Six Degrees of Separation is a meme hosted by Kate over at Books Are My Favourite and Best. It works like this: each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six others to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the titles on the list, only to the one next to it in the chain.
This month we’re starting with the winner of the 2021 Stella Prize, Evie Wyld’s The Bass Rock which I’ve yet to read but I know it follows three women through different timelines whose lives are connected both to each other and to the eponymous rock off the Scottish coast.
I’m linking to the British equivalent of the Stella prize, the Women’s Prize for Fiction, for which Claire Fuller’s exploration of the darker side of rural life, Unsettled Ground, is shortlisted this year.
The Unsettled Ground cover with its withered flowers reminds me of Alix Nathan’s The Warlow Experiment. If you look carefully, you’ll see those lush fruit and flowers are about to be consumed by an insect hinting at something dark.
The Warlow Experiment is about a man who spends seven years underground, lured by the promise of financial security by an ambitious amateur scientist calling to mind Mick Jackson’s The Underground Man about an eccentric English aristocrat who builds a network of tunnels under his estate.
Which leads me to Tobias Hill’s Underground, a gripping thriller about murder on London’s Underground system. I earned my first writing fee for a review of this one and so have fond memories of it.
Geoff Ryman’s 253 devotes one page to each of the passengers plus the driver of a Tube train. I loved this but it’s not one for readers who hate fragmented narratives.
Jean-Paul Didierlaurent’s The Reader on the 6.27 is also about a train passenger. This one reads aloud from books he’s saved from pulping at the factory where he works
I’ve spent a lot of time in the dark for this month’s Six Degrees which has taken me from a Women’s Prize shortlisted novel about the dark side of rural life to a commuter, passionate about saving books from oblivion. Part of the fun of this meme is comparing the very different routes other bloggers take from each month’s starting point. If you’re interested, you can follow it on Twitter with the hashtag #6Degrees, check out the links over at Kate’s blog or perhaps even join in.
Unsettled Ground is going down well with quite a few of us, isn’t it? I like the direction of your chain. The Underground Man and Underground both appeal.
Thank you. Pleased to see others have linked to Unsettled Ground. Fingers crossed for Claire Fuller!
She’s doing well, and our Book Group had a Zoom session with her about 3 months ago. She was great – a warm and interesting character.
She’s been in touch with me a few times about reviewing and I’ve been struck by what a thoroughly nice person she is. I first came across her writing on her flash fiction site. She posted weekly but is now much too busy, presumably. I miss it!
Nice chain Susan – I almost started reading The Warlow Experiment last week! It sounds so interesting.
Thanks, Cathy. Chilling to think that The Warlow Experiment was based on actual events. Hope you enjoy it.
I still have to read Unsettled Ground, looking forward to it. I remember reading about The Warlow Experiment, although I can’t remember if I’ve read the book or not.
You’ve a treat in store with the Fuller!
Snap! We were the same but different 🙂
And there’s that train link… Great minds and all that
Excellent links! Fuller & Nathan are both on my list.
Cheers from (soon to be) sweltering Toronto
Thank you. Summer may finally have arrived here in Bath, UK. Keep cool!
Interesting chain! I personally was underwhelmed by The Reader on the 6.27, but several of the other titles sound rather enticing!
Thanks! *Whisper it* I’ve not read it but as I was off down the railway track it popped into my head.
Wonderful chain with some dark, fascinating books. Will definitely check them out.
Thank you. Don’t spend too much time in the darkness!
I can’t believe it – I’ve read 5 of your choices, only the Warlow Expt (which I have) to read – plus The Bass Rock itself. I’d like to re-read the Hill, Jackson and Ryman – the latter being so cleverly done.
Hurrah! I enjoyed The Warlow Experiment. That jacket suits it so well. Yes, the Ryman could have been a bitty mess but it’s neatly stitched together.
Yes, dark… but no matter. That 253 sounds really different and interesting. I could go for that!
It should still be in print and if you’re happy with episodic narratives it’s well worth reading.
You got buried in the darkness for a while in the middle there, so I’m glad you found your way back to the surface by the end! The Warlow Experiment sounds intriguing…
Emerged from the tunnel into the light… You might like The Warlow Experiment. It was inspired by a document the author found in an archive.
Interesting links, many of which were unknown to me.
Thank you. I hope you found something you like the sound of.
Great links. I’ve had a copy of The Underground Man on my shelf for years and had forgotten all about it until seeing it in your chain!
Thanks, Helen. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did if you decide to pull it off the shelf!
Ooooo, I’ve got to read 253
I hope it’s still in print. I remember enjoying it very much when it first came out.
Great job! Off to revise, AGAIN, last week’s post of Books with Train times in them! lol
Oh, that sounds interesting, and thank you.
This is a very British chain, Susan. I’ve not read any of them but have heard a lot of good things about the Claire Fuller.
I hadn’t noticed that, Kim. Oh dear! Perhaps the pandemic is making me parochial. I think you’d like Fuller’s writing. I’ve enjoyed all her novels.
I read her debut and liked it.
They’re all very different
I love how the light shines through your darkness theme here. Very cleverly done!
Some interesting selections and a few I have never heard of before. Will take a closer look.
Have a wonderful month of June!
Elza Reads 6 Degrees – One tomato short of a fruit salad
Thank you. Lovely to hear that, and have a wonderful June yourself!
Lots of lovely twists and turns here, Susan, great chain! Tobias Hill’s The Love of Stones is one of my most favourite ever books so perhaps oddly I have never thought of reading any of his other books, until now….! I am also looking forward to getting round to the Fuller some time soon.
Thanks Liz! I remember enjoying The Love of Stones, too. Very different from Underground. I think you’d enjoy Fuller’s fiction.
More for the TBR (sigh….!)
Sorry… Well, not really!
Haha that’s no surprise!!
The only one I’ve read is the first and I enjoyed it quite a bit (for atmosphere and thematic echoes throughout) but I’ve picked up your last a few times, on library browses.
The Bass Rock seems to provoke a very mixed response but I’ll probably get around to it eventually. I think the last one is for an idle few hours but not worth going out of your way for.