The Space Between Time by Charlie Laidlaw - #BookReview

There are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on Earth...

Emma Maria Rossini appears to be the luckiest girl in the world. She's the daughter of a beautiful and loving mother, and her father is one of the most famous film actors of his generation. She's also the granddaughter of a rather eccentric and obscure Italian astrophysicist.

But as her seemingly charmed life begins to unravel, and Emma experiences love and tragedy, she ultimately finds solace in her once-derided grandfather's Theorem on the universe.

The Space Between Time is humorous and poignant and offers the metaphor that we are all connected, even to those we have loved and not quite lost.

I so enjoyed reading this lovely book. I read Charlie Laidlaw's previous book, The Things We Learn When We're Dead (click on title for my review) which I enjoyed very much so had high expectations of this book and I was not disappointed.

The main character is Emma who we first meet as a child. Laidlaw does a fabulous job of not only writing from the perspective of a child, but a child of the opposite sex which he does admirably well.

Emma has a wonderful relationship with her grandfather, Alberto Rossini, an astrophysicist. Running throughout this story is Alberto's book, Universe Theorum. Each chapter heading is an equation and there are many references to physics throughout this book which went above my head. However, I am not a scientist and I do not feel it is necessary in order to get a lot out of this book.

For me, the relationship between Emma and her grandfather was perfect. Equally well done was her relationship with her actor father and her somewhat irrational mother.

A very enjoyable book and I am looking forward to Mr. Laidlaw's next offering.

ISBN:  978 1786156945

Publisher: Accent Press

About the Author


Charlie Laidlaw was born in Paisley and is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh. He has been a national newspaper journalist and worked in defence intelligence. He now runs his own marketing consultancy in East Lothian. He also wrote The Herbal Detective under the name of Charles Gray. He is married with two grown up children and lives in Gullane.

Holiday Reading

I've recently been away for a couple of weeks. The best bit about holidays is that there is time and opportunity to immerse myself in reading. I read some good books across a range of genres. Have you read any of these? I would love to hear what you thought of them.

Tara Road by Maeve Binchy

Ria and Marilyn have never met - they live thousands of miles apart, separated by the Atlantic Ocean: one in a big, warm, Victorian house in Tara Road, Dublin, the other in a modern, open-plan house in New England. her family and friends, while Marilyn's reserve is born of grief. But when each needs a place to escape to, a house exchange seems the ideal solution. speculation as Ria and Marilyn swap lives for the summer ...



Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon

There are three things you should know about Elsie. The first thing is that she’s my best friend.
The second is that she always knows what to say to make me feel better.
And the third thing… might take a little bit more explaining.
84-year-old Florence has fallen in her flat at Cherry Tree Home for the Elderly. As she waits to be rescued, Florence wonders if a terrible secret from her past is about to come to light; and, if the charming new resident is who he claims to be, why does he look exactly like a man who died sixty years ago?

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

In this prequel to Practical Magic we meet sisters Frances and Jet and Vincent, their brother. From the beginning their mother Susanna knew they were unique: Franny with her skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, who could commune with birds; Jet as shy as she is beautiful, who knows what others are thinking, and Vincent so charismatic that he was built for trouble. Susanna needed to set some rules of magic: no walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles and certainly, absolutely, no books about magic. . . But the Owens siblings are desperate to uncover who they really are. Each heads down a life-altering course, filled with secrets and truths, devastation and joy, and magic and love. Despite the warning handed down through the family for centuries - Know that for our family, love is a curse - they will all strive to break the rules and find true love. 

I See You by Clare Mackintosh

When Zoe Walker sees her photo in the classifieds section of a London newspaper, she is determined to find out why it's there. There's no explanation: just a grainy image, a website address and a phone number. She takes it home to her family, who are convinced it's just someone who looks like Zoe. But the next day the advert shows a photo of a different woman, and another the day after that.

Is it a mistake? A coincidence? Or is someone keeping track of every move they make...

The Librarian by Salley Vickers

In 1958, Sylvia Blackwell, fresh from one of the new post-war Library Schools, takes up a job as children's librarian in a run down library in the market town of East Mole.

Her mission is to fire the enthusiasm of the children of East Mole for reading. But her love affair with the local married GP, and her befriending of his precious daughter, her neighbour's son and her landlady's neglected grandchild, ignite the prejudices of the town, threatening her job and the very existence of the library with dramatic consequences for them all.

The Librarian is a moving testament to the joy of reading and the power of books to change and inspire us all.

Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs by Monty Don

When Monty Don's golden retriever Nigel became the surprise star of BBC Gardeners' World inspiring huge interest, fan mail and his own social media accounts, Monty Don wanted to explore what makes us connect with animals quite so deeply.

In many respects Nigel is a very ordinary dog; charming, handsome and obedient, as so many are. He is a much loved family pet. He is also a star.

By telling Nigel's story, Monty relates his relationships with the other special dogs in his life in a memoir of his dogs past and very much present.

Witty, touching and life-affirming, Nigel: My family and other dogs is wonderfully heart-warming. Monty Don is a great writer coming out of the garden and into the hearts and homes of every dog lover in the UK.

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

When Adela Quested and her elderly companion Mrs Moore arrive in the Indian town of Chandrapore, they quickly feel trapped by its insular and prejudiced 'Anglo-Indian' community. Determined to escape the parochial English enclave and explore the 'real India', they seek the guidance of the charming and mercurial Dr Aziz, a cultivated Indian Muslim. But a mysterious incident occurs while they are exploring the Marabar caves with Aziz, and the well-respected doctor soon finds himself at the centre of a scandal that rouses violent passions among both the British and their Indian subjects. A masterful portrait of a society in the grip of imperialism, A Passage to India compellingly depicts the fate of individuals caught between the great political and cultural conflicts of the modern world. 

The Sealwoman's Gift by Sally Magnusson - #BookReview

“The pirates rushed with violent speed across the island, like hunting hounds… Some of my neighbours managed to escape quickly into the caves or down the cliffs, but many were seized or bound… I and my poor wife were amongst the first to be captured.” (Reverend Olafur Egilsson)

In 1627 Barbary pirates raided the coast of Iceland and abducted at least 400 of its people, including 250 from a tiny island off the mainland. Among the captives sold into slavery in Algiers were the island pastor, his wife and their three children.

Although the raid itself is well documented, little is known about what happened to the women and children afterwards. It was a time when women everywhere were largely silent. In this brilliant reimagining Sally Magnusson gives a voice to Asta, the pastor’s wife. Enslaved in an alien Arab culture, Asta meets the loss of freedom and family with the one thing she has brought from her northern homeland: the sagas and folktales in her head.

The Sealwoman’s Gift is about the eternal power of storytelling to help us survive. Here are Icelandic sagas to fend off a slave-master’s advances, Arabian nights to help an old man die. Here, too, the stories we tell ourselves to protect our minds from what cannot otherwise be borne, the stories we need to make us happy.

The opening sentence in this book is very powerful - 

“There is nothing to be said for giving birth in the bowels of a sailing ship with your stomach heaving and hundreds of people listening.” 

However, whilst this first line was gripping I found this book a little hard to get into. However, I think that may just have been due to the unfamiliarity of the time and culture as it is well worth hanging in there as this is an outstanding novel.

This should not be any surprise coming from the pen of such a well respected journalist. Ms. Magnusson has written an intelligent literary novel based on actual events in a little known period of Icelandic history. I really enjoyed this mix of fiction and fact. As well as this being an enjoyable novel to read, at the back the author distinguishes between the real events and her own imaginings and was fascinating to read.

Asta was a wonderful character to engage with. I loved not only her story but her own art of storytelling which plays a significant part in the book. The author herself clearly has tremendous storytelling skills which bring to life the characters, their environments and their individual stories.

Although a well known writer this is the authors debut novel. I am sincerely hoping that there will be further novels as this one had all the ingredients that a first class historical novel should have. This is a book about love, loss and hope and also about the role that stories have on our life.

ISBN: 978 1473638952

Publisher: Two Roads

About the Author:

Broadcaster and journalist Sally Magnusson has written 10 books, most famously her Sunday Times bestseller, Where Memories Go (2014) about her mother’s dementia. Half-Icelandic, half-Scottish, Sally has inherited a rich storytelling tradition. The Sealwoman’s Gift is her first novel.

Eve of Man by Giovanna and Tom Fletcher - #BookReview

"Against all odds, she survived. The first girl born in fifty years. They called her Eve."

All her life Eve has been kept away from the opposite sex. Kept from the truth of her past. 

But at sixteen it's time for Eve to face her destiny. Three potential males have been selected for her. The future of humanity is in her hands. She's always accepted her fate.

Until she meets Bram.

Eve wants control over her life. She wants freedom.

But how do you choose between love and the future of the human race?

Eve of Man is the first in an explosive new trilogy by bestselling authors Tom and Giovanna Fletcher.

I rarely venture into young adult territory in my reading but this one came highly recommended so I thought I would give it a go. I am very glad that I did because I enjoyed it very much.

The two main characters, Eve and Bram, were extremely likeable and from the first page I was rooting for them. One of the reasons that I steer clear of the YA genre is the teenage angst. I appreciate that we all go through it, then relive it again with our children, and is a very relevant part of growing up. However, the authors did not make it a prominent feature of the story and so I really enjoyed getting to know Eve and Bram.

I equally enjoyed spending time in this new world and I thought the authors did a great job of creating a new future existence and it felt real at all times.

The dual perspective which runs through this book was well executed. I liked being able to assess the situation from both Eve and Bram's point of view and it added an immediacy to the novel.

I am not giving anything away by saying that the ending left me hanging on a cliff edge and I cannot wait to read the next part in this trilogy. This is a strong start for what looks like an exciting trilogy of books.

The book had a cinematic quality and I can well imagine this being turned into a film. If you enjoyed The Hunger Games or The Handmaid's Tale I think you will really enjoy reading Eve of Man.


ISBN:  978 0718186340

Publisher: Michael Joseph

About the Authors:

Giovanna and Tom Fletcher are two of the UK's most successful authors. Tom is the creator of The Christmasaurus, which was the biggest debut children's novel of 2016, while Giovanna's novel, Some Kind of Wonderful, was one of the bestselling women's fiction titles of 2017. Their books have sold over 1.5 million copies and have been translated into over 30 languages. Their social media platforms have a combined audience of almost 6 million followers. Tom and Giovanna married in 2012 and are parents to two boys, Buzz and Buddy.

Eve of Man is their first novel as a writing duo, and the first in a trilogy.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - #BookReview

"The morning express bloated with passengers slowed to a crawl, then lurched forward suddenly, as though to resume full speed. The trains brief deception jolted its riders. The bulge of humans hanging out of the doorway distended perilously, like a soap bubble at its limit."

Set in the mid 1970's in India, A Fine Balance tells the story of four unlikely people whose lives come together during a time of political turmoil soon after the government declares a 'State of Internal Emergency'. Through days of bleakness and hope, their circumstances - and their fates - have become inextricably linked in ways no one could have foreseen.

Written with compassion, humour and insight, A Fine Balance is a vivid, richly textured and powerful novel by one of the most gifted writers of our time.

The first thing I did when I finished this novel was to order everything else the author has written. This is an extraordinary novel written by a highly skilled author who has wholeheartedly won my admiration.

I was gripped from the very first page of this novel. The authors ability to create characters that are multilayered along with an atmosphere that made me feel as though I was living in India were quite remarkable. In fact, I think it is the sense of involvement that kept me hooked throughout the entire novel.

I felt as though I understood and knew these characters. Although the novel focuses around the four main characters whose backgrounds are all very different but whose lives become intertwined, the more minor characters are equally multi-layered. Indeed, Mistry's ability to breath life into his characters is superb and I am not sure I have ever come across another author who has done this with such excellence.

There is nothing superficial about this book.  It is packed full with depth and meaning and so beautifully written I could not get enough of it despite it running to over 600 pages in my edition. Indeed, for a few days after I finished reading I have felt a sense of loss and I could happily have kept reading this book for so much longer.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough and fully urge you to read it for yourself. Or perhaps, you have you read this book? Have you read any of Rohinton Mistry's other novels? I would love to hear your thoughts.

ISBN: 978 0571230587

Publisher: Faber & Faber

About the Author:

Rohinton Mistry is the author of a fine collection of short stories, Tales from Firozsha Baag (1987), and three novels that were all shortlisted for the Booker Prize: Such a Long Journey (1991), A Fine Balance (1996) and Family Matters (2002). His fiction has won, among other awards, the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (twice), The Los Angeles Times Award, The Giller Prize, The Governor-General's Award, and the Royal Society of Literature's Winifred Holtby Award. In translation, his work has been published in over twenty five languages.

Born in Bombay, Rohinton Mistry has lived in Canada since 1975.

Love is Blind (The Rapture of Brodie Moncur) by William Boyd #BookReview

Brodie Moncur stood in the main window of Channon & Co. and looked out at the hurrying pedestrians, the cabs, carriages and labouring drays of George Street. It was raining ......

So begins the story of Brodie Moncur. Set at the end of the nineteenth century, William Boyd's heart stopping new novel follows the fortunes of Brodie, a young Scottish musician about to embark on the story of his life.

When Brodie is offered a job in Paris, he seizes the chance to flee Edinburgh and his tyrannical clergyman father, and begin a wildly different new chapter in his life. In Paris, a fateful encounter with a famous pianist irrevocably changes his future - and sparks an obsessive love affair with a beautiful Russian soprano, Lika Blum. As Brodie moves from Paris to St Petersburg to Edinburgh and back again, his love for Lika and its dangerous consequences pursue him around Europe and beyond, during an era of overwhelming change as the nineteenth century becomes the twentieth.

Love is Blind is a tale of dizzying passion and brutal revenge; of artistic endeavour and the illusions it creates; of all the possibilities that life can offer, and how cruelly they can be snatched away. At once an intimate portrait of one man'e life and an expansive exploration of the beginning of the twentieth century, Love is Blind is a masterly new novel from one of Britain's best loved storytellers.

I always feel incredibly optimistic when the first book that I read in any given year is a good one. It always suggests to me that I have a worthwhile reading year ahead and having just read this book I am anticipating an excellent year.

Mr Boyd has written a well structured and character driven novel. His sense of time and place is excellently portrayed through sound research and a wonderful writing style. He not only depicts the period of the setting through the minutiae of Brodie's life but also through the wider issues prevalent at the time.

Geographically, the book is wide ranging and the reader is able to accompany Brodie on his travels. Along the way, we are introduced to a plethora of characters but this never felt confusing.  I have read books in the past, written by lesser authors and have found this same scenario difficult to follow. However, with this book I always felt firm in the knowledge of where we were and who we were meeting and the author handles this with skill.

I felt completely immersed in Brodie's world and could not wait to get back to reading it each day. It is a story of music, love, obsession and the chaos which these can create. This is a memorable book which I would encourage you to read for yourself.

Have you already read this book? Have you read anything else by William Boyd? I would love to hear your thoughts on his writing.

ISBN: 978 0241295939

Publisher: Viking

About the Author:

William Boyd was born in 1952 in Accra, Ghana, and grew up there and in Nigeria. He is the author of fifteen highly acclaimed, bestselling novels and five collections of stories. He is married and divides his time between London and south west France.