Ninepins

By Rosy Thornton

I love Rosy Thornton’s work so I’ve been looking forward to reviewing this one ever since it arrived. I’m very pleased to say that I wasn’t disappointed.

‘Ninepins’ tells the story of Laura, her 12-year-old daughter Beth, care-leaver Willow and Willow’s social worker, Vince. The other star of the story is Ninepins itself – the house where Laura and Beth live – and its setting in the Cambridgeshire fens.

I’m not going to say much about the plot, because it’s difficult to do so without being tempted to give too much away, but the story begins with Vince persuading Laura to take Willow in as a lodger. This is a decision that will turn out to have huge consequences for all four of them.

Setting this story in the fens was an inspired decision. As well as the depths of emotion explored between the different characters in the novel, there is a stunning interplay of atmospheric themes that could only have arisen from that location.

If you’ve ever been to the Cambridgeshire fens, you will recognise them from these expert depictions, and if you haven’t you’ll feel as though you have. The setting accentuates the themes of loneliness, vulnerability and isolation and allows the elements to become active participants in the story. Water, whether it is in the depths of the lode on which Ninepins is situated or in the form of ice holding the whole area in its grip during winter, is a constant factor and presents a contrast to fire, the other element that plays a significant part in the story.

‘Ninepins’ has a slightly different feel from Rosy Thornton’s previous works and I think it is the air of tension and menace hovering over this story which makes it feel like a bit of a departure. All round, a fabulous read which kept me reading late at night long after I should have been asleep.

Reviewed by Helen M Hunt

Thanks to the author for providing a review copy of this book.

A Month In The Country

by J L Carr

Somehow or other I managed to reach the age of 47 without ever reading J.L. Carr’s brilliant novella, ‘A Month in the Country’, or seeing the film-of -the-book. Half of that deficiency, at least, has now been rectified.

Being an expansive sort of writer myself (for which, read rambling and verbose), I am always amazed by what other authors can manage to convey in a small space – and Carr crams a whole world of feeling and ideas into just 85 short pages. I read the book in a few hours and re-surfaced from the experience disorientated, to find nothing around me looking quite the same as it had.

The essential story is simple enough. It is 1920 and Tom Birkin, a twenty-something signaller who survived the trenches physically but still bears the psychological scars, arrives in the Yorkshire village of Oxgodby, where he has been commissioned to uncover a medieval wall painting in the church. Birkin beds down for the summer on an army camp-bed in the church tower while, in a field adjoining the churchyard, a fellow war veteran and archaeologist by the name of Moon is also camping out, having been hired to locate the grave of a villager’s fourteenth century crusader forebear, who was excommunicated and buried on unconsecrated ground; she wants him found and brought back within the pale.

The book is hard to encapsulate because it is so many things at the same time. In part, it is a medieval mystery, as we seek the reason for the excommunication of Moon’s old crusader and what his connection might be with Birkin’s re-emerging mural in the church. It is also a love story, tracing the quiet course of Birkin’s undeclared passion for the vicar’s wife. And it is a lyrical, nostalgic portrait of the life of an English village one glorious summer, before the combustion engine drove out plodding hooves, before autumn’s chilly bite and the disappointments of the years, ‘when life is brimming with promise and the future stretches confidently ahead like that road to the hills’.

It is also a book about healing. The wall painting which Birkin brings painstakingly to life is a Judgment – a ‘Doom’. And if the tortured representations of the damned on their descent to hell are an echo of the horrors of Flanders, the English countryside surely represents the Elysian fields, full of the promise of redemption. We watch as Birkin is gradually unlocked from his shell-shocked inner prison, by the sun on his skin, and through tentative steps towards friendship, not only with the lovely Mrs Revd Keach, but with the archaeologist Moon and a small cast of other village characters, all depicted with affection and wit in Carr’s delicate brushwork, as fine as the medieval masterpiece on the chancel arch.

And now for the film. I gather it features a young Colin Firth. (((Do not disturb)))

Reviewed by Rosy Thornton

Rosy Thornton is the author of 'The Tapestry Of Love', 'Crossed Wires', 'More Than Love Letters' and 'Hearts And Minds'.

You can find out more about her at her website here and you can buy her books here.

I'm a big fan of Rosy's books and you can find my reviews of 'The Tapestry Of Love' here and 'Crossed Wires' here.

The Tapestry Of Love

By Rosy Thornton


I really enjoyed Rosy Thornton’s previous novel, ‘Crossed Wires’, so I was delighted when she offered to send me a copy of ‘The Tapestry Of Love’. If anything, this novel is even better.

Everything about ‘The Tapestry Of Love’ hits exactly the right note. From the beautiful evocation of the French setting to the skilfully drawn characters, it all works together to make a whole that kept me turning the pages until well after midnight.

All the characters are real, rounded and sympathetic. The main story is Catherine’s as she moves from England to a new home in the Ćevennes mountains, but the people she meets there and the people she leaves behind are all equally well-drawn.

Patrick Castagnol, Catherine’s neighbour, is the perfect male lead character. From the moment he steps onto the page, the reader can picture him and can totally empathise with Catherine’s changing feelings towards him.

As well as Patrick, I also really liked Catherine’s daughter Lexie and her French neighbours the Bouschet’s. Rosy Thornton has convincingly portrayed the initially awkward, but increasingly warm, encounters between Catherine and the new community she finds herself living among in France whilst also mapping the changing sands of her relationships with those she has left at home.

Another layer is added to the story by the exploration of Catherine’s relationship with the needlework and tapestry from which she is endeavouring to make her living. This is central to everything else that happens and enriches the narrative, as does the sensual description of food and meals which pervades the book.

I recommend this book highly. I loved it.

You can read my review of 'Crossed Wires' here.

Reviewed by Helen M Hunt

Crossed Wires

By Rosy Thornton

In this novel, Rosy Thornton has created a cast of characters you’ll love so much that you won’t want to leave them behind when you finish the book.

Call centre worker Mina, struggling to bring up her daughter and sister, and academic Peter, struggling to recover from a devastating incident in his life, will have you gripped from the first page. But what made this novel outstanding for me was the way in which the supporting cast was drawn.

There are some exquisite characters in this story. Peter’s neighbour Jeremy who spends his days drawing cockroaches for a living, but can always be relied on in a crisis, his student Trish who obsesses over her dissertation and teaches his nine year old daughters to play cards for money, and Ollie the hermaphrodite dog, are all an absolute joy.

The quirky cast inhabit a world that has been skilfully and beautifully drawn. Throughout the story, descriptive details are lushly filled in, giving the story a background that springs off the page.

Rosy Thornton covers a number of important themes in this novel with a sure touch. Loss, and how people deal with it, is high on the list, but also we have the highs and lows of parenting, the power of coincidence, the pressure to conform and live life by the expectations of others, and the fear and inevitability of change.

I found this novel compelling and emotionally satisfying. I wanted to get to the end to see what happened, but at the same time I wanted not to ever get to the end because I didn’t want to leave the lives of Peter and Mina behind.

The story is intellectually satisfying in a way that reminded me of Kate Atkinson. It is a love story – but it is so much more than that. It is also a story that makes you think.

Reviewed by Helen M Hunt