2 Books Like A Family Matter

'The Naked Light' contains all the ingredients of the very best historical fiction, and I knew I was going to love it from the very first page. Set in the years immediately after the First World War, the plot centres on three women - Kit, an androgynous artist seeking solace from the horrors of war, Florence, the repressed and stifled sister-in-law of a vicar, and Phoebe, a motherless adolescent, adrift and angry. All three women are living in a village bereft of most of its men following the war, and overlooked by the Face, an ancient crude 'face' cut into the chalk of the Downs. This Face has supposedly protected the village up until recently, but now darker forces are coming to the fore. The novel beautifully examines the age old traditions of our land and its dark and sometimes sinister myths, which may or may not be myths. It's… show more.

'Helm' is one of those novels that's so phenomenally good it's difficult to know how to describe its excellence without reducing its power. Ambitious in its construct, breathtaking in its range, heartbreaking and hopeful in its message, 'Helm' had me captivated from the first page. The first sentence, in truth. Sarah Hall has somehow, by some magic, and her beautiful prose, brought a wind to life! A wind that has shaped humans and land alike through eons, a wind imbued with superstition, folklore, fear and timeless stories. Sarah Hall is basically a genius to be able to harness all this in her book. I am in awe.