See What I Have Done By Sarah Schmidt
We’ve all heard of the Lizzie Borden who “took an axe” and “gave her mother forty whacks.” In reality, there weren’t quite as many as 40 whacks of the axe, and Borden was, after all, acquitted of the 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts. In this beautifully reimagined version of events, Sarah Schmidt leads the reader down quite a few avenues of possibility, and doesn’t present any definite conclusions, but rather leaves the reader to make up his or her own mind. But it is a very skillful rendering of events, and the reader is right there, with the sights and the sounds, and most of all the smells, which are described in full and gory detail. Even Lizzie’s sister Emma, who was away from the house at the time of the murders, does not seem to know quite what to make of her sister’s behaviour. For those who liked The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher and other such historical novels based on real-life events, this is an obvious one to add to the to-be-read pile.
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Mississippi Blood By Greg Iles
Fans of Greg Iles’ Penn Cage series will be as thrilled to see this latest instalment as Harry Potter die-hards were back in the day for the newest Hogwarts episode. Another door-stopper in the Natchez story, it clocks in at just under 700 pages. Without ruining the tale for those who are new to the series, the previous book ended on something of a shocker, and this volume picks right up where it left off. Former prosecutor Penn Cage is watching helplessly as his world collapses around him. With his father’s murder trial impending, he has to keep the show on the road, but he is desperately worried for the safety of his little family. He’s also beyond angry with the father who has lied to him, and the rest of the town, about certain events in the past. Worse again, there’s a savage splinter cell of the KKK who will stop at nothing to ensure that his father rots in prison. Brilliant stuff.
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Into the Water By Paula Hawkins
When you find yourself on the wrong side of a publicity buzz for a book, it’s easy to feel that you’re out of step with just about everyone else in the world. For example, I hated The Girl on the Train, unlike just about every other reader I know. So I wasn’t expecting much from Paula Hawkins’ second novel, especially since most reviewers seemed to be saying it wasn’t up to the standard of her first best-seller. But what do you know, it turned out to be quite the fast-paced – and very enjoyable – yarn. Jules Abbott and her sister Nel have been estranged for some time, and Jules has been ignoring her phone calls. But then she gets the news that Nel is dead, after jumping into the Drowning Pool, a place she has been fascinated with all her life. Nel’s teenage daughter Lena is prickly and unapproachable, and there are locals who think Nel got what was coming to her.
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The American Girl By Rachael English
Morning Ireland presenter Rachael English has really grown into her other career as a novelist, and her third book sees her perfectly poised to take over from Maeve Binchy as the queen of the Irish novel. In 1968 Boston, Rose Moroney is seventeen and pregnant by a boyfriend her Irish parents can’t stand. She is quickly shipped to a Mother and Baby home in Ireland, where she gives birth to a daughter and is forced to give her up for adoption. Almost five decades later, Martha Sheeran gives in to her teenage daughter Evanne, who has been nagging her about tracing the woman who gave birth to her. From there, the story bounces back and forth across the Atlantic. Notwithstanding the horrendous lives forced on the young women confined to these ‘homes’, and lifelong struggle many of them endured in the aftermath, this is also a very heartwarming tale of reconciliation and love. There are a few surprise twists in the tale, which only serve to make it an even better read.
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Contact Information
Darina Molloy, Castlebar Central Library, John Moore Rd, Castlebar, Co. Mayo. Email: dmolloy@mayococo.ie Phone: +353 (0)94 9047953
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