Theresa Smith's Blog, page 12
September 11, 2024
Book Review: The Venice Hotel by Tess Woods
When the lives of four very different women become entangled in a boutique Venice hotel, dark secrets unravel and not everyone who checked into the hotel will check out again.
Signora Loretta Bianchi, the world famous cook at Venice’s Hotel Il Cuore, is forced to choose between once-in-a-lifetime passion and her devoted husband.
Sophie, on assignment in Venice as a food writer, finds a lot more than Signora Bianchi’s secret recipes to love, but what is the charming Rocco hiding?
Law graduate Elena is sinking just like the endangered city she’s returned home to, and she’ll stop at nothing to be free from her marriage.
Grandmother Gayle’s dream Venetian holiday turns sinister as she finds herself embroiled in a life or death escape.
Set against a backdrop of the romance and tragedy of magical Venice, The Venice Hotel explores the powerful bonds that develop between women in times of crisis, and the healing power of female connection.
Published by Penguin Books Australia
Released 3 September 2024
My Thoughts:The magic of sinking into a big book, reading for hours into the dead of the night, only the words for company and the imagery conjured by those words dancing in your head, jostling for your attention even when you aren’t reading it because of, well, real life things. Characters that are so real, you find yourself thinking about them as if you know them. And a place so beautifully realised on the page you feel as though you are there, right there, whenever you go back to reading about it. I don’t read big books very much anymore. And this is why. Because almost every time I pick one up, it just doesn’t deliver. But this one…this one…be still my reading heart.
The Venice Hotel, by the remarkably talented Tess Woods, is THE book you want to rush out and buy right now. Think Maeve Binchy meets The White Lotus, warm and engulfing, yet with a contemporary edge of intrigue and drama. The food, oh my goodness! THE FOOD! And the beauty of Venice and the heartbreaking reality of a sinking city. Venice itself was undoubtedly my favourite character in this story. The setting was so atmospheric, so immersive. Full disclaimer, I do love Italy and books set in Italy, but even so, this was glorious.
The story is told from the perspective of several characters and split cleverly into twelve parts to mirror the twelve days of Christmas. There are some serious themes woven through this story, characters who are carrying heavy burdens, facing huge choices, finding themselves at a crossroads, and coming to the realisation that they need help, they need to lean on someone, reach out to another, and embrace a sense of community that is all too often absent from our lives today.
What a glorious, brilliant, compulsive read this was! I was fully prepared to bully my book club into reading it next but they all just agreed and saved me the effort.
Thanks to Penguin Books Australia for the review copy!
August 31, 2024
August: Read, Listen, Watch, Repeat…
Farewell winter, hello spring! August was a good month for reading (and listening) with 11 books being enjoyed throughout the month. I was fortunate enough to read an advanced copy of Rapture by Emily Maguire, which I adored, it’s not out until October, so get excited for that one. Another advanced October release I scored was Into the Storm by Cecelia Ahern, brilliance once again from the Irish Queen of #lifelit. Dipping my toe into Japanese fiction last month with two excellent titles, A Perfect Day to Be Alone and Butter. I still have a book hangover from Butter. Listening highlights, well, only The Work let me down somewhat, the rest were all terrific.
Two movies, one with the gal pals from work, It Ends With Us, which had us weeping into our popcorn, and Anyone But You, which I watched with my best girl, my daughter, and it was a fun flick. TV wise, Bloodlands season two was a brilliant follow up to its first season and as was the case with The Responder, this seemed like one story split into two parts rather than two distinct seasons. Strife has been on my watch list for way too long, happy to have finally binged that one. Asher was terrific, as always, and I am quite partial to a journo story, so winning right there. Emily in Paris returned with half of its latest frothy season and it was light, fun, a bit meh, but still watchable. My Lady Jane was very funny, very clever, and very bingeable, totally recommend that one.
Until next month, good reading.
August 27, 2024
Book Review: A Perfect Day to be Alone by Nanae Aoyama
When her mother emigrates to China for work, 21-old Chizu moves in with 71-year-old Ginko, an eccentric distant relative, taking a room in her ramshackle Tokyo home, with its two resident cats and the persistent rattle of passing trains.
Living their lives in imperfect symmetry, they establish an uneasy alliance, stress tested by Chizu’s flashes of youthful spite. As the four seasons pass, Chizu navigates a series of tedious part-time jobs and unsatisfying relationships, before eventually finding her feet and salvaging a fierce independence from her solitude.
A Perfect Day to be Alone is a moving, microscopic examination of loneliness and heartbreak. With flashes of deadpan humour and a keen eye for poignant detail, Aoyama chronicles the painful process of breaking free from the moorings of youth.
Published by Hachette Australia
Released May 2024
My Thoughts:My affair with Japanese fiction continues on and this little gem, A Perfect Day to Be Alone by Nanae Aoyama, did not disappoint, so much so, I started it at work during my lunch break and read the rest of the novel into the evening once I got home. Unheard of for a work night, but some books have that immersive factor coupled with easy reading that makes for a champion mix.
Billed as a coming of age story, it’s a Japanese best-seller. Diving into loneliness and raising questions of purpose, obligation within relationships, love and friendship, the novel spans a year, split into four chapters to mark the seasons. The characters are a realistic and relatable mix of humanity, flawed, sometimes unlikeable, but I remained invested in their journey.
The writing is tight, yet there is still room for introspection, pondering, and taking in the surrounds. Japan is a country that very much experiences the four seasons, deeply cold winters, sweltering summers with monsoon rains, and a proper leaning in and out of this through autumn and spring. The juxtaposition of these seasons against our main character’s moods, motivations, introspections, and even morals, along with her daily behaviours, was brilliantly crafted storytelling.
Book Review: Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel by Sophie Green
Mornington Peninsula, 1999. Wife and now grandmother Joan has checked into the grand old Duchess Hotel to find herself again after thirty-five years of being who her husband and family have wanted her to be. Peninsula local and soon-to-be octogenarian Frances is distracting herself from getting old, and avoiding her self-interested son by escaping to the warmth of the Duchess where the hotel staff treat her like the person she still is. Meanwhile Frances’s daughter, Alison, is trying to manage significant disruptions at home while hoping to finally prove to her mother that she’s just as worthy of love as her brother. New to the Duchess, hotel maid Kirrily is feeling the weight of a lifetime of responsibility, struggling to balance bills and work and family, and keeping thoughts of how there must be more to life at bay.
With its old-world glamour, sprawling seaside grounds and air of possibility, the Duchess Hotel might just be the place to help the women rediscover who they are and bring some spark back to their lives.
When Joan decides to pick up a brush and start painting for the first time in decades, she inspires Frances and Kirrily – and, eventually, Alison – to join her. Over canvas, conversation and creativity they will learn that you should always hold onto your dreams and that new friends can give you the courage to live life on your own terms.
Published by Hachette Australia
Released 31 July 2024
My Thoughts:This was a lovely read to settle into, spanning four months and following the lives of a small group of people all connected through the Duchess Hotel and the creation of art as an outlet.
Set on the Victorian Mornington Peninsula in a grand old hotel, this story is very much a character driven one. Themes of motherhood, friendship, marriage, and family dynamics abound throughout, but the overall message of selfcare and retaining autonomy over your own life was ever present.
Art Hour At The Duchess Hotel was a delightfully warm and thought-provoking read with a cast of likeable and relatable characters. Recommended reading for book clubs and holidays, when you’re after a good chunky immersive, yet light read.
Thanks to Hachette Australia for the review copy.
Book Review: The Swimmer by Graham Norton
Helen is a retired teacher living on the Irish coast. She enjoys the peace and quiet – despite the burden of Margaret, her unpleasant sister. Margaret arrived three years ago for a short holiday, but somehow managed to stay and worm her way into Helen’s life.
One day, Helen sees a man struggling in the sea and decides to investigate. She doesn’t quite know what it is, but something about it feels very strange.
My Thoughts:I discovered this little gem by Graham Norton quite by accident. The Swimmer is a novella, a quick listen/read, but no less absorbing or deeply plotted than his other novels.
What a delight it was to listen to this narrated by Graham Norton himself. It makes me want to go back and listen to each of his other novels, despite having already read them.
I enjoyed this story, about Helen, retired school teacher living a quiet life in an Irish coastal town. It was funny, intriguing, and caught me by surprise with the twist. Deceptively simple, Graham Norton is simply a master at tapping into human nature and the need we all have for connection.
Highly recommended.
August 20, 2024
Book Review: The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.
Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album, and ends in Pierce’s brutal murder.
As Emily digs into the villa’s complicated history, she begins to think there might be more to the story of that fateful summer in 1974. That perhaps Pierce’s murder wasn’t just a tale of sex, drugs, and rock & roll gone wrong, but that something more sinister might have occurred and that there might be clues hidden in the now-iconic works that Mari and Lara left behind.
Yet the closer that Emily gets to the truth, the more tension she feels developing between her and Chess. As secrets from the past come to light, equally dangerous betrayals from the present also emerge and it begins to look like the villa will claim another victim before the summer ends.
My Thoughts:Rachel Hawkins’ The Villa is a captivating dual timeline novel that effortlessly blends mystery and suspense with a touch of gothic horror. The story unfolds in two distinct eras, interconnected by the enigmatic Villa that serves as the backdrop for both narratives.
Mystery writer Emily has a bad case of writer’s block. Struggling to finish the tenth book in her successful cosy mystery series, she is recovering from a long illness and struggling through a bitter divorce which sees her husband suing her for earnings on the books she has not only already written, but any future books as well. He is an A-grade jerk, but a dangerous one that she can’t shake off. When her successful best friend, bestselling self-help writer Chess, suggests spending the summer in Italy at an infamous Villa that was once the site of a high-profile murder in the 1970s, she agrees, thinking the escape will be good for her in all ways.
In the summer of 1974, Mari and her boyfriend Pierce, along with her stepsister Lara, join notorious rock star Noel and his in-house drug dealer for a summer at the Villa. Not all of them leave at the end of the summer. Mari and Lara, who arrive as muses, leave as stars – one having written a novel that will be dubbed as the best horror novel of all time, and the other having created an album written that will launch her as a superstar.
While avoiding her manuscript, Emily immerses herself into reading a copy of Lilith Rising, the novel Mari wrote at the Villa all those decades ago. Her obsession takes a turn into writing inspiration as she uncovers a manuscript of Mari’s hidden in two parts within the room it appears Mari stayed in while at the Villa back in 1974. Emily decides to write a nonfiction account of the events from that long ago summer, finding this new topic much more inspiring than her existing work. Meanwhile, is Chess really the friend to Emily that she makes herself out to be? Inconsistencies begin to arise in Chess’s behaviour, fractures in their friendship begin to appear, and then a truth bomb of monumental proportions implodes, and the two are left at a crossroads I did not see coming.
The Villa is smartly plotted, and the narrative is offered in a mixed media fashion that includes magazine articles, podcast transcripts, as well as extracts from Lilith Rising, all interwoven into the narrative in a seamless fashion. The character of Mari was clearly based upon Mary Shelley, similarities between their lives and how they came to write their hugely successful gothic horror novels over the course of a summer abroad apparent if you are aware of the story behind Frankenstein and the life of Mary Shelley. I loved realising these similarities as the story progressed.
The audiobook is exceptional, with a captivating narration that enhanced the overall listening experience. I absolutely loved it. Audio books like this are like gold dust. Rachel Hawkins has impressed me greatly with this novel. Its exploration of creativity, ambition, and the enduring power of friendship and secrets was both thought-provoking and compelling. The way this novel ended was brilliant, with a meta twist I didn’t anticipate but fully delighted in.
Highly recommended.
August 18, 2024
Book Review: The Work by Bri Lee
Lally has invested everything into her gallery in Manhattan and the sacrifices are finally paying off. Pat is a scholarship boy desperate to establish himself in Sydney’s antiquities scene. When they meet at New York’s Armory Show their chemistry is instant – fighting about art and politics is just foreplay.
With an ocean between them they try to get back to work, but they’re each struggling to balance money and ambition with the love of art that first drew them to their strange industry. Lally is a kingmaker, bringing exciting new talent to the world, so what’s the problem if it’s also making her rich? Pat can barely pay his rent and he isn’t sure if he’s taking advantage of his clients or if they are taking advantage of him, and which would be worse? Their international affair ebbs and flows like the market, while their aspirations and insecurities are driving them both towards career-ending mistakes.
If love costs and art takes, what price do we pay for wanting it all? The Work is about the biggest intersections of life: of art and commerce, of intimacy and distance, of talent and entitlement, and of labour and privilege. Dazzling, funny and unforgettable, it is an epic and forensic exploration of modern love and passion, politics and power. The Work announces a brilliant new voice in Australian fiction.
Published by Allen & Unwin Australia
Released April 2024
My Thoughts:I feel like this story couldn’t make up its mind about what it wanted to be. Ansty romance, low grade erotica, literary critic of the modern art scene, feminist exploration of modern relationships… it was all that and then some. And while it was interesting in parts, uncomfortable in others, I feel like it missed its own mark somewhat and that the weightier issues raised throughout the narrative were compromised by too much page space given over to repetitive detailed sex scenes. Which, frankly, made for awkward listening in audio format.
I would have liked to have seen a deeper exploration of the issues raised, particularly what went on in Lally’s gallery with the deep fakes and the issues Pat was dealing with, where there was some unwritten expectation that he should be okay with sexual overtures from older wealthy female clients. Everything to do with the contemporary art scene in both Australia and America I found fascinating, and yet, I was left wanting as the story continually circled back to its apparent core theme: sex. Bri Lee can write, make no mistake, but overall, The Work felt shallow, and ultimately disappointed me.
August 10, 2024
Book Review: Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Polly Barton, Translator)
Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.
Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body, might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought?
Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, “The Konkatsu Killer”, Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.
Published by HarperCollins Australia
Released March 2024
My Thoughts:Butter by Asako Yuzuki is a novel I read entirely in a day, despite its hefty almost 500 pages. Right from the beginning though, I felt immersed into this story, the premise, the characters, the journey, and the insight into contemporary Japanese culture it offered. And a shout out to the translator, Polly Barton, whose translation from Japanese into English was perfection.
Butter is the story of a journalist and a serial killer, of food and culture, feminism and misogyny, friendship and family, and, of course, butter. What at first seems like a simple story, of a female journalist trying to get the break of her career by interviewing a notorious female serial killer awaiting retrial in the Tokyo Detention Centre, what transpires is much deeper and far more complex than I expected.
‘This was all it took, she thought, to experience a sense of satisfaction of a kind she’d not had before. To make something yourself that you wanted to eat and eat it the way you wanted – was that the very essence of gratification?’
This is very much a novel about food and culture within contemporary Japanese society, in particular, food and female body image, being thin and acceptable versus being not thin and unacceptable. The story also deep dives into Japanese work ethics, self worth, self forgiveness, and slowing down to appreciate the simple things, such as cooking for yourself after work and sharing a meal with friends and family. I learnt so much about contemporary Japanese society from the pages of this novel.
As is usual when I love a book as much as this, I could froth on about it for ages. There’s a lot in this novel, so many themes and loads of introspection from the main character. It’s quite a descriptive novel, but this worked well because so much of it is about the taste and texture of food. Asako Yuzuki writes with such vivid intensity. I’ll leave you with this quote from Madame Serial Killer herself.
‘But there are two things I simply cannot tolerate: feminists and margarine.’
I urge you to read this. But be prepared to crave something buttery in the process.
Book Review: The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright
Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, a sparkling family story of love, betrayal and reunion.
Nell is a young woman with adventure on her mind. As she sets out into the world, she finds her family history hard to escape. For her mother, Carmel, Nell’s leaving home opens a space in her heart, where the turmoil of a lifetime begins to churn. Over them both falls the long shadow of Carmel’s famous father, an Irish poet of beautiful words and brutal actions.
From our greatest chronicler of family life, The Wren, The Wren is a story of the love that can unite us, and the individual acts that threaten this vital bond.
Published by Penguin Australia
Released September 2023
My Thoughts:I liked this one, but I didn’t love it. I read a few reviews after finishing as I couldn’t seem to quite put my finger on what I thought about it, what I felt were the key themes, and if I were perhaps ‘missing’ something. But it strikes me as a novel that is very much open to reader interpretation.
So, my interpretation is that this is a novel about the havoc wrecked upon the lives of four women by one man: poet, husband, father, and grandfather. The story is told alternately between Nell, the granddaughter in this family, and her mother, the daughter of the famed poet. These are not the only two women affected by the patriarch of the family. Through Carmel’s perspective, we see the way her mother and her sister were also impacted by his brutality and abandonment, along with the lingering legacy of his fame and beautiful poems.
This novel is very much a character study, a deep dive into the ways in which fathers, both absent and present, may shape a woman’s relationships with other men. We witness Carmel’s indifference to men, Nell’s vulnerability and attraction to violent men, and on the periphery, many other women whom the poet was involved with and affected by his disaffection and whimsical brutality, including Carmel’s sister and mother. In the middle of the novel, there is one chapter offered from his perspective, a younger version of him, at a defining moment, whereby we see the beginnings of his tendency to dismiss women for his own gain.
The Wren, The Wren is beautifully written and complex, however, I felt removed from the story as it didn’t seem to be anything more than a character study. But as I mentioned above, I do believe it is very much open to reader interpretation, so I would encourage anyone who has been eyeing it off to still give it a read. The chapters are broken up by passages of poetry, inserted to appear as the work of the poet, I thought, but I could be wrong about that. Either way, it was a lovely way to structure the novel and was thematically on point for the story.
August 3, 2024
Book Review: The Burial Plot by Elizabeth Macneal
London, 1839. With the cemeteries full and money to be made in death, tricksters Crawford and Bonnie survive on wicked schemes and ill-gotten coin. But one blistering evening, their fortunes flip. A man lies in a pool of blood at Bonnie’s feet and now she needs to disappear.
Crawford secures her a position as lady’s maid in a grand house on the Thames. As Bonnie comes to understand the family – the eccentric Mr Moncrieff, obsessively drawing mausoleums for his dead wife, and their peculiar daughter Cissie, scribbling imaginary love letters to herself – she begins to question what secrets are lying behind the house’s paper-thin walls and whether her own presence here was planned from the beginning.
Because Crawford is watching, and perhaps he is plotting his greatest trick yet.
Published by Pan Macmillan Australia
Released June 2024
My Thoughts:Elizabeth Macneal returns with her third release, The Burial Plot, and like her two previous novels, The Doll Factory and Circus of Wonders, this a five-star brilliant read.
Each of Elizabeth’s novels have been set within Victorian London, a favourite historical era of mine, and each of them are a gothic tale of greed and power, with an undercurrent of horror, and a sharp gaze towards the vulnerability of women. And yet, despite these connected themes, each of her novels are vastly different in plot and characterisation. She is a master of the craft; an auto buy author for me.
The Burial Plot is a story about the overflowing cemeteries of London during the 1830s, and the move to build (and make a lot of money out of) new cemeteries, beautiful ones, on the outskirts of London. And indeed, there was a lot of money to be made.
The characters within this novel are all complexly devoloped and will arouse your sympathies and revulsions in equal measure. Crawford, driven by greed and a lie about his identity; Bonnie, resourceful and smart, but ultimately craving a life of love and certainty; Aubrey, steeped in grief, blinded by guilt; and Sissy, so vulnerable at the beginning of the novel, but empowered by rage at being so ill used by the end. Even secondary characters are well fleshed out and contribute enormously to the story arc.
I recommend the audio book for this one. Brilliant narration and a bonus 14 minute interview between the narrator and the author at the end, which was insightful about the story and the historical inspiration behind it.
I read this with a mounting pit of dread clenched within me, twists abounding and shocking me left, right and centre. Highly recommended. I can see this one being adapted into an incredible TV series, just as The Doll Factory was.
