ARTS & CULTURE
Books Oct-20
As the weather turns and the heating goes on, there’s no better pastime for an autumnal afternoon than curling up with a blanket, a hot chocolate and a good book. This month, we’ve picked four unputdownable novels by female authors that will have you laughing, crying and marvelling at stories you don’t want to end.
More Than a Woman
by Caitlin Moran
A decade ago, Caitlin Moran thought she had it all figured out. Her instant bestseller How to Be a Woman took on feminism, the patriarchy, and the general ‘hoo-ha’ of becoming a woman. Back then, she firmly believed ‘the difficult bit’ was over, and her forties were going to be a doddle.
If only she had known: when middle age arrives, a whole new bunch of tough questions need answering. Why isn’t there such a thing as a ‘Mum Bod’? How did sex get boring? What are men really thinking? Where did all that stuff in the kitchen drawers come from? Can feminists have Botox? Why has wine turned against you? How can you tell the difference between a Teenage Micro-Breakdown, and The Real Thing? And, as always, WHO’S LOOKING AFTER THE CHILDREN?
Now with ageing parents, teenage daughters, a bigger bum and a To-Do list without end, Caitlin Moran returns with this witty and moving guide to growing older and celebrating the middle-aged women who keep the world turning.
More Than a Woman
by Caitlin Moran
The Hungover Games
by Sophie Heawood
The Hungover Games
by Sophie Heawood
At 34, Sophie Heawood was a celebrity interviewer in Hollywood, where her life at the seedier end of Sunset Strip was happy, free of care and consequence. A power yoga injury lands her in hospital, where she and a credit card machine are wheeled to a host of different tests that ultimately result in an unexpected infertility diagnosis. This leads to an ill-advised, unprotected tryst with ‘the Musician’, which turns into the story of how she was brought back down to earth (and back to east London) with, quite literally, a bump.
From her surprise at being pregnant: “What I longed for was a book called What To Expect When You Weren’t F****** Expecting To Be Expecting”, to the loneliness of being the single person at an antenatal class and why paternity testing is not a good topic for a first-date, this refreshingly honest and devilishly humorous memoir is a love letter to the trials, tribulations and ultimately the joys of single parenting.
Where the Crawdads Sing
by Delia Owens
This remarkable debut will stay with you long after you’ve put it down. An ode to the natural world; part murder-mystery and part coming-of-age tale, Where the Crawdads Sing is set in a community shaped by prejudice and the evocative landscape that surrounds it.
For years, rumours of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So, in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself up to the possibility of a new, less isolated life – until the unthinkable happens.
Poetic and engrossing, Owens’ writing reminds us that we are forever shaped by the innocent children we once were.
Where the Crawdads Sing
by Delia Owens
Girl, Woman, Other
by Bernadine Evaristo
Girl, Woman, Other
by Bernadine Evaristo
Tracking the complex lives and loves of a dozen characters – mostly black British women – through generations and social classes, this much-deserved joint Booker Prize 2019 winner weaves an illuminating tapestry of modern British life that isn’t depicted often enough in fiction.
Although each character has their own chapter and distinct voice, within these chapters their lives overlap and link in stories of different experiences, backgrounds and choices. From Amma, a lesbian playwright anticipating her new play’s opening night, to her headstrong and unruly daughter Yazz; from straight-laced teacher Shirley, who feels alienated in their liberal world, to Bummi, an immigrant who is terrified her child bringing home a white partner means they are rejecting their own culture.
The characters are interesting, flawed and relatable, with many of the stories centring around race, identity, gender and feminism. The prose, stripped of capital letters and punctuation, often reads like poetry; another element that makes this book unique and unforgettable.