What we did on our holiday | John Harding

I was so pleased to come across another Harding. I have thoroughly enjoyed Florence and Giles, and One Big Damn Puzzler, and with this one I was not disappointed.
Harding creates memorable characters and there are laugh out loud parts. The holiday in question is a return to Malta for Nick, his wife and his elderly parents. So far, so simple. But his dad has Parkinson's disease, his mother is obese and his wife is desperate to get pregnant.
The descriptions of the challenge and routines of getting Dad out of bed every morning are treated in a humorous way although describe the degree of tedium and hardship in dealing with Dad's degenerative disease. Mum is controlled by food and there is a sadness about her condition too. Nick has a strong voice in the story and he tries very hard to please everyone.
Tying all the characters together is the search for Dad's illegitimate son who was conceived during a brief stay on Malta during the War. The story is very successful because Harding has just the right elements to make us sympathise with the characters, be intrigued by the search for the lost son and gives us a touching conclusion to the story. I highly recommend Harding's books and have enjoyed all of them immensely.

Check out  One Big Damn Puzzler, Florence and Giles.

Florence and Giles |John Harding

What a little gem! This is a very well crafted little tale which is classified as a thriller but is more of a shiverer!I haven't read much in the Gothic genre but this one is well worth while even if you are not a Goth fan. As i read I got a creepy feeling that things are not as they seem. almost like i was seeing something out of the corner of my eye but when I stared hard, I couldn't see what it was. Fleeting glimpses, creaking doors, wind whistling through long dark corridors...That kind of thing! And very cleverly written.

 The story is told by Florence. She lives in a derelict mansion with a few servants and her brother Giles. Her parents are dead and her guardian uncle does not believe in educating women. Florence discoves the library and teaches herself to read in secret and her world is transformed. So far so good… 

Giles is sent to boarding school and this gives Florence a lot to worry about. It’s about now we start wondering about her credibility as narrator and quite frankly, about her mental state!

She’s very bright, she’s mostly alone and has a great imagination. Then there’s the issue of the drowned governess and the return of Giles, who is unable to cope any more away from Florence. Then a new governess arrives and things unravel very quickly.

We are filled with doubts and start getting a very uneasy feeling about Florence as she descends in to a manic-type state of mind… Utterly captivating and well worth reading as this is such a well crafted novel.

John Harding is a proven storyteller who is worth reading. One Big damn puzzler is another good example of his work.

Buy at Fishpond.co.nz

One Big Damn Puzzler |John Harding

This was a great book to read over a few rainy days as it's quite big and the narrative flows beautifully. Nice to read uninterrupted! It's a very well told story, of an unusual nature. It's set on a small Pacific Island where the native people have had brief contact with the outside world but have maintained a firm grasp of their indigenous ways.

Americans came by after the war, used the island as a weapons testing site and left it full of land mines.The British came later to build resorts for cruise ships but left buildings half finished and in a derelict state, and no cruise ships ever came. 

THEN one day an American lawyer arrives. Eventually he reveals he is there to seek compensation on their behalf for the loss of limbs and lives caused by the mines that the Americans left behind. 

As he discovers the island and tries to understand the indigenous culture, we observe with him. We also have William tell us about his past and his struggles growing up with OCD and as an adult making his way in life with this disorder.

In between chapters we have Managua's side of the story. He's an elder in the tribe, translating Hamlet into pidgin English and struggling with Shakespearean concepts and how they fit into the culture of his tribe. He opposes the idea of the west coming to the island and changing their way of life. He wrestles with concepts and is the voice of caution in his community. 

There is a nice interval at the end where we revisit the island one year after William's initial visit and then five years after that.  

In this story there is ample discussion of issues  current to our times but put in a context we can distance ourselves from and therefore take a more pragmatic view of topics like globalisation, cultural identity, mental disorders, gender issues....

All together this becomes an interesting and entertaining read and another great example of John Harding’s great skill as a story teller.