Secret past sins of nasty nuns

(Sceptre £18.99, 320pp)

A NOVEL about nuns — what a brilliant premise.

We’re in a contemporary Australian convent, which the nameless narrator has joined in search of peace and quiet. But then some bones arrive for burial.

They belong to Sister Jenny, a murdered former nun, and with them is Helen Parry, a tricky member of the order. Our narrator was nasty to her in childhood and the guilt she feels has never quite gone.

Past sins and their consequences are the major themes — but rottenness takes many forms, and not all readers will appreciate the plague of mice! Most enjoyable for me was the look at life in an enclosed order; what the nuns really thought of each other. Wry, unusual and beautifully written.

SYLVIA’S SECOND ACT by Hillary Yablon (Orion £20, 352pp)

I LOVED this joyous romp about starting afresh late in life. Finding her husband in flagrante is the last straw for sixtysomething Sylvia. She ups sticks from her Florida retirement community and moves to Manhattan, fulfilling a long-held dream.

Here, she picks up her longabandoned career as a wedding planner; cue lots of Sex And The City-style fun.

But Sylvia has more serious challenges than just finding the perfect cake; family troubles and romantic complications among them. Written with breezy energy and an enjoyable emphasis on clothes, no scene is without a full wardrobe description!

FAMILY POLITICS by John O’Farrell

(Doubleday £20, 304pp) A SMARTLY timed comedy about Eddie and Emma, stalwarts of the Hastings Labour party. Eddie’s plans to stand for Parliament take a hit when son Dylan returns from Oxford and announces that he’s a Tory. If the news gets out, will it scupper Eddie’s by-election chances?

Insult is added to injury when Dylan joins the local Conservative Association to campaign for its Nigel Farage-esque candidate.

Can family unity be restored? It’s clever and funny, especially about grassroots politics. And impressively even-handed to the extent that the Tory son’s more sympathetic than his Labour father.

But it’s not all jokes and O’Farrell writes movingly about a family dilemma which may find nationwide echoes this year.