The Secret Scripture, A Most Wanted Man and December

I often search the bestseller lists for human dramas, and The Secret Scripture was there for some time. Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and Costa Book of the Year, I had to give it the novel by Sebastian Barry a try. I have to say that despite the beautiful writing, the first half of the book was heavy going. Written from the alternating accounts of Roseanne McNulty, who is close to her one hundredth birthday, and her psychiatrist Dr Grene, the book picks up when Roseanne memories go from childhood into when she was a young woman. It then becomes a masterpiece of tragedy, and the revelations of a shocking secret lead to an uplifting conclusion. I am so glad I stuck with it.

Whenever I pick up a new novel by my favourite author, John Le Carre, I am strangely anxious that very soon it will be over and I will have to wait another two or three years for the next one. A Most Wanted Man is right up there with his best work. A great plot, the story is fuelled with superb characters on a collision course to the dramatic conclusion. I now don't have to wait for Le Carre's next book, I am picking up a couple of his earlier work that I may not have read.

I'm not sure why I went for December by Elizabeth H. Winthrop. It is about an eleven year old girl who has not spoken in nine months and the impact on her mother and father. Told from the alternating views of the three, the only good parts are surprisingly from those of young Isobel. Her father and mother are not particularly interesting or sympathetic. Nothing much happens, although at times absorbing, the writing carries you along to the inevitable conclusion.