The Conductors and The Undertakers – Nicole Glover

I enjoy finding a fantasy setting that is not mediveal Europe. Glover has set her tales in the post Civil War American South, where the Black characters are trying to navigate a racist society.

Hettie and her husband Benji previously helped free slaves. Now they are settled in Philodelphia and investigate suspicous deaths. Both are practitioners of the star sign magic that was banned for slaves, and have reputations which means people from across the community reach out to them for help.

The main themes are definitely centred around found family and love, along with trying to get by, the best you can. Lovely books, well-written and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for The Improvisors when it comes out next year.

The Strays of Paris – Jane Smiley

Paras the racehorse is a curious filly, so escapes from her unlocked stall after a race. Carrying some money, she travels to Paris and meets Frida the dog and they begin a life together, building friendships and finding ways to cope while living in central Paris. All very sweet, and heartwarming.

Although Frida didn’t like the mallards because of the smell, and Raoul continued to disdain them as common common common … Paras considered Nancy good company, and extremely patient.

As the plot weaves around finding Étinne living with his great grandmother, the network of friends caring for each other, and the wider community watching out for them is deeply warming. I loved how things gradually tied together to a very satisfying conclusion.

Booker Prize 2022

For the first time in a while I’ve managed to read the full Booker shortlist between its announcement and publication. However I cannot guess which will win.

My suspicion is that Treacle Walker and The Trees are both out of the running due to being more genre fiction, but that The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is probably not considered genre. Glory, Seven Moons, The Trees and Small Things Like These are all have key political topics as their central theme. Whereas Oh William! is quite a bit more of a personal book, although it reflects the shape of modern family life.

All are well-written, as can only be expected given the starting list judges work from. My favourite to read was probably The Trees, with Small Things and Oh William close behind. It will be interesting to see who wins.

Small Things Like These – Claire Keegan

This was the most difficult of the Booker shortlist to get hold of – the rest appeared on the library reservation shelf for me within a couple of weeks of me reserving them. But 4 days before the announcement, I was in our local bookshop to collect another preordered book, and they had just received the new print run of Small Things Like These so I was finally able to get hold of it.

The cover and blurb seemed designed to appeal to me: Hunters in the Snow is one of my favourite paintings, and the time setting is the first few weeks of my life.

Keegan explores the treatment of unmarried mothers in Ireland, the laundries and how being given a chance can shape a life. Throughout the weeks in the book Furlong is reflecting on his own upbringing, and how that contrasts with the position of the girls in the laundry in the town convent. In a somewhat detached marriage he worries about his daughters, and the fate of those in the town who have fallen into difficult times.

More of a novella, Small Things is elegantly concise. I just wish that we could see what happens next as the characters step through the door as it is brought to a close.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida – Shehan Karunatilaka

Maali Almeida is dead. However he still wants to change Sri Lanka and has seven moons, or nights, to choose whether to go to the light.

He spends this time revisiting parts of his life, and keeping track of his dearest friends as they try to understand where he is and where his life’s work has been hidden, while still avoiding the authorities. Maali’s work turns out to have been photographing and witnessing cruel acts in the Sri Lankan civil wars, including witnessing people in power.

The Seven Moons is a book about atrocities and understanding a murder. But more than that it is about abiding ties of friendship and love and how choices made, or not made, can affect the courses of our lives. Maali is shown as very much human, with affairs and gambling problems aside these key deep friendships.

It is beautifully written, with a few moments that made me laugh in with all the intense grief.

Glory – NoViolet Bulawayo

In contrast to The Trees, Glory took me a few tries to get into. I think it was the concept of a mixed animal cast that I found a bit confusing, which was moderately persistent: trying to remember who was a donkey, and who a goat.

As I managed to untangle that however, I appreciated the book building its story around a handful of key characters as regime change takes effect and there is a struggle over power. From this, Bulawayo explores how power is controlled, who ultimately benefits, and how trauma on a large scale impacts on lives.

There are some powerful uses of metaphor throughout the book, with plants and insects joining the changes in the country as power shifts between groups. There is inevitably deeply sad sections as truths are uncovered too.

Again, not a fun read, but one with important messages, including ultimately one of hope for better futures.

The Trees – Percival Everett

I am glad this one was on the Booker shortlist. Its definitely not a book I would have picked up for myself: the “Crime” sticker on the library spine alone would have seen to that, but it is a really important book.

Everett explores revenge for race hate crimes in the southern USA, in a way that starts with such a degree of surreality that its not quite certain this is not based in fantasy. This justifies the involvement from non-local police, and therefore external perspectives as well as a more mixed cast.

I couldn’t put this down. Its really well-written, with strong characters who all have their own motives. Everett makes the good call to start with the victims’ family, showing them as a family and after the murders, despite that the crimes are of retribution. Although sympathy is fast erroding when the victims are members of KKK and start committing contempary hate crimes in the culture of fear.

Its fast-paced, with all the pieces only coming together at the end, and well-worth reading

Treacle Walker – Alan Garner

This was another fairly short novel in the Man Booker prizelist. It was also the one that persuaded me to try to read the list this year, as Weirdstone of Brisingamen was one of the defining books of my childhood.

I wasn’t disappointed. This was a myth-like book of a boy who trades with the Rag and Bone man, which in the end turns out to be a metaphor, but for what is a spoiler.

Garner writes compactly, leaving much of the detail to be filled in by the reader, with key details worked through to allow the plot to shine.

This Golden Fleece – Esther Rutter

I love knitting, and find social history fascinating, so picked up this book, subtitled “A Journey Through Britain’s Knitted History” when I noticed it in the library.

Rather than a linear history, Rutter spends a year taking literal journeys from the far north to south of the British Isles, examining historical knitwear in each area and working out how to make it for herself. Some attempts, like her nalebound sock are just for the interest, but a lot of them are things that could still be worn today.

Oh William! – Elizabeth Strout

The first book on my Booker 2022 shortlist read from the library. I found it a little strange that a sequel had been shortlisted, as it became obvious during reading that we should already be familiar with Lucy Barton, the protagonist of Oh William! I’m not certain if I’ll go back and pick up any of her earlier story.

Strout describes the friendship between divorced parents later in life. She weaves it cleverly, showing the underpinning friendship along with the difficulties that made the marriage impossile, while taking the characters on a journey to expand their understanding of themselves and each other.

At one point Lucy reflects on her late second husband after William has laughed at her for unconvential behaviour in private, thinking of how the marriages were different…

Never in a thousand years would he have laughed at me. Never. For anything.

All of this journey adds to up a pivot point in their relationship, which affects Lucy’s understanding of William as a person, father and in relation to her. I found the ending fairly soothing.

Of course the whole text is beautifully written. There are no chapters, with short segments of just a few paragraphs or pages, but it flows well and I read the whole book in one evening.

Finally, the exclamation at the end of the title here makes handling the title in review text clunky!