"All across the country, there was misery and rejoicing. . . All across the country, people felt bereaved and shocked. All across the country, people "All across the country, there was misery and rejoicing. . . All across the country, people felt bereaved and shocked. All across the country, people felt righteous. All across the country, people felt sick. All across the country, people felt history at their shoulder. All across the country, people felt history meant nothing. All across the country, people felt like they counted for nothing. All across the country, people had pinned their hopes on it. All across the country, people waved flags in the rain. . ."
Published in 2016, "Autumn" is considered to be the first post-Brexit novel. It's also the first of a quartet of novels named for the four seasons, and plays around with time.
The book opens with 32 year old Elisabeth Demand visiting 101 year old Daniel Gluck in an elder care home. They met as neighbors when Elisabeth was 8 and Daniel was an elderly man, and became good friends. They both had vivid imaginations, and shared a love of storytelling, wordplay, and art.
The writing is nonlinear going from 2016 to the 1990s, and occasionally to Daniel's younger years in the 1930s and 1960s. It dips into politics, poetry, songwriting, literature, and art. There is some wonderful wordplay and humor when Elisabeth deals with the bureaucracy in the post office as she tries to renew a passport.
The fictional Daniel was in love with the real British 1960s Pop artist Pauline Boty. Elisabeth plans to write a thesis about Boty and her cutting-edge artwork, including collages about the Profumo scandal, and Marilyn Monroe. In many ways the book itself is a memory collage with playful impressions from numerous points in time, then returning back to the post-Brexit atmosphere.
The most delightful aspect of the book is the warm friendship between Daniel and Elisabeth. Their lively conversations were full of imagination and joy, a bright contrast to the uncertainly and upheaval of Brexit.
"Verity" is a dark psychological thriller filled with deception, obsession, and lust. The name "Verity" comes from the Latin word for truth, but none "Verity" is a dark psychological thriller filled with deception, obsession, and lust. The name "Verity" comes from the Latin word for truth, but none of the characters can be trusted.
The book is narrated by Lowen Ashleigh who has been hired as a ghostwriter to complete a series of books written by Verity Crawford. Verity is brain-damaged and mute after a car accident. As Lowen is reading notes in Verity's home office, she comes across a secret autobiography full of chilling details about Verity's marriage to Jeremy and some suspicious deaths. Chapters of Verity's shocking autobiography alternate with Lowen's narration.
As the book continues, Lowen becomes emotionally involved with Jeremy, and starts to resemble Verity more and more in her reactions. The book has deceptive, unreliable narrators with different versions of the truth. The reader wonders who is the villain and who is the victim in this steamy, creepy tale.
Amazon MGM Studio is going to make a film adaption of this thriller with Anne Hathaway playing the lead role....more