Barrowbeck by Andrew Michael Hurley - Review

I saw this book recommended somewhere and thought it sounded really interesting so I requested it at the library. I've been using my library a lot this year, it's much better than buying books and my library system has the vast majority of the books I've wanted. I run a craft club in my local library on Monday mornings so pick up books then and the librarians know me well.

This book is set in Barrowbeck, a fictional town on the Yorkshire/Lancashire border. Now I don't know if you've ever been to towns on those borders, but they are hinterlands, somehow neither one thing nor another. often quite remote and isolated. So I could well imagine the setting! The book follows the town from its very earliest foundations until a post apocalyptic future. 

The first people in the area are Ancient Celts, driven out of Wales. They make deals with the local gods in order to settle in the area but are servants of the supernatural forces there. This motif carries throughout the whole novel. We pop into the town every couple of centuries or so and meet the locals. To begin with there's a lot of witchcraft and so on but then Christianity takes over. There's a childless couple who do a deal with the devil in order to have a baby. There's a progressive clergyman who has impoverished children from Barnsley and Huddersfield visit. There's World War One and there's a doctor who knows her husband is having an affair. It's a series of vignettes and I thought it worked really well. 

The final part is set in the near future when the town has been flooded and is no longer habitable. I found this spookiest of all because it was just so believable. 

I haven't read anything by Andrew Michael Hurley before but I know people raved about The Loney so maybe I will read that soon. I really wanted Lee to read this so he bought it to read on his tablet. In all I'm giving this five out of five because I thought it was brilliant. 

Hungry by Grace Dent - Review

Someone I know had been reading this book and I was intrigued so I requested it at the library. I don't love Grace Dent when she's on the telly but I was interested enough to read her memoir. I'm really glad I did because I really enjoyed it. I even absolutely devoured it! Yes that pun was intended!

Grace is about ten years older than me, but like me she's from the north, and there's definitely stuff I recognised from the beginning of her book, which focusses on her early life in Carlisle. She was the first child of both her parents, but both had children from previous relationships. Her dad, George, had no contact with his previous children and they were rarely talked about. George would say that Grace was his 'only little girl'. He is Scouse and ex army, both of which were things that had an impact on Grace's early life. She remembers him cooking 'sketti' for her and her younger brother.

Her mother, also called Grace, is less present in the beginning of the book but she is there. I loved the depiction of a northern, working class childhood, and her memories of food in among that. Grace soon had visions of life outside Carlisle, and she ends up at Stirling university. From there, she starts writing for a zine and a magazine and then starts pitching her work to magazines in London. She moves there and starts her career. Funnily there's no mention of her time as a soap critic - literally one line would have done. But there is a lot about her becoming a food critic, which is interesting. 

In the last third of the book, Grace's dad suffers from dementia and she feels split in half between her life in London and looking after both her ailing parents in Cumbria. It's something that a lot of people will recognise, I think, and I really felt for her. There is a lot of sadness in the book but some funny parts too. I liked it, I'm giving it four out of five.

The Amazing Edie Eckhart by Rosie Jones - Review

 

My friend Philippa mentioned that the comedian Rosie Jones had written a middle grade book, so I bought it soon after. Rosie has Cerebral Palsy herself, as does Edie! I've seen some of her comedy but don't know her super well, but I was excited to read her book. I am pleased to report that this is a gorgeous middle grade book, almost perfect in its execution. I really hope that there's a series as it would definitely lend itself to it! 

So Edie lives in Bridlington in Yorkshire (yay Yorkshire based books!) with her mum, dad, and little brother Louis. Her dad works long hours but the family is close knit. Edie has a best friend, Oscar, who is Black. Edie has cerebral palsy which makes her a bit "wobbly" on her feet. She often falls over but has quite a sense of humour about it. And Oscar is always there with a first aid kit and a replacement pair of tights.

Edie wants to be a writer so her mum encourages her to keep a diary. Edie and Oscar are about to start secondary school, but when they do, everything starts to change. Oscar joins the football team, then gets a girlfriend, Georgia, who doesn't seem to like Edie at all! Edie feels pretty scared to not have Oscar by her side, but her form tutor encourages her to try out for the school play. Edie tries to get over that she wants to write the school play, but no dice,

She meets a girl called Flora who is painting sets on the play, and the two become friends, and she makes friends with Georgia and her friends, which happens in such a lovely way. I liked how the girls showed a really positive form of girl friendship, instead of being awful to each other. Flora is mixed race too - I think her mum is Japanese - and I loved her. 

I also LOVED the ending, it was SO good, it's why I think there MUST be another book, because I want to see what happens next! Edie is such a good character and I just want more of her. I'm giving this five out of five because I loved it. 

The Offing by Benjamin Myers - Review

I was given this book last Christmas by Lee's brother and his girlfriend, they thought I would like it and the main character is from Durham as Lee's family is so I get why they liked it. I keep a list of books I got for Christmas and my birthday, and I try to get through them before Christmas and my birthday roll around again. In 2021 I've managed about half of them... We'll see what I get for Christmas! Hah. 

Anyway, this book is set in 1946 just after the end of World War Two. Robert, from a Durham village somewhere near Sunderland, has just finished his exams and left school. He will probably follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and start work as a miner, but before that he wants to go travelling down into North Yorkshire to see a bit of the world. He sets off with not much more than a tarpaulin and a sleeping bag. He finds a few days work at some farms along the way. He intends to go somewhere around Whitby and Scarborough, and wants to swim in the sea. 

On the way he finds a small cottage, the meadow around which is basically eating it, and its owner, Dulcie. She is an older lady, taller than Robert, and she has led a weird and wonderful life. Over the next few weeks, she persuades Robert to stay, sleeping first in the meadow and then in a small summer house on the grounds. She feeds him well, giving him his first taste of lobster and of brandy. She has connections which mean that the rationing going on all over the country doesn't seem to apply to her. She has a wine cellar. She lends Robert books and encourages him to read poetry. She tells him he could go to university. 

Robert is determined to pay his way, so he starts cleaning up the summer house. He wants to hack down the weeds which obscure the view of the sea, but Dulcie is angry with the sea and won't let him. He begins to uncover the truth about her life and the great love of her life. 

The book is written from the perspective of an older Robert, and by the end it's clear exactly who he has become. I liked the lyrical quality to the words and to the descriptions - I could exactly imagine the cottage and the village that Robert walked through to get to the sea. I liked Dulcie and was sympathetic towards her. I loved how Robert's life turned out.

I'm giving this four out of five.