The books that CHANGED MY LIFE

Santa Montefiore

The bestselling author shares the books she’s recently read. Her latest novel, The Secret

Hours, is about a woman who travels to her dead mother’s birthplace to discover her past.

THE HEART’S INVISIBLE FURIES BY JOHN BOYNE

This is the most beautifully written and crafted novel about a homosexual boy growing up in Dublin in the 1950s. The characters are so well-drawn that you feel like you know them, and the story of his mother, beginning in a rural Irish village, where she is banished for getting pregnant out of wedlock, is heartbreaking. I really loved this book.

AMERICAN GODS BY NEIL GAIMAN

I’ve enjoyed all of Neil Gaiman’s books; he’s so imaginative and quirky. This one is about Gods that immigrants brought over to America with them, who end up living among everyone. It’s so clever, strange and completely compelling. When you wake up and realise that it’s a metaphor for today, it takes your breath away. ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE BY GAIL HONEYMAN Eleanor is a damaged soul longing to be loved, and her growing friendship with Raymond is touching. This story is absorbing and delightful. A MAN CALLED OVE BY FREDRIK BACKMAN This is a hilarious, moving, wonderful and original book. Ove is bad-tempered, intolerant and antisocial. He wants to kill himself, but keeps getting interrupted by his annoying neighbours. Little by little, they bring him out of himself. THE HUSBAND HUNTERS BY ANNE DE COURCY A fascinating and entertaining read about rich American girls, who came to London in the early 1900s to bag English men in high society. Anne de Courcy has a humorous tone, which I find very engaging, and she draws research from letters, memories and diaries.