Much of October was taken up with a trip to Portugal where we were lucky enough to snatch a last blast of summer. Hard to leave Lisbon on a balmy blue-skyed day but a standout book in my first week back eased the pain.
Set on his beloved Shetland, singer-songwriter Malachy Tallack’s That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz follows Jack whose father worked on a whaling ship in the 1950s, marrying Kathleen in 1958. Jack was born two years later, growing into a quiet boy who knew to avoid his father’s temper. An ardent country music fan, now in his sixties, he’s a man of simple routine with many acquaintances who’ve never quite become friends. One day a cardboard box containing a kitten is left on his doorstep to Jack’s consternation. Loretta’s a tiny thing but she’s the spark for a surprising change in his life. Tallack weaves Sonny and Kathleen’s story through Jack’s present in episodes that are often vividly lyrical in contrast to their son’s mundane life. I loved this touching novel which steers well clear of sentimentality.
I read a surprising number of this year’s favourites in November beginning with Andrew Miller’s The Land in Winter, set over a few months in 1962/3 when Britain grappled with winter conditions it hadn’t endured since 1947. It follows two very different couples, incomers to the Somerset village where they’re neighbours. The son of a railwayman, Eric enjoys the status of country doctor, engaging in an affair, oblivious to the unhappiness of his wife. Their nearest neighbours are Bill, a novice farmer, and Rita who remembers her days as a dancer while trying to fend off the voices in her head. Shortly after Christmas, a blizzard cuts off swathes of the country, resulting in a series of tumultuous events for both couples. Full of evocative period detail coupled with strong characterisation, Miller’s novel is engrossing, atmospheric and very wintery.
It’s unusual for a short story collection to make it on to my books of the year list but Ben Shattuck’s carefully constructed The History of Sound is exceptional. It comprises twelve stories, each with a companion piece, bookended by the opening and closing stories. Crisscrossing centuries, Shattuck’s collection explores themes of love, loss, art and the natural world in lyrical, poetic but elegantly understated prose, often rooted in the dramatic New England landscape in which they’re set. Highly recommend this one, and not just to short story fans.
It’s late November and we’re into the party season although, if I’m honest, that’s something I try to avoid. Both of my final 
choices seem highly appropriate, though, beginning with Tessa Hadley’s first novella, The Party. Moira’s an art student, more worldly than her clever but naive younger sister Evelyn. When they’re invited to a house in a wealthy area of Bristol by a man they meet at a party, Moira sees an opportunity overcoming Evelyn’s reluctance. Hadley packs a lot into this brief novella, choosing her words carefully and conveying a great deal in a few sentences. Moira and Evelyn are eager for life, capable of writing off their experience with the depraved Sinden as a drunken mistake from which they emerge wiser, more the women they aspire to be. I much preferred this to Hadley’s lengthier novels which I’ve often found claustrophobic.
My last 2024 favourite is Vesna Main’s Waiting for a Party, her second appearance on my books of the year list; I was very taken with Good Day? 
back in 2019. Her latest sees 92-year-old Claire reflecting on her life as she waits to be taken to her dear friend’s 102nd birthday party. She’d married Bill when she was just twenty and he was in his forties. When he died in circumstances about which Claire seems a little confused, it took ten years for her to come into herself when she enjoyed an unexpected sexual awakening. Main’s novella takes the form of a long interior monologue as Claire recalls her rich and varied life, the friendships that meant so much to her and mourns the loss of desire. An enjoyable, skilfully crafted piece of fiction from an author who doesn’t get the attention she deserves
And if I had to choose one? Impossible, as ever, but Our London Lives, Clear and Hope Never Knew Horizon are all in the frame.
I’ve been busy congratulating myself on keeping to twenty books for the second year in a row but there are a few honourable mentions I can’t leave out. They are: Paul Yoon’s The Hive and the Honey, Michael Cunningham’s Day and Anna Quindlen’s After Annie.
Thanks to all who stayed the course and for those who’d like to catch up, the first three parts are here, here and here.
Next week will be all about 2025’s January treats.
The History of Sound and That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz – both new to me – have gone straight on my wishlist
Very pleased to hear that, Cathy.
I’m enjoying your best of posts
Thank you! All done now.
I’ve just started the Malachy Tallack, and it’s looking promising, even though I don’t know much about the style of music which is so important to Jack. And I recently finished the Andrew Miller. He’s a favourite author of mine, and this didn’t disappoint. I’m never very good at thinking what my favourite reads of a whole year are. But I might get back to you on that!
Oh, please do! I’m glad you enjoyed the Miller and fingers crossed for the Tallack.
I’ve had a mixed response to Andrew Miller in the past, but this one sounds very tempting – and very topical given the sub-zero temperatures we’re currently ‘enjoying’ up here! Congratulations on a great year of reading!
Thank you. I much prefer his historical fiction to his more contemporary novels. I can see you might want to warm up a bit before reading this one!
I think I have to read The Land in Winter. Thank you 🙂
You’re welcome! I hope you enjoy it.
Funnily enough I was just contemplating the Andrew Miller a couple of days ago. I think it had better go on the list. Also very keen to read the Tessa Hadley. Fantastic best of the year summary as ever, Susan, with a lot of books that I’m very tempted to read!
So pleased you’ve enjoyed it, Victoria. I was surprised at how many favourites fell in November this year.
Great selection and reminder of these books that came out in latter months. Hope to read Miller at some point. My favourite books that I read this year include Barrett’s Wild Houses, Nelson’s Open Water and Small Worlds, Veronesi’s The Hummingbird, Sinclair’s How to Say Babylon, Ernaux’s The Years, Flanagan’s Question 7, Ganeshananthan’s Brotherless Night, Strout’s Tell me Everything, Aciman’s My Roman Year, Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, Shipstead’s Great Circle. Hope to have 54 read by end of year. A marathon!
You’ve done well! Thanks for sharing your list. Lots of interesting titles – I’m keen to read the Barrett, Veronesi and Aciman, and enjoyed the Strout and Nelson. Here’s to more great reading next year!
I forgot to include Everett’s James in my list!
A great addition!
I will definitely be reading the Miller book – he is one of my favourite authors.
This one made it on to my books of the year list so you can tell I rated it very highly. Hope you enjoy it.
Where I work the staff get a token of their choice at Christmas (unsurprisingly I chose bookshop.org) and I’ve just spent it on That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz thanks to your review, so I’m delighted to see it made your books of the year too! I’m really looking forward to it.
That’s so lovely to hear! I hope you love it as much as I did.
Andrew Miller is always worth reading. I didn’t know about this one so now I have something to look forward to
Definitely hit the spot for me!