The Lake Shore Limited
By Sue Miller
Bloomsbury
Six years after the death of her younger brother Gus, Leslie still mourns him deeply and dreams about him regularly.
She also resents her husband for not fully understanding the level of her grief. When she watches an autobiographical play written by Gus's former girlfriend Billy, it raises some disquieting issues.
Are the two women living in the past too much? And what was the nature of Gus and Billy's relationship? A slow, moving tale of love and loss.

 

Miss Conceived
By Emma Hannigan
Poolbeg Press Ltd. 

Emma Hannigan's newest novel (she wrote the bestselling Designer Genes, inspired by her own experiences with cancer) is the tale of three very different women at three very different stages in their lives, but ultimately hurtling towards the same outcome.
Angie Breen is single and loathing it, and if it isn't bad enough that she's being absolutely deafened by the ticking of her body clock, there isn't an eligible man anywhere near the horizon.
Meanwhile, Serena Doyle would appear to have it all: glamour, sophistication, and a husband who thinks the world of her.
But when Serena decides that a baby is the one thing to make her life complete, there are enough obstacles in her way to make things seem hopeless. Ruby White isn't even 16 and she has fallen for the wrong man entirely.
When she ends up pregnant, her parents are appalled but determined to find the best solution for everybody. When Angie's work takes her from Cork to Dublin for a year, and Ruby's parents decide to cover up their daughter's pregnancy and adopt her baby, the two cross paths.
Meanwhile, as Serena's long held secret is exposed, will she ever manage to get what she really wants?
Again, Hannigan has written a pacy, enjoyable tale, with lively and sympathetic characters, and a storyline that will resonate with many. This is likely to be on quite a few holiday reading lists this summer.

This Body of Death
By Elizabeth George
Hodder & Stoughton
For an American writer based in California Elizabeth George has managed to create one of the most quintessentially English characters in contemporary crime fiction.
The aristocratic DI Thomas Lynley is still on compassionate leave from the force after the murder of his pregnant wife. His temporary replacement, Isabelle Ardery, has been making quite a few procedural mistakes on a new murder case, and the press and police higher-ups are waiting to pounce.
The fiercely loyal members of Lynley's team are having trouble dealing with the new boss, and Ardery quickly realises that she has to get the grieving DI onside in order to win everyone over.
Meanwhile, the brother and estranged best friend of the woman who has just been killed are watching the dead woman's ex-boyfriend very closely. It seems he is hiding more than one secret. Scattered through the narrative are excerpts from a report into a case that bears a strong similarity to the Jamie Bulger abduction.
These are without doubt the hardest part of the book to read, and I found myself wincing each time I came to the unmistakable italics that indicated a flashback. But wince factor aside, George is up to her usual excellent standards.