Fay Sampson's 3 favorite reads in 2024

This is a refreshingly new take on a familiar story. We know about the heroic voyages of Captain Cook to the other side of the globe, and the contributions he made to science and exploration.
The Home Coming tells the other side of the story: what it was like for the wife he left behind. His fame makes Elizabeth something of a public figure herself. Yet her husband comes home every two or three years, and then departs again, leaving her to cope alone with the deaths of their children and yet another pregnancy.
We feel for her loneliness and her unsupported grief, and the effect this has on her other relationships.

This is richly imagined fantasy, where we meet witches with iron teeth and nails, who ride malevolent wyverns, Faes, who are no quaint fairies, but chillingly Other, and Celaena Sardothien, who would rather live as a trained assassin then face her destiny as ruler of kingdom, and a realm in which to practice magic means death.
There is a depth of emotion in this series that is not always found in fantasy. We feel the erotic tension between the Fae prince Rowan and Celaena, as he puts her through a course of punishing exercises, to teach her to control her gift of magic. We also feel the bond that develops between the witch Manon Blackbeak and the unlikely runt of a wyvern, who, against all expectations, kills the largest and most brutal wyvern, saving Manon’s life. Witches are not supposed to love, but we warm to their unspoken bond.

Barbara Erskine’s time-shifting psycho-dramas follow a predictable pattern, but are none the less enjoyable for that.
A conflicted character in the present is being taken over by a problematic figure from the past, bringing danger to those around them. Someone in the present must find a way to break the chain, but they put themselves at much greater risk by doing so.
In this case, the historical figure is the Anglo-Saxon Eadburh, the real-life daughter of King Offa of Mercia. Her dangerous connection is with Emma, daughter of the historian Simon Armstrong, who has retired to a cottage on the Welsh border to finish his book on King Offa. The effect is so disturbing that he calls for the help of Bea, a teacher staying nearby.
What I particularly enjoyed was the way that Bea, struggling with mounting threats, is aided by her husband Mark, a cathedral canon. He overturns the stereotypes of Anglican clergy, and adds a gentle humour to the story.
Erskine’s books usually feature a character that reflects Jung’s archetype of the Wise Old Man.
What greatly enriches these books is Erskine’s meticulous research – not only of the historical story, but of the evocative countryside around Hay on Wye, where she lives. The scenes are vividly brought to life.