Wendy’s Top Reads for October
A couple of enjoyable books to read…
Lately I have had the pleasure of finding a couple of new authors I had not read before – Liz Byrski, and Sally Hepworth. Both are Australian writers, of different ages but both with wonderful insight for character development and particularly for female storylines.
Sally Hepworth: The Good Sister, and The Younger Wife – until recently I had not read Sally’s books and I have now enjoyed both of these.
The Good Sister
A garage full of stolen goods. An old hot-water bottle, stuffed with cash. A blood-soaked wedding. And that’s only the beginning . . .
Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister Rose three nights a week. But Fern also has sensory, anxiety issues and she avoids crowds, bright lights and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life. Until she meets Wally…
Fern sees her chance to pay her sister back for everything Rose has done for her. Fern can have a baby for Rose! She just needs to find a father. Simple.
Fern’s mission will shake the foundations of the life she has carefully built for herself and stir up dark secrets from the past, in this quirky, rich and shocking story of unexpected love.
The Younger Wife centres around the announcement of Stephen and Heather’s engagement which threatens to set off a family implosion, with old wounds and dark secrets finally being forced to the surface.
Tully and Rachel are murderous when they discover their father has a new girlfriend. The fact that Heather is half his age isn’t even the most shocking part. Stephen is still married to their mother, who is in a care facility with end-stage Alzheimer’s disease.
Heather knows she has an uphill battle to win Tully and Rachel over, while carrying the burden of the secrets of her past. But, as it turns out, they are all hiding something.
Liz Byrski: At The End of the Day
When Mim Squires and Mathias Vander are stranded together on a disrupted flight home to Perth, they are surprised to find that they have much in common. Mim owns a bookshop, Mathias is a writer, and both are at turning points in their lives – they quickly form a close friendship.
But life back in Perth is not smooth sailing, with their respective family members going through their own upheavals. As Mim and Mathias both struggle to adjust to the challenges of being in their late seventies, secrets from the past that neither wishes to face rise to the surface, challenging their long-held beliefs in their independence and singularity.
Liz Byrski is so good at writing relatable characters in later life. The settings are realistic, the stories are familiar and warm, and the imperfections are so relatable to us all!