pickAnother great listen! A modern take on vampire lore, it drew me in and kept my attention rapt. There isn‘t a lot of mystery or shock value here - it‘s easy to connect all the pieces and figure out what‘s happening - but it was dark and emotional and very different than I was expecting. 🌟🌟🌟🌟
pickWhat a page turner!
pickA curious story that combines wonderfully ascerbic humour from Lydia, a London journalist, who returns to her Welsh cottage with her put upon friend Betty, with lovely descriptive writing. Lydia + Betty mingle with the locals and enjoy the various relationships that allow Lydia scope for her barbs. There is also a strange supernatural thread + commentary by a curious absent character, Angharad, which perhaps added little. Very enjoyable ⬇️
pickSoft pick. I liked the mystery surrounding the reality show, but it was much less character focussed than the first novel. Ffion and Leo were a big focus in book 1 as was Ffion‘s family and that was absent here, so while it works as a mystery/procedural it‘s not what I expected from this installment.
pickBetter than the first! I really liked Georgina and her relationship with Ffion. Kinda frustrated with Leo & Ffion. But the supporting characters were great and Macintosh does a great job making the setting come to life.
pick18 year old Manod lives on a small Welsh island whose population is steadily decreasing as people leave for easier lives on the mainland. She is smart and dreams of more than a life where her only future is marriage. When strangers arrive to study the island Manod is both drawn to them and dismayed at how wrong they are about her home. A quiet novel with a unique and complicated heroine, this was easy to finish quickly but left much to consider.
pickDebut novel about a small Welsh island community right before World War II. This was one of the books I had predicted would make the booker last year (I was wrong). Quiet novel about island life that is beautifully written. Fairly similar to The Colony. Story follows 18-yo Manood who is conflicted between traditions of her community and desire for modernization on the mainland.
pickReminiscent of a few books I‘ve enjoyed: The Colony by Audrey Magee and Clear by Carys Davies. It‘s a slim novel, set in 1938 off the coast of Wales on a tiny island with 20 inhabitants. We see the island from Manod‘s perspective, an 18 year old girl living with her father and younger sister, when two English researchers arrive. Seeing her existence through their eyes changes everything. Isolated community, heavy on the nature and scenery.
