Read: West by Carys Davies ★★★★★ 📚

There is something endlessly pleasant about the quick flurries of bats in the trees at this time of day, and the soft crepitation of insects all around: a steady in-out susurration as if the earth itself is breathing.

Lovely book so brief & clear. A handful of characters, simply drawn. Cy, obsessed by possible monsters heads west into wild lands leaving his daughter in an awful situation.

Read: The Sun Walks Down by Fiona Mcfarlane ★★★★★ 📚
A lost boy in the Australian outback at the end of the 19th century. The many searchers & their tangled involvement with each other, the land & the landscape weave in & out of the story. Great detail about each without losing momentum.

This was the time of day when the sun touched the red hill and the gods came creeping out of it—out of the sun. They parted the branches of the cypress tree and stepped with care over the rocks at the top of the hill. They ran like water down the hill, and their footsteps were like water around the corners of the house.

Read: The Bee Sting by Paul Murray ★★★★★ 📚
A great read, multiple pov, full of surprises. Inside each character’s head indecision jerks chains. The stories shift between characters, each enough for a novel of its own. At first I felt some were left hanging, but it all weaves together.

Read : Prophet Song by Paul Lynch ★★★★★ 📚
The epigram –

“In the dark times will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times. Bertolt Brecht”

In the head of Eilish, mother of four, as she walks into hell, a small step at a time. Had me completely absorbed.