5 recent reads: Sanctus, Revelation or Devastation, A Widow's Story: A Memoir, The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, The Hidden Gallery, The Price of Bacon, The Collaborator

Sanctus, Revelation or Devastation
by Simon Toyne, HarperCollins, $40
Review by: Iain Duffy
An excellent yarn, although it takes a while to get going but then, wow.
A powerful order of monks called the Sancti have a secret which they have kept for centuries, kept in their own monastery-city called the Citadel.
A monk throws himself off the top of the Citadel. It is not suicide but a symbolic gesture, but of what? It is all on as Liv Adamsen, sister of the deceased, with the help of a group dedicated to uncovering the secret, and our resident police inspector, Davud Arkadian (we know him well having appeared in other cases written by the author), slowly, but very cleverly, piece together the slim clues they have in order to determine what the monk's death means.
An excellent and truly imaginative novel.
A Widow's Story: A Memoir
by Joyce Carol Oates HarperCollins, $39.99
Review by: Katy Davidson
A literary outpouring of grief is at the heart of this memoir by veteran American author Joyce Carol Oates.
When her husband dies suddenly of pneumonia complications, Oates is thrown into an ocean of sorrow and this novel charts  the rocky course that follows.
This book is raw and gripping and the superb prose saves the subject matter from coming across as self-indulgent.
For Oates, in her late-70s, the death of her husband  came as a huge shock. He was healthy  and she says they still had so many plans for their future - in some ways, she still felt like a new bride with so much yet to discover about her husband.

Oates' memoir highlights the shortness of our lives on Earth and our time with those we love most.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, The Hidden Gallery
by Maryrose Wood, HarperCollins, $25.99
Review by: Katy Davidson
This is a quirky and delightful little hardcover book that would suit young readers aged 10 and up but that adults will also enjoy.
The story is set in Victorian London and the heroine of the tale is plucky Penelope, who is governess to three orphaned children. Like all good British girls, Penelope knows that there's not much in life that common sense, a hot cup of tea and a sticky bun won't fix. In this, Book 2 of the series, she is put to the test trying to uncover the mystery of the children's origins, and her own.
Think Mary Poppins but with the roles reversed. It's a fun read, with the cute cover and the ink and wash illustrations throughout adding to the appeal.
The Price of Bacon
by Jeanette Aplin, Cape Catley, $38.99
Review by: David Reed
Alpin has previously written about her life as the wife of a lighthouse keeper and now, in this book, she recounts living a frontier-style life with her husband and family on D'Urville Island in the Marlborough Sounds. And she does a marvellous job of revealing the joys and difficulties of such a lifestyle.
Alpin acknowledges that she's a sook when it comes to animals, and this attitude is strongly evident in her stories about raising a kunekune pig.
With her husband often away working, the author is mostly on her own on D'Urville with her animals - a lifestyle upon which she and her children appear to thrive.
Alpin deserves high marks for writing a thoroughly enjoyable book on a highly unusual subject.
The Collaborator
by Mirza Waheed, Penguin, $40
Review by: Graeme Barrow
This is a dazzling debut novel, full of drama, intrigue and beautiful writing. It is also an insight into the tensions and contradictions of the former princely state of Kashmir.
Set in the 1990s,  the narrator is a 19-year-old man whose friends have left the village along with most of the inhabitants. The exception is the headman, the narrator's father, who insists his family stay.
Employed by a drunken and arrogant Indian army captain, he has to search and collect ID cards and weapons from  hundreds of corpses of  "freedom fighters" gunned down by the army as they cross the border from Pakistan.
This is a compassionate and thought-provoking book. We will hear much more of Waheed.