This and that

 - I've had a reader request: can anyone think of a novel with a similar theme to that of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones? I haven't read the book - I must be one of the few who haven't - nor have I seen the film, so I can't claim much knowledge of it myself, but if you can think of any book which compares to it, please let us know, or tell us what you think of that novel itself.

- Fans of Linda Gillard will be glad to know that she has a new book out. After the great success of her last novel House of Silence (post on it here), Linda has once again decided to self-publish in e-book form, and if you follow that link you'll see that you need only a free 'app', for PC or Mac, etc., not a Kindle or other device per se, to read it. Untying the Knot, which Linda says is her most romantic novel yet, features an army wife, a traumatised war hero husband, the 16th. century tower house on a Perthshire hillside which the couple were restoring: a ruined castle, a ruined marriage, but now Fay realises the biggest mistake she has made is divorcing Magnus, and Magnus is marrying again ...

- I'm pleased to see that among the current Richard and Judy Autumn Reads are two Cornflower favourites: Peter May's The Blackhouse, a superbly dramatic story set on the Hebridean island of Lewis (post here), and Michelle Paver's brilliantly chilling 1930s Arctic ghost story Dark Matter (original post here, recent Edinburgh Book Festival post here). Both books are now out in paperback.

Comments

[Linda Gillard]

Thanks very much for the plug, Karen.

By a rather odd coincidence one of my early novels has been likened to THE LOVELY BONES. A LIFETIME BURNING has a dead female narrator telling the story of her eventful life and mysterious death. But whereas TLB's protagonist looks down on her loved ones from some sort of Heaven, my narrator languishes in the other place. ;-)

[Jackie (Farm Lane Books)]

The Late, Lamented Molly Marx is similar to The Lovely Bones. Molly Marx is a bit more chick-lit than Bones, but is an entertaining read.

[Cornflower]

Many thanks, Jackie.

[Cornflower]

That is a neat coincidence, Linda!

[LizF]

You aren't alone in not having read The Lovely Bones because I haven't read it either despite having had a copy on the shelves for years.
I have seen the film though although I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not!

Glad to see that Dark Matter will be promoted by the Richard and Judy Book Club as I thoroughly enjoyed it (thanks for your early review Cornflower!) and I am now hoping that their choice of The Blackhouse will mean that North Yorkshire County Libraries finally decide to invest in a copy as I have been wanting to read it for ages.

[Marina McIntire]

Outside Wonderland, by Lorna Jane Cook has the dead parents of three now-grown orphans living their lives. Lovely story!
It has been some time since I read Lovely Bones, but I did love it and would never see the movie -- just on principle. They're bound to mess it up!