JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

In Strasbourg, in the boiling hot summer of 1518, a plague strikes the women of the city. First it is just one – a lone figure, dancing in the town square – but she is joined by more and more and the city authorities declare an emergency. Musicians will be brought in. The devil will be danced out of these women.

Just beyond the city’s limits, pregnant Lisbet lives with her mother-in-law and husband, tending the bees that are their livelihood. Her best friend Ida visits regularly and Lisbet is so looking forward to sharing life and motherhood with her. And then, just as the first woman begins to dance in the city, Lisbet’s sister-in-law Nethe returns from six years penance in the mountains for an unknown crime. No one – not even Ida – will tell Lisbet what Nethe did all those years ago, and Nethe herself will not speak a word about it.

It is the beginning of a few weeks that will change everything for Lisbet – her understanding of what it is to love and be loved, and her determination to survive at all costs for the baby she is carrying. Lisbet and Nethe and Ida soon find themselves pushing at the boundaries of their existence – but they’re dancing to a dangerous tune . . .

Well this was a delight. Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s The Dance Tree explores lust, family secrets and women under the eye of the Church, set against the backdrop of a captivating dance plague overtaking a small Strasbourg village in 1518. The Dance Tree is also about a returned sister, silenced by a past transgression, and a main character constrained by her marriage and her crowded home.

The Dance Tree is a very female-centric story. At its heart is the pregnant Lisbet, who is hoping her current pregnancy will be her first successful one. Her mother-in-law shames her for her past miscarriages and stillborns, and no one will tell her why Nethe, her husband’s sister, was sent away to the mountains for seven years. What crime did she commit and how will her return affect Lisbet’s life? There is also her best friend Ida, who made a substantial sacrifice years ago and is still living with the repercussions.

“The smell comes like a cloud from the river that cuts east of Strasbourg. It is brown and sluggish beneath the sun, and as they near the city proper, the smell grows solid, grows guts and breath.”

Based on true events, Kiran captures the religious condemnation of the time period with clarity. When the dance plague starts, and then spreads, those in charge are wielded even more power to make it stop. The plague frightens them, and then in turn, they begin to frighten the rest of the townsfolk. People are already hungry and desperate and oppressed by those more powerful than them. Over time, their control over the town begins to fracture, and women band together to exert their force over those in charge.

The writing is one of the strengths in the book – Kiran’s ability to capture human emotion through actions and reactions. There is no ‘telling’ in this book; we learn everything we need to know through social interactions and dialogue. We come to understand feelings and emotions through movement and song and tender conversations between the unlikeliest of friends. And as the pages progress, Kiran builds tension and pacing with ease.

“The ground is scattered with leaves and her gifts. She brings the babies magpie offerings and places them at the base of the tree: pleasingly patterned stones, found feathers, flowers pressed and weighted with pebbles. She used to be superstitious about it, making deals and promises with each token.”

Other strengths in the book include female friendship and relationships between family — particularly Lisbet and her mother-in-law — setting, temperature and weather, and capturing lust and love between two people who struggle to part from one another.

Lisbet reflects on how her relationship with her husband has changed over the years, from intense passion to disappointment, and finally, to what feels like complacency. Lisbet feels guilty for not being able to carry a pregnancy, and thus she feels lost and alone, even when surrounded by others. She has much to learn about life and living, and Nethe’s return acts as the catalyst towards this.

“Nethe said in the abbey such judgements between holy mania and demonic possession rested on whether someone was liked or not. Lisbet eyes her, wondering what effect such a pronouncement will have on her. But Nethe has turned to stone again.”

Lyrical, atmospheric and imaginative, The Dance Tree is recommended for literary fiction readers. Readership skews female, 30+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Dance Tree
Kiran Millwood Hargrave
May 2022
Pan Macmillan Publishers Australia

Only A Monster by Vanessa Len

Only a monster would kill a hero. Right?

Every family has its secrets, but the summer Joan Chang-Hunt goes to stay with her Gran in London, she learns hers is bigger than most. The Hunts are one of twelve families in London with terrifying, hidden powers.

Joan is half-monster. And what’s more, her summer crush Nick isn’t just a cute boy – he’s hiding a secret as well; a secret that places Joan in terrible danger.

When the monsters of London are attacked, Joan is forced on the run with the ruthless Aaron Oliver, heir to a monster family who are sworn enemies of her own. Joan is drawn deeper into a world that simmers with hostilities, alliances and secrets. And her rare and dangerous power means she’s being hunted. She’ll have to embrace her own monstrousness if she is to save herself, and her family. Because in this story . . .

. . . she is not the hero.

Vanessa Len’s debut urban fantasy Only a Monster is an exciting release for fantasy readers, particularly fans of young adult fiction. Set in the real world, we meet a cast of characters labelled ‘monsters’. They’re able to travel through time by stealing time from other humans. Amongst the monster population, there’s a myth of a human hero who is destined to destroy their entire existence.

Despite a slow start, Only A Monster is fantastic. The premise of the novel fits comfortably in the urban fantasy genre but features enough originality to surprise even the most avid of genre fans. I genuinely felt unsure of where the story was going, surprised by the twists, engrossed by the characters, absorbed into the world building, and I finished the book feeling like Vanessa was bringing something unique to the readership.

“Joan lay there for a moment, trying to breathe through the pain. On the ground beside her, the dead woman lay, eyes wide open, looking up at nothing. Joan felt a sob rise in her throat like bile. She squeezed her eyes shut for a second and then forced herself to her feet.”

Set in London, Only A Monster incorporates the known trope of the anti-hero. Sixteen-year-old Joan Chang-Hunt discovers that she’s inherited her family’s ability to steal time from another’s life span and after finding herself alone, hunted and incredibly naive about this new ability she has, she teams up with an unlikely enemy. He is able to aid her escape, and then her plight as she attempts to right the wrongs inflicted at the beginning of the novel. Only A Monster explores the blurred boundary between good and evil and what it means to be a hero.

What transpires is a race through time, largely set in the 1990s, as Joan tries to flee those who hunt her. What starts as an urban fantasy soon turns into a fast-paced thriller with heightened stakes and well-crafted, multi-layered characters. There is an even balance of character driven and plot driven stylistic devices.

“Joan tried to remember, and panic bubbled up inside her again. The whole day was missing from her memory. There was just nothing there.”

Vanessa sets up the ending of the novel for a sequel, with enough questions left unanswered to keep you gripped. The mechanics of the time travel do remain a bit unanswered, and I think some readers will find the logistics a little blurry. But accepting the storyline and the characters and allowing yourself to fall into the story and let yourself be swept up into it will result in an engaging and enjoyable reading experience. When done well, time travel novels are a guilty pleasure of mine.

“She imagined Nick waiting for her at that cafe. She hadn’t responded to any of his messages. But she knew him. He’d have waited and waited, just in case. How long had he been there before he’d realised that she wasn’t coming?”

An exciting new story from an Australian writer. Engrossing and original, Vanessa Len’s Only a Monster can be devoured in quick succession. Recommended for YA readers and urban fantasy fans. Readership skews 13+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Only A Monster
Vanessa Len
February 2022
Allen & Unwin Book Publishers

Notes On An Execution by Danya Kukafka

Ansel Packer is scheduled to die in twelve hours.

He knows what he’s done, and now awaits the same fate he forced on those girls, years ago. Ansel doesn’t want to die; he wants to be celebrated, understood.

But this is not his story.

As the clock ticks down, three women uncover the history of a tragedy and the long shadow it casts. Lavender, Ansel’s mother, is a seventeen-year-old girl pushed to desperation. Hazel, twin sister to his wife, is forced to watch helplessly as the relationship threatens to devour them all. And Saffy, the detective hot on his trail, is devoted to bringing bad men to justice but struggling to see her own life clearly.

This is the story of the women left behind.

Blending breathtaking suspense with astonishing empathy, Notes On An Execution presents a chilling portrait of womanhood as it unravels the familiar narrative of the American serial killer, interrogating our cultural obsession with crime stories, and asking readers to consider the false promise of looking for meaning in the minds of violent men.

Danya Kukafka’s Notes On An Execution offers a reprieve from the stereotypical ‘serial killer’ novel. We meet Ansel Packer in a Texan prison on the day he is scheduled to be executed for murdering multiple women. There is no doubt that he’s the murderer — he’s confessed to it, he acknowledges it. But who did he hurt and how did events unfold?

To fully understand this, we meet three women whose lives interacted with Ansel’s at titular moments in his life. The story toggles between multiple storylines, traversing different points of view and moving between the past and the present. As someone who devours serial killer stories, I found this book to be an incredible read.

“That night, Lavender slept sitting up in the storage room, an iron paper towel rod clutched in her hand like a gun. She found it when she reached for her sweater — a cold lump in the breast pocket. It was the locket she’d given to Ansel, curled up regretful. She’d unclasped it from his neck the last time she’d given him a bath and pocketed it thoughtlessly.”

Danya’s writing is beautiful —poetic and addictive. Her characterisation is skilled and flawless. It’s rare for me to give such glowing praise for a novel but I really did love this one (I completed it in half a day, I was so desperate to finish).

We are driven forward by Ansel’s inevitable death — the countdown to his execution. These other stories, offered intermittently and almost chaotically, are a glimpse into the past.

The three women we meet in this novel are Lavender, Ansel’s mother, Hazel, the sister to Ansel’s wife, and Saffy, the detective who lived with Ansel in foster care and is now tasked with proving he’s responsible for the murders. Each shift in POV isn’t for very long, and we move through the past with quick pacing and little time to reflect. This novel is designed to paint a portrait of Ansel’s life to dates so that we might come to understand his rocky descent into murder.

“If there was a before, it began with Lavender. She was seventeen years old. She knew what it meant, to bring life into the world. The gravity. She knew that love could swaddle you tight, and also bruise. But until the time came, Lavender did not understand what it meant to walk away from a thing she’d grown from her own insides.”

Ansel’s chapters are written in second person — the confronting ‘you’ triggering a sense of dread and unease as the reader settles into Ansel’s story. Whilst we never feel like we understand him or his actions, his life and his story is the centrefold of this tale — everything else merely revolves around him as we are propelled towards his death.

Overall, the pacing and character development drew me in and kept my engaged throughout the entire novel. i did find the climax of the novel to be a little skimmed over — Ansel’s sudden deterioration into the final murder didn’t feel natural or realisitc. But when it comes to murder, and even multiple murders, a person’s actions don’t always make sense do they?

“Here is what you remember of your mother. She is tall, and she is mostly hair. She crouches in a garden, lazes in a rocking chair, sinks into a rusty claw-foot tub. Sometimes the tub is filled with water and your mother’s long dress floats wet like a jellyfish. Other times she is dry — she holds out a strand of her own hair, a gift, glistening orange.”

Haunting and ambitious but addictive, Danya Kukafka ’s Notes On An Execution is recommended for readers of literary fiction, thriller and crime fiction. Additionally, readers looking for serial killer stories or female-centric writing will enjoy this. Readership skews 25+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Notes On An Execution
Danya Kukafka
January 2022
Hachette Book Publishers

The Wild Guide to Starting School by Laura and Philip Bunting

Hey, wild thing! Are you about to start school? Then it’s time to get set for your wildest adventure yet.

Follow this simple guide and you’ll learn everything you need to know.

The familiar and much loved animals from previous Bunting tales “Mopoke, Kookaburra, Liarbird, Koala, Quokka, and a few new friends” guide you from starting the day just right (mmm, GumFlakes) to first day jitters, meeting teachers, making friends, lunch time, home time and all the things in between!

Laura and Philip Bunting’s latest picture book The Wild Guide to Starting School is an adorable, beautifully illustrated and incredibly funny guide to the beginning of the school year. How should one get to school? Behave in the classroom? Eat during lunch? Through the lens of animals and barnyard examples, practical advice fills the pages — some helpful, some purely humorous.

Whilst some young readers might cringe at the thought of reading a book about school, Laura and Philip Bunting have put together a really inviting, beautiful book to captivate even the most reluctant of young readers. By incorporating wild animals into the story, they’re appealing to children through the use of the familiar — quirky, cuddly zoo animals.

There isn’t much text to this book, as it’s predominantly relying on illustrations to carry the story. Philip’s illustrations are soft but colourful, and suited for readers of all genders. Together, Laura and Philip have built a beautiful suite of children’s books that I imagine look beautiful when collected and stacked together on a bookshelf.

Recommended for parents and children. I don’t have any children but I found myself chuckling along to this one, so I can imagine young readers really enjoying this read. Readership skews 4+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Wild Guide to Starting School
Laura and Philip Bunting
January 2022
Scholastic Publishers Australia

My Body by Emily Ratajkowski

Emily Ratajkowski is an acclaimed model and actress, an engaged political progressive, a formidable entrepreneur, a global social media phenomenon, and now, a writer. Rocketing to world fame at age twenty-one, Ratajkowski sparked both praise and furor with the provocative display of her body as an unapologetic statement of feminist empowerment. The subsequent evolution in her thinking about our culture’s commodification of women is the subject of this book.

My Body is a profoundly personal exploration of feminism, sexuality, and power, of men’s treatment of women and women’s rationalizations for accepting that treatment. These essays chronicle moments from Ratajkowski’s life while investigating the culture’s fetishization of girls and female beauty, its obsession with and contempt for women’s sexuality, the perverse dynamics of the fashion and film industries, and the grey area between consent and abuse. Nuanced, unflinching, and incisive, My Body marks the debut of a fierce writer brimming with courage and intelligence.

In her memoir, international model and actor Emily Ratajkowski reflects on her relationship with her body, and in return, how other people seem to build a relationship with her body. Famous for her tiny waist and countless nude photoshoots, Emily is internationally regarded for her beauty. Whilst I’ve long been aware of Emily, I’ve not spent much time following her career. She did indeed catapult to international fame when she appeared in the Blurred Lines music video, and this success has allowed her access to an even greater array of career opportunities.

Whilst the book feels scattered with Emily hopping between memories, experiences and reflections, she ponders many aspects of her life in such a short amount of pages. My Body allows her to reflect on how people view her through her body — people deem her worthy of their time based on her looks, rather than her personality or her intelligence. And she does come across very intelligent in this memoir.

“The shoot for the video was at a large studio in Silver Lake, only a fifteen-minute drive from my loft. I arrived with an empty stomach, having made sure not to eat too much the night before because I knew I’d be naked — topless at the very minimum — on set the next day.”

My Body is quite remarkable and far exceeded my expectations. Emily writes with ease, and her introspection and reflection of past events paints her to be quite the smart, resourceful writer. Her writing is clear-cut and stripped back — dialogue and prose flow together seamlessly. The way she reflects on other people’s behaviour and body language resembles a high level of awareness and ability to observe others.

Emily is unapologetic in her essays, allowing herself the opportunity to tell her truth exactly as she wants it. She doesn’t appear to fear other opinions of her, if they’re accurate. This memoir feels like an opportunity to correct those who only think of Emily in connection with Blurred Lines. Her biggest aim, it seems, is for people to stop underestimating her.

“My body was light and fragile, like a shell doomed to shatter, as I walked through my aunt’s front door, a bell jingling as it swung open. I greeted my extended family, feeling my uncle’s cool skin against my cheek when I hugged him, knowing that they’d be even more disapproving of me than my mother had been.”

Emily seemingly does not address her role in the industry she chastises. She critiques the kind of money one can earn by flaunting products on Instagram, but does not seem to suggest she will stop doing any of this on her own accounts. She describes oppressive moments in her career — powerful, rich men paying for her attendance at events, for example — but does not seem interested in changing the system. The memoir reads like a recount of events, a diary perhaps, but does not seem to make commentary on more expansive ideas or beliefs.

Despite this, I found the book enlightening and the writing of considerable talent. I dare say people will walk away with a newfound insight into her career trajectory. With greater understanding into some of these moments in her life, Emily has opened herself up to divergent career paths perhaps outside the realm of modelling and acting.

“At the spa, we all understand that we can see each other, but we don’t look. We’re comforted by our collective nakedness. We’re not here to perform. We don’t have to be self-aware. Our bodies are simply undergoing maintenance. When I’m here, I’m anonymous, just another body.”

Raw and emotional, and incredibly insightful and well-written, this memoir comes highly recommended. Readership skews female, 20+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

My Body
Emily Ratajkowski
November 2021
Hachette Book Publishers