Fantasy turns to reality
THIS week’s bookcase includes reviews of Falling by Jane Green, The Secrets Of Wish tide by Kate Saunders and Underground Airlines by Ben H Winters.
FALLING Jane Green
MOVING to the suburbs and falling in love with a hunky man is a fantasy for many, but Green is proof of a success story. It’s been 20 years since the former feature writer left journalism – and London – for America to work on her debut novel Bookends, and she has never looked back.
Green’s 18th book has been inspired by her own life. It touches on the familiar themes of class wars, love and family: the protagonist Emma Montague swaps her uppercrust English life for a financial career in New York, before switching from the Big Apple to a beach cottage in Westport, Connecticut like the author herself.
Emma immediately falls in love with her landlord (just as Jane did). Together, the new couple have to learn to overcome their differences and deal with the curveballs life throws at them if they are to make their relationship work. Falling is the perfect summer escapist read.
THE SECRETS OF WISH TIDE Kate Saunders
MEET Laetitia Rodd, a widow in “reduced circumstances” who also happens to be an ace undercover private detective. The first novel in a new series by awardwinning author and journalist Saunders, this is a breath of fresh air.
Set in the Victorian era, there are charming nods to history such as when Mrs Rodd makes rabbit pie or dons black silk for mourning.
This case involves travelling to Wish tide in Lincolnshire, disguised as a governess, to investigate the background of a so-called “unsuitable” woman set to marry a rich man’s heir.
A deceptively gentle read, it’s packed with pithy observations about human nature and Mrs Rodd is a genuinely likeable character you can’t help but root for.
UNDERGROUND AIRLINES Ben H Winters
VICTOR’S latest mission is proving trickier than usual. A former slave turned slave catcher, he inhabits an America that’s the same as the country we know today ... only different.
In this distorted present, the American Civil War never happened. Slavery still exists in a handful of Southern states.
With abolitionists defeated, clandestine groups that free individuals provide the only glimmers of hope. It’s these “underground airlines” the morally ambiguous Victor is up against.
This is a counterfactual novel in the Fatherland mode and similarly has a terrific premise. BLACKWATER James Henry AUTHOR James Henry has taken what he learned from writing three prequels to RD Wingfield’s popular DI Jack Frost series and created this police procedural novel set in Essex, featuring DI Nick Lowry, a hard-bitten cop with a talent for boxing.
Set in 1980s Colchester, the story is very much centred around this being a garrison town. It’s a wellpaced read with the events only spanning a short timeline, and serves its purpose to introduce us to Lowry and his immediate colleagues, yet it leaves some loose ends, allowing the development of each character in later novels.