The Free-Range Bookclub
Bookclubbers without boundaries in Nelson, New Zealand
Category: Historical Fiction
The Trees – Percival Everett
READ FOR BOOKERTHON In Money, Mississippi white folk suddenly start turning up dead, savagely beaten and with a black man’s body present, cradling the dead’s severed testicles. A satirical look at the US’s grim history of racial violence. ❝ The Trees is set in… Continue Reading “The Trees – Percival Everett”
Small Things Like These – Claire Keegan
READ FOR BOOKERTHON In New Ross, Ireland in 1985 a man named Bill Furlong works tirelessly delivering coal and firewood to the townsfolk, when he makes an unexpected discovery. A short book about community and complicity. ❝ As I got underway with Small Things Like… Continue Reading “Small Things Like These – Claire Keegan”
The Matriarch – Witi Ihimaera
READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Jo Tama Mahana is a grown man analysing the mystique and ambition of his grandmother, the matriarch of his family. But to truely appreciate the paths she has taken, he must study Māori mythology and New Zealand history. Tama is… Continue Reading “The Matriarch – Witi Ihimaera”
Sophie’s Choice – William Styron
READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Rachel An aspiring novelist is captivated by a Holocaust survivor and her unpredictable boyfriend Stingo is a Southern young man aspiring to be a novelist and living off the income from his grandmother’s controversial sale of slaves many years prior.… Continue Reading “Sophie’s Choice – William Styron”
The Fortune Men – Nadifa Mohamed
READ FOR BOOKERTHON Set in 1952 in Cardiff, The Fortune Men details the real events surrounding the wrongful imprisonment of Mahmood Mattan, a Somali seaman. False witness accounts and racist policing led to him being found guilty of the murder of a local shopkeeper. In prison… Continue Reading “The Fortune Men – Nadifa Mohamed”
A Passage North – Anuk Arudpragasam
READ FOR BOOKERTHON Sri Lankan man Krishnan receives two messages, the first informing him his grandmother’s caretaker Rani has died, found in the bottom of a well with her neck broken. The second is from Anjum an activist Krishnan loved years ago, which stirs… Continue Reading “A Passage North – Anuk Arudpragasam”
The Blue Flower – Penelope Fitzgerald
READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Jodie Penelope’s Fitzgerald’s last novel, written in 1997, details the early life of the German romantic poet Friedrich von Hardenberg who used the pseudonym Novalis and his love for 12-year-old Sophie von Kuhn. Set in provincial Saxony in the 1790s, the… Continue Reading “The Blue Flower – Penelope Fitzgerald”
All This By Chance – Vincent O’Sullivan
READ FOR NZ BOOK AWARDS A moving multigenerational family saga about the legacy of the Holocaust and the burden of secrets never shared ⚑ “I was all in for I would say three-quarters of this novel but then as the characters we focused on… Continue Reading “All This By Chance – Vincent O’Sullivan”
This Mortal Boy – Fiona Kidman
READ FOR NZ BOOK AWARDS The re-creation of one of the last executions in New Zealand leading to the abolition of capital punishment. ⚑ “Poor Albert Black. I appreciated the way this novel explored the impact on everyone involved in his trial and sentencing… Continue Reading “This Mortal Boy – Fiona Kidman”
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