SWEETSORROW
ByDAVIDNICHOLLS
Hodder & Stoughton
The latest offering from the author
of One Day and Starter for Ten plays
out over the course of the British sum-
mer of 1997. Having just finished high
school, Charlie Lewis reluctantly gets
drawn into a local theatre production
of Romeo and Juliet.
He doesn’t have any acting abilities
and isn’t the slightest bit interested
in Shakespeare but he agrees to take
part in the hope it allows him to get
closer to the delightful Fran Fisher,
who plays Juliet.
Over the weeks a sweet romance
unfolds – but there are multiple prob-
lems that threaten it, including Charlie’s
depressed and suicidal dad, the teen’s
growing sense of dread about his exam
results that are due to be announced
and a fraudulent scheme he has going
on the side to earn himself a bit of extra
cash.
Although the theme is first love this
isn’t a whimsical young adult novel –
it’s told from Charlie’s perspective when
he’s older, wiser and getting ready to
marry someone else. But what happened
between him and Fran?
The answer is funny, sad, complicated
and tinged with regret – basically,
everything fans would expect from
a Nicholls novel.
THENIGHTWINDOW
By DEAN KOONTZ
HarperCollins
The final confrontation between good
and evil; the climax of Jane Hawk’s one-
woman crusade to rid the world of the
ruthless cabal known as the Techno
Arcadians. This basically sums up this
fifth book in the series, which started
off in 2017 with the Silent Corner.
Even if you haven’t read any of the
previous books, you can still enjoy this
thriller because Koontz revisits all that’s
happened before without annoying fans
by being unnecessarily repetitive.
The Techno Arcadians are the baddies
who want to control the world with an
army of people who’ve been “adjusted”
through an injection, which makes them
subservient.
Jane, a former FBI agent, started
her war against the Arcadians after
her husband was injected and then
ordered to commit suicide.
If I have to criticise Koontz, it’s that he
tries to fit too many storylines into this
novel. And Jane is almost too good to be
true – stunningly beautiful, highly intelli-
gent, an accomplished piano player and
as moral as can be. That said, The Night
Window is a gripping thriller that makes
the reader want to turn the pages as
quickly as possible. – ANDRÉ J BRINKWhat’s new?
Looking for something to read?
Here are some suggestions
COMPILED BY JANE VORSTER
CHILL OUT | BOOKS
READ
THISMEMORABLE MEMOIRS
I AM COSTA
By COSTA CARASTAVRAKIS
Bookstorm
How do Greeks exercise?
“By throwing dice onto a back-
gammon board and lifting es-
presso cups,” says the author of
this memoir. For a big chunk of
his life, fitness wasn’t a priority
for Carastavrakis – which was
why at age 42 he was amazed
to find himself taking part in
marathons.
But even more incredible is
the race he’d already run to get himself to this point. He
revisits his childhood – growing up gay in Joburg – and
shows how as an adult, drug addiction took him close
to death. With honesty and humour, he examines what
sent him on this self-destructive downward spiral and
how he managed to claw his way back.THE MOMENT OF LIFT
By MELINDA GATES
Bluebird Books
American philanthropist
Gates opens up about the
lessons she’s learnt from
the people she’s met on
her international travels
over the past 20 years.
Using these anecdotes
she shows that the best way
to change the world is to
empower women by offering
them basic liberties such as
education, contraception and the right to choose who
they marry.
It could all be so serious but it’s not because Gates is
so passionate about helping others. Laced through are
revealing insights about her own life – such as how she
and her future husband, Bill, bonded over their mutual
love of puzzles, how she made sure he did his fair share
after they had kids and how she fought tooth and nail to
step out of his shadow and claim her own place on the
world stage.UNDER THE
CAMELTHORN TREE
By KATE NICHOLLS
Jonathan Ball Publishers
Nicholls wanted an adven-
ture. That’s why she uproot-
ed her five children from
their comfortable lives in
England in 1994 and took
them to Botswana where
they’d get to experience
what it was like living with
lions in a conservation camp.
The single mother was a
resourcefulandresilientwoman but after being brutally
rapedsheturnedintoa shadow of her former self.
Therearemanybooksthat delve into the effects
of rape but what makes this one so powerful is that it
examines the knock-on effect for Nicholl’s children and
how their relationship with her was irrevocably altered.SWEET SORROWSSWEET SORROW
fl d lyou.co.za 8 AUGUST 2019 | (^61)