendship in this uplifting and gentle novel.
THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY
by Rachel Joyce Lonely Harold Fry’s marriage to Maureen has lost its lustre and his days are dull and uninspired. One day he receives a letter from old friend Queenie Hennessy, who informs him that she is living out her final days in a hospice. Stunned, Harold promptly writes Queenie a postcard in return. Setting off down the road to post it, he impulsively just keeps walking, 600 miles towards Queenie. Stepping out of his monochromatic, drab home-life and into the bright, vivid and fresh world outside, he reflects on how much he has been missing out on and is finds a new sense of opportunity.
84 CHARING CROSS ROAD
by Helene Hanff A lovely ode to friendship, letter-writing and books, this enduring classic from 1970 charts the blossoming friendship that spans the late 1940s to the late 1960s via letters between New York writer Helene Hanff and Frank, an antiquarian bookseller at Marks & Co in London. Frustrated by being unable to locate obscure and out-of-print classic titles in New York, Helene sees an advertisement for Marks & Co in a literary newspaper and writes to them. While regularly ordering books from Frank across the Atlantic, their business relationship develops into a long-distance pen pal friendship forged over a mutual passion for books.
HOW TO BUILD A GIRL
by Caitlin Moran This spirited and crack-up-out-loud coming-of-age novel has been described by the author as “The Bell Jar written by Adrian Mole”. Johanna Morrigan is a 14-year-old who lives with her working-class family in a dreary Wolverhampton council estate. Our unpopular, nerdy and musicloving girl doesn’t fit in at school, preferring to explore the riches of the library. With a talent for writing, Johanna wins a poetry contest then starts writing and sending record reviews to a London music magazine. Reinventing herself as the cool Dolly Wilde, Johanna heads to London to try her luck as a music journalist in the early 90s. How to Build a Girl is a fun, whip-smart novel full of comic episodes and hilarious, rapidfire dialogue.