Emily, Joe's little sister, watches him defy the odds dealt to him at birth and grow into a musically talented young who longs for a boyfriend. He is ready for the excitement life has to throw at him. However, instead of excitement, Joe gets a terminal diagnosis of Stage 4 cancer, and is left waiting for yet another miracle.

This is such a gorgeous story about love, loss and family, told from the perspectives of each of the people closest to Joe. An easy, must-read!

2. The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead

TW - sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, racism

This book looks at a disturbing part of American history we see through the eyes of two young boys, their hellish experience in a reform school in the 1960s in Florida. This is based on the true story of what went on in a real reform school in Florida, which operated for 111 years, destroying and disrupting the lives of thousands of children over that period.

The story follows Elwood Curtis, an honest young man, brought up by his loving grandmother after being abandoned by his parents, on track to enroll in the local black college. He ends up in a reform school called The Nickel Academy after one innocent mistake - enough to ruin his future due to the colour of his skin.

The Nickel Academy is the epitome of hell on earth, with physical, emotional and sexual abuse at its core, where young boys can disappear at any point, never to be seen again after being brought to an ominous outhouse on the campus. During his horrific ordeal in the school, Elwood becomes friends with Turner, who, contrary to Elwood, believes the world is bad, and the only way to make it through is to be the same way.

This is a fantastically written book with a devastating story, which really brings to light parts of American history you may have thought you knew a lot about.

3. Maybe you should talk to someone - Lori Gottlieb

THIS BOOK. Is fantastic. Everybody needs to read it, STAT. I cannot say enough good things about it.

Lori Gottlieb, the author, is a psychotherapist and national advice columnist. She shares her experience of both being a therapist and having a therapist, and how those two sides of her life come together in the most unexpected of ways. She discovers that as her patients come to her looking for answers, she is in fact looking for answers of her own, and has more in common with her patients and their struggles than she thinks.

Lori writes fantastically and with so much humour, wisdom and insight into both her life and the life she has as a therapist. She insightfully unpacks the facts and fiction we tell ourselves and one another when certain topics raise their heads in our lives.

It is written with such candor, despite being a very personal story, and is almost reassuring in a way as Lori shows that she is human - we all are - and we all have the power to change our lives in meaningful ways.

4. The Kind Worth Killing - Peter Swanson

Good Reads describe this as a "devious tale of psychological suspense involving sex, deception and an accidental encounter that leads to murder," which pretty much sums it up!

This book tells the story of Ted Severson, who meets the mysterious Lily on a flight from London to Boston, seemingly by chance, and they hit it off, revealing intimate details about their lives to one another. Ted tells Lily about his marital problems, saying that he could kill his wife for what she has done. This sets Lily's plan in motion, who has a dark history of murder and mystery that nobody knows about.

So good, a page turner with twists right up to the end. Very Girl on the Train-esque.

5. The Light Between Oceans - M.L. Stedman

TW - Miscarriage

I absolutely adored this book and am now dying to watch the movie, if anyone has watched it can you let me know which you preferred, the book or the movie? I don't want to watch it if it's going to ruin the story for me.

This book tells the heartbreaking tale of husband and wife, Tom and Isabel Sherbourne, set in Australia in 1926 - Tom is the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, and Isabel marries and joins him to live out there.

During their time there they struggle to have a baby, enduring two miscarriages and one stillbirth, which completely destroys them and causes unimaginable grief. So, when one morning a boat washes up on the shore with a newborn baby inside - alive and well - along with the dead body of her father, it is almost as though the baby was sent to them to heal their pain.

Against his better judgement, Tom gives in to Isabel's pleas and they claim the baby as their own, naming her Lucy. When Lucy turns two and they return to the mainland, however, things begin to unravel.

It is an emotional read anyway, and I had recently lost my grandfather (a lighthouse keeper for 40 years) when I read it, who has the same name as one of the main characters in the book, so I found it particularly emotional (fair warning).

6. The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett

TW - racism

This story is set from 1950s - 1990s and is about the Vignes twin sisters. They grow up together in a small, southern black community and decide to run away from the town at 16 years old. As the story progresses, we learn how a difference in their skin tone means they get treated completely differently to one another as adults, within their families, communities, jobs, daily lives and racial identities.

Years later, one sister finds herself coming back home to the town in the Deep South that she escaped at 16, bringing her black daughter with her, while the other sister passes for and pretends she is white, and essentially lives as a white person in a predominantly white community in California, with a white husband who knows nothing about her actual racial identity. Despite the many factors that separate the twins and their adult lives, their lives still manage to intertwine and intersect in ways they never expected, through their daughters.

I absolutely loved this book. It is a fantastic story, so emotional, and while looking at the long-standing issue of racism, it also explores how your past can have a lasting influence as it shapes your decisions, wants, needs and expectations as you grow, and the reasons why people may choose to live a =life that is the complete opposite to the one they came from.

An amazing book, so well written & everyone should read.

7. Priestdaddy - Patricia Lockwood

The childhood of Patricia Lockwood was unusual in many respects. She lived in an impoverished, nuclear waste-ridden area of the American Midwest. Her father - hence the title of the book - was a type of priest, and the way she describes her family home and her father made me laugh out loud on a number of occasions.

Her father - a priest - carries a gun, has a habit of playing the guitar in just his underwear at any spot in the house (even with guests present) and underwent a religious experience which led to him finding a loophole and thus getting approved for the Catholic Priesthood, despite having a wife and children.

The memoir focuses on both her childhood and adulthood, as she writes about a time when the expense of a medical procedure forced her and her husband (at 30) to move back in with her parents, plunging her back into the crazy world that was her childhood and learning to live with that as an adult.

8. Educated - Tara Westover

TW - abuse, neglect

This memoir tells the story of author, Tara's childhood, as her and her family grew up preparing for the End Of The World. Her father does not trust the government, believing they are evil; western medicine/hospitals or school. Tara and her siblings have no birth certificates, no medical records and no school records. Her mother appears to go along with her father's ways to keep the peace.

Parts of this book are quite distressing - Tara, her siblings and her mother get into a number of nasty accidents while working for her dad and on family road trips, and as their father does not believe in going to hospitals, they all suffer a great deal from their injuries. I found these parts quite difficult to read.

I did enjoy the book overall - Tara is a fantastic writer and her story is one of survival and perseverance in the face of a paranoid, controlling father and a dangerous upbringing.

9. The Midnight Library - Matt Haig

TW - suicide

I had heard so much about this book and everyone seemed to love it, and it is safe to say I adored it too. It's so magical!

The book follows Nora Seed, who has attempted to take her own life, and finds herself in a library - somewhere between life and death. In this library, every book shows another life you could have lived, and you have the chance to experience that life, to see if you would undo your regrets if you could, and what alternative life - if any - would have made you feel differently about staying alive, if you had made different choices.

I really adored this book, it is such a smart concept for a story and really makes you think about your own life, and how, even when we may think our life would be different/better if we had made this decision or that, ultimately we are on the path we are meant to be on, and that path can always lead to new and better experiences that are worth staying alive for.

A really gorgeous book that everyone should read.

10.  All the light we cannot see - Anthony Doerr

I saw this book recommended on Beth Sandland's Book Club Instagram (a great follow if that's your jam) as one to read if you enjoyed The Nightingale, which you may or may not remember was on my favourite books of 2020 list, so I couldn't not try this one, and I was not disappointed.i

This story follows a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths unexpectedly collide as France is occupied by the Germans during the devastation of World War II. The blind French girl - Marie-Laure - lives in Paris with her father, when, at 12 years old, she and her father flee to her reclusive Grand-uncle's house in Saint Malo by the sea, as Paris is being claimed by the Germans.

Werner is a young German orphan, growing up with his younger sister in a children's home in a mining town, after their father is killed in the mines. Werner and his sister are transfixed by radios and what they can catch on the airwaves. Werner ends up being enlisted into the army (with Hitler at the helm) to fix radios and track down any French people using them illegally.

This is such a gorgeous story - albeit heart-breaking - and I loved that it was such a long book because you really feel like you're in the lives of the characters of Marie-Laure and Werner and you're on edge wishing the best for them in the circumstances.

A gorgeous read, would definitely recommend, especially if you liked The Nightingale.

11. Strange Flowers - Donal Ryan

TW - racism, homophobia

The story begins in 1973 when a young woman named Moll Gladney goes missing from her home in the hills of Tipperary, leaving no trace or clue, and her distraught parents in her wake. Five years on, as her parents are beginning to accept the awful reality that she may be gone forever, Moll walks back through the door as though nothing has happened... but a lot has changed.

This book explores so many important topics and addresses them in a great way - from the hindrances of the Catholic Church and its devout followers, the rampant racism and homophobia of that time in Ireland and all that stems from these issues. The Gladneys - who are the last people you would expect to accept such ideas as normal, welcome Moll and her new life with open arms. 

This is such a lovely book in every way, really loved it and would highly recommend. I can't wait to read more from this author!

12. Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens

TW - sexual assault

This is a story of survival, independence, love, loss and friendship, with a running nature theme throughout which is very calming and enjoyable to read.

The book follows Kya Clark, known in the local village as the Marsh Girl. She lives in a shack in the marsh and is gradually abandoned by everyone in her family, finding herself alone. We learn about her daily life and the connection she has to the marsh around her, and how she nurtures her relationship with Tate, a local boy, without ever being taught how.

When a popular local boy in the village turns up dead, the village suspect that Kya is the culprit, despite knowing nothing about her.

Kya's story is really thought-provoking and shows the discrimination she experiences as a young woman, essentially alone in the world. This book was moving and beautifully written - believe the hype - I would recommend to everyone.

13. The Colour Purple - Alice Walker

TW - sexual assault, domestic abuse, racism

This is a brilliant, heart-breaking story, I really loved the style of writing in letter format, written to her sister/diary entries to God throughout the book.

This story follows the life of African American women in the early 20th century in Georgia. Celie and her sister Nettie, were separated at a young age and try to stay in eachothers' lives as much as they can, despite being worlds away from one another and leading completely different lives.

We follow their story through a series of letters over and back between the sisters over 20 years, as well as Celie's letters to God. We also follow the characters of Shug Avery and Sofia, along with the husbands of these women and the way of the world back then when it came to women.

It is a tough read, discussing many instances of domestic and sexual abuse and the pain the women experience throughout their lives as a result, their courage, and how their companionship with one another gets them through.

Again, looking forward to watching the movie, but hoping it doesn't do a terrible job of relaying the story.

14. Tenth of December - George Saunders

I always forget how much I love reading collections of short stories as they are - duh - short, but I love that you get the whole story within a few pages, so if you fall asleep after reading a chapter, you're not trying to read back over pages to figure out what was happening, because you just start a whole new story.

I hadn't read any of George Saunders' work before but I enjoyed this so much, I already have another of his books in my pile of books to be read this year. His stories vary widely in theme and topic, which I loved, from class, sex, love, loss, struggle, heartache, despair, morality and war, and he writes brilliantly about every single one. Some stories are incredibly sad, some hilarious, others insightful, others heartwarming, some harrowing and all immensely entertaining.

I would recommend this book to everyone and anyone, as there is such a range in his stories that you're bound to like some.

I would love to know what your favourite reads of the last year are, and if you have read any of the books I've listed, let me know what you thought of them!

Thank you for reading as always,