Category: Books

Carol Margaret Davison’s ‘Bodysnatcher’ tells the story of both the aftermath and the ongoings of the infamous Burke and Hare murders. The story is told between a series of journal entries and varying perspectives of Burke and his partner, Nelly. Whilst diving into the horrendous murders and historical streets of Edinburgh, the reader is introduced to the female gaze through Burke’s lover, we get a ‘he said/she said’ perspective on the gruesome tale. When we are first introduced to the characters, Burke has already been jailed for his crimes, contemplating his many murders whereas the reader is shown a more empathetic introduction to Nelly who seems to have lived with misfortune throughout her entire life and yet she persists. In this tale full of cruel and murderous men, the resilience of women stands out. From a seemingly innocent romance between Nelly and ‘Billy’ Burke, his true character is shown as the plot develops. Instead of focusing on the inevitable ‘graverobbing’ murders, Davidson explores the many hardships the women of this era had to suffer as their formerly loving partners turn into malicious beings. Davidson also pays tribute to the innocent victims of Burke and Hare instead of glorifying the infamous murderers. Instead, we see a more human side to the story; Nelly and Billy’s pasts and what brings the couple together as well as what ultimately tears them apart. The book is a hit for fans of romance, history, gothic fiction, and crime; a little bit of everything.

Laura Bates explores the everyday issues that women must face in a patriarchal world as well as the deep-rooted issues that leave women constantly aware of their surroundings and living in a constant state of fear whether it is something little or something that engulfs their entire lives. This eye-opening book discusses the many ways in which women have been told to change their behaviour to adhere to a patriarchal society. We are taught that it is our fault for unwanted comments, sexual assaults, workplace harassment or murder. Bates goes on to explain that from a young age we are immediately devalued as women, the responsibility is put on women to quieten ourselves to stay safe. The real problem lies with not putting the responsibility on men to make women feel safe, instead women are told how to behave. Bates uses extracts from her ‘everyday sexism’ project where women share their stories about being violated or assaulted by men; to some these stories may be shocking. But to others we know these stories or a familiar version of these stories all too well. This is a powerful piece of work that everyone, and I mean everyone, needs to read this book.

‘How to Survive Everything’ tells the story of a post-covid world from the perspective of a teenage girl, Haley. Around her, she is dealing with the passive aggressiveness of her divorced parents, the pains and struggles of going from teenager to an adult, and of course, a global pandemic.

Set after the current pandemic, it raises the questions ‘what next?’ and how do we, as a society, recover from such a devastating loss of human life alongside terrible world leadership. The book reads like a warning of what could happen if we ignore the mistakes of the past and go back to our self-indulgent ways. Ewan’s book is an incredible dissection of humanity and the fragility of life in these catastrophic global situations. The use of a teenage girl as the narrator is crucial in telling this story as the reader sees the world from Haley’s positive, anxious, curios and cautious eyes. The emotional journey Haley goes through reflects all of our collective thoughts throughout this current pandemic, the hopelessness, the optimism, the scepticism and of course, adjusting to a new world and a new way of life.

The book is also written like a survival guide. Giving the reader genuinely good advice on how to survive an apocalyptic pandemic, whilst also letting the reader know that the most important part of survival is about cherishing those close to you. Despite the overarching theme being a pandemic, it is a great topical read that I would highly recommend.

Smith’s post-Brexit novel gives an insight into the political uncertainty of the 21^st century. From 2016 onwards we have been fed a constant stream of lies from politicians and Smith’s book reflects this mistrust between the people and those in power.

The main protagonist, Elisabeth, is caught up in the turmoil of post-Brexit Britain whilst trying to navigate a normal life amongst this chaos. The text has a dreamlike quality to it, almost reminiscent of how the past five years have felt surreal. Elisabeth looks up to a man called Daniel, who is almost a century old and has taught her many lessons throughout her life. Daniel, however, is nearing the end of his life. Daniel represents everything that Elisabeth lacks in her life. He has lived through a multitude of historical events whereas Elisabeth is living her life through political uncertainty, working part time, with no sense of permanence in the 21^st century.

Daniel floating in and out of consciousness while in the hospice represents the slow death of culture, history and identity. The book shows how there has been a slow decline in the importance of these historical events. Perhaps pointing out that as a society we have slowly grown further and further away from the significance of these life altering events, as we have become so accustomed to them.

Previously I had not particularly enjoyed Smith’s work, however after reading ‘Autumn’as part of my university course, I was deeply intrigued by her style of writing and I am looking forward to reading or re-reading more of her work.