Quarterly Review: July-September 2023

The third quarter of the year seems to have whizzed by in the blink of an eye. It’s going to be Christmas and New Year before we know it, right?

Over the past three months, I have:

• completed the #20BooksOfSummer challenge (which finished at the end of August)
• consumed more narrative non-fiction than usual
• continued to explore my fascination with Italy’s Fascist history by reading novels, memoirs and diaries set in this era
• continued to read a William Trevor book every month as part of #WilliamTrevor23, a year-long reading project I am co-hosting with Cathy from 746 Books
• devoured a couple of books for Women in Translation Month.

Here is a round-up of books read and reviewed on this site between 1 July and 30 September 2023. They have been arranged by theme and then in alphabetical order by author’s surname. As ever, hyperlinks take you to my reviews in full.

Australian literature

• ‘Locust Summer’ by David Allan-Petale (literary fiction, 2021)
  A young city journalist reluctantly returns home to the family farm to help bring in the final harvest before the property is sold.

• ‘The Anniversary’ by Stephanie Bishop (literary fiction, 2023)
  A couple celebrating their 14th wedding anniversary on board a cruise ship experiences a terrible tragedy that puts their relationship under intense scrutiny.

• ‘Day’s End’ by Garry Disher (crime, 2022)
  The fourth book in the Hirsch series of crime novels, this is a cracking story set in rural South Australia during the time of Covid-era conspiracies.

• ‘Search History’ by Amy Taylor (literary fiction, 2022)
  A clever, witty and fast-paced debut novel about finding love in the social media age.

English literature

• ‘The Gardener’ by Salley Vickers (literary fiction, 2022)
  A delightful story about a woman moving to the Shropshire countryside to begin a new life.

Irish literature

• ‘The Happy Couple’ by Naoise Dolan (novel, 2023)
  Will young Dublin couple Celine and Luke go ahead with their planned wedding or cancel it?

• ‘The Wren, The Wren’ by Anne Enright (novel, 2023)
  An intergenerational tale revolving around a (fictional) famous poet whose poor behaviour has long-lasting impacts on the women in his family.

• ‘Soldier Sailor’ by Claire Kilroy (novel, 2023)
  This Irish writer’s first novel in more than a decade is a gripping account of motherhood’s darker side.

• ‘Spies in Canaan’ by David Park (novel, 2022)
  A retired American who served in the Vietnam War and made a career in the Foreign Service reflects on guilt, memory and the fine line between right and wrong.

• ‘The Thing About December’ by Donal Ryan (novel, 2014)
  A year in the life of a child-like man grappling with the death of his parents and the greed of locals who want to take advantage of him.

New Zealand literature

• ‘Audition’ by Pip Adam (science fiction, 2023)
  A bold, inventive story about a trio of prisoners sent into space for their punishment.

Non-fiction

• ‘On Kate Jennings’ by Erik Jensen (Australian long-form essay, 2017)
  An insightful look at Jenning’s 1996 novel Snake and the events and experiences in her life that shaped it.

• ‘Christ Stopped at Eboli’ by Carlo Levi (Italian memoir, 1947)
  A sublime first-hand account of Levi’s experience as a political exile banished to one of the poorest regions in Italy for anti-fascist activities under Mussolini.

• ‘A Chill in the Air, 1943-1944’ by Iris Origo (Italian war diary, 2017)
  Told in the form of a private diary, this is a chilling account of how Italy stumbled into conflict in 1940.

• ‘War in Val d’Oricia, 1943-1944’ by Iris Origo (Italian war diary, 1947)
  Published to critical acclaim in 1947, this diary recounts the author’s time at her family’s 2,800 hectare estate, La Foce, during the war, the last years of Fascism and the liberation of Italy.

• ‘Trust: A fractured fable’ by Jeanne Ryckmans (Australian true crime, 2023)
  A true tale of an Irish conman who charmed everyone, including his lover who wrote this book, into handing over cash to fund his lavish lifestyle.

• ‘Fugitive’ by Simon Tedeschi (Australian memoir/poetry, 2022)
  Strange and beguiling slice of narrative non-fiction that blends philosophy, poetry, autobiography and family history to create a singular work that defies categorisation.

Translated fiction

• ‘The Children’s Train’ by Viola Ardone (Italian novel, 2021)
  An impoverished young boy from war-torn Naples is given a second chance at a better life.

• ‘The Gold-rimmed Spectacles’ by Giorgio Bassani (Italian novella, 1958)
  An older gay doctor and a Jewish university student develop a platonic friendship amid the rise of Fascism and Nazi racism in northern Italy.

• ‘All Our Yesterdays’ by Natalia Ginzburg (Italian novel, 1952)
  A big-hearted and rambunctious tale chronicling the ups and downs of two Italian families during the Second World War.

• ‘My Men’ by Victoria Kielland (Norwegian novel, 2023)
  The fictionalised story of America’s first female serial killer who emigrated from Norway in the late 19th century and was thought to have murdered 14 men in rural Indiana.

• ‘The Mad Women’s Ball’ by Victoria Mas (French novel, 2021)
  An engaging tale about two women who forge a friendship in the unlikeliest of places: a 19th-century Parisian asylum.

• ‘I Refuse’ by Per Petterson (Norwegian novel, 2014)
  A melancholic story about male friendship and the passing of time.

William Trevor books for #WilliamTrevor2023

• ‘Other People’s Worlds’ (novel, 1980)
  The story of a conman who leaves a trail of devastated women in his wake.

• ‘Fools of Fortune’ (novel, 1983)
  Trevor’s first “Big House” novel, the story explores intergenerational trauma in an Anglo-Irish family that has home-rule sympathies.

• ‘The Silence in the Garden’ (novel, 1988)
  This mid-career novel explores Ireland’s changing political circumstances through the prism of a wealthy Anglo-Irish family.

Have you read anything from this list? Or has it made you want to explore anything from it?