Book Club

BOOK OF THE WEEK with Linda Jennings. A God In Ruins, Kate Atkinson, ISBN 9780385618717 (Doubleday) BD7.900 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members

Kate Atkinson won the Whitbread (now Costa) Book of the Year prize with her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Her four bestselling novels featuring former detective Jackson Brodie became the BBC television series Case Histories, starring Jason Isaacs.

Her last dazzling novel, Life After Life, (the bestselling adult book this year to date in the UK), explored the possibility of infinite chances, as Ursula Todd lived through the turbulent events of the last century again and again.

Now, in A God in Ruins, Atkinson turns her focus on Ursula’s beloved younger brother Teddy – would-be poet, RAF bomber pilot, husband and father – as he navigates the perils and progress of the 20th century.

For all Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge will be to face living in a future he never expected to have. Hauled willy-nilly into the war, and then deposited willy-nilly into the peace, the only way he can make sense of the world is by showing it small kindnesses. But that may not be enough to satisfy his family as he subsequently gets blamed by succeeding generations for everything that goes wrong in their lives.

A God in Ruins is a masterful companion to Life After Life, and proves once again that Atkinson is one of the finest novelists of our age.

Read it now in paperback
Fortress, Andy Mcnab, ISBN 9780552171410 (Corgi) BD3.400 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members

From the day he was found in a carrier bag on the steps of Guy’s Hospital in London, Andy McNab has led an extraordinary life.

As a teenage delinquent, McNab kicked against society. As a young soldier he waged war against the IRA in the streets and fields of South Armagh. As a member of 22 SAS he was at the centre of covert operations for nine years – on five continents. During the Gulf War he commanded Bravo Two Zero, a patrol that, in the words of his commanding officer, ‘will remain in regimental history for ever’. Awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and Military Medal (MM) during his military career, McNab was the British Army’s most highly-decorated serving soldier when he finally left the SAS.

Since then McNab has become one of the world’s bestselling writers, drawing on his insider knowledge and experience and now we have the second thriller to feature his new series character, Tom Buckingham.

Tom has blood on his hands. Neck-deep in trouble for taking down a renegade Afghan soldier, he’s sent back home; angry, betrayed and out of work.

But with riots and rebellion spreading like wild fire on the streets of Britain, Tom’s unique skills are soon noticed by a charismatic billionaire with a questionable agenda.

Tom finds himself thrown back into the covert world of intelligence where a play for power is underway. He’ll have to decide where his loyalties lie if he’s to intervene in a series of events that will threaten the whole nation.

Time is running out and lives are at stake; is there anyone he can trust?

My favourite read of the week
The Girls From Corona del Mar, Rufi Thorpe, ISBN 9780099591788 (Windmill) BD4 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members

Long-listed for the 2014 Dylan Thomas prize, this is a fiercely beautiful novel about friendship and the ties that bind us.

Mia and Lorrie Ann are lifelong friends: hard-hearted Mia and untouchably beautiful, kind Lorrie Ann. While Mia struggles with a mother who drinks, a pregnancy at 15, and younger brothers she loves but can’t quite be good to, Lorrie Ann is luminous, surrounded by her close-knit family, immune to the mistakes that mar her best friend’s life until a sudden loss catapults Lorrie Ann into tragedy.

Things fall apart, and then fall apart further – and there is nothing Mia can do to help. And, as good, kind, brave Lorrie Ann stops being so good, Mia begins to question just who this woman is and what that question means about them both.

This is a staggeringly arresting, honest novel of love, motherhood, loyalty, and the myth of the perfect friendship that moves us to ask ourselves just how well we know those we love, what we owe our children, and who we are without our friends.