The Book of Goose
Letitia and the Dulwich Hill team get stuck into spring reading.
Spring has well and truly sprung, and with it, an abundance of remarkable new books. Spoilt for choice? You bet. The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li. Where do I begin? I loved, loved, loved this novel. Moving between the present day and post-war France, Yiyun Li takes the reader deep into the private, intense world of girlhood and female friendship. Agnes and Fabienne are children left largely to their own devices – and their spectacular, if not dangerous, imaginations. Fabienne is the leader – the wild one – in this friendship and decides they must write a book. And they do. Comparisons to Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend are, I think, inevitable and welcome. But fear not – there is nothing unoriginal here. Bravo, Yiyun Li. (And speaking of Ferrante, Kelly in our team just read The Lying Life of Adults – highly recommended).
The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane. I had the great pleasure of meeting Fiona McFarlane earlier this year. Fiona is delightful and unassuming in person – and an absolute powerhouse on the page. Set in the late 1800s in the Adelaide Hills, a boy goes missing, and a frantic search ensues. Against this backdrop, the characters and dynamics of a small town are unearthed in a story that elegantly handles the complexities of class, race and colonisation. As evocative as a Frederick McCubbin painting, this will be one of the great Australian novels of 2022.
Seeing Other People by Diana Reid. Ah, Diana!!! What a year it has been for Sydney’s breakout young novelist! Hot off the heels of Love & Virtue comes Diana’s second novel – and it doesn’t disappoint. Seeing Other People is a thoroughly contemporary story about love, sex, relationships and family. Clever, astute and witty, this is a perfect summer read – you can practically smell Clovelly on the pages. Is
Diana Reid Australia’s answer to Sally Rooney? Perhaps.
I am halfway through The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding – I am loving it. Captivating, mysterious and ethereal, there is something so magical about Holly Ringland’s storytelling.
So what has the rest of the team been reading? Dasha has just finished The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith, describing it as an excellent addition to the Cormoran Strike series. “I absolutely loved every one of the 1024 pages of JK Rowling’s brilliant writing and can’t wait for the next one!”. Meanwhile, Soren is excited because Cressida Cowell has released the first in a new series, Which Way to Anywhere! “This is a very funny and exciting book about a blended family who must learn to get along while saving an alien planet and their parents. It’s on the fantasy side of the fantasy/sci-fi divide, but with a bunch of robots and obvious influences from Hitchhiker’s Guide. Perfect for readers aged 7 to 12. I’ve also been doing my best to beam every single word Neil Gaiman ever wrote directly into my brain. I reread Good Omens, Neverwhere and American Gods – and they were even better than I remembered. Anansi Boys is next in the Festival of Neil. More on this as it develops.”
Ava is reading Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel and rereading The Bell Jar by Silvia Plath. “While Plath’s novel can be interpreted as auto-fiction, it’s interesting to contrast the two books as views of New York City through the lens of female depression.” (On Plath, look out for the brilliant novelisation of the final year of her life, Euphoria by Elin Cullhed. Out November). Zara is reading Vivian Gornick’s essay collection on culture, literature and feminism, Taking a Long Look. Not usually a classics reader, Zara is also enjoying Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights – and is looking forward to the new Diana Reid and hopes to read it lying in the sun.
Bring on Summer reading!