My Year in Books 2023: March

This is a bit of a short post, I'm afraid (as well as being a bit late). March was a tough month for a number of reasons, and I had a couple of big things to read for work reasons. So there's only one title on this month's list - it's a good one though!

In case you're curious, here are my other two posts for this year so far: January, February

The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North (2019)

I’ve previously read and enjoyed a couple of Claire North books. I particularly liked The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. William Abbey has similarities with Harry August, and there’s a passing comment that suggests they exist in the same ‘universe’. Nevertheless, this is a standalone story, rather than a sequel or crossover. The story begins with William Abbey as a listless young man in Victorian England. He trains as a doctor and ends up going to South Africa. There, he witnesses the lynching of a young boy called Langa. Abbey doesn’t intervene, and as a consequence is cursed by Langa’s mother. Forevermore, he will be followed by a ‘shadow’ of Langa, and whenever the shadow catches up with him, someone he loves will die. A significant element of the curse is that whenever Langa comes close, the doctor will be compelled to ‘truth-speaking’ – compulsively spilling the secrets of anyone who is around him at the time. Abbey is drafted into the secret service, as his ‘truth-speaking’ is a valuable tool in espionage, meets others who carry the same curse, and travels the world in an attempt to outrun Langa. It’s a fascinating premise, with North’s characteristic deceptively detached storytelling style. William Abbey is more direct in its social commentary than Harry August, particularly around empire and colonialism, and it’s more brutal in its violence. I probably did (just) prefer Harry August, but I’d still recommend William Abbey either as a standalone or as a companion to the earlier book.