Read in 2026 - 27: The Museum of You

Back from our hiking holiday in Austria since Wednesday afternoon, before I start writing about the very good time we've had there I want to post this review of a book I highly recommend and finished reading the evening before I left for the holiday:

The Museum of You

Carys Bray

A charity shop find in Ripon, this paperback for a mere £1.49 was one of the best reads I've had so far this year.

The main character is Clover Quinn, whose mother died when Clover was a baby. She lives with her father, Darren, who has raised her alone while working shifts as a bus driver. An elderly neighbour has been most helpful, as has been Clover's granddad. 

The book starts at the beginning of the school holidays. This summer, Clover is finally deemed old and responsible enough to be on her own while her Dad is at work. Instead of having to spend much of the day at her neighbour's, she is tasked with looking after the allotment (which she loves) but otherwise left to her own devices.

Just before school closed for summer, her class went to a museum where the story of the Titanic was told from the perspective of individual passengers; who they were, what became of them and so on. Clover is fascinated with this approach to history and hatches a plan that will keep her occupied all summer: She'll create a museum for the mother she never knew!

She has always known very little about her. It pains her Dad to talk about her, and everyone else who knew her (mainly the neighbour and her granddad) don't freely share their personal memories. But there is the bedroom where her parents slept and that has become a place of storage; full of boxes and things piled up on the empty bed and around the wardrobe. Clover usually doesn't go in there, but now is the time.

Without her Dad knowing what she's up to, Clover systematically sorts through the things she finds in the room, and interprets them in her way. Some items obviously belonged to her mother, like the beautiful skirt balled up at the bottom of the wardrobe. But what about the piles and piles of holiday brochures? And why was she "a surprise"?

When the chapters aren't told through Clover's eyes, it's her Dad's turn. Darren has never stopped loving and grieving Becky, and he loves his daughter with all his heart, making sure she is happy and has everything (and more) she needs. But once upon a time, he thought his life was going to take a very different path, and sometimes he can't help but think of what was, what could have been and what is.

Then one day, before Clover has finished her work in the bedroom and can lead her Dad through the exhibition she has created about her mother, he enters the room by himself, completely unaware of what his daughter has been doing there...

There is much, much more to the book than what I am describing here, but I would like you to read it for yourself and don't want to give it all away. It is very touching; there is friendship and family relationships, happiness and grief, how we remember the same events and interpret the same things differently, and ultimately, love - between parents and children, neighbours and friends.

Some bits are quite funny, others can move you to tears. The language is beautiful and the characters are plausible.

I'd not heard of the author before, but I'd like to read more of her work. Carys Bray's website is here.

Read in 2026 - 26: Killing Time

Agatha Raisin - Killing Time

M.C. Beaton with [by, actually] R.W. Green

There are over 30 books (and counting) in the Agatha Raisin series, and I have read nearly all of them except for the very latest ones. My last one before this was half a year ago; you can find my review for "Hot to Trot" here.

In that book, we were introduced to a few characters new to the Agatha Raisin universum which make a reappearance in this one. She also makes a new friend, but the overall cast is the one regular readers have come to expect and like over the years: Agatha's ex-husband James, her former lover Sir Charles, her friends in the police force Bill and Alice, her enemy in the police force Inspector Wilkes, her employees at the detective agency she owns, her former colleague Roy, her most trusted friend in the village, Mrs. Bloxby, and a few others.

When the books were still written by M.C. Beaton (Marion Chesney), Agatha used to travel more, I think. Now she's back exploring, and we find her in a part of the world that has not yet been visited in the series: Mallorca. The author explains that Pollensa, where Agatha spends some time in this story, is one of his favourite places, which you can tell when he describes the place.

Agatha gets extremely busy when Charles asks her to organise a glamorous Extravaganza on his estate to put his wine on the map, while at the same time a series of burglaries in local businesses takes a nasty turn when one of the burgled owners is found dead in her shop. She dabbles in the world of antiques auctions and ends up not only with a much-coveted antique clock but also serveral death threats masked in puzzling hand-written verses delivered to her anonymously.

Her love-life reaches an all-time low, her car is burned, she nearly gets kidnapped and almost starts to believe in ghosts - what else needs to happen before she gives up on the chase? Anything or nothing, because once Agatha is determined to solve a case, she does it no matter what, and of course she also succeeds this time.

As a sideline, she occupies her mind with a real-life mystery: The Campden Wonder. I found this a very clever addition to the story, a first (if I remember correctly) for this series.

Once again, R.W. Green has brought Agatha & Co. to life in a way M.C. Beaton didn't quite achieve - she was good (otherwise, my Mum and I would not have stuck to the series for so many years), but he is even better.

Read in 2026 - 24, 25

Because of my backlog of reviews and other posts I want to write, today I'm publishing two book reviews in one post (also because neither book, in my opinion, really "needs" its own post).

# 24: Voices of the Universe

Elias J. Connor

 

This was one of those books I kept reading in spite of not really enjoying it – I was hoping the story would pick up, and the main character would grow on me.

Neither happened, although the story as such held enough potential.

 

We meet Janie when she’s 12 years old, a shy but not unhappy girl who loves to watch the stars at night.

She thinks a lot about her place as a tiny human being in the vastness of the universe, and writes about her thoughts and dreams in her diary.

 

After the breakdown of her parents’ marriage and her Dad moving away, Janie becomes more and more withdrawn.

She doesn’t get along with her mother, and a first tender romantic interest with a boy at school who seems to understand her ends in tears.

 

University follows, and once again Janie feels like the odd one out.

But it is there, with the help of fellow students and a handful of other people, that she finally asserts herself and even finds love.

 

Life looks really good for Janie now – until she receives very sad news…

 

I am not going to say more about the actual story, only that Janie goes through more ups and downs until the book ends with her peaceful death at old age.

 

The story itself is not bad, but the writing is repetitive, and continuity is not always maintained. For instance, as an adult all of a sudden without explanation Janie and her mother are very close and supportive of each other, when before they hardly spoke, and Janie lived away from home.

Also, editing wasn’t up to scratch – apart from the repetitiveness, there are several instances where Janie’s and her daughter’s name are muddled up, and her daughter suddenly is called her grandchild when she is actually Janie’s mother’s grandchild.

I am quite picky when it comes to such inaccuracies; small mistakes, but they could be so easily avoided.

 

Not a total waste of time but definitely not a must read, and I am glad that it was a free ebook and didn’t cost me more than the time I spent reading it on the train.

 

 

Not my picture, but the same edition

# 25: Rembrandt’s Hat

Bernard Malamud

 

My book-swapping friend A. lent me this paperback, and no doubt she’ll want to know my opinion.

Well… it is hard to really explain my impression of this collection of short (and not so short) stories.

My overall verdict is that I can very well go on living without ever reading anything by Malamud again, while I don’t doubt his skill and talent as a writer at all.

 

It is simply that I could not engage with the stories, on no level.

Some of them are outright absurd or bizarre, but not in a funny way (at least not according to my sense of humour).

Others are simply sad, leaving me as a reader somewhat downcast while at the same time relieved that my life is nothing like what is depicted in the story.

 

I guess Malamud and I got off on the wrong foot when I started to read the first story and was appalled by his nasty description of a girl with Down syndrome.

The collection of stories was originally published in 1973, but some of the stories are older, from the 1950s and 60s.

 

Although Malamud as an author’s name was familiar to me from my years working at the library, I’d never read anything by him before now.

Maybe I am the one being nasty now, but I honestly can’t see what made him win the Pulitzer Prize – at least not based on these stories.

Read in 2026 - 23: Elsewhere

Elsewhere

Gabrielle Zevin

My sister lent me this paperback during our recent holiday in Ripon, and I finished it on our last night there.

It is a Young Adult novel in the genre “Magic Realism” (according to wikipedia), but although my own Young Adult time was decades ago, I enjoyed the book very much.

 

The idea behind the story is that people who die are neither here nor there, but elsewhere.

And “Elsewhere” is indeed the place where 15-year-old Liz lands after she dies in a hit and run accident while cycling to the mall, where she was supposed to meet her best friend to help choose her prom dress.

 

Although Liz makes a friend during the passage on the ship to Elsewhere, and upon arrival meets her grandmother (who died before she was born), and Elsewhere doesn’t seem a bad place at all, she longs for her life back on Earth. 

As a teenager, she still had so much ahead and so much to look forward to, and she can not accept that she’ll never be 16, never will have a driving license, graduate from High School, go to college, move out from home and generally do all the things on does as one is growing up.

 

Will she come to terms with her new “life”?

 

There was a lot in this book to like. Most of the characters are like real people, their thoughts and actions plausible. I guess my favourites were Betty, Liz’s grandmother, and the dog she adopts (yes, pets go Elsewhere, too, when they die).

I wasn’t quite in agreement with the ending, but that’s just my personal taste, I suppose.

It was my first read by this author. My sister has more, and I might borrow them from her, too. Clicking on word "wikipedia" above takes you to the entry about the book, which of course links to an entry about the author, which I knew nothing about until reading up on her.

Read in 2026 - 22: Queen Esther

Queen Esther

John Irving

It’s been a while since I last read an Irving, and I remember that I have not liked each of his books to the same extent. My favourites so far were “Widow for a Year” and “Owen Meany”.

For my birthday this year, my sister gave me “Queen Esther”, and although I have finished it weeks ago, I only now got round to writing my review.

 

In short, it’s a great read. Irving’s handling of language, his descriptions of characters, places and situations as well as dialogue are at their best in this book.

The decisions people take and how they deal with each other may not always be plausible or relateable, but that’s life, isn’t it – we don’t always “get” other people and why they do (or don’t) what they do (or not).

 

The book spans eight decades, following Esther’s life and that of her son from 1905 to 1981.

There are occasional dips further back in time to when Esther’s Au Pair employers (and something like adoptive parents for her) were young.

 

I’d say that the life of Esther’s son takes up more room than hers, but she is always hovering in the background even when she is elusive.

 

Born in Vienna and orphaned at the age of 4 after her father dies on the ship to Portland and her mother is murdered by anti-Semites in Portland, Esther is unwavering in her determination to live as her mother taught her, as a Jew, She is exceptionally clever and loved by everyone at the orphanage. When she is 14, the Winslows, a philanthropic New England family, take her in as their latest Au Pair. They aren’t Jewish themselves but despise anti-Semitism.

Again, she is loved by the entire family and fully returns that love.

 

The youngest daughter, Honor, wants a child but without all the physical things involved from conception through pregnancy, giving birth and breastfeeding. Esther, on the other hand, has an insatiable appetite for knowledge and life and wants to at least try everything she can - including pregnancy and birth.

Together, the two young women work out a solution that satisfies them both – Jimmy is the result, with Esther as his biological mother but Honor the mother he grows up with.

 

In the 1960s, he studies in Vienna and makes friends for life there. His approach to fatherhood is as unusual as that of Esther and Honor to motherhood, but it all works out in the end, making for happy families and lasting friendships.

 

I could go on and on about the various elements of the story; the characters and their quirks, the recurring references to being tall or short, to Jewishness and what it means, to wrestling and working for the Mossad.

But I’d rather have you read the book for yourselves, if you found my brief outline interesting enough. I believe you won’t regret it.

 

There is no need to link to further introduce John Irving, I guess – he is well known and popular enough, and of course he has his own website as well as an article on wikipedia if you want to look him up.

Read in 2026: 20, 21

Next Door

Blake Pierce

 

Sisters Chloe and Danielle are only ten when they witness their mother’s deadly fall down the stairs in their home – presumably at the hands of their father, who goes to jail for it.

Almost 20 years later, Chloe returns to live in their hometown, looking forward to getting married and her career with the FBI off the ground.

Meeting Danielle is part of that return, but unlike Chloe, her sister has been leading a troubled life, never settling with a job or partner for long, mental health problems and past drug abuse.

 

A body is found and the circumstances of the case bring up the old mystery of the death of the sisters’ mother.

Chloe practically works on the new and the old case at the same time while trying to hold things together with her fiancé and planning the wedding.

It doesn’t help that Danielle becomes the main suspect and does not trust her sister enough to reveal what has been happening, making Chloe find the vital clues almost too late…

 

But of course, it being the first book in a series with Chloe Fine at the centre, the reader can be certain to see the heroine solve both the current case and the mystery of who was responsible for their mother’s death, and why.

 

The story was gripping enough, and the characters were well portrayed. I just couldn’t really relate to either of the sisters to the point of caring about them, but I liked Chloe’s boss and his dealing with her and the circumstances.

This first book sets the stage for more, opening threads in both Chloe’s personal and professional lives. But while I found it an entertaining read, I am not going to buy the next books in the series.

 

The author was unknown to me, or so I thought. Turns out I have read one previous book by her, back in 2021. More about her and her work is here.

The Honeymoon Homicide

J. R. & Susan Mathis

Unlike most other free ebooks from Amazon’s Kindle store, this one wasn’t the 1^st in a series. Instead, it is well into a series about a Catholic priest (Tom) and his wife (yes, wife! – Helen) who solve crimes together.

A mutlitude of references to earlier books is made throughout this one, but I didn’t find it hard to follow the storyline without having read any of them.

 

The case: A well-loved deacon at a local church is found stabbed in the snow close to the church where he served. Nobody can think of any personal motive, so the first conclusion is a mugging gone wrong.

But then blood stains and a female hair are found in the sacristy, and it becomes clear that the victim wasn’t stabbed where he was found, and definitely not mugged, but sedated to the point of inability to defend himself…

 

Helen is the local Police Chief, and Tom the local priest. Through exceptional circumstances, it is possible for them to be a legally married couple in spite of his vocation. She has a no-nonsense approach to police work while he often provides a different, more personal angle and can reach suspects on a level that is closed to her.

Combining their efforts they set about solving this mystery, and while at first it seems that each clue leads to a dead end and each question answered opens up many more puzzles, of course in the end they find out what happened, and justice is served.

 

For a change – compared to other detective stories – the couple never are in danger of becoming the next victims of the murderer. We meet their families, colleagues and other local characters, which nicely fills in the background.

Their relationship with each other is vital to solving the mystery, and although they are very much in love, there are also situations where they have to work to overcome differences.

 

It made for a different read from most other crime mystery series I have been reading (or at least started), but sometimes the religious angle is just a bit too prominent for my personal liking. Still, it is part of the story, of the main characters and their lives.

I guessed at part of the solution relatively early on, but there were still a few twists and turns to surprise me.

 

The authors – completely unknown to me until now – are husband and wife in real life (but the husband is not and has never been a priest, and the wife not in Law Enforcement). Their website is here.

I imagine that the series about Father Tom and Chief Helen appeals to many readers, mostly in the US.