Lisa See: The Flower Net, Random House, ebook 9781588366672

Flower Net has been out for some time but i only just discovered this terrific crime series set in the US and China. 

Flower Net features an unlikely duo of detectives: Chinese detective Liu Hulan, a Red princess, meaning she was born into a by now wealthy high cadre family, and district attorney David Stark in Los Angeles. When the son of the US ambassador to China is found murdered on the same day as the son of a Chinese oligarch, wheels are set in motion to request the two of them in an unparalleled concerted investigation. I loved learning about the differences, politics and etiquettes Stark has to observe when he joins Hulan in Chin . A great crime novel, will definately read the other 2 in the series.

 Laura Barnett: Birth, Death and Marriages, 9780857529725,  large format paperback, Doubleday, pub dat: June 25

If you loved the film "Four weddings

and a funeral" , this is as close as you can get with a book. I had such a good time following Zoe, Rachel, Rob, Al, Yas and Indie over the course of a year, with everything that happens to this former close knit university gang, now approaching  40, ending with a birth, a marriage and a death. Although I am not the target group agewise,  it felt so comforting returning to this novel,  feeling almost part of this group of friends.

This could have turned into a smaltzy book but Laura Barnett does a fine job of writing what happens as you grow older with your friends, enduring tragedy, secrets, all the craziness of life and love together.  Loved it, thanks for the early proof Doubleday.

 Abdulrazak Gurnah: Theft, Bloomsbury, pub date: March 2025, hardback 9781526678645

"Theft" by Abdulrazak Gurnah is his first book after winning the Nobel Prize in 2021. A native of Zanzibar and Tansania, his new book is set in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar in the 1990. His gentle, incomparable voice tells the story of  the interwoven lives of Karim, self -assured and born into a wealthy household, beautiful, intelligent and gentle Fauzia and subservient Badar, who is less lucky in life, a servant in Karim's parents household but also a relative.

The narrative follows them thru coming of age until they settle  on Zanzibar as now adults, still friends despite their very different backgrounds. Gurnah's writing is beautiful, atmospheric when it comes to describing the living conditions in post colonial Africa.  I particularly fell in love with Badar as a character, his innocence yet down- to-earth attitude. A gem of a book,  just what you would expect from the maestro.