The Tenderness of Wolves, Call for the Dead and Music and Silence

I had reservations about reading a novel set in the early settlements of 1867 Canada, but Stef Penney's The Tenderness of Wolves won the 2006 Costa Book of the Year, so I decided to give it a try. It is quite long for a part thriller, part family drama, but once I started I was never going to give up. It is well written but just a little repetitive and slightly tedious as the search for the main protagonists goes deeper into the hard landscape. For me it is the writing that kept me going. It is a good story, and exciting in parts, it just could have done with being condensed, and then it would have been great.

I am catching up on the early novels of my favourite author, John Le Carre. Call for the Dead is a short book written in 1961 and introduces the now famous George Smiley. I was surprised how good it was for his very first novel. It definitely contains his trademark thrills wrapped up in a sense of mystery, but at the same time beautifully written. I'm looking forward to his second book, A Murder of Quality.

Ever since I joined the book club, I am on the look out for something I would not normally read. A long historical novel about a young English lutenist who joins the orchestra of the King of Denmark in 1629 is very different to my normal reading. I'm just not that keen on historical novels. But I so wanted to read another book by Rose Tremain after her brilliant The Road Home and Sacred Country. Her earlier novel Music and Silence had won the 1999 Whitbread Book of the Year, so that was that. Did I enjoy it? Well. sort of. I have to admit I nearly gave up a couple of times early on, but something kept me wanting to know what happened. The writing is a little strange as it tries to reflect the language of the time, whilst still trying to be modern. You have to get used to it. It is a little sprawling in it's shifts of character and place, and as such it would have done no harm to condense some of the passages. But it is very atmospheric and the different threads are brought together quite masterfully. I can see why it won the award as it is beautifully written. Not quite my cup of tea, but very glad that I persevered. Oh, and it does have one of the most interesting characters in modern fiction. Kirsten Munk, married to King Christian IV of Denmark, and almost Queen. I'm glad I never have to meet her.