A good day or a bad day?

I'm not sure at the moment whether it is good or bad. Mixed is I think the best I can do. My team's manager is one of the best in my long experience of managers. Now she's gone and got herself promoted - temporarily - and we're not sure who we're going to get in exchange. Added to which she's on holiday at present so we can't even talk to her about it! We knew she was going for the job, but I think we all individually hoped in a way she wouldn't get it. Selfish I know but we're well aware we'll almost certainly get someone not half as good. We're all a bit down about it and we were all scribbling away on the backs of envelopes to see if we can afford to apply for early retirement!! It's not quite as bad as that I suppose and we're all focusing on the word 'temporary'. I have vague recollections of it being 3 months - which would be bearable, as we would get her back at the end of it. Ho hum - I suppose there are worse things happening at sea. Apart from that work itself went well today.

I've just about finished reading 'Mothernight' by Sarah Stovell. Haunting, harrowing and claustrophobic are the words which immediately spring to mind. Something has kept me reading it even when part of me wanted to put it down. The whole plot revolves around the death of 37 day old Alfie - Leila's step brother. Who killed him? Was it his mother? Was it Leila and her manipulative friend Rosie? Everything comes to a head when Leila is 18 and is spending the summer at home for the first time in 8 years with her schoolfriend Olivia. The girls are involved in an obsessive friendship which worries their school. How will everyone involved deal with the situation and will any of them come out the other side calm and in one piece? The writing is spare and evocative and conveys the atmosphere clearly. Each chapter is written in the voice of a different character which seems to help to build the tension. I recommend it if you like your fiction full of undercurrents. As a debut novel it is startling and I think we will see more of Sarah Stovell.

Books and other things

This week I finished reading Donna Leon's 'The Girl of his Dreams'. It definitely came up to her usual standard. I'd always avoided crime stories set 'abroad' until a friend recommended Donna Leon. Once I started reading them I was hooked. Her writing style is very plain and straightforward and you are almost unaware of the words when you're reading. The story sucks you in and seems to seep into your brain through osmosis. Her characters are three dimensional with Guido Brunetti himself being one of the most believable detectives I've come across in fiction. Venice - the setting - is a character in itself. The sights and sounds and the people of the city come alive on the page. The plots are never simple and always leave you wondering about the very fine line between right and wrong. Brunetti is always battling the inherent corruption in his attempts to put the guilty behind bars. Frequently he does not succeed or the ending is ambiguous.
This latest book is every bit as good as her previous ones. Brunetti continually grows and matures. He is far from immune from things like impatience and irritability making him a very human character. The girl of the title is pulled out of a canal ostensibly drowned. But Brunetti is not convinced it is just a tragic accident, and the startling post mortem results merely fuel his disquiet. Running alongside the main plot is a personal investigation into a semi religious sect which appears to be persuading people to part with large amounts of cash. Intertwined is the vexed question of gypsy migrants and the way the forces of law and order are hamstrung by the laws they are meant to be enforcing. I loved it.

I've also read Trisha Ashley's 'Happy Endings'. This is a light and frothy chick lit type of story. Its heroine is Tina Devino who writes 'sex and gardening' novels and runs a part time literary agency/critique service. Each chapter begins with a letter to or from one of her clients - which would also make a book in themselves. Tina has an on-off relationship with Sergei - a former Russian ballet dancer. She has reached crisis point when her ex-husband - Tim - goes to work for the publishers of her moderately successful books, and threatens to dispense with her services. What she needs is a rich husband or a successful book. What happens and how she deals with it prove humorous and entertaining. One of the best of its kind in my opinion and I recommend it if you want a little light reading with an approaching middle age heroine.

I've just started reading 'Mothernight' by Sarah Stovell - which Anne has reported on in her blog - link at the top of the page. I came across it as an Amazon recommendation and it looks good. I will report on it at a later date.

Off to look at some favourite sites and then relax with a book - nearly the weekend.