At the beginning of 2021, I set myself a challenge. I looked back at 2020 and amongst all the excitement of having my son and opening our shop I had a startling realisation – I had only read about three books. So I decided that in 2021, I would try and read a book every week. I must say it is going well so far! We are three months into the year and I haven’t fallen wildly behind just yet. March being Women’s History Month must have been lingering in my subconscious, because my chosen reads this month were all written by some truly phenomenal women authors. Here are my thoughts on this month’s reads!
My first book this month was honestly one of my favourites of the year so far. Alex Nye’s children’s book ‘Chill’ was actually one of the few books that I read last year – I picked it up after Alex came into the shop as a customer. When she told me that she actually had an adult book inspired by the life of Mary Shelley, I knew that I had to check it out. While I am a lover of ‘Frankenstein’, and have some knowledge of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poetry, I must admit that I knew little of their lives together and the notoriety which it brought them.
When I told Leanne some of the things that I learned she said to me “I love that you are getting caught up in 19th century gossip!” While Arguing with the Dead does draw on fact, it also features a terrifying haunting figure in the form of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s deceased first wife. At it’s very core, it is a story about what it meant to be a woman in the 19th century, and perhaps most crucially, what it meant to be a mother. In a world dominated by men, Nye shows how one of the most successful women writers of the 19th century challenged what was expected of her. It is a Gothic tale which is perfectly told through stunning prose. I must admit, I shed a lot of tears.
This was so apt a choice for Women’s History Month. I have a huge interest in true crime, but I generally consume it through podcasts and tend to be underwhelmed by true crime books, but this was the exception. ‘The Five’ is a non-fiction book which has been so thoroughly researched. It tells of the lives of five women: Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly. You may not know their names, but I bet you know the name by which history remembers their killer: Jack the Ripper.
This book is so powerful. Rubenhold gives a voice back to women who were silenced forever, and whom history has forgotten in the sensationalising and almost mythical fascination with the individual who killed them. These were all women with full lives. Yet attitudes of the time relegated them to ‘prostitutes’ and this is how they have been continually regarded, despite the overwhelming evidence that at least three of them were not sex workers. They were only vilified as being so due to the Victorian class system. It is hard to read this book and not be completely heartbroken and furious on their behalf.
I can’t put it any better than Rubenhold puts it herself – ‘The victims of Jack the Ripper were never ‘just prostitutes’, they were daughters, wives, mothers, sisters, and lovers. They were women. They were human beings, and surely that in itself is enough.”
I have never been shy about my love for Margaret Atwood, and when Hag-Seed was released I thought ‘god I have to read that.’ That was four years ago, and genuinely about once a month since then Leanne and I have said something along the lines of ‘I want to read Hag-Seed so badly’, or ‘I should read Hag-Seed.’ Then I made the decision that enough was enough and finally sat down to read it! It was worth the wait. It is a completely bonkers re-telling of Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ which Atwood wrote for Hogarth’s Shakespeare series. ‘Hag-Seed’ is a perfect display of Atwood’s artistry – she brings us stunning characterisation, a masterfully reimagined plot and even writes performative rap songs. It is both hilarious and heartfelt, and shows the great appreciation which Atwood herself has for Shakespeare’s original text. I won’t give too much away, but the novel’s final 100 or so pages are some of the funniest that I have ever read.
I was on a massive reading high after reading Hag-Seed, so naturally I decided to dive head-first into another Margaret Atwood novel. I loved ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, so I thought I’d check out another dystopian novel. Oryx and Crake is the first instalment in Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy. Set in a strange post-apocalyptic world, we are introduced to Snowman (previously known as Jimmy) who for some unknown reason is responsible for the wellbeing of the strange green-eyed Children of Crake. They are unable to feel sexual desire, have no drive for violence and do not create art of any kind. Not only that, but Snowman must contend with horrifying genetically mutated animals.
I found the greatest strength of Oryx and Crake to be the restraint which Atwood shows in revealing certain facts to the reader. I found myself continually thinking “what the heck is going on here?” Yet as the story unfolds, I understood this to be a true masterpiece. I was so drawn in by Snowman’s recounting of his life in a world obsessed with genetic mutation. I would say that some parts of this deal with some harrowing subject matter, so if you intend to read it then be prepared. I’m looking forward to checking out the sequels.
A few weeks back, Leanne was looking through books online and said to me “oh my god, listen to this”. She proceeded to read the synopsis of Surgeons’ Hall to me, and my wee eyes lit up with excitement. I’ve always had a morbid fascination with historical anatomy schools and their relationship with grave-robbers. I didn’t actually realise until I was about half way through this that it is part of a series, because it works so well as a standalone novel. It satisfied all of the gruesome curiosity within me, and yet the novel’s macabre subject matter did not overshadow Thomson’s masterfully constructed plot. She jumps masterfully between Burke and Hare’s Edinburgh and London anatomy schools to craft a mystery which I found gripping until the very end. Not to mention her array of complex characters. Twin sisters Sorrow and Silence, one blind and one deaf, will stay with me for a long time. Warning: this one is not for the faint hearted.
