I’m a little late to the 2023 book reviews party here, but at least I’m posting this before the end of January 2024!  Looking back over the books I read during 2023, these are my five favourites, reviewed on Goodreads along with others.  I haven’t ranked them, because there’s always the danger that the most recent novel I read will eclipse the earlier ones.  Instead, they are listed in the order I read and reviewed them.    Sadly I can’t find my copy of ‘One Hundred Years of Lennie and Margot’ – maybe lent and forgotten(??) –  so that doesn’t feature in the photo.  For more info. and my other 2023 reviews, visit my Goodreads page where you can also read about my three novels: ‘After The Funeral’, ‘A Question of Loyalty’ and ‘Vision of Light’.

‘One Hundred Years of Lennie and Margot’ by Marianne Cronin.  Sparkling humour lights up the potentially tragic story of an unlikely friendship between 83-year-old Margot and 17-year-old Lenni who meet on the terminal ward of a hospital. Life-affirming and joyous.  (26.3.23)

‘Braver’ by Deborah Jenkins is a beautifully written and unusual story which highlights the power and potential of community to bring healing and hope. The three main characters are each vulnerable in their own way: church minister, Virginia, facing a false accusation, suffered a terrible loss in the past; OCD Hazel, fearful as she navigates each day; and troubled teen Harry, struggling to cope with an alcoholic mother. Each is exceptionally well-drawn and empathetically portrayed, and the minor characters equally so. A life-affirming, thought-provoking and totally immersive read.  (12.5.23)

‘The Last Remains’ by Elly Griffiths was a fantastic book to end the Dr Ruth Galloway series – if it really is the end – I hope there might be more! The characters are like old friends, who I will miss! The crime investigation is as gripping as ever, and I enjoyed the nods to earlier cases, visualising the locations (including two bookshops I know), the heightening suspense in both the mystery and Ruth and Nelson’s relationship. (10.9.23)

‘The Lost Bookshop’ by Evie Woods: Joyous and captivating. I’m not usually a fan of magic realism, but this has changed my mind! I loved the time slip, the characters, the quests for a lost manuscript and a lost bookshop.  (13.10.23)

‘Cuckoo in the Nest’ by Fran Hill: I don’t recall another book that managed to be both heart-breaking and hilarious, but ‘Cuckoo in the Nest’ does just that.   Brilliant evocation of the hot summer of 1976, the perfect backdrop for boiling tension in the Walls’ household when the family foster 14 year old Jackie Chadwick. (26.12.23)