JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: The Story of Schitt’s Creek by Daniel Levy and Eugene Levy

The official tie-in book for the beloved, nine-time Emmy Award-winning series Schitt’s Creek.

This beautifully produced, lavishly illustrated book is the ultimate celebration of the series, the town, the characters, and the state of mind that is Schitt’s Creek. Capturing the essence and alchemy of all six seasons of what is now considered to be one of the most ground-breaking comedy television series of the last decade, Best Wishes, Warmest Regards is a gift to fans everywhere who have made the show their own.

Best Wishes, Warmest Regards is something I’ve been excited to read for months. I’m a huge fan of the TV show, recommending it to everyone and anyone, and I love the idea of learning more about the creative development of this series. This is a striking and colourful compendium for anyone who has grown to love the show in recent years.

Schitt’s Creek provided people with a lot of solace over the last couple of years – a welcome, funny, creative show that guaranteed laughs. I was so excited to read this new coffee table book chronicling the journey of the show’s creation, from conception all the way through to the sixth season finale. It’s a classy collection of the best aspects of the show, with insightful commentary inside.

“Working on our presentation pilot showed me just how strongly he was coming into his own as a writer, particularly a writer who had his finger on the pulse of his own generation. His work on camera showed me in the most vivid way just how entrenched he was, as an actor, in his own character of David Rose.”

Daniel and Eugene reflect on the conception of the show, and its characters. Various actors are voiced in the book, as we discover more about their casting and their character profiles. And then, the book moves through each scene, journaling each iconic moment with reflection from relevant actors or crew members.

Example moments include Patrick and David’s relationship, Moira working on the Herb Ertlinger campaign, the Cabaret performance, and the Rose Family Christmas episode. Also included are special features, such as the complete, illustrated catalogues of David’s knits and Moira’s wigs, Moira’s vocabulary and Alexis’ adventures.

“That process started out slow – very slow. The exercise of figuring out who these characters would be was a long one, but it was also, as I came to realize, a necessary one. We would spend weeks brainstorming a single character: where did they go to school? Who were their parents? Were they happy babies? By the end of the process we knew every single thing about each character in the show.”

A stunning tribute to the show, the book features a lot of fan art and contributed designs that really elevate the book above its competitors. Looking at all of David’s sweaters and all of Moira’s wigs makes me want to track down the art and get them printed on a coffee mug or a shirt.

Additionally, it’s really quite touching to read about how many different creatives came together to create this show. It’s not just about the cast, or even the Levy family. It’s about the production team, the hair and make-up team, the costume designers, and the many many other people who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to help this show come to life.

Love this journey for me – is it time for another re-watch?

“When you sit down with a concept about a wealthy family moving to a small town, I think the expected scenario is that the town doesn’t know as much as this family, and the jokes would be at the expense of the town. For us it was important to not go down that path. We wanted to use this show to celebrate small towns.”

Incredibly detailed and beautifully illustrated, this is the perfect companion to the show and will please all fans. The perfect Christmas gift or stocking filler. Readership skews 20+

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

Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: The Story of Schitt’s Creek
Daniel Levy and Eugene Levy
November 2021
Hachette Book Publishers

The Echo Chamber by John Boyne

What a thing of wonder a mobile phone is. Six ounces of metal, glass and plastic, fashioned into a sleek, shiny, precious object. At once, a gateway to other worlds – and a treacherous weapon in the hands of the unwary, the unwitting, the inept.

The Cleverley family live a gilded life, little realising how precarious their privilege is, just one tweet away from disaster. George, the patriarch, is a stalwart of television interviewing, a ‘national treasure’ (his words), his wife Beverley, a celebrated novelist (although not as celebrated as she would like), and their children, Nelson, Elizabeth, Achilles, various degrees of catastrophe waiting to happen.

Together they will go on a journey of discovery through the Hogarthian jungle of the modern living where past presumptions count for nothing and carefully curated reputations can be destroyed in an instant. Along the way they will learn how volatile, how outraged, how unforgiving the world can be when you step from the proscribed path.

To err is maybe to be human but to really foul things up you only need a phone.

A satirical novel about social media and those trapped in its clutches, John Boyne’s The Echo Chamber follows one self-centred British family who are all well-versed in manipulating others and escaping retribution. The Echo Chamber takes aim at cancel culture from both sides — those ‘cancelled’, and those who cancel.

At the centre of the novel is the revered and respected TV host George Cleverley, who resembles Piers Morgan in his unapologetic, ill-advised commentary on society. His wife, Beverley, is an internationally best-selling author whose works are written by ghost writers but she claims their words are her own. Their three children, Nelson, Achilles and Elizabeth, are flawed in their own right and provide the majority of the entertainment in the novel.

“Although Beverley was sitting in the drawing room of the Cleverleys’ five-floor Belgravia home, trying to maintain a polite interest in the conversation she was holding with a ghost, her mind was far away, soaring 35,000 feet above Europe, on an aeroplane headed for the north-western shore of the Black Sea.”

Written in third person POV and switching between all five members of the family, the humour lands best with Nelson, George’s socially inept son who struggles to talk to women and wears various uniforms to feel comfort and stability. His dialogue with his psychologist is incredibly funny, and his attempts at conversing with women are equally worth a mention.

John’s razor-sharp observation on human and societal interaction takes centre stage with this novel. Prose is stripped back, and the majority of the story is told through dialogue. This shows just how easily John captures a character’s voice, because we have five different characters here and all offer their own unique personality. Whilst I felt that George’s dialogue was overly absurd in some conversations with his family, and he didn’t always feel natural when he spoke, I think John captured the rest of the family members with consistency and reliability.

“The first man he met was a married father of two from Battersea, the indent on the fourth finger of his left hand making it clear that he’d removed his wedding ring on the journey to the pub. Achilles went for a drink with him several times before asking whether he could help him out with a ‘loan’ of $1,000 because, he claimed his landlord was threatening to throw him out on the streets.”

Some people might read this book and find some segments too over the top — they might find the Cleverley family too obnoxious, and edging too far into caricature territory. And I suppose I did feel that in some moments as well. But as a whole, this book offers an entertaining exploration into how social media has shaped our society and how much value we place in our devices.

John’s commentary on social media is devastatingly accurate and rife with clarity. The cover is also a triumph. It’s rare that a novel actually has me laughing aloud, and at times this book even had me snort a little. The Echo Chamber was a joy to read, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

“He counted the items of clothing on his body and it came to a total of five: polyester scrub top and trousers, boxer shorts, socks and a pair of old trainers. Standard hospital wear. And even though he knew that he was probably the least fashionable person in London and the South-East, he appreciated the fact that his outfit made him stand out in the crowd.”

Sharp, observant and utterly enjoyable, The Echo Chamber is recommended for readers of literary fiction and satirical works. Readership skews 25+

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

The Echo Chamber
John Boyne
August 2021
Penguin Random House Publishers

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

In the dying days of the American Civil War, newly freed brothers Landry and Prentiss find themselves cast into the world without a penny to their names. Forced to hide out in the woods near their former Georgia plantation, they’re soon discovered by the land’s owner, George Walker, a man still reeling from the loss of his son in the war.

When the brothers begin to live and work on George’s farm, the tentative bonds of trust and union begin to blossom between the strangers. But this sanctuary survives on a knife’s edge, and it isn’t long before the inhabitants of the nearby town of Old Ox react with fury at the alliances being formed only a few miles away . . .

Set during the Civil War and portraying life after slavery, Nathan Harris’ debut literary novel The Sweetness of Water is an incredible read. I’m so pleased to see that it’s been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

The Sweetness of Water takes place during a time of unrest and unease. The American Civil War is almost over and the enslaved are emancipated and allowed freedom, but tensions still run high and racism runs deep. There’s still a lot of resentment among white Southerners, as they struggle to accept that their superiority is slipping away. When the level-headed and moral farmer George Walker employs two former slaves on his property, the local townspeople in Old Ox are reluctant to accept his ways of operating. Characters clash and prejudice reigns. Soon, all lives will change.

“So it began that afternoon. A life of unhappiness that transcended George’s former independence, one of unity. Two lives merged. Her beauty was secondary to the strength of her character, the fortitude in which she housed her beliefs, her way of life, that same stubbornness that he shared himself.”

For a debut, the writing is almost faultless. Prose is stripped back but insightful. Written in third person, the book allows an intimate insight into George and his relationship with wife Isabelle, and their son Caleb. Initially thought to be killed during the Civil War, Caleb returns home unexpectedly, his face deeply scarred.

Exploring complex social problems in a time of great upheaval, Nathan has captured the era with ease. There’s just as much left unsaid and off the page, and there’s much to be admired about how Nathan has captured the three-dimensional, multi-faceted nature of his many cast of characters. Nathan draws together a series of tumultuous events that will attract an array of emotions from its readers – anger, frustration, sadness and concern. I don’t often cry when reading a book, but I cried reading this one.

“Prentiss and Landry arrived back to their camp late enough that the shade of the trees brought goose bumps to their skin. Prentiss had no mind to eat, even with the potatoes in his knapsack that he’d got from the man in the tent. He was hungrier for sleep.”

Nathan possesses a sensitivity and compassion when writing about this time period. There’s something about his prose that feels historical – omniscient and encompassing, but gentle. Dialogue features sparingly, and Nathan lets internal monologue carry a lot of the book. We learn about histories through memories and reflection, as each character realises the lessons they’ve learnt and the trauma they’ve been dealt. Tragedy looms large in this story.

The Sweetness of Water asks the question, what does it really mean to be free?

“They had opened his face with the butt of a rifle. He’d cupped his face with both hands, but no amount of dabbing at the wound could prevent the blood from slipping through his fingers and wetting the ground.”

Poignant, intelligent and expertly written, The Sweetness of Water is for lovers of literature. Literary readers, historical fiction fans. This book reminded me of To Kill A Mockingbird. Readership skews 25+

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

The Sweetness of Water
Nathan Harris
July 2021
Hachette Book Publishers

The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry

‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.’

In Queens, New York, 22-year-old real estate agent Madison May is showing a house. The buyer, a man she’s never met, is friendly, engaging . . . and claims to be her soulmate from a parallel life. She’s in danger, he tells her. He’s come to save her.

Later that day, newspaper journalist Felicity Staples is assigned to report on Madison May’s murder. Discontent with her own life, Felicity finds herself drawn into a shocking conspiracy involving a powerful group who have harnessed the ability to slip between lives – to move between one version of reality to another.

On the run, turned into an imposter in her own life, Felicity is forced to seek the truth behind Madison May, the woman who is murdered over and over, in different ways, wherever she goes. For only by saving Madison May can Felicity reassemble the broken pieces of herself.

Max Barry’s The 22 Murders of Madison May is a parallel-universe thriller about a crazed psychopath and his incessant, unexplained need to travel between different worlds to kill the same girl, over and over — Madison May.

We meet Madison in the opening chapter. She’s a young real estate agent showing a new listing to a potential buyer. Before long, he’s professing his love for her. And then he’s stabbing her to death. When reporter Felicity Staples is assigned the story, she’s suddenly thrust into an inter-dimensional saga that has her leaping through time in an effort to save Madison May.

“She sprawled on the tracks, banging her chin and elbow and knee. Her bag hit the ground and vomited forth her belongings. She raised her head quickly, because there was a train approaching, she recalled, a train, its lights blooming, and as she did, the air split with a bone-rattling blast from its horn.”

Barry’s novel is very good — so good I ripped through the story in one day. This is the very definition of a cat-and-mouse chase.

The world-building is complex enough to be interesting and draw the reader in, but not so complicated that it’s hard for readers to follow. Everything about this novel is comprehensible and easy to follow.

In each new world, Felicity’s life is very similar, with a few exceptions. Perhaps her boyfriend suddenly knows how to cook, or one of her cats doesn’t exist. Her job is the same, and her apartment as well, but her furniture might be different. And in every new world, Madison May has the same aspirations and the same friends, but her life is in a different place. She’s a real estate agent or a waitress, or perhaps she’s trying to make it as an actress.

Once we’ve moved on from one world, we never go back again, so the story is always progressing in a forward motion and there’s always something new to discover when we meet Madison May again and again and again. The poor girl just keeps getting murdered, and yet Felicity is determined to save her, even though she knows that when she moves into another world, she’ll never be able to go back to her old life. She’s moving further and further away from her own reality.

Experimenting with notions of the space-time continuum, The 22 Murders of Madison May is certainly something I could see playing out on the big screen.

“She didn’t want to give up the egg. It was practically the only thing she had: the only thing that had come with her aside from the clothes she’d been wearing. But she couldn’t hide it for much longer. Eventually, they would find it.”

There’s a small cast of characters, which allows Barry to capture each with depth and believability. Each new world is an alternate construction of Madison May, and how she intersects with Felicity, Clay and Hugo. Occasionally, secondary characters make an appearance.

I’ll admit, there didn’t seem to be as much introspection for Felicity as I would’ve expected. She doesn’t seem particularly stricken to discover she can never go back to her old life, and she seems to cast aside her job rather quickly — so quickly I forgot her job existed at all. Her character development is about embracing the life you’re given and not dwelling on what’s lost, but still, I expected a bit more reflection from her character. Psychologically, shouldn’t she be more affected by what she’s facing?

“She didn’t dare turn. But she saw his eyes shift. The hand holding the knife moved lower, hovering between the front seats like the fang of a snake. He would let the car pass, she saw. If she moved, he would stab her, but his plan was to kill her after it had gone.”

Chilling and clever, and progressing at breakneck speed, The 22 Murders of Madison May is a joy to devour. For fans of crime, thriller and mystery novels. Readership skews 20+

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

The 22 Murders of Madison May
Max Barry
July 2021
Hachette Book Publishers

Six Tudor Queens: Katharine Parr by Alison Weir

A woman torn between love and duty.

Two husbands dead, a boy and a sick man. And now Katharine is free to make her own choice. The ageing King’s eye falls upon her. She cannot refuse him… or betray that she wanted another. She becomes the sixth wife – a queen and a friend. Henry loves and trusts her. But Katharine is hiding another secret in her heart, a deeply held faith that could see her burn…

Katharine Parr. Henry’s final Queen.

And so my favourite historical fiction series comes to a conclusion. Anyone who has been reading my reviews for the past few years will know how much I love Alison Weir’s Tudor Queens series. With meticulous research and appropriate embellishment to make for an interesting read, I’m quite sad that this is the final book in the series.

You can read my reviews of the preceding books in the series HERE.

In each novel, Alison presents a fictional account of each of Henry VIII’s wives, from their childhood all the way through to their death. Whilst each book is considered fiction, it’s clear how much research and factual information has been used to paint these portraits — Alison always explains her basis in the Author’s Note at the end of each novel.

Henry’s sixth and final wife, Katharine Parr, might just be one of his more mature and intelligent wives. She outlives him, of course, but she seems to be the only wife that manages to keep secrets from him and not get caught. Katharine knows when to fight her battles — she’s courageous and confident, but she’s also aware of her weaknesses. Given she was married four times in her relatively short life, she makes for an interesting story.

“It was June when Mother arrived, looking every inch the great lady in damask and jewels. Her manner when she greeted Lord Borough at the outer door was imperious, as befitted one who served the Queen. But Mother did not know that he despised Queen Katherine and knew that she was out of favour at court.”

Sharp and engrossing, fans of the Tudor age will find themselves enthralled in Katharine’s story. Whilst Katherine wasn’t thrilled to marry the King, she does so in the hopes she can sway him towards religious reforms. She practices her faith in secret, working to step away from Catholicism. Faith is an element that wasn’t explored as deeply through the other Queen’s perspectives, so it added something unique to this final book.

Like the other Queens, Katharine Parr works to position herself in roles of power, even though the time period didn’t benefit women. But unlike the others, Katherine knew when to fight and when to accept defeat, and that’s probably the reason she outlived the King.

“It was hard practicing her new faith in secret. She had to make an outward show of following religious custom, for she was too fearful of reprisals if she betrayed her true beliefs.”

Admittedly, it does take a bit of time for Katharine’s path to cross with King Henry, but Katherine does live a rather eventful life up until then. With two marriages and two dead husbands, it feels like she’s lived a lifetime by the time she’s crowned Queen. And her story is definitely not over then. I think some readers might find themselves surprised to love this book – Katharine Parr certainly isn’t the most well known of Henry’s six wives, but Alison crafts her into quite the interesting woman.

“Over the following days, she agonised over whether she should be encouraging Thomas’ friendship. The angel on her shoulder told her she should not, but the devil on the other assured her that it could do no harm.”

I feel there’s no more praise left to give for this series. Alison Weir’s Six Tudor Queens is highly recommended for fans of historical fiction, but I’d recommend you go back to the very beginning with Henry’s first Queen, Katherine of Aragon, to experience the full chronological journey. Readership skews female, 30+

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

Six Tudor Queens: Katharine Parr, The Sixth Wife
Alison Weir
May 2021
Hachette Book Publishers