THIS UNITED STATE by COLIN FORBES

Not quite sure how or why I’d never read any Colin Forbes before. Bit of (probably unnecessary) scene-setting before I start. This big, satisfying chunky novel was bought years ago, in a second hand bookshop in Johannesburg, when we lived there, and has travelled back to India with us, and …

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING SEVEN by ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH

Can there be many things better than reading 2 Alexander McCall Smith novels back to back? One day “The Forgotten Affairs of Youth”. The next day, “The Importance of being seven”. The joys of being on holiday. Both of these novels are set in Edinburgh, but in different parts of …

PEOPLE LIKE OURSELVES by PAMELA JOOSTE

“People like Ourselves” by the South African novelist Pamela Jooste is both engaging, but also ever so slightly disappointing at the end. Perhaps it’s because I lived in Johannesburg for several very happy years, in a gated community that is featured in the novel, that I felt an instant connection …