MUST READS  | Daily Mail Online

THE DUTCH HOUSE

by Ann Patchett (Bloomsbury £8.99, 352 pp)

With its commanding situation at the top of a hill on the outskirts of Philadelphia, the Dutch House is a glittering prize — or so Cyril Conroy thinks when he buys it in 1946 as a surprise for his wife, Elna.

But the house comes stuffed with the grand belongings of its previous Dutch owners and Elna finds it so oppressive that she leaves Cyril and their children, Maeve and Danny. It is Danny, seven years younger than his resourceful sister, who narrates the story of the baleful spell that the house seems to cast on its inhabitants.

A wicked stepmother, Andrea, moves in and when Cyril dies suddenly, she pushes out her step-children, having made sure that the house and money are all hers.

Ann Patchett’s multi-layered novel of love, conflict and misunderstanding brings a fairytale twist to a captivating family drama.

PART OF THE FAMILY

by Charlotte Philby (Harper Collins £8.99, 432 pp)

In 1963, the British traitor Kim Philby defected to the USSR, abandoning his five children whose mother had died in 1957. Philby’s granddaughter, Charlotte, was five when Kim died in 1988, and her debut novel, combining a spy thriller with a domestic psychological drama, explores the experience of a mother forced by circumstance to abandon her children.

Anna seems to have an ideal life: a wealthy husband, a high-profile job, adorable twin daughters and enviable houses in north London and Greece.

But at the heart of this apparent perfection is a dark secret and Anna must make a choice between continuing to live a comfortable lie, or exposing the truth at terrible cost, not just to herself, but to her children.

With betrayal and jeopardy on every page, this demands to be read at a single sitting.

BIRD THERAPY

by Joe Harkess (Unbound £9.99, 272 pp)

Joe Harkness tried to commit suicide in 2013. Diagnosed with chronic anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder, he took time off work and began to rediscover the love of wildlife that he had learned as a child from his beloved grandfather.

Nine months after his breakdown, they went on a birdwatching trip together, and had the luck to see one of the rarest British birds, the bittern. ‘I began to feel alive again,’ Joe writes.

His book — part memoir, part birdwatching manual — is a heartfelt and inspiring guide to reconnecting with nature.

Some aspects of birdwatching might exacerbate anxiety: the ticking-off of rare species and the sometimes brutal competitiveness of Twitchers, but Joe offers practical advice on avoiding these stresses: stay local, connect with the environment, and ‘just try being at one with birds and nature’.