Gulf Weekly Book Club

BOOK OF THE WEEK with Linda Jennings. The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell, ISBN 9780340921616 (Sceptre). BD7.900  for Gulf Weekly Book Club members
Whilst the idiom ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ sometimes holds true, it certainly doesn’t in the case of this novel. What a stunning jacket design and one which justly represents this latest novel by David Mitchell.

One drowsy summer’s day in 1984, teenage runaway Holly Sykes encounters a strange woman who offers a small kindness in exchange for ‘asylum’. Decades will pass before Holly understands exactly what sort of asylum the woman was seeking.

The Bone Clocks follows the twists and turns of Holly’s life from a scarred adolescence in Gravesend to old age on Ireland’s Atlantic coast as Europe’s oil supply dries up – a life not so far out of the ordinary, yet punctuated by flashes of precognition, visits from people who emerge from thin air and brief lapses in the laws of reality.

For Holly Sykes – daughter, sister, mother, guardian – is also an unwitting player in a murderous feud played out in the shadows and margins of our world, and may prove to be its decisive weapon.

Metaphysical thriller, meditation on mortality and chronicle of our self-devouring times, this kaleidoscopic novel crackles with the invention and wit.

Here is fiction at its most spellbinding and memorable best.

* Read it now in paperback
The Telling Error, Sophie Hannah, ISBN 9781444736762 (Hodder) BD3.900 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members.

All she wanted to do was take her son’s forgotten sports kit to school.

So why does Nicki Clements drive past the home of controversial newspaper columnist Damon Blundy eight times in one day? Blundy has been murdered, and the words ‘HE IS NO LESS DEAD’ daubed on his wall – in red paint, not blood. And, though Blundy was killed with a knife, he was not stabbed. Why?

Nicki, called in for questioning, doesn’t have any of the answers the police are looking for.

Nor can she tell them the truth, because although she is not guilty of murder, she is far from innocent. And the words on the wall are disturbingly familiar to her, if only she could remember where she has heard them before.

Another psychological mystery that is sure to keep you guessing right up until the last page. The ninth novel in the Culver Valley series featuring the highly-likeable but rather odd Simon Waterhouse and his wife Charlie, this is an up-to-the-minute story dealing with very contemporary issues.

* My favourite read-of-the-week
Spare Brides, Adele Sparks, ISBN 9781472205421 (Hodder) BD4.500 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members.

With the Palm Association Charity Great Gatsby Ball taking place tomorrow evening, my thoughts have been on ‘flappers’ lately, and this is just the book to be reading this week.

The 1920s: a time of hope, promise - and parties. But not all the men came home, after The War. Meet the spare brides; young and gorgeous women, now unexpectedly alone.

Ava relishes the freedom of being single. Sarah fears no one can replace her hero of a husband. Beatrice finds it hard to shine, next to her dazzling friends.

Lydia is married; rich and privileged, so isn’t she one of the lucky ones?

Then a chance encounter changes everything. Angry, damaged and dangerously attractive, Edgar Trent is an irresistible temptation.

And the old rules no longer apply ...