Wherabouts, by Jhumpa Lahiri

An unnamed woman inhabits an unidentified city, clearly in Italy by its characteristics. She is a middle aged academic, long single, living a solitary life that is maybe a little lonely. Each short chapter is geographically located – on the sidewalk; on the street; in my office; at the trattoria; and so on. The reader sees the city and its inhabitants through her eyes, with beautifully lucid descriptions of people and place. Moving through the seasons she reflects on relationships with family, with friends and colleagues, the road not taken and possibilities for the future. The reader sits on her shoulder, experiencing the city and its people along with the woman in a manner that is strangely satisfying.

The Last Graduate, by Naomi Novik

Lesson Two of the Scholomance takes up where Lesson One ended in A Deadly Education, with El and her allies starting their final year at the magical and deadly boarding school. They have no idea how successful their repair of the cleansing machinery was and therefore whether or not last year’s Senior graduating class made it out. El receives a warning message from her mother that poses a dilemma, but she is soon more preoccupied with the uniquely challenging curriculum the school has imposed on her. Stretched to her limits, El finds new reserves and new allies in the fight against the maleficent creatures who are out to devour all wizards and especially the vulnerable young ones. But can she expand her abilities to help all those who need her protection and what will be the cost? Novik’s wryly funny dark fantasy holds such interesting parallels to political and cultural divides in the real world, with equally interesting solutions. A sense of foreboding underpins the story, which pays off as expected in a slightly unexpected way. The ending makes it difficult to imagine how Lesson Three will go, but it will be great fun to find out.

Off the Rails (2022), directed by Jules Williamson

In the 1980s four University friends, Liz, Anna, Kate and Cassie, went Interrailing in southern Europe, aiming to catch the biannual light show at the cathedral in Palma. They never made it and over the years, through work and family obligations, they have drifted apart. When Anna dies of cancer she leaves a task for the remaining three women to take her 18 year-old daughter, Maddie, on a quest to complete the journey and see the light show. This very slight film gets very silly towards the end, but the journey is nevertheless enjoyable, with a nice underlying message about letting go of the past and making the most of what you have. Jenny Seagrove is particularly resonant as single, broke Kate. It was Kelly Preston’s last film before she died from breast cancer, making her performance more poignant.

Cold Welcome, by Elizabeth Moon

War hero Admiral Ky Vatta is returning to her home planet to take care of some family business. Sabotage sets her adrift in an icy sea, off an inhospitable continent, with a mismatched troop of Space Force officers that she must try to lead to survival. The first part of the book gets a bit bogged down in technical detail of space shuttles, survival suits and life rafts. It gets more interesting as the complex political and social machinations kick in and we get the other side of the picture from Ky’s worried family and friends. There is a lot going on, with a centuries old conspiracy fuelling a deadly plot, linked to Ky’s tragic family history. Ky herself is a little too good to be true – 29-year-old military genius – but she is an appealing character, not hard to barrack for and her family is fascinating. This is the first book of a new series, Vatta’s Peace, which follows on from a five-book series, Vatta’s War. Moon is a skilled enough writer to fill in enough of the back story, but it probably would be useful to read the first series before tackling this one.

After Life (Netflix) season 3

Ricky Gervais broke his two season limit rule to create this third outing for grieving widower Tony. Season two was rather too neatly wrapped up, with seemingly a happy ending for everyone. Season three shows that real life is, of course, not like that. Tony has not progressed his relationship with Emma as he has not found a way to both keep loving his wife and move on from her death. As he moves glacially through the stages of grief, he becomes slightly less of a prick to those around him, so that’s progress of a kind. For all its thoughtful and poignant moments, there is a lack of balance in this series that tips it over the edge of worth extending. The female characters barely appear until the last few episodes; they are treated as peripheral and their concerns an afterthought. In contrast the crude misogyny of a middle-aged incel features far too heavily and is unfunny and at times, stomach-churning. Gervais has always included an element of naughty-boy transgression in his work, the horrendous psychiatrist embodies this in series one, but in his late middle age the trope is getting tedious and overdone. Roxy the sex worker doesn’t appear at all in series three, but we have to hear all about her boyfriend’s misery about her profession. So was it worth breaking the two-season rule? On balance, probably not.

What Abigail Did That Summer, by Ben Aaronovitch

Magic is real, but not that many people know about it. Abigail Kamara, age 13, is one of the few. When teens start going missing around Hampstead Heath, Abigail is certain a magical element is involved. She enlists her new friend Simon and a team of foxes to investigate. The teen’s usual ally, her magical cop cousin, is busy up north and Abigail is afraid his boss will stop her getting involved. It’s a tricky case, but fortunately Simon’s mum has a few useful contacts. Abigail is a smart, strong and streetwise heroine with a wealth of resources. The text has a wry wit with appeal across a wide age range. This is a spin off tale from a series, Rivers of London, but it holds up pretty well as a stand-alone story for the uninitiated.

The Man Who Died Twice, by Richard Osman

The second outing of the Thursday Murder Club sees the gang of four seniors looking into threats against an old MI5 colleague of Elizabeth’s and some valuable missing diamonds. Meanwhile, local coppers Chris and Donna need some help dealing with a local thug and a dangerously ambitious drug dealer. The action never stops, but it is the fully rounded characters who provide the real focus of the story. The intrepid and resilient septuagenarians bring their diverse backgrounds and experiences to great effect, solving mysteries large and small and building solid and satisfying relationships. The story gets rather far-fetched, with several unanswered questions, but most ends are neatly tied and there is plenty of room for another go around.