Jeanine Cummins, Jo Baker, Melissa Gould, T E Kinsey_1 to 4

I'm back, lightly committed to recording every book I read this year. Sadly, I'm a year too late. 2020 was the noteworthy year for me; as COVID-19 changed everything, I read like a demon, at full tilt. Two or three books a week and—after I was sodden with mostly forgotten novels—remarkable for a line up of really good non-fiction. So last year was, in the end, a year of reading to be proud of. All now unrecorded, unremarked and (recall my Swiss cheese memory) largely un-remembered.

Neverthless. I'm starting badly because it's 13 January and I can't recall everything I've read so far. Working backwards:

'American Dirt' by Jeanine Cummins. Best book of the year by far. Really, it's a keeper; I'm confident it'll make my Best Of list for 2021.

'Longbourn, The Servants' Story' by Jo Baker, a re-telling of 'Pride and Prejudice' from the servants' perspective. Now this one sounds like trash, doesn't it? But wasn't at all; to the contrary, it was beautifully written, moving, lyrical and thoughtful. A beautiful book, with the odd frisson of a familiar story told fresh.

'Widowish: A Memoir' by Melissa Gould, writing about being a young widow after her husband dies unexpectedly of West Nile virus. I like a memoir to be beautifully written as well as honest and engaging, and this one sadly wasn't. It clearly mattered a great deal to Gould to write this book, and that's fair enough, but her story of "grieving outside the box"—which is the blurb-writer's code for "starting a new relationship scandalously soon after her lovely husband's death", left me cold.

Oh dear, just remembered the first book I read this year: 'The Fatal Flying Affair' by T. E. Kinsey—a Lady Hardcastle mystery, book 7. Yes, I've read 7 of these delightful English country murder mysteries starring an eccentric ex-spy and her clever lady's maid, set in early 20th century. Just for the joy of it.