If I Tell ~ Gill Perdue

I finished this gripping thriller in two sittings, the first was on an overnight stint in an overcrowded A&E room. So often with this book, fact and fiction merged for me, beginning when two policemen arrived at the hospital with a man in handcuffs, seeking medical assistance.  For those of you who don't know, this is not unlike the scenario at the start of Perdue's first novel in the Shaw and Darmody series, 'If I Tell'. The second and final sitting was late last night and I awoke this morning wondering how the main characters, Laura, Jenny and Niamh were doing - a telltale sign that a book has gotten under my skin, and this one certainly did. 

However, the most striking thing for me about this book was how acquainted I am with where the book is set. The story takes place in Dublin, yes, but it is based close to where I live and work, so at times it felt as if the text was not a piece of imaginary work but an article from a local newspaper. I think, if anything, this amplified the plot's chilling effect on me as a reader. Knowing so well the streets where some of the darkest events happen in the book, I found myself texting my teenage daughter to cut her evening walk short and keep to the main roads.

But that is probably the same for so many people who have read this novel, and that is the point: location doesn’t actually matter - violence against women and children can happen anywhere, anytime.  There's a normalcy to it that this book rails against at its very core. Enough is enough, Perdue shouts to the sky, the reader, the world.  Like one protagonist says to the other: 'We both have to tell our stories - so that it stops happening'. 

This in a vital way, is what Perdue is doing by writing this book - it is the titular concern after all - 'If I Tell Worse Will Happen'.  I wasn't expecting how outspoken and defiant Laura would be as she reflects on the injustice shown to all those who are subject to unspeakable violence. Yet in her book, Perdue is braver than most because she writes the unspeakable, and her gaze is steadfast and fixed. She insists that we do not look away. She cleverly takes us through the ordeal that her characters face because she has woven a story around them that is genuine, compelling, and that we can relate to, with characters that are warm, familiar, and that we are totally invested in.  So when they finally open-up and tell their stories, we feel compelled to listen, regardless of how unsettling and disturbing those words are to hear. With passionate words reminiscent of Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Perdue decries the injustice of the justice system, and demands change. 

Bronte gave us one defiant voice in her book where Perdue gives us three: Laura, Niamh and Jenny.  A triptych of female narrators, all speaking in the first-person present-tense, creates three-fold tension and a powerful sense of immediacy. The technique allows us to get inside the heads of three very important female characters, and while there are male characters in the text, we only view them at a distance. I think the impact of this on the reader is that we gain a very strong understanding of the female experience in the world of the novel, which reflects the book's theme and is crucial to its success. That being said, there are lots of interesting male characters here too and each of the women have positive experiences with men.  Niamh's father is very kind and accepting of her.  Laura's husband is forever patient and understanding, and Jenny's father, and boyfriend Luke, are both very tender and sensitive to her needs. Perhaps this is something that Persue will devlop in her second novel in the Shaw and Darmody series, called 'When They See Me', which is out now.

'If I Tell' is great company if you are ever stuck in A&E, or anywhere indeed, and need a gripping read to whisk you away to another reality, even if and especially perhaps, it happens to be set on your doorstep!  It may be all the more thrilling for that.

Michelle Burrowes

The Quiet Music of Gently Falling Snow ~Jackie Morris

The visual equivalent of an iced tea in summertime! The Quiet Music of Gently Falling Snow by the wonderful Jackie Morris.

I return to this beautiful book again and again and just escape into its magical world filled with strange instruments and unusual animals. I like to unravel the narrative of each  image set in unknown, frozen lands. 

While the book consists of a collection of musically themes illustrations and folk tales, I must admit that I personally use this text as an opportunity to engage in some slow-looking. The author has kindly given us a mystery to untangle, a quest to complete and each time that I return to the image - another scenario presents itself. Like the the turn of the kaleidoscope, we never come across the same image twice. 

Hours can drift away between the covers of this rich, compendium of stories and art - be warned!

I Am The Subway ~ Kim Hyo-eun

This beautiful book written and illustrated by South Korean author Kim Hyo-eun, is translated by Deborah Smith and was originally published in 2016 when it won the Best Illustrated Children's Book Awards in the New York Times Book Review and well deserved too. It charts a day in the life of the Seoul subway, the longest subway system in the world with 7.2 million daily users.

The illustrations are

watercolour paintings and are beautifully done. It is interesting how the artist has chosen to show people from various angles: we don't see much facial detail but are given just a suggestion of who they are and how they're feeling just by the colour that the artist uses to depict them. He also expresses so much about the characters through body language and how they position themselves on the train. Some are slumped over, tired after their busy day, others peek shyly through the opening carriage doors.

The author brings these characters to life by presenting us with colourful scenes of their lives outside the train - such as the shoemaker in his golden workshop, the grandmother swimming in the blue sea. Colour is also used to create vistas of the world outside the subway, such as the busy street where the student goes to school. This clever use of colour teaches us that all of these characters have their own interesting, wondrous lives that we can only imagine. We cannot help but be curious about them, but it is the subtle use of colour that brings these characters to life in our imaginations.

I especially like how the author gradually builds up the amount of colour in the book. It begins with very plain monotone hues becoming more colourful as the book progresses. The first image is painted with muted shades of green and blue, in a haze of grey, suggesting a cold dawn at the start of the day. The final image in the book is of the same scene but at sunset, utilising beautiful orange, yellow and light blue washed. This golden ending of the book is completely satisfying and reassuring.

However, most of the text is concerned not with the landscape outside the train, are the characters who inhabit it. As the book progresses the characters are painted in a more colourful way to depict their colourful lives outside of the train. Just as the train picks up speed, and the story develops, so the illustrations become more vibrant, more deeply saturated. The colours from the outside world have seeped inside the train until at the very end we're given a beautiful full-coloured, detailed painting of the characters inside the train.

Their faces are no longer abstract - each has different features which mirror their individual stories. They are no longer a mass of featureless strangers. They have become humanised and we can see that each character is fully alive and each carries their own colourful stories. I have never seen colour used this way in a text. How clever! Kim Hyo-eun's book is simply wonderful and I highly recommend it for those who love illustration, trains, people-watching or all things Korean.

By Michelle Burrowes 2023

Our Garden Birds ~Matt Sewell

This beautiful book by Matt Sewell features the birds in our gardens that are so familiar to us. The author provides us with information about the habits of the birds and their histories. More than anything though this book gives us a selection of beautifully drawn illustrations that are full of humor and personality. The drawings remind me of Charles Dickens's animalistic caricatures and his ability to transform all sorts of people into animal form. Here Sewell has managed to do the reverse, creating little birds that have definite human qualities and character. This is a book to keep close to your garden window, to dip into now and then when you want to slip away from the hassles of life. It is a reminder that those colourful visitors who frequent our gardens are not so very different from ourselves, if we take the time to notice.