Soul searching
Lose yourself in moving tales of a mysterious disappearance and a journey of self-discovery
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty (Michael Joseph, £20)
Ace tennis players Joy Delaney and her husband Stan have always seemed devoted to each other. They’ve been married for nearly 50 years, they ran a successful tennis school together and have raised four children.
Then Joy vanishes on Valentine’s Day, leaving just a few incomprehensible text messages to her offspring. Neighbours’ tongues start to wag and police suspect the worst.
Suspiciously, Stan’s face is covered in scratches and he refuses to discuss the blazing row he had with his wife before she disappeared.
The Delaney children have problems of their own but, as they struggle to make sense of their parents’ relationship, they wonder if they really knew them at all.
They’re also deeply suspicious of Savannah, a mysterious stranger who turned up months before their mother vanished. After Savannah said that her boyfriend hit her, Joy invited her to move in.
Acutely observed and often poignant, this is a brilliant portrayal of a long marriage, warts and all.
Liane Moriarty’s eye for detail is second to none, especially when it comes to Stan’s bitterness about a superstar ex-pupil, his insistence on keeping 43 signed tennis balls as mementoes, and his cool analysis of his children’s failed tennis careers.
Sydney-based Moriarty is the bestselling author of Big Little Lies, which was turned into an award-winning TV series starring Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman. Her latest novel is just as compelling – the story of a family that appeared perfect but is unravelling at top speed. Emma Lee-Potter 9/10 (HarperCollins, £16.99) Allegra Bird has always been known as Freckles. She’s covered in them, an inheritance from her Irish father, but she also has scars on her arms from where she tried to join the freckles together as a self-harming child.
Now in her twenties, she is still trying to join the dots of her life. Abandoned at birth by her Spanish mother, Allegra was raised on a small island off the Atlantic coast of Ireland by her free-thinking father. She’s a troubled soul, still self-harming, drinking too much, and sleeping with strangers. Being inside her head, privy to her darkest thoughts, is an uncomfortable, almost voyeuristic place to be. But now Allegra has left the island and her father, moving to Dublin in the hope of getting her life on track. Living above a garage and working as a traffic warden, she finds herself issuing a series of parking tickets to the same man who angrily tells her that “ever yone is the average of the five people they spend most time with”. His words, along with the implication that she’s surrounded by the w rong people, resonate so deeply that Allegra determines to find five new people to shape her life and inspire her. Freckles’ style is a departure for Ahern and the lack of speech marks makes it a challenging read. But the story is packed with characters to love. It’s often witty and always emotional and, as Allegra forms new friendships, she goes on a journey of self-knowledge with the reader cheering her on. 8/10