Euphoria, by Lily King

In the 1930s wunderkind American anthropologist Nell Stone braves the wilds of Papua New Guinea with her less talented Australian husband Fen. They join up with English counterpart Andrew Bankson, who has been alone in the field for too long and needs their company as much as they need his guidance. The behaviour in the developing love triangle is brilliantly compared and contrasted with the anthropological study of the ‘primitive’ cultures the trio is immersed in. Anthropology was a developing science and the three western researchers bring very different perspectives and methodologies to their work. Gentle Bankson’s approach is academic; dominant Fen is almost his opposite in every way; Nell focuses on women and children. They unite their strengths to create great work, but their strengths are also their weaknesses and bring about their downfall. The novel poses the question: are western values, mores and actions so very different or more sophisticated than those they study? The answer seems to be that passion, jealousy, possessiveness and violence, both tribal and domestic, are universal traits; it only how they are viewed and described that is different. Inspired by the early life of Margaret Meade, Lily King’s story is multifaceted and engrossing, beautiful and tragic.

Unsheltered, by Barbara Kingsolver

The Vineland district of New Jersey was founded in the nineteenth century as a supposedly utopian community by a benevolent dictator. Unsheltered parallels the stories of present day journalist Willa Knox and 1870s teacher Thatcher Greenwood, who share far more than a crumbling, poorly built house they cannot afford to fix. Insecure employment and burdensome dependent in-laws are the hallmarks of both their lives. Willa also has troublesome adult children, while Thatcher battles for scientific truth in guiding the hearts and minds of his students. In 1870 the politics are local and personal, whereas in the modern day they are national and general, but the results are the same. Again there are strong parallels with the wilful ignorance of science leading to destruction and blind faith in a demagogue who is only interested in his own gain. Thatcher finds solace in his scholarly neighbour Mary Treat – a satisfying friendship based on mutual respect and shared interests, in contrast to his marriage, which started with physical attraction but had no substance. Echoes of Dr Lydgate in Middlemarch are confirmed by mention of George Eliot in the acknowledgements. Willa has a good and loving marriage, also based on physical attraction but built into a strong partnership over the years. These relationships sustain them in their troubles. The last few words of each chapter become the title of the next, a neat trick that forges a link between the two eras stronger than the address they share. Both stories have people trying to do the right thing by their families and working around a system stacked against them and they come together at the end with some signs of hope.