by Paul Harding
A small island community made up of black and mixed race poor is forcibly evicted from their homes in a story, based on fact, about our inability to tolerate difference. It is a sombre tale, told brilliantly with a poetry to the language that makes the darkness of the story even more painful. It took me a while to get into it but I ended up racing through the second half 8/10
by Viktoria Lloyd Barlow
This is, I suppose, a story of three women set in a rural town not far from Lancaster. Dolly is sixteen and growing up fast. She lives with her divorced mother. There summer is disturbed when new neighbours move in next door. They are from London and looking to do some property deals in the area. Dolly becomes thick with Vita and starts spending more and more time with them. So far so normal but thrown into this mix is the fact Vita has always wanted a daughter and Dolly's mother, Sunday, is on the aspergers spectrum. The tale is told slowly and keeps and element of gentle tension throughout.
The book focuses a lot on pronunciation and hearing it read on an audiobook worked really well. It is spliced with humour but I felt it was too long in the end with repetition that was unnecessary. An interesting ending though 6/10
by Ayobami Adebayo
A story set in Nigeria detailing how the lives of two families from different parts of society are altered by external events. The stories overlap in a deadly way and from the moment the title of the book is explained it is clear the story can only end badly which is does for all concerned. Both sad and moving it is not a book I would read again. There was no redemption here, no hope. Must be in with a chance of winning! 5/10
