Again the author handles a huge range of characters, their lives mingling together, in London and at their parents’ home in the country, the difficulties they face trying to keep the family business going in increasingly turbulent and challenging times. Moving down the bookshelves, Elizabeth Jane Howard’s Cazaletseries of novels was my next major project dealing with the fortunes of the members of the Cazalet family: “elderly” parents, three brothers, their wives and young children and their sister, starting in the between-war period and moving over the course of the series to close in modern times. Moving through the alphabet, there were a couple of Helen Dunmore books I couldn’t resist rereading ( Burning Bright and Mourning Ruby) before alighting on Penelope Fitzgerald’s fabulous books ( The Bookshop and Human Voices are particular favourites of mine). While I was still in Kate Atkinson mode, just for good measure I reread Life After Life – definitely on my personal shortlist for Desert Island book. As I said, not exactly comfort reading in the conventional sense, with some pretty gruesome deaths being investigated by the apparently fearless detective, who must surely have the complex private life of any fictional private investigator. Kate Atkinson’s long been a favourite of mine, and I rapidly worked my way through all the Jackson Brodie novels, revelling in her attention to details and ability to weave together highly complex strands of plot, all with a light but deft touch, an elegant use of language and gorgeous sense of humour. Comfort reading? Definitely yes: some of the choices I made were comfort reading, but not always, except in terms of my having already read most of the books at least once, but not always in terms of the subject matter. Where to start? Some favourite writers, obviously.
Alas, the books I’d reserved waited for me on the shelves for many long months, and in the meantime I started rereading old favourites. When the first lockdown came along in March 2020, I’d just finished reading the books I’d been given for Christmas and for my birthday and was planning a major trip to the library.
She loves libraries, family sagas, and children’s fiction. Daisy is one of the Chapterhouse directors.
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