Posts by imabookwormy

2023 Booker Longlist: Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

Our final book on the longlist is Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. Lynch is an internationally acclaimed Irish novelist who has published five novels, winning several awards in the process. Prophet Song is his fifth novel.

Synopsis from Booker Prize website: On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on her doorstep. Two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police want to speak with her husband.

Things are falling apart. Ireland is in the grip of a government that is taking a turn towards tyranny. And as the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, Eilish finds herself caught within the nightmare logic of a collapsing society – assailed by unpredictable forces beyond her control and forced to do whatever it takes to keep her family together.

You can purchase a copy of the book here

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

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2023 Booker Longlist: The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

Entering the home stretch, our next book is The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. Paul Murray is an Irish author who is no stranger to the Booker Prize. His novel, Skippy Dies was long listed for the Booker in 2010. 

Synopsis taken from the Booker Prize website: Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under – but rather than face the music, he’s spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker. His exasperated wife Imelda is selling off her jewellery on eBay while half-heartedly dodging the attentions of fast-talking cattle farmer Big Mike.

Meanwhile, teenage daughter Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way to her final exams. And 12-year-old PJ, in debt to local sociopath ‘Ears’ Moran, is putting the final touches to his grand plan to run away.

Yes, in Paul Murray’s brilliant tragicomic saga, the Barnes family is definitely in trouble. So where did it all go wrong? And if the story has already been written – is there still time to find a happy ending?

You can purchase a copy of the book here

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

North Woods by Daniel Mason

North Woods by Daniel Mason
UK Publication: September 2023
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: [★★★★★]

This ARC was provided by John Murray Press (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

Two word review – Loved.It.

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Before We Say Goodbye by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Geoffrey Trousselot (Translator)

Before We Say Goodbye by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Geoffrey Trousselot (Translator)
UK Publication: September 2023
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: [★★★]

This ARC was provided by Pan Macmillan (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

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2023 Booker Longlist: This Other Eden by Paul Harding

This Other Eden by Paul Harding is the next book up for our panel. This Other Eden is Harding’s 3rd book. His novel Tinkers, won the Pulitzer and PEN Prizes in 2010.

Synopsis taken from the Booker Prize website:  Inspired by historical events, This Other Eden tells the story of Apple Island: an enclave off the coast of the United States where castaways – in flight from society and its judgment – have landed and built a home.

In 1792, formerly enslaved Benjamin Honey arrives on the island with his Irish wife, Patience, to make a life together there. More than a century later, the Honeys’ descendants remain, alongside an eccentric, diverse band of neighbours.

Then comes the intrusion of ‘civilization’: officials determine to ‘cleanse’ the island. A missionary schoolteacher selects one light-skinned boy to save. The rest will succumb to the authorities’ institutions – or cast themselves on the waters in a new Noah’s Ark…

You can purchase a copy of the book here

Five of our panelists read and reviewed this novel. Keep reading to find out how we rated it.

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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.

2023 Booker Longlist – Pearl by Siân Hughes

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.

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The Dictionary People by Sarah Ogilvie

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!

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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.