What we read in December
Evenings and Weekends by Oisín McKenna
Maggie and Ed are having a baby and moving out of London to the suburbs. But Ed's having panic attacks and has a history with Phil, which he's keeping from Maggie. Phil is in a relationship with his housemate Keith, but Keith has a boyfriend. Callum, Phil's older brother is settling down to get married, but his drinking and drug dealing is getting in the way, and their mother Rosaleen is struggling to find a way to tell her sons she is dying. Over the course of a scorching weekend in London, these characters lives interweave and connect in a book that bursts with honesty and vitality.
A House Built on Sand by Tina Shaw
Maxine is very quickly losing her mind. Her daughter Rose is tearing her hair out trying to keep up with her increasingly scatterbrained mother. Rose has her own issues - she's trying to get pregnant, while wondering if her husband is the right man to have a child with. An accident sees the pair end up at their beachside bach where memories trigger hidden traumas for both mother and daughter and an old flame returns for Rose. Set over a 24 hour period, this is a beautifully written, evocative and haunting story of secrets, lies and family ties. One to read at the bach this summer.
All That We Know by Shilo Kino
Kino contributes an important page in the history of contemporary Aotearoa fiction with her anxious, smart, socially forward character Māreikura who inhabits a world she doesn't quite fit into. Separated from her whenua, her marae and her reo by trauma and loss, Māreikura enrolls in a full immersion year long te reo course that will teach her as much about herself and her future as it does her language. A book that feels finely balanced between Gen Z angst fest and social commentary.
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
A cute and cosy fantasy about Kiela who flees from her home and life as a librarian after a revolution burns the library. With a boat full of stolen spell books that could see her executed, and her sentient spider plant assistant Caz, she heads for Caltrey, her island childhood home. Hoping for a quiet life, Kiela is quickly drawn into the small community where she finds friendship, kinship, and love. But the island is suffering magically and Kiela and Caz's books might be the answer. For fans of Travis Baldree, T. Kingfisher and TJ Klune.
The Mercy of the Gods by James S.A Corey
When the all powerful Carryx, conquerors of vast reaches of space annex and consume the planet Anjiin, a group of scientists are captured and tasked with solving a science problem by their captors. But with them, they bring a stowaway that could see the end to the Carryx empire. Dropped in an unfamiliar world, with rules and structures they don't understand and the threat of death looming at every turn, they must overcome internal feuds to survive. Once again, the authors of The Expanse series have created a work of hard scifi that still feels very human and very realistic, where found family and wonder at the world still exist. I can't wait to read book 2.
After the success of his 2021 memoir The Forgotten Coast, Shaw was contacted by other Pākehā New Zealanders who were also struggling to come to terms with their complicated histories of colonisation, confiscation and settlement. In this series of essays he winds together their stories with his own family's history of settlement in Taranaki, of his ancestor's time as a constable in the Armed Constabulary who participated in the invasion of Parihaka. Shaw also looks at how the crown used the English colonisation of Ireland as a template for their land grabs in the Taranaki region which is especially eye opening, and posits on what the future might look like. A vital piece of work.
Balcony Over Jerusalem by John Lyons
A fascinating, eye opening and horrific memoir of Lyons' 6 years as a journalist covering the Middle East, based in Jerusalem. Coming to Israel as an outsider, Lyons pretty quickly became aware of the realities of life in occupation, both for the Israelis and the Palestinians. He is under no illusions that the occupation will bring only pain for Israel in the future, and that the current government does not want peace. Lyons also covers the Arab Spring in Egypt and Libya, elections in Iran and the beginning of the Assad downfall in Syria. But his focus is on Israel and the West Bank where he explores in depth the occupation and how it affects Israel both at home and its reputation overseas. Particularly interesting is the influence Israel exerts on media and politicians in Western countries, especially in the US and in Lyon's home in Australia. It makes for dark reading.
Listen to Balcony Over Jerusalem on the Borrowbox app.
There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
In 1840 London a baby is born in the snow and slush on the banks of the Thames. King Arthur of the Sewers and Slums will grow into a passion for the lost city of Ninevah and ancient tablets from the 600 BCE court of King Ashurbanipal, many now to be found in the British Museum, but is hampered by his low birth. In 2014, Narin, a young Yazidi girl and her Grandmother travel to modern day Ninevah in Iraq, on the banks of the Tigris to perform an ancient baptism, but come up against the rise of ISIS. In modern day London, Zaleekah, a water scientist moves into a houseboat on the banks of the Thames after the breakdown of her marriage, seeking to find a new path for her live. Spanning 150 years, two continents and two rivers, this is a beautiful and sweeping ode to water, rivers and the fragility of our interconnected lives.
