Life Before, by Carmel Reilly

The story starts in July 1993 with a cop about to do a death knock after a fatal crash in the country town of Northam, in Victoria. It then leaps forward to Melbourne in 2013, where some cops notify a woman that her brother has been knocked off his bike in a hit and run. Back to March 1993 and the teen years of the woman, Loren, and her brother Scott from the point of view of their mother Pam. We keep jumping back and forth in time as the older Loren, or Lori – the author can’t seem to make up her mind – very gradually comes to terms with her past. It takes a very long time to discover who died and why Scott and Loren were estranged for 20 years, and along the way we are told the name of every street in Northam, how they’re laid out and who lives there. In fact there is far too much tedious description of everything, while the device of the past unrolling from Pam’s perspective preserves the mystery but prevents empathy for Loren. It’s difficult to understand why she still keeps the story from her husband once she decides to visit her brother in hospital. It doesn’t take a genius to know that putting the telling into the too hard basket will make it so much worse when the truth eventually comes out. While the scale of the tragedy in the past is a surprise much else is very predictable and the ending is a little too pat.

Daisy Jones and The Six, by Taylor Jenkins Bell

Written as though it is a real-life account of the rise and fall of a real-life band, this novel is frighteningly authentic. The level of detail is such, you want to get hold of the albums and listen to the songs. From a troubled background, Daisy Jones is a spoiled little rich girl, who just happens to be insanely talented. From a troubled but poor background, brothers Billy and Graham form The Six around Billy’s songwriting and performing genius. When they coincide musical magic is made, but this is the 70s so sex and drugs do tend to get in the way of rock and roll. Every member of the band and their significant hangers-on has their say on all aspects of the band’s development and demise – expressed in short answers to unseen questions. As the novel’s strapline says: Everyone was there. Everyone remembers it differently. So much is revealed by who does and doesn’t know what is going on as Daisy and Billy’s URST creates mayhem and the band falls apart. The novel’s structure works brilliantly until the end when the previously irrelevant identity of the author/interviewer is revealed, which undermines the credibility of the way some questions are answered. But it’s an enjoyable romp through 70s soft rock that could make a great mockumentary with a killer soundtrack.

Derry Girls season 2 (Netflix)

They’re back – with six glorious episodes even funnier than those in season one. This season perhaps has fewer sharp edges as Northern Ireland’s Troubles make way for the peace. The soundtrack is killer and must be especially evocative for those who grew up in the 90s. Forget The Hustle, the Bus Stop and the Madison, the wedding episode dance scene to Rock the Boat requires adult diapers to cope with the laughter. Just occasionally a couple of the performances threaten to tip over the edge into hysteria, particularly Nicola Coughlan’s Clare, but Saoirse Monica Jackson’s facial contortions as Erin are toned down a bit and honorary Derry Girl James has more to do. Most are note perfect, especially Siobhan McSweeney as world weary Sister Michael and a very low key Tommy Tiernan as Da Gerry. Hopefully they can all maintain the standard in the third season, which has been announced.

The Missing of Clairdelune, by Christelle Dabos

Book Two of The Mirror Visitor series begins a little clunkily, with insufficient recap of the first book for a seamless transition. There are so many characters in such a complex storyline and it has been translated from French; no wonder it’s easy to get lost. As the story moves on it gathers pace and excitement. Dabos has developed the happy knack of ending a chapter on a cliffhanger, making it difficult to put the book down. With echoes of Arabian Nights Ophelia is appointed vice-storyteller by Farouk, the all-powerful ruler and ancestral spirit of the ark of Pole. She is at loggerheads with her fiancé, Thorn, but she may need him to survive her precarious position at the court. It is impossible not to cheer for dogged underdog Ophelia and it is really not necessary for he to sustain quite so much physical damage. Dabos is great at world-building and depicting characters; where the book falls down is in how they interact. The central romance is just not credible and Ophelia’s family relationships are treated superficially. The latter is perhaps understandable when the tale already runs to more than 500 pages. It ends on yet another cliffhanger as a teaser for the next book, if you have the stamina.

Wormwood Mire, by Judith Rossell

In this sequel to Withering-by-Sea, Stella Montgomery has been banished by her formidable aunts to the crumbling gothic manor Wormwood Mire. Stella is out of her depth, away from the awful aunts but also away from the comfortable hotel on the coast, with maids and chef-cooked meals. She does have the company of her new-found cousins, aspiring engineer Strideforth and animal loving Hortense. There is also the botany-obsessed governess Miss Araminter, housekeeper Mrs Burdock and her grandson Jem. The house and its grounds are full of mystery, with exotic flora and fauna imported by an intrepid ancestor. And there is also the mystery of Stella’s connection to the house – she discovers that she lived there as a baby, but what happened to her mother and sister and who is her father? As Stella gains independence and builds a friendship with her cousins, she begins to find answers to some of her questions, while uncovering several more. The hardback version of this book is beautifully illustrated by the author, although the green print is a little hard on the eyes. The story is dark and satisfying, with a nice lead-in to what will undoubtedly be a suitable third instalment of Stella’s tale.