Deep questions: ‘What Happened to Nina?’ by Dervla McTiernan
Irish-born Australian author Dervla McTiernan writes gripping crime fiction with well drawn characters and vivid settings. What Happened to Nina? is set in a snowy Vermont winter, and centres around the main character, twenty year old Nina.
The prologue tells us much of what we need to know about the story. Nina lives with her mum, stepfather and younger sister Grace. She has a boyfriend, Simon Jordan, and they both love rock climbing.
One weekend they go away to stay at Simon’s family holiday cabin to climb and spend time together. Only one of the pair returns from that weekend away.
So, what did happen to Nina?
The narrative takes the reader into the aftermath of crime: the devastation wreaked on a victim and their family, as well as on the perpetrator’s. To a certain extent, the novel keeps us guessing, as both Nina and Simon’s families have different versions of the events that played out that weekend.
In essence, it is a story of the awful acts that people can commit, and the lies they can tell to avoid responsibility. As readers we are invited to step into the shoes of the main people involved: Nina’s parents and sister, and Simon, his mother and father. How do you move on from tragedy? How can justice be best served? What lengths would a parent go to, to protect their child?
It also touches on the power of social media to work both for and against victims of crime and their loved ones.
It’s the kind of crime fiction I enjoy, raising deep questions about human behaviour and asking the reader to reflect on those questions. I found it compelling, the characters believable and in some respects, the events all too familiar.
What Happened to Nina? is published by HarperCollins in March 2024.
My thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an advance review copy.
A modern Christmas story: ‘Juniper’s Christmas’ by Eoin Colfer
A fun modern take on the story of Santa Claus, Juniper’s Christmas for middle grade readers takes us to London, where we meet Juniper, an eleven-year-old who lives with her mum Jennifer on the edge of a London park.
Her dad has died and the pair are trying to continue his legacy of the annual Santa Vigil in the park, where local residents gather to celebrate Christmas and donate goods and gifts for those in need.
Then Jennifer goes missing and Juniper, desperate to find her mum, tries to track down the mysterious Niko, who she believes is Santa Claus – though Santa has not been performing his duties for ten years.
Juniper is off on an adventure involving a magical reindeer calf, a corrupt local official, an Irish crime queen, and a reluctant Santa.
It’s a rollicking story with a very modern twist: a team of elves who try to explain the scientific reasons for the magic of Christmas (flying reindeer, a time bubble on Christmas Eve, a Santa sack that can hold innumerable gifts…) a disgraced scientist and skeptical locals.
At the heart of the story is – well, heart – a belief that Christmas can be a time when people can come together in goodwill, and that gifts can be talismans, ‘parcels of human kindness tied up in a bow, a reminder that there were who cared and who would help.’
A perfect book for the more worldly readers of today, Juniper’s Christmas will delight with its adventure and humour.
Juniper’s Christmas is published by HarperCollins in November 2023.
My thanks to the publishers for a review copy.Philosophy for all – in pictures: ‘Begin Again’ by Oliver Jeffers
As I began to read this book, news of the renewal of appalling violence in Israel and Gaza was on TV screens and online. It made the message in this, Oliver Jeffers’ first picture book for adults and children, feel very timely indeed.
In Jeffers’ inimitable style, the pictures and pared back words in this lovely book are his plea to humanity: surely, given how far we have come as a species, and the amazing leaps in knowledge and technology we have achieved, surely…we can find a way to ‘begin again’ with our relationships with ourselves, with others, and with our planet?
He traces our beginnings as humans: the way we discovered walking upright, using fire, making tools, creating beauty…all the way to the invention of phones and space rockets.
But oh dear, we took a wrong turn somewhere early on, when humans began to
… draw imaginary lines, so we know who we are and who we are not,
where we belong and where we do not,
taking what we want when we want it.
The kings in our castles
on our islands of isolation.
Admired by strangers
(safe from those strangers)…
Though, when we look from far enough
it is clear that we all come from Earth.
There is only Us.We all love stories and sharing them, because stories:
…gave us safe harbour and an idea
of where we fit in the long line of time.Jeffers explore what, why and how things went wrong for us as humans, and suggests how we might correct our course:
By slowing down.
By creating better stories.
Bigger ones
where we all fit
inside the same powerful plot.In his Author’s Note, he explains the changes in his thinking that began after his son was born, and how this book is a culmination of ‘observation and optimism.’
I’d suggest that humanity as a whole, no matter who we are or where we live, needs a hefty dose of optimism right now, and also awareness and compassion.
This book is one that can be shared by adults with children of all ages, and might just help provide some of those essential ingredients for a happier and safer world.
Begin Again is published by HarperCollins in November 2023.
My thanks to the publishers for a review copy.‘100 Remarkable Feats of Xander Maze’ by Clayton Zane Comber
Xander is 15, a student at a Sydney high school. He lives with his Mum and his Nanna, who is sick with cancer. Xander’s Dad died of cancer and he wants to do whatever he can to save Nanna, and making lists helps him with anxiety and coping with difficult situations, so he decides to write a list of 100 Remarkable Feats and then achieve them all.
Xander experiences and sees the world and other people differently than some, and the author has skilfully and sympathetically given readers a ‘Xander view’ of events, allowing us to understand that being neurodiverse is only a problem because it’s thought of as such. Little snippets of his learning pop up as well, such as how to make small talk, how to tell the difference between people being rude and being reserved, how to ‘read between the lines’ of interpersonal communication, and what an idiom such as ‘read between the lines’ actually means.
The narrative is peppered with lists that Xander makes to help him cope with new or challenging situations. He accesses his memories and emotions via lists as well: #1 Most Trusted Person; Worst Life Moments; Memory Lists; Top Ten Life Moments.
As he sets out to achieve his Remarkable Feats, he pushes his comfort zone out further than ever before; makes new friends; and tackles some very challenging scenarios. And he learns a great deal about life, family and friends on the way.
In a letter to actor Emma Watson (#2 Prettiest Girl in the World), Xander writes:
I also reckon it must have been incredibly hard for you being so famous so young, like you had to learn to be Hermoine Granger before learning to be yourself. That’s how I feel about being a teenager, like I’m always trying to be someone I’m expected to be rather than myself. I think that’s why I’ve had such a hard time fitting in.
100 Remarkable Feats of Xander Maze p103As well as Xander’s experiences, the story touches on challenges that affect others: eating disorders, childhood illness, agoraphobia, bullying, among others. Yet it’s a quirky and uplifting tale in which the reader will cheers for Xander as he progresses through his Remarkable Feats. This novel will help teens and young adult readers to understand a little more about neurodiversity, and that can only be a positive thing.
100 Remarkable Feats of Xander Maze is published by HarperCollins Publishers in June 2021.
My thanks to the publishers for a review copy.
