Monthly Archives: May 2020

Orphans of the Tide (Book of the Week: Lockdown edition)

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Orphans of the Tide by Struan Murray

Book of the Week: 31 May 2020

Illustration by Manuel Šumberac

This week we find ourselves in The City, the only city left in a drowned world full of fearful inhabitants. An evil Enemy haunts their streets and their imaginations, regularly taking over the body of some poor chosen human who is then dubbed The Vessel and who must be put to death. We learn its methods from excerpts from The Diary of Claude Hestermeyer which are interspersed throughout the story. Claude was a Vessel from the past who wanted to hand on advice before he was killed.

Ellie is a young, orphaned inventor in the city, who survives by mending machinery that was mostly created by her mother. She is helped by the wayward Anna, her best friend with whom she continually bickers. When a whale is washed up on one of the city’s rooftops, and a bewildered young man is cut out of its belly and declared the new Vessel, Ellie sets out to save him from being condemned to death by the City’s Inquisitors who are the ruling class of their society. She is offered help by a boy called Finn who is desperately seeking her approval and who she doesn’t seem to like. The odds are heavily stacked against Ellie and Anna – are they just being stubborn and foolhardy in their desire to help a stranger?

The author has created an exciting adventure in a wonderfully well-developed world. Images of the sea and all its creatures are seamlessly woven into the story. The relationship between some of the characters reminded me of that between Harry Potter and Tom Riddle and there was also echoes of Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve in the imaginative setting and inventive characters.

Other books that feature flooded worlds include:

Flood Child by Emily Diamand

Not the End of the World by Geraldine McCaughrean

Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick

Flood World by Tom Huddleston

Good Girl Bad Blood (Book of the Week: Lockdown edition)

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Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson

Book of the Week: 17 May 2020

Cover designer not credited

I am giving my bookshelves from the 1980s a rest this week because I have a brand new book: the follow-up to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder which was Book of the Week in June 2019

We are back in Little Kilton with Pip and Ravi barely having recovered from the Andie Bell case. Pip has been working on a podcast to document the investigation and Ravi jokingly suggests she call it ‘Little Kill Town’. It’s not a bad idea, as the town is on the way to being as much a centre of crime as Inspector Morse’s Oxford. Pip, however, is realising that investigating crime is taking its toll and she just wants to concentrate on schoolwork and her podcast. Her mind is changed when her friend Connor comes to beg her to look into the disappearance of his older brother Jamie. The police are unwilling to investigate because Jamie is an adult and there is no indication of foul play. Connor and his mum feel very differently and say he had been behaving strangely for some time before he abruptly vanished. Thankfully for the reader, Pip decides to help her friend and we are back to uncovering the secrets of school friends and residents and trying to see if we can guess who secretly hates who and what people are desperately trying to hide.

Although you do not have to have read the first book to enjoy this one, it does add an extra dimension to be familiar with some of the characters and understand the aftermath of the events in the first book. This one is just as tense and carefully plotted, has well-placed use of social media and fans will not be disappointed.

There is a ‘mature content’ notice on the back of the book and a small amount of strong language, and description of crimes, that make it generally more suitable for older readers.

Book of the Week (Lockdown edition)

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Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O’Brien

Book of the Week: 10 May 2020

My 1981 copy. Cover illustration by Lucinda Cowell

On a farm in a hidden green valley, a sixteen year old girl is the only survivor of a nuclear holocaust. Her family, and Mr and Mrs Klein the local store owners, set off to see if the Amish families who lived to the south had survived the devastation. They never returned. Ann has chickens and a couple of cows and plenty of supplies from Mr and Mrs Klein’s store. She is used to farming and cooking and manages to survive in the valley that is fed by a brook, where the water has somehow avoided being radioactive. She has almost managed to come to terms with the fact that she will spend her life alone and will never speak to another human being. Then, one day, she sees a plume of smoke in the distance and before long she discovers the source:

“It is a man, one man alone… he is dressed, entirely covered, in a sort of a greenish plastic-looking suit. It even covers his head, and there is a glass mask for his eyes… The reason he is coming so slowly is that he is pulling a wagon, a thing about the size of a big trunk, mounted on two bicycle wheels… He stopped to rest every few minutes. He still has about a mile to go to reach the top. I have to decide what to do.”

Is this man going to be friend or foe?

There is a constant undercurrent of tension in Ann’s simply told story. Amidst the fascinating practical details of survival, is an absorbing cat and mouse tale of isolation and the burdens and choices involved in staying alive under dreadful circumstances.

If you have read and enjoyed any of the following, this is a must-read:

Alone by David Brazier

Boy X by Dan Smith

The Explorer by Katherine Rundell

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

Book of the Week (Lockdown edition)

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Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones

Book of the Week: 2 May 2020

My 1979 copy with cover illustration by Graham Humphries

In a world where magic is common, but not everyone is a witch or warlock, there is a government department responsible for magic.  An orphan boy and his sister find themselves living in a castle, where everyone has the power of magic, under the tutelage of a powerful enchanter. No, this is not Harry Potter; it is the first published book in the Chrestomanci series written by Diana Wynne Jones in the 1970s. (The published order is not the same as the chronological order as the author later wrote prequels).

Eric Chant (also known as Cat) and his sister Gwendolen have been looked after by their neighbour, Mrs Sharp, after the death of their parents in a tragic paddle steamer incident. Gwendolen, a talented witch, wants more out of life than mixing with the second-rate fortune-tellers, warlocks and certified witches in the neighbourhood. Cat is quite happy where he is. He has no magical skills and is fond of Mrs Sharp. One day, when he comes home from scrumping apples, he finds a tall, smartly-dressed stranger in the kitchen. Gwendolyn has written to Chrestomanci, who knew their parents and to whom they had a family connection. As a result, Cat and Gwendolen are to go and live with him in Chrestomanci Castle as part of his family. Cat is dismayed but Gwendolyn is triumphant. Her triumph is short-lived when she learns they are not to be taught witchcraft for some time. She makes life horrible by using her magic to play pranks on all the castle’s inhabitants. These get more elaborate the more Chrestomanci either ignores them, or puts them to rights the next day. How far will she go and will Cat do anything to stop her?

Diana Wynne Jones had a gift for creating inventive magic with everyday, practical detail that makes it seem wholly believable. Her writing was also funny.  The pert, bossy and manipulative Gwendolen is a colourful character and it is refreshing, in a magical fantasy, that the forces of destruction are not all-powerful enchanters but people with petty failings.

If the idea of starting this series is appealing, here is a guide that will help with reading order.

An item that is integral to the plot. To find out how, read the book
Available at: https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co528003/bryant-mays-book-matches-over-100-years-of-goo-book-matches

First edition cover from 1977 illustrated by Ionicus