One Fine Voice by Rebecca Langston-George - #blogtour #excerpt #extract.

Today I have an extract from this gorgeous looking book. It has to be one of the loveliest covers I have seen in a while. 

The Blurb

All her life, Esther Hopkins has been told she has a mighty fine voice. 

Still, she can't believe her luck when just days after moving to town she's invited to sing a solo at the 1923 Independence Day picnic.

But the group sponsoring the picnic is not the benevolent fraternal order they claim to be. Worse, they've recruited her father, the town's freshly ordained Baptist minister, to become their chaplain. 

When they target the immigrant family of her new best friend, Esther must risk her father's anger, the KKK's revenge, and her family's safety to follow her conscience, salvage her friendship, and find the strength to speak truth to power even if it costs all she holds dear.

The Excerpt

Chapter 2

The pianist hit a wrong note in the chorus, causing Mama to wince, just as the church’s back doors wheezed open. A girl with a big blue hair bow in the next pew turned to look at me. Our eyes locked. Then she turned toward the doors behind us. I followed her gaze. That’s when I first saw them.

White robed men wearing pointed hoods paraded up the center aisle. They marched together in pairs until they reached the altar where my daddy had just kneeled; then half went left and half went right, forming a line across the front of the church. Their faces were masked save for the cut-out eye holes. Those sunken, shadowed holes all stared right at me, it seemed, pulling my eyes toward them, locking me in their dark gaze, paralyzing me with their murky eyes. 

I tried to sing. I knew every song in the hymnal by heart. But just like the white masks staring at me I didn’t have a working mouth. I tried to read the words in the hymnal, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from those blank stares. The one thing in my body that worked was my memory. It jabbed a stick in a deep muddy pool of my mind that usually only bubbled up in my nightmares. 

Four years ago, a winter’s day. A crust of ice crunched underfoot as I walked with my uncle to his barn. A lamb had gotten loose and had frozen to death near the fence. Its white wool stiff with sparkling ice crystals. A black crow was perched atop its head, a dark berry dangling from its beak. The crow flew away, and I saw that the lamb’s eyes had been picked out. Its cold, empty eye sockets stared through me, and I screamed.   

I felt that same urge to scream right then and run clear down the street away from our new church. I even turned my head toward the back door, but something stopped me. The girl—the one with the big blue bow—she was singing, --like she probably did every Sunday. I blinked. I turned my head the other way. Daddy sang along in his strong tenor. Blink. Reverend Dewhurst held his hymnal high and sang toward the ceiling. The pianist plunked on. Mama was the only other one that looked confused. Everyone around us was acting as if nothing unusual was happening, like masked robed men marching into church was perfectly normal. Was this normal for Grayson, Indiana?

Book Details

ISBN:  978 1964700595

Publisher:  Historium Press

Formats:  e-book, hardback and paperback

No. of Pages:  143 (paperback)

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org

Amazon UK

Amazon US

About the Author

Rebecca Langston-George is the author of nineteen books for young readers including the globally popular For the Right to Learn: Malala Yousafzai’s Story. Though she’s long been known for nonfiction, One Fine Voice is her first middle grade historical fiction. 

A retired teacher credentialed in both single subject language arts for upper grades and multiple subjects for younger grades, Rebecca is a popular school presenter for all ages, encouraging students to investigate and tap into their personal interests when writing. 

She serves on the board of The California Reading Association and is the Co-Regional Advisor for SCBWI Central-Coastal California, helping other writers achieve their dreams.

She splits her time between California’s scenic coast and its agricultural heartland, writing (and mostly rewriting) at one mile per hour on a treadmill desk. 

You can also find Rebecca at:

Author Website

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(media courtesy of The Coffee Pot Book Club)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Little Secrets by Victoria Goldman - #bookreview

Anna Kendall was guilty

The words on the lift mirror are as crimson as fresh blood. As I trace each letter slowly with my finger, the writing leaves a faint sticky residue on my fingers...

The Blurb

Welcome to the true-crime controversy that’s divided the media for the last twenty years. To discover the truth, we need to delve back into the past…

THEN: In June 1999, the last five prisoners at HMP Panbrook were killed just before the prison closed its doors for the final time. Anna Kendall, the nurse accused of their murders, died before the case went to court. Her motive and guilt have never been proven.

NOW: The Panbrook Prison Hotel is celebrating its tenth anniversary. Hotel manager Madeleine Batten is determined to discover what happened there twenty years earlier. But as the prison’s dark secrets are gradually exposed, danger lurks in the shadows. And someone is determined to keep the truth locked away.

My Review

I have been fortunate enough to read and review all of the books written by this talented author. Her previous novels, The Redeemer and The Associate form the Shanna Regan Murder Mystery series, which are well worth checking out. You can also find my reviews of these books by clicking on the respective titles.

Little Secrets is an exciting mystery set in The Panbrook, a former prison which has since been converted into a luxury hotel. In 1999, Anna Kendall was accused of killing five of the inmates when she worked there as a nurse. The narrative switches between Anna (then) and Madeleine (now), the hotel manager in the present day.

It was a story that had me gripped as I tried to work out what really went on. The author does a great job of making the reader question the narrative - was Anna really guilty of the murders? Is it possible that someone else killed these men? Why is Madeleine so anxious to find the truth? Anna has committed suicide before the case comes to trial, which the police took to be a sign of her guilt.

For the tenth anniversary of the hotel opening, the hotel owner throws a special weekend party with only specially selected guests and staff present. As the hotel manager, Madeleine is there to ensure everything runs smoothly. However, it doesn't take long before the reader begins to question whether she has her own agenda in place.

There were several layers to this story, which are only revealed as the plot moves forward. There were a number of twists and turns, and when the reveal at the end of the book arrives, I can honestly say that I hadn't seen it coming!

I thought this was a fantastic novel set against an unusual background. I enjoyed reading it very much. The author brings to life the setting, plot and characters extremely well. The story is tense and suspenseful, and made for engaging reading.

I recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a good, slow burn story which you can become completely immersed in. It made for great reading and I already can't wait to read what this author might produce next.

Book Details

ISBN:  978 1739695453

Publisher:  Three Crowns Publishing UK

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

No. of Pages:  344 (paperback)

Purchase Links

Amazon UK

Amazon US

About the Author

Victoria has been a freelance journalist, editor and proofreader for over 25 years, with specific expertise in consumer health and science communication. She is Freelance Health Editor for Bupa. She also writes for several consumer and pharmacy magazines on a regular basis.

Her debut crime novel, The Redeemer, was shortlisted for Best Debut Crime Novel of 2022 in the Crime Fiction Lover Awards 2022. The sequel, The Associate, is the Editor’s Choice Winner of Best Indie Crime Novel of 2023 in the Crime Fiction Lover Awards 2023. 

She has a BSc. in Biomedical Science from King’s College London and an MSc. in Science Communication from Imperial College London.

She proofreads and copy-edits fiction and non-fiction (including memoir). For more information about her writing, editing and proofreading work, please click on the links. 

She is a member of the Guild of Health Writers, the Medical Journalists’ Association and the Society of Authors. She is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi).

She was first runner up in the DHH Literary Agency New Voices Award 2019 with an Honourable Mention for The Redeemer.

You can also find Victoria at:

Author Website

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(ARC and media courtesy of the author)

(all opinions are my own)

The Manningtree Witches by A.K.Blakemore - #BookReview

 

A hill wet with brume of morning, one hawberry bush squalid with browning flowers. I have woken and put on my work dress, which is near enough my only dress, and yet she remains asleep. Jade. Pot-companion. Mother. I stand at the end of the cot and consider her face. A beam of morning sun from the window slices over the left cheek. Dark hair spread about the pillow, matted and greasy and greying in places.

There is a smell to my mother, when she is sleeping. It is a complicated, I think mannish smell. I smelled a like smell when I was sent, as a little girl, to fetch my father away from the Red Lion and to supper. The inn would be clattery with men's voices and small-beer sour, and my father would be very jolly indeed, sweeping me up and kissing me on the forehead, his coat crisp from the rain in the big fields.

***

Fear and destruction take root in a community of women when the Witchfinder General comes to town, in this dark and thrilling debut.

England, 1643. Parliament is battling the King; the war between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers rages. Puritanical fervour has gripped the nation, and the hot terror of damnation burns black in every shadow.

In Manningtree, depleted of men since the wars began, the women are left to their own devices. At the margins of this diminished community are those who are barely tolerated by the affluent villagers – the old, the poor, the unmarried, the sharp-tongued. Rebecca West, daughter of the formidable Beldam West, fatherless and husbandless, chafes against the drudgery of her days, livened only by her infatuation with the clerk John Edes. But then newcomer Matthew Hopkins takes over the Thorn Inn and begins to ask questions about the women of the margins. When a child falls ill with a fever and starts to rave about covens and pacts, the questions take on a bladed edge.

The Manningtree Witches plunges its readers into the fever and menace of the English witch trials, where suspicion, mistrust and betrayal ran amok as the power of men went unchecked and the integrity of women went undefended. It is a visceral, thrilling book that announces a bold new talent.

***

I was given this book by my son as a birthday gift. He said when he saw it in the bookshop he thought, 'this looks like the sort of thing mum would read and enjoy.' He was spot on because I enjoyed reading it very much.

The writing in this book is beautiful. It flows lyrically along and is a joy to read. The language is appropriate for the period in which the book is set and the author has chosen and placed every word with precision.

Whilst it is not an action packed page turner, the writing alone is sufficient to carry the reader along through the steady pace of this story. However, a lot happens in this book and it is a powerful example of the way men abused and exerted their power over women. 

It is no surprise that it won the Desmond Elliott Prize in 2021 as it exudes passion and depth. The author has taken a dark and disturbing period of history and created a novel which portrays a time which is  disturbing and mesmerising in equal measure.

As a debut novel it is an amazing accomplishment and, in my opinion, confirms Ms. Blakemore as  one to watch.

ISBN: 978 1783786442

Publisher: Granta Books

Formats: e-book, audio, hardback and paperback

No. of Pages: 304 (paperback)

About the Author:

A. K. Blakemore is the author of two full-length collections of poetry: Humbert Summer (Eyewear, 2015) and Fondue (Offord Road Books, 2018), which was awarded the 2019 Ledbury Forte Prize for Best Second Collection. She has also translated the work of Sichuanese poet Yu Yoyo (My Tenantless Body, Poetry Translation Centre, 2019). Her poetry and prose writing has been widely published and anthologised, appearing in the The London Review of Books, Poetry, Poetry Review and The White Review, among others.

(author photo courtesy of Amazon and bio info courtesy of the publisher)

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.

Books to Read in February 2022

 

February - the month of St. Valentine, and when our thoughts turn to love and romance.

I am, of course, talking about the love above all others - books. Every now and then it is nice to read a little love and romance, but I am talking about the love of books. That wonderful feeling when you open up a brand new volume... that creak in the spine you get and the smell of newly printed pages. Also, stumbling upon an old, sometimes tatty, book that has clearly been loved by someone before you. That gorgeously musty smell and uneven page edges.

Is it the same with an e-reader? I think not. I love my kindle but it doesn't give me the same reading experience. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Here are the books that I am looking forward to reading this month.

I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness by Clare Vaye Watkins

Billy and Me by Giovanna Fletcher

They Never Saw it Coming by Roberta Kagan

The Sky Above the Roof by Natacha Appanah

Ordinary Families by E. Arnot Robertson

How to Read Like a Writer by Erin M. Pushman

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

A Killing in November by Simon Mason

All We Left Unsaid by Natalie K. Martin

(header photo courtesy of Amy Shembler/Unsplash)

Jewish Women by Max Brod - #BookReview

 

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

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

***

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ISBN: 978 0995716773

Publisher: Aspal Vintage

No. of pages: 256 (paperback)

About the Author: 

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

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

The Testimony of Alys Twist by Suzannah Dunn - #TuesdayTeaser

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

This week we are looking at The Testimony of Alys Twist by Suzannah Dunn.

Suzannah is the author of many historical fiction novels and I am loathe to admit that I have not read any of them. I'm not at all sure why I haven't, as all of her novels look like they are just the kind of thing that I enjoy reading. So, I intend to rectify this by reading The Testimony of Alys Twist, very soon.

Have you read this book? Or do you have another favourite that you think I would enjoy?

The Blurb

1553: deeply-divided England rejoices as the rightful heir, Mary Tudor, sweeps to power on a tide of populist goodwill. But the people should have been careful what they wished for: Mary's mission is to turn back time to an England of old. Within weeks there is widespread rebellion in favour of her heir, her half-sister, Princess Elizabeth, who is everything that Mary isn't. From now on, Elizabeth will have to use her considerable guile just to stay alive.

Orphan Alys Twist has come a long way - further than she ever dared hope - to work as a laundress at the royal wardrobe. There she meets Bel, daughter of the Queen's tailor, and seems to have arrived at her own happy ending.

But in a world where appearance is everything, a laundress is in a unique position to see the truth of people's lives, and Alys is pressed into service as a spy in the errant princess's household. Alys herself, though, is hardly whiter than white, and when the princess is arrested she must make a dangerous choice.

The Beginning

Parchment Halo

I remembered it once said, when I was small, that I would go far. Whoever had spoken over my head had been right, I thought, because just twenty or so years later here I was, arriving to work at the palace, and no servant gets further than this.

Fresh off the wherry-boat, foot in the washroom door, I was all smiles for the pair introducing themselves as my fellow laundresses: Mrs Fox - more ox-like than fox-like - and her sourpuss sidekick, Kay. I was only too aware I was no choice of theirs, but a recommendation taken up by whoever at Whitehall did the hiring and firing. And, worse, three's a crowd. So busy was I with the smiling that I didn't spare a second glance for a young woman, small and neat in periwinkle mockado, who passed us on her way to what I would later learn was the drying room.

Introductions over, I was directed to my lodgings - the Wiltons' house on Kings Street - and when I returned to the laundry a half-hour later, there was no sign of the laundresses. Instead a ruddy-faced royal-liveried man came bounding across the deserted washroom towards me: 'Mistress Twist?'

Well, there was no denying it.

He said he was Mr Hobbes, Yeoman of the Robes, and would like to borrow me to cast my gaze over the queen's wardrobe: he'd value an expert eye, he said, and I had to stop myself from looking over my shoulder, because any eye I had was for linen, not the silks and wools of gowns. Mistress Fox had been so kind, he said, as to lend me for the day. Neither she nor the sharp-faced sidekick were in evidence to confirm or deny it, and who was I to argue with a man in uniform? So, out of my depth before I'd even started, I did my best to look competent, snatching up my pouch of fuller's earth and a couple of my flasks of flower waters: wood sorrel and celandine, if only because those had the tightest stoppers. I took no soap - gowns can't be soaped - and followed him from the laundry back to the riverside steps, which was when I queried: 'Wardrobe?'

***

Well I am feeling intrigued and am keen to read on. How about you?

Brilliant Careers - The Virago Book of 20th Century Fiction

I picked up this little beauty in a second hand bookshop for the princely cost of £1.00.

My husband and I (apologies if I sound like the Queen) were having a few days away in beautiful Herefordshire which is in the southwest of the England. Short of a tornado we experienced every kind of weather. We had snow, rain, wind, sunshine and the flooding in that part of the country was very bad. The roads were clear but there were flooded fields for as far as the eye can see.

Anyway, during one of our days there I came across this book. It is edited by Ali Smith, Kasia Boddy and Sarah Wood. It highlights one Virago publication for each year of the twentieth century; starting in 1901 with My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin and finishes in the year 2000 with From Midrash on Happiness by Grace Paley. Each featured book tells us about the author alongside an extract which was chosen to represent chronologically an extract from each year of the twentieth century.

I would dearly love to read every novel that is detailed in this book - a huge undertaking amongst all the other books that I would like to read. To that end I have purchased a copy of the 1901 book My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin - what better place to start then at the beginning. Realistically, I shall probably only read some of them and of those books I will be posting a review.

Unfortunately, it seems this book is currently out of print but there are second hand copies available. Or if you would like to see a list of the titles of the novels that are featured in this book then please let me know.

Keep well, keep safe and happy reading.

Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson - #BookReview

"9th April 1975, Leeds: The Bay City Rollers at number one. IRA bombs all over the country. Margaret Thatcher is the new leader of the Conservative Party. At the beginning of the month, in Albuquerque, Bill Gates founds what will become Microsoft........... In the middle of it all, Tracy Waterhouse was only concerned with the hole in one of the toes of her tights. It was growing bigger with every step she took. They were new on this morning as well."

A day like any other for security chief Tracy Waterhouse, until she makes a shocking impulse purchase. That one moment of madness is all it takes for Tracy's humdrum world to be turned upside down, the tedium of everyday life replaced by fear and danger at every turn.

Witnesses to Tracy's outrageous exchange in the Merrion Centre in Leeds are Tilly, an elderly actress teetering on the brink of her own disaster, and Jackson Brodie, who has returned to his home county in search of someone else's roots. All three characters learn that the past is never history and that no good deed goes unpunished.

I am so enjoying this series of books, of which, this is the fourth in the Jackson Brodie series. I always like to read a series of books in order and so have previously read Case Histories, One Good Turn and When Will There Be Good News; all of which have been great reads. Of course, these books would read very well out of order and my need to read books chronologically probably says more about my anally retentive personality than about the books themselves.

 I think it must be difficult to keep up the momentum of a series of books but the writing and plot are every bit as good as the earlier novels. In addition to Jackson Brodie I thought Tracy Waterhouse was a really good character. Ms. Atkinson's characters are very easy to engage with and which make this series a real treat to read. I already have the next book, Big Sky, lined up to read.

The narrative changes from the present day to the 1970's seamlessly and between Jackson and Tracy's voices. The voices are distinct and very easy to follow. Having been young during the 1970's (yes, I too, was a Bay City Rollers fan) I enjoyed this little trip down memory lane.

The author is remarkably skilled at mixing mystery and murder interwoven with good humour in a way which feels totally authentic. This series of books are a joy to read and I highly recommend them.

ISBN: 978 0552 772464

Publisher: Black Swan

About the Author:

Kate Atkinson was born in York and now lives in Edinburgh. Her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and she has been a critically acclaimed international bestselling author ever since.

She is the author of a collection of short stories, Not the End of the World, and of the critically acclaimed novels Human Croquet, Emotionally Weird, Case Histories and One Good Turn.

Case Histories introduced her readers to Jackson Brodie, former police inspector turned private investigator, and won the Saltire Book of the Year Award and the Prix Westminster.

When Will There Be Good News? was voted Richard and Judy Book Best Read of the Year. After Case Histories and One Good Turn, it was her third novel to feature the former private detective Jackson Brodie, who makes a welcome return in Started Early, Took My Dog.

The Space Between Time by Charlie Laidlaw - #BookReview

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ISBN:  978 1786156945

Publisher: Accent Press

About the Author


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