When all is Said by Anne Griffin

Maurice Hannigan, 84, settles in for a night at the pub to reflect on his life and raise a glass to the five people he loved the most. His has been a conventional life, his adulthood shaped by injustice in his youth and the world seen through largely blinkered eyes. Now tonight is a time to reflect on the good things that happened, as well as the opportunities squandered, the family towards whom he could have showed more love, and the regrets and the decisions made which, for better or worse, have brought him to this point. It’s a gentle, elegiac, beautifully written story that deserves a very wide readership and I loved it.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39863464-when-all-is-said?from_search=true

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

An old group of University friends (and the partners they’ve acquired along the way) have an annual tradition of spending New Year together, and find themselves marooned by snow in a lodge in a remote part of Scotland at the end of the year. Before too long, one of them is dead –and everyone’s a suspect. It’s a cleverly put together story about seemingly perfect lives which actually aren’t; enmities disguised as friendships, jealousy, secrets, betrayals and misrepresentation. It’s a bit of an homage to Agatha Christie where a group of characters are all trying to keep up appearances, but one of them is about to be found out – and it works really well. I thought it was terrific.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37642030-the-hunting-party?from_search=true