Book review: The Lindsay Gordon Series - Val McDermid

"The Lesbian Anti-Hero; My hero"

I am two thirds through reading this series and had to take a pause and share the wonderful experience reading these books with you.

Starting with Report for Murder (1987) the book which introduces us to our heroine with attitude, Glaswegian journalist Lindsay Gordon, we are thrown into a series that would have been fairly unusual for its time. Very openly lesbian themed, packed with lesbian characters and unashamedly bringing lesbian culture to the fore (think about how it felt watching those characters discussing all things lesbian in the L Word series).The only thing really missing are gratuitous sex scenes that I imagine would not have been palatable to late 1980s publishers.

Gordon is instantly shown to us to be the rebellious, cheeky, authority challenging feisty hero we all love to read about. She's the kind of character many readers would fantasise about being, smart, attractive, confident of herself and standing up for her beliefs, incredibly loyal and determined. She's not all bows and bells though. She does things the hard way and her inner journalist instinct comes through at sometimes inappropriate moments. She even cheats on a girlfriend (but that later turns out to be vindicated). Later in the series she is complemented nicely by new girlfriend Sophie, who offers a good balance.

The Lindsay Gordon series is deliberately not as hard hitting as the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series. It is not as gritty nor disturbingly psychological. That does mean the books aren't dark in their own right. The muderous storylines have their darksides, and Lindsay herself goes through some traumatic experiences in her quest to solve her cases. However, they also incorporate humour, a lighter touch and fun. The relationship developments and non-murder stories are as interesting as the mysteries.

What makes these stories particularly readable is that each book is very different from the last, and they take differening direction, both plot wise and geographically. Each novel is adventurous and unpredictable, taking us on an unexpected journey. Ultimately they are thoroughly enjoyable stories that do cover some serious issues, and take on the establishment through the direction of the stories (I won't post any spoliers here).

By Katie

Book review: Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage - Stephanie Coontz

There are two arguments for and against gay marriage today. The For argument is generally, ‘Love is a human right’ and the Against tends to be for ‘Protecting the Sanctity of Traditional Marriage’. This book examines why both views were largely irrelevant for most of human history. Not only was love not a human right, until recently love wasn’t even a consideration when planning a marriage. Both men and women were discouraged from too much affection for their spouse, in case it undermined their loyalty for their family, their community, or God. As for the sanctity of marriage, the ‘’traditional”1950’s marriage deemed worthy of God’s love, was in fact a very unusual event in Western history, an event which lasted less than 20 years. Prior to last century, marriages were more like business mergers or investment partnerships and the married couple almost always shared their home with others of their family or community.

Stephanie Coontz studies family history and was inspired to write this book after being repeatedly asked if the institution of marriage was falling apart. While it is true that marriage is more fragile today than the days when the church held firm against divorce, she also shows that marriage has not always been the formal institution it is now, and that the church’s own position on marriage has changed many times. Even same-sex marriage has been previously permitted in places, provided both partners were able to commit to gender roles as firmly as any heterosexual couple. In Rome, where male-male marriages were derided, it wasn’t two men in love which was scandalous, but the idea of a man demeaning himself by doing ‘women’s work’.

This book is not about gay marriage; instead this is a book about the changing nature of marriage itself. Stephanie shows us that it is not gay equality that is threatening the Sanctity of Traditional Marriage, rather it was heterosexuals themselves who forever altered the institution -the growing popularity of ‘love’ matches, the desire to choose their own spouse, the breakdown of gender roles, the rise of feminism, and the acceptance of divorce and cohabitating partners - all opened the door to the inevitability of same-sex marriage.

This is a brilliant book, particularly in her comparisons to marriage myths as opposed to measurable marriage trends. It’s also an important read during this time when marriage is going through yet another upheaval.

Review by Ida Raine

Book review: A Hole in the World – Sophie Robbins

Princess Alexandra of Calpaea has been kidnapped by an evil enchantress and is now trapped in a cave, guarded over by trolls. When she is finally rescued it wasn’t the prince charming she was expecting, but a 16 year old English teenager named Bianca.

Bianca was four when she first discovers the hole in the wall near the centre of her town, yet eleven years later it still shows up in her dreams. Sent home in disgrace from boarding school, she is still picking up the pieces of her life when the urge to explore the hole overtakes her. Unbeknownst to her, the hole in the wall is really a hole between worlds and inside is a princess waiting to be saved.

The book is a modern day fairy tale with a twist. Bianca and her friends are imminently likeable and faced with the prospect of a princesses death, are more than willing to go into battle. Weighed down with backpacks and smoke bombs, the four teenagers battle flying reptiles, rats, trolls and tentacles to save a kingdom. I suspect this book was written for teenagers, but I, as an adult, thoroughly enjoyed it.

Review by Ida Raine

Book review: The Girl Back Home – R.E. Bradshaw

Jamie had it all, a stunning wife, a lucrative job and a luxurious mansion - only to lose it all after an affair with a younger woman. Thrown out of her home and abandoned by her friends, she packed up everything she owned and moved back to the small country town where she grew up. Once there she has her best friend Beth for support, as well as reconnecting with her first ever crush from her youth, a woman she hasn’t seen for 25 years.

Sandy was twenty years old and married with a small child when she met sixteen year old Jamie. Now twenty five years later Jamie is back and this time Sandy can admit to herself that she wants more than friendship. Unfortunately Sandy still has a husband, Jamie is still in love with her ex-wife and Beth is getting suspicious.

This is an interesting book of love between women at the prime of their lives. At seventeen and twenty one, their lives were too far apart to ever contemplate a relationship. Now at forty two and forty six the differences don’t seem as insurmountable. Before that can happen however, Sandy has to sort through her feelings about her marriage and Jamie has to recognise the issues in her past relationship which drove her to the affair. Of course, being a book about the rocky road to love there has to be a lot of drama along the way, yet the characters remain realistic throughout. This book can be long-winded at times but otherwise it’s a good read.

Review by Ida Raine

Book review: Girl Meets Boy – Ali Smith

This book is an easy read. By easy I mean there is no drama, no soul-searching, no difficult conversations with mothers or other relatives, no meddling ex-girlfriends and no heartbreak. It’s practically a gay fairy tale, only with less of a storyline.

Andrea is twenty one and has just moved in with her older sister Imogen. Imogen has a nice house, a well-paid job and a lean physique due to daily exercise. The only thing rebellious about Imogen is her motorbike named Rebel. Andrea knows that Imogen wants her to live an equally sensible life but she can’t. Instead she goes shopping instead of going to work, only to quit work altogether when she meets Robin.

Robin went to school with Imogen, but where Imogen became sensible, Robin became an activist. Robin and Andrea fall in love forcing Imogen to change her view of the world. How this occurs I can only imagine. The chapter between Imogen the bigot and Imogen the broadminded appears to have been missed. What wasn’t missed are the fascinating details the author puts into this book, from Ovid’s story of Iphis and Ianthe, to the statistics spray-painted onto Marks & Spencers. This is a beautifully written book and, like all fairy tales, ends happily ever after.

Review by Ida Raine

Book review: And Baby Makes More – edited by Susan Goldberg and Chloe Brushwood Rose

In these times of rising equality, queer families are coming out into the open, bringing their queerness into our courts, schools and even supermarkets. But what is a queer family? If we see them in the media they are usually two mums or Elton John, yet we know our community is more diverse than that. This book attempts to address the invisibility of today’s queer family.

And Baby Makes More is a book of short stories. All are about creating babies in queer families and all the families represented are wildly diverse. There are lesbians who intentionally chose a donor dad and lesbians who accidently created a donor dad, the donors themselves, trans and genderqueer family members, gay men, single mothers and polyamorous parents. The issues explored are, what makes a parent, the importance of biology, decision making, grandparents, methods of creation, societal expectations and so on. There is even a comic book entry.

The stories were edited by two women who are both lesbian mothers themselves, with their stories included in the book. It would have been easy for them to create a book solely on the joys of motherhood, but they didn’t. They also included stories of failure, of fears, and of family situations gone wrong. In amongst the thought-provoking stories there are also some genuinely funny moments. This would be a great read for anyone wishing to start their own queer family.

Review by Ida Raine

Book review: Sing You Home – Jodie Picoult

In these baby-booming times this book will likely strike a chord with a few people. Being about human infertility and the unrelenting desire to have a child, this isn’t a happy book. All of our main characters are struggling with recognisable demons and it takes almost half the book for them to truly become likeable. Despite all of that I’m a little bit in love with this novel, so much so that I sat up to 2am one night in order to finish it. It is genuinely unputdownable.

After nine years of fertility treatment, Zoe still doesn’t have a baby. After being advised to give up on her dream of motherhood due to ill health, Zoe refuses. A baby is more important than her health. Her husband, Max, doesn’t agree and instead files for divorce. Time passes and Zoe falls in love again – with a woman! Unfortunately Max also falls in love, only his new love affair is with God. When Zoe approaches Max for the rights over three frozen embryos they have remaining from IVF, Max approaches his church for advice. From there things start to get messy for Zoe.

This novel may be a clash between gay rights and religion, but it in no way demonises either. Jodie Picoult is careful to develop her main characters in order for us to really understand their motivations. No one person is in the wrong here and all are trying to do what they think is right. Ultimately Zoe and her ex-husband have to make big decisions and we, the reader, can only stand by helplessly and hope for the best. A very moving book.

Review by Ida Raine