The Forgotten Waltz

"I came late to Anne Enright and wish I’d found her earlier. Again the structure of The Forgotten Waltz really helped me in realising that Everything Under could be structured in whatever way it needed to be. It’s a book about an affair and the repercussions. A relatively simple story done to devastating effect. The Bone People by Keri Hulme is a book I stole from my parent’s bookcase when I was a teenager and devoured. It is not an easy read. It challenges both thematically and structurally, it’s a dark read about abuse and loneliness, tangled up with Maori myth. The best things I have read this month are The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker and Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss. The Silence of the Girls is a retelling of the Iliad and is entirely devastating. In a different way, in fact, so is Ghost Wall which is a beautifully thin novel about abuse and Brexit. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter I’m currently working my way through the rest of the Booker shortlist which is a joyous experience. On my bedside table are the two books I haven’t read yet, The Milkman by Anna Burns and The Overstory by Richard Powers. I’m also reading contemporary horror novels for my most recent project, in the pile are Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi and The Upstairs Room by Kate Murray-Browne. I’m also reading—and as I do rereading—Fiona Benson’s new poetry collection which is astounding."