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Sep 14

2023 Booker Longlist: All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow

Next up is debut novel All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow. Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Kent, and has extensive personal, professional and academic experience relating to autism.

Synopsis taken from Booker Prize website: Sunday Forrester does things more carefully than most people. On quiet days, she must eat only white foods. Her etiquette handbook guides her through confusing social situations, and to escape, she turns to her treasury of Sicilian folklore. The one thing very much out of her control is Dolly – her clever, headstrong daughter, now on the cusp of leaving home. 

Into this carefully ordered world step Vita and Rollo, a charming couple who move in next door and proceed to deliciously break just about every rule in Sunday’s book. Soon they are in and out of each other’s homes, and Sunday feels loved and accepted as never before. But beneath Vita and Rollo’s polish lies something else, something darker. For Sunday has precisely what Vita has always wanted for herself: a daughter of her own. 

You can purchase a copy of the book here

Keep reading to find out how our panellists rated this book.

Sep 12

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2023 Booker Longlist – Pearl by Siân Hughes

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Pearl by Siân Hughes is the next book on our list. Siân Hughes is a writer who grew up in a small village in Cheshire, England. Pearl is her debut novel and is set in the place where she grew up.

Synopsis taken from the Booker Prize website: Marianne is eight years old when her mother goes missing. Left behind with her baby brother and grieving father in a ramshackle house on the edge of a small village, she clings to the fragmented memories of her mother’s love; the smell of fresh herbs, the games they played, and the songs and stories of her childhood.

As time passes, Marianne struggles to adjust, fixated on her mother’s disappearance and the secrets she’s sure her father is keeping from her. Discovering a medieval poem called Pearl – and trusting in its promise of consolation – Marianne sets out to make a visual illustration of it, a task that she returns to over and over but somehow never manages to complete.

Tormented by an unmarked gravestone in an abandoned chapel and the tidal pull of the river, her childhood home begins to crumble as the past leads her down a path of self-destruction. But can art heal Marianne? And will her own future as a mother help her find peace?

You can purchase a copy of the book here

Jen, Book Worm, and Tracy read and reviewed this book. Keep reading to find out how our panelists rated this book.

Sep 11

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2023 Booker Longlist: Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein 

Our next longlist nominee is Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein. Bernstein was born in Montreal and now lives in the Scottish Highlands, where she teaches literature and creative writing. Her first book was a collection of poems titled The Coming Bad Days. Earlier this year she was selected for Grant’s Best of Young British Novelists.

Synopsis from Booker Prize website: A woman moves from the place of her birth to a ‘remote northern country’ to be housekeeper to her brother, whose wife has just left him. Soon after she arrives, a series of unfortunate events occurs: collective bovine hysteria; the death of a ewe and her nearly-born lamb; a local dog’s phantom pregnancy; a potato blight.

She notices that the community’s suspicion about incomers in general seems to be directed particularly in her case. She feels their hostility growing, pressing at the edges of her brother’s property. Inside the house, although she tends to her brother and his home with the utmost care and attention, he too begins to fall ill…

You can purchase a copy of the book here

Three of our panelists read the novel. Keep reading to find out how our panellists rated this book.

Sep 10

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The Dictionary People by Sarah Ogilvie

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The Dictionary People by Sarah Ogilvie
UK Publication: September 2023
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: [★★★]

This ARC was provided by Random House UK (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

A must read for all the word nerds out there!

Sep 8

2023 Booker Longlist: In Ascension by Martin MacInnes

Next up for our panel is the novel In Ascension by Scottish writer Martin MacInnes. In ascension is MacInnes’ third novel. His debut novel Infinite Ground, won the Somerset Maugham Award and was shortlisted for the Saltire Awards.

Synopsis for In Ascension taken from Booker Prize website: Leigh grew up in Rotterdam, drawn to the waterfront as an escape from her unhappy home life. Enchanted by the undersea world of her childhood, she excels in marine biology, travelling the globe to study ancient organisms.

When a trench is discovered in the Atlantic Ocean, Leigh joins the exploration team, hoping to find evidence of Earth’s first life forms. What she instead finds calls into question everything we know about our own beginnings, and leaves her facing an impossible choice: to remain with her family, or to embark on a journey across the breadth of the cosmos.

You can purchase a copy of the book here

Keep reading to find out how our panellists rated this book.

Sep 6

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2023 Booker Longlist: How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney marks the approximate halfway point for our panelists as we make our way through the 2023 Booker longlist.

Elaine Feeney is an award-winning poet, novelist, short story writer and playwright from the west of Ireland. Her works often center around themes of national and cultural identity. She started off as a slam poet in her 20s and her debut novel, As you Were, won the Dalkey Emerging writer award. How to Build a Boat is her second novel and is set in the West of Ireland.

Synopsis taken from Booker Prize website: Jamie O’Neill loves the colour red. He also loves tall trees, patterns, rain that comes with wind, the curvature of many objects, books with dust jackets, cats, rivers and Edgar Allan Poe.

At the age of 13, there are two things he especially wants in life: to build a Perpetual Motion Machine, and to connect with his mother Noelle, who died when he was born. In his mind, these things are intimately linked.

And at his new school, where all else is disorientating and overwhelming, he finds two people who might just be able to help him.

Sound interesting? You can purchase a copy of the book here.

Our panelists were really divided on this one. Keep reading to find out how we ranked it.

Sep 4

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2023 Booker Longlist: Western Lane by Chetna Maroo

Next up for our panel is a debut novel, Western Lane by Chetna Maroo.

Synopsis from Booker Prize website: Eleven-year-old Gopi has been playing squash since she was old enough to hold a racket. When her mother dies, her father enlists her in a quietly brutal training regimen, and the game becomes her world.

Slowly, she grows apart from her sisters. Her life is reduced to the sport, guided by its rhythms: the serve, the volley, the drive, the shot and its echo. But on the court, she is not alone. She is with her pa. She is with Ged, a 13-year-old boy with his own formidable talent. She is with the players who have come before her. She is in awe.

You can purchase a copy of the book here

Four of our panelists read this book. Keep reading to find out what they thought.