Under a Pole Star by Stef Penney

When the weather is hot, I often like to read a book set in ice and snow, so of course I picked up the latest Stef Penney, whose debut novel The Tenderness of Wolves won the Costa Award. Under a Pole Star is about Arctic explorers Flora Mackie, the daughter of a Scottish whaler, and New York geologist Jakob de Beyn.

As a child, Flora visited Greenland with her father so often she can speak the native language of the Inuit she befriended there. A journalist discovers her story and she becomes known as The Snow Queen. She will require an education and sponsorship if she wants to return as a scientist, which means making some difficult decisions. Who will want to fund or join an expedition led by a woman? This is the late 1800s after all.

Jakob is fascinated by ice, and glaciers in particular. He joins an expedition led by polar explorer, Lester Armitage, a difficult man whose obsession with fame verges on madness and leads to a terrible accident. But through this Jakob meets Flora and their immediate connection drives much of the plot.

The story see-saws between the viewpoints of Flora and Jakob, both of whom are immensely likeable characters. But the novel starts out in 1948 with a reporter interviewing Flora about the old days and we learn that Jakob and Armitage had long ago mysteriously disappeared. This was potentially a problem for me – the risk of developing empathy with a central character you know is doomed before you even meet him.

My other problem with the book is its length. At 600 pages, I felt a little judicious editing, especially of the lengthy graphic sex scenes, might have produced a tighter plot-line, and given more prominence to the interesting themes around exploration, colonisation and women’s place in society that affect the fate of the protagonists.

Stef Penney is a terrific writer with a gift for creating amazing settings and powerful characters. Under a Pole Star is well worth reading, though you might like to skim a few chapters here and there.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue link: Under a Pole Star

The Words in My Hand by Guinevere Glasfurd

Thinking of René Descartes, who doesn’t recall his much quoted maxim, I think therefore I am. Debut novelist, Guinevere Glasfurd, explores a little known aspect of Descartes’ life - his relationship with Dutch housemaid, Helena Jans. Sent by her impoverished mother to earn a living in Amsterdam, Helena is taken on by an English bookseller, Mr Sergeant. The house with its books and visiting intellectuals only encourages Helena’s deep wish to improve her reading and learn to write.

1600s Amsterdam would appear to have been a safe haven for ground-breaking thinker, René Descartes, whose theories inspired accusations of heresy. Thrown together, Descartes finds in Helena a young mind who reveals to him surprises in the commonplace, while Helena finds encouragement to pursue her skills with ink and paper. The two form a bond that transcends their differences in age, station and religion, but it is a relationship beset by secrecy, shame and tragedy.

The Words in My Hand is a brilliant historical read, both vivid and sensual, while at the same time depicting a period when thinkers of the day were grasping with how to explain and measure the everyday world. The characterisation of the two main characters really draws the reader in as they are both complex and sympathetic. What they go through together will tug on your heartstrings, while I loved the way Glasfurd brought seventeenth century Holland to life. I want to look up pictures by the Dutch landscape masters in order to stay there for a while longer.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue link: The Words in My Hand

Identically Different: Why you can change your genes by Tim Spector

Why should you read a book on epigenetics? Well, if you read magazines, newspapers, or watch the news, you’ve probably been exposed to hundreds of headlines proclaiming things like ‘Fat Gene Found!’ or ‘Humour is Heritable’. But let’s be realistic, headlines sell newspapers and they can often have a rather slippery relationship with the truth.

Tim Spector is a gentleman who knows his genes. However, he also has a startling confession to make – as a Professor who made his name by discovering the heritability of our most pressing problems, from obesity to cancer and paranoia to crime, he is now throwing a note of caution into the mix.

Yes, scientists have made great progress spotting delinquent DNA. But that, it appears, is only half the story. What they are now discovering is that certain chemical processes interfere with gene expression. This means our genes are not our destiny – or our children’s. You may be surprised to hear that the environment you experience can alter your genetic material, which then can be passed on to your offspring.

So science is re-writing the textbooks and attempting to re-educate the public; a public who have just got to grips with chromosomes and the double helix.  Not an easy task when the subject matter is complex, vast, only partially understood, and often contradictory.

Identically Different is edutainment - it gives you a satisfying mix of personal stories from a range of identical twins (nature's clones make fantastic research fodder) and manages to explain a few issues for the average non-scientist.  Spector keeps the pace lively and the subject matter interesting – who doesn’t want to find out why some of us are more likely to be fatter than others, have more orgasms, believe in God, or stray from the path of fidelity? But there’s the more serious stuff in here, too, and it’s far from being black and white. Nature and nurture have never been more intertwined.

Reviewed by Spot

Catalogue Link: Identically Different