It’s the first Saturday of the month which means it’s time for another Six Degrees of Separation, hosted by Kate of Books are my Favourite and Best. The idea is that Kate chooses a book to use as a starting point and then we have to link it to six other books of our choice to form a chain. A book doesn’t have to be connected to all of the others on the list – only to the one next to it in the chain.
This month we’re starting with Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser. As usual, this is a book I haven’t read! Here’s what it’s about:
In the late 1980s, the narrator of Theory & Practice — a first generation immigrant from Sri Lanka who moved to Sydney in her childhood — sets up a life in Melbourne for graduate school. Jilted by a lover who cheats on her with another self-described “feminist,” she is thrown into deeper confusion about her identity and the people around her.
The narrator begins to fall for a man named Kit, who is in a “deconstructed relationship” with a woman named Olivia. She struggles to square her feminism against her jealousy toward Olivia—and her anti-colonialism against her feelings about Virginia Woolf, whose work she is called to despite her racism.
What happens when our desires run contrary to our beliefs? What should we do when the failings of revered figures come to light? Who is shamed when the truth is told? In Theory & Practice, Michelle de Kretser offers a spellbinding meditation on the moral complexities that arise in this gap. Peopled with brilliantly drawn characters, the novel also stitches together fiction and essay, taking up Woolf’s quest for adventurous literary form.
I’m going to use an immigrant from Sri Lanka as my first link. The Swimmer by Roma Tearne (1) begins with Ria, a woman in her forties, discovering a young man swimming in the river behind her house in Suffolk. His name is Ben and he’s a Tamil refugee who has fled violence in Sri Lanka and made his way to England. I enjoyed watching Ria and Ben’s relationship develop until a sudden change of narrator sent the story in a different direction.
Staying with the theme of swimming, Wonder Girls by Catherine Johnson (2) is set in 1928 and tells the story of Ida Gaze, who at the age of sixteen sets out to become the first person ever to swim the Bristol Channel between Wales and England. Although it’s a fictional story, it’s still a very inspirational one!
Another book with ‘wonder’ in the title is The Wonder by Emma Donoghue (3), a dark but fascinating novel about an eleven-year-old girl in 19th century Ireland whose parents claim she has eaten nothing at all for four months. To prove whether the girl really is a miracle or whether it’s a hoax, a nurse, Lib Wright, is hired to watch over her and see if the claims are true. Lib has been serving in the Crimean War and was trained by Florence Nightingale, which leads me to the next book in my chain…
The Nightingale Girls by Donna Douglas (4) is the first in a series about a group of student nurses at London’s Nightingale Hospital in the 1930s. I enjoyed meeting the three main characters and stated in my review that I was looking forward to the rest of the series – well, that was twelve years ago and I still haven’t picked up any of the others!
Nightingale is the name of the author of the next book in my chain. Murder in Tinseltown by Max Nightingale (5) sounded fun, but was a disappointment. It’s an interactive ‘choose your own adventure’ style book, where you play the role of a detective investigating a murder and at various points in the story you choose what happens next by turning to different pages. A good idea, but it needed a lot more editing, unfortunately.
A book starting with the same two words in the title is Murder in the Crooked House by Soji Shimada (6). This is one of several Japanese crime novels I’ve read over the last few years, but not one of my favourites as I found the mystery far too convoluted and too concerned with alibis, timings, room layouts and other little details rather than the characters and their motives. It was originally published in 1982 but I read a reissue in an English translation by Louise Heal Kawai.
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And that’s my chain for July. My links have included: Sri Lanka, swimming, the word ‘wonder’, Florence Nightingale, the name Nightingale and titles beginning with ‘Murder in’.
In August we’ll be starting with The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden. I have that book on my TBR – I wonder if I’ll be able to read it before August!
She Reads Novels 
Nice chain, Helen! You’ve reminded me about The Wonder which I never got around to reading. And several others in your chain sound tempting.
Thank you! I loved The Wonder, although it was quite an unsettling read. I still have some of Emma Donoghue’s other books waiting to be read.
I remember enjoying Roma Tearne’s The Swimmer – loved her Brixton Beach too. The Emma Donoghue sounds very tempting.
I read a few of Roma Tearne’s books years ago, but never got round to Brixton Beach. I also need to read more Emma Donoghue!
Enjoyable chain, and thank you for reminding me of Roma Tearne. I’ve enjoyed a couple of her novels but haven’t read The Swimmer.
The Swimmer was a fascinating book, from what I can remember – it was years ago when I read it!
I enjoyed your chain – great links! The only one I’ve read is The Wonder, which I thought was fascinating. I found it almost impossible to put it down although it was uncomfortable reading. The Swimmer sounds very interesting.
Yes, I loved The Wonder, although I agree that it was a very disturbing book to read, like a lot of Emma Donoghue’s. I can’t remember The Swimmer very well now, as it was years ago when I read it, but I know I did find it interesting.
While they seemed a good way to get kids to read, I never could get into those “choose your own adventure” books. Just tell the story, and don’t make me work so hard! Lovely chain here, though!
Thanks! Yes, I think choose your own adventure books are more for kids. I thought reading one aimed at adults might be fun, but it wasn’t – at least not that one.
Nice work! The Swimmer –too bad about that change of narrator!
Yes, I remember really enjoying the first part of The Swimmer – the change of narrator seemed unnecessary!
Your chain this month has been a real trip around the world!
I’ve only read The Wonder, which like most of Emma Donoghue’s stories, I found to be unsettling. The Swimmer sounds good.
I usually enjoy Emma Donoghue’s books, but yes, most of them are quite unsettling. It’s been so long since I read The Swimmer I can’t remember much about it now, but I know I liked it!
Some Japanese mysteries can be complex, but to rewarding! I have read the first book in this series by Shimada: https://wordsandpeace.com/2022/09/04/sunday-post-65-09-04-2022/
I haven’t read the first book by Shimada yet. I’ll have to try it – it does sound interesting and maybe I’ll like it better than Crooked House.
I enjoyed The Nightingale Girls and would happily read more in the series if easier to find. Not as good as the Lavender Road books, however.
Emma Donoghue is obviously a good and inventive writer but I am never sure if I have the stomach for her books. I have one called The Pull of the Stars (which looked less fraught than the others) waiting for the right moment.
I had completely forgotten about the Nightingale series since reading the first book. Maybe I’ll look for the second one now that I’ve been reminded of it.
I haven’t read The Pull of the Stars, but I do have Emma Donoghue’s latest book, The Paris Express, waiting to be read. Her books are sometimes quite uncomfortable to read, but not always.
Reading your first link made me remember that I have read a couple of excellent books with Sri Lankan characters in them! Using one of them would have taken my chain in a completely different direction! Oh well!
Fun chain!
There are so many different directions to go in, aren’t there? I had fun putting this month’s chain together.
I bought a Japanese crime novel last year in Osaka that I have yet to start, the cover quote claims it’s Japan’s equivalent of Stieg Larsson. Your chain reminds me to give it a go
I hope it’s a good one! I’ve been enjoying a lot of Japanese crime over the last few years but Murder in the Crooked House was disappointing.
Well, these all sound worth a punt – except perhaps your last one. An interesting chain.
I wouldn’t bother with the last one, but the other five are all interesting in their different ways.
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You always have such creative links, well done! I didn’t connect much with Murder in the Crooked House either, it was really too convoluted for my taste.
Thank you. I’ve found that Japanese mysteries in general tend to be more concerned with complex puzzle solving rather than characters and motives, but that one was particularly convoluted!
Great links! I’m glad I’m not the only person who looks forward to reading more in a series and then never does! We should form a support group… 😉
I have a huge list of series I’ve started and never continued with. We definitely need that support group!
Your chain is very clever, but I have read none of the books. My husband read one book by Soji Shimada (The Tokyo Zodiac Murders), and liked it, but you description of Murder in the Crooked House doesn’t appeal at all. I am intrigued by Emma Donaghue but I have problems with unsettling stories.
TracyK at Bitter Tea and Mystery
I found Murder in the Crooked House too complicated, with too much focus on puzzle solving rather than on the characters. I haven’t tried anything else by Shimada, so maybe the one your husband read is better. Emma Donoghue is great, but her books do tend to be quite dark!