A Beautiful Family, by Jennifer Trevelyan.

 

            The long Christmas break is looming and a Wellington family is squabbling about where to get accommodation for their traditional holiday.  In previous years they have always gone somewhere remote, away from the crowds;  now (surprisingly) Mum wants to go ‘where there are people’, a complete change from her usual preference.  Dad reluctantly books a bach at her choice of venue a couple of hours up the coast;  he’s not really bothered where they go as long as he has a change of scene, which is a rest in itself.  Their two daughters are happy, too – Vanessa is fifteen and ready to experience what the world has to offer but is hampered by her 10 year-old sister, the narrator of this lovely story, a very shrewd and observant chronicler of events, but hardly experienced in life to  know the importance of what she is seeing.

            And little sister sees a great deal, especially when she chums up with Kahu, a 12 year-old Maori boy who is staying with his uncle, a local fisherman.  Firstly, they are both fascinated by the sad tale of a young girl around their own age who disappeared, believed drowned, and they spend a lot of time near a memorial her grieving mother has constructed on the beach;  they decide to pass the time when not swimming or getting sunburnt to look for clues as to the poor child’s presumed end.  Sadly, they both see a lot more than they wanted to know, and the friendship ends when little sister’s prized possession, a Sony Walkman her dad brought back for her on one of his trips goes missing and she mistakenly accuses one of Kahu’s cousins of taking it. 

            Which means that she’s now lonelier than ever, because big sister Vanessa is intent of breaking every behavioural rule in the book and, despite being grounded numerous times, sneaks expertly out their bedroom window to do who-knows-what.  And who is that creepy old guy who lives in the two-story place next door?  The little sister doesn’t like the way he looks at her – he gives her the creeps, but he wangles a dinner invite to their house just the same.  This Christmas break is starting to turn into an exercise in will-power to stay the distance.

            And Jennifer Trevelyan stays the distance too, building suspense beautifully and gradually, all thanks to her resourceful little heroine – whose name is not revealed until two thirds of the way through the story (which is why I haven’t named her – I’m no spoiler!).  Yes, they are a beautiful family, as the title says, but oh, the secrets the keep!  FIVE STARS.   

            The long Christmas break is looming and a Wellington family is squabbling about where to get accommodation for their traditional holiday.  In previous years they have always gone somewhere remote, away from the crowds;  now (surprisingly) Mum wants to go ‘where there are people’, a complete change from her usual preference.  Dad reluctantly books a bach at her choice of venue a couple of hours up the coast;  he’s not really bothered where they go as long as he has a change of scene, which is a rest in itself.  Their two daughters are happy, too – Vanessa is fifteen and ready to experience what the world has to offer but is hampered by her 10 year-old sister, the narrator of this lovely story, a very shrewd and observant chronicler of events, but hardly experienced in life to  know the importance of what she is seeing.

            And little sister sees a great deal, especially when she chums up with Kahu, a 12 year-old Maori boy who is staying with his uncle, a local fisherman.  Firstly, they are both fascinated by the sad tale of a young girl around their own age who disappeared, believed drowned, and they spend a lot of time near a memorial her grieving mother has constructed on the beach;  they decide to pass the time when not swimming or getting sunburnt to look for clues as to the poor child’s presumed end.  Sadly, they both see a lot more than they wanted to know, and the friendship ends when little sister’s prized possession, a Sony Walkman her dad brought back for her on one of his trips goes missing and she mistakenly accuses one of Kahu’s cousins of taking it. 

            Which means that she’s now lonelier than ever, because big sister Vanessa is intent of breaking every behavioural rule in the book and, despite being grounded numerous times, sneaks expertly out their bedroom window to do who-knows-what.  And who is that creepy old guy who lives in the two-story place next door?  The little sister doesn’t like the way he looks at her – he gives her the creeps, but he wangles a dinner invite to their house just the same.  This Christmas break is starting to turn into an exercise in will-power to stay the distance.

            And Jennifer Trevelyan stays the distance too, building suspense beautifully and gradually, all thanks to her resourceful little heroine – whose name is not revealed until two thirds of the way through the story (which is why I haven’t named her – I’m no spoiler!).  Yes, they are a beautiful family, as the title says, but oh, the secrets the keep!  FIVE STARS.   

            The long Christmas break is looming and a Wellington family is squabbling about where to get accommodation for their traditional holiday.  In previous years they have always gone somewhere remote, away from the crowds;  now (surprisingly) Mum wants to go ‘where there are people’, a complete change from her usual preference.  Dad reluctantly books a bach at her choice of venue a couple of hours up the coast;  he’s not really bothered where they go as long as he has a change of scene, which is a rest in itself.  Their two daughters are happy, too – Vanessa is fifteen and ready to experience what the world has to offer but is hampered by her 10 year-old sister, the narrator of this lovely story, a very shrewd and observant chronicler of events, but hardly experienced in life to  know the importance of what she is seeing.

            And little sister sees a great deal, especially when she chums up with Kahu, a 12 year-old Maori boy who is staying with his uncle, a local fisherman.  Firstly, they are both fascinated by the sad tale of a young girl around their own age who disappeared, believed drowned, and they spend a lot of time near a memorial her grieving mother has constructed on the beach;  they decide to pass the time when not swimming or getting sunburnt to look for clues as to the poor child’s presumed end.  Sadly, they both see a lot more than they wanted to know, and the friendship ends when little sister’s prized possession, a Sony Walkman her dad brought back for her on one of his trips goes missing and she mistakenly accuses one of Kahu’s cousins of taking it. 

            Which means that she’s now lonelier than ever, because big sister Vanessa is intent of breaking every behavioural rule in the book and, despite being grounded numerous times, sneaks expertly out their bedroom window to do who-knows-what.  And who is that creepy old guy who lives in the two-story place next door?  The little sister doesn’t like the way he looks at her – he gives her the creeps, but he wangles a dinner invite to their house just the same.  This Christmas break is starting to turn into an exercise in will-power to stay the distance.

            And Jennifer Trevelyan stays the distance too, building suspense beautifully and gradually, all thanks to her resourceful little heroine – whose name is not revealed until two thirds of the way through the story (which is why I haven’t named her – I’m no spoiler!).  Yes, they are a beautiful family, as the title says, but oh, the secrets the keep!  FIVE STARS.   

 

King of Ashes, by S. A. Cosby.

 

            I hate starting any review by saying ‘He’s Done it again!’  But it’s true – S. A. Cosby has produced yet another story that explodes off the page, a mixture of horrific violence and heartbreaking familial affection and an entirely believable chain of events which culminate in a drama of Shakespearean dimensions.  I have already started wondering what will happen to the protagonists, but Cosby (so far) has not introduced former characters into his marvellous fiction, so I shall just have to keep wondering.

            Roman Carruthers is a financial adviser to the rich, famous, and those who also like to keep a low profile.  He’s based in Atlanta, is very good at his job and really, life doesn’t get much better for a well-educated Black man with the gift of knowing the many paths money can take to increase its size.  Life is pretty satisfactory – until he gets a call from his sister in Jefferson Run, a rundown city in Virginia:  can he come home because their Daddy has been grievously injured in a Hit and Run.  Dante, their younger brother is being worse than useless – she needs Roman’s help, even for a short while, to run the family business which is a Crematory disposing of ‘cremains’ for those funeral homes who don’t have such facilities. 

            Roman can hardly say No;  his father put him through college to give him his glittering qualifications, but is dismayed to find when he reaches home that Dante is the author of all this misfortune, having decided with a loser friend to set himself up as a drug dealer – but sampling the product became more important, and the gangsters he got said product from want their money and  what could come have arranged his Daddy’s Hit and Run.  They are just about the Baddest gangsters in the State and are proud of it – why, they even have dogs who enjoy human flesh, as they showed Roman one night so that he would know they weren’t kidding.

            Sweet reason will hardly prevail against such killers, so Roman has to appeal to their greed:  they won’t touch him or his siblings while he’s making them money – he hopes.  But will his beloved family survive this terrible time – will Roman?  They have all kept a huge secret from each other for many years, but they always had the bedrock of their affection for each other to justify the reason.  Will that love survive?

            Yes, S. A. Cosby has truly done it again – compelled us to hang on to every page with its myriad characters so superbly realised, and to ask how much a man profits if he becomes King of the Ashes but loses everything else.  SIX STARS.