I write a reflection on 2022 for the Reimagining Social Work Collective, a mishmash, sentimental attempt to make meaning of a complex year. To get started, and to get out of my own navel-gazing brain, I think about how I may have been inspired this year, what I fed into my mind – what books or other writing I read, interviews I listened to, films I watched. I come up with a list.

I loved Charles Dickens this year; this is a highlight. I read Great Expectations (again), listen to a BBC4 radio dramatisation and watch the new BBC TV series. I listen to all of the Dickens dramas I can find – Martin Chuzzlewitt, Little Dorrit, Barbaby Rudge, David Copperfield. And then I find that Barbara Kingsolver has written Demon Copperhead, a reimagining of David Copperfield in modern America, and am blown away by her talent. (The Poisonwood Bible is one of my favourite novels. I recommend it to a friend doing social work in the Solomon Islands – we exchange emails about how it aligns with her experience there). And then, I find an amazing BBC production Oliver: Lagos to London, a fantastic retelling of Oliver Twist, about young Nigerian children who flee Lagos and eventually, in a painful Oliver Twisty way find their way to London. 

I dip into the Canadian collection my sister sent me for my 60th birthday and from this the highlights are: 

• Emma Donoghue: The Wonder
• Michael Crummey: The Innocents
• Richard Wagamese: Indian Horse and Medicine Walk
• Anita Rau Badami: Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? 
• Nancy Richler: The Imposter Bride
• Anne Michaels: The Winter Vault

Canadian novels are special to me – the subtleties of the Canadian character and landscape are very hard to describe, easier to feel in stories. I listen to a CBC interview with Mavis Gallant celebrating her centenary,  and scoot off to find her book of short stories on my shelf. Gone, and added to a list of things to find next time I go to Vancouver. My book club is patient with me, agreeing to try Canadian authors. We read Mary Lawson and try out her beautiful new book,  A Town Called Solace. I keep a copy of Margaret Atwood’s Burning Questions in my office for her deep political wisdom. And watch The Handmaid’s Tale, just to experience pure genius. 

My favourite book club author this year is Anthony Doerr. A complete unknown to me, and such an epic, imaginative, moving couple of novels: All the Light We Cannot See, and Cloud Cuckoo Land. My favourite Aotearoa book in 2022 is The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey, a tremendous modern story with a fun @TamaMagpie Twitter feed. Hinemoa Elder, whose book Aroha is a wonderful source of mātauranga Māori, has written a new book Wawata: Moon Dreaming – a further celebration of the beauty of te reo Māori.

Finally, I am a great fan of Elizabeth Strout and completely enjoyed Oh William! And, as a tribute to Hilary Mantel, who died in 2022, I will tackle once again the Wolf Hall Trilogy audiobook downloaded on my ipad. The books themselves are just too heavy.