Viva Violetta and Verdi by Howard Jay Smith - #blogtour #excerpt #extract

I was instantly pulled in by the cover of this book. Viva Violetta and Verdi by Howard Jay Smith is biographical historical fiction and looks like a good read. I'm delighted to be bringing you an extract of this book today.

The Blurb

A Love Affair Inspiring the World's Most Unforgettable Operas:

Experience the intense, lifelong love affair between Giuseppe Verdi and Giuseppina Strepponi, the brilliant and seductive soprano who shaped his legacy. As his muse, lover, and wife, Strepponi was the inspiration behind Verdi's most iconic works, including La Traviata and Aida. Her influence was pivotal, as she became the architect of his creative triumphs and the heart of his operatic genius.

Set against the backdrop of Italy's Risorgimento, this sweeping novel intertwines their turbulent relationship with the nation's fierce struggle for independence. Through the heartbreak of three brutal wars, Verdi and Strepponi's passion, betrayal, and artistic ambition come alive, mirroring the era's fiery spirit.

Rich with themes of love, power, food, wine, and unrelenting passion, Viva Violetta & Verdi is an unforgettable exploration of art, resilience, and the enduring bond that transformed both an artist and a nation.

The Excerpt

Milan, February 27, 1901 

On the morning of Verdi’s funeral, I awoke well before dawn. After a double shot of espresso and a cornetto, one freshly baked and served up by my daughter-in-law, Luisa, I dressed in my black mourning suit. At my age, this was an exercise I engaged in with an all too familiar regularity. 

Then with the necessary assistance of my silver-handled cane, I left my bedroom suite and headed down the marble stairs to the entryway foyer of our home, Casa di Trevi, on the Via Vittorio Veneto. Tap, step, step. Tap, step, step – a rhythm and beat that had been my companion for over three decades. Tap, step, step.

There, waiting by the coat rack was Luisa, whom I had known since she was thirteen. A pugnacious and steely eyed woman, she greeted me with a warmth that never flagged, “Buongiorno papà.”

I nodded and thanked her for the coffee. “And Tre?” I asked referring to my son, whom we all called by his nickname.

“He left an hour ago,” she replied as she helped me into my black overcoat and then handed  me my top hat.

As I settled the hat onto my head, Luisa stepped back and gave me that “look,” that glare, the one which every man who has ever been married, knows only too well.

“What?” I asked as I glanced in the hallway mirror. Save for a few flecks of grey in my otherwise neatly trimmed beard, the reflected image of my hair came back to me as black as the night I was about to step out into. Despite my age, I was fortunate that my hair, save for a few grey streaks, still retained its natural color.

“Just this,” she said. From a pocket buried in the many folds of her housedress, Luisa pulled a patch to which she had already added a tri-colored ribbon of red, white and green. She pinned it to the band of my top hat and then kissed me on both cheeks. “Now you are ready, papà. Viva Verdi.”

“Viva la rivoluzione,” I replied as I looked in the mirror and nodded my approval.

“Viva la rivoluzione,” repeated Luisa as she opened the front door.

I stepped out into the chill of that February morning. The streets of Milan were still deserted at this hour. Later, though, news reports would hold that some four-hundred thousand mourners would gather along the funeral route to view the carriage carrying Verdi’s coffin along with that of his wife, who had preceded him in death by some three years. The procession would travel the two miles from the Cimitero Monumentale to the Piazza Michelangelo Buonarroti and their final resting place at the Casa di Riposo per Musicisti. 

One reporter from Corriere della Sera would even remark that the crowd for Verdi’s funeral procession was the largest gathering of humans in a single place since Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812. That event some 89 years ago occurred a year before Verdi and I were born just days apart in Busseto, a small village in the Duchy of Parma some 65 miles southeast of here. And although today Verdi is considered not only the quintessential Italian composer but the quintessential Italian, our birth records in the Busseto town hall archives are written in French, for they ruled our home territory. 

Yes, liberami, save me. There is no one else alive today who has known Giuseppe Verdi longer than I. Today it is time to put my friend to rest in the soil of an Italian nation that did not exist when we were born and to remember all the sacrifices our beloveds made in blood to achieve those victories. 

 

Book Details

ISBN:  978 1962465878

Publisher:  Historium Press

Formats:  Hardback and Paperback

No. of Pages:  256 (paperback)

Purchase Links

Amazon UK

Amazon US

About the Author

Howard Jay Smith is an award-winning writer from Santa Barbara, California. 

VIVA VIOLETTA & VERDI, is his third novel in his series on great composers, including BEETHOVEN IN LOVE; OPUS 139 and MEETING MOZART: FROM THE SECRET DIARIES OF LORENZO DA PONTE. 

His other books include OPENING THE DOORS TO HOLLYWOOD (Random House) and JOHN GARDNER: AN INTERVIEW (New London Press). He was recently awarded a Profant Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for Excellence in Writing. 

Smith is a former two-time Bread Loaf Scholar and three-time Washington, D.C. Commission for the Arts Fellow, who taught for many years in the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program and has lectured nationally. His articles have appeared in the Washington Post, American Heritage Magazine, the Beethoven Journal, Horizon Magazine, Fig Tree Press, the Journal of the Writers Guild of America, the Ojai Quarterly, and numerous trade publications. While an executive at the ABC Television, Embassy TV, and Academy Home Entertainment he worked on numerous film, television, radio and commercial projects.

He serves on the board of directors of the Santa Barbara Symphony and is a member of the American Beethoven Society.

You can also find Howard at:

Historium Press

Facebook

(media courtesy of The Coffee Pot Book Club)

(all opinions are my own)

 

Bamboo Heart: A Daughter's Quest by Ann Bennett - #giveaway #excerpt #blogtour

 I am delighted to be bringing you an excerpt of this book, Bamboo Heart: A Daughter's Quest by Ann Bennett. It is the first in her Bamboo Heart Trilogy and it looks like fabulous historical fiction.

What's more is that there is a giveaway of one of the author's other books, The Lotus House, which you can enter by scrolling further down this post. Good luck!

The Blurb

When Laura Ellis, a successful city lawyer, arrives home to see her dying father Tom, a mysterious stranger is watching the house. This leads her to embark on a journey to discover their connection.

To do so, she has to retrace her father’s steps; to the Bridge on the River Kwai: where as a prisoner of war of the Japanese, Tom endured disease, torture and endless days of slavery; and to the beautiful island of Penang, to uncover his secrets from the 1930s.

For Tom made himself a promise: to return home. Not to the grey streets of London, where he once lived, but to Penang, where he found paradise and love.

As Laura searches for the truths Tom refused to tell her, in the places where he once suffered, lived and loved, she will finally find out the story behind his survival, and discover her own path to love and happiness..

This book has previously been published both as Bamboo Heart and as A Daughter's Quest. It won the won the award for fiction published in Asia, Asian Books Blog, 2015 and was shortlisted for "Best Fiction Title" in the Singapore Book Awards 2016.

The Excerpt

These are the opening paragraphs of Chapter 1. Laura Ellis, a lawyer working in Paris, has been called home to London to see her ageing father, Tom who has had a fall…  

Hurrying out of the tube station on to Highbury Corner, Laura shivered in the chill drizzle of the winter afternoon. She glanced at the darkening sky and pulled her coat tightly around her. Hovering on the edge of the pavement, she scanned the lanes of stationary traffic for a cab, but seeing none, stepped onto the road, and nimbly threaded her way through the cars. 

Her ankle turned as her left heel snagged between two uneven paving stones, and she cursed her tight work skirt and high heels. A goods lorry splashed past with a hiss of air brakes, spattering her legs and the hem of her skirt with filthy water. 

‘Bloody hell!’ Ducking her head against the rain, she carried on, past the assortment of dusty charity shops, ethnic grocers and empty cafés, towards St. Paul’s Road. Soon she was away from the heavy traffic, hurrying along the broad pavements of Highbury New Park in the grey-green light filtering through the plane trees

As she rounded the final sweep in the road, and the old house came into view, she quickened her pace. There it was, still stately despite its shabby paint work. In years gone by it had not looked out of place, but now it stooped apologetically between its two smarter, recently gentrified neighbours with their white windows and scrubbed brickwork. 

Laura saw that someone was standing in front of the house. She slowed down, panting from the effort of running. It was an old man. Dressed in a battered hat and grey overcoat, he was almost indistinguishable from the tree under which he sheltered. He seemed to be watching the house. Laura hesitated, puzzled. Then, taking a deep breath to steady her thumping heart, she ventured a few steps towards him. He turned and began to move away from her, shuffling rather than walking. 

‘Hey,’ she called out, but he didn’t turn. 

She watched his retreating form for a second then shrugged. He was probably one of the tramps who slept rough around Finsbury Park Station and was straying from his normal patch.

She paused before lifting the latch to the front gate. How overgrown the garden was. The scent of damp grass conjured a memory of pottering around behind Dad as a toddler, watching him weed the flowerbeds and prune the honeysuckle that smothered the front wall. She glanced up at the house. The curtains on the second floor sagged across the windows. A few greying socks hung from a clothes horse on the balcony, soaking in the rain. Ken, the lodger, would be fast asleep in the studio, amongst his paint pallets and whisky bottles, where he had been staying since he turned up for a brief visit in the summer of 1962.

The windows of Dad’s study were shut today. Normally he would have them open to let out the smoke as he sat puffing away on roll-ups, reading or working at his desk. 

She let herself in through the front door. She stood still for a second, taking in the atmosphere and silence of the old house, its familiar smells of tobacco and stale cooking.

Then she kicked off her shoes and threw her coat on the hall table. The door to the back sitting room was shut. She pressed her ear to the panel. There was no sound, so she opened the door. The curtains were closed and she had to pause to let her eyes adjust to the gloom. The room’s furniture had been shoved together to make space for Dad’s bed. His portable radio chattered softly from the corner of the room. 

‘Laura?’

She crossed the room and knelt down beside her father. 

‘Dad.’

He raised himself onto one elbow. His blue striped pyjamas sagged from his bony shoulders. A crepe bandage was wrapped around his forehead.

‘Come here. I wasn’t expecting to see you. I thought you were in Paris.’

He held out his arms. He was smiling, but his face was pale and drawn with pain. She leaned forward to hug him. She put her arms around him, but sensing the fragility of the bones in his arms and ribs was afraid to hug him too tightly. 

‘Marge called me this morning,’ she said. ‘I came straight away.’

‘You shouldn’t have come all that way. What a fuss about nothing. What on earth did they say at work?’

‘Nothing much. They couldn’t object really, could they? Anyway, what happened to you?’

‘Fell down the damned steps to the library. That ridiculous sodding stick gave way. The rubber bottom had worn down so it slipped—’

He paused for a coughing fit. 

‘Ruddy leg broken in two places. Not that it was up to much anyway. Banged my head too.’

‘I hope they dosed you up with painkillers.’

‘Of course. Morphine, codeine, the works. I’m rattling like a tube of Smarties.’

She straightened up and smiled down fondly at him.

‘I’ll tell you what then,’ he looked up at her craftily. ‘I could do with a beer.’

‘You sure? It’s a bit early.’

‘Nonsense. It’s nearly dark. There is some in the fridge in the study.’

She padded through to his study at the front of the house. Her feet were still wet from the walk.

‘Can I turn on the heating?’ she called. ‘It’s a bit bloody cold in here, Dad.’

‘Boiler’s broken down. I’ve been meaning to get it fixed.’

She stopped in the doorway to the study. Towering piles of books, newspapers and journals crowded every surface, the desk, the sideboard and even the floor. On the desk, ringed with coffee stains, were dirty cups and glasses, an ash tray overflowing with cigarette ends. 

She was about to move away when she saw something poking out from between the pages of a book. It looked like a photograph. 

She slipped it out and stared at it. A faded sepia portrait, battered and creased. One of its corners had been torn away. It was someone she’d never seen before. It was a young woman. Although her complexion was pale, she had oriental features: dark eyes the shape of almonds, slightly tilted at the edges, a full mouth, a sheen of black hair drawn back severely from her face. She had a serious, demure expression, betraying a trace of surprise at the flash of the camera bulb. Laura turned over the photograph. The ink was so faded it was almost colourless. It looked as though it had been in water, but she could just make out the words written neatly in flowing script: ‘To my dear Thomas. Good luck. Joy de Souza. Penang, November 1941.’

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1739100933

Publisher:  Andaman Press

Formats:  e-book and paperback

No. of Pages:  352 (paperback)

Purchase Details

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Giveaway of The Lotus Tree (Open Internationally)

*See Terms and Conditions below

Click Here to Enter

About the Author

Ann Bennett is a British author of historical fiction. Her first book, Bamboo Heart: A Daughter's Quest, was inspired by researching her father's experience as a prisoner of war on the Thai-Burma Railway and by her own journey to uncover his story. It won the Asian Books Blog prize for fiction published in Asia in 2015, and was shortlisted for the best fiction title in the Singapore Book Awards 2016. 

That initial inspiration led her to write more books about WWII in Southeast Asia - Bamboo Island: The Planter's Wife, A Daughter's Promise, Bamboo Road: The Homecoming, The Tea Planter's Club, The Amulet, and The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu. Along with The Lotus House, published in October 2024, they make up the Echoes of Empire Collection.

Ann is also the author of The Oriental Lake Collection - The Lake Pavilion and The Lake Palace, both set in British India during the 1930s and WWII, and The Lake Pagoda and The Lake Villa, set in French Indochina during the same period. A Rose in the Blitz – the first in the Sisters of War series and set in London during WWII, was published in March 2024.

The Lake Pagoda won a bronze medal for historical fiction in Asia in the Coffee Pot Book Club, Book of the Year awards 2022. The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu won a silver medal for dual-timeline historical fiction, and A Rose in the Blitz won bronze in the historical romance category in the Coffee Pot Book Club, Book of the Year awards 2024.

The Runaway Sisters, USA Today bestselling The Orphan House, The Child Without a Home and The Forgotten Children are set in Europe during the same era and are published by Bookouture. Her latest book, The Stolen Sisters, published on 29th November 2024 is the follow-up to The Orphan List (published by Bookouture in August this year) and is set in Poland and Germany during WWII.

A former lawyer, Ann is married with three grown up sons and a granddaughter and lives in Surrey, UK. 

You can also find Ann at:

 www.annbennettauthor.com

Twitter / X

Facebook

Instagram

(media and excerpt courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)

(all opinions are my own) 

Broken Water by Nick Perry - #bookreview

 

Here I am, submerged in uncertainty.

As a recent university graduate, Declan Murphy is looking for a fulfilling start to his career...

***

The Blurb

Growing up during the New Atheist movement, Declan Murphy never quite believed in the existence of a higher power. But when life throws him a series of challenges, his lack of an axis mundi has him latching on to the one vision that feels right: becoming a Catholic priest.

This emotional and thought-provoking story follows Declan as he navigates the conflicts between his personal beliefs and his family’s expectations.

Will he be able to reconcile this contradiction? And at what cost?

As Declan delves deeper into his journey, he will discover truths that will test his faith and his relationships. Will his quest to become a priest ultimately bring him closer to or farther from the truth?

And what of the biggest question of all? Why would an atheist ever want to become a priest?

My Review

This was such an interesting book to read.

The main character in this book, Declan is trying to ascertain exactly what he should do with his life. He has completed his degree and is undecided as to which direction life should now take him. I think many graduates will be able to identify with Declan, as will any of us who have ever been unsure of which way our lives are going.

I thought he was a fascinating character. This novel is extremely character focused, and therefore we are able to follow Declan's contemplation's fully. The author totally inhabits his character, and this elevated the novel significantly.

This is a very considered novel with each sentence being thought through thoroughly. It moves at a slow pace as all of Declan's thoughts and feelings are poured onto the page. To a degree, the reader is able to walk alongside him and experience his life and thoughts with him.

There are other characters in the book too. Declan's family and their priest added a great deal to the story. In fact, so did the other characters. His parents reaction when Declan claims in his teenage years that he thinks he is an Atheist was how I could imagine any Catholic parents might react. In addition, their reaction, particularly his father, when he later declares that he wants to become a priest was fascinating to read.

I enjoyed reading this very much. It is much slower than my usual reading fare but the pacing was totally appropriate for the book and worked well. This is a book to read and absorb. It is not to be rushed through, and this made for an enjoyable reading experience. I really liked Declan's character, and I felt the author has done a great job with this book. I highly recommend it.

Book Details

ISBN:  978 1990336836

Publisher:  Chicken House Press

Formats:  e-book and paperback

No. of Pages:  347 (paperback)

Purchase Details

Chicken House Press

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Amazon CA

Waterstones

Blackwell's - free delivery within the UK

About the Author

Nick Perry is a classic combination of schoolteacher and writer from Port Moody, B.C. His work has appeared in publications from Canada to Iceland and the first excerpt of Breaking Water was published in Blank Spaces Magazine. He lives his life as if he's already on television.

You can also find Nick at:

Instagram

(book and media courtesy of the publisher)

(all opinions are my own)

The Rune Stone by Julia Ibbotson - #blogtour #bookspotlight

 

I am delighted to be shining the spotlight on this book today. The Rune Stone by Julia Ibbotson is the third book in the Dr Du Lac series, and is historical fiction with a time slip element.

The Blurb

A haunting time-slip mystery of runes and romance

When Dr Viv DuLac, medievalist and academic, finds a mysterious runic inscription on a Rune Stone in the graveyard of her husband’s village church, she unwittingly sets off a chain of circumstances that disturb their quiet lives in ways she never expected.

She, once again, feels the echoes of the past resonate through time and into the present. Can she unlock the secrets of the runes in the life of the 6th century Lady Vivianne and in Viv’s own life?

Again, lives of the past and present intertwine alarmingly as Viv desperately tries to save them both, without changing the course of history.

Book Details

ISBN:  978 1739887728

Publisher:  Archbury Books

Formats: e-book and paperback (currently available on Kindle Unlimited)

No. of Pages:  376 (paperback)

Purchase Links

Amazon UK

Amazon US

About the Author

Julia Ibbotson is fascinated by the medieval world and the concept of time. She is the author of historical mysteries with a frisson of romance. Her books are evocative of time and place, well-researched and uplifting page-turners. Her current series focuses on early medieval time-slip/dual-time mysteries. 

Julia read English at Keele University, England, specialising in medieval language/ literature/ history, and has a PhD in socio-linguistics. 

After a turbulent time in Ghana, West Africa, she became a school teacher, then a university academic and researcher. Her break as an author came soon after she joined the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme in 2015, with a three-book deal from Lume Books for a trilogy (Drumbeats) set in Ghana in the 1960s. 

She has published five other books, including A Shape on the Air, an Anglo-Saxon timeslip mystery, and its two sequels The Dragon Tree and The Rune Stone. Her work in progress is a new series of Anglo-Saxon mystery romances, beginning with Daughter of Mercia, where echoes of the past resonate across the centuries. 

Julia’s novels will appeal to fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, and Christina Courtenay. Her readers say: ‘Julia’s books captured my imagination’, ‘beautiful story-telling’, ‘evocative and well-paced storylines’, ‘brilliant and fascinating’ and ‘I just couldn’t put it down’.

(media courtesy of The Coffee Pot Book Club)

(all opinions are my own)

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid - #bookreview

 

"Film legend and '60's It Girl Evelyn Hugo has just announced that she will auction off 12 of her most memorable gowns through Christie's to raise money for breast cancer research..."

***

The Blurb

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the '80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a mesmerizing journey through the splendour of old Hollywood into the harsh realities of the present day as two women struggle with what it means and what it costs to face the truth.

My Review

I thought this was a fabulous book. It was steeped in glamour and made for a luscious read.

Hollywood legend, Evelyn Hugo has made her way up from a life of poverty. With a spirit of determination and blind ambition gets herself to where she wanted to be in life; a sexy and envied award winning actress. She determines to become the kind of woman who men desire and women envy.

Now in her later years, she seeks out little known journalist Monique Grant to write her life story. Evelyn intends to provide her with a warts and all account of her life to be published after her death. Monique recognizes that not only will this catapult her career but will also make her financially secure following the breakdown of her marriage. Evelyn's other condition is that it is a true and accurate account of her life and not the Hollywood version of it.

Each section in the book is headed with one of the titular seven husbands, and Evelyn narrates her time married to each of them. I couldn't help but compare her to Elizabeth Taylor, a real-life glamorous actress who was married multiple times. The sections were also interspersed with newspaper cuttings about her life which added another dimension to the story, demonstrating the way in which the media chooses to portray her.

In addition, there is a strong theme regarding LGBTQ+ issues running throughout the book. It was interesting to read how acceptance of homosexuality has changed throughout the decades and observe how unacceptable it was during Evelyn's earlier years. I think the author has done a great job of demonstrating this valuable point and the change that has occurred during the later period of her life.

The book is partly about the film industry and this book itself is crying out to be made into a film. It possesses enormous cinematic quality, and I would love to see this on the big screen.

This is an addictive novel that I couldn't wait to get back to every time I had to put it down. A marvellous book which I highly recommend.

Book Details:  

ISBN:  978 1398515697

Publisher:  Simon & Schuster

Formats:  e-book, audio, hardback and paperback

No. of Pages:  400 (paperback)

Purchase Details

Bookshop.org

Amazon UK / Amazon US

Blackwell's

Other Books by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Daisy Jones and the Six

Malibu Rising

Forever, Interrupted

After I Do

Carrie Soto is Back

Atmosphere

About the Author

Taylor Jenkins Reid is the author of the New York Times Bestselling novels Carrie Soto Is Back, Malibu Rising, Daisy Jones and The Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, as well as One True Loves, Maybe in Another Life, After I Do, and Forever, Interrupted. Her books have been chosen by Reese’s Book Club, Read with Jenna, Indie Next, Best of Amazon, and Book of the Month. Her novel, Daisy Jones and The Six, is now a limited series on Amazon Prime. She lives in Los Angeles.

You can also find Taylor at:

Author Website

Instagram

Facebook

(media courtesy of the author's website)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

10 Ten Exciting New Releases in April 2025

 

Mere by Danielle Giles

Norfolk, 990 AD. Deep in the Fens, isolated by a vast and treacherous mere, an order of holy sisters make their home. Under the steely guidance of Abbess Sigeburg they follow God’s path, looking to their infirmarian, Hilda, to provide what comfort and cures she can.

But when the mere takes a young servant boy, Sigeburg’s grip falters and Hilda quickly realizes this place holds secrets darker and more unholy than she can fathom.

Then proud Sister Wulfrun, a recent arrival to the convent, has a vision: a curse is upon them and change must be brought. Is she saint or serpent? To Hilda, Wulfrun is a signal bolder and brighter than any fire set – one she cannot help but follow . . .

Preorder Link

The Best of Everything by Kit De Waal

Paulette's the kind of woman who likes the future all mapped out: the wedding to Denton, the Caribbean honeymoon, the gingham quilt on the baby's crib. Until one morning Garfield, Denton's friend, arrives at her door with the news that Denton won't be coming around any more, that there won't be time for her to say goodbye.

Somehow Garfield finds his way into her bed, and sooner than anyone can believe there is a baby, and suddenly giving Bird, her son, the best of everything is what gives Paulette's life meaning.

So why is it another little boy, Nellie, who keeps Paulette awake at night? Nellie who is being raised a few streets away, with no sign of a mum. Surely Paulette is the last person who should be getting tangled up in any of that?

Preorder Link

The One True Thing by Linda Newbery 

Jane, in her twenties, is left parentless when her father dies suddenly; a second shock follows when his Will reveals the existence of a son no-one knew of. Now Wildings, the family home, must be sold. Spanning two generations, the novel tells the story of Bridget, Jane’s mother, trapped in an unhappy marriage on which her career depends, and of stone-carver Meg, who wants only independence but is enmeshed in conflicting loyalties and desires when Adam, a young artist, enters their lives, to devastating effect.

 Now far from Wildings, Meg is bound by a promise to support Jane in her loss. Having thought of herself as an observer who saw everything, she’s forced to realise how much she failed to see – and the cost to those she loves.

Preorder Link

Death in the Dressing Room by Simon Brett

Carole Seddon, a very respectable retired woman living in the English seaside village of Fethering, doesn't care for the theatre. But her neighbour Jude counts the job of actress among her many and varied past careers. So when Jude attends the closing night of a new play based on a classic TV sitcom, Carole is interested - but only because she suspects the leading man, Drake Purslow, is one of her scandalous friend's ex-lovers.

The night turns out to be more dramatic than either Carole or Jude could have ever predicted. After the performance, Jude makes her way to Drake's dressing room, only to find him dead - in what, to Jude's experienced sleuthing eye, seem very suspicious circumstances.

Did one of the play's cast - made up almost entirely of the original sitcom's actors - have a long-held grudge against the show's star? Or are more recent hatreds to blame? Jude is determined to find out - and Carole, who despite protestations is almost pathologically nosy, is right there to investigate alongside her.

Preorder Link

Hidden in Plain Sight by Julie Brill

Discover a powerful, untold chapter of Holocaust history and a daughter's enduring quest to know the story that began a generation before her birth. From childhood, Julie Brill struggled to understand how her father survived as a young Jewish boy in Belgrade, where Nazis murdered 90 percent of the Jewish population without gas chambers or cattle cars. Through exacting research, a bit of luck, and three emotional trips to Serbia, she pieces together her family's lost past, unearths secrets, and returns to her father a small part of what the Nazis stole: his own family history.

Preorder Link

The Boyfriend by John Nicholl

When Anna first meets Mark, she thinks he’s the perfect boyfriend. Wealthy and charming, he showers her with gifts, compliments, everything she has ever desired.

But Mark is less a prince than a man with a dangerous secret, and as their love life becomes ever darker, Anna flees him.

There is nowhere safe from him, though. Not for Anna. Nor for the girlfriends who follow her.

Because this is a boyfriend who would kill to make sure he can continue to kiss sleeping princesses.

Preorder Link

The Eights by Joanna Miller

Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its 1000-year history, the world’s most famous university has admitted female students. Giddy with dreams of equality, education and emancipation, four young women move into neighbouring rooms on Corridor Eight. They have come here from all walks of life, and they are thrown into an unlikely, life-affirming friendship.

Dora was never meant to go to university, but, after losing both her brother and her fiancé on the battlefield, has arrived in their place. Beatrice, politically-minded daughter of a famous suffragette, sees Oxford as a chance to make her own way – and her own friends – for the first time. Socialite Otto fills her room with extravagant luxuries but fears they won’t be enough to distract her from her memories of the war years. And quiet, clever, Marianne, the daughter of a village vicar, arrives bearing a secret she must hide from everyone – even The Eights – if she is to succeed.

But Oxford’s dreaming spires cast a dark shadow: in 1920, misogyny is still rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of the Great War are still very real indeed. And as the group navigate this tumultuous moment in time, their friendship will become more important than ever.

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Charles II's Portugese Queen: The Story of Catherine of Braganza by Susan Abernethy

Catherine of Braganza has regularly been referred to as ‘the forgotten queen’ and there is much truth in this statement. Following her death in 1705, a fully detailed biography in English remained unwritten until 1915. The last major bio published about her was in Portuguese in 1941 and it has never been translated into English. Despite her sheltered and religious upbringing, she made a spectacular marriage that was plagued by the infidelities of her husbands. Readers can readily find published biographies of Charles II’s many glamorous mistresses, but curiously, little on his wife. This new work presents more comprehensive information on Catherine’s life in Portugal than previous biographies and integrates new scholarship regarding Catherine’s practice of queenship and patronage of Catholic Baroque culture in an effort to carve out a prominent role at the Stuart court and to compete with her rivals. Readers familiar with Catherine’s story may learn some delightful new details about her life.

Catherine has never been forgotten in Portugal. She considered herself Portuguese at heart and during her reign as Queen of England, she persistently looked out for Portuguese interests. In her own words, she considered her marriage a personal sacrifice to what was best for her home country. She is one of the few dowager queens in history to return to her homeland where she acted as regent for her brother.

This biography places Catherine within the context of the history of Portugal and their seaborne empire, and the strong political and commercial ties between England and Portugal dating to the mid-fourteenth century which played a key role in the culmination of the Marriage Treaty of 1661. Her legacy lives on in her dowry, specifically the port of Bombay which allowed England to become a global empire, introducing many everyday items into European culture.

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The Cornish Witch by Elena Collins

Now: When Megan’s father gets a letter containing a secret from the past, he asks her to go to the Cornish village of St Mawgen Cove to get to the bottom of the mystery. Megan is happy to take a holiday after a challenging year but as soon as she checks into The Ship Inn something feels amiss. There are noises in the room above, the locals tell tales of smugglers and shipwrecks and she can’t escape the story of the witch who waits and watches from the top of the cliff.

1625: Susanna and her daughter Katel live a contented life, but without the protection of a husband and father, Susanna fears for Katel’s future as she blossoms into womanhood. The fishing community of St Mawgen Cove is close knit but when misfortune arrives in the cove, it’s not long before villagers are looking for someone to blame. And when talk turns to witches, Susanna knows she and Katel are no longer safe.

Can Megan bring peace to St Mawgen and to two women who have been broken-hearted for centuries?

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(media courtesy of the publishers/bookshop.org)

(all opinions are my own)

(bookshop.org affiliated)

Mother Howl by Craig Clevenger - #bookreview

 

The boy watched his father slide a flap of cardboard beneath the stray cat lying motionless in the street. He braced himself for the backyard dig...

***

The Blurb

A compelling literary crime that follows the son of a serial murderer who changes his identity in a bid to escape his past.

The arrest of his father for a series of unspeakable crimes shattered Lyle Edison’s suburban teenage life. There was no way to pick up the pieces, so he ran. Now at last, after years of hiding under a false name to escape his father’s wicked legacy, Lyle has begun to build a future with the woman he loves.

But after an encounter with an unworldly stranger named Icarus who seems to know Lyle’s secrets – a homeless man with a questionable grip on reality who claims to be a messenger for the Divine, Lyle is set on a perilous new path.

Confronting Icarus means coming face to face with his own past, forcing Lyle to make a choice that threatens the fragile facade he has created, with his future and his new family hanging in the balance.

My Review

It took me a little while to warm to this book, but it was well worth hanging in there.

I can sincerely say I haven't read a book quite like this one before. In fact, it would be difficult to place it in a particular genre.

I was engaged at the beginning of this book. It begins during the youthful years of the main character, Lyle who lives a fairly average life with his parents. However, it quickly becomes clear when Lyle's father is arrested for a series of crimes that the book is going in a different direction. Lyle runs away from home at seventeen and adopts a new identity to distance himself from the name of his father.

We are then introduced to a character named Icarus, and this is where I initially struggled. He is some kind of Divine being who has been sent to earth from the titular Mother Howl to help Lyle, that the book took a turn in a very different direction. Icarus is completely different to our image of the traditional angel that sits atop our Christmas trees. He is blunt, rough around the edges and quite frankly appears unhinged. This is where I began to struggle with the book as this is far from my usual reading fare.

I almost set the book aside at this point, but I am very glad I didn't as this turned out to be an extremely compelling book that I couldn't put down. It has a sedate pace which suited it perfectly for this character driven novel.

The author does a great job of bringing the Lyle and Icarus parts of the story together at the end, and it suddenly all started to make sense to me. In fact, I felt the book had a very satisfying ending.

The book is well written, and I do think it is worth reading. Periodically it is good for us to step slightly out of our reading comfort zone, and I am extremely glad I did so with this one.

If you like genre defying book that I recommend this one. Happy reading! 

This book is perfect for fans of Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh and The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones.

Book Details

ISBN:  978 1915523037

Publisher: Datura Books

Formats:  e-book, audio and paperback

No. of Pages:  300 (paperback)

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org

Datura Books

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Blackwell's

About the Author

Craig Clevenger was born in Dallas, Texas and grew up in Southern California, where he studied English at California State University, Long Beach. He divides his time between the Mojave desert and the central coast, where he works at a local library and runs a community writing workshop. 

He is the author of The Contortionist's Handbook, Dermaphoria, and Mother Howl. His essays and short fiction have appeared in the Coachella Review, Black Clock, San Francisco Noir 2, Starlite Pulp Review and the forthcoming Amber Waves of Autumn from Kelp Books. His works have been translated into 30+ languages.

You can also find Craig at:

Author Website

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(book and media courtesy of the publisher)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)