Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Feminism: chat

Original poster

The Vanishing Act Of Esme Lennox / novel recommendations

65 replies

Scout2016 · 13/11/2020 22:13

I have just read The Vanishing Act Of Esme Lennox after Glosswitch recommended it in one of her mail outs. I read it quickly, it gripped me, and I'm glad, I think, overall, that I read it. But mainly I feel pissed off with the plot. Three central female characters, themes of society's expectations of women, poor understanding of mental health issues... it could have been really good but just wasn't.
With Christmas coming up and the possibility of books coming my way, I wondered if anyone could recommend something else please? Ideally novels as I have a lot of the recent nonfiction to get to but equally please feel free just to recommend away in case someone else is looking for suggestions.
I know there is a books section on Mumsnet but I thought here might be a better place to try.

OP posts:
Original poster
Scout2016 · 14/11/2020 09:04

Thanks for all these. When I have done some parenting I will be making a list. Most I have never heard of which is ace.
I loved Crawdads GoodyWoolf, gave it to my MIL who loved it and gave it to her neighbour. My sister couldn't finish it but loved Esme Lennox.
Recent reads that have stayed with me are
Bitter by Francesca Jakobi, bit melodramatic but enjoyed it.
Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane which has a similar strand around an aspect of motherhood as Bitter actually.
Twenty-One Locks by Laura Barton. Easy read but well put together.
Looking forward to latest Lissa Evans.
Of recent books there has been a fuss over,
Normal People made me really cross, and Hot Milk I took back to the library when the lifeguard arrived on the scene because it seemed like he was going to be a creepy weirdo and just I wasn't in the mood. I've since been told he isn't so might try again.

OP posts:
LetterFromLorah · 14/11/2020 08:36

I love the female characters in Kate Atkinson's novels. Life After Life is by far my favourite.

ThousandsAreSailing · 14/11/2020 07:30

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is one of my all time favourite reads
Rip now but Margaret Foster has some good novels. I've read so many I forget but Have The Men Had Enough and Mothers' Boys spring to mind

GoodyWoolf · 14/11/2020 07:20

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell was excellent, despite the title the focus is mostly female.
I also really liked Crawdads by Delia Owens and Circe by Madeline Miller.
Currently reading Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker which is a retelling of the Trojan war from the perspective of some of the women involved.

DidoLamenting · 14/11/2020 03:06

Or crime/thriller Jane Harper's The Dry, Force of Nature and The Lost

DidoLamenting · 14/11/2020 03:02

I think I'm the only person on the planet who didn't like The Dutch House. I just didn't care what happened.

I mentioned Emily St. John Mandel, Station 11 is really good too.

If you like science fiction Chris Beckett's Dark Eden trilogy is a fantastic page- turner (actually all his stuff is great)

Or Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky about a planet whose dominant species spiders in a matriarchal structure.

Minette Walters black death, The Turn of Midnight and The Last Hours had a female main character which should fit your bill.

DancelikeEmmaGoldman · 14/11/2020 02:46

Three books; old, older and oldest in terms of age.

One of my all-time favourite books: Ride on Stranger by Kylie Tennant. Set in pre-war Australia, it is funny and sad and angry, but ultimately resilient. As a young woman comes of age, she recognises the ways in which society tries to break women, but she refuses to buckle.
The Bone People by Keri Hulme. It might break your heart, but the protagonist is eccentric and powerfully herself. Honourable mention Lillian’s Story by Kate Grenville.

The Women in Black bu Madeleine St John. I really like that the women are at the forefront of the story, and despite it being set in the 1950s, the book is about women doing well for themselves.

teezletangler · 14/11/2020 02:05

I think Maggie O'Farrell is kind of variable in quality.

My favourite novel so far this year was Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo. The novel - and her views on the trans issue - have been debated elsewhere on the FWR forum!

My favourite novels last year were Circe by Madeline Miller and The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. Both featuring fully rounded female characters.

CharlieParley · 14/11/2020 01:50

I just read We begin at the end by Chris Whitaker. It's a crime novel. One of the two central characters is a 13 year old girl. She has a strong, compelling voice. And agency. It's a rare five out of five stars for me. Central themes are violence, survival, atonement, forgiveness and revenge.

DidoLamenting · 14/11/2020 00:33

Cloud Atlas obviously.

DidoLamenting · 14/11/2020 00:32

I also loved Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, which like Utopia Avenue is also about a fictitious band.

Utopia Avenue is a far more straightforward narrative than Cloud Avenue (which personally I think is the equal to Bleak House as the greatest English novel)

Original poster
Scout2016 · 13/11/2020 23:23

Yes Possum, it was partly the lack of understanding at that time, compounded by their idea of what was acceptable for a female. The behaviour that saw Esme treated as she was (trying to avoid spoilers) would have had a different outcome for a male. Interesting premise but the ending let it down on that aspect for me.

OP posts:
Possums4evr · 13/11/2020 23:09

It's been a while since I read that one, but Maggie O'Farrell is normally excellent.
Isn't the poor understanding of mental health issues because it represented the Victorian misunderstand of mental health issues?

Original poster
Scout2016 · 13/11/2020 23:05

Happy for the central characters to be male but would prefer any female characters to be well written rather than just plot points / murder victims / there to give an extra dimension to the men. I will look those novels up, thank you. Only David Mitchell I have tried is Cloud Atlas years ago which I didn't get on with at all so interested to look up Utopia Avenue, and I haven't heard of the wonderfully named Emily St. John Mandel.

OP posts:
DidoLamenting · 13/11/2020 22:35

Does it have to be books by women about women?

The novel I've enjoyed most this year was David Mitchell's Utopia Avenue.

I also really liked Emily St. John Mandel's The Glass Hotel