Character-Driven Novels of 2021

 

One of my favorite books recently has been The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams. The book, set in London, focuses on two main characters, with a charming cast of secondary characters. Mukesh is an older man, recently widowed, who discovers one of his wife's library books, The Poisonwood Bible, under their bed. He reads it to try to connect with her. The second main character Aleisha works at the library, though she certainly wouldn't consider the job a calling or even a career.

Her brother is the reader of the family, and the two of them awkwardly share responsibility caring for their mother, who suffers from mental illness. When Mukesh comes to the library, asking for other book suggestions, Aleisha initially brushes him off. However, feeling guilty--and not wanting conflict with her boss--she finds a book list someone has left behind and decides to read the books on it, beginning something of a book club for two with Mukesh.

Throughout the storyline, others find copies of the same list as well--To Kill a Mockingbird, Beloved, Cry the Beloved Country and more. Not only does the list bring together unlikely friendships, but each reader gets the lesson that seems to speak to him or her. Mukesh has to navigate new relationships with his adult daughters now that their mother is gone. Aleisha faces her own painful losses. What blossoms is a hopeful, mutually rewarding friendship in a story that explores the power of books and libraries.

I was introduced to Rachel Joyce's novel several years ago, and I particularly loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Frye and The Love Song of Queenie Hennessey. Joyce develops quirky, endearing characters and sends them on unexpected journeys. At the beginning of her latest novel Miss Benson's Beetle, the title character is that awkward stereotypical "spinster" school teacher, the one the students mock without really taking care not to let her see. In response to just such mockery, she quits her job and leaves, stealing a colleagues boots, and sets out to explore New Caledonia in search of the mythical golden beetle about which she had become obsessed as a younger woman.

Miss Beetle advertises for someone fluent in French to accompany her, striking out with each applicant. In desperation, she ends up taking along Enid Pretty, who arrives in a bright pink suit and hat as they board the ship. Only after they are underway does Enid confess the the only French she knows is bonjour. At first, both of the characters seem like such caricatures, but with subtlety, tenderness, and much humor, Joyce makes the characters come alive. Along the way, this mismatched pair alternate between the needy and the caretaker, the leader and the assistant.

The story will not make readers want to head out for a similar adventure, but like me, they may hope to see this funny little book come to the big screen. I'd cast the same lead actress for this book as I would for Olive Kittredge.

Several other books I've read at year end have been populated by unforgettable characters. The Man Who Died Twice, Richard Osman's sequel to The Thursday Murder Club managed to live up to the first novel. The four charter members are back with new crimes to solve. I hope he's already writing the next one.

Character-Driven Novels of 2021

The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce

From the author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queen Hennessy, I was happy to discover a new novel.  I loved the way Rachel Joyce brought together such unlikely combinations of characters. The Music Shop is no exception.

The story is set in a neighborhood in a declining section of London as the streets up and down the street are being forced to close their doors, some selling out to pushy developers. In 1988, Frank, the owner of a music store, refuses to give in to music trends. He has resisted cassette tapes and now refuses to add CDs, to the dismay of the music sales reps. Frank loves vinyl. He also has a gift for matching up just the right music for each customer--part retailer, part counselor.  He has a listening area set up in a repurposed piece of furniture. He employs an accident prone young sales assistant, and he interacts with the neighboring business owners--twin brothers running the family funeral business, a former priest selling (only occasionally) religious icons and bookmarks, and an eccentric female tattoo artist with a not-so-hidden attraction to Frank.

Resistant to love, Frank's life changes when a lovely woman in green passes out just outside his store--and then disappears. Claiming ignorance on the topic, she pays Frank to give her lessons in music outside of store hours. The only obstacle is her fiancé.

Joyce also develops the back story of Frank's childhood, the son of a quirky single mother, negligent at best. Readers learn his mother is the reason he can't bear to hear "The  Hallelujah Chorus."

The Music Shop may not be the stuff of literature classes, but it is a fun reading experience--especially for music lovers--with a nice love story. As an added bonus, the author provides a play list on Spotify: bit.ly/TheMusicShopPlaylist.  Who doesn't love a playlist that ranges from Chopin and Handel to "Stairway to Heaven" and Aretha Franklin?

The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy: A Lovely Surprise

I admit I am fickle. My to-do lists don't always work because I keep changing them. My to-read list is even worse.  No matter what book I think I'll read next, some other volume jumps the line. Of course, with my audiobook selections, the finds are often serendipitous, as was the case with Rachel Joyce's new novel, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy.

I had read her earlier novel The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry at the recommendation of one of my once-a-year reader friends I know through the National Council of Teachers of English convention sessions--Readers Ourselves. The novel followed the journey of a man, recently retired, as he decides almost by default to walk to the north of England to see once more Queenie Hennessy after he receives a letter from her to let him know she is in hospice and wishes to thank him for his long-ago friendship. It was a charming, wonderful story that stuck in my head.

I had no idea Joyce had written another novel until I saw it on the shelf. I think she was almost as surprised to start writing it.  In this story (a pattern I'm recognizing in lots of my reading lately), she tells the story from the point of view of Queenie. Most of the story is set in the Catholic hospice where she is living out her final days. When she receives a card from Harold--whom she hasn't seen in many years--telling her he is coming to see her and advising her to wait, the message has an effect on all of the patients and caregivers at the facility.

In preparation for Harold's arrival, Queenie begins writing a long letter of confession, with the help of one of the nuns and her portable typewriter.  Through the letters, readers learn about Queenie's life, particularly at the time of many of the events Harold recalled in the earlier book.  While the book would certainly stand alone, I strongly advice anyone to read the other book first.  Since I had read it at least a couple of years ago, this book felt like revisiting an old friend, having  my memory pleasantly jogged along the way.

The best surprise in reading the novel is that the most pleasant passages occur in the hospice facility. Joyce's characters are colorful and so well-drawn. The patients and the nuns who work there are quirky, sometimes curmudgeonly, yet lovable.  As one of the women reminds the others: I may be dying but I'm not dead yet. Maybe that's the take-away from the book: there's such a beauty in the way the characters learn to make the most of the time they do have.

Reading the book--these books--makes me want to take my own pilgrimage to some of the more out-of-the-way places in England too.  Maybe I'd even find Queenie's sea garden.

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy: A Lovely Surprise