2026 Specimen by Jaima Fixsen

This was a breathtaking read from start to finish!

Set in 1826 Edinburgh, Isobel Tait is, for all intents and purposes, a single mother to Thomas. Her little boy’s health is in decline and he also suffers from an unusual heart defect.

Desperate to help Thomas’ health improve, Isobel arranges an appointment with a specialist, Dr. Burnett, at the recommendation of their usual doctor.  

Unfortunately for Isobel and Thomas, Dr Burnett is not only famous for his skills as a medic but is also well-known throughout Edinburgh for his exhibition of medical curiosities.

Not long after their appointment, Thomas goes missing in suspicious circumstances, and Isobel is convinced that Dr Burnett has something to do with the disappearance of her son. However, as a grief stricken and distraught mother on her own, she struggles to find anyone who will believe or help her.

The author’s note at the end on the inspiration for this book is really interesting!

Happy Reading!

Butter by Asako Yuzuki

Tokyo Journalist Rika begins interviewing an infamous female serial killer, accused of murdering multiple men by seducing them through her cookery skills. Rika finds herself more and more fascinated by her interviewee and her alternative world view; which allows her to embrace pleasure without the crushing guilt that usually follows for most people, women in particular.

This is a fascinating exploration of Japanese society’s expectations of women through food culture, and the considerable judgement that is passed at subverting these social rules, even when that is within the size of a person’s own body.

A mouth-wateringly delicious novel! I will never look at a simple bowl of white rice the same way ever again.

Happy Reading!

Disappearance inFiji by Nilima Rao

A colourful exploration of the country’s colonial past, quite literally: reading about the tropical flowers and fauna was a real joy, as much as the historical mystery, set in 1914, on the edge of the First World War. Sergeant Akal Singh has been demoted within the police force and sent to one of the remotest outposts; Fiji. This punishment was the lesser of evils, the worst being the loss of his job altogether, but Akal misses his life in Singapore. He misses his status and the perceived respect afforded to him. Overt racism is something he has to deal with daily in Fiji and he bemoans his time spent in this backwater of the empire. An opportunity to redeem himself to his critical superiors appears in the form of a missing female indentured servant on one of the infamous plantations, so he beings to investigate.

A brilliant cast of realistic characters really bring this story, in such a remote place, to life. I was so sorry to finish this book – can’t wait for more!

Happy Reading!

Here one Moment by Liane Moriarty

It’s always exciting when Liane Moriarty releases a new novel, she never disappoints!

This story follows an unusual event, on a previously normal flight from Hobart, Tasmania to mainland Sydney one morning.

A elderly woman starts making alarming predictions about the life expectancy of the passengers around her in the cabin. She does this with such confidence and conviction, that people begin to feel uncomfortable, to say the least. Then, of course, social media plays a role in amplifying this event and spreading it far and wide.

Who is she?

Is she a psychic? A fortune teller? Someone having a mental health crisis? Or just completely crazy?

No one knows.

Either way, the consequences of these pronouncements inside the aircraft have long reaching effects that ricochet and reverberate through the lives of those involved, sometimes thrillingly and sometimes tragically.

This is a clever, witty and poignant read.

Happy Reading!

–

The current TV adaption of Moriarty’s ‘The Last Anniversary’ on BBC IPlayer is also definitely worth a watch, or better yet, a read!

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

‘What do you think librarians do?’ she asked, ‘check out books? Certainly not. We deliver knowledge to those who need it…’ (p.161)

Fern is desperately in need of knowledge and help, after being dropped off at a home for girls in Florida by her furious father. Far from her home, she is pregnant and alone, disorientated by how things went so wrong, so fast.

This is a heart-wrenching novel about friendship and solidarity in the face of indifference, cruelty and medical arrogance and negligence.

This novel reads differently to Grady Hendrix’s others, perhaps because it has a basis in tragic reality, though still with a healthy dose of supernatural thrills.

A great read for under-dog spirit!

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

A brilliant historical fiction combined with horror.

1800, in the Southern states of the USA tension is brewing between them and Mexico and land ownership.

Nena has grown up on a huge ranch Los Ojuelos, her father responsible for all the workers within. The story follows her childhood relationship with one of the worker’s (vaqueros) children, Nestor.

One night, a hunt for hidden treasure brutally changes both their lives, because for as long as they can remember, there have been stories or folk tales, easily dismissed, about something that lurks when the sun goes down and hunts in the warm summer evenings.

But when the cicadas go silent, it’s time to run.

~

Opening lullaby translation:

Go to sleep, child.

Go to sleep already

(If not)El Cuco is coming

to eat you up.

~

Fantastic, adventurous fun!

Happy Reading!

Saltblood by Francesca de Tores

Saltblood by Francesca de Tores is an absolute adventurous, tempestuous joy! Mary Read is as agile as a shapeshifter and as fearless as any swashbuckling hero. This book reminded me of the excitement of reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island for the first time, though through a female lens.

Mary grows up as Mark, a financial necessity, so she is used to a flexible notion of identity. She moves effortlessly from Navy ‘seaman’ to soldier, then to wife and later back to the sea and on to piracy, with tense and thrilling adventures along the way.

A historical fiction based on threadbare records, this book weaves the story of an incredibly rich and varied life, as unpredictable as a ship swept about by a stormy sea.

Happy Reading!

The North Light by Hideo Yokoyama

This is a slow burn of a read but a very enjoyable mystery, set amidst stunning descriptions of Japanese scenery.

 Minoru Aose has achieved great renown as an architect after designing and building his proudest creation, the Y Residence, a rural home for the Yoshino family. It is everything that he would want for his own dream home, he put all of his heart and soul, sweat and blood into this design. Therefore, he is surprised not to hear from the family after a predetermined time, according to Japanese culture, letting him know how the move went and how life in the property is going.

He then hears by happenchance that the Y Residence appears to be empty, with no one living there. Convinced that this is a mistake, Aose takes time from his busy schedule to drive out to the countryside and see for himself. There, he discovers as described, a house that has never been lived in and no sign of the family.

Very intriguing – happy reading!

Nightb🐶tch by Rachel Yoder

Only a short book but this is a wild journey! Raw and painful and honest. It is about what makes us human and simultaneously animal, embracing the feral instincts we have in us, that are suppressed most of the time.

The mother, who has become a stay at home mum, loves her little boy deeply but is also being driven to distraction by the monotony of her days, she longs for her previous work life as an artist. The husband offers little support, emotional or otherwise and expects her to handle all the mental load of family life.

Gradually, she starts to notice strange compulsions that she cannot control and changes in her body that lead her to believe that she is either transforming, or going completely insane.

A fantastic body horror with echoes of Kafka.

Happy Reading! 🐶

New Year 2025: Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent

Happy 2025! And another year filled with books!

Sally had no idea she did anything wrong by putting her Dad out with the rubbish when he died, this is, after all, what he had told her to do. Mentioning this at the post office, on one of her rare forays out, sets off a series of events that disrupts her near isolated life and starts to uncover the mystery of her past, that for some reason she cannot remember.

Sally Diamond is a fantastic, unique and realistic character, socially awkward but determined.  I tore through this book in a couple of days, it is dark and disturbing but poignant story.

Happy Reading!