Top Nine for 2023

Always impossible to choose, but these are nine of the books that stand out as reads of the year.

A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter. Enchanting non-fiction. High adventure in understated prose. Have read it twice.

Yellowface by R.F.Kuang. Deliciously ghastly.

Clarice Bean: Don’t Look Now - Exceptionordinarily excellent and quite good too.

PK Pinkerton: The Case of the Good-looking Corpse: Fabulous hero. Cracking pace. Immersive world-building. Sometimes shocking. Loved it, and went on to read the next two.

Poison in not Polite by Robin Stevens. A charming and fiendish whodunnit. Called Arsenic for Tea in the UK edition. I’ve read more than a few in the series, and this is probably my favourite. The portrayal of Daisy’s mother, in particular, has stayed with me.

The Notorious Scarlett & Browne by Jonathan Stroud: Exhilerating. Exceptional world-building and descriptive prose.

Kick the Latch by Kathryn Scanlan. A rodeo-ride of a book.

The Extraordinary Voyage of Katy Willacott by Sharon Gosling. Fantastic sea-storm scene. Loved it.

Elizabeth & Zenobia by Jessica Miller. Read the whole book with a smile. Gothic vibes. Wish I had my own Zenobia. Loved it.