Librarians' Top Reads for 2020: Fiction About Relationships

Call them Romance, Chick Lit, Family Stories or even Domestic Fiction (ugh!). Whatever you want to call them, here are some of the novels we particularly enjoyed this year that deal with the human heart.

From Miss Moneypenny:

The Peacock Summer by Hannah Richell. A beautiful English country estate in the 1950s can’t stop Lillian from being deeply unhappy with both her marriage and her life. Skip forward sixty years and her runaway granddaughter Maggie, returns to nurse the now very frail Lillian and to sort out their very much decaying estate. A clever interweaving of the two love stories and a good amount of intrigue builds up to an unexpected conclusion. 

 

The Juniper Gin Joint by Lizzie Lovell. Jennifer’s had a bit of rough year (and this was before covid!). Husband’s left her for a younger woman, children grown up and left the coop, an in resident father and now it looks like her job is going to disappear. Enter friends, work colleagues and a raft of English villagers and a new venture is formed. Light, easy breezy read with a healthy drop of humour. I found myself cheering for Jennifer. 

The View from Alameda Island by Robyn Carr. Another story with a 50 plus woman divorcing her husband after the children have left home. The difference between this story and The Juniper gin joint is although there is romance in each this is not a feel good read. The ex husband is abusive and although both woman suffer angst as they come to terms with their new life as a single woman, this story revolves more around the difficulties of the separation and rebuilding a life. There is also developing tension as the ex-husband fights to get his wife back. Another story where I am encouraging the main character to makes good decisions and have a happy life.

A Chance of Stormy Weather by Tricia Stringer. Tricia Stringer is one of a growing number of Australians writing rural romances. Here we have newly wed farmer Dan and his bride Paula straight from wedding reception to the farm. Paula has grand ideas about living on a farm including doing up the old farmstead. None of her dreams include an out on the farm all hours of the day and night husband leaving her stranded alone in a mouse filled house. This is the best way to enjoy Aussie farm life without fighting flies, mice, and serious weather events.

From JAM:

On Turpentine Lane by Elinor Lipman

Faith Frankel writes thank you letters to benefactors at her old school for a living, while her fiance is on a crowded-funded tour to find himself. But mostly he finds photo opportunities with attractive women. Yet that could be the least of Faith's problems, which include a father who thinks he's Chagall and creepy things found in the attic of her new house. Luckily her workmate/flatmate, Nick, is there to lend a hand. I loved this audiobook which is lively, witty and full of interesting characters.

Reading in Bed by Sue Gee

This book looks like light-hearted chick-lit with its squiggly, hand-drawn cover, but Sue Gee writes intelligently about relationships with believable characters to rival Joanna Trollope. Dido and Georgia have been friends since university and even though they live in different cities, they still meet up and talk about family. But both have problems that are hard to share - Georgia still grieving for her late husband and worried about her ditsy daughter; Dido worries about her dislike for her son's partner and also fears her husband is seeing someone else. Some brilliant minor characters add to this warm and engrossing novel about family, love and friendship.

Twenty-one Truths about Love by Matthew Green is a different kind of novel, written, believe it or not, in lists. Dan has the dream job - he owns his own bookshop - and he is devoted to Jill his wife. But Dan's shop is failing and he doesn't know how to tell Jill, who wants to give up work to have a child. Maybe Dan will have to turn to crime to keep both shop and wife. Just as well he learned that keeping lists was a good way to manage stress. Good for the reader too as the lists are funny and oddly meaningful, and the pages just fly by.