I say September but really, I read these books months ago, but of the books I’ve read this year, these three have stayed in my mind. So, I figured I’d spread the joy and share them with you. I highly recommend all three but if I had to choose a favourite, it would probably be ‘Sorrow and Bliss’. Or maybe ‘A Town Called Solace’, maybe…

Meg Mason, Sorrow & Bliss
Oh, how I love a complex, sometimes bloody infuriating protagonist. Throw in a strong sister and complex family dynamics and I’m there. The fact that I spent a few too many years living in west London not far from the Goldhawk Road where Martha’s family live was a bonus. I love it when I can picture where a story is set because I’ve been there.

Martha, the woman at the centre of this story is clever and beautiful. A brilliant writer adored by her husband Patrick. But, life, for Martha is hard. She feels broken, like there’s something intrinsically wrong with her.

I am in awe of writers who can create complex, often infuriating and sometimes unlikeable characters with a deftness and lightness of touch that doesn’t make you feel like you’re drowning in sadness or despair.

I empathised with Martha, her pain and confusion at why life was so difficult for her. But I really loved her uncompromising, brutally honest sister Ingrid. I am drawn to novels with a strong sister and family dynamic and Sorrow and Bliss delivers in spades. It’s beautifully written, acutely honest with some devastatingly on point observations that had me laughing and wincing in equal measure. Highly recommend.

Mary Lawson, A Town called Solace
A Town Called Solace and its author Mary Lawson had passed me by, until I spotted it being talked about on Imogen Clarke’s Facebook Book Cafe. It had rave reviews, so I jumped on that bandwagon.

With glowing words of support from Anne Tyler (no less) and Graham Norton on the front cover, and an image of a blue-water lake surrounded by big sky and a just seen vintage car, you kind of know what to expect.

‘Absorbing’, reads a quote from the inside front cover and that pretty much sums it up for me. Clara’s older sister Rose is missing, and she’s keeping a daily vigil by the living room window, watching and waiting for her sister’s return. Clara is also watching her elderly neighbour’s house and cat (Moses) while she’s in hospital. Cue confusion, dismay and upset when she sees a man enter Mrs Orchard’s house one day.

When I was reading The Lamplighters, I felt like the stories were being woven together to make a whole, this felt like the opposite. There’s misunderstanding and confusion when Clara first spots Liam in Mrs Orchard’s house. There’s the unravelling of Mrs Orchard’s relationship with Liam. And then there’s Clara’s family and missing Rose. The strands of the story are being unwoven, bringing light and truth as they’re being unravelled.

This is a beautiful read. I sank into it and telling the story from just three clear and distinct voices meant you could really dig into it and keep the intrigue and interest up without being overly confusing, as some books can be when chapters switch between characters and their perspectives.

The review on Goodreads sums it up neatly for me: ‘The novel cuts back and forth among these unforgettable characters to uncover the layers of grief, remorse and love that connect families, both the ones we’re born into and the ones we choose. A Town call Solace is a masterful, suspenseful and deeply humane novel by one of our great storytellers.’

And finally…

The lamplighters, Emma Stonex
I couldn’t resist this when I spotted it in the bookshop. A mystery set against a brooding Cornish coastline and multiple stories that woven together, make a whole.

In 1972, three lighthouse keepers vanish from their remote lighthouse, miles from shore. The entrance door is locked from the inside, the clocks have stopped, and the table is set for a meal that remains uneaten.

Fast forward twenty years and an author sets out to solve the mystery and in doing so uncovers a whole host of secrets and lives.

I thoroughly enjoyed this debut novel. The story is told through the alternating voices of the lamplighters and their wives and partners. The chapters alternate between characters and I loved the use of letters and correspondence and narrative to tell the stories. Following these strands you start to build a picture of these characters who choose to live their lives on a remote lighthouse and the wives and families they leave on shore. As I read and turned the pages, I couldn’t help wondering what the twist would be at the end.

The stories weave together like a wicker basket. Each one a story, but also adding to the whole. It could have got messy and confusing, and there were times where I had to stop, flick back and read passages again slowly. But I do read quickly, and it does me no harm to find a book that slows me down and forces my brain to catch up with what my eyes are seeing on the page.

This was a solid read that kept me interested and turning the pages. A clever way to weave a mystery, almost but not quite psychological thriller with a very human, story about family, love and relationships.

Happy reading!