Take 15-year-old sharp-tongued Mary by the hand in “this year of lord eighteen hundred and thirty” and go with her as she is forced to work at the local vicarage as the live-in help.īright Lights Big City by Jay McInerney (1985)Įxperience life as an out-of-work fact-checker in 1980s New York - go to all the parties, take all the drugs, but don’t let on your glamourous wife has left you, and do your best not to fall apart at the seams. The Colour of Milk by Nell Leyshon (2012) Strap yourself in for a totally bonkers competition between two groups of explorers competing to reach the “furtherest point from civilisation” - expect many laughs and quite a lot of WTF moments! Get caught up in an affair between a Catholic man and an older Protestant woman during the height of The Troubles in Northern Ireland - and be prepared for a heart-rending morally challenging ride.Įxplorers of the New Century by Magnus Mills (2006) Meet Rex and Irene, a married couple living on an outback farm in post-war Australia, who hate each other but must muddle on regardless.Īccompany Gareth as he spends an entire day trudging the hills of his Welsh farm looking for a missing cow - and along the way learn about his hopes, his dreams and the love he has for his wife and children. Spend time in the head of a scared, lonely schoolboy who convinces himself that the three children who move in across the road are the same children whose recent disappearance now fills the TV news. Learn about a stubborn South African mother who fails to take her young son to hospital when he falls dangerously ill - will you condemn her or feel empathy? Small Circle of Beings by Damon Galgut (2005) Immerse yourself in this evocative and sensual story set in 1930s Indo-China which revolves around a teenage girl’s affair with a man 12 years her senior.ĭiscover a crime book with a difference in this fast-paced story about three men who go on a weekend trip to an isolated cabin by a lake - but only two of them return. To see a full review, simply click the book title.Įscape to a long-lost English summer in this subtle tale of a young soldier who returns from the Great War and undertakes a special project: to uncover a medieval mural inside a church.įollow all the joy and heartaches in the life of a passive, too-afraid-to-grab-life-by-the-horns Irishwoman from her girlhood in rural Ireland to her retirement in New York more than half a century later. They have been arranged in alphabetical order by author’s surname. I have a penchant for books with fewer than 200 pages and thought I’d list some of my favourites here.Īll these books can easily be read in the space of a day - or an afternoon. If you are looking for a quick read during “lockdown”, something that will absorb you and take you out of yourself for a few hours, you can’t go past a short novel.
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