Read then Write - 22/10/26

Well I decided to give up on The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy as it was not making me happy at all.  I'm not sure many from the Book Club will have read it when we next meet.

That freed me up to read a couple of +books of my own choice.

Firstly I read this one:

How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lydia imagines her new job running a senior citizens' social club three afternoons a week will involve drinking tea while playing gentle games of cards, listening to Beatles tracks and reminiscing about food rationing and the Blitz. She does not expect to find a failed actor addicted to shoplifting, a woman who's been hiding from a mysterious and very chequered past, and a prolific yarn-bomber. It turns out that their ideas about how to spend their afternoons are very different. After a tragic accident means the council threatens to sell the community centre where they meet, the social club, aided by their friends in the nursery next door and a geriatric orphaned mongrel, set out to save it. They might not be able to save the hall, but they might just save each other - if their pasts don't catch up with them first.

Loved this one. It's very contemporary and very real. I found myself turning page after page. (Helped by having ordered a large print version from the library!)

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While I was in the library picking that one up I found they had the second book in the Nicci French series featuring DCI Maud O'Connor.  Well of course I had to take that one home too.

The Last Days of Kira Mullan by Nicci French
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Nancy North is ready to put her life back together. After suffering a psychotic break that ruined friendships, stalled her fledgling restaurant, and forced her to move out of her comfortable flat, she’ll do anything to get back to normal. She and her partner Felix—who has been a saint through her recent troubles—move into a new flat for a fresh start.

Nancy is taking her pills, seeing her therapist, and avoiding unnecessary stress. She’s doing absolutely everything right, but something is still very, very wrong. On the first day in the new flat, she hears them again; the mysterious voices that triggered her first episode. It could just be the unfamiliar sounds of water in the pipes, or the screaming baby across the hall, but deep down she knows something more sinister is going on. Her fears are confirmed when the young woman in the downstairs flat, Kira, is found dead. Felix, her neighbors, and even the police insist it’s a tragic suicide, but the pieces aren’t adding up for Nancy. Can she trust her own instincts, or is it all in her head?

Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Maud O’Connor has misgivings about her colleagues’ investigation of Kira’s death. The boys club at the top seems intent on closing the case as quickly as possible, especially since the only person who thinks it could be anything other than suicide is known to be unreliable. But Maud knows what it’s like to be dismissed as an overemotional woman and isn’t so quick to discount Nancy’s claims. As tensions reach an explosive breaking point, the line between fact and delusion becomes dangerously blurred, but Maud will stop at nothing to ensure that the truth comes to light.

Another good page turner from Nicci French featuring DCI Maud O'Connor. Nancy North and her partner Felix have no sooner moved into a new flat in a new area when one of the other tenants, Kira Mullan, is found hanging in her flat. The verdict seems to be suicide. But after the chance encounter Nancy had with Kira on the day she died, Nancy is not so sure. The problem is Nancy is recovering from a breakdown and no one believes her. The more she tries to convince people that Kira's death needs to be investigated the more her partner and neighbours seem to conspire against her. There are some disturbing aspects to the book relating to Nancy's mental health and Maud does not really feature until part three of the book but that proves to be a turning point. I read this in 2 days because I wanted to see how it would end and I wasn't disappointed.

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