Wednesday 31 August 2022

Reading Roundup - August 2022


Well, here we are at the end of August already! At this point in the year, I am hit by realisation that Autumn is not far away. There have been reports in the news recently that the trees think it is autumn already due to the unusually high temperatures that we have seen.

However, as I sit here writing this post, I can see only lush green leaves on the trees visible from my window, and I shall enjoy it while it lasts.

It has been a busy month, and I have not reviewed all of the books that I have read as the days and weeks have just whizzed speedily by. Still, I have read some good books and there have been some interesting and exciting features on the blog.

I was thrilled to interview Lorenzo DeStefano, author of the outstanding novel, House Boy. You can read the interview here, and my review of the novel here.

Carolyn Clarke told us about her Desert Island Books and you can read her interesting post here.. Carolyn is the author of the brilliant, And Then There's Margaret. You can read my review by clicking here.

There has also been a cover love posting featuring, The House Beneath the Cliffs by Sharon Gosling which you can read by clicking here.

In addition, my top ten new releases for September can be accessed here, and a library loans post here. 

Have you had a good reading month?


Books I Have Read

The Keepsake by Julie Brooks - I have recently taken part in the book tour for her previous book, The Secrets of Bridgewater Bay, which I preferred to this more recent book. If you would like to read my review you can do so by clicking here.

Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie - This was so almost my book of the month but the ending let it down.

Dark Music by David Lagercrantz - Translated from Swedish this is the first in a planned series. It was okay but I am not planning on reading the next one.

After Silence by Jessica Gregson - This wonderful book was my favourite this month. You can find my review by clicking here.

Nightshade by E.S. Thomson - This is number five in the Jem Flockhart series of books.

Pamela by Samuel Richardson - I think I would have enjoyed this more if I had read it in a physical form rather than on my kindle.

Before the Dawn by Emma Pass - I have not previously read anything by this author and I enjoyed reading this.

Shadow by Michael Morpurgo - This is an amazing story, written for children but to be enjoyed by all. You can find my review here.

Books I Didn't Finish

Four Riddles for Jane Austen by Gabrielle Mullarkey - The only reason I didn't finish this is that I had too many other reading deadlines to meet. What I did read I was enjoying and I will be going back to it at some point.

Books I am Partway Through

Psalms for the End of the World by Cole Haddon

Women Like Us: A Memoir by Amanda Prowse

The Invisible by  Peter Papathanasiou

Love Lesson in Starcross Valley by Lucy Knott


 (header photo courtesy of Alisa Anton/Unsplash) 

Monday 22 August 2022

The House Beneath the Cliffs by Sharon Gosling - #CoverLove

Hello and welcome to this week's cover love feature. It's the place where I, quite literally, judge a book by its cover, prior to reading the blurb. Let's be honest, there are occasions when we pick up a book because it has a great cover.

This gorgeous cover is of The House Beneath the Cliffs by Sharon Gosling.

Sharon released her latest novel last week, The Lighthouse Bookshop, and it was a difficult decision for me when choosing between the two.

However, this one piqued my curiosity the most. Clearly the book features one of the houses depicted on the cover, but which one and why? I guess I will just have to read it and find out, and I can hardly wait.

Have you ever bought or borrowed a library book based solely on it's cover? Did it live up to your expectations?



A remote yet beautiful village. A tiny kitchen lunch club. The perfect place to start again.
 
Anna moves to Crovie, a tiny fishing village on the Moray Firth, for a fresh start. But when she arrives, she realises her new home is really no more than a shed, and the village itself sits beneath a cliff right on the edge of the sea, in constant danger of storms and landslides. Has she made a terrible mistake?

Yet as she begins to learn about the Scottish coast and its people, something she thought she’d lost reawakens in her. She rediscovers her love of cooking, and turns her kitchen into a pop-up lunch club. But not all the locals are delighted about her arrival, and some are keen to see her plans fail.
 
Will Anna really be able to put down roots in this remote and wild village? Or will her fragile new beginning start to crumble with the cliffs . . . ?


Wednesday 17 August 2022

New Releases in September 2022

 


It seems such a short time since I was posting the January new releases! But here we are approaching September and there are some great new releases coming up next month. Here are ten that have caught my eye.


Little Caged Birds by Lucy Banks

The public think Ava’s a monster. Ava thinks she’s blameless.

In prison, they called her Butcher Bird – but Ava’s not in prison any more. Released after 25 years to a new identity and a new home, Ava finally has the quiet life she’s always wanted.

But someone knows who she is. The lies she’s told are about to unravel.



Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young

Emery Blackwood's life was forever changed on the eve of her high school graduation, when the love of her life, August Salt, was accused of murdering her best friend, Lily. She'd once dreamt of running away with August, eager to escape the misty, remote shores of Saoirse Island and chase new dreams together. Now, she is doing what her teenage self swore she never would: living a quiet existence among this tight-knit community steeped in folklore and tradition, ruled by the seasons and ancient superstitions.

But when August returns after fourteen years to bury his mother's ashes, Emery must confront her first love and the reason he left so abruptly. But the town wants August gone again. And as the island begins to show signs of strange happenings, the emergence of deep betrayals and hidden promises threatens to reveal the truth behind Lily's death once and for all.


In Little Stars by Linda Green

Two families divided by hate
A love that will not die.

Sylvie and Donna travel on the same train to work each day but have never spoken. Their families are on different sides of the bitter Brexit divide, although the tensions and arguments at home give them much in common.

What they don't know is that their eldest children, Rachid and Jodie, are about to meet for the first time and fall in love. Aware that neither family will approve, the teenagers vow to keep their romance a secret.

But as Sylvie's family feel increasingly unwelcome in England, a desire for a better life threatens Rachid and Jodie's relationship. Can their love unite their families - or will it end in tragedy?


The Deception by Kim Taylor Blakemore

New Hampshire, 1877. Maud Price was once a celebrated child medium, a true believer in lifting the veil between the living and the dead. Now penniless, her guiding spirits gone, the so-called “Maid of Light” is desperate to regain her reputation—but doing so means putting her faith in deceiving others.

Clementine Watkins, known in spiritualist circles for her bag of tricks and utmost discretion, creates the sort of theatrics that can fill Maud’s parlour again, and with each misdirection, Maud’s fame is restored. But her guilt is a heavy burden. And the ruse has become a risk. Others are plotting to expose the fraud, and Clem can’t allow anyone—even Maud—to jeopardise the fortune the hoax has made her.

When the deception hints at a possible murder, Maud realises how dangerous a game she’s playing. But to return to the light from which she’s strayed, she must first survive the darkness created by Clem’s smoke and mirrors.


The Enigma of Room 622 by Joel Dicker

It all starts with an innocuous curiosity: at the Hotel de Verbier, a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps, there is no Room 622.
This anomaly piques the interest of Joël Dicker, Switzerland's most famous literary star, who flees to the Verbier to recover from a bad breakup, mourn the death of his publisher, and begin his next novel.

Before he knows it, he's coaxed out of his slump by a fellow guest, who quickly uncovers the reason behind Room 622's erasure: an unsolved murder. The attendant circumstances: a love triangle and a power struggle at the heart of Switzerland's largest private bank, a mysterious counter-intelligence unit known only as P-30, and a shadowy émigré with more money than God.

A Russian doll of a mystery crafted with the precision of a Swiss watch, The Enigma of Room 622 is Joël Dicker's most diabolically addictive thriller yet.


Unraveller by Frances Hardinge

Unraveller is a spell-binding fantasy from the Costa-award winning author of The Lie Tree, Frances Hardinge.

In a world where anyone can cast a life-destroying curse, only one person has the power to unravel them.

Kellen does not fully understand his unique gift, but helps those who are cursed, like his friend Nettle who was trapped in the body of a bird for years. She is now Kellen's constant companion and his closest ally.

But the Unraveller carries a curse himself and, unless he and Nettle can remove it, Kellen is a danger to everything – and everyone – around him . . .


Psalms for the End of the World by Cole Haddon

It's 1962 and physics student Grace Pulansky believes she has met the man of her dreams, Robert Jones, while serving up slices of pecan pie at the local diner. But then the FBI shows up, with their fedoras and off-the-rack business suits, and accuses him of being a bomb-planting mass-murderer.

Finding herself on the run with Jones across America's Southwest, the discoveries awaiting Gracie will undermine everything she knows about the universe. Her story will reveal how scores of lives - an identity-swapping rock star, a mourning lover in ancient China, Nazi hunters in pursuit of a terrible secret, a crazed artist in pre-revolutionary France, an astronaut struggling with a turbulent interplanetary future, and many more - are interconnected across space and time by love, grief, and quantum entanglement.

Spanning continents, centuries, and dimensions, this exquisitely crafted and madly inventive novel - a triple-disk, concept-album of a book - is a profound yet propulsive enquiry into the nature of reality - the perfect immersive read for fans of David Mitchell, Emily St. John Mandel, Neil Gaiman and Margaret Atwood.


Mother Tongue by Joyce Kornblatt

Mother Tongue begins with a shocking discovery. In a powerful fiction that reads like a true story, the details of the crime and its aftermath unfold.

In mid-life, Australian fiction-writer Nella Pine learns that she was kidnapped as an infant from a hospital in the United States, taken to Australia, and raised there by the woman she knew as her mother, but who was actually her abductor. When I was three days old, a nurse named Ruth Miller stole me from the obstetrics ward in Mercy Hospital and raised me as her own.

In four voices of those whose lives were changed forever by the abduction, the mystery of Nella's kidnapping emerges. Why was she taken? How was the secret kept for so long? What became of the family she was stolen from? Mother Tongue invites the reader to participate with these memorable characters as they unfold the impact on them of a terrible crime.


How We Disappear by Tara Lynn Masih

In How We Disappear, Tara Lynn Masih offers readers transporting and compelling stories of those taken, those missing, and those neither here nor gone-runaways, exiles, wanderers, ghosts, even the elusive Dame Agatha Christie. From the remote Siberian taiga to the harsh American frontier, from rural Long Island to postwar Belgium, Masih's characters are diverse in identity and circumstance, defying the burden of erasure by disappearing into or emerging from physical and emotional landscapes. Described as "masterful" and as "striking and resonant" (Publishers Weekly), Masih's fiction, crossing boundaries between historical and contemporary, sparks with awareness that nothing and no one is ever gone for good-and that the wilderness is never quite behind us.


Loving the Dead and Gone by Judith Turner-Yamamoto

The death of Donald Ray in a freak car accident becomes the catalyst for the release of passions, needs, and hurts. Clayton's discovery of dead Donald Ray upends his longtime emotional numbness. Darlene, the seventeen-year-old widow, struggles to reconnect with her late husband while proving herself still alive. Soon Clayton and Darlene's bond of loss and death works its magic, drawing them into an affair that brings the loneliness in Clayton's marriage to a crisis. When Aurilla Cutter, Clayton's mother-in-law, learns about the affair, her own memories of longing and infidelity are set loose. Like Darlene's passions--unappeased and clung to--Aurilla's possess an intensity that denies life to the present. As Aurilla's own forbidden and tragic story of love, death, and repeated loss alternates with Darlene's and Clayton's, the divide of generations narrows and collapses, building to the unlikely collision.

Friday 12 August 2022

Lorenzo DeStefano - #AuthorInterview

 I am absolutely thrilled and honoured to have recently interviewed, author and film director, Lorenzo DeStefano. Lorenzo published his debut novel, House Boy, during June of this year, and it is a fantastic book. If you would like to read my review you can do so by clicking here. It is one of the most thought provoking novels I have read in a long time and I wholeheartedly recommend it.


Q   House Boy is your debut novel. Can you tell me a little about your background?

I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. While still in high school I began working as location scout for local commercial production companies and apprenticed to several independent filmmakers based in Hawaii. At the same time I  was exploring his creative process as a teenage street photographer in Honolulu, chronicling the diverse multi-cultural island life where I  grew up.  My early black & white thematic work included Rest Homes Hawaii and Leahi Hospital – Children’s Ward. 

My other photography credits include the travelling exhibition, “Cubanos-Island Portraits - 1993-1998”, which has been shown extensively in Cuba as well as in New York, Chicago, London, Havana, Los Angeles, and Vancouver and is part of the Permanent Collection of MOLAA, the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California. My photographs have also been licensed for Print, CDs, TV & Film, including for HBO’s, Six Feet Under and for the Warner Brothers film, Queen of the Damned.

On moving to Carmel, California, I expanded my visual explorations to making my own short films and learning more about the film making process. During this time I was accepted into Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara but decided to change from still photography to film making, focusing on a career in film editing.

It as at that point that I moved to Los Angeles and worked at the post-production facilities of National Geographic Films in Hollywood. My first onscreen credit was as an assistant editor on the National Geographic Special, Hong Kong - A Family Portrait.

I was eventually accepted into the Motion Picture Editor’s Guild. I then worked as an Apprentice Editor, working on films such as The Blue Lagoon before working as First Assistant Editor and Co-Editor on four further features.

My first solo credit as a Film Editor was on Girls Just Want To Have Fun before becoming a Director member of the Directors Guild of America. My first feature documentary film was Talmage Farlow and I produced and directed subsequent documentaries including Hearing is Believing.

As a writer/producer, my narrative film projects include The Diarist (2021), a 5-Part Limited Series, and House Boy (2022), a 3-Part Limited Series, which is in progress.

When did you decide to write House Boy and what prompted you to do so?

A  House Boy has been unlike any other writing adventure I have been on. I first encountered the true incident on which the book is based in 1995 while in London for a reading of a play of mine at the Greenwich Theatre.

The small newspaper article I read one day, about a young man’s trial for murder of his female “employer”, tapped into my existing interest in and revulsion for the phenomenon of modern slavery. What I found initially compelling was that this victim of domestic and sex slavery was a young man while the perpetrator was a middle-aged woman. This contrasted with the usual dynamic of female sex trafficking that I and many others had gotten used to.

After inquiries were made, it was arranged by the accused’s solicitor that I visit the convicted young man in Brixton prison in South London to discuss his case and interview him for a potential magazine article. In the novel, I transferred many aspects of this experience with that of Detective Jayawan Gopal, in that the day before my scheduled visit the inmate was deported to India. This was, I learned, one of the terms of his conviction for “manslaughter with provocation”, a lesser charge than “capital murder” because of the extenuating circumstance of torture and enslavement that came out at trial.

Disappointed but glad for his second chance at freedom, I tried for several months to locate this young man in Tamil Nadu State through private investigators, to no avail. This was not a person with any social profile, no footprints to trace. No amount of web surfing turned up anything.

I gave up on the piece, at least how I originally envisioned it. But this was that kind of story that gets a hold of a writer and will not let go. Unlike many of my other fact-based film & theater projects, there was very little documentary evidence to follow. There were no first person witnesses available. As a result, I decided after several years away from the piece to embark on a major creative journey and write the story as a novel.

I worked on it for many years, in between film and theatre and other writing projects. On subsequent trips to the UK, I visited the location of the actual incident on Finchley Lane in the borough of Hendon, North London. I photographed every house on each side of the street, knowing that in one of these dwellings these horrific events had taken place. I observed a number of trials at the Old Bailey, to familiarize myself with the UK’s completely different trial system. After inquiring of the Court if a transcript of the trial could be obtained, I was told that as a murder case these records had been sealed. I did manage, through the kind intervention of a clerk, to receive a copy of the 28- page Police Summary of the case, which proved invaluable and was the single greatest piece of research I obtained.

With this in hand, I embarked on voluminous research into a culture not my own. This was an incredibly challenging process. A better word would be daunting. I did my best to infuse Vijay’s desperate search for salvation during his ordeal in the Tagorstani’s house with the kind of Hindu and Tamil prayers I felt he, as a man of faith, would cling to for inner strength. I found out quickly that Indian culture is fiendishly complex, especially for outsiders. I was determined, as a western writer, to get the facts and the history and the language right. This took a very long time and much trial and error.

Q  How did you go about doing research for House Boy?

A   I consulted with people at Anti-Slavery International in the U.K., Free The Slaves in the U.S., Human Rights Watch, and Kalayaan, a London-based charity which works to provide practical advice and support for the rights of migrant workers.

I also read a number of books on the subject of modern slavery, the most important being Kevin Bales’ The Slave Next Door and Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy.

I watched a number of video news stories from India and all over the world covering cases of modern slavery. I also watched many times the amazing film, Bandit Queen, about the notorious Dalit woman, Phoolan Devi, who formed a gang of mostly male soldiers and took violent revenge on the upper caste tormentors who had repeatedly raped her at any early age and beat and humiliated her and her family over many years. After receiving amnesty, Devi stood for election to Parliament as a candidate of the Samajwadi Party and was twice elected as a Member of Parliament. She served in this capacity between 1996 and 2001, the year she was assassinated outside her home by relatives of those she and her supporters had killed years before for revenge.

Researching House Boy was a fascinating but often unpleasant experience that exposed me to a very bloody and tumultuous history, one lasting thousands of years and crossing borders like an unstoppable virus, a pernicious disease.

The book, and Vijay's attitudes, revolve around the Indian caste system. Was it difficult immersing yourself in such a different way of life and attitude?

A  While I believe that writers should be able to explore any subject under the sun, no matter their ethnicity, there is a special responsibility when the story is outside one’s life and cultural experience. From the beginning I knew that a major part of completing the manuscript would be to consult with a South Asian author or academic to help me eliminate anything inauthentic or just plain wrong. Through Atmosphere Press I met Falguni Jain, a young writer and book reviewer from Maharashtra, India. Falguni was extremely helpful in making certain that the many references to South Asian cultural & religious content were correct and that the rigorous rules of the caste system, down to names and customs and social attitudes, were authentic and indisputable.

The trust and support of many people have gone into this book’s completion, including everyone at Atmosphere Press for seeing the promise in the book and guiding me expertly towards publication. Most importantly, I need to send thanks and respect to “EMG”, the man I never met, who actually lived this story.

Other than my efforts to meet “EMG”, I do not have any first-hand experience with human trafficking. I guess I should consider myself fortunate in this, though I do feel that by immersing myself in this story for all these years I have attempted to come as close as I can to what it would be like to be in a situation like Vijay’s, though nothing in a book, however well-executed or intentioned, can compare to what goes on in real life.

During this entire process, I became fascinated by the way the caste system seemed to jump so effortlessly from the ancient world to the so-called “New World”. Over many years of writing and rewriting this piece, a major motivation was to try and nail down as much as possible why this happens in human society and how, with this book, there may be a way to illuminate this situation for the better.

Despite my long experience in documentary filmmaking and as a writer of non-fiction, I did not want to write a rigidly “factual” piece. I felt that that being constrained by documentary facts, of which I had very few anyway, would not be the best way to create the scenes and situations I felt were necessary to paint a dramatic picture of this year in the life of Vijay Pallan. I was more after something that would keep me, as a reader, engaged from start to finish.

The risk with a piece like this is that you can exhaust the goodwill of the reader by being too relentlessly dark about what is taking place. Exhaustion sets in. Readers have been exposed to so much horror, so much human indignity, that the mere mention of something like modern slavery or human trafficking can send people running for something more palatable to read or experience. I had to find a way, and I hope I have, to make Vijay’s story so compelling, so captivating and powerful, that most people would tolerate the darkness of the piece in search of the light that does exist within it, the light of hope that can never be allowed to be extinguished.

What happens to Vijay and everyone else in this novel is no fairy tale. Despite there being no truly happy endings, I wanted House Boy to have some redemptive qualities. Largely through Inspector Gopal’s encounters with Vijay Pallan, we learn much about the harsh realities of human trafficking, the boundless capacity for human pain, and the ultimate blessing of even one man’s survival.

Q  Can you tell me a little about your writing process?

As you’ll find out from the history of the lengthy evolution of House Boy, described above, from the 1995 discovery of the true crime story on which it is based to the book’s publication in 2022, I do not work that quickly. Though I certainly didn’t work on the book for that entire 27 year period, it was often on my mind and gestating.

It began as a screenplay that was optioned to two producers in the UK, though I decided to pull it from development and committed to first finishing it as a novel. I devoted concerted time to it over the last three years, with a year-and-a-half of that in editorial with Atmosphere Press. I wanted my first novel to be scrupulously researched and prepared beyond reproach for publication.

Though I can and do write quickly when it’s flowing, I have a number of other projects, primarily for film & theater, that have had long development periods, especially The Diarist, which you can read more about at www.diaristfilm.com and www.cameraobscuraplya.com.

As for the technical approach, I write on a computer though frequently refer to handwritten notes accumulated over time. Time of day is immaterial, though late nights into early morning sems to be the most fertile, until exhaustion sets in.

Q  According to ImDB there is a screenplay in the pipeline. When will this be available?

A  The screenplay of House Boy is in progress and is envisioned as a 5 part/5 hour Limited Series for one of the major streaming platforms or premium cable networks. It will likely be a UK/India/US co-production, with me serving as Producer/Writer, in association with an established producer/show runner and a director of South Asian or Indo-British extraction. I would hope it could be produced in 2023/2024 for a 2024/2025 release, though this depends on the development and production process, which can be lengthy and unpredictable.

Are you planning on writing further novels?

My next book will likely be a non-fiction memoir titled Visitations - Finding a Secret Relative in Modern-Day Hawaii. 

As someone born and raised in Hawaii, I was 37 when I learned from my mother that we had a relative with Hansen’s disease, known to the world as leprosy. Olivia Robello was born in 1916 on the island of Kauai to Portuguese immigrant parents from the Azores. She grew up in a tight-knit, hardworking community where family pride and the magnetic pull of assimilation often clashed. People kept anything potentially embarrassing locked tightly in the closet. If word ever got out that someone in the family had contracted such a dreaded disease as leprosy it would have a serious effect on their social standing, the way they were treated at work, at school, even in church.

By the time I met Olivia in December of 1989, on Molokai’s remote Kalaupapa peninsula, the antiquated rules surrounding “the separation sickness” had largely vanished. In the 17 years that we were able to share, this tough, razor-witted lady taught me much about humanity in all its forms. She was a living witness to wrenching public policy decisions going back more than 150 years, decisions that forever altered people’s lives and sent them to a place where few expected to emerge. Olivia was a woman for whom truth was an emotion. Candor was an essential card in her deck. She doled out both whether you asked her to or not. She didn’t act out of mere orneriness, though that could definitely come into it. She was trying to protect herself from what she saw as the distractions of a public life she never asked for but for which she was ideally suited.



That only leaves me to say a huge thank you to Lorenzo for being so generous with his time. It has been fascinating to learn of the backstory that went into producing House Boy. It's a brilliant book and I would encourage everyone to read it.

Wednesday 10 August 2022

After Silence by Jessica Gregson - #BookReview

 

Katya woke from nothing with her mouth closed on a gasp. This sudden coming back to herself, from something that wasn't sleep: there were no words for it, uncoiling her body, finding it already moving without her will. She saw her hand first, its five fingers as alien as an undersea creature, unrecognisable, pressed against flesh, red with blood. The feel of it, slick and hot, its unmistakable soft-firmness. Then her hearing, returning with a flood, and her own voice, mid-sentence: "...it's all right, it's all right."
A hand landed on her shoulder and Katya turned. She didn't know the face, but somehow associated it with wooden boards, open trucks and glances not met, a collection of independent impressions, clattering together like the shifting of stones, trodden on. The face spoke: "They're coming back."

***

Leningrad, 1941. German forces surround the city at the start of the most harrowing winter in its history. The siege becomes a battle for survival. Bodies fill the streets, and the crushing horror of cold, starvation and bone-deep fear is relentless.

Set against this background of tragedy and suffering, a remarkable group of musicians - soldiers and civilians, all of whom have been wasted by war and hunger - come together to perform Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony. They scarcely have the strength to carry their instruments, but their performance of this haunting and defiant new piece provides a rare light of hope in the darkness. Friendship, love and a vibrant passion for music combine in this ambitious, absorbing and richly sensuous masterpiece.

***

This is a wonderful novel which is strong in character, atmosphere and place.

Set in Leningrad during the siege of World War II the author uses this period and place to describe the bleak and horrific conditions in which the characters had to live and survive. I have rarely read a book whereby the author is able to create such an authentically bleak atmosphere in which to plant her characters, whilst simultaneously portraying hope, love and friendship.

Central to the story is the creation of an orchestra set amongst the ruins of the city. Weakened from little food, the characters who are central to the narrative, enlist for this orchestra largely for the extra rations they will be provided with. However, we soon learn that it is about so much more than that. Music is the lifeblood of these people and is central to the story.

The characters are exquisitely portrayed, and the author recognised exactly the right point in to which to insert the back story of the main characters without interrupting the narrative. This perfectly seamless movement through time added hugely to the novel and provided the reader with a better understanding of the characters.

I do not think that I will be able to forget Katya and Dima in a hurry. They represent all that good fictional characters should be and I highly recommend this book. Readers who enjoy historical fiction or music will enjoy this book.

ISBN: 978 1838498764

Publisher: Deixis Press

Formats: e-book, hardback and paperback

No of Pages: 474 (paperback)


About the Author:

Jessica was born in London in 1978. She is now a humanitarian education specialist and a writer, with occasional forays into other careers. Her first novel, The Angel Makers, was published in 2007 and has since sold to nine international markets. Her second novel, The Ice Cream Army, was published in 2009. She has lived and worked in a variety of places, including South Sudan, Myanmar and Azerbaijan, and currently divides her time between Glasgow and everywhere else.



(ARC provided courtesy of the publisher)

Monday 8 August 2022

Library Loans - 8th August 2022


What with one thing or another I haven't managed to visit the library much recently. Other than dashing in to return a book which is threatening to become overdue, I haven't had the opportunity to have a leisurely browse.

I have had a few come through that I placed reservations on and which have been the cause of another busy dash in to collect them. However, this weekend, I went for a leisurely meander amongst the book shelves, and it was lovely. 

It reminded me of how important it is that we slow down, step off the merry-go-round of life, and take a few deep breaths. Finding time to do something which brings us joy is essential to our well-being. For me, a Saturday morning stroll around town, a coffee and a visit to the library helps me unwind from the busyness of the week. 

In the week ahead I hope you can carve out a little bit of 'me time' for yourself. Have a lovely week!

 

Salt Lane by William Shaw

SHE ALWAYS WENT TOO FAR

DS Alexandra Cupidi has done it again. She should have learnt to keep her big mouth shut, after the scandal that sent her packing - resentful teenager in tow - from the London Met to the lonely Kent coastline. Murder is different here, among the fens and stark beaches.

SHE WAS THE ONE WHO FOUND THE KILLERS

The man drowned in the slurry pit had been herded there like an animal. He was North African, like many of the fruit pickers that work the fields. The more Cupidi discovers, the more she wants to ask - but these people are suspicious of questions.

AND NOW IT WAS KILLING HER

It will take an understanding of this strange place - its old ways and new crimes - to uncover the dark conspiracy behind the murder. Cupidi is not afraid to travel that road. But she should be. She should, by now, have learnt.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing.

But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with - of all things - her mind. True chemistry results.

Like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ('combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride') proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.

The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi

An old adage says there are really only two stories: a man goes on a voyage, and a stranger arrives in town. This is the third: a woman breaks the rules . . .

A Sin Eater’s duty is a necessary evil: she hears the confessions of the dying, eats their sins as a funeral rite. Stained by these sins, she is shunned and silenced, doomed to live in exile at the edge of town.

Recently orphaned May Owens is just fourteen, only concerned with where her next meal is coming from. When she’s arrested for stealing a loaf of bread, however, and subsequently sentenced to become a Sin Eater, finding food is suddenly the last of her worries.

It’s a devastating sentence, but May’s new invisibility opens new doors. And when first one then two of the Queen’s courtiers suddenly grow ill, May hears their deathbed confessions – and begins to investigate a terrible rumour that is only whispered of amid palace corridors . . .

Can you uncover the truth when you’re forbidden from speaking it?

 (header photo courtesy of Mitchell Luo/Unsplash)


Friday 5 August 2022

Shadow by Michael Morpurgo - Illustrated by Christian Birmingham - #BookReview


None of it would ever have happened if it hadn't been for Grandma's tree. And that's a fact. Ever since Grandma died - that was about three years ago now - Grandpa had always come to spend the summer holidays with us up in Manchester. But this summer he said he couldn't come, because he was worried about Grandma's tree.

We'd all planted that tree together, the whole family, in his garden in Cambridge. A cherry tree it was, because Grandma especially loved the white blossoms in the spring. Each of us had passed around the jug and poured a little water on it, to give it a good start.



***

A stunning and moving novel from Michael Morpurgo, the nation’s favourite storyteller – featuring the bravest dog in all the world…

This is the story of Aman, as told in his own words – a boy from Afghanistan fleeing the horror of the Afghan war. When a western dog shows up outside the caves where Aman lives with his mother, Aman is initially repulsed – it is not customary for people to keep dogs as pets in his part of the world. But when Aman and his mother finally decide to make a bid for freedom, the dog Aman has called Shadow will not leave their side. Soon it becomes clear: the destinies of boy and dog are linked, and always will be…

***

I very rarely review children's books, although before I began the blog I exclusively did children and young adult titles. Those were the days when reviews were only found in magazines and newspapers and I was a regular contributor to Carousel magazine and a few others.

I have happy memories of Michael Morpurgo's books. I can remember perching on the edge of the bed while I read them to my children at bed time. They adored The Butterfly Lion and Kensuke's Kingdom and as they grew older they all enjoyed reading the outstanding Private Peaceful.

Shadow was published after they were grown but I wanted a trip down memory lane and so purchased a copy. It is a wonderful story that appealed to me as a adult as much as it would to children.

The thing I appreciate about Mr Morpurgo's writing is that although they are intended for a young audience, he does not shy away from tackling difficult subjects and situations. Shadow is about asylum seekers, life under Taliban rule in Afghanistan and the feeling of hopelessness. Neither does he sugar coat his text.  He writes with such sensitivity that they are palatable for a young audience, whilst portraying what was a horrifying situation for the main character, Aman, and his family.

I loved the characters of Matt, Aman and Grandpa, and I can never resist a book which has a dog as one of its central characters. The characters come alive, not only in the text, but in the excellent monotone illustrations.

This is a story about hope and resilience and would be perfect for children around nine years and upwards. However, any younger child who has experienced life as a refugee would find this book relatable and would enjoy sharing it with an adult. I highly recommend it.

ISBN: 978 0007339617

Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books

Formats: e-book, audio and paperback

No. of Pages: 288 (paperback)

Support Independent Bookshops - Buy from Bookshop.org *


About the Author: 

Michael Morpurgo is one of Britain's best-loved children's book writers. He has written more than 100 books and has won the Smarties Prize, the Whitbread Award, and the Blue Peter Book Award for Private Peaceful. He is also the author of War Horse which has been made into a Tony Award-winning Broadway play and a Golden Globe-nominated film. Michael was Writer in Residence at The Savoy Hotel from January to March 2007, and previously he was Children's Laureate from 2003-2005, a role that took him across Britain to inspire a love of reading in children. You can visit him online at www.michaelmorpurgo.com.

Support Independent Bookshops - Buy from Bookshop.org *

*Disclosure: I only recommend books I would buy myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post contains an affiliate link from which I may earn a small commission.

(author photo courtesy of the authors website/bio info courtesy of Amazon)


Wednesday 3 August 2022

Desert Island Books with Carolyn Clarke

 


Hello and welcome back to Desert Island Books. I am thrilled to have Carolyn Clarke joining us this month.

Carolyn's recently released debut novel, And Then There's Margaret, is a wonderfully entertaining and relatable book. You can read my review of this fabulous book by clicking here.

Carolyn is the founder and curator of https://henlitcentral.com/, a blog focused on ‘life and lit’ for women over 40. And Then There’s Margaret is her first novel. She has been an ESL teacher for over sixteen years and has co-authored several articles and resources with Cambridge University Press, MacMillan Education and her award-winning blog ESL Made Easy. 


So, Carolyn, how do you think you would get on if you were stranded on a desert island?

Stranded on a desert island might be fun if I had the necessities for survival and other items to keep me sane while breaking free from the matrix of modern society. Some of those items would be a bunch of books I haven’t read yet but want to read, and books I loved and would want to read again.

For starters, I’d like to read some of the movies/series I’ve enjoyed on screen featuring older protagonists struggling with real life challenges. I’m a fan of comedies but lately I’ve become a bigger fan of dramedies – books that have the perfect balance of drama and comedy. And I’m not talking light reads about living in a big city with a terrible boss and a wandering lover. I’m way past that and have gladly moved on. I want to read about issues that reflect my reality. Not the happily ever after. So, meaningless jobs, failing marriages, MIA kids and ageing parents all with characters that are flawed, genuine and most importantly, relatable, and real. For those on screen dramedies turned to books, here are a few I’d want to take with me.

French Exit by Patrick deWitt

While the movie wasn’t exactly a hit with movie goers and critics, I did enjoy the stellar performances of Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges. Although a little silly at times, this black comedy packed a punch examining what it’s like to fear the end of something and to resist the act of moving on. It was a surreal comedy and I look forward to reading the book.





The Land of Steady Habits by Ted Thompson

I enjoyed this slow-paced movie about a recently retired middle-aged man who after years of doing everything right, finds himself still reaching for a slice of happiness in his life. He leaves his wife, moves into a condo, and then waits for it to come. But it doesn’t. It was a funny, relatable, and bittersweet movie, full of complicated characters struggling between the choices of freedom and obligation. I look forward to this read and want to compare the movie to Ted Thompson’s “suburb” debut novel.



Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Oh, did I LOVE this limited series that followed the stern and undeniably depressed yet witty character, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher who loathes life it seems and the changes going on around her, including the people in her town.

This HBO miniseries starring Frances McDormand and Richard Jenkins is a must see if you like family dramas that focus on the human condition. Told beautifully, I can’t wait to read the book. And even more exciting is Elizabeth Strout’s follow up book, Olive, Again that came out in 2019. Can I take that too? 
You certainly can Carolyn.

I like funny laugh out loud reads so for those books/memoirs/essays by celebrity authors I’ve read and loved, here are a few that would surely keep me entertained.

Sicker in the Head by Judd Apatow

I read his first book, Sick in the Head and promised myself I’d read the next one. I enjoy reading the conversations of some of the funniest in the comedy world! Judd Apatow is an amazing writer and producer to boot – I’ve watched ALL of his movies with sheer delight – Knocked Up, This is 40, The 40-Year-Old Virgin…the list goes on. 

While hammocking away on a deserted beach, I want to laugh out loud and learn more about this ever changing, and not to mention, challenging landscape for the world of comedians – it can’t be easy in this day and age. Ahem.


Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson

I’ve read Jenny Lawson’s Furiously Happy, and Let’s Pretend This Never Happened books and want to read her latest one, Broken. Her deliciously funny outlook on life and her eccentric memories of childhood are real and raw – told with sarcasm, and at times, inappropriate humour. She’s one of the funniest writers I’ve read. I’d want Jenny Lawson with me so I can find humour in the loneliness and fear of being stranded on an island without my phone and all the other wonderful and convenient gadgets in my life​.



Anything by Mindy Kaling

It’s hard to choose but anything by Mindy Kaling would bring me great joy and comfort. Besides binge watching The Mindy Project and yes, I must admit, Netflix’s teen dramedy, Never Have I Ever (in which she produced and I’m sure mostly wrote), I’ve read 3 of her 5 short and fun essays and let me tell you, the things she says and how she writes them always makes me laugh out loud. I’d want to bring her along – she’s extremely witty, engaging, and real!

Her books sound excellent but you can only have one. Perhaps, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns) would be a good one.


I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron was wickedly witty. I read Heartburn but never had a chance to read this one. Here’s a review…

“A candid, hilarious look at women of a certain age and dealing with the tribulations of maintenance, menopause, empty nests, and life itself.”

Need I say more?




The Odyssey by Lara Williams

The vibrant colour of this book’s cover caught my attention on Goodread’s 2022 Most Anticipated Book.

While I haven’t had a chance to dig too deep into the plot summary, the reviews say it all – “slyly humorous” and “utterly sharp and brilliant.” I read somewhere this book falls in the same vein as Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends and Sayaka Murata’s very quirky yet intelligent novel Convenience Store Woman. Both of whom I’m great fans of.




Thank you so much for joining us Carolyn. You have some excellent choices there, many of which are new to me.

Carolyn can be found at:

Twitter: @CarolynRClarke                       
Facebook: @CarolynClarkeAuthor
Instagram: @carolynclarkeauthor
https://henlitcentral.com/

And Then There’s Margaret by Carolyn Clarke (Black Rose Writing) is available from Amazon and all good book retailers.

If you are an author who would like to take part and choose which eight books you would take to a desert island, please email me at: leftontheshelf1@gmail.com or you can find me on Twitter at: @leftontheshelf1

Tuesday 2 August 2022

Books to Read in August 2022

 


I remember how busy August used to be when I had four little ones to look after. The school holidays were always a time I looked forward to. It was a change from the routine of the school run, and having quality time to spend with my children without all of the hurry, rush and bother. They are precious days and they pass too quickly.

Visits to the library were frequent in those days. Although I personally did not get very much reading done, we used to go every few days so they could choose new books. Then we would go to the park, sit on a blanket and read.  Such happy days.

Here are a few books that I hope to read this month.


A River Town by Thomas Keneally

Little Caged Birds by Lucy Banks

The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

An Orphan's Journey by Rosie Goodwin

The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary

The Bookseller of Inverness by S.G. MacLean

Four Riddles for Jane Austen by Gabrielle Mullarkey

Unraveller by Frances Hardinge

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
(this will be a reread for me)

The Woman Underwater by Penny Goetjen

(header photo courtesy of Raphael Biscaldi / Unsplash)

Monday 1 August 2022

Reading Roundup - July 2022


 This month has seen the hottest temperatures recorded ever here in the UK. During the couple of days when temperatures were at their highest it was very difficult to get on with everyday stuff. Sitting at the desk writing was difficult and as for that pile of ironing that sat in the laundry basket waiting to be neatly pressed - not a chance!

We have had a family holiday that was wonderful and temperatures had decreased to a more temperate climate. 

Of course, all this heat has provided the perfect opportunity to sit with a book, in front of a fan, dreaming of ice cream. How did you cope during those very hot days? Have you read anything good this month?

Here are the books that I read in July.

Books I Have Read

The Late Train to Gipsy Hill by Alan Johnson - This was my book group choice this month. It wasn't entirely my cup of tea but others in the group thought it very good.

The Redeemer by Victoria Goldman - I enjoyed reading this debut novel very much. You can read my review by clicking here.

And Then There's Margaret by Carolyn Clarke - This was a delicious book which I highly recommend. You can read my review by clicking here. Carolyn will be my guest on the blog later this week, sharing her eight books which she would take to a desert island.

Death on a Monday Night by Jo Allen - I read this as part of the blog tour. I enjoyed it very much. You can read my review by clicking here.

The Black Dress by Deborah Moggach - It didn't live up to my expectation of a book from this author but it was okay to read.

Shadow by Michael Morpurgo - One for the children here and my review will be up later this week.

The Wilderness by Sarah Duguid - An excellent book and you can read my review by clicking here.

Books I Did Not Finish

Happy Families by Julie Ma 

Books I am Partway Through

Nightshade by E.S. Thomson

After Silence by Julia Gregson

Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie


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(header photo courtesy of Brooke Lark/Unsplash)