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I am a big Carl Nixon fan – and The Virgin & the Whale has strengthened this position. It is a story about stories – how we use them to cope with trauma; and stories within stories – overtly playing with storytelling, character, plot and ‘happy’ endings. The latter aspect of the novel annoyed some reviewers – saying it interfered with their enjoyment of ‘the story’ – which I think sort of missed the point. Elizabeth is a nurse living with her parents with her young son, waiting to hear news of her husband missing from the 1st World War. Paul Blackwell is a ‘first family’ citizen returned from the war with no memory prior to being hit by a fragment of bone in the trenches. Paul (or Lucky as he feels himself to be) confusedly lives with his wife – who he doesn’t remember – and who is desperate to have her husband back. Mrs Blackwell engages Elizabeth to care for her husband – and thereby hangs the tale. Elizabeth tell tales to help her son cope with the loss of his father, and her patient cope with the loss of his memory. There are aspects of the book reminiscent of Life if Pi – the book starting with a man who wants to retell a true story, a man ending up in a boat with a tiger – but that made the ‘human storytelling’ idea even more resonant for me. We tell stories to help us cope, our memory is patchy and often includes fictional elements, and some novels add to our perception of the world and its horrors and its beauty. The Virgin & the Whale is poignant and wise and I highly recommend it.

The Purple Shroud is the continuation of the story of Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore. Theodora ends on a high, with Theodora having risen from humble origins to be the Byzantine Empress in Constantinople alongside her husband Justinian. The Purple Shroud continues the same lavish handling of the political and religious conflicts of the time, but this novel is darker – with riots, wars and pestilence ravaging Theodora’s world. Duffy does a great job of portraying Theodora’s disenchantment with her ‘people’, who destroy her city during the Nika riots – seeming to abandon ‘Theodora from the Brothel”. The novel once again is well researched – and the role Theodora plays in helping Justinian navigate through treacherous times is lovingly portrayed. The purple shroud is a much more confined book than Theodora, but I was very moved at the end – when this fabulous portrayal of an interesting historical figure came to an end.

Rangatira is a lovely book – the story of Paratene Te Manu told from his point of view as an old man. As he sits for a portrait by Lindauer he looks back on his trip to England, which he took along with other Rangatira in 1863. It is an engrossing and entertaining story, and full of the sadness of misunderstandings, cultural differences and problems caused by communication through interpreters. The novel presents a detailed historical portrait in a very human way. It is an historical novel but resonates with many current misunderstandings.

A slice of life on the West Coast in the 1860s as seen through the eyes of a young boy trying to make sense of the world, relationships and trickiest of all, the English language. Funny, sad and intriguing, it is a delightful and at times inspirational read that I highly recommend to everyone.

So much more than a novel about how art can help people triumph over, or at least survive through, adversity; The Conductor is a complex novel exploring the many and various drives and desires that keep us going. A disparate group of musicians, of various levels of competence, live in Leningrad during a bleak period of history – when the advancing Nazi army is creating appalling conditions in the city. Shostakovich is consumed with composing his new work, Nikolai, a music teacher and violinist, is grappling with grief, and Karl Eliasberg, the Conductor, is trying to negotiate his way through social and political barriers in his humble and confused way. The novel is beautifully structured and is a truly moving read.

Theodora is a meticulously researched novel about the early life of Theodora, who was born around 500 and died in 548. It starts with the story of a child raised in the excitement and turmoil surrounding Constantinople’s ‘circus’ performers – Theodora, along with her two sisters, trains as a dancer from an early age and rises to be a star performing erotic acts, and a popular prostitute. A move to Alexandria leaves Theodora longing for home, and when things don’t turn out for her there she finds solace in a non-Chalcedonian desert retreat. When she returns to Constantinople she does so under instructions to get to know Justinian – the adopted nephew of the Chalcedonian-aligned Emperor. Theodora and Justinian surprise everyone as well as each other by falling in love – and the stage is set for the actress and whore to become the Byzantine Empress. Duffy manages to juggle the swirling politics and religious schisms of the day along with her vast array of characters, and still present a convincing portrayal of their individual lives and loves. Theodora is a sumptuous portrayal of the Byzantine world and of one of the most interesting women of history.