Image Source: @whereiwouldliketoread
A SENSE OF PLACE / READING LIST WITH DIANA REID
In her new novel Signs of Damage, Diana Reid writes with a sharp awareness of place — how landscapes shape us, and how memory lives in location. Set between the French Riviera and the hills of Tuscany, the story follows Cass as she returns to the site of a childhood disappearance, unravelling old truths in familiar terrain.
Here, Diana shares five books where place plays a defining role — stories anchored in setting, where the environment quietly shapes the narrative.
THE CHILDREN'S BACH, HELEN GARNER
Helen Garner is probably more famous for her investigative work or her memoirs, but in this gem of a novella she proves that she is a master of fiction, too. The Children’s Bach is an ode to domesticity: a richly textured family drama that celebrates the work, the artistry that goes into making a home.
ON BEAUTY, ZADIE SMITH
Another family drama, and also a genius intervention into this century’s culture wars, Zadie Smith’s Women’s Prize-winning On Beauty is set on an American college campus. But two bravura sections (an opening fight, and a climactic funeral) take place in London. Smith wrote this novel while she was a fellow at Harvard University, and she writes about her home with the love and clarity that only distance can inspire.
SWIMMING HOME, DEBORAH LEVY
A basically perfect novel: Swimming Home, about a disastrous family holiday in the French Riviera, offers all the glamour of a luxury escape without compromising on psychological depth. Levy wrote plays and screenplays before this literary breakthrough, and it shows. The plot is structured in three acts (over three days) and Checkhov’s gun is artfully introduced at the start, only to go off with an inevitable, and deeply satisfying bang.
THE TRANSIT OF VENUS, SHIRLEY HAZZARD
Set in Australia, Europe, America and even for brief passages in South America, The Transit of Venus is an international novel with a distinctly Australian sensibility. It’s about two very different sisters who leave Sydney for London in the 1950s, and the secrets and passions that follow them across continents and decades. Hazzard asks a lot of her reader—this definitely isn’t a breezy read—but if you take the time to soak up her poetic language, and puzzle over her intricate plot, you’ll be blown away.
THE HYPOCRITE, JO HAMYA
Jo Hamya’s second novel is about a Greek summer holiday shared between a successful novelist and his eighteen-year-old daughter. It’s not just about what happened on the holiday but what it comes to mean to each of them years later. A poignant, beautifully articulated story about the people and places that get lodged in our heads, and the generational forces that shape us.
Image Source: @whereiwouldliketoread
A SENSE OF PLACE / READING LIST WITH DIANA REID
In her new novel Signs of Damage, Diana Reid writes with a sharp awareness of place — how landscapes shape us, and how memory lives in location. Set between the French Riviera and the hills of Tuscany, the story follows Cass as she returns to the site of a childhood disappearance, unravelling old truths in familiar terrain.
Here, Diana shares five books where place plays a defining role — stories anchored in setting, where the environment quietly shapes the narrative.
THE CHILDREN'S BACH, HELEN GARNER
Helen Garner is probably more famous for her investigative work or her memoirs, but in this gem of a novella she proves that she is a master of fiction, too. The Children’s Bach is an ode to domesticity: a richly textured family drama that celebrates the work, the artistry that goes into making a home.
ZADIE SMITH, ON BEAUTY
Another family drama, and also a genius intervention into this century’s culture wars, Zadie Smith’s Women’s Prize-winning On Beauty is set on an American college campus. But two bravura sections (an opening fight, and a climactic funeral) take place in London. Smith wrote this novel while she was a fellow at Harvard University, and she writes about her home with the love and clarity that only distance can inspire.
SWIMMING HOME, DEBORAH LEVY
A basically perfect novel: Swimming Home, about a disastrous family holiday in the French Riviera, offers all the glamour of a luxury escape without compromising on psychological depth. Levy wrote plays and screenplays before this literary breakthrough, and it shows. The plot is structured in three acts (over three days) and Checkhov’s gun is artfully introduced at the start, only to go off with an inevitable, and deeply satisfying bang.
THE TRANSIT OF VENUS, SHIRLEY HAZZARD
Set in Australia, Europe, America and even for brief passages in South America, The Transit of Venus is an international novel with a distinctly Australian sensibility. It’s about two very different sisters who leave Sydney for London in the 1950s, and the secrets and passions that follow them across continents and decades. Hazzard asks a lot of her reader—this definitely isn’t a breezy read—but if you take the time to soak up her poetic language, and puzzle over her intricate plot, you’ll be blown away.
THE HYPOCRITE, JO HAMYA
Jo Hamya’s second novel is about a Greek summer holiday shared between a successful novelist and his eighteen-year-old daughter. It’s not just about what happened on the holiday but what it comes to mean to each of them years later. A poignant, beautifully articulated story about the people and places that get lodged in our heads, and the generational forces that shape us.