Kate Forsyth is one of Australia’s most treasured storytellers. On today’s edition of What Katie Read, she gives us the rundown on all of the best books she’s been reading lately …
Howard’s End – E. M. Forster
This year I am slowly reading my way through E.M. Forster’s classic novels about the difficulties of social conduct in Edwardian England. Published in 1910, Howard’s End was his fourth novel and is considered to be his best by many people. I love it. It tells the story of three families who lives collide – the intelligent and idealistic Schlelgel sisters, the complacent and wealthy Wilcoxes, and the poverty-stricken Leonard Bast and his common-law wife – with tragic results. Forster’s deftness of character, and his subtlety and sensitivity is unmatched. A wonderful book.
The Locked Room – Elly Griffiths
Number 14 in the fabulous Dr Ruth Galloway crime series, set in atmospheric Norfolk. Ruth is a forensic anthropologist who specialises in studying bones. She works with the local police to help them solve crimes, and has a complicated relationship with DCI Nelson who fathered her daughter. The Locked Room centres on the investigation into a series of troubling suicides that just might be murders. As always, much of the reading pleasure comes from being the simmering tensions between the characters and the wry, witty voice of Dr Ruth. If you haven’t read them yet, start with Number 1. I promise you’ll soon be addicted.
The Salt Path – Raynor Winn
Recently I posted a shelfie of some of my favourite books about walking in nature and got a massive response, many sharing their favourites with me. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn was by far the most recommended, and so I bought it straightaway. It’s the memoir of a woman who loses her home just days after discovering her beloved husband of 32 years is terminally ill. Unable to think what to do or to live, they make the impulsive and rather incredible decision to walk the wild windswept South West Coast Path, from Somerset through Devon and Cornwall to Dorset.
It’s a walk I’ve longed dreamed of making, though my plan includes luggage transfers and warm cosy B&Bs at night. Ray and her husband Moth are virtually penniless and often hungry. They camp out along the path, in an old tent and cheap sleeping-bags, and often rely on the kindness of strangers to survive. It’s a truly remarkable and moving story that celebrates love and the resilience of the human spirit.
The Kill Artist – Daniel Silva
Flying to Adelaide for a week, I needed something small enough to fit in my handbag and absorbing enough to make the flight zoom by. I chose a spy thriller by Daniel Silva that has sat unread on my bookshelf for quite a long time. I’d read a great World War II thriller, The Unlikely Spy, by the same author and so thought I’d try his long-running Gabriel Allon series about an Israeli undercover agent who works as an art restorer. The Kill Artist is the first book in the series. I enjoyed it. Very cinematic, with lots of action, a little romance & a little bit about art too.
Flight – Angela Slatter
Flight spins together two dark & eerie fairytales – ‘The Raven’ and ‘White Bride, Black Bride’ into something utterly new & enchanting. Princess Emer is transformed into a raven, and must set out on a perilous journey to break the curse. Gorgeously illustrated by the one & only Kathleen Jennings, this book is an absolute treasure. Just divine.
The Mercies – Kiran Millwood Hargrave
I love books which illuminate true events in the past, particularly if they are little-known and deal with women, and other outsiders whose lives are so often not been recorded for posterity.
The Mercies is inspired by true events in early 17th century Norway. Inspired by the Scottish witch-hunts of James IV, King Christian began a crusade of religious persecution and witchcraft trials that saw the indigenous Sámi people and poor, superstitious women targeted. In all, fourteen Sámi men and seventy-seven Norwegian women named as witches were executed.
The novel begins with a freak storm that kills all the men on a small village on the far northern Norwegian coast. The women need to band together to survive, even as they struggle to recover from their shock and grief. Twenty-year-old Maren Bergensdatter has lost her father, her brother, and her betrothed. She is haunted by nightmares and paralysed by sorrow. Slowly she begins to rebuild her life, working alongside other women in the village, but their strength and independence is seen as unwomanly and soon a man is sent to rein them in. His name is Absalom Cornet and he worked in Scotland to burn witches. With him comes his young and lonely Norwegian, Ursa. The two young women are drawn together, but their close and passionate friendship endangers them both.
I loved it! One of the best books I’ve read this year.
About Kate
Dr Kate Forsyth is an award-winning author, poet, and storyteller. Her most recent novel is The Crimson Thread, a reimagining of ‘The Minotaur in the Labyrinth’ myth set in Crete during the Nazi invasion and occupation of World War II.
Other historical novels include The Blue Rose, set during the French Revolution and the first British embassy to Imperial China; Beauty in Thorns, a reimagining of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ told in the voices of four women of the Pre-Raphaelite circle of artists and poets; The Wild Girl, the story of the forbidden romance behind the Grimm brothers’ fairy tales which was named Most Memorable Love Story of 2013; and Bitter Greens, a retelling of ‘Rapunzel’ which won the 2015 American Library Association award for Best Historical Fiction.
Kate’s non-fiction books include Searching for Charlotte: The Fascinating Story of Australia’s First Children’s Author, co-written by her sister Belinda Murrell, with the assistance of the Nancy Keesing Fellowship. It was longlisted for the 2021 Readings Non-Fiction Prize. Her collection of essays, The Rebirth of Rapunzel: A Mythic Biography of the Maiden in the Tower, won the William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism in 2017.
Books for children include the Long-Lost Fairy-Tales collection, illustrated by Lorena Carrington. The first in the series, Vasilisa the Wise & Other Tales of Brave Young Women, won a silver medal in the 2018 US Readers Favorite Book awards. Other titles in the series are The Buried Moon & Other Tales of Bright Young Women; Snow White, Rose Red & Other Tales of Kind Young Women; and The Gardener’s Son & the Golden Bird & Other Tales of Gentle Young Men.
Kate has a Doctorate of Creative Arts in fairy tale studies, and is also an accredited master storyteller with the Australian Guild of Storytellers. She has taught writing retreats in Australia, Fiji, Greece, and the United Kingdom.
Discover Kate Forsyth’s Author Page here
The Crimson Thread
May 1941. German paratroopers launch a blitzkrieg from the air against Crete. They are met with fierce defiance, the Greeks fighting back with daggers, pitchforks and kitchen knives. During the bloody eleven-day battle, Alenka a young Greek woman saves the lives of two Australian soldiers.
Read a Q&A with A.G. Slatter | All the Murmuring Bones
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