Reading Roundup - March 2022

 

In my little corner of the world, there are swathes of daffodils almost everywhere. They are a beautiful sight to behold and each time I see them my heart gives a little joyous leap.

March has been a wonderful month for me as we welcomed a new grandson to the family. Needless to say, he is perfect, gorgeous and wonderful in every way. 

March has also been a good month for reading, and I have read some great books. Have you read anything that you would recommend this month?

Books I Have Read

Faithful by Alice Hoffman - This was my favourite book this month and I highly recommend it. My review will be up very soon.

Becoming by Michelle Obama - This was my book group read for the month. Unfortunately, our meeting did not take place so I am unaware of the opinions of the group. However, I enjoyed reading about this remarkable woman very much.

The Butterfly and the Violin by Kristy Cambron - An interesting story but was rather didactic for my taste.

Chocolate Cake for Imaginary Lives by Genevieve Jenner - I loved this book of short stories. You can read my review by clicking here.

On Hampstead Heath by Marika Cobbold - This was excellent and I could have gobbled it up in one sitting. You can read my review by clicking here.

Son of the Secret Gardener by Trevor Millum - My review of this book will be up very soon.

This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay - My review of this book will be up very soon.

The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz - This was most enjoyable and I highly recommend it.

A Train to Moscow by Elena Gorokhova - I have literally only finished this today. My review will be up very soon.

Books I Did Not Finish

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh - Whilst this book reflects the language of the day, I found the racist and anti-Semitic terminology a little too much.

Books I am Partway Through

The Village Feasts by Izzy Abrahamson

On Hampstead Heath by Marika Cobbold - #BookReview

 

I grew up in a house of whispers, of meaningful glances and half-finished sentences...

People asked, as people do, "So, little girl, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I'd like to be God."

I blame the vicar. He was the one who told us, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God."

All I wanted was to know.

Unsurprisingly, I did not grow up to be God. Instead, I became a journalist. 

***

Thorn Marsh was raised in a house of whispers, of meaningful glances and half- finished sentences. Now she's a journalist with a passion for truth, more devoted to her work at the London Journal than she ever was to her ex-husband.

When the newspaper is bought by media giant The Goring Group, who value sales figures over fact-checking, Thorn openly questions their methods, and promptly finds herself moved from the news desk to the midweek supplement, reporting heart-warming stories for their new segment, The Bright Side, a job to which she is spectacularly unsuited.

On a final warning and with no heart-warming news in sight, a desperate Thorn fabricates a good-news story of her own. The story, centred on an angelic apparition on Hampstead Heath, goes viral. Caught between her principles and her ambitions, Thorn goes in search of the truth behind her creation, only to find the answers locked away in the unconscious mind of a stranger.

***

This was an absolute delight to read and had I had the opportunity, I could easily have sat and read it all in one go. I was completely engaged with it, and I really did not want to put it down.

It has a wonderfully contemporary setting and illustrates how one item of fake news can snowball and have enormous consequences. It reads as a novel for the modern age.

Whilst it has this serious issue at its foundation, the author writes with humour. There were points during which I laughed out loud, which I rarely do with a book.

The main character, Thorn, is a fully rounded, flawed and endearing character. She is easy to engage with, and in her we witness her professional and personal integrity collide with her actions as the stereo-typical journalist who must have her story at any cost.

The main theme of the book is honesty, whether that be in the public sphere, the workplace or relationships. But most of all it is about being honest with ourselves, and not attempting to justify ill-considered decisions.

I am stunned that I have not come across this author before and am delighted to learn that she has a back catalogue of seven other novels. I feel a trip to the library coming this weekend.

It is a hugely entertaining book to read, and I highly recommend it. 

ISBN: 978 1911350927

Publisher: Arcadia Books

Format: hardback, paperback, e-book

No. of pages: 256 (paperback)

(book courtesy of Net Galley)

About the Author:

Marika was born in Sweden until aged 18 she married a British Naval Officer, moved to England and had two children.

She turned to writing when her children were young and her first novel, Guppies for Tea, was published in 1994 and it went on to be ‎picked for the first W.H. Smith’s Fresh Talent promotion. Following that the book was short-listed for The Sunday Express Book of the Year and after that it was serialised on Woman’s Hour. It was also published overseas, in the US, Canada, South Africa, Germany, Poland, Holland, and of course, Sweden. 

Marika has gone on to write seven other novels including Drowning Rose, Shooting Butterflies and Frozen Music.

Library Loans - 24th March 2022

I went to the library over the weekend. I have not been in a few weeks so it was definitively time for a visit and a browse.  I brought these little beauties home with me, some of which are outside of my usual reading comfort zone. Have you read any of these?

The Lost and Found Bookshop by Susan Wiggs

Heartbroken Natalie Harper inherits her mother’s charming, cash-strapped bookshop and finds herself the carer for her ailing grandfather Andrew. She thinks it’s best to move him to an assisted-living home to ensure his care, but to pay for it, Natalie will have to sell up the bookshop. However, Grandpa Andrew owns the building and refuses to budge.

Moving into the studio apartment above the shop, Natalie hires a contractor, Peach Gallagher, to do some repairs. His young daughter becomes a regular at the shop, and she and Natalie begin reading together while Peach works. Slowly, Natalie’s sorrow begins to dissipate as her life becomes an unexpected journey of new friendships. From unearthing hidden artifacts in the bookshop’s walls, to learning the truth about her family, the bookshop is full of surprises. Can Natalie reveal her own heart’s desire and turn a new page…?

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Under the streets of London there's a world most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, and pale girls in black velvet. Richard Mayhew is a young businessman who is about to find out more than he bargained for about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his safe and predictable life and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and yet utterly bizarre. There's a girl named Door, an Angel called Islington, an Earl who holds Court on the carriage of a Tube train, a Beast in a labyrinth, and dangers and delights beyond imagining ... And Richard, who only wants to go home.

Maus by Art Spiegelman

Maus tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father's story. Approaching the unspeakable through the diminutive (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), Vladek's harrowing story of survival is woven into the author's account of his tortured relationship with his aging father.

Against the backdrop of guilt brought by survival, they stage a normal life of small arguments and unhappy visits, studying the bloody pawprints of history and tracking its meaning for those who come next.

The Cotton Spinner by Libby Ashworth

Lancashire, 1826

When Jennet and Titus Eastwood are forced to move from their idyllic cottage into the centre of Blackburn to find work in the cotton mills, their lives are changed in ways they could never have imagined and their new home on Paradise Lane is anything but . . .

Then Titus is arrested and sent to prison for attending a Reform meeting. Jennet is left to fend for herself and things go from bad to worse as she finds herself pregnant and alone - with another man's child . . .

Anna by Sammy H.K. Smith

ANNA IS NOT HER NAME. Anna is a possession. She is owned by the man named Will, shielded from a struggling world by his care. Anna is obedient, dutiful, and compliant. When Anna finds the strength to run, she leaves her name behind. But in her new idyllic town, the past—and Will—catch up with her. Carrying a child and a dark secret, she must face the scars he gave her—and learn to be everything Anna was not.

Madame Burova by Ruth Hogan - #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 Madame Burova by Ruth Hogan, which was released in paperback last week.

I have been a fan of Ruth's books ever since I read The Keeper of Lost Things in 2018. If you have not read my review of this enchanting book, you can go straight to it by clicking here. 

She has since published The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes, and Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel, all of which are on my gargantuan 'to be read' pile. In the meantime, I am elevating, Madame Burova up the list, and if anyone is planning on joining me in reading this book then please let me know.

The Blurb

Madame Burova - Tarot Reader, Palmist and Clairvoyant is retiring and leaving her booth on the Brighton seafront after fifty years.

Imelda Burova has spent a lifetime keeping other people's secrets and her silence has come at a price. She has seen the lovers and the liars, the angels and the devils, the dreamers and the fools. Her cards had unmasked them all and her cards never lied. But Madame Burova is weary of other people's lives, their ghosts from the past and other people's secrets, she needs rest and a little piece of life for herself. Before that, however, she has to fulfil a promise made a long time ago. She holds two brown envelopes in her hand, and she has to deliver them.

In London, it is time for another woman to make a fresh start. Billie has lost her university job, her marriage, and her place in the world when she discovers something that leaves her very identity in question. Determined to find answers, she must follow a trail which might just lead right to Madame Burova's door.

In a story spanning over fifty years, Ruth Hogan conjures a magical world of 1970s holiday camps and seaside entertainers, eccentrics, heroes and villains, the lost and the found. Young people, with their lives before them, make choices which echo down the years. And a wall of death rider is part of a love story which will last through time.

In the Beginning...

The Promise

Madame Burova was a woman who knew where the bodies were buried. She had spent a lifetime keeping other people's secrets and her silence had come at a price. Some revelations - forbidden affairs and minor indiscretions - had been easy enough to bear. Like feathers on the wind. But others, dark and disturbing, had pricked her conscience and been a burden on her soul. She had seen the lovers and the liars, the angels and the devils, the dreamers and the fools. Her cards had unmasked them all and her cards never lied. Madame Burova knew the killer, the victim and the murder weapon.

Outside, the warm, late-summer twilight was smudged with soft thumbprints of light from the illuminations strung along the promenade. High season was coming to an end, but for now the screams and squeals of excitement from the funfair still carried on the wind; soprano notes duetting with the baritone of the waves booming onto the beach and rattling the pebbles as they slunk back into the sea. Madame Burova - Tarot Reader, Palmist and Clairvoyant - proclaimed the painted sign on the front of the booth where she had been dukkering, as her Romany mother always called it, for over fifty years. Today had been her swansong. Madame Burova was retiring: reluctantly, sadly, but inevitably. Her mind was still sharp and her gift as infallible as ever. But she was weary of other people's lives - their questions, their problems and their secrets. She needed rest and a little piece of life for herself while she still had the chance. She sat down in a chair beside a small round gypsy table covered with a velvet cloth, where her crystal ball stood next to a silver-framed photograph of her long-dead, beloved borzoi, Dasha. The rings on her fingers flashed and sparkled as she picked up two brown envelopes. She had been entrusted as their guardian and had kept their secrets safe and silent for all these years. She turned them over in her hands. The hands that had held countless others and read the future in their palms. The envelopes held a secret that had troubled Madame Burova more than most, and now the time had come for her to open them and fulfil a promise made long ago.

Oh my goodness, I want to carry on reading this straightaway. I am not even sure that it will even make it to the 'to be read' pile!

Chocolate Cake for Imaginary Lives by Genevieve Jenner - #BookReview

 

We all have imaginary lives, and if we are lucky we have a dish to to with them.

You begin by making a cup of strong coffee. I tend to use espresso. I think of that scene in "The Freshman" where espresso is made and lots of sugar is added, and it is implied that drinking it will make you a man. Really it just makes you feel like you are on a speed trip. Maybe this is what the Italians are aiming for? They get up, have that tiny dose of coffee and then race around in their cars, engaging in scandal. Then they cause the government to fall, all before lunch. This is also why every place closes for a few hours in the afternoon. Everyone needs to recover as they begin to come down from the morning espresso/scandal frenzy...

***

So begins the title story of Genevieve Jenner's debut short story collection, a ground-breaking anthology of magical realist food writing.

A Russian countess finds herself making borscht for her socialist Parisian neighbours; unknown office colleagues secretly exchange lunchtime delicacies and recipes via the work fridge; steak is cooked at midnight on a Friday to get around Catholic proscriptions; and a thrilling sexual awakening descends into a metaphor of tired sandwiches and squashed fruit.

Chocolate Cake for Imaginary Lives is a book that the sexiest celebrity chef you can think of would take to read in bed, cackling in private recognition-but not just because it's about the role of food at the centre of our lives. It's also about the place of women in the world, the messiness of life, and the joy of snatched moments in the midst of chaos. With a wit and frankness that combines vulnerability and strength, all wrapped up in a package of stories that speak right to the soul, Genevieve Jenner writes about real and imaginary lives with poignance and authenticity.

***

This enchanting book of short stories was an absolute joy to read. I anticipate that I will want to dip into this book regularly, even though I have read and savoured each of the stories.

It is a love letter to foodies. Tucked away inside most of the stories is a recipe, but not in the conventional sense.  The author addresses the reader directly whilst she bakes or cooks, which elevates these stories, becoming an immersive reading experience.

However, as much as these stories are about food, they are also about people; their relationship with food and with each other. It looks at the way in which we can bond over food, and the delight of using culinary skills as a gift for another.

The prose is beautiful with each word being carefully chosen and intricately placed. There is not a wasted word throughout, and I enjoyed every story for it's own quirky nature.

I highly recommend this book and it will leave you hungry for more, both in a literary and literal sense.

I am delighted to add that Genevieve will be my guest on April's Desert Island Books. Please do pop by the blog next month to find out which books she would take with her to a desert island.

ISBN: 978 1838498726

Publisher: Deixis Press

Formats: Paperback and e-book

No. of pages: 238 (paperback)

About the Author:

When Genevieve Jenner was six years old, she liked to play dress up and write stories, and she wanted to be a mermaid. She has finally accepted that being a mermaid isn't the most secure career option, but the other two things have remained constant. Genevieve lives near Bude in North Cornwall.

Sisterhood by V.B. Grey - #Repost #BookReview

 Those of you who follow my blog regularly will remember that I posted a review of this book last year when I first read it.

It is being released in paperback today, and for those that missed my review the first time around I am re-posting it. I enjoyed this book very much, and if you did not catch the hardback you can now get the paperback. Happy reading.

My mother is not an easy patient. To her, patients are submissive, impotent creatures, and she - Dr Freya Grant - has no intention of becoming one. Not that she's in denial about her condition. She knows she's dying from an inoperable brain tumour and, if she could speak, would explain it better than I can. Her doctors say that, while her mind is as sharp as ever, a rapidly spreading glioma in the left frontal lobe has left her with expressive aphasia - the inability to speak, read or write. She can still understand language and can occasionally form sounds, but they are often meaningless, which annoys her so much she'd rather remain silent.

***

It is 1944 in war-ravaged London. Freya and Shona are identical twins, very close despite their different characters. Freya is a newly qualified doctor tending to the injured in a London hospital, while Shona has been recruited by the SOE. The sisters are so physically alike that they can fool people into thinking that one is the other. It's a game they've played since childhood. But when Shona persuades her twin to swap roles to meet her Polish lover, he is angered at being tricked.

Then Shona proposes a far more dangerous swapping of roles. At first Freya refuses but finally she agrees, with consequences so dangerous that they threaten not only the happiness but the lives of both sisters.

Forty-five years later in November 1989 Freya, now aged 69, is watching television with her daughter Kirsty. Freya is gripped as she witnesses crowds of Berliners attempting to knock down their hated Wall. This sight stirs long buried memories of her own war and her sister's, and of events in wartime Poland - memories that she has never shared with anyone. Even if she wanted to reveal them now, she couldn't. She's suffering from a brain tumour and is unable to speak although her reason is unimpaired. And this is what she's thinking: if they succeed in knocking down the Wall, what secrets will come tumbling through? If her own were revealed, it would be devastating for all those close to her, especially her daughter.

***

I initially came across this author when I was invited to take part in the social blast for her previous book, Tell Me How it Ends, last year. You can read my review by clicking here. I was further delighted when I was again approached by the publisher to take part in the social blast for her new book, and I enjoyed every page of her latest work.

Without doubt, Ms. Grey is an accomplished storyteller and this book very much showcases that talent. Interestingly, her own family history was the springboard for this novel although it is an entirely fictionalised account of the lives of her mother and her non-identical twin during World War II.

With a dual timeline the narrative alternates between the 1940's and the 1980's, telling the story of Freya and her daughter, Kirsty.

The book takes as it's main themes both the bonds that exist between mother and daughter and also between that of identical twins. Also, it considers the impact that secrecy can have upon these relationships.

Parts of the plot are set in wartime Poland, and the reader is given insight into the role played by the Polish resistance. It made for fascinating reading and I was all the more gripped as the story unravelled and the courage of those involved played out on the page.

The characters are all well portrayed and easy to engage with. The relationship between twins, Freya and Shona, was compelling. The strength of their bond coupled with the sometimes changing roles of their individual weaknesses and strengths made for an immersive reading experience.

Furthermore, there is a thread of mystery and intrigue running throughout this novel and, it is this which  elevated this book and made it into a page turner. I found this book to be an engrossing read and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys books about strong female characters.

ISBN: 978 1529405750

Publisher: Quercus

Format: Hardback, audio, paperback and e-book

Pages: 368 in paperback

About the Author:

V. B. Grey is the pseudonym of the acclaimed television screenwriter and crime novelist Isabelle Grey. A former arts journalist and feature writer, she has written for film, radio and television, contributing episodes to Jimmy McGovern's award winning BBC series, Accused. 

She is the author of two novels of psychological suspense and four books in a contemporary crime series under he own name. She grew up in Manchester and now lives in north London.

New Releases in April 2022

It seems to be more difficult each month to choose just ten books which are being published during the upcoming month. There are so many brilliant looking books being released in April that I would like to read, but I am forcing myself to confine it to ten. Is there anything here that catches your eye?

The No-Show by Beth O'Leary

Three women. Three dates. One missing man...

8.52 a.m. Siobhan is looking forward to her breakfast date with Joseph. She was surprised when he suggested it - she normally sees him late at night in her hotel room. Breakfast on Valentine's Day surely means something ... so where is he?

2.43 p.m. Miranda's hoping that a Valentine's Day lunch with Carter will be the perfect way to celebrate her new job. It's a fresh start and a sign that her life is falling into place: she's been dating Carter for five months now and things are getting serious. But why hasn't he shown up?

6.30 p.m. Joseph Carter agreed to be Jane's fake boyfriend at an engagement party. They've not known each other long but their friendship is fast becoming the brightest part of her new life in Winchester. Joseph promised to save Jane tonight. But he's not here...

Meet Joseph Carter. That is, if you can find him.

Hope, A History of the Future by G.G. Kellner

One quiet afternoon in 2037, Joyce Denzell hears a thud in her family’s home library and finds a book lying in the middle of the room, seemingly waiting for her―a book whose copyright page says it was published in the year 2200. Over the next twenty-four hours, each of the Denzell family members discovers and reads from this mystical history book from the future, nudged along by their cat, Plato.

As the various family members take turns reading, they gradually uncover the story of Gabe, Mia, and Ruth—a saga of adventure, endurance, romance, mystery, and hope that touches them all deeply. Along the way, the Denzells all begin to believe that this book that has seemingly fallen out of time and space and into their midst might actually be from the future—and that it might have something vitally important to teach them.

Engaging, playful, and thought-provoking, Hope is a seven-generation-spanning vision of the future as it could be—based on scientific projections, as well as historical and legal precedence—that will leave readers grappling with questions of destiny, responsibility, and the possibility for hope in a future world.

The House at Helygen by Victoria Hawthorne

2019 - When Henry Fox is found dead in his ancestral home in Cornwall, the police rule it a suicide, but his pregnant wife, Josie, believes it was murder. Desperate to make sense of Henry's death she embarks on a quest to learn the truth, all under the watchful eyes of Henry's overbearing mother. Josie soon finds herself wrestling against the dark history of Helygen House and ghosts from the past that refuse to stay buried.

1881 - New bride Eliza arrives at Helygen House with high hopes for her marriage. Yet when she meets her new mother-in-law, an icy and forbidding woman, her dreams of a new life are dashed. And when Eliza starts to hear voices in the walls of the house, she begins to fear for her sanity and her life.

Can Josie piece together the past to make sense of her present, or will the secrets of Helygen House and its inhabitants forever remain a mystery?

The Bangalore Detectives Club by Harini Nagendra

When clever, headstrong Kaveri moves to Bangalore to marry doctor Ramu, she's resigned herself to a quiet life.

But that all changes the night of the party at the Century Club, where she escapes to the garden for some peace - and instead spots an uninvited guest in the shadows. Half an hour later, the party turns into a murder scene.

When a vulnerable woman is connected to the crime, Kaveri becomes determined to save her and launches a private investigation to find the killer, tracing his steps from an illustrious brothel to an Englishman's mansion. She soon finds that sleuthing in a sari isn't as hard as it seems when you have a talent for maths, a head for logic and a doctor for a husband.

And she's going to need them all as the case leads her deeper into a hotbed of danger, sedition and intrigue in Bangalore's darkest alleyways...

Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes

We'd like to introduce you to Elizabeth Finch.

We invite you to take her course in Culture and Civilisation.

She will change the way you see the world.

"The task of the present is to correct our understanding of the past. And that task becomes the more urgent when the past cannot be corrected."

Elizabeth Finch was a teacher, a thinker, an inspiration - always rigorous, always thoughtful. With measured empathy, she guided her students to develop meaningful ideas and to discover their centres of seriousness.

As Neil, a former student, unpacks Elizabeth's notebooks, and remembers her uniquely inquisitive mind, her passion for reason resonates through the years. Her ideas unlock the philosophies of the past, and explore key events that show us how to make sense of our lives today. And underpinning them all is the story of J - Julian the Apostate, her historical soulmate and fellow challenger to the institutional and monotheistic thinking that has always threatened to divide us.

This is more than a novel. It's a loving tribute to philosophy, a careful evaluation of history, an invitation to think for ourselves. It's a moment to reflect and to gently explore our own theories and assumptions. It is truly a balm for our times.

The School That Escaped the Nazis by Deborah Cadbury

In 1933, as Hitler came to power, schoolteacher Anna Essinger hatched a daring and courageous plan: to smuggle her entire school out of Nazi Germany. Anna had read Mein Kampf and knew the terrible danger that Hitler's hate-fuelled ideologies posed to her pupils. She knew that to protect them she had to get her pupils to the safety of England.

But the safe haven that Anna struggled to create in a rundown manor house in Kent would test her to the limit. As the news from Europe continued to darken, Anna rescued successive waves of fleeing children and, when war broke out, she and her pupils faced a second exodus. One by one countries fell to the Nazis and before long unspeakable rumours began to circulate. Red Cross messages stopped and parents in occupied Europe vanished. In time, Anna would take in orphans who had given up all hope; the survivors of unimaginable horrors. Anna's school offered these scarred children the love and security they needed to rebuild their lives, showing them that, despite everything, there was still a world worth fighting for.

Featuring moving first-hand testimony, and drawn from letters, diaries and present-day interviews, The School That Escaped the Nazis is a dramatic human tale that offers a unique child's-eye perspective on Nazi persecution and the Holocaust. It is also the story of one woman's refusal to allow her beliefs in a better, more equitable world to be overtaken by the evil that surrounded her.

The Shadow Child by Rachel Hancox

Eighteen-year-old Emma has loving parents and a promising future ahead of her.

So why, one morning, does she leave home without a trace?

Her parents, Cath and Jim, are devastated. They have no idea why Emma left, where she is - or even whether she is still alive.

A year later, Cath and Jim are still tormented by the unanswered questions Emma left behind, and clinging desperately to the hope of finding her.

Meanwhile, tantalisingly close to home, Emma is also struggling with her new existence - and with the trauma that shattered her life.

For all of them, reconciliation seems an impossible dream. Does the way forward lie in facing up to the secrets of the past - secrets that have been hidden for years?

Secrets that have the power to heal them, or to destroy their family forever ...

Witches by Brenda Lozano

This is the story of who Feliciana is, and of who Paloma was.

I had wanted to get to know them, but I realised right away that the people I needed to know better were my sister Leandra and my mother. Myself. I came to understand that you can't really know another woman until you know yourself...

Weaving together two parallel narratives, Witches tells the story of Feliciana, an indigenous curandera or healer, and Zoe, a journalist: two women who meet through the murder of Feliciana's cousin Paloma.

In the tiny village of San Felipe in Jalisco province, where traditional ways and traditional beliefs are a present reality, Feliciana tells the story of her life, her community's acceptance of her as a genuine curandera and the difficult choices faced by her joyful and spirited cousin Paloma who is both a healer and a Muxe - a trans woman.

Growing up in Mexico City, Zoe attempts to find her way in a society straitjacketed by its hostile macho culture. But it is Feliciana's and Paloma's stories that draw her own story out of her, taking her on a journey to understanding her place in the world and the power of her voice.

This captivating novel of two Mexicos envisions the writer as a healer and offers a generous and distinctly female way of understanding the complex world we all inhabit.

Son of the Secret Gardener by Trevor Millum

This story has its roots in the life of George Owen Millum, who at the turn of the 19th century was the head gardener at Maytham Hall in Kent, the home of Frances Hodgson Burnett, long celebrated for her timeless classic, The Secret Garden. 

The garden in the story was based upon that at Maytham Hall, and George Millum was the model for Ben Weatherstaff, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s fictional gardener. George’s son, George Charles Millum, who like his father was born in the gardener’s cottage at Maytham, also grew up to be a country house gardener – hence the title of this book, written and compiled by his own son with detailed extracts from his diaries.

The Young Pretender by Michael Arditti

Mobbed by the masses, lionised by the aristocracy, courted by royalty and lusted after by patrons of both sexes, the child actor William Henry West Betty was one of the most famous people in Georgian Britain.

At the age of thirteen, he played leading roles, including Romeo, Macbeth and Richard III, in theatres across the country. Prime Minister William Pitt adjourned the House of Commons so that its members could attend his debut as Hamlet at Covent Garden. Then, as rivals turned on him and scandal engulfed him, he suffered a fall as merciless as his rise had been meteoric.

The Young Pretender takes place during Betty's attempted comeback at the age of twenty-one. As he seeks to relaunch his career, he is forced to confront the painful truths behind his boyhood triumphs. Michael Arditti's revelatory new novel puts this long forgotten figure back in the limelight. In addition to its rich and poignant portrait of Betty himself, it offers an engrossing insight into both the theatre and society of the age. The nature of celebrity, the power of publicity and the cult of youth are laid bare in a story that is more pertinent now than ever.

Desert Island Books with Tara Lynn Masih

 

Hello and welcome back to Desert Island Books on the blog. It is my absolute pleasure to have Tara Lynn Masih joining us this month.

I have been a fan of Tara's ever since I read her novel, My Real Name is Hanna, a National Jewish Book Award Finalist, and you can read my review by clicking here. It is set in Ukraine during WWII and our hearts go out to the Ukrainian people for the current situation that they are in.

Tara also featured as a guest on the blog when she talked about what led her to write about Hanna and you can read her post by clicking here.

Tara has a novella and story selection due to be published in September, How We Disappear, and I can hardly wait to read it.

Without any further ado, let us hear about Tara's Desert Island Book choices.

Tara, how do you think you would cope on a desert island?

That’s a good question. One of my favourite American TV shows growing up was Gilligan’s Island. I used to fantasise about being stranded on the island with the professor. Then my second marriage was to a Gilligan. When we travel all over the world, everyone knows his name through that show. Does that make me a better candidate for being stranded? I don’t know. But we own a copy of Mary Ann’s Gilligan’s Island Cookbook! Besides this book, here are eight special books that I’d want with me for company, inspiration, laughter, and comfort.

The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope

This was a favourite book as a preteen and into young adulthood. It even became a tradition that if I was alone on New Year’s Eve, I’d read it through the night to herald in the New Year. It mixed everything I love: fairy tales, magic, history (set in 1558), druids, castles, England, queens, and it was a love story I could relate to. What is especially effective and why it’s perfect for desert island reading is that the heroine travels through underground caves to comfort a prisoner. Pope captures the feeling of claustrophobia so well, understands legends and lore and young girls who always feel less than worthy. Haven’t read this Newbery Honor Book in years and would love to have the time to do so again. But I still have this original edition on my shelves and hope to gift it to a granddaughter!

East of the Sun and West of the Moon by Noel Daniel & Kay Nielsen

I have an early edition of this (it was my mother’s). Not only did I enjoy the Norwegian fairy tales, I loved the illustrations by Kay Nielsen and would stare at them for hours. Good material to have when stranded and have no art to look at. The colour plates are magnificent. And the tales tell us much about human behaviour.

Palm of the Hand Stories by Yasunari Kawabata

I’m a lover of very short fiction and Yasunari Kawabata’s collection is masterful. I go back to his exquisite brief stories again and again. Winner of the Nobel Prize in 1968, Kawabata preferred his stories to his novels.

The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr

I bought this book when I had very little money. I used to browse the bookstores as free entertainment. But when I opened this one and started reading the title story, “The Shell Collector,” I had to buy it. We now know Anthony Doerr through his Pulitzer-Prizewinning novel All the Light We Cannot See, but go back to this early work to see his true genius in creating layered, beautiful worlds and complex characters.

The Snow Collectors by Tina May Hall

Another “collector” book, this one by Tina May Hall is a highly original hybrid novel that crosses many boundaries; gothic, historical, contemporary, mystery, suspense, scientific, borderline dystopian. It was spellbinding and beautifully written. I love Hall’s prose. I could not wait to get back in bed at night to continue reading! And who would not want to read a book all about snow, set in an unknown Northeast town during a snowstorm that doesn’t stop, on a hot island?

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey

One of the best nonfiction memoirs I’ve ever read. When the author becomes bedridden by an unexplained illness, she becomes emotionally attached to a snail that lives in a bedside terrarium. It would inspire me to look more carefully at the beauty in nature surrounding me, and to appreciate the island’s tiniest forms of life.

Prairie Fever by Michael Parker

When I look back at the dozens of novels I’ve read over the past few years, Prairie Fever is for me one of the most memorable and one that I want to reread again soon. I’d have time on that island to dive back in. Like Hall’s book, it begins in a snowstorm. Parker writes in luminous, original prose and gifts his readers with Elise, one of the most complex and endearing characters I’ve read in a long time. This book is about words, how they affect us, what they mean or don't mean, the power they have over us, the control we do or don't have over them. It's about the universal drive to feel less alone. It’s a historical novel of the highest calibre.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

I would have to complete the stack of eight with one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. It takes a lot to make me laugh, but I can’t tell you how many times I laughed out loud and for a very long time, tears sometimes streaming down, while reading in bed, driving my husband crazy. I’d have to repeat what I read, but it wasn’t the same as reading about these two real men who bumble along together in the wild. The movie was pretty good, the book even better. It would make me laugh when I’m feeling down that I’m stuck on an island.

What a fantastic selection of books, and I would definitely take some of those along if I were stranded. Thank you, Tara, for sharing your choices.

If you are an author and would be interested in taking part, then please get in touch by emailing me at leftontheshelf1@gmail.com.

Shadow on the Highway by Deborah Swift - Highway Trilogy - #BookReview

 

May 1651

I knew why they sent me instead of Elizabeth to Markyate Manor, though they thought I hadn't understood.

When Ralph asked Mother, I saw her lips say, "They can't afford Elizabeth."

If they whisper their mouths make the shapes even more clearly than when they just talk. And I'm deaf, not stupid. I listen with my eyes, that's all.

***

Abigail Chaplin has always been unable to find a position as a maidservant like other girls, because she is deaf. So why do the rich Fanshawes of Markyate Manor seem so anxious to employ her? And where exactly does her mistress, Lady Katherine, ride out to at night? Shadow on the Highway is based on the life and legend of Lady Katherine Fanshawe, the highwaywoman, sometimes known as The Wicked Lady. A tale of adventure and budding romance set in the turbulent English Civil War, this is a novel to delight teens and adults alike.

***

This was a most enjoyable novel and it has much to commend it.

Set during the seventeenth century, in itself a fascinating period in British history, it contains all the historical events of the period that a reader would expect; the Civil War, Revolution and highwaymen, to mention just a few. The author has clearly well researched the period and she writes about it in a way that it becomes very real to the reader.

In terms of the characterisation, the author makes it pretty clear who we are meant to sympathise with and who we are not. The main character, Abigail, is extremely likeable and it was a joy to get to know her. She was well rounded and completely believable. Her deafness was described with sensitivity, and although it has previously been a stumbling block in Abigail's life, it was heartening to see how she overcomes her limitations.

As the maid to Lady Katherine Fanshawe, the reader observes the differing and changeable dynamic between them. Based on a real life character, nee Katherine Ferras, also known as the "wicked lady," we observe a transformation in her character and it was fascinating to read.

This book is the first in a trilogy and I am definitely intending to read the second book, Spirit of the Highway.

ISBN: 978 1500549831

Publisher: Create Space

..

No. of Pages: 294 (paperback)

About the Author:

Before publishing her first novel, Deborah worked as a set and costume designer for theatre and TV. She also developed a degree course in Theatre Arts at the Arden School of Theatre, where she taught scenography and the history of design.

In 2007 she took an MA in Creative Writing at Lancaster University, and since then has juggled writing with teaching. Deborah has been published by St Martin’s Press, Pan Macmillan, Endeavour Press, Headline Accent and Sapere Books.

Cut Out by Michele Roberts - #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 Cut Out by Michele Roberts.

Michele requires no introduction. She is the author of twelve highly acclaimed novels, including The Looking Glass and Daughters of the House which won the WHSmith Literary Award, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Her memoir, Paper Houses, was BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week in June 2007. She has also published poetry and short stories, most recently, Mud. 

Half-English and half-French, Michèle Roberts lives in London and in the Mayenne, France. She is Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.

The Blurb

Denis is searching for his mother’s past, knowing she had secrets. 

In Nice, he finds her friends, Monique and Clemence. In the 1950's, they were Matisse’s assistants when he was old and ill, pinning up his coloured paper shapes, putting the great cut out works together.

 Monique inspired his great designs in the chapel at Vence; Clemence, in pursuit of love, was caught in an affair that led to violence and disaster. So they have their own intense and colourful past – but they hold the key to Denis’s past too. He’s about to face the greatest challenge of his life.

In the Beginning...

Young women in church, Nice - Clemence

Sunlight glittered on the gravel underfoot, glossed the lip of the well. Berthe and I crunched across the courtyard and perched on the low stone parapet flanking the entrance to the chapel. Ten minutes to go. Berthe unfolded a black lace mantilla, draped it over her hairdo. Ridged curls held by lacquer smelling of burnt sugar. I'd snitched a headscarf from my mother, a yellow cotton square patterned with blue paisley. I knotted it loosely under my chin. Berth said: I'm dying for a quick cigarette. Got any on you, Clem? Sorry, I said, I thought you'd given up. When did you start again?

Oh, she said, I don't smoke really. Just now and then.

She wore green rayon, carried a bag to match. I was wearing a white dress with polka dots that my mother had run up for me, and peep-toe cork-soled slingbacks that I'd re-painted the night before, to make them look less shabby. After a stroll together along the boulevards, Berthe and I had got to work back in our rented room in the old town, using nail varnish, Berthe painted one and I did the other. Choking smell of pear drops and carnations. Next we fixed up Berthe's wedges, coating them with tennis-shoe whitener. We propped the sandals on the windowsill to dry. I had no other shoes with me, and no money for drinks, so I stayed in, and Berthe kept me company. We spent the evening barefoot, sitting by the open window, looking down into the little square.

I have been wanting to read this novel for a while, and now I am even more keen. Have you read this book? Would you recommend it?

Three Rival Sisters by Marie-Louise Gagneur & Translated by Anna Aitken and Polly Mackintosh #BookReview

 

The village of Domblans lay deep in a lovely verdant valley in the Jura. The houses were all tucked away discreetly behind layers of foliage, and from neighbouring hilltops one could just make out brown roof tiles and the angular spire of the church through the dense line of poplars that wound its way along the river.

***

Much acclaimed amongst her contemporaries and yet all but forgotten today, Marie-Louise Gagneur was a defining voice in French feminism. These stories, translated into English for the first time, critique the restrictions of late nineteenth-century society and explore the ways in which both men and women are hurt by rigid attitudes towards marriage.

In 'An Atonement', the Count de Montbarrey awakes one morning to find his wife dead, leaving him free to marry the woman he really loves. Could the Count have accidentally killed his wife? And how can he atone for his crime? 'Three Rival Sisters' tells the story of the rivalry between Henriette, Renée and Gabrielle as they compete for the affections of one man. But marriage does not necessarily guarantee happiness, as the sisters are about to find out.

Steeped in wit, empathy and biting social criticism, and with echoes of Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Kate Chopin, the stories show Gagneur to be worthy of renewed attention.

***

This is very much a book of two parts as it consists of two unrelated short stories, Three Rival Sisters and Atonement.

Personally, I found the titular story to be the superior of the two. It was interesting to watch the behaviour of the three sisters, Henriette, Renee and Gabrielle as they vie for the attention of a single man.

It was entertaining and witty and not unlike Jane Austen in the authors portrayal of the situation. She has put everything into place in order that the reader can come to their own conclusion as to how this scenario will play out. The prose, which is beautifully composed, suggests that marriage and love do not necessarily go hand in hand.

Atonement paled in comparison to its predecessor. It reminded me a little of Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone, in its theme. Again, it was nicely written, but the story did not have the same complexity and I was not engaged by the characters or how the story would resolve itself.

ISBN: 978 1910477953

Publisher: Gallic Books

No. of Pages: 224 (paperback)

About the Author:

Marie-Louise Gagneur was a French feminist, writer and activist, born in Domblans in 1832. She wrote essays, short stories and more than 20 novels, often focusing on anti-clericalism and issues surrounding the status of women in society. She later called for a reform on divorce laws and challenged the Académie Française to feminise French job titles. Gagneur was appointed a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur in 1901 and died in 1902.

(author photo courtesy of Wikipeadia)

(biographical info courtesy of Belgravia Books)

The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith - #BookReview #BlogTour

 

Greta is standing at the window of a hotel in West Hollywood when her brother calls for the third time that day. Across the street, there's a billboard with a sleek white yacht surrounded by turquoise water, an ad for a new kind of beer, and something about it - that feeling of being adrift - makes it easier to say no when she finally picks up the phone.

***

Just after the sudden death of her mother - her most devoted fan - and weeks before the launch of her high-stakes second album, Greta James falls apart on stage. The footage quickly goes viral and she stops playing. Greta's career is suddenly in jeopardy - the kind of jeopardy her father, Conrad, has always warned her about.

Months later, Greta - still heartbroken and very much adrift - reluctantly agrees to accompany Conrad on the Alaskan cruise her parents had booked to celebrate their fortieth anniversary. It could be their last chance to heal old wounds in the wake of shared loss. But the trip will also prove to be a voyage of discovery for them both, and for Ben Wilder, a charming historian who is struggling with a major upheaval in his own life.

In this unlikeliest of places - at sea and far from the packed venues where she usually plays - Greta must finally confront the heartbreak she's suffered, the family hurts that run deep, and how to find her voice again.

***

This is a well written and compelling novel that gripped me from the start. Greta is an interesting character, and one who is very easy to identify with, even though she is a rock star! The story dealt with the Greta behind the lights and the music. She is a multilayered and engaging character who is struggling to come to terms with the death of her mother whilst also fearing the loss of her career.

Whilst the book deals with the difficult issue of grief and bereavement, it is not done in a depressing or mawkish manner. Rather it is heart felt and sensitive and allows the reader to empathise, not only with Greta, but with her father also.

Her relationship with her father has been problematic at the best of times but now that they are both swaddled in their own grief, they are emotionally further away from each other than ever. Taking her mothers place on the cruise, and being forced to spend time together in this way is a great plot device on the part of the author, because it informs the reader that this will either resolve or exacerbate the divide in the relationship.

Ultimately, the story's central message is of hope, love and inspiration. The way in which the author took what could have been a joyless subject, and turn it into such a positive and heart warming story demonstrates her skills as a writer and when I reached the end of this novel, I gave a huge satisfied sigh of satisfaction.

Additionally, if the author had intended to make me want to head off on a winter cruise she has been hugely successful. Having read this book, I am now longing to go on a winter cruise. The author's descriptions of the beauty of Alaska would challenge anyone not to feel tempted.

I highly recommend this wonderful book.

ISBN: 978 1529416435

Publisher: Quercus

No. of pages: 320 (hardback)

About the Author:

Jennifer E. Smith is the author of nine books for young adults, including The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight and Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between,  both of which have recently been adapted for film. She earned a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and her work has been translated into thirty-three languages. She currently lives in Los Angeles.

(author photo and bio info from the authors own website athttps://www.jenniferesmith.com/about)