Kate Forsyth is one of Australia’s most treasured storytellers. On today’s edition of What Katie Read, she gives us the rundown on all of the best books she’s been reading lately …
Brideshead Revisited
by Evelyn Waugh
I’m in the midst of reading a lot of books set in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and so I thought I would re-read this classic by Evelyn Waugh for the first time in many years. I was in my early ‘20s the last time I read it, and I remember it as being a bit too slow and dense for my liking, though I was interested in the unusual love triangle I felt was at its heart. I read it after watching the TV series, and my imagination was still ravished by its glorious locations and interiors and clothes.
It’s impossible to do a précis of the plot without upsetting the delicate balance of elements within the book, but I will try: a young man named Charles makes friends with another young man named Sebastian at Oxford, and finds himself enchanted by the decadence and excess of his privileged life. Sebastian has a sister named Julia – cool, aloof, and sophisticated. Charles is attracted to them both, and sexual tension hums just below the surface of all their interactions. However, there is more at risk than just his heart. Sebastian’s family are devout Catholics, with the blood of martyrs in their veins, and this exerts such pressure upon them all that something must crack.
Reading it again, I did not find it slow. The narrative momentum of the book, its perfect balance of pace and depth, the acuteness of its characterisation, and the subtlety with which Evelyn Waugh introduces his themes of faith, sin, guilt, and redemption are truly astonishing. I am now obsessed with Evelyn Waugh and his life and work, and am seeking out more of his books. I feel I have a lot to learn from him.
Buy it here
The Guardian of Lies
by Kate Furnivall
I really enjoy Kate Furnivall’s books – they are a potent mix of intrigue, adventure and romance, usually set during the Second World War. This one is set a little later in 1953, during the Cold War, and since I’m not as interested in that historical period, I didn’t find it quite as gripping and suspenseful as other books of hers I have read. The setting, however, made up for that – the wild marshes of the Carmargue, in the south of France, a place I have always wanted to visit.
The book follows the adventures of a young woman named Eloïse. She has always adored her older brother, and seeks to emulate him when he becomes an Intelligence Officer working for the CIA in Paris. However, a small misjudgement leaves her brother crippled and bitter, and Eloïse torn apart by guilt and regret. She determines to find out who was responsible for trying to kill them, and ends up in a tangle of lies and half-truths that undermines all she thought she knew about herself and her family.
An enjoyable page-turner.
Buy it here
The Merrybegot
by Julie Hearn
A dear writer friend told me that I must read this, and so obediently I bought it straightaway. It was great advice, as this is exactly the kind of children’s historical fantasy I love. It is set in a small English village during the English civil war (one of my favourite periods of history!) and tells the story of Nell, who was conceived in the wild mayhem of May Day. In pagan times, this was a day when men and women coupled freely, outside the ties of marriage, and any child born of that union was called a merrybegot. This makes Nell blessed by the fairy folk, even as she is spurned by godly folk.
Grace is everything Nell is not. She is the daughter of the new Puritan minister, and is meek, biddable and perfectly behaved. She does not swear, or scramble about gathering herbs from the ditches and hedgerows, or make potions, or see peskies.
A merrybegot and a minister’s daughter – two girls who have nothing in common. And yet when Grace and her little sister start having strange fits, and spitting up pins, and seeing the Devil in the shadows, their fates collide.
I adored this book. The drama and pathos is perfectly tempered with warm flashes of humour, and Nell is a delightful mix of childish mischief and wisdom. I shall definitely be reading more of Julie Hearn.
Buy it here
The Giver of Stars
by Jojo Moyes
I had read and loved Jojo Moyes’s previous historical novel, The Girl You Left Behind, so once I heard her new book was about Depression-era librarians who rode out on horseback, delivering books to poor people in the wild mountains of Kentucky, I knew I wanted to read it. It’s just such a wonderful premise for a novel!
The story follows a young English woman named Alice who marries a rich and handsome American, hoping to escape her stultifying life at home. However, she finds herself just as bored and restless in Kentucky as she was in the English countryside. Against her father-in-law’s wishes, she signs up to be a travelling librarian, and discovers new friends as well as a new purpose. However, there are many dangers for young women riding out alone through the mountains, and Alice and her fellow librarians find themselves facing prejudice, injustice and violence.
Inspired by the true story of Eleanor Roosevelt’s travelling librarians, The Giver of Stars is a really gorgeous book, just brimming over with beauty and emotion. I loved it.
Buy it here
Strong Poison
by Dorothy L. Sayers
This is the sixth book in Dorothy L. Sayers’s series of Golden Age murder mysteries featuring the aristocrat-turned-private-detective Lord Peter Wimsey, and the one where the series really begins to turn into something special. All of Sayers’s mysteries are clever, but this one is a little more substantial than the earlier books, with a lot more heart. To begin with, Lord Peter and his clever valet Bunter seemed like a caricature of Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves (the comedic creations of P G. Wodehouse), though the occasional flare-up of “shell shock” gave Lord Peter a little more gravitas. By Book 6, Lord Peter is less of a fool and a fop, and more of a clever young man who hides himself behind a constant stream of light-hearted banter.
Strong Poison is truly electrified, however, by the introduction of the character of Harriet Vane, a strong-minded young crime novelist who finds herself on trial for the murder of her ex-lover. Lord Peter has fallen in love with Harriet, but she is determined not to return his regard and resists his charms valiantly. This dash of sexual tension (cunningly concealed as romantic longings) adds both a greater degree of suspense to the puzzle, and humanises Lord Peter, making him much more likeable. A true classic of crime.
Buy it here
Kate Forsyth
Kate Forsyth wrote her first novel aged seven and has now sold more than a million books worldwide. Her new novel, The Blue Rose, is inspired by the true story of the quest for a blood-red rose, moving between Imperial China and France during the ‘Terror’ of the French Revolution. Other novels for adults include Beauty in Thorns, a Pre-Raphaelite reimagining of Sleeping Beauty, Bitter Greens, which won the 2015 American Library Association award for Best Historical Fiction; and The Beast’s Garden, a stunning retelling of the Grimms’ Beauty and The Beast set in Nazi Germany.
Kate’s books for children include the collection of feminist fairy-tale retellings, Vasilisa the Wise & Other Tales of Brave Young Women, illustrated by Lorena Carrington, and the fantasy series The Impossible Quest. Named one of Australia’s Favourite 15 Novelists, Kate has a BA in literature, a MA in creative writing and a doctorate in fairy tale studies, and is also an accredited master storyteller with the Australian Guild of Storytellers. She is a direct descendant of Charlotte Waring Atkinson, the author of the first book for children ever published in Australia.
Find out more about Kate Forsyth here
The Blue Rose
Moving between Imperial China and France during the ‘Terror’ of the French Revolution and inspired by the true story of the quest for a blood-red rose.
Viviane de Faitaud has grown up alone at the Chateau de Belisama-sur-le-Lac in Brittany, for her father, the Marquis de Ravoisier, lives at the court of Louis XVI in Versailles. After a hailstorm destroys the chateau’s orchards, gardens and fields an ambitious young Welshman, David Stronach, accepts the commission to plan the chateau’s new gardens in the hope of making his name as a landscape designer...
10 books for fans of Succession
Comments
April 22, 2020 at 6:02 pm
Hello Katie,
Perhaps you would like to read A Distant Dream, Beggarman’s Cottage or Ping Pong Poms by Vivienne Dockerty. You can find them on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. 😊