The Reader Bookshelf is a carefully curated collection of literature for adults and children, exploring a different theme each year, this year’s theme ‘Wonder’ is about being bold, being curious and being open. Staff and volunteers around the country have selected 12 titles for adults which explore what 'Wonder' means to them.
We're delving into The Reader Bookshelf with a review by Katie Clark, our Director of Literature. This month Rachel shares her thoughts on The Fat Lady Sings by Jacqueline Roy.
The author Jacqueline Roy visited The Reader for our Gravity Festival in 2022, and her novel The Fat Lady Sings has stayed with me ever since. When we were thinking about our theme of 'Wonder', and how impossible wonder as a state of mind might be for some people, I thought about the characters of Gloria and Merle, trapped in a London psychiatric ward by their struggles with mental health and a system that doesn't understand them. Gloria often breaks into song unexpectedly, and skips when she should walk, but her loud fearlessness is a product of grief. Merle is tormented by voices in her head who tell her she is worthless; she lives in constant, paralysing fear. But together, through friendship, Gloria and Merle help each other to find a way out of the ward and back to life. The novel goes to some dark places – it deals with intense distress and loneliness head-on – but it also encompasses humour, tenderness and moments of great joy.
English (US) · 