Month: May 2026

The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce

by Bookworm&TheatreMouse

As Rachel Joyce was joining the lineup for ‘The Book Taster Live 2026’, I knew it was time to read ‘The Homemade God’. It was a book I had picked up on a trip to Bath at the start of the year, so it was certainly time to pick it up off the tbr pile (which is never getting any smaller – as all us bookworms know).

This was a fantastic study of family and relationships. Especially the relationship between siblings, and how they may hold memories or how they understand the family dynamic. At the centre of the story is the patriarch of the family, Vic Kemp, a famous artist, who announces to his children that he has the woman who will be his wife. A much younger woman at that.

From that moment, the four siblings become suspicious of this new, mysterious figure in their father’s life, and what her motive may be. Vic and his wife begin their life in Italy, but when he is found dead, and the painting that he has declared his masterpiece is missing, the siblings all begin a search for the truth of what has happened to their father and his painting. However, some of the discoveries that are made send shockwaves through the family; will the relationships withstand the events that take place in Italy?

This is such a page-turner of a read because there is so much that you feel you need to find out as you read the book – and you have to know how the four siblings will survive the events that are taking place. It is such a fascinating study of the family dynamic, and how life can change as you lose someone that may have centred that family (even if not perfectly), and how relationships may change without that anchor, however forced it may be.

The novel is, as you would expect from the pen of Rachel Joyce, beautifully written and beautifully constructed. I felt like I was right there in Italy, in the sunshine (which was a welcome treat with the very variable British weather we have…). And it is a book that made me feel I had to know what was going to happen next. The characters are brought to life in such a way that you feel like you have really met them – or that you know someone who is very much like them.

This is certainly a book I will be recommending to people, especially as we approach (hopefully) the summer reads season, which always makes the chance to read seem even more of a treat.

Love Lane by Patrick Gale

by Bookworm&TheatreMouse

So, I was so lucky to go to Stratford Literary Festival and hear Patrick Gale speak about his new book, ‘Love Lane’. And, as I am sure we have spotted I am a big fan of the story of Harry Cane, which we were introduced to in ‘A Place Called Winter‘, so when I heard that ‘Love Lane’ would tell us more about Harry and his future, I had to read it.

This book brings us to the 1950s, when Harry makes the decision to return to England and see his little girl, who is by now a grandmother, with a family of her own. This story is told from the viewpoint of Harry and other members of his family. And I refuse to spoil the story because I think (of course) you should all find a copy and read Harry’s story. However, I will say that Harry’s arrival really does set a cat among the pigeons for some of our characters, and maybe encourages some to face the reality of the life they are living. Harry also remains one of my most favourite characters of all time; I may have even shed a tear at moments when I was reading this, because he is a character who has truly stolen my heart.

I really enjoyed how this book is told from a number of different viewpoints, which is a change from ‘A Place Called Winter’, which is all from the viewpoint of our hero, Harry Cane. And I admire how Patrick Gale has used his own family history as the inspiration for this book. At Stratford Literary Festival, it was fascinating to hear his process in putting this story together. Patrick Gale also has a real talent for writing characters and their relationships, and I think, as a reader, this is why you become so invested in his books, as you feel that you know these people, and you truly understand what makes them tick and how they have developed to become the people that they are.

So, I am going to sound a little like a fangirl, but meeting Patrick Gale was a bit of a bucketlist moment for me, and my two signed books are going to be two books I treasure. If you are yet to pick up a book by Patrick Gale, I would hope that my humble blog posts may encourage you to do so. I feel so lucky that I still have books from his backlist that I can read, and I hope that we may have many more books gifted to us bookworms from the pen (literally) of Patrick Gale.

A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale

by Bookworm&TheatreMouse

I have been meaning to read ‘A Place Called Winter’ by Patrick Gale for quite some time. And, as ‘Love Lane’, the sequel, has come out this month, it bumped it to the top of the tbr pile. It fast became my book of March; Patrick Gale’s writing is always so beautiful and keeps you so engaged in the story he is telling.

In this book, I think that Patrick Gale has also created one of my favourite characters in Harry Cane. This man stole my heart, and I was rooting for him from the moment I started reading this book, and knew that he was a character that I would be invested in. (Just as I had been when I read ‘Mother’s Boy’ three years ago – where does all the time go? I am sure I only read it last year!). As well as this, there’s also one of the characters I have disliked the most in a book, in Manck, as he prays on those who he believes to be weak – when he is really a weak man himself.

Harry has always felt a little outside of the world he is expected to exist in, and when a series of events force him to leave England and see if he can make his fortune in the colonies in Canada, he embarks on a life that he had never expected himself. He leaves behind him a wife he knows does not love him as much as she could (and he cannot love her in the way she needs), and a young daughter and a loving brother. As time goes on and secrets are leaked, Harry becomes alone in the world attempting to start his life on the isolated plains of Canada with his only potential support being his neighbour Paul and his sister Petra. But why does that all mean he finds himself in an asylum?

That is a very rough summary of the story, as I do not want to give too much away for anyone who chooses to read this book – which I really hope you will. However, it is a book that really brings to life the struggles of creating a new life in Canada for so many young men at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th century. But, also, all the cruelty of the world that did not accept people for who they were. A world I always hope we have moved on from, but we all know there is still plenty of work to be done – but I hope the majority of people are much more accepting that everyone in the world is equal.

I cannot wait to read ‘Love Lane’ now, as I need to know what happens next in the story we have been introduced to in ‘A Place Called Winter’.