Janet Gordon is married, retired, obsessed with her Westlake Terrier, Rollo – and books are her passion. She reads multiple books a week across all genres and reviews them for Rest Less.
This month’s round-up features Talking at Night (including a catch up with the author, Claire Daverley), First Wife’s Shadow, Once Upon a Time in Venice, Dead Mile, and The Briar Club.
Note: Prices can change often, so you may notice some variations on the providers’ websites. Prices and availability are accurate as of the 8th of August 2024.
Rest Less members may remember that along with my husband and dog, Rollo, I recently went to Snettisham for a few days to try out the latest addition to the Crabpot Cottages’ portfolio of rental properties. And it rained constantly! You can read about our time away, here.
So, it was with great anticipation that we set off for Dunwich in Suffolk for a week by the beach with our son, grandchildren, and their friends.
We stayed in a wonderful house and enjoyed the company of teenagers that actually talk (rather than grunt)! I’d cooked up a storm of food to bring and we had a Waitrose delivery waiting for us on arrival so there was plenty of tasty food too.
But, once again, it rained, and rained, and rained. I think we had about half a day where we actually made it to the beach, rather than gazing out of the bifold doors onto the rainy and windswept scenery. Still, Monopoly was the board game of choice and there was football on the telly.
Luckily, I had loads of books to review with me, and yet another multi-coloured crochet blanket to finish.
Talking at Night by Claire Daverley (Amazon £5.50, Kindle £0.99, Michael Joseph £7.99)
One of my favourite reads of the holiday was Claire Daverley’s Talking at Night. Claire used to live locally to me, and I had a chat with her about this book, her debut novel.
Claire has been writing since she was about six, when she received her Brownie badge for it. And ever since then she’s been scribbling – and hiding the results – in notebooks.
She says, “I think writing is like a baby deer…say too much, get too close, and you’ll spook it.” What a lovely analogy.
After university, Claire began work in the marketing department of Penguin Random House, and continued her writing from there.
Having written quite a few chapters of the first draft of Talking at Night, she sent it off anonymously to an agent who leapt on it and encouraged her to finish it. And guess what? Without knowing that Claire actually worked for them, Penguin bought it!
“Luckily when they realised I was one of their employees, they still wanted to go ahead with publishing,” laughed Claire.
Nominated for the British Book Awards and chosen by WHSmith as their Book of the Month for June, this is the story of cool guy Will – blessed with cutting edge cheekbones and a very kind heart. He turns up at the school leaving party and is irresistibly drawn to quiet Rosie, who he half-recognised from tutoring her twin brother, Josh.
When an unavoidable tragedy occurs, Will and Rosie spend many nights talking over long phone calls. Rosie leaves for university whilst Will works all hours to keep his family afloat and save for his (their) future.
Talking at Night should come with a trigger warning since this is so emotional that you’ll need at least one box of tissues! It’s so beautifully written, so enchantingly romantic, and so heartbreaking that this would surely make a wonderful television series.
Claire and her husband have now moved to a spacious Victorian house in Scotland along with Isla, their Sprocker Spaniel.
Claire says, “We were already in the process of moving up there when I got my book deal, having holidayed in Scotland for many years. We’re both very outdoorsy and we’d always dreamt of living by both the sea and the mountains. The house needs a lot of renovation and it’s quite a project, but slowly and surely we’re going to make it ours.”
I asked Claire what she was writing next… “I’m writing a new novel; it’s not a sequel but a standalone in a similar vein (relationship fiction), though this time we have three people.”
I, for one, can’t wait!
First Wife’s Shadow by Adele Parks (Amazon £14.09, Kindle £8.99, HQ £16.99)
Adele Parks just keeps getting better and better – and her 24th novel, First Wife’s Shadow, is so gripping, so absorbing, and so unputdownable, that I read it at a gallop.
Forty-something Emma is quite content with her lot. She’s single, lives in an eco-friendly house in the middle of the Hampshire woods, and is the CEO of a major wind harvesting company. She’s solvent, disciplined, and very independent. Whatever she needs, she can buy, sort, or get for herself.
That is until she meets Matthew at a well-respected conference where she’s the headline speaker. He has an all areas access pass and seems to be a terrific photographer. The two hit it off with drinks, chat, and flirting.
But Matthew leaves without leaving a note, and sensible, dedicated Emma finds herself daydreaming about whether she should look him up.
A few days later, Emma’s PA panics as the photographer booked for an important company shoot is ill. “Try Matthew Charlton,” Emma says casually. And so the liaison begins and Emma is hooked.
Her besties, Heidi and Gina (who are both happily married), are outwardly cautiously optimistic. But Emma, locked in her romantic Matthew bubble, is busy cancelling their girlie meet-ups, dinners, and weekends away.
I simply couldn’t put this down! The way in which Adele builds the narrative, racks up the tension, and leads you to the realisation of just what’s happening is so seductive and such compulsive reading. I can definitely see this as a Netflix series!
Take this one on holiday and you won’t be sorry. Mind you, you probably won’t be very good company either!
Once Upon a Time in Venice by Carol Kirkwood (Amazon £8.99, Kindle £7.99, HarperCollins £16.99)
With my rainy trip to Suffolk, I do wish I’d had Scottish weather presenter Carol Kirkwood’s weather forecasting skills, because I just might have packed something a little warmer!
Should Carol ever decide to give up talking about the weather, she definitely has an alternative career as an author. Once Upon a Time in Venice is her fourth novel set in an exotic location.
The story follows Gina, a concierge in the most luxurious hotel in Venice. She’s always working hard and very rarely takes time off, but she’s persuaded to do so to attend the most romantic of events – a masked ball. Under the cover of her mask, she’s flirted with and while she doesn’t know who it is, the chemistry between the two of them is undeniable.
But, similarly to in Cinderella, he vanishes into the night and Gina is left bereft.
Also at the ball, and equally as concealed, is operatic diva Lucia and a world famous film star accompanied by his PA. And when they all meet…
I must tell you, many years ago I went to the Met Office to interview the female weather presenters of the day. Asked if I wanted to have a go at presenting, I waved my hands around in front of the weather map – “Don’t give up the day job” was the response!
Dead Mile by Jo Furniss (Amazon £9.07, Kindle £0.99, Bonnier £9.99)
If your holiday packing won’t allow a hardback, this is a paperback read I couldn’t put down.
I don’t know about you, but when driving on the motorway (in particular my local motorways – the M25 and M11) I’m always worried the traffic will grind to a halt and I’ll be stuck.
And whilst there’ve been plenty of mystery books which take place in a locked room, a locked house, a secluded cabin, or something else that you can lock up and leave, Dead Mile is a locked room mystery with a difference.
It’s set on a motorway known as the Dead Mile. I’m visualising the A2 leading down to the Blackwall Tunnel with its high wire fences either side. And, of course, once you’re in that traffic system and it stops, you’re stuck.
Soon-to-retire (she thinks) Sergeant Belinda “Billy” Kidd is driving home from the airport; she’s jet-lagged, tired, and ready to resign from a long and honourable career. She’s also menopausal which has impacted her confidence and affected her driving.
The traffic grinds to a halt at five pm as a newsreader excitedly explains that, along with other explosions throughout London, a bomb has exploded in the Deadwall Tunnel (just a mile or so in front of them) so the roads have been shut. Billy and most of the other drivers and passengers get out of their vehicles and begin to chat.
It’s 5.05 pm when Billy and a fellow driver nicknamed ‘Parking Ticket’ (for obvious reasons – she’s throwing a massive strop whilst waving a recent parking ticket) discover that the driver of a black sedan is slumped behind the wheel. Billy summons up her ‘cop self’ and discovers he’s dead.
Calling over ‘Foul Mouth’ (another driver who’d been effing and blinding nearby) who stated she was a nurse, the pair discover that ‘Mr Black Car’ had been murdered. Since nobody can escape from this monumental gridlocked jam, it stands to reason that the murderer must be amongst the group of people Billy is desperately trying to keep in order.
As the hours go by, the drivers resort to weeing on the hard shoulder – devoid of any cover. However, whilst Billy is also desperate, she can’t bring herself to wee in front of the potential murderer.
How Billy solves her problem, uncovers the murderer, and fits all the parts of the traffic jigsaw together makes a truly engrossing read. Billy is certainly a very welcome and human addition to police ranks.
This read is terrific. It’s very much like a police reconstruction of a road traffic accident, albeit much much more entertaining.
The Briar Club by Kate Quinn (Amazon £9.99, Kindle £8.99, Harper Collins £18.99)
Last year was the 60th anniversary of one of my must-read books; The Group by Mary McCarthy. The novel celebrates the lives of eight Vassar graduates who meet a year after graduation.
Reading The Briar Club, I’m strongly reminded of the same kind of friendship group.
Set in Washington DC in 1950, we’re introduced to Pete, the owner of the Briarwood House, a B&B type lodging house for ladies of limited means. Pete is almost struck dumb when Grace March, a would-be renter, calls him Hammerin Pete and takes the scruffy top floor attic room. With her weekly dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea, she somehow manages to bring together all the oddball tenants into a group of friends.
Hammerin Pete is completely under Grace’s spell – and then the house is torn apart by a murder.
This beautifully written female-led novel wonderfully depicts life in the American 50s.
For more reading inspiration, head over to the books, literature, and writing section of our website. Or, for further book and literature discussions, you might be interested in joining the thriving book club or short story club over on Rest Less Events.
Have you read any of these books? Or have you added any of them to your reading list? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.