Good Money, by JM Green

Stella Hardy is a burnt out social worker in Melbourne’s western suburbs. When the son of a client is murdered and her next-door neighbour disappears, Stella finds herself pulled into a murky world of high finance and low-life drug dealers. Along the way she has to deal with her dysfunctional family, consider a potential new lover with his own dark secrets and repair an old friendship with a cop who could be helpful. The setting is refreshing, but there is a lot of unnecessary detail of local streets, landmarks and directions. The action zips along, but the characters are curiously flat and the role of coincidence in the plot is hard to swallow. Some of the writing, particularly around the family relationships, is striking in its clarity and precision. There is a lot to like about the book, but there is too much reliance on action over credibility and Green tries a bit too hard for entertaining and quirky and it doesn’t quite come off.

City of Girls, by Elizabeth Gilbert

Writing a memoir for Angela, the daughter of a man once in her life, Vivian Morris looks back to herself at 19 and her arrival in 1940s New York. After bombing out of college Vivian’s straight-laced parents send her to her aunt Peg, who runs a seedy theatre. A talented seamstress, Vivian finds her niche creating theatrical costumes. She makes friends, discovers sex and alcohol and generally has a ball until it all comes crashing down when she makes a very bad mistake. Occasional reminders that this is all a story told to the mysterious Angela are deliberately inserted into the narrative at various points, although the answers she wants are a long time coming. Two-thirds of the book is devoted to the roaring 40s, Vivian’s awakening and maturing during the war years. There is little hint throughout this section of the answer to Angela’s question – who were you to my father? Nor indeed is it indicated who he is, despite Vivian’s promise to tell what he was to her. This makes the device of Angela as audience rather a long tease. Vivian fast-forwards through the next 20 years of her life and we finally learn the identity of Angela’s father towards the end of the book. It is not a total surprise, but the nature of their relationship is. Gilbert’s writing is clear, warm and engaging, her characters lively and appealing. The novel is ultimately a testament to friendship, celebrating all kinds of love and the benefits of finding your tribe and creating the family you need.

Late Night (2019), directed by Nisha Ganatra

Written by Mindy Kaling for Emma Thompson, Late Night is smart, witty and on point, if perhaps a tad heavy handed. Katherine Newbery is an award-winning comedian and late night TV host who has been at the top of her game for almost 30 years. Her show has become stale and she is under threat of losing her gig to a crass, younger, male comedian. Her very white, male writing team all come from a similar background, which helps to keep her work stale and repetitive. Enter greenhorn Molly (Kaling), the ‘diversity hire’ who brings a fresh approach and some hope of Katherine retaining her position. There are some interestingly complex plot points, such as Katherine’s ailing husband and a different take on the sexual politics of television, but conflicts are resolved a little too quickly and easily for credibility. A solid supporting cast includes John Lithgow as Katherine’s supportive husband and Hugh Dancy as a playboy comedian. The script is based on Kaling’s lived experience; it rings true and provides a truly valid commentary on equality of opportunity and the need for allies to be able to see what you can be. Although for a movie featuring a comedy writing team it could have been funnier. Emma Thompson makes the most of her role – just imagine if a female comedian ever did get the chance to be a late night TV host.

Finn Family Moomintroll, by Tove Jansson

Revisiting Moomin Valley after many years absence is a sheer pleasure. Written in the 1940s and 50s, the tales hold up just fine in the modern age, beautifully illustrated by the author and seamlessly translated. Set in a gorgeous natural world of spring and summer (because moomintrolls hibernate in winter), there are mountains to climb, rivers and seas to sail and forests to roam. Moomintroll and his friends enjoy feasts and treasures, exploration and adventures and meeting new and wonderful creatures. Their lives are not without fear or danger, but there is nothing that can’t be overcome by a practical approach to life and Moominmama’s cooking or Moominpapa’s homespun philosophy. Fun and kindness permeate the stories, which are a delight for children to read or listen to and for adults to read aloud.

The Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon

The size of this book is a daunting; a paperback of more than 800 pages is a brick to manoeuvre and just seems unnecessary. Could it not have been split into two? It is a sprawling tale of political machinations, magic and dragons in a world refreshingly lacking in racism and sexism, but riven with class division and religious intolerance. Shannon has clearly developed an extensive social, cultural and political history for her imagined world, which she uses to naturally inform the action. There are a myriad of characters in a multitude of places, which must have been quite a task to keep track of as an author – it’s a challenge for the reader. In the East aspiring dragonrider Tane jeopardises her future by helping a stranger. In the West, at the court of Queen Sabran, southerner Ead has a secret mission that puts her life at risk. The action switches rapidly between east and west for much of the tale, gradually revealing that both cultures face an existential threat that they must find a way to fight together. It takes long time to bring it all together. The writing has a lovely flow that verges on the poetic, but some of the invented words seem totally unnecessary and create an inconsistent tone. The central love story is unconvincing and superfluous to the plot. Sometimes you just don’t need a romance. Some of the characters could have been dispensed with sooner, to the benefit of the plot and cutting some of the many many, words. The book unfortunately becomes a slog, not for any flaw in execution but just because of its extreme length.