The Girl Who Came Home – Hazel Gaynor
I discovered Hazel Gaynor a while ago and absolutely devoured ‘The Lighthouse Keepers Daughter’, but somehow never got around to reading any of her other work until now. Titanic is one of those events which has been told and re-told so many times, especially in the historical fiction/saga genre that it is hard to make it fresh. However, as with ‘The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter’, Hazel Gaynor has a really unique ability to take factual events and sensitively intertwine fictious plots which breathe fresh life and emotion into already familiar stories, rendering them like an entirely new plot to even the most well-read historian. The story of the Addergoole Fourteen is one I’d strangely never come across despite (like everyone) having seen umpteen films, documentaries and novels about Titanic; and again Hazel Gaynor strikes the almost impossible balance between respecting the real-life characters’ personal journeys and adding her own creative flair to fill in the blanks which history has left and enrich their stories for the reader. I will certainly be making my way through more of her back catalogue when time allows!
Suffragette Girl – Margaret Dickinson
Obviously I love historical sagas and all things feminism, so there was no way I could have walked past this when I saw it in my local library. I will admit that I was initially taken aback by the prologue taking place in the 1930’s, and a bit confused as to how it could possibly link to pre-WW1 suffrage, but the plot was so multi-faceted that, before I knew it, I was following the characters into the 1920s and still wanting to know more about where their journey would take me. I did find the pacing a little bit fast for my taste, but this didn’t occur at the expense of any individual character development, I just would’ve enjoyed delving deeper into the shorter term milestones of the characters’ lives rather than skipping to bigger events which take place many years apart. That said, I do think this story had enough layers to it that it could have been a two, or potentially even three, part saga as it has definitely left me wanting more – which I suppose is the mark of any great story!
Skipping Christmas – John Grisham
On the hunt for some more specifically festive reads which don’t include a single woman finding love where she least expects it in a country village over Christmas after having her heart broken in the big city, and as a fan of ‘Christmas with the Kranks’, I was very much looking forward to this. As a footnote to that last point, there’s nothing at all wrong with chick-lit, I love chick-lit, I just don’t personally love Christmas chick-lit. I find good, standalone, Christmas stories quite difficult to find if I’m honest – Dickens really has the market on that one doesn’t he? Anyway, I did the strange and taboo thing of reading the book version after being familiar with the film, but in my defence it was only recently that I was made aware that this story was a book first. I was a little bit disappointed that some scenes and even dialogue were word for word the same as the film version, but then again I complain if “film versions” differ even slightly from books I’ve enjoyed so I suppose there was no winning either way in this scenario. I did however really enjoy the difference in Nora and Luther Krank from the “film version”. If I’m honest, the book makes a little bit more sense and the plot is more believable than the film – Nora in the film never seemed very sold by the whole scheme and I never quite understood why she got on board in the first place, but I found the Kranks’ literary counterparts much more united and a little bit more likeable in that sense; I was really rooting for them to have their Christmas-free holiday whereas in the film I always find the portrayal much closer to the stereotypical “grinch” dad and overly festive, motherly housewife. A testament to why the “book version” is literally always better.
Clyde's Corner 