September 2019/Fairlady 111Green leaves
stories of their lives.
This is a page-
turner that will
have you tearing
up, and a love story
without any of the
schmaltz.
Simamkele Mbanga
THE SUSPECT
BY FIONA BARTON
Investigative journalist
Kate Waters is working on
a story about two young
girls, Alex and Rosie, who
have gone missing on their
gap year in Thailand. But
she soon realises that she
may be more involved than
she first thought when her
son is connected to their
disappearances.
I love intrigue and
mystery, and The Suspect
THE SEVEN OR EIGHT
DEATHS OF STELLA
FORTUNA
BY JULIET GRAMES
Stella Fortuna is born
in a mountain village in
rural Calabria, where her
childhood is fraught with
life-threatening injuries –
she’s burnt by boiling oil,
mauled by pigs and suffers
a serious head injury. This
instils in her an incredibly
strong survival instinct
which is tested many times
during her long life.
The second child of a
mostly absent, sex-addict
father and a submissive,
superstitious housewife
mother, Stella becomes
a fiercely independent
young woman. The family
eventually
emigrates to
America, where
she desperately
wants to be able
to control her
own life without
being dictated
to by men. But
her abusive
father beats her
into submission
and forces her to marry
Carmelo, with whom she
has 10 children. For Stella
this is a complete betrayal
of her resolve: she had
vowed never to marry
and never to become
pregnant.
The Seven or Eight Deaths
of Stella Fortuna is a
sprawling epic about
the female condition,
especially when it
is overshadowed by
the brutality of a
patriarchal system.
Kerry NashNEW DAUGHTERS
OF AFRICA
EDITED BY MARGARET
BUSBY
Our
bookshelves
at home and
dinner table
conversations
are filled
with literary
giants from
every genre
imaginable,
from Stephen King to
Roald Dahl. We studied
Fitzgerald in school and
watched adaptions of
Tolkien. But there’s a very
large literary and historical
gap when it comes to
African women writers.
They were there; history
just didn’t look,
listen, or read
hard enough.
New Daughters
of Africa aims
to fill this gap.
It’s an anthology
of vibrant
short stories,
essays, letters,
diary entries,
poetry and more
by women of African
descent – whether on
the continent, or spread
across the diaspora. From
our pre-1900 foremothers
to our sisters of the 21st
century, New Daughters of
Africa covers conversations
about feminism, hair,
slavery, religion, politics
and identity. This is a
book every woman needs
to work her way through
to be enlightened by the
overwhelming amount of
#BlackGirlMagic.
Caroline Petersenhas boatloads of
both. And while
you may think
that too much
is given away at
the start of the
book, there’s so
much more to
the story than
you know.
Fiona Barton has created
intriguing characters, and
her excellent depiction of
teens flirting and bickering
is as believable as the worry
and grief of their parents.
Without giving too much
away, the ending will have
you questioning whether
the guilty parties have all
been held accountable,
which for me makes it
even better.
Charis TorranceIf you have trouble sleeping, says sleep researcher and
psychologist Dr David Lewis, have a look at what you’re
reading before you turn out the light:
•Your brain craves completeness, so books with constant
cliffhangers will activate, rather than calm your brain – in
fact, cliffhangers spark the ‘Zeigarnik Effect,’ which makes
your brain think that something isn’t finished, so it can’t
switch off.
•Shorter sentences mean you don’t have to concentrate
as hard, so you’re more likely to drop off, but clear, looping
longer sentences can also soothe your mind (nothing too
convoluted, though).
•A simple storyline is better than a twisty-turny plot, for the
same reason.5 BEDTIME BOOKS HE RECOMMENDS: