Still Life ~ Sarah Winman

Because, in Italy - as on holiday - anything can happen.

Sarah Winman’s novel may initially draw you in with nostalgic echoes of the 1985 film A Room with a View, starring Helena Bonham-Carter, Maggie Smith, and Judi Dench. But while the Italian backdrop is undeniably enchanting, it’s the characters that will steal your heart.

Imagine Only Fools and Horses transported to Florence, and you're getting close. Winman gives us a cast of unforgettable characters - funny, and forgiving. Each one arrives with their own baggage and backstory, all of them searching for something: a home, a purpose, a sense of belonging. The warmth and bonhomie that radiate from every page make the novel irresistibly uplifting, even when the characters are at their lowest.

While the story’s themes are universal—identity, reinvention, love—it is the geography of Italy, and Florence in particular, that makes it all possible. Removed from their usual setting—mostly London—the characters find the freedom to remake their lives. Like travelers on an extended holiday, they are forced to shed what no longer serves them and carry only what’s essential.

Ulysses, the central figure, begins as a soldier and ends as a Florentine property owner. With him are a makeshift family: a wise child (Alys), a grandfatherly figure (Cress), and a startlingly human parrot (Claude). Together, they form the nucleus of a growing, unconventional family. Over time, others join—Pete, the soulful musician; Des, the flamboyant benefactor; Col, the irascible uncle; Evelyn, the sage grandmother; and Peg, the beautiful and flawed woman everyone seems to love.

But this isn’t a story of fixed roles. There is no designated mother, father, or child. Care and nurture pass fluidly from one character to another. Ulysses sometimes mothers Alys, Cress nurtures Ulysses, even the gruff Col surprises with tenderness. This fluidity makes the novel feel strikingly modern, despite its 20th-century timeline—spanning from Evelyn’s youth in 1901 to the 1980s.

Major historical events—World War II, the moon landings, England’s 1966 World Cup victory—anchor the narrative in a tangible reality. And yet, the story’s magic lies in its willingness to stretch plausibility: an almost-human parrot, windfall inheritances, properties donated like secondhand clothing . These fantastical elements allow the characters to remain, in a sense, on holiday—free of financial constraint, open to possibility.

Because, in Italy - as on holiday - anything can happen.

Could chance meetings change lives forever? Could lost lovers reunite after decades and pick up exactly where they left off? Could the forgotten, the unloved, and the aged find themselves cherished once more? Winman says yes. On holiday, all things are possible.

Of all the characters, Peg left me cold. In my imagination, she was part Jayne Mansfield, part EastEnders barmaid. For all the love and attention she received—largely because of her beauty—I found her undeserving. Even the formidable Evelyn, at 86, had a crush on her. For me, the male relationships held far more emotional resonance. They were warm, funny and supportive. And it’s because of them that I loved this book as much as I did.  
Michelle Burrowes

A Snow Garden - Rachel Joyce

There is something about Christmas that makes me reach for short stories, why is that? And if there is a promise of magic, all the better. This year one collection that I loved was ‘A Snow Garden’ by Rachel Joyce. She presents us with seven scenarios, with people whose lives are imploding. The characters are struggling, yet there is always hope that everything will work out fine.  As with her previous books that I have reviewed, the characters in these short stories are very normal - quietly so, and that is just what makes them so special. She gives us mothers and fathers trying to hold it together just long enough to give their children a ‘normal’ Christmas when things are anything but. No one is fooled though. The pain that these characters are living with is blinding, like a shiny object, stuffed in a box that no one ever sees, but once it is taken out into the sunlight, it dazzles. Between the pages of this book we meet a whole array of characters, battling to survive the season of peace and joy: Binny, the mother coming to terms with an infidelity; Alan and Alice, married for decades, warring it out as the try to assemble a racing bike for their son on Christmas Eve; an unexpected birth at the airport; a single dad who promises his sons snow for Christmas; a pop star’s homing-coming; a father and son dealing with regrets. And then a beautiful moment from world of Harold and Maureen Fry, that almost broke me. These are the cast of characters who people this heartwarming, gem of a book.

We are told in the introduction to the book, that they have one thing in common - they were all cast-off and rejects from other novels and radio plays that the author, for one reason or another, cut from her published works.  In a way, this book is a second chance for these characters - their opportunity to prove to the world that their stories were worth reading.  We delight to see these broken, forgotten creations finally get their moment in the sun. This fact alone, fills the reader full of hope.  

And then, to add a double layer of spine-tingling pathos, Joyce gathers bundles of joy within each story, and wraps them up for us like a gift.  Tiny, impossible, yet possible plot lines, connections and insights, fill us with delight in what can only be described as a hefty, seasonal helping of Christmas spirit. Yet there is a bittersweet aftertaste with every mouthful - this is real life after all!

You will recognise yourself in these stories, the people from your past, and those who surround you everyday. People who make bad decisions, silly mistakes and show poor judgement on every page - but that is the thing that makes them human, endearing, and unforgettable. It is the juxtaposition of the normal, with the magical that makes this book so special. It is a perfect Christmas collection of short stories and will be one I return to again and again, not just at Christmas, but whenever I need to be reminded that we are all in this together, and that stories are waiting around every corner.  And, dare I say, magic too.

 

Normal Rules Don’t Apply - Kate Atkinson

 

Let me begin with a confession - I am a huge Atkinson fan and so am totally biased. Still - I think you will adore this book, like I do.

Kate Atkinson’s latest book is a collection of short stories entitled ‘Normal Rules Don’t Apply’, more riddle than narrative - a clue lies in the title. Atkinson gifts us with a book that we can choose to read as a disparate collection of stories, or not. I have chosen the latter, knowing as I do how Atkinson likes to surprise and delight her readers. In her novel, Life After Life, she took us on a merry dance, breaking the norms of narrative writing until the story was perfected. She continues in a similar vein here, but takes the experiment to the next level.  

The twelve stories in the collection are linked in numerous ways; firstly through setting.  The book begins and ends on Grassholm Farm, close to the Green Dragon pub, which in turn is connected to the fictional Green Acres television serial. What a lovely touch to create a collection of characters whose one point of connection is the local pub! On a symbolic level, Green Acres represents a fictional reality, in contrast to the many alternative realities that are presented in this text - after all, one fake reality is just as valid as the next!

Another connection is the way Atkinson plays with the rules of storytelling, creating a reality where unexpected things happen. For example, one main character dies close to the start of the story, but that doesn’t stop her first person narration! Another character is a talking horse. (He is so compelling that Atkinson uses him in two different stories) as well as a talking dog!  Another story involves a character from the fairytale that someone is reading popping into the world of the story and ringing the doorbell.

It seems that in the world of this book, anything is possible. The rules of narrative do not apply, or at least Atkinson is bending them as far as possible and is testing us as readers.  How far can she try our incredulity?  A woman giving birth to kittens?  Why not! She has done it before, in her excellent book. “Not the End of the World’, and she makes passing reference to the same idea here too. This time she presents us with an Immaculate Conception, which is brought about after an intense school inspection.  Did I mention that this book will have you laughing out loud?  It may be dark, and it may poke fun at humanity, but it is very droll, in a very Kate Atkinsonian sort of way. 

The titles of the twelve stories are also connected: a title in one story is a catchphrase in another, ‘What if!’And characters too have a habit of wandering into different stories - Franklyn, Mable and Father Matthew turn up repeatedly. A similar repeated motif is the reference to the scent of violets, which peppers the entire text, and even becomes the name of a character if you take the trouble to notice. And of course there are the repeated references to that unique sound “Ting’ that means so much in the book - be it a church bell, a text alert or doorbell.  Like the quiet ping of a light switch going on.  

In almost every story there is a loyal dog, remaining steadfast by its owner’s side.  From Meg, the old man’s dog in the first story, to Kerry, named for Mr Kingshott’s  mistress, Holdfast and Nosewise, Aoife’s royal hounds, along with countless other dog foxes and witches’ cats, this is a book filled with four-legged companions.  Perhaps Atkinson is saying that in another reality this book is actually THEIR story, and we humans are merely sidekicks. I would not be surprised!

Atkinson accounts for all of this craziness in ‘Gene-sis’, where she introduces Kitty, an office worker, ‘With a secret librarian soul’, who works in advertising. It is she who is charge of the world, she who flicks the switch each time things get out of hand, to reboot the universe so to speak.So all our recent bad weather, the forest fires, the mud slides, the disappearing species - all Kitty’s fault. It is trickier than you might think, but there is something comforting in the idea that Kitty is doing her best to get it right. There is always a next time after all!

For those who take the time to look, there is much to observe in Kate Atkinson’s latest book. She has cleverly laid out riddles and connections for us to discover, but even without them, this is a book to enjoy. I am sure this will be a book to return to again and again to seek new motifs which may have alluded me this time round - I am certain there must be many.  ‘Normal Rules Don’t Apply’ apparently.  You have been justly warned. This is a book for fans and for those who have not yet fallen under Atkinson's spell, and that includes you too! 

Wild Swans ~Jung Chang

I realise that I am coming late to this book.  While friends of mine were discussing this text in their book clubs some eleven years ago, I was always reluctant because of stories of foot binding and all sorts of imagined horrors.  So I always demurred and went for an easier option.  But recent interaction with Chinese nationals piqued my interest in the country and culture of China.
I can honestly say that this book was an education. I knew virtually nothing about the history of this vast country before opening the book and certainly had little understanding of the experiences of its people over the centuries. This book deals with the lives of three generations of women in the same family and moves from 1908 to 1991.  Each generation, it has to be said, suffered greatly and endured much, but nevertheless, survived in a brutal and unforgiving society.  People in China have lived through starvation, war, the erosion of civil liberties, yet still they care deeply about Chinese society - from a micro level - the family unit, to the macro level of their country as a whole.  That is what struck me most about this book -  just how much the author loves China despite all the suffering that she and her family endured at the hands of warlords, Japan and the Communist Party.  Despite being tortured, silenced, accused in the wrong, threatened and brutalised, Jung Chang has a deep love for her country and its people.
She struggled to accept that Chairman Mao did not always act for the betterment of the Chinese people: she adored him without question for so long. But the stories that she tells about countless individuals who like her family, were abused and brutalised for decades, have a devastating toll on her and us as readers.  It is very difficult to argue in the face of such detailed criticism.  Mao was not good for China - the Chinese people suffered greatly at the hands of the Party and still do I am afraid.  For me, the most disturbing part of the story, and there are many I must warn you, was the Cultural Revolution, that saw pupil turn on teacher, child turn on parent and the destruction of countless cultural artefacts that are simply irreplaceable. It is hard to consider that so much of Chinese culture was destroyed so pointlessly, just to flatter someone's ego, to appear zealous and to demonstrate affiliation to a Party. The eliteism and inequality in Chinese society under Communist rule came as such a shock to me.  I don't know how I was so naive to believe that social equity was part of Communism experienced in China.  The competition between people to be seen as better than their neighbours, led them to turn on one another, in a cruel and savage way, but also gave them an opportunity to show great courage and bravery.  And that is the amazing thing about this book - everywhere there is a duality and impossible paradox.  There is national pride and disappointment, cowardice and bravery, truth and deception, want and plenty, kindness and cruelty, destruction and creativity, selfishness and selflessness - almost on every page. These are elements in every society of course, yet it seems so very pronounced in the world described in this text. Again and again we, as readers, are hopeful that conditions will improve for the citizens, but then things become immeasurable worse until it almost feels that no country has ever suffered as much as the Chinese in the last century!
It is not surprising that this book is banned in China.  It reveals an insight into a part of the world that is still quite closed-off to the outside. China is hugely important on the world stage, and is becoming ever more so.  Just today, China has implemented new laws that will see the erosion of many civil liberties in Hong Kong - something that must must be so terrifying to Hong Kongers themselves.  We take such liberties for granted in the West - the right to protest, complain, elect our political representatives and to vote those we do not support out of power - these rights do not belong to the people on mainland China.  Those who speak out do so at great peril.
Yet, one thing that this book championed is the resilience of the Chinese people and how they will go to take care of their families and friends.  This will stick with me forever - as will the version of China that is presented in this book.
The author's mother was made kneel on glass, her father was tortured for years although he had given so much of his life and passion to the Party.  She had friends who jumped out of buildings because they felt their lives were too difficult to bear, and she tells of countless other agonies that add up to a collection of horrors that are so difficult to explain, unless you have read the book.  And you cannot think that such an existence is the domain of the past.  I was shocked to find so many echoes of the past in modern day America.  Just as Mao claimed that there was no Famine, Trump claims Covid-19 is not something to worry about... Just as Mao always kept an enemy on hand - someone for the public to hate, so too does Trump.  He always needs a 'villain' for the America people to hate - be it Comey, Schiff or Clinton. It seems that there are some methods of tyranny that are used by countless dictators the world over.
I hope that the resilience of the Chinese people will continue, despite all the hardships that they have endured in the past and at present. This book has taken me on an amazing journey, from the comforts of my sofa - into the far reaches of a country so distant and different to my own that that alone has been a marvellous thing.  Despite this book being banned in China, I see it as a testament to the generations of silenced Chinese people whose stories needed to be told.  I have heard those stories and I urge you to read this book and  listen too.

By Michelle Burrowes