Book after Book

By Elizabeth Haynes Published by Myriad Editions It was there when I opened my eyes, that vague feeling of discomfort, the rocking of the boat signalling the receding tide and the wind from the south, blowing upriver, straight into the side of the Revenge of the Tide. This is how Revenge of the Tide , Elizabeth Haynes’s second novel, begins. I don’t normally take too much notice of the opening sentence of a novel – I’m not one of those people who won’t read a book if they’re not intrigued from the very beginning – but in this case it was different. When I reached that first full stop, I knew that I would love this book. Revenge of the Tide is the name of the houseboat that London sales executive Genevieve Shipley buys in Kent with the intention of renovating it and taking some time away from a hectic life that’s become too stressful. Not to mention dangerous, after her second job as a dancer in a private club has become more serious than she’d expected. She just wanted to make some eas...

By Sue Eckstein Published by Myriad Editions Author of the acclaimed debut novel The Cloths of Heaven , Sue Eckstein has come back with her second work of fiction, Interpreters . A successful return, I should add. On opening the book, we read the beginning of a (fictional) magazine article about non-traditional families. In it, Susanna and her uncle Max talk about their household and Susanna’s choice, when she was very young, to move from Africa, where she used to live with her mother, to England, where Max lived in a sort of commune. It is in this indirect way that we are introduced to Julia Rosenthal, mother of Susanna and sister of Max. It is her that we follow as, on her way to an appointment with a notary, she drives to her childhood home and lets the memories flood back. Spotted by someone she used to know when she was little, she is invited into the house she used to live in. As the morning passes and each room is explored, we learn about her mother, her father and the life she ...

By Martine McDonagh Published by Myriad Editions With her début novel, Martine McDonagh delves into the hotly debated topic of climate change. And what a dark world she envisages: submerged lands and isolated territories where death and hunger are common realities. Rachel, the post-apocalyptic heroine of this book, avoids human contact as much as possible and finds comfort in a solitary life, far away from the communities that have sprung up to help people cope with the new and disastrous state of affairs. What pushes her then to make a first step towards another person? Whatever it is, it unwillingly develops into an obsessive search for the elusive Jez White, who is in turns the hunter and the hunted. In this ominous future, the landscape is not just a background rather a heavy presence, one of the main characters. It shapes the way that people think and behave; it decides where they can go and what they can do. McDonagh’s skilfully chosen words almost have a palpable structure, wet ...

By Isabel Ashdown Pubished by Myriad Editions In 2009, Brighton-based Myriad Editions published Isabel Ashdown’s début novel, Glasshopper, an extract of which had won the 2008 Mail on Sunday Novel Competition. I can only agree with the competition judges who described the author’s writing as “magnificent”! Set in Portsmouth in 1984, Glasshopper is the story of a troubled family. Thirteen-year-old Jake is an endearing main character, trying his best to live as normally as possible for the sake of his little brother, while his mother goes in and out of alcohol-induced depression bouts and his father, who moved out of the family home, makes an appearance only at weekends. Initially, Mary, Jake’s mother, is easy to despise for letting herself go and not thinking of her two children. However, not wanting her to be merely considered as a “hopeless alcoholic”, Ashdown decided to give her a voice. Hence the brilliantly balanced book structure of alternating chapters written from the points of ...

By Lesley Thomson Published by Myriad Editions It is the summer of 1968. The Ramsays are spending the holidays in their majestic country house in Sussex and their youngest child, Eleanor, is introduced to Alice, the daughter of the village postman. Their parents believe that the two girls will enjoy playing together, despite the evident clash of personalities. Eleanor is as adventure-seeking and unruly as Alice is quiet and obedient. Always polite, Alice shocks herself when she starts taunting Eleanor with a secret that she discovered about Mrs Ramsay. That’s why, despite having been told not to go to there, she follows her companion to the Tide Mills. The ruins of a deserted village, they are Eleanor’s favourite playground and - with all their nooks and intricate vegetation - a perfect place to play hide and seek. When it is Eleanor’s turn to hide, Alice vanishes without trace. Lesley Thomson’s engaging writing style skilfully explores the obsession and the sense of guilt, hope and de...