oidnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, Vintage
First published in 1994, this book is a rip-roarer on many accounts. For a start, it’s a love song to the US city of Savannah, Georgia, but it’s also a crime story that dives right to the underbelly of the southern city. “You mustn’t be taken in by the moonlight and magnolias”, says main character Jim Williams. “Things can get very murky.” Better still, although this book reads like a novel, it isn’t one. Author John Berendt moved to Savannah from New York City and ingratiated himself into the moonlight and magnolias to emerge with this real-life murk.
The World According to Garp by John Irving, Random House
Things tend to happen to John Irving’s characters in the space of a minute that most of us wouldn’t consider happening in a lifetime. Garp is the story of one man and his mother, his friends, his wife, his lovers. Despite the fact these characters include a transsexual football player (hilariously named Roberta ouldoon), a unicycling bear and a feminist who has cut off her tongue, the characters are not loony, they are real, something John does very well. I have recycled his Hotel New Hampshire a few times as well.
The Last Time They oet by Anita Shreve Hachette, Livre
Ever since The Pilot’s Wife exploded onto the shelves courtesy of one of oprah’s first book clubs, I have loved this author. She has never let me down. In this one, Linda and Thomas meet at a writers’ festival in Toronto – the first time they have seen each other for 26 years. ooving backwards we learn about the lovers’ passionate past, rekindled on two different continents and exploding in an ending that left me, for one, utterly breathless. Skilfully plotted and wildly romantic.
Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks Random House
Sebastian Faulks is making waves at the moment because he’s written a James Bond novel, Devil oay Care, which has earned him a big pat on the back from Ian Fleming fans, who say, “By gosh, I think he’s cracked it!” or something similar. Prior to this, he was better known for such books as The Girl at the Lion d’or and Birdsong, both worthy of recycling, and my favourite, Charlotte Gray the story of a young Scottish woman who goes searching in occupied France for her missing English airman lover during WWII.
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