I’ve been a Barbara Kingsolver groupie since I first read Poisonwood Bible, one of my favourite books of all time, but I think I might even like this one better.
It’s the story of Demon, a boy born to a drug-addict mother in southwest Virginia, and from the first page, we are rooting for him. It’s first-person narration, and he’s an acute and often witty observer, clever beyond his years, with a particular knack for drawing cartoon superheroes.
We yearn for him to overcome the deprivations of his background, and we fear for him, so it’s a real heart-in-mouth, eye-opening read. Absolutely unmissable!
Demon's story begins with his traumatic birth to a single mother in a single-wide trailer, looking 'like a little blue prizefighter.' For the life ahead of him he would need all of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise.
In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty isn't an idea, it's as natural as the grass grows. For a generation growing up in this world, at the heart of the modern opioid crisis, addiction isn't an abstraction, it's neighbours, parents, and friends. 'Family' could mean love, or reluctant foster…
The beating heart of this novel is the bond between Jarret, a dignified black man who is a slave in 1850s Kentucky, and Lexington, an extraordinary horse that wins every race it runs.
There are three time frames, as the author deftly contrasts racism just before the Civil War, with 1950s New York and 2019 Washington DC. She makes us care about all the characters and the horses too, as they are pushed to the limit by brutal owners, but most of all we care about Jarret, who is casually bought and sold by three owners during the course of the novel after narrowly missing a chance to become a free man. It’s a compelling and eye-opening read.
"Brooks' chronological and cross-disciplinary leaps are thrilling." -The New York Times Book Review
"Horse isn't just an animal story-it's a moving narrative about race and art." -TIME
A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history
Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an…
This is the story of Katherine Parr, sixth wife of Henry VIII, who was forced to marry him when he was a grossly overweight, foul-smelling, bad-tempered tyrant.
Human life is cheap to Henry, and he has already executed two of his wives, so Katherine must tread carefully, while others at court intrigue against her. It’s an immersive novel that illuminates the character of this deeply clever woman, who is forced to hide her intelligence and pander to the whims of the cruel, ageing king.
The writing is sublime, the descriptions so authentic we can imagine ourselves there, creeping round the corridors of the court. I just adored it!
If you love the BBC's The White Queen you'll love this.
Meet the woman who survived Henry VIII in Elizabeth Fremantle's first novel, Queen's Gambit...
My name is Katherine Parr. I'm 31 years old and already twice widowed. I'm in love with a man I can't have, and am about to wed a man no-one would want - for my husband-to-be is none other than Henry VIII, who has already beheaded two wives, cast aside two more, and watched one die in childbirth.
What will become of me once I'm wearing his ring and become Queen of England?
Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein could have been allies. As self-made millionaires who invented the modern cosmetics industry, in an era when wife and mother were supposed to be the highest goals for their sex, they had a lot in common. Yet instead they became locked in a fierce feud spanning three continents, two world wars, and the Great Depression. They would stop at nothing to beat the other. Who would have thought that the business of making women beautiful could be so cutthroat?
