Wednesday 18 October 2017

BLEAKER HOUSE - NELL STEVENS

Nell Stevens went to Bleaker Island in the Falklands seeking isolation so she could really concentrate on her novel. She got the isolation but the novel she was intending to write escaped and so we have Bleaker House, the story of her stay on Bleaker. Cold, barren, harsh, all these words apply to this godforsaken piece of dirt but the story of her stay is an excellent one. We get glimpses of the story she was trying to write but I doubt it would be better than this story. Highly recommended. Yes, it's in the library and is a treasure.




THE ESSEX SERPENT - SARAH PERRY


I'm not into historical novels but following some good reviews I picked this up, the last book due as part of my prize for winning the Chapter Bookshop Short Story competition run by Romance Writers of New Zealand for 2016.
Part social commentary, part fantasy, with the mythical Essex Serpent playing it's part, it's about friendship, lust, magic and death. Attraction between men and women (or vice versa) is a mystical process and that's true here. People who would never consider moving outside a relationship suddenly find, to their surprise, that there's a person with some kind of magnetism who is affecting their rational thinking. I sometimes feel like that when I see pictures of certain people and if you never, ever consider an adventure with someone of the other gender, real, imagined or mythical, you should.
Anyway, it's a good read. It's probably in the library.