What we read in May
Carved in Blood by Michael Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue)
When Hana Westerman's ex husband Jaye is shot in a hold up, the suspicion immediately falls upon Toa Davis, a young Māori man known to run drugs for a local crime syndicate. Drafted back into the force to find the assailant after several months away, Hana becomes convinced that there's more to the crime than initially meets the eye.
Carved in Blood is the third Hana Westerman book and Bennett is becoming more and more polished with each addition to the series. She is a significantly more mature character from book one, and the book moves at real pace, keeping the reader guessing at each turn. The usual supporting cast of Hana and Jaye's daughter Addison, her partner (now fiance) PLUS 1, Hana's Dad Eru and Jaye's wife Marissa play key roles in the narrative, but don't get in the way of the surging plot.
When the Deep Dark Bush Swallows You Whole by Geoff Parkes
ummer, 1982 in the small town of Nashville, King Country. A shearing gang is working its way through the local farms, working from dawn til dusk, then drinking the night away at the local pub. Sanna is a Finnish rousey, working to pay for her travels, and Ryan is a local boy back from studying law at uni for the summer. And to tidy up his mother's house after her death. When Sanna vanishes after a violent pub brawl at the end of the shearing season, the local cops put it down to another 'backpacker' murder, similar to the murder of a hitchhiker the summer before and the investigation goes nowhere.
A year later Sanna's sister Emilia has arrived from Finland to find out what happened to her sister. Emilia's arrival will disturb the dust that has settled over Nashville and dig out some dark secrets hidden there. Parkes has crafted a tightly wound crime novel that captures the sights, sounds and feel of rural New Zealand in the 1980s as well as a very believable thriller.
Hopurangi—Songcatcher: Poems from the Maramataka by Robert Sullivan (Ngāpuhi, Kai Tahu)
A beautiful and personal collection of poems inspired by the Māori lunar calendar - this felt like reading someone's diary in the best way.
Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts by Josie Shapiro
Who knew a book about running could be so moving and powerful? Mickey has wanted to be a runner all her life, but despite being fast and strong, she's short and a woman. After a series of devastating encounters with male coaches, she gives up running altogether and takes a dead end job making coffee while living with her no hope boyfriend. Then her mother dies and she's spurred to take up running again. This is a beautifully and sensitively crafted story of hope, dreams, family and persisting towards your dreams.
A council rest home perched on top of a hill a 'top-tier facility' is home to a vivid and quirky cast of characters, staff and residents alike. Mr. Peckover, the deluded archaeologist; Phyllis, the knitter; Mr. Cresswell, the former cruise ship hairdresser; the shrewd Mrs. Foss; and Mr. Jimson, the chiropodist all watched over by the imposing Mrs. McBryde. When Covid arrives and staff fall ill, strict protocols give way and the remaining residents, despite their arthritis, joyfully reclaim their independence, basking in the summer sun. A tiny but fun treat from the master of clever comedy.
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
Now retired, Tony Webster receives an unexpected inheritance which forces him to confront his unreliable memories and question his perceived understanding of past events, particularly his friendship with the brilliant Adrian Finn and a relationship with the mysterious Veronica. I was stunned by the impact this novella had on me, it is a gorgeous page turning meditation on time, ageing, love and memory.
The Graveyard Shift - Stories from the Night Shift by Stephen King (available as an audiobook on Libby)
Fans of King will appreciate this vintage collection from the 1970s. Vampires, a plague, casual misogyny, rats. A great little collection with a great narrator - culminates with the story Jerusalem's Lot which dovetail's with the longer story, Salem's Lot, King's second novel.
Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice
12 years after the events in Moon of the Crusted Snow, Evan Whitesky and his small band of survivours are surviving, but the land they've claimed for their new home after the electricity went out is wearing thin. Now a new Grandfather, Evan and his daughter Nangohns and a small group set out south to their ancestral lands, where they hope they might relocate the tribe to more fertile grounds. But the walk is long, the way dangerous and the group still don't really know what happened 12 years ago.
Turning Leaves is an infinitely more polished work than Crusted Snow and I enjoyed it that much more. Evan and Nangohns are well rounded and fully realised characters as are the supporting cast and Rice takes the readers on a beautiful walk through the Northern Ontario scenery as we wait for the action to ramp up. There are a couple of questions in my mind about the other survivours they meet along the way, but perhaps those will be answered in a third book.
Well worth a read for those wanting a different post apocalyptic story.
Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia de la Cerda
A lush and gorgeous collection of occasionally intersecting short stories about the lives of 13 women in Mexico. Politicians, narcos, spinsters, thieves, women experiencing unexpected pregnancies, these stories are brutal, beautiful and immersive.
Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
On the rebound for the collapse of her long term relationship and at odds with her fundamentalist Muslim mother, Nadia takes a job with the UN in Baghdad rehabilitating ISIS brides. When she arrives in the Green Zone though, her academic paper on developing a re-education programme is scorned by the hardened UN staff and hurdles appear at every turn, in the form of colleagues, bureaucrats and Sheikhs. She also embarks on a torrid romance with her buff but dim security guy Tom.
But when Nadia meets a young bride Sara, widowed 3 times before she is out of her teens and speaking with a strong East London accent, she is determined to help repatriate the young woman.
This is a book that contains so much. Humour, poignancy, terror, thrills, love and family, and sometimes all in the same sentence. Nadia is a beautifully flawed character trying her best against a broken and corrupt system, and Younis adeptly explores the pitfalls and flaws in seeking to change the minds of people. A worthy shortlister for the Women's Prize for Fiction
Nilab is the daughter of Afghani immigrants in Berlin, struggling with being the 'other', with passing, with drugs, addiction and abuse in a relationship, and with the death of her mother. Good Girl, also shortlisted for this year's Women's Prize for Fiction is a brutalist and depressing read, but every few pages the writing will take your breath away.
T. Kingfisher turns the fairytale on its head, reimagining Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of Toadling, a fairy girl sent to prevent the changeling child from waking. Beautiful imagery and a wonderful take on the classic. Kingfisher won the Hugo Award for best novella, having previously won for best novel for the equally excellent Nettle & Bone.
