Murder in Montparnasse is the twelfth book in the popular Phryne Fisher series by Australian author, Kerry Greenwood. A request from the French chef/owner of Café Anatole to locate a missing prospective young bride has Phryne thinking back to her time in Paris in 1918. Shortly after, Bert and Cec ask for Phryne’s help with the suspicious death of two of their mates from the war: they believe others in their group of seven diggers are in danger. Discussion leads Phryne to conclude that they witnessed the murder under a Metro train at Montparnasse of a Parisian artist, Pierre Sarcelle. Coincidentally, Phryne was also in Paris at the time, and had posed for Sarcelle. Memories both good and bad flood in. On top of this, Phryne’s plan to continue seeing the soon-to-be-married Lin Chung has Mr Butler threatening the unthinkable. This instalment has an arsonist, standover merchants, a cranky father, a ransom note, a car theft gang, lots of French food, some cross-dressing, spiked drinks and a tin of Best Seville Orange Marmalade. Phryne enlists the help of Ruth and Jane in some undercover pursuit, meets Jack Robinson’s wife Rosie and Lin Chung’s prospective wife Camillia and foils an eviction. Hugh Collins accidentally solves a crime in Mildura and Jack Robinson makes a daring food choice. Greenwood gives the reader a bit more of Phryne’s backstory with her activities in Paris amongst the famous and infamous, as well as a cracking good mystery with plenty of intrigue, some excellent twists and a bit of irony. Phryne fans will love it!

Disgrace is the eighth stand-alone novel by award-winning author, J.M.Coetzee. After a short-lived, impulsive affair with a student, Romance poetry teacher, David Lurie resigns his position at Cape Town Technical University and retreats to his daughter’s farm in the South African countryside. They live in relative harmony until an attack leaves them feeling violated and fearful. Lurie returns to Cape Town to work on an opera he is composing about the poet Byron and his lover Teresa. As Coetzee narrates the recent events of Lurie’s life if the face of the changing political landscape of South Africa, he examines a range of topics: aging, lesbianism, a male’s contribution in sex, violence and violation, rape, humiliation, the price to be paid to be permitted to remain peacefully in a land reclaimed by its owners, freedom of speech, freedom to remain silent, power relations and sexual relations. Lurie’s refusal to pay lip service to convention’s demands highlights the inflexible and occasionally ridiculous nature of the system. His daughter tells him, “….surely you know by now that the trials are not about principles, they are about how well you put yourself across.” While there is some excellent prose: “The skull, followed by the temperament: the two hardest parts of the body.” and “The language he draws on with such aplomb is, if he only knew it, tired, friable, eaten from inside as if by termites. Only monosyllables can still be relied on, and not even all of them.”, the writing style is not particularly pleasing and the characters are unappealing and often irritating. I read this book after having read The Childhood of Jesus, which has been predicted to win Coetzee another Booker, to see if I liked it any better than that one. A Man Booker prize winner this one may be, but it confirms for me that I need read no more Coetzee.

Smokin’ Seventeen is the seventeenth full-length novel in the Stephanie Plum series by American author, Janet Evanovich. De rigeur for each Stephanie Plum novel is: Lula needing food at every moment; Grandma Mazur attending at least one funeral home viewing; Stephanie wrecking at least two, and usually more, vehicles; visits to Tasty Pastry and Cluck-in-a-Bucket; Stephanie pursuing skips that are never ordinary; Lula enthusing about a career for which she shows absolutely no talent; Lula gets indignant about someone calling her fat and Stephanie examining her guilt about wanting both Ranger and Morelli. This instalment has all of those and more: Grandma Bella makes a long overdue appearance; Stephanie drives a funeral casket down the main street in a Jeep; Lula’s weapon of choice, when not using her stun gun, is a supersoaker filled with holy water; quite a lot of sex, thanks to Morelli’s Grandma Bella; Lula fears she is growing fangs; there are cockfighting, foodfighting, granny pants and a dancing bear. Stephanie is on at least 3 hit lists, spends a lot of time avoiding people trying to kill, maim or cook for her, and ends up with tickets to Thailand. If the reader guesses the villain before getting even halfway through the story, the finding out how and why is still lots of fun. Best quote: “I’d hate to list our specialties. Wreck cars, eat donuts, create mayhem” which pretty much sums up Lula and Stephanie. Plenty of laughs.

Wicked Appetite is the first book in the Lizzy and Diesel series by Janet Evanovich. Lizzy Tucker doesn’t know that she is a human with special abilities, an Unmentionable, until Diesel turns up in her life. (Diesel first appears in each of the Between the Numbers BTN Stephanie Plum novels). Lizzy is a pastry chef with a special talent for cupcakes (Evanovich does love cupcakes!), and, apparently, also for detecting empowered objects. Diesel needs Lizzy to find certain Stones associated with the Seven Deadly Sins, for which his cousin, the evil Gerwulf Grimoire is also searching (Wulf first appears in Plum Spooky). It appears that Lizzy’s bakery colleagues are more than Normal humans as well: Glo is an enthusiastic if incompetent spell-caster; Clara was an Unmentionable in years previous. Soon Lizzy’s normal life in Marblehead MA (just near Salem) is somehow turned upside down: of the people who hold keys to the Gluttony Stone, one is hexed into gibberish, one’s house is blown to smithereens and another’s apartment is trashed; Lizzy has also acquired a one-eyed cat and Carl, that annoying monkey from the Plum BTN books. I was prepared to not like this very much as I was getting rather fed up with Stephanie, Lula and Carl in the BTN’s, but this series has some fresh new characters and starts off well. The humour relies on Glo’s ineptitude with spells, the effects of the Gluttony charms and, unfortunately, Carl’s antics (again, I say, lose the monkey, Janet). There are explosions, abductions, flying booms, ferrets and olive oil, gnomes, padlocks, bunnies, many children and lots of food. Apparently there will be at least six more, covering the other deadly sins, Lust being covered in Wicked Business. Funny if a little slow.

The Storyteller is the twenty-first novel by award-winning American author, Jodi Picoult. In this thought-provoking novel, Picoult follows her usual format of narration by different voices, but adds an allegorical story written by one of her characters. Reclusive baker, Sage Singer is a young woman scarred by her past and the guilt she carries. Josef Weber is a well-respected old man, a favourite teacher with a shocking secret and a unique request for Sage. Leo Stein is a lawyer with the Department of Justice who hunts war criminals. Minka Singer is Sage’s grandmother and a holocaust survivor. With this cast of characters, Picoult crafts a superb tale that will have the reader engrossed to the very last line. She brings her story to a breathtaking climax that leaves the reader wondering what they themselves might be capable of. Minka summarises it well when she says: “…..there is good and evil in all of us. A monster is just someone for whom the evil has tipped the balance.” As always, Picoult’s research is thorough, wide-ranging and apparent in every paragraph and includes holocaust survivors, concentration camps, mustard gas, baking, death marches, Jewish customs, Polish ghettoes, vampire myths, plant poisons, Nazi hunters, war crimes and gas chambers. Her portrayal of the creation of an SS officer is illuminating. Picoult always presents the reader with at least one dilemma and is an expert at sparking consideration of all sides of an issue. This novel will have the reader thinking about war crimes, vengeance, justice, deceit, repentance, what acts can (or cannot) be forgiven and who has the right to forgive. The most common dilemma with a Picoult novel, however, is this: read fast to know what happens next; or read slowly to prolong the enjoyment. While there is plenty of horror and heartbreak in this story, there is also incredible compassion and kindness, a bit of Haiku and some humour. The Storyteller provides undiluted reading pleasure. Picoult is brilliant and inspired, as always.

The Last Dragonslayer is the first book in the Chronicles of Kazam series by Welsh author Jasper Fforde. Aimed at the Young Adult reader, the heroine is an almost-16-year-old foundling raised by the Blessed Ladies of the Lobster, Jennifer Strange. Whilst her boss, Mr. Zambini (formerly The Great) is absent, Jennifer runs the Kazam Mystical Arts Management, an employment agency for magical arts practitioners, the demand for whom is ever-dwindling with the advent of weather satellites, drain cleaner and motorcycle couriers. But when soothsayers at all levels predict the death of the last Dragon, Maltcassion, Jennifer’s job description seems fated to change. Big Magic is the watchword. This series is set in the Kingdom of Hereford in the Ununited Kingdoms of Great Britain, very much like modern day Britain with its bureaucracy, politics, nepotism and corruption. Fforde creates a cast of Wizards of various talents (sorcery, soothsaying, carpeteering, moving, shifting, birdspeaking, weathermongering) with varying degrees of wizidrical power, a King, a Duke, a Dragonslayer with apprentice, an enchanted lift, a Dragon, an order of nuns, a Childcatcher, a Pollyanna stone, a transient moose and the Quarkbeast (Labrador/velociraptor/kitchen blender). Marzipan is a drug of addiction, magic is highly regulated and the King wants to conquer Wales. As always, Fforde includes some hilarious names : Col. Baggsum Gayme, Yogi Baird and the king’s seer, The Inconsistent Sage O’Neons. The military standoff between the Duke of Brecon and King Snodd is decidedly Monty Pythonish. The dialogue is excellent, the plot, as always, very original and appealing not just to the young adult reader. It has been described as inventive and funny. It’s wizards and dragons, Fforde style, it’s brilliant.

Gilead is the second novel by American author Marilynne Robinson. It is 1956, in Gilead, Iowa, and John Ames, a seventy-six year-old preacher with heart failure, is writing a letter to his young son. After losing his first wife and daughter in childbirth, he has spent almost fifty years tending his flock, more than forty of them alone, before falling in love with Lila, thirty-five years his junior, and fathering a son. Knowing he will not see him grow up, he tries to tell his son the things he will need to know in life. He tells of the relationship he had with his father and grandfather, also preachers, and of the parting in anger, never reconciled, of his father and grandfather. As he writes, his anxieties for his wife and son’s future security are voiced. When his godson and namesake John Ames Boughton (Jake), the prodigal son of his closest friend, returns to Gilead, he also worries about what danger his young family may face from this irresponsible man. Robinson skilfully and slowly builds this story that is occasionally more like a diary or stream of consciousness than a letter. The patient reader is rewarded with a beautiful ending that is bound to bring a tear to the eye. It is no surprise that this novel is the Winner of both the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Orange Prize for Fiction. I look forward to “Home” which tells the associated story of the Boughtons. Uplifting.

Life of Pi is the second novel by Canadian author Yann Martel. It tells the story the 227-day ordeal, in a lifeboat with a 450 pound Royal Bengal tiger, of a sixteen-year-old Indian youth, Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi). It is told in three parts: Pi’s youth in Pondicherry at his father’s zoo and the Patel family’s decision to emigrate to Canada; the sinking of the ship and Pi’s sojourn on the lifeboat; and Pi’s interview by officials from the Japanese Ministry of Transport, in an Infirmary in Mexico; the author’s notes about his meetings with Pi, the Japanese official who interviewed Pi and the family friend of the Patel’s who first alerted him to the story, lend an authenticity to the novel. Martel’s story touches on theology, zoology, human behaviour, sanity and the will to survive, and his meticulous research into his subjects is apparent in every chapter. With lyrical prose, Martel describes Pi’s encounters with fish, turtles, birds and whales, as well as the quality of the sky, the sea and the wind. Pi’s experience with the floating algae island proves that anything that seems too good to be true, usually is. My favourite scene was the encounter on the seaside esplanade of Pi’s parents, the pundit, the imam and the priest, especially the effect of Pi’s last words on the holy men. The objections that the incredulous Japanese officials cite to Pi’s fantastic story are quite amusing; the alternate version that Pi offers them, on the other hand, is certainly sobering. Martel’s imagery is evocative: “I believe it was this that saved my life that morning, that I was quite literally dying of thirst. Now that the word had popped into my head I couldn’t think of anything else, as if the word itself were salty and the more I thought of it, the worse the effect.” And he occasionally has Pi very succinctly describing his predicament: “...to be a castaway is to be caught up in grim and exhausting opposites….” , “Life on a lifeboat isn’t much of a life.” There is horror in this story, but also much humanity and humour is laced throughout. Highly original, funny and thought-provoking.

Plum Spooky is the fourth novel in the Stephanie Plum Between the Numbers books by Janet Evanovich. Stephanie’s main FTA in this instalment is the diminutive Martin Munch, a quantum physics whiz, who has, inconveniently, been targeted by the Unmentionable Gerwulf Grimoire (Wulf) to help with a scheme to control the world’s weather. Enter Diesel, coincidentally cousin to the evil Wulf, and cosmic bounty hunter. Apart from a good deal of murder, kidnapping, and thievery, there are mythical entities (Easter Bunny, Jersey Devil, Sasquatch, Fire Farter), the use of a nail gun on the human body and the destruction of at least one of Stephanie’s vehicles. Stephanie babysits a monkey (or seven), is kidnapped for use as a sex slave, gets lost in the Pine Barrens without bars on her cell phone, gets into a fruit fight, steals a van and some rockets, rides in a helicopter, blows up a fuel depot and a mine and gets stuck in a cranberry bog. Readers don’t come to Plum for depth: “What do you think about death?” I asked Diesel. “I like the buffet. After that it’s not my favourite thing”. Lula is still engaged to Tank but consulting with Miss Gloria and things are looking shaky. Best exchange is probably: “How’s it going?” Morelli wanted to know. “It’s average. Stole a truck. Blew up a house. Brought home seven monkeys. And now there’s a naked man in my shower.” “Yeah, same ol’, same ol’.” Morelli said. Evanovich should lose Carl the very irritating monkey before proceeding. Some laugh-out-loud moments, but this one is average.

Before I Go To Sleep is the first novel by British author S.J.Watson. Christine Lucas has the sort of amnesia that prevents her from storing new memories. This means that she wakes each day in an unfamiliar bedroom, next to a man she doesn’t know. The face she sees in the mirror is that of a woman much older than she knows herself to be. Each morning the man in her bed reassures her that he is Ben, her husband of 22 years, and that he loves her and will take care of her. So everything will be OK, won’t it? Watson has created a novel with an original plot and some delicious twists, a novel full of suspense with a heart-stopping climax and a perfect ending. Watson skilfully conveys Christine’s confusion, her doubts about her own memories, her fear of paranoia and ultimately her mistrust of what she is told. This debut novel is a brilliantly conceived psychological thriller that is hard to put down and will keep the reader guessing to the end. S.J.Watson is an author to watch.

Joseph Anton is the memoir of controversial Indian author, Salman Rushdie and concentrates on the time in his life during which he was under threat of the fatwa imposed by the Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini for his novel, The Satanic Verses. From this memoir, the reader gains an understanding of the roots of Rushdie’s atheism, as well as the inspiration for and circumstances surrounding the writing of his novels. It is certainly interesting to see how events in his life are linked to his novels: I was especially gratified to learn about the genesis of my favourite Rushdie novel, Haroun and the Sea of Stories. The mechanics of being in hiding, protection by Special Branch, risk and threat are intriguing and occasionally quite amusing. The loyalty and generosity of his true friends (“Friends Without Whom Life Would Have Been Impossible”) was nothing short of remarkable; the lack of support and criticism from certain literary figures, politicians and governments was surprising. Well into his years of hiding, he says “I have been given a lesson, in these years, in the worst of human nature, but also the best of it..” While the details of the many trips, dinners, meetings, press conferences and politicking verged on tedious, it is apparent that Rushdie’s journals must have been extremely detailed. The matter-of-fact manner in which he describes his infidelity is breathtaking. The soup of famous names began to smack of name dropping yet the funniest part, the interlude in Australia, involved no celebrities, just a bunch of ordinary people helping out: I also loved that because it mentioned my home town and lots of familiar places. His “unsent” letters were clever and often very funny. His strong stand on freedom of speech and imagination is well presented and his comments on what he was battling, “popular irrationalism”, succinct: “The unreasoning mind, driven by doubt-free absolutes, could not be convinced by reason.” As with most of his major works, Rushdie never uses two words where three will do, more evidence of those detailed journals. Bizarrely, Rushdie has written this memoir in the third person, perhaps because he was writing about his alias, Joseph Anton: mostly, this works, but occasionally it gives rise to some ambiguity: which “he” said or did that? This is a fascinating insight (even if is it rather one-eyed) into this fine writer.

The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds is the ninth novel in the Isabel Dalhousie series by Alexander McCall Smith. Isabel is asked to help in the recovery of a very valuable painting (a Poussin) stolen from the collection of old-fashioned philanthropist, Duncan Munrowe. Jamie, Isabel’s husband of one year, and father of their son, Charlie, knows better than to advise against her involvement: he pleads with her to be careful. As a result of her involvement, she encounters a distraught country gentleman, an unpleasant lawyer, a pair of aggressive thugs, a reserved daughter and a disapproving son. Isabel manages to engineer a surprising resolution to the whole affair. Three and three quarter year old Charlie shows an aptitude for mathematics; Isabel gives Eddie some sorely-needed support; and Grace resigns (again!). Along the way, Isabel ponders or discusses: the nature of genius; child prodigies and pushy parents; our responsibility to future generations; the art of judging social cues; insincere compliments and heart-sink friends; dress codes and personal hygiene obligations; arguments about nothing; projectile vomiting; answering the telephone; the criminality of illegal parking; the morals of unearned money; the expiry date of sympathy; when does a reward become a ransom; loyalty to government, country and family; the ownership of leftovers; email expectations; and, of course, clouds. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments (the reincarnation of Professor Lettuce being one of those) and Isabel creates some marvelous expressions like trial by cocktail, and romantic sabbatical. There is plenty of gentle philosophy and quite a lot of wisdom. My favourite quotes: “Children understood that adults could become angry – curiously so, and for no apparent reason, just as the weather could change and a smiling day might suddenly frown.” and “’Gaydar can be misleading, you know,’ said Jamie. ‘It needs to be calibrated’” and “You can only blame people for that which they have chosen to do”. Thought-provoking and funny, always a pleasure to read.

Ya Yas in Bloom is the sequel to Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells. It doesn’t read like a sequel, however, but more like an expansion of what we learned about the Ya Yas and the Petites Ya Yas in Divine Secrets. The narrative jumps between Vivi’s early youth and the Ya Yas first encounter in 1930, through to Sidda’s youth in the 1960s and on to the 1990s. Different events in the lives of the Ya Yas, Petites Ya Yas and Trés Petites Ya Yas are told from the viewpoints of Vivi, Sidda, Baylor, Myrtis Spevey and her daughter Edythe, although only Sidda’s and Edythe’s recollections are told in the first person. We learn a lot more about the characters’ lives, and I found both Sidda and Vivi more likeable in this book than in Divine Secrets. Whilst Baylor was a minor character in Divine Secrets, his recollections in this book form a major part of the narrative. Wells touches on racism, catholic guilt, nuns and religious fervour, Alzheimer’s and mental illness, guns and hunting. There are plenty of laughs and some very moving moments. Whilst not a great deal happens, the Ya Yas do spring into action during a family crisis and save the day. While the Christmas Pageant was fun, the description was a little tedious as the litany of family names was recited. Better than Divine Secrets.

Death Before Wicket is the tenth in the Phrynne Fisher series by popular Australian author, Kerry Greenwood. It is summer 1928 and Dot and Phrynne take the train to Sydney: Dot to visit with her sister Joan, Phrynne ostensibly to watch a Test Match (was it Bradman’s first?) and dine with the University’s Vice Chancellor. Phrynne has promised Dot there will be no murders, but two handsome young Uni students have asked her to look into a theft of exam papers from the Dean’s safe for which their good friend has been blamed. The investigation gets complicated as Phrynne learns that the safe was also emptied of the Faculty books, a valuable papyrus, an illuminated book, an Aboriginal stone axe, the Dean’s wife’s rubies and the petty cash, expanding the list of suspects exponentially. Dot’s visit also hits a snag: it seems her thoroughly respectable sister has turned into a lady of the night. This instalment has Phrynne dining with Professors, traipsing through slums, quoting poetry in a Bohemian café, getting the better of a standover man, making amulets, watching several cricket matches, removing curses and being thrown into a well. The plot has plenty of twists and there is theft, blackmail, magic, politics and roses. As usual, Phrynne is not shy when confined in close quarters with the right man. It was truly enjoyable to read a Phrynne set in Sydney, especially at my old Alma Mater, the University of Sydney, and I wholly concur with Brazell’s opinion of missionaries. I am fairly certain, though, that stutterers do not do so in their thoughts. Another excellent Greenwood novel.

Shades of Grey, sub-titled The Road to High Saffron, is the eighth novel by Jasper Fforde, and the first novel in the Shades of Grey series. Fforde has used his incredible imagination to create for the reader a unique world, Chromatacia, where residents’ social standing is based on their colour perception. The location is Wales, at least 1200 years into the future, a very regulated world run by the Collective, according to the Rules (the Word of Munsell), with towns administered by Colour Prefects. Residents are identified by their Postcode (embedded into their skin) with most perceiving only a very limited part of the spectrum and having no night vision. The economy is run on merits and feedback is of the utmost importance. Most flora and fauna have a barcode. In this dystopia, Eddie Russett and his father travel from their home in Jade-under-Lime to East Carmine in the Outer Fringes: Eddie to conduct a chair census (as part of learning some humility) and his father as the holiday relief swatchman (a sort of medical practitioner). Eddie soon finds himself: not seeing the last Rabbit; meeting some rather unpleasant Yellows; trying to write decent poetry for his intended, Constance Oxblood; insulted by a certain Jane Grey; trying to rescue a Yellow from the night; travelling in a Ford Model T to the ghost town of Rusty Hill; the captain of the men’s Hockeyball team; unwillingly betrothed to Violet deMauve; falling in love with the aforementioned Jane Grey; uncovering mass murder; and drowning in the digestive juices of a carnivorous plant. As always, Fforde’s plot is highly original and he is inspired when it comes to hilarious names (people, towns, flora and fauna, technological advances and euphemisms). Readers will recognise in Chromatacia (a place where impoliteness and poorly-knotted ties are considered the Mildew of Mankind) the absurdities of our own bureaucracies, politics and everyday life. Fforde hooks the reader into his world so quickly that a sentence like “what would a Grey posing as a Purple be doing in a National Colour Paint Shop in Vermillion?” in the first few pages makes perfect sense. There’s plenty of wordplay in this wonderful social & political satire, an abundance of laugh-out-loud moments, and caution with liquids whilst reading is advised due to possible ambush by phrases like “This box contains two homing slugs”. A favourite quote is “The best lies to tell,” said Jane, “are the ones people want to hear.” This brilliant novel at the other end of the spectrum from Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L.James: it is funny, witty, clever and very imaginative. Readers will look forward to the second novel in this series, Painting By Numbers.

Flight Behaviour is the 5th stand-alone novel by Barbara Kingsolver. In the Appalachian Mountains above her home, eastern Tennessee farm wife and mother of two, Dellarobia Turnbow is about to take a step that will change her unsatisfactory life forever when she is arrested by a vision of something she has never before encountered. What seems like a miracle is, however, threatened by her father-in-law’s decision to allow the mountain to be clear-felled by a logging company. Those who start reading and think this is the formulaic righteous woman plus scientist battling against hick farmers and loggers to save endangered species will need to think again! Of all the things I predicted about this novel at the beginning, the only one I got right was that it is very, very good. I was assured of that in just the first few pages by prose like “How they admired their own steadfast lives. Right up to the day when hope in all its versions went out of stock, including the crummy discount brands, and the heart had just one instruction left: run.” and “Whoever was in charge of the weather had put a recall on blue and nailed up this mess of dirty-white sky like a lousy sheet-rock job.“ I also loved “His moustache made two curved lines around the sides of his mouth like parentheses, as if everything he might say would be very quiet, and incidental.“ This novel has a plot that didn’t go where I expected; the characters, too, surprised me when I thought I had their measure. Kingsolver skilfully conveys the desperation of poverty in everyday life and its effect on education, life choices and what people come to believe. She also highlights the importance of the manner in which scientists convey their message to the general public. This novel had me laughing out loud (especially at Dovey’s church marquee sayings), choking up, giving a cheer (for Facebook of all things!), moved to caring about the fate of certain insects and thinking about many things: climate change, poverty, the decline of craftsmanship in the face of mass production, the cost of research, the disposable society and the increasing waste of goods. Kingsolver manages to make a huge amount of information about lepidoptery, sheep farming and lambing, global warming and the environment, easy to assimilate by incorporating it into this wonderfully uplifting tale. Her passion for the environment and our role in climate change is apparent in every paragraph. A brilliant, thought-provoking read, probably her best yet!

Sea of Poppies is the first book of the Ibis Trilogy by Amitav Ghosh. This is a beautifully told story set in India, the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal on the eve of the First Opium War. The Ibis is an ex-slave ship purchased by merchant Benjamin Brightwell Burnham for the purpose of transporting indentured labour from Calcutta to Mauritius. Ghosh gives the reader a veritable feast of characters: Deeti, the strong-willed wife of Ghazipur opium addict, Hukam Singh; Hukam’s uncle ruthless Bhyro, a recruiter of migrant labourers; carpenter Zachary Reid, the son of a Baltimore Negro freedwoman and her white master; Burnham, merchant and closet masochist; Jodu, a boatman; Raja Neel Rattan Halder, a debt-ridden zemindar; Serang Ali, leader of the lascar seamen; James Doughty, a pilot for ships entering Culcutta; Kalua, a low-caste ox-cart driver; Paulette Lambert, the feisty orphaned daughter of a French botanist; Baboo Nob Kissin Pander, Burnham’s accountant who is a virgin celibate with strong religious beliefs; Captain Chillingworth, engaged for his last sea-voyage; first-mate Jack Crowle, a man with an inferiority complex and a sizeable cruel streak; and Chinese-Indian opium addict, Ah Fatt. Ghosh carefully develops each character, weaves them into this marvellous tale until they end up on the Ibis together. It feels like the Ibis herself has drawn each of the characters to her. Significant characters are also tied together by their stylistic depiction in a drawing for Deeti’s shrine. Ghosh provides information on many subjects: enforced poppy cultivation in India, opium factories and the opium trade with China; opium addiction; the caste system; bore waves; foreign traders in Canton; Chinese pirates. By incorporating it all into this mesmerising tale, he makes it interesting and easy to assimilate. With a cast of characters from such diverse backgrounds, the languages they speak are also varied, ranging from proper English to pidgin and patois, and the Chrestomathy in the appendix is helpful as a glossary for some of the words used, as well as expanding on Neel’s story. Ghosh’s fascination with the migration of words into other languages is apparent, and, with snippets of Bhojpuri language, folk songs, nautical terms and colloquial Anglo-Indian, the dialogue has a truly authentic feel. There is some beautifully descriptive prose and marvellous imagery: “The noise never failed to amaze him: the whiplash crack of the sails, the high-pitched shriek of the wind in the rigging, the groan of the timbers and the surf-like pounding of the bow-waves: it was as if each ship were a moving tempest and he an eagle, circling close behind to hunt in the ruins of her wake.” and “The wind was blowing strong and hard, and the waves and the clouds seemed to be racing each other across a single, vast firmament, with the schooner straining in pursuit, her timbers groaning with the effort of the chase. It was as if the alchemy of the open water had endowed her with her own will, her own life.” The ending leaves the way open for all sorts of developments in the second book of the trilogy. A brilliant read.

A Conspiracy of Friends is the third novel in the Corduroy Mansions series by Alexander McCall Smith. McCall-Smith dispenses gentle philosophy through ordinary people in their everyday lives, commenting on such things as the possibility of friendship between men and women; what sort of promises are not expected to be kept; unexpected declarations of love; taking the advice of others; unfinished business; willed amnesia; human rights and belief in justice; plastic surgery; and the calming qualities of drinking tea. Terence Moongrove’s follies are an ongoing source of humour. My favourite quotes are: “A moral dilemma is equally absorbing whether the stakes are the destiny of nations or the happiness of one or two people…” and “…sharks and other agents of Nemesis pay no attention to the claims of moral desert. A selfless campaigner for social justice tastes much the same to a shark as a ruthless exploiter of others…” I am never disappointed by Alexander McCall Smith’s writing and would have read this book if for no other reason than to find out in what context William considers Hello! magazine a work of theology. Delightful, as always.

The Secret Scripture is the seventh stand-alone novel by Irish author, Sebastian Barry. Against the background of the imminent closure of an Irish mental facility, an aging psychiatrist reviews his remaining patients for suitability to re-enter the community at large. Dr William Grene, Senior Pyschiatrist at Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital, is particularly concerned about hundred-year-old Roseanne McNulty, suspecting that her sectioning some sixty-plus years ago, like many others of that era, may have been based on social convenience rather than psychiatric need. Barry sets up his story as twin narrations: “Dr Grene’s Commonplace Book” is meant to contain a professional account of the last days of the hospital, but Will includes his personal observations about Roseanne McNulty and the results of his investigations into her admission as well as events, past and present, in his own life; “Roseanne’s Testimony of Herself” is a secret memoir that Roseanne writes and keeps hidden, detailing events in her life leading up to her sectioning, along with present day happenings. This novel has a marvelous cast of characters, credible dialogue and a brilliant plot. Astute readers will have twigged to the who and what of the mystery half-way through the novel, but this in no way reduces the enjoyment or the compulsion to continue reading Barry’s beautiful prose for the how and why. Barry touches on many topics including the chequered history of mental institutions, the Irish Civil War, the power of the Catholic Church in 20th century Ireland and whether there is such a thing as factual truth (or does it all depend on the accuracy of a person’s memory?). This was a great read and I will be looking for the companion works to this one that Barry has written: The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty, and Our Lady of Sligo.

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress is a memoir by Rhoda Janzen. Daughter of the head of the Mennonite church in North America (the Mennonite equivalent of the Pope), Janzen rejected her family’s faith at eighteen to go to college and teach. At forty-four, after a turbulent marriage that ended with her husband leaving her for a man he met on Gay.com, and having survived a serious car accident, Rhoda goes home to her parents’ welcoming arms and quirky lifestyle. She finds her return therapeutic and soothing. Janzen manages to fill this memoir with hilarious anecdotes whilst painting her family as loving and supportive. It is gratifying to learn that the phenomenon of Catholic guilt is not the exclusive domain of victims of the Roman Catholic Church. Very funny.