Saskia Sarginson's 3 favorite reads in 2023

This book blew me away. It’s an extraordinary work of fiction, epic in scale and feel, centering around a house in the wilds of New England through hundreds of years and all its various inhabitants.

The story is told through different kinds of writing – letters, poems, songs, prose, medical notes, diary entries – creating a rich tapestry of distinct voices.

As a writer, I was in awe at Mason’s technical brilliance, and as a reader, I was completely captured and moved by the emotions, intelligence, and humanity within the pages. I’ve been recommending it to everyone. It’s a modern classic.

I’m a huge fan of Sebastian Barry, so I couldn’t wait to read this. It’s about Tom Kettle, an Irish policeman, now retired and living by the sea. Barry has an extraordinary ability to write poetic prose and make it feel authentically colloquial.

I was swept up in the rich language, which, although telling a dark story, is threaded through with glimmers of humor that made me laugh aloud.

We are right inside the interior world of the protagonist, so his confusion and haunted memories feel like our own. I couldn’t put this down.

I’d already read her first novel, The Outlander, and was excited to discover this sequel. It could easily be enjoyed as a stand-alone read, but I recommend the first novel as equally wonderful.

I am an outside person (when I’m not writing) and love books that describe nature and the elements. This book, set in 1917, is told against the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains and Montana, but the scenery is much more than a backdrop. We’re immersed in the sounds, smells, and feel of the deepest, wildest parts of this landscape (including encounters with bears.)

It’s an adventure tale drawing on the traditions of literary Westerns, filled with vivid characters and written in poetic, yet page-turning, prose. I hope she writes a third novel following on from this one. I’ll be first in line if she does.