What I'm reading

I have started The Key To Rebecca by Ken Follett. This was on offer at a low price from Amazon a while back. It looked like a good tale, so, despite having eschewed this author [dismissed as "airport novel" fodder], I thought that I might give it a try. Here's the blurb:

He is known to the Germans as 'Sphinx', to others as Alex Wolff, a European businessman. He arrives suddenly in Cairo from out of the desert, armed with a radio set, a lethal blade and a copy of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca - a ruthless man with a burning conviction that he will win at all costs. The stakes are high, for the survival of the British campaign in North Africa is in the balance. Only Major William Vandam, an Intelligence officer, and a beautiful courtesan Elene can put an end to Wolff's brilliant clandestine reports of British troop movements and strategic plans...As Rommel's troops come nearer to victory, Vandam pursues Wolff across the merciless desert to a terrifying life or death confrontation between the two adversaries.

Dear Lupin... Letters to a Wayward Son - by Charlie and Roger Mortimer

This book was entertaining - Roger Mortimer's style was engaging and I am always drawn to eccentricity. It is a light read, which would lend itself to "holiday reading", and is ideal to turn to after reading something more challenging. Anyway, it made me smile, which is never a bad thing.

What I'm reading

I have started Dear Lupin... Letters to a Wayward Son by Charlie and Roger Mortimer. I heard some extracts of the serialized reading of this book on the radio and it sounded interesting. Here is the blurb:

Nostalgic, witty and filled with characters and situations that people of all ages will recognise, Dear Lupin is the entire correspondence of a Father to his only son, spanning nearly 25 years.

Roger Mortimer's sometimes hilarious, sometimes touching, always generous letters to his son are packed with anecdotes and sharp observations, with a unique analogy for each and every scrape Charlie Mortimer got himself into. The trials and tribulations of his youth and early adulthood are received by his father with humour, understanding and a touch of resignation, making them the perfect reminder of when letters were common, but always special.A racing journalist himself, Roger Mortimer wrote for a living, yet still wrote more than 150 letters to his son as he left school, and lived in places such as South America, Africa, Weston-super-Mare and eventually London. These letters form a memoir of their relationship, and an affectionate portrait of a time gone by.

The Snow Child - by Eowyn Ivey

I am not quite sure how I feel about this book. I was initially concerned that it would be a fantasy story - a child really made from snow. Or perhaps she would only exist in the minds of the couple, conjured up by their desire to have a child of their own. In due course, I found myself cruising through the book, as it all seemed entirely rational. It was only at the end that I was confused/disappointed. I really don't understand what happened to the girl and this left me dissatisfied. Did she have some kind of breakdown [post-natal depression?] and run off naked into the bitterly cold night and perish? Or was it all some kind of metaphor and I missed it?

Ultimately the book is all about the people carving out an existence in the harsh world of 1920s Alaska, the landscape itself and reflections on the human condition. As such, it is very well written and an enjoyable read.

One odd thing. In most chapters, where there is dialogue between characters, the speech is in quote marks, as you would expect. If the girl is involved, there are no quotes. Why?

What I'm reading

I'm on to my next book club book - The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. This is another book that I would otherwise have been unlikely to pick up.  Here's the blurb:

A bewitching tale of heartbreak and hope set in 1920s Alaska. Jack and Mabel have staked everything on making a fresh start for themselves in a homestead 'at the world's edge' in the raw Alaskan wilderness. But as the days grow shorter, Jack is losing his battle to clear the land, and Mabel can no longer contain her grief for the baby she lost many years before. The evening the first snow falls, their mood unaccountably changes. In a moment of tenderness, the pair are surprised to find themselves building a snowman - or rather a snow girl - together. The next morning, all trace of her has disappeared, and Jack can't quite shake the notion that he glimpsed a small figure - a child? - running through the spruce trees in the dawn light. And how to explain the little but very human tracks Mabel finds at the edge of their property? Written with the clarity and vividness of the Russian fairytale from which it takes its inspiration, The Snow Child is an instant classic - the story of a couple who take a child into their hearts, all the while knowing they can never truly call her their own.

When Will There Be Good News? - by Kate Atkinson

Another Atkinson classic. A complex story, with lots of intertwined threads and details, but just at the level that it all fits in my brain at the same time. The story also has a clear enough ending, with a few unexpected twists that kept me interested up to the last pages.

Now I have read all four Jackson Brodie books, I hope that there are more. In any case, I'll move on to read the rest of her work.