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

 

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 1940s and the 1980s, 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 and e-book

Pages: 368 in hardcover

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.

Some Kind of Company by Nan Ostman - Translated by Julia Rivers - #BookReview

"Penfriend?

72-year-old professional woman, a bit worse for wear, but healthy, hard-working, well-read, married, would like to exchange thoughts with single educated gentleman of mature years.

 

Answer to Bo Svensson - I never thought that I would receive so many answers to my advertisement - at seventy plus! (I believe that's how one describes one's age nowadays.) And married into the bargain. And at a time when most people prefer to use email and not many write ordinary letters. I read and pondered and felt a little saddened. Two of the letters were such heart-rending cries for help in their acute loneliness... but I am not a counsellor. I suspect that one reply was from a conman. He was, or claimed to be, fifty-two years old. What could he want with me, unless he thought that I had a bit of money saved up? There was something too ingratiating about the way he wrote."

Anna lives with her husband and their dog by the shores of a lake in the idyllic Swedish countryside. But her youth is far behind her, her husband rarely speaks and their children have long since left home and live at a distance. She fears that even the translation work which keeps her going will soon dry up.

In the hope of opening up a new chapter in her life, Anna advertises in the personal column of a newspaper for a male pen friend. She is gratified to receive a number of replies and begins exchanging letters with a widower called Bo. The outcome is both surprising and convincing.

***

By the time I had read the first few pages of this book, I knew I was going to like it. What I did not anticipate was just how completely I was going to fall in love with it, and with the main characters, Anna and Bo.

It is a complete antithesis to the incredibly popular, and often brutal, dark Swedish noir genre. In this novel the author presents a book of gentility and maturity.

Written in a beautifully understated prose, I found the reading experience rather like dancing to a slow waltz, enjoying a genuine thrill with every step. I deliberately read slowly as I did not want the story to end. I was completely under the author's spell and wanted Anna and Bo to find happiness. Of course, there are never spoilers in my reviews and I am not revealing whether they did or not.

The book addresses some interesting themes. Foremost, it carefully considers loneliness through the lens of Anna and Bo. Although Anna has a husband and family, her children have moved away and are busy with  their own lives. Her husband, Hakan, refuses to speak and in doing so forces her further along the road of loneliness. 

Set against the backdrop of rural Sweden we experience the harshness of the weather and how it feels to be completely cut off and alone. These visceral descriptions also led me to appreciate the beauty of the country. Elegantly depicted, the snow and ice found me reaching for a cardigan as I was so engaged with Anna's life and surroundings that I was physically experiencing the cold alongside her.

I am completely enchanted by this very special book, and I am already looking forward to re-reading it. Put simply; it is a beautiful, gentle and captivating novel and I highly recommend it.

ISBN: 978 1916289512

Publisher: Aspal Prime

About the Author:

Nan Inger Ostman (1923-2015) was a much loved Swedish writer and for many years the most heavily borrowed author in Swedish libraries. Born and raised in Ostermalm, a wealthy, tree-lined residential area of Stockholm, she graduated fro Stockholm University in 1946. Ostman began her career as a journalist, firstly with newspaper Svenska Dagblad, followed by a period at Morgon Tidning where she stayed until 1855. She then worked as a teacher, initially at the prestigious Lundsberg boarding school. While teaching, she began writing books and became a full-time author from 1980 onwards. In 1987 she won the significant Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.

(photo courtesy of Ulla Montan)

Care for Me by Farah Cook - #MediaBlast #CoverReveal

 

I am so excited to be part of the media blast for this book. I have also been privileged to be amongst the first to read the opening three chapters. Based on what I have read it is shaping up to be a brilliant psychological suspense novel. 

It is being published on 21st of October by Hodder Studio and I can hardly wait to read the rest of this novel.  

The Blurb

When Amira takes her mother Afrah to Ravenswood Lodge Care Home, she thinks they will both be safe. But the past is just around the corner . . .

Amira is struggling to look after her mother, Afrah. So when they arrive at Ravenswood Lodge Care Home, beautiful and imposing against the background of the Scottish Highlands, she hopes it is the right decision for them both.

But soon Afrah insists her belongings are being stolen, her photographs, her jewellery, her pill boxes, Amira and the staff are convinced it's just Afrah's imagination, it's just her memory.

But Afrah knows Ravenswood Lodge isn't a safe place. Could it have something to do with the past? She remembers newspaper clippings, hazy images of a fire years ago, a memory she's spent years forgetting and now she just wants to remember.

Someone wants her gone. But first, she needs to convince Amira of the truth.

The compelling, heartbreaking debut novel by Farah Cook, about mothers and daughters, and secrets that are never really forgotten . . .

Elizabeth is Missing meets I Let You Go in this page-turning psychological suspense novel from debut author Farah Cook. Perfect for fans of Clare Mackintosh and K L Slater.

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland - #TuesdayTeaser - 10th August 2021

Hello and welcome to this week's Tuesday Teaser. The place where we take a sneaky peek at the beginning of a book and decide if it has lured us into reading it.

The book this week is The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland.

Holly grew up on the east coast of Australia. In her early twenties, she worked for four years in a remote Indigenous community in Australia’s western desert, where she was the Senior Media ranger at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Moving to England in 2009, Holly obtained her MA in Creative Writing from the University of Manchester in 2011.

After wanting to be a writer since she was three years old, Holly’s debut novel The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart was published in 2018 when she was 37 years old and has since become an international bestseller.

In May 2021, Amazon Prime Video announced their commission of a television series adaption of the book, to stream globally. Filming will take place in Australia, starting October 2021.

I hope you enjoy this short extract from the beginning of the book.

The Blurb

Flowers, fire and fairy tales are the elements that will forever shape nine-year-old Alice Hart's life, in The Lost Flower's of Alice Hart, the international bestseller by Holly Ringland.

Alice Hart lives in isolation by the sea, where her mother’s enchanting flowers and their hidden messages shelter her from the dark moods of her father. When tragedy changes her life irrevocably, nine-year-old Alice goes to live with the grandmother she never knew existed, on a native flower farm that gives refuge to women who, like Alice, are lost or broken. In the Victorian tradition, every flower has a meaning and, as she settles into her new life, Alice uses this language of flowers to say the things that are too hard to speak.

As she grows older, though, family secrecy, a devastating betrayal and a man who’s not all he seems, combine to make Alice realise there are some stories that flowers alone cannot tell. If she is to have the freedom she craves, she must find the courage to possess the most powerful story she knows: her own.

Chapter 1 - Black Fire Orchid

In the weatherboard house at the end of the lane, nine-year-old Alice Hart sat at her desk by the window and dreamt of ways to set her father on fire.

In front of her, on the eucalyptus desk her father built, a library book lay open. It was filled with stories collected from around the world about the myths of fire. Although a northeasterly blew in from the Pacific, full of brine, Alice could smell smoke, earth, and burning feathers. She read, whispering aloud:

The phoenix bird is immersed into fire, to be consumed by the flames, to burn ashes and rise renewed, remade, reformed - the same, but altogether different.

Alice hovered a fingertip over an illustration of the phoenix rising: its silver-white feathers glowed, its wings outstretched, and its head thrown back to crow. She snatched her hand away, as though the licks of golden, red-orange flames might singe her skin. The smell of seaweed came through her window in a fresh gust; the chimes in her mother's garden warned of the strengthening wind.

Leaning over her desk, Alice closed the window to just a crack. She pushed the book aside, eyeing the illustration as she reached for the plate of toast she'd made hours ago. Biting into a buttered triangle, she chewed the cold toast slowly. What might it be like, if her father was consumed by fire? All his monsters burnt to ash, leaving the best of him to rise, renewed by flames, remade into the man he sometimes was: the man who made her a desk so she could write stories.

ISBN: 978 1509859849

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

***

A brilliant opening line. I am very much looking forward to reading this book.

Library Loans - 7th August 2021

Weddings are at the forefront of my mind at the moment as my son is getting married very soon. I am a mixture of pride; that he's grown to be such an amazing man and wondering how my little boy grew up so quickly. I'm certain some of you understand exactly what I mean.

Not surprisingly, when I was in the library over the weekend, my attention was drawn to books about weddings as well as a couple of others. Does that happen to you? Do you find your reading choices reflect what is going on in your life?

An American Marrigae by Tayari Jones

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of the American Dream. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. Until one day they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn't commit.

Devastated and unmoored, Celestial finds herself struggling to hold on to the love that has been her centre, taking comfort in Andre, their closest friend. When Roy's conviction is suddenly overturned, he returns home ready to resume their life together.

A Wedding in the Olive Garden by Leah Fleming

Sara Loveday is changing her life. She's left home and crisis for the beautiful Greek island of Santaniki. There, amid the olive groves, where dark cypress trees step down to the cobalt blue sea, she sets up a wedding planning business, specialising in 'second time around' couples.

But almost at once things begin to go wrong. To make matters worse, a stranger from Sara's past arrives on the island, spreading vicious lies. Will her business survive? And what will happen with the new man she's just begun to love?

Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks

Bertie Wooster, recently returned from a very pleasurable soujourn in Cannes, finds himself at the stately home of Sir Henry Hackwood in Dorset. Bertie is more than familiar with the country house set-up: he is a veteran of the cocktail hour and, thanks to Jeeves, his gentleman's personal gentleman, is never less than immaculately dressed.

On this occasion, however, it is Jeeves who is to be seen in the drawing room while Bertie finds himself below stairs - and he doesn't care for it at all.

Love, as so often, is at the root of the confusion. Bertie, you see, has met Georgiana on the Côte d'Azur. And though she is clever and he has a reputation for foolish engagements, it looks as though this could be the real thing. However, Georgiana is the ward of Sir Henry Hackwood and, in order to maintain his beloved Melbury Hall, the impoverished Sir Henry has struck a deal that would see Georgiana becoming Mrs Rupert Venables.

Meanwhile, Peregrine ‘Woody' Beeching, one of Bertie's oldest chums, is desperate to regain the trust of his fiancée Amelia, Sir Henry's tennis-mad daughter.

But why would this necessitate Bertie having to pass himself off as a servant when he has never so much as made a cup of tea? Could it be that the ever-loyal, Spinoza-loving Jeeves has an ulterior motive?

Evoking the sunlit days of a time gone by, Jeeves and the Wedding Bells is a delightfully witty story of mistaken identity, a midsummer village festival, a cricket match and love triumphant.

Wedding Season by Katie Fforde

Sarah Stratford is a wedding planner hiding a rather inconvenient truth - she doesn't believe in love. Or not for herself, anyway. But as the confetti flutters away on the June breeze of yet another successful wedding she somehow finds herself agreeing to organise two more, on the same day and only two months away.

Luckily Sarah has two tried and tested friends on hand to help her. Elsa, an accomplished dress designer who likes to keep a very low profile, and Bron, a multi-talented hairdresser who lives with her unreconstructed boyfriend and who'd like to go solo in more ways than one.

As the big day draws near, all three women find that patience is definitely a virtue in the marriage game. And as all their working hours are spent preparing for the weddings of the year, they certainly haven't got any time to even think about love. Or have they?

The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare

Inside every girl is a louding voice.

A voice to speak up for herself, for the girls who came before her and for all those who will follow.

As a third wife in a small Nigerian village, fourteen-year-old Adunni is expected to fade into silence.

But Adunni will not keep quiet. She's smart, funny and curious, with an infectiously joyful spirit. And despite adversity awaiting her at every turn, she's set on getting an education, no matter the cost.

Determined not to settle for her fate, Adunni embarks on a journey from her village to the wealthy enclaves of Lagos. A journey that will change her life and, if you listen closely, possibly yours...

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

Some say the river drowned her... Some say it brought her back to life

On a dark midwinter's night in an ancient inn on the Thames, the regulars are entertaining themselves by telling stories when the door bursts open and in steps an injured stranger. In his arms is the drowned corpse of a child.

Hours later, the dead girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life.

Is it a miracle?

Is it magic?

And who does the little girl belong to?

An exquisitely crafted historical mystery brimming with folklore, suspense and romance, as well as with the urgent scientific curiosity of the Victorian age.

You, Me, Everything by Catherine Issac - #TuesdayTeaser - 3rd August 2021

It is Tuesday again and time for a new Tuesday Teaser. This is where we have a sneak peek at the beginning of a book which has come onto my radar. It won't necessarily be a new release as there are so many books which have already been published, and I have not had chance to read yet.

 This week, we are looking at You, Me, Everything by Catherine Isaac. 

Catherine was born and lives in Liverpool. She started her writing career as a trainee reporter for the Liverpool Chronicle. She worked her way up to editor for the Liverpool Daily Post before turning her hand to writing books. She has written nine romantic comedy novels published under the pseudonym, Jane Costello. 

With You, Me, Everything she took her writing in a different direction and published under the name of Catherine Isaac. The novel has been translated into 24 languages.

I am looking forward to reading this book and I hope you will enjoy this taster.

The Blurb

Jess and her ten-year-old son William set off to spend the summer at Château de Roussignol, deep in the rich, sunlit hills of the Dordogne. There, Jess’s ex-boyfriend and William’s father, Adam, runs a beautiful hotel in a restored castle. Jess is bowled over by what Adam has accomplished, but she’s in France for a much more urgent reason: to make Adam connect with his own son. Jess can’t allow Adam to let their son down because she is tormented by a secret of her own, one that nobody - especially William - must discover.

By turns life-affirming, heart-wrenching and joyful, You Me Everything is a novel about one woman's fierce determination to grab hold of the family she has and never let go, and a romantic story as heady as a crisp Sancerre on a summer day.

Prologue

Manchester, England - Sometimes life takes the best and worst it has to offer and throws the whole lot at you on the same day.

This probably isn't an uncommon conclusion to reach during childbirth, but in my case, it wasn't the usual cocktail of pain and joy that led me to it. It was that, although I was finally about to meet the tiny human who'd shared my body for nine months, those eight agonising hours were also spent trying to reach his father on my mobile - to drag him away from whatever bar, club or other woman he was in.

"Did you remember to bring your notes, Jessica?" the midwife asked after I'd arrived at the hospital alone.

"I've got my notes. It's my boyfriend I've mislaid," I said, through an apologetic smile. She glanced up at me from under her eyelashes as I leaned on the reception desk of the delivery suite, waiting for the searing pain in my belly to pass.

"I'm sure he'll be on his way soon." Sweat gathered on the back of my neck. "I've left him a couple of messages." Twelve, to be exact. "He's at a work event. He probably can't get a signal." At this this stage, part of me was still hoping this was true. I always was determined to see the good in Adam, even in the face of clear evidence to the contrary.

"We never used to have men here," she reminded me. "So if we need to do it without Dad, we'll be just fine."

Dad, I couldn't deny the biological facts, but the title sounded wrong when it was applied to Adam. 

The midwife looked reassuringly matronly, with stout legs, a bosom you could stand a potted plant on and the kind of hair that had been in foam curlers overnight. The name on her badge was Mary. I'd known Mary for about three minutes and already I liked her, which was good given that she was about to examine my cervix.

"Come on, lovely; lets get you to a room."

ISBN: 978-1471149146

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

***

I can't wait to read this now. Have you already read it? What did you think?

Books to Read in August 2021

 

August is shaping up to be a busy and exciting month for me. We have a family celebration for a special birthday coming up and a wedding. Not just any wedding, but a book themed wedding! How gorgeous is that?

Anyhow, I am sure I will squeeze in lots of reading too and there are some interesting titles on my radar for this month. 

***

The Queen's Midwife by Lozania Prole

The Poppy Factory by Liz Kernow

The Beloved Girls by Harriet Evans

Those Who Are Loved by Victoria Hislop

Human Kind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman

The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish

Secrets of the Singer Girls by Kate Thompson

The Fate of a Jew by Max Brod

Some Kind of Company by Nan Ostman

History by Miles Jupp