Reading Roundup for January 2022

Did you set yourself any New Year Resolutions when the clock struck midnight, heralding the new year? I might be unimaginative but mine are, more or less, the same three every year:

1.  Eat more healthily - I've already failed at this one due to a pack of chocolate biscuits which were knocking around in the cupboard.

2. Exercise more - yeah right. Like that's really going to happen!

3. Lounge around on the sofa reading piles of interesting books - I am decidedly more positive about this one. I would also like to try reading a book or two out of my usual reading genres. Any suggestions?

My latter resolution has got off to a better start, and there have indeed been some good books which I have read this month.

Books I Have Read

The Great Village Show by Alexandra Brown - a nice light and entertaining book to read.

Looking for Bluebirds by Mark Evans - I enjoyed this author's debut novel and you can read my review by clicking here.

The Ravine: A Family, a Photograph, a Holocaust Massacre Revealed by Wendy Lower - this was a slightly different approach to the holocaust, based around a photograph taken in Ukraine during the atrocities. It is well worth reading.

The Patchwork Girls by Elaine Everest - I thoroughly enjoyed this novel set during WWII. You can read my review by clicking here.

That Jewish Thing by Amber Crewe - my review of this immensely enjoyable book will be up soon.

My Heart Went Walking by Sally Hanan - I was part of the blog tour for this new release. I thoroughly enjoyed it and you can read my review by clicking here.

Even in Paradise by Elizabeth Nunez - based on Shakespeare's King Lear this was an interesting retelling which, on the whole, I enjoyed whilst having a few misgivings.

The Body in the Dales by J.R. Ellis - the first in the Yorkshire Murder Mystery book.

Books I am Partway Through

Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart

(header photo courtesy of Debby Hudson / Unsplash)

My Heart Went Walking by Sally Hanan - #BookReview #BlogTour

 

"You stupid, stupid girl!"

I back my way to the door. Mam's finger is pointing right at my heart. I turn and run.

I have no idea where to run though. Our woods? Cullen's house is down the road, but that's the first place she'd come looking for me, probably to call me more names the nuns would put us in detention for at school. Mam's never called me that before, never shouted at me like that before.

***

The only man she’s ever loved is seeing her sister.

And now they have to save her together.

Kept apart by their love for one man, two sisters embark on their own paths towards survival, love, and understanding, until they finally meet again in the worst of circumstances. And the reality might break them all.

My Heart Went Walking is a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that sweeps from the small Irish town of Donegal to the “big smoke” of Dublin City; a book that celebrates the pull of family and the chance of redemption. It is a novel for everyone who feels connected to the Irish approach to life—that of grit and laughter—and also for everyone who loves an overriding message of hope and restoration in all things.

***

When I was a school girl, I remember one of my teacher's saying to me, "Annie, there are very few books in life that when you have read the last page, you just want to go back to the first page and start all over again." Such wise words.

This was one of those books. I could happily have kept reading it forever! I was so invested in Una's life, her relationship with Cullen, and of course, the beautiful Ellie. The chapters are varyingly headed by each of these three characters. I enjoyed reading this story being told from the perspective of each of them, and it presented the reader with a greater understanding of each of them.

Both time and place are vividly brought to life in this book. Ireland in the 1980's was a place with a strict moral code and where teenage unmarried mothers were viewed harshly. Una's mother reacted in a way that I think many mothers of that time may have, and I  would have liked to read her thoughts as the story progressed.

It moves along at a sedate pace which felt appropriate for the story line.

There is a helpful glossary of Irish words and expressions included within the book, along with the pronunciations of the names and places. For me, I was familiar with all of the terms but for those who are not acquainted with the local vernacular, this would be extremely useful.

Overall, it is a heartwarming story and hit all the right notes for me. I think this will appeal to anyone who enjoys women's fiction and I hope that you will enjoy it every bit as much as I have.

ISBN: 978 1733333030

Publisher: Fire Drinkers Publishing

About the Author:

Sally Hanan grew up in Ireland and became a nurse, but she left all the big family dinners, rain, and cups of tea when she and her husband moved to Texas. Her family now raised, she works as a book editor and occasional lay counsellor and life coach. 

As an Irish immigrant to Texas, where she enjoys eating tacos and being warm and dry year-round. My Heart Went Walking is her debut novel. She won a 2021 Readers' Favourite gold medal winner for her nonfiction.

The Lost Lights of St. Kilda by Elisabeth Gifford - #TuesdayTeaser

Hello and welcome to this week's Tuesday Teaser. The place where we take a sneaky peek at a book that has caught my eye.

This week we are looking at The Lost Lights of St. Kilda by Elisabeth Gifford.

Elisabeth is the author of several novels, beginning with her debut Secrets of the Sea House, which was shortlisted for the Historical Writers' Association's Debut Crown for Best First Historical Novel in 2014. Having grown up in a vicarage in the Midlands, she went on to study French literature and world religions at Leeds University.

The Lost Lights of St. Kilda was shortlisted for the 2021 Romantic Novelists Award. She now lives in Kingston upon Thames.

The Blurb

Chrissie Gillies comes from the last ever community to live on the beautiful, isolated Scottish island of St Kilda. Evacuated in 1930, she will never forget her life there, nor the man she loved and lost who visited one fateful summer a few years before.

Fred Lawson has been captured, beaten and imprisoned in Nazi-controlled France. Making a desperate escape across occupied territory, one thought sustains him: find Chrissie, the woman he should never have left behind on that desolate, glorious isle.

The Lost Lights of St Kilda is a sweeping love story that crosses oceans and decades, and a testament to the extraordinary power of hope in the darkest of times.

In the Beginning...

Chapter 1

Fred - Tournai Prison, 1940

Five days in darkness deep as a pit and my mind begins to play tricks. I hear the silence as singing, a faint choir in a distant room. Gaelic? English? Not Jerry, that's for sure. Sometimes, it's the darkness itself, blooming into the images that swell and fade on the air, fuelled, no doubt, by the throbbing in my hand. Two nails gone, pulled out by the Gestapo. Worst of all is when the air becomes solid and I gasp, heart hammering, sweat on my palms. Then the only escape is to hold my  mind steady and stand on my island again, looking out at the Atlantic and the curve of the white sand around the bay. Slowly, very slowly, I turn in a half circle to see the crofts and the rise of the hills beyond like a comforting arm sheltering the village. A thin veil of cloud rises over the summit of Conachair, evaporating away as it starts to pour down the hillside, and high above, a sky that's pure blue and endless. I breathe in deeply, the air clean and sea-blessed. Concentrating now so that the scene before me does not flicker or fade, I take a step, and another. Blades of grass, oiled and bright with sun, pass beneath my feet, the turf sprinkled with white daisies and tormentil as I move towards the line of bothies along the curve of the shore. A dog barks a greeting. Mary Gillies sits in front of a cottage spinning, the squeak of the turning wood as she lets the threat in and out, singing something in Gaelic as she works...

Gosh, quite an intense beginning, helped along by the absence of a paragraph break. It definitely has left me wanting to read more.

Upcoming Blog Tour - My Heart Went Walking by Sally Hanan

I am so excited to be taking part in the Blog Tour for the fabulous debut novel, My Heart Went Walking by Sally Hanan.

Please do drop by the blog on Wednesday to read my review.

 

Looking for Bluebirds by Mark Evans - #BookReview

 

HARRY

At the end of April, 1945, on a bunk inside the camp, Harry was still trying to stop his wheezing and coughing. At that time he was aware of two things in particular; that the pains he'd been feeling in his chest were getting worse and time was still moving at a slug-like pace.

MARTHA

Some called it the armpit of the world because of the sulphurous smell that came from the munitions factory whenever there was a westerly blowing. This still couldn't dampen Martha's feeling for the place.

CONNIE

Connie said it was because she couldn't sleep - she'd been calling herself a walrus for ages and any movement seemed to wake her - that she had been up so bright and early that morning. After chatting to her neighbour across the street... they'd agreed to hang a line between the houses.

BILLY

By the time Billy arrived at the site, there were bustling crowds around the bonfire, with Union Jacks everywhere... hanging from windows and doors and others used them as dresses and smocks for children.

ROBERT

Robert needed no further cue and left asking Connie to let him know if he could help her with anything. Martha followed him outside. There they stopped and waited. He wondered who would be ready to start talking. Everything around him seemed so still for a moment.

***

Olthorp, a steel town in Lancashire, celebrates VE day. The end of war and a time for celebration. But for a group of young friends it’s not that simple – the rest of their lives is only just beginning. 

For Connie, the end of an unexpected pregnancy and her husband, a returning POW, present her with an impossible choice of deception or shame; and for Martha, a friendship that is asking too much, a husband that needs too little from her and a brother whose past is coming back to haunt him with his new intentions make her own life feel dangerously out of control. 

Five friends have to find a way to unravel their tangled lives as they try to survive the war and its aftermath without losing each other.

***

As a reader I never quite know what to expect from a debut author.  Sometimes they come from one of the major publishing houses accompanied by enormous hype. Other times, they come tiptoeing on to my reading radar from a small publisher. With both types, I have discovered some amazing new authors.

Looking for Bluebirds is of the latter category and I enjoyed it very much. It has a small cast of characters, Connie, Martha, Billy, Harry and Robert, with each of them having individually devoted chapters. Consequently, it was easy to get to know each of them and to understand how these five lives interact with one another.

It is a very empathetic novel and the author portrays each of the characters in a way which enables the reader to have a close up view of each of them. They were each compelling in their own way.

The time and place in which the story is set felt tangible and thus the story became engrossing. I was almost expecting to fling open my front door to discover Martha or Connie ready to come in to have a cup of tea with me.

Whilst the book is immensely readable, it also deals with some serious themes. It looks at love and friendship in all it's different forms. We all know that life is rarely straightforward, and life's complications have been carefully drafted in this book.

I would definitely consider reading more of Mr Evans writing and I hope he has a new novel in the pipeline. Meanwhile, I encourage you to read Looking for Bluebirds and I would love to hear your thoughts on it.

ISBN: 978 1998995707

Publisher: Finstall Press

No. of pages: 316 (paperback)

About the Author:

Born in Worcestershire, Mark Evans spent five years growing up in apartheid South Africa before returning to England aged seventeen. This radical change of culture, lifestyle and aspiration was eased by the comfort of reading. His interest in books developed into studying the limits of language when completing a philosophy degree at university.

 A near fatal motorbike accident forced him to revisit the priorities in his life when he took up teaching. Since the close of his teaching career, Mark has been able to pick up the thread of writing through creative writing courses, exploring themes of change, dislocation and survival that have shadowed him. As a result, he has completed a number of short stories of which some have been shortlisted. This is his first novel.

Jewish Women by Max Brod - #BookReview

 

Overcome with a feeling of melancholy, Hugo wandered down the woodland path. As he rounded a bend an unexpected sight brought his footsteps to a halt.

A woman dressed in white lay flat upon the ground. She was face down with her head on her outstretched arms. Another woman dressed in dark clothes, and a man were apparently attending to her.

***

This novel is set in the spa town of Teplitz (Teplice) and is a cameo of the lives of prosperous Jewish families before the First World War.

 It draws a compelling and poignant picture of the normal everyday lives of its characters, so touchingly unaware of the traumas to come in the following decades when their communities would be shattered beyond repair.

***

Jewish Women is a very understated story. It meanders along quite slowly, and as a reader, I thought I knew where this story was heading right from the beginning. Was my assumption correct? Well, maybe!

It is the coming of age story of Hugo, a young man who is taking a break from his studies, but who learns so much more about life and love during this time. Alongside, the reader also gets a brief look into the lives of European Jewish life at the beginning of the twentieth century.

I found the writing beautiful and it is worth reading this novel purely to enjoy the prose which has been expertly translated from German by Julia Rivers. 

The story focuses on Hugo's infatuation with Irene, who he first meets when she is face down on the floor in some distress. The offering of his aid begins his acquaintance with her. This event happens right at the very beginning of the book. My initial response was that she was not all she seemed and I immediately felt suspicious of her. Something about her did not seem trustworthy. I will say no more as to whether this first impression was correct as I would encourage you to read this for yourself, and form your own opinion. As you know, there are never any spoilers in my reviews.

However, it is not a spoiler if I tell you that in the final paragraph of this book, the author addresses Hugo directly. It forms an effective ending and enables the reader to picture Hugo's future beyond the final page.

Indeed, it occured to me that Hugo's future would likely to have been very different to that which the author himself imagined. Published in 1911, Mr Brod could not have anticipated that a mere three years later, Germany would be at war.

As a young Jewish German man, Hugo's life would probably have been short lived as he would almost certainly have been deported to the death camps if he had not previously managed to escape the country. Thus, the reader is perhaps better positioned to anticipate the future than the author was.

Having said all of that, this is a positive novel and I enjoyed accompanying Hugo on his journey. He had much to learn of life and love. I hope you enjoy reading this novel as much as I did.

ISBN: 978 0995716773

Publisher: Aspal Vintage

No. of pages: 256 (paperback)

About the Author: 

Max Brod (1884 - 1968) is best known as the friend and mentor of Franz Kafka, his contemporary in Prague in the early years of the twentieth century. They first met as law students at the German speaking branch of Charles University and soon became leading members of Prague's German-Jewish intellectual and literary circle of the time.

Although now overshadowed by Kafka's success, Brod was an accomplished and prolific author in his own right. Jewish Women was first published in Berlin in 1911 and was an immediate success.

The Lives of Stella Bain by Anita Shreve - #TuesdayTeaser

Hello and welcome to this week's Tuesday Teaser. The place where we take a sneaky peek at a book that has caught my eye.

This week we are looking at The Lives of Stella Bain by Anita Shreve.

It has been quite some time since I read a book by Anita. In fact, I do not think I have read one since I began this blog in 2013. So, it is high time that I rectified that, and this book may be just the impetus I need.

Of course, Anita is a well regarded author and she needs very little by way of introduction. Her novels have sold millions of copies worldwide. The Pilot's Wife, The Weight of Water and Resistance have been turned into films.

Sadly, Anita passed away in 2018 and is a significant loss to the world of literature.

The Blurb

Hauled in a cart to a field hospital in northern France in March 1916, an American woman wakes from unconsciousness to the smell of gas gangrene, the sounds of men in pain, and an almost complete loss of memory: she knows only that she can drive an ambulance, she can draw, and her name is Stella Bain.

A stateless woman in a lawless country, Stella embarks on a journey to reconstruct her life. Suffering an agonising and inexplicable array of symptoms, she finds her way to London. There, Dr August Bridge, a cranial surgeon turned psychologist, is drawn to tracking her amnesia to its source. What brutality was she fleeing when she left the tranquil seclusion of a New England college campus to serve on the Front; for what crime did she need to atone - and whom did she leave behind?

Vivid, intense and gripping, packed with secrets and revelations, The Lives of Stella Bain is at once a ravishing love story and an intense psychological mystery.

In the Beginning...

Sunrise glow through canvas panels. Foul smell of gas gangrene. Men moaning all around her. Pandemonium and chaos.

She floats inside a cloud. Cottony, a little dingy. Pinpricks of light summon her to wakefulness. She drifts, and then she sleeps.

Distinct sounds of metal on metal, used instruments tossed into a pan. She tries to remember why she lies on a cot, enclosed within panels of canvas, a place where men who die are prepared for burial away from the rest of the wounded, a task she has performed any number of times. She glances down and finds that she is wearing mauve men's pyjamas. Why do her feet hurt?

A small piece of cloth with a question mark on it is pinned to a uniform hanging from a hood. For several minutes, she studies the uniform before realizing that she does not know her own name. She receives this fact with growing anxiety.

The name Lis  floats lightly into her thoughts. But she does not think Lis is her name. Elizabeth...? No. Ella...? Ellen? Possibly, though there ought to be a sibilant. She ponders the empty space where a name should be.

The name Stella bubbles up into her consciousness. Can Stella be it? She examines the letters as they appear in her mind, and the more she studies them, the more certain she is that Stella is correct.

Again, she drifts into a half sleep. When she comes to, she cannot remember the name she has decided upon. She lets her mind empty, and gradually it returns.

Stella.

Such a small thing.

Such a big thing.

***

What a fabulous beginning. Is Stella really her name? And how has she ended up here? We need to read on to find out.

The Patchwork Girls by Elaine Everest - #BookReview

 

"I'm sorry, Mrs Wentworth, but you shouldn't be here," the grey-haired porter said, reaching out gently to take the young woman's arm. He could see she was in shock, her face pale and her body trembling.

Helen looked up at the damaged facade of the Victorian mansion block. The building where she'd started her married life with so many hopes and dreams had fared badly: several window panes were missing and the red brickwork was chipped on the first floor. "I need to collect a few things," she pleaded. "I promise to be careful ..."

***

1939. After the sudden and tragic loss of her husband, Helen is returning home to her mother’s house in Biggin Hill, Kent – the one place she vowed she’d never go back to again.

Alone and not knowing where to turn, Helen finds herself joining the local women’s sewing circle despite being hopeless with a needle and thread. These resourceful women can not only make do and mend clothes, quilts and woolly hats, but their friendship mends something deeper in Helen too. Lizzie is a natural leader, always ready to lend a helping hand or a listening ear. Effie has uprooted her life from London to keep her two little girls away from the bombing raids, and the sewing circle is a welcome distraction from worries about how to keep a roof over their heads and about her husband too, now serving in active duty overseas.

When the reason for Helen's husband's death comes to light, her world is turned upside down yet again. The investigating officer on the case, Richard, will leave no stone unturned, but it’s not long before his interest in Helen goes beyond the professional. As she pieces together old fabrics into a beautiful quilt, will Helen patch up the rifts in her own life?

***

I am going to make a confession. Prior to lockdown I very rarely read books of this genre. I am not sure why. I like historical fiction and mysteries, and who does not enjoy a bit of romance in their life?

During lockdown, when everything familiar in life was tipped on its head, I found comfort in this kind of book. One that was entertaining to read, did not demand too much from me and was comforting to boot. For me, lockdown was not the time to attempt to work my way through the Russian classics.  Rather, it was the time to read something that made me feel safe, as though I was snuggled down in a comfy pair of slippers and did not have to think about the scary world outside my front door.

Although lockdown has now finished and life is partially back to some kind of normality (for the moment at least) I find I am still enjoying this comforting genre of books. This one, even more so as it centres around a sewing circle. As a quilting novice myself, this book hit all the right buttons for me.

I was gripped from the first page of this book. Helen, who is the main character, is both charming and lovable, and I was rooting for her from the very beginning. Ms Everest skilfully draws all her characters in a way that makes them very real. I was sorry when I finished reading this, and I had to leave Helen behind as she felt like a good friend by the end of the book.

Written in a way that the reader can see who we should and should not trust, there was also enough mystery to make this an interesting narrative.

This is the first book I have read by Elaine Everest and I only stumbled across this as there was a discount voucher in The People's Friend magazine, a publication I also became addicted to during lockdown. I am now looking forward to reading other books by this author, and am certain I will continue to do so even when lockdown, and it's many restrictions are but a distant memory.

About the Author:

Elaine was born and brought up in North West Kent, where many of her Sunday Times bestselling historical sagas are set. She has been a freelance writer for twenty-three years and has written widely for women's magazines and national newspapers, with short stories, serials and features. Her non-fiction books for dog owners have been very popular and led to broadcasting on radio about our four-legged friends. Elaine has been heard discussing many topics on radio including her Kent based novels, canine subjects, and living with a husband under her feet! She was BBC Radio Kent’s short story writer of the year, a runner up for The Harry Bowling Prize, and winner of Myrmidon Books novel writing competition. 

When she isn't writing, Elaine runs The Write Place, her successful creative writing school in Hextable, Kent. She hopes one day soon to have another old English Sheepdog and still keeps in touch with many of her dear friends from her days in the show ring.

Elaine lives in Swanley, Kent with her husband, Michael, and their Polish Lowland Sheepdog, Henry.

(photo and bio information from the authors own website: https://www.elaineeverest.com/about)