Review ~ Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford

Allison & Busby
September 2017

1909, Seattle. At the World’s Fair a half-Chinese boy called Ernest Young is raffled off as a prize. He ends up working in a brothel in Seattle’s famed Red Light District and falls in love with Maisie, the daughter of a flamboyant madam, and Fahn, a karayuki-san, a Japanese maid sold into servitude. 

On the eve of the new World’s Fair in 1962, Ernest looks back on the past, the memories he made with his beloved wife while his daughter, a reporter, begins to unravel their tragic past.

My thoughts

The strength of Jamie Ford's novels, and I've read all three to date, lies in his ability to say, in just a few short words, that which takes some authors pages to impart. He conjures an authentic world so completely that, from the opening page of any of his novels, you become confidently immersed in the lives of the characters he so lovingly recreates.

That this latest book kept me reading long in the night came as no surprise and as Ernest's story is revealed in two very different time frames what comes across is the ability of the human spirit to transcend tragedy. That Ernest's early life in China was built on trauma is written about very sensitively, as is the portrayal of the life he eventually leads once he arrives in America.

Gracefully combining the effects of tragedy, loyalty, love and family, Love and Other Consolation Prizes, is both meticulously researched and elegantly written, by an author whose authenticity shines through with every well written word.

I’m deliberately not saying anything about the way that the story unfolds, as that would be to do both the author, and this beautiful story, a complete disservice, and the book really does deserve to be read without any spoilers from me. So all I will say is that if you enjoy a story which pulls at your heartstrings from the very beginning, which beautifully highlights a forgotten period in history and which is both colourful and poignant at the same time, then Love and Other Consolation Prizes will work for you.

About the Author

Jamie Ford is the great-grandson of pioneer Min Chung, who emigrated from China to San Francisco in 1865, where he adopted the Western name “Ford”. Jamie grew up in Seattle and worked as an art director and creative director, before becoming a full-time writer. He now lives in Montana with his wife and children.

For more information - www.jamieford.com @JamieFord

My thanks to Emma at EmmaFinniganpr for sending me my review copy

 of Love and Other Consolation Prizes

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Blog Tour ~ The Stars are Fire by Anita Shreve

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to host the final stop on the 

Stars are Fire Blog Tour

Little, Brown Book Group
2 May 2017

What's it all about...

1947. Fires are racing along the coast of Maine after a summer-long drought, ravaging thousands of acres, causing unprecedented confusion and fear.

Five months pregnant, Grace Holland is left alone to protect her two toddlers when her difficult and unpredictable husband Gene joins the volunteers fighting to bring the fire under control. Along with her best friend, Rosie, and Rosie's two young children, the women watch in horror as their houses go up in flames, then walk into the ocean as a last resort. They spend the night frantically trying to save their children. When dawn comes, they have miraculously survived, but their lives are forever changed: homeless, penniless, and left to face an uncertain future.

As Grace awaits news of her husband's fate, she is thrust into a new world in which she must make a life on her own, beginning with absolutely nothing; she must find work, a home, a way to provide for her children. In the midst of devastating loss, Grace discovers glorious new freedoms - joys and triumphs she could never have expected her narrow life with Gene could contain - and her spirit soars. And then the unthinkable happens, and Grace's bravery is tested as never before.

What did I think about it ...

Set in Maine USA, The Stars are Fire focuses on the effects of the devastating wildfire which raged through this area in the autumn of 1947. Homes and lives were ruined forever and whilst this catastrophic event brought more than its share of tragedy into the life of Grace Holland, it also brought an opportunity to explore a life she could never have imagined. I was entranced by Grace’s story. I wanted life to be everything she ever wanted because she deserved so much happiness and just when contentment seemed to be within her grasp something comes along to shatter her expectations.

Beautifully written from start to finish this story has all the trademarks of this author writing at her absolute best. The narrative never falters; there are no superfluous words, no unnecessary waffle, just wonderful story telling from beginning to end. The succinctness of the writing only serves to showcase the absolute strength of an author who can say so much in just a few words.

There is something both profoundly sad and hugely uplifting about The Stars are Fire which, whilst a strange dichotomy, serves to accentuate the overall strength of the story telling. The author does a fine job of allowing the main characters to evolve with such precision that you can't help but become emotionally attached to them, and even though one character, in particular, is not at all likeable, such is the power of writing that you can’t help but be moved, emotionally, by his plight. She infuses the narrative with such a sense of empathy and understanding that by the end of the novel I felt like I was saying goodbye to close friends.

I am delighted to see that the author has returned to her beloved Maine for the setting of The Stars are Fire an area which featured so prominently in her earlier books.  I am especially fond of The Pilot’s Wife and Fortunes Rock. There is no doubt that fans of Anita Shreve's excellent writing will love this book, and for those readers who haven’t read any of her work, well, picking up a copy of The Stars are Fire is a good place to start.

Best Read With...the tang of grapefruit and the smell of coffee, gently infusing

About the Author

Anita Shreve is the acclaimed author of seventeen novels, including Rescue, A Change in Altitude, Testimony, and The Pilot's Wife, which was a selection of Oprah's Book Club. She lives in Massachusetts.

Visit the author on her website  

Twitter
#StarsAreFire

My thanks to Amelia at Little, Brown for the opportunity to be part of this blog tour and for providing a copy of the book to review.

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Review ~ Lady Cop Makes Trouble by Amy Stewart

Scribe
12 January 2017

A bit of blurb...

The bestselling author of Girl Waits With Gun returns with another adventure featuring the feisty, unforgettable Kopp sisters. 

In 1915, lady cops were not expected to chase down fugitives on the streets of New York City. But Constance Kopp never did what anyone expected. After besting (and arresting) a ruthless silk factory owner and his gang of thugs, Constance Kopp has earned her place as the nation’s first female deputy sheriff. She’s proven that she can’t be deterred, evaded, or outrun. But when a con man escapes from jail on her watch, she must find him before he disappears completely, and she ends up right back where she started - unemployed.

My thoughts about the book ...

In Lady Cop Makes Trouble we see the welcome return of Deputy Sheriff Constance Kopp who we first met in Girl Waits With Gun.

When a con man disappears from jail whilst Constance is on watch she takes it as a personal insult. Fired with her unique brand of bravado, she never for one minute takes the idea of defeat as an option, even though those around are perhaps more sceptical of her ability to track down a man who doesn't want to be found.

This complicated search for a man who does not want to be discovered forms the basis of the story and, as always, takes Constance into the very heart of the action. The other characters that flit into and out of the story add their own distinctive perspective and Constance's sisters, Norma and Fleurette, continue to add their own unique charm.

What I love about this historical crime series is the sheer joie de vivre which Constance exudes at every opportunity. She is a feisty and determined protagonist who brings such exuberant joy to the story that the pages almost turn themselves. What can be guaranteed is that for Constance Kopp there is never going to be a dull moment and even though her brief spell as the deputy sheriff seems to be over almost before it has begun Constance never falters in her search for justice.

The brave and bright new world of early twentieth century New York comes vividly to life with Constance best placed in her role as a strong female protagonist. Within the story there is plenty of action and lots of twists and turns in a plot which always keeps you guessing.

Based on actual events, Lady Cop Makes Trouble is a well plotted action adventure and I am sure that this series will continue to go from strength to strength. 

Best read with … a cup of black tea and some soda crackers

About the Author

Visit the author's website

Follow on Twitter @Amy_Stewart

Find on Facebook Amy Stewart Author



Thanks to Sophie at Scribe for the opportunity to read and review Lady Cop Makes Trouble.

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Review ~ Orphans of the Carnival by Carol Birch (Audio)

Canongate
September 2016

A bit of blurb..

Julia Pastrana is the singing and dancing marvel from Mexico, heralded on tours across nineteenth-century Europe as much for her talent as for her rather unusual appearance. Yet few can see past the thick hair that covers her: she is both the fascinating toast of a Governor's ball and the shunned, revolting, unnatural beast, to be hidden from children and pregnant women. 

But what is her wonderful and terrible link to Rose, collector of lost treasures in an attic room in modern-day south London? In this haunting tale of identity, love and independence, these two lives will connect in unforgettable ways.

My thoughts about the book..

Re-imagining the life of someone like Julia Pastrana, and for the author to do justice to this remarkable young woman, must have been filled with huge difficulties, as I can imagine that the story was as emotional to write, as it was to read.

Julia Pastrana was born in Mexico in the mid nineteenth century and had the misfortune to be born with a medical condition called hypertrichosis lanuginosa, which made her an object of curiosity all her life. Passed from one exploitative person to another, Julia finds that her only real place of safety is to be amongst those other sad individuals who make up the grotesque and imperfect who ply the circus and carnival routes of mid-nineteenth century America. And yet, as the story progresses and we get to know Julia, we find that she is so much more than her appearance suggests.. She is fluent in three languages, is a delightful singer and dancer and is also a warm and generous person. It is the world at large that is Julia’s enemy and her almost unbelievable struggle to succeed is what gives this story its distinct appeal.

Running alongside Julia’s extraordinary story is that of Rose, a modern day hoarder who lives in a flat in London surrounded by tat and with a life filled with regrets and indecision. No two women could be any more different and yet, as the story progresses, we see how their connection plays out within the wider context of the story.

I listened to this story over 14 hours, which is the length of the unabridged version on Audible, I agree that’s a remarkable length of time but, it must be said, I was never bored, and in fact, I eagerly looked forward to my listening periods, when in the company of narrator, Helen Johns, I entered Julia’s world. The narrator really gives this story an added dimension, her story telling skills are very good, and her ability to give each character their unique voice ensured that they all came truly alive. However, it was her interpretation of Julia which will stay with me for a very long time. She captured the horror and the degradation and the downright eccentricity of Julia’s world to perfection. I appreciate that the power of this remarkable story is largely down to the words that the author has so competently written, but for me, this narrator really gave the book its heart and soul.

Orphans of the Carnival is a remarkable novel and is definitely a story that will stay with me for a very long time.


Best Read with ... A cup of Julia's favourite hot chocolate..

Audible.co.uk



About the Author

Carol Birch is the author of ten previous novels, including Scapegallows (2008) and Turn Again Home (2003) which was long listed for the Man Booker Prize. She has also won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and the David Higham Award for Best First Novel. Jamrach's Menagerie was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2011 and the London Book Award.

My thanks to Audible.co.uk for the opportunity to listen to this book and also to Francesca at Midas for the invitation to listen to and review Orphans of the Carnival.




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F. Scott Fitzgerald's 120th Anniversary...(Audio)

Essential Picks From AUDIBLE To Celebrate

F. Scott Fitzgerald's

120th Anniversary

Saturday 24th September 2016 marks 120 years since the birth of author F. Scott Fitzgerald, most famous for his novel The Great Gatsby. From Jake Gyllenhaal’s narration of The Great Gatsby to the only novel by Fitzgerald’s wife Zelda, the editors at Audible have curated a selection of audio programmes exploring the best of the American Jazz Age.

The Great Gatsby
Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Narrated by: Jake Gyllenhaal
£11.99 (free for Audible members)
Available at Audible.co.uk

F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic American novel of the Roaring Twenties, The Great Gatsby, is beloved by generations of readers and stands as his crowning work. This audio edition is narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain).

Gyllenhaal's performance is a faithful delivery in the voice of Nick Carraway, the Midwesterner turned New York bond salesman, who rents a small house next door to the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby. There, he has a first-hand view of Gatsby's lavish West Egg parties - and of his undying love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan.

After meeting and losing Daisy during the war, Gatsby has made himself fabulously wealthy. Now, he believes that his only way to true happiness is to find his way back into Daisy's life, and he uses Nick to try to reach her. What happens when the characters' fantasies are confronted with reality makes for a startling conclusion to this iconic masterpiece.

Tender Is the Night

Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Narrated by: Therese Plummer

£16.09 (free for Audible members)

Available on Audible.co.uk

Published in 1934, Tender Is the Night was one of the most talked-about books of the year. "It's amazing how excellent much of it is," Ernest Hemingway said to Maxwell Perkins. "I will say now," John O'Hara wrote Fitzgerald, "Tender Is the Night is in the early stages of being my favorite book, even more than This Side of Paradise." And Archibald MacLeish exclaimed: "Great God, Scott...You are a fine writer. Believe it - not me."

Set on the French Riviera in the late 1920s,Tender Is the Night is the tragic romance of the young actress Rosemary Hoyt and the stylish American couple Dick and Nicole Diver. A brilliant young psychiatrist at the time of his marriage, Dick is both husband and doctor to Nicole, whose wealth goads him into a lifestyle not his own, and whose growing strength highlights Dick's harrowing demise.

A profound study of the romantic concept of character - lyrical, expansive, and hauntingly evocative - Tender Is the Night, Mabel Dodge Luhan remarked, raised F. Scott Fitzgerald to the heights of a "modern Orpheus".

Save Me The Waltz

Author: Zelda Fitzgerald

Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck

£16.09 (free for Audible members)

Available on Audible.co.uk

Save Me the Waltz is the first and only novel by the wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald. During the years when Fitzgerald was working on Tender Is the Night, Zelda Fitzgerald was preparing her own story, which parallels the narrative of her husband, throwing a fascinating light on F. Scott Fitzgerald's life and work. In its own right, it is a vivid and moving story: the confessions of a famous, slightly doomed glamour girl of the affluent 1920s, which captures the spirit of an era.

Experience the flappers, prohibition and romance of the Roaring Twenties through the stories of some of the best American writers of all time.

Sanctuary

Author: William Faulkner

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

£13.69 (free for Audible members)

Available on Audible.co.uk

A powerful novel examining the nature of evil, informed by the works of T. S. Eliot and Freud, mythology, local lore, and hard-boiled detective fiction, Sanctuary is the dark, at times brutal, story of the kidnapping of Mississippi debutante Temple Drake, set during the Prohibition era. She introduces her own form of venality into the Memphis underworld where she is being held.

The Sun Also Rises

Author: Earnest Hemingway

Narrated by: William Hurt

£13.46 (free for Audible members)

Available at Audible.co.uk

The Sun Also Rises is one of Ernest Hemingway's masterpieces and a classic example of his spare but powerful style. A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the story introduces two of Hemingway's most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley.

Follow the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions. First published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises helped to establish Hemingway as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Author: Anita Loos

Narrated by: Patrice O’Neill

£10.89 (free for Audible members)

Available on Audible.co.uk

The delirious 1925 Jazz-Age classic that no less an authority than Edith Wharton called "the great American novel".

If any American fictional character of the 20th century seems likely to be immortal, it is Lorelei Lee of Little Rock, Arkansas, the not-so-dumb blonde who knew that diamonds are a girl's best friend. Outrageous, charming, and unforgettable, she's been portrayed on stage and screen by Carol Channing and Marilyn Monroe, and has become the archetype of the footloose, good-hearted gold digger, with an insatiable appetite for orchids, champagne, and precious stones.

Here are her "diaries", created by Anita Loos in the Roaring Twenties, as Lorelei and her friend Dorothy barrel across Europe, meeting everyone from the Prince of Wales to "Doctor Froyd" - and then back home again to marry a Main Line millionaire and become a movie star. In this delightfully droll and witty book, Lorelei Lee's wild antics, unique outlook, and imaginative way with language shine.

More details of how to listen and subscribe to books from AUDIBLE 

can be found by clicking here

F Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940), known professionally as F. Scott Fitzgerald, was an American novelist and short story writer, whose works are the paradigmatic writings of the Jazz Age. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the 1920s. He finished four novels: This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby (his best known), and Tender Is the Night. A fifth, unfinished novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon, was published posthumously. Fitzgerald also wrote numerous short stories, many of which treat themes of youth and promise, and age and despair.

(Source : wikipedia.)

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Sunday WW1 Remembered...Guest Author, Glen Craney

As part of my ongoing tribute during this centenary of WW1, I am delighted to feature the work of some excellent authors who have written novels set during The Great War

I am delighted to welcome the author

Glen Craney

RICH MAN’S WAR, POOR MAN’S EVICTION FIGHT

An unlikely American duo made history together twice. In France and fourteen years later on the tear-gassed streets of Washington, D.C.

In the Great War, courage had many fathers.

Joe Angelo, a second-generation Italian-American, volunteered as a private for the American Expeditionary Force in 1917 to prove his loyalty to his family’s new country. In contrast, his future captain, George Patton, a brash West Pointer who would become the controversial World War II tank commander, sailed for France eager to match his Confederate ancestors in glory.

Angelo and Patton could not have been more different in background, temperament, or motives for fighting. Yet they came together twice during the early twentieth century to play pivotal roles in U.S. history.

Angelo was as diminutive as Patton was imposing. A laborer in the dangerous DuPont Powder Works in New Jersey, Angelo enlisted at a time when many Italian immigrants still had family in the old country, where support wavered during the first year of the war between the Central Powers and the Allies. First and second-generation Italian-Americans like Angelo came under suspicion in the States, as did German-Americans, some of whom suffered harassment and even lynchings.

Joey Angelo

Patton, despite his aristocratic Virginia roots, saw potential in Angelo and chose him for his orderly. That decision would prove one of the most important in Patton’s eventful life. On a foggy day in September of 1918, he and Angelo stumbled into a desperate machine-gun fight in the Meuse-Argonne. When Patton took a shot to his upper leg, Angelo stayed at his side while the battle raged and managed to drag him to safety. Angelo’s heroism earned him the Distinguished Service Cross.

George Patton

After the war, Patton climbed the ranks to command the Third U.S. Cavalry, while his orderly returned to the tough streets of Camden. Despite his medal commendation, Angelo would likely have been forgotten to obscurity had it not been for one of America’s most shameful episodes fourteen years later.

During the summer of 1932, a charismatic, rail-riding hobo named Walter Waters led nearly 43,000 unemployed WWI veterans and their families into Washington, D.C. to demand advance payment of their deferred service annuity, popularly known as the Bonus. Angelo, nearly destitute, walked 150 miles to testify at a congressional hearing about his plight. He became one of the colorful champions of the Bonus Expeditionary

Force, the name adopted by the army of veterans that camped under the shadows of the U.S. Capitol and paced along its steps in a pitiful procession called the Death March. Months passed in the standoff. Then, at the end of a tense July, General Douglas MacArthur, the Army’s Chief of Staff, called out the infantry regulars from their barracks and drove the encamped veterans and their families from the city with tanks and gas. Patton led MacArthur’s cavalry in the attack down Pennsylvania Avenue. Amid the screams and smoke of the rout, Angelo sought out his former captain whose life he had saved in France.

What happened during their encounter would shock the nation and help decide the U.S. presidential election of 1932.

The Yanks Are Starving: A Novel of the Bonus Army unfolds the experiences of eight Americans who survived the fighting in France and came together again during the Great Depression to decide the fate of the nation on the brink of upheaval. It is the little-known story of the political intrigue and government betrayal that culminated in the only pitched battle ever fought between two American armies under the same flag.

About the Author

Visit the author's website

Follow on Twitter @glencraney

Find on Facebook

Amazon UK

Amazon.com 

Thanks so much Glen for this fascinating post.
It's been a real pleasure to have you as our guest today.



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Blog Tour ~ Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be hosting a stop on the


Girl Waits With Gun Blog Tour

Scribe Publications
Published on the 10th March 2016
Kopp Sisters #1

From New York Times best-selling, Amy Stewart, comes an enthralling novel based on the forgotten, true story of one of the US's first female deputy sheriffs. 

Constance Kopp doesn’t quite fit the mould. She towers over most men, has no interest in marriage, and has been isolated from the world since a family secret sent her and her sisters from the city to the country fifteen years before. When a powerful, ruthless factory owner runs down their buggy, a dispute over damages turns into a war of bricks, bullets, and threats as he unleashes his gang on their farm. The sheriff enlists her help, and it turns out that Constance has a knack for outwitting (and disarming) the criminal element, which might just take her back out into the world and onto a new path in life. 

Through Amy Stewart’s exuberant storytelling, Constance Kopp catapults from a forgotten historical anecdote to an unforgettable historical-fiction heroine — an outsized woman not only ahead of her time, but sometimes even ahead of ours.

My thoughts about Girl Waits With Gun...

When Henry Kaufman’s black motor car hurtles towards them at speed, the Kopp sisters, Constance, Norma and Fleurette travelling in their horse drawn buggy stand no chance against a powerful automobile. Hurt and disheveled the girls try to salvage what they can but their buggy is irreparably damaged. Trying to get the $50 cost of repairs from local silk dye manufacturer Henry Kaufman is riddled with difficulties and even though Constance, as the eldest sister tries her best to get recompense, she discovers that coming up against Henry Kaufman is a really dangerous thing to do.

What then follows is the story of how Henry and his gang of Black Handers systematically set out to terrorise the sisters, making vile threats and methodically undermining everything the sisters hold to be true. Their lives made utterly wretched, Constance turns to the local sheriff for help, who tries his best to get justice for this family of intrepid females.

Set in New York and New Jersey in 1914 and based on historical fact, using real letters and newspaper articles, the author has woven a story which looks at the truth behind the newspaper headline “Girl Waits with Gun” and adds fictional substance to the fascinating story of how Constance Kopp became one of the US’s first female deputy sheriffs.  I found all the Kopp sisters to be a fascinating blend of bluff common sense and quirky behaviour. I especially liked Norma’s fascination with carrier pigeons and Fleurette’s skill with a sewing machine but it is Constance who holds the story together, and reading about her exploits as she takes on the challenge of dealing with the despicable Henry Kaufman makes for fascinating reading.

The story is compelling and entertaining in equal measure and I look forward to reading more from this talented author.

Best Read with...bowls of Norma’s special Krautfleckerl and cups of thick, black coffee

About the Author

Terrance McNally

Visit the author's website

Follow on Twitter @Amy_Stewart

Find on Facebook Amy Stewart Author

My thanks to the author and Molly at Scribe Publications for my invitation to be part of this blog tour. 


Do visit the other stops on the tour which runs from 7th - 18th March 2016

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Review ~ At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier

The Borough Press

An imprint of Harper Collins

March 8th 2016

" The problem was, you couldn't go west of California, and Robert had never run anywhere but west..."

Black Swamp, Ohio, in 1838, is a place sinking in the mud of its own despair. James and Sadie Goodenough just about manage to eke out a living in the black mud which gives the swamp its name. Misery and desolation seem to go hand in hand, and even the simple joy of raising a family doesn’t lift either James or Sadie’s spirits. James finds comfort as a simple arborist, tenderly nurturing his Golden Pippin apple trees in the hope of securing a dream which will make the land his own. Sadie finds her own brand of comfort in the sharpness of applejack, an alcoholic by-product of apple growing, which is as tart as her tongue. The Goodenough children bear the brunt of James and Sadie’s petty indifference and for the children their only means of survival is the hope of escape.

What then follows is a sparse and beautifully written account of a moral journey which will span over fifteen years and which will see, the youngest Goodenough son, Robert, wandering throughout the pioneer lands of America always heading west, as that seems like the only place for him to go. Finding work with a plant collector, Robert discovers that his love of the land, of tending seedlings and observing the giant Californian Redwoods, brings him the peace he so desperately craves.

Part observational account and part epistolary, At the Edge of the Orchard is not just a love affair with the land and the wonders of nature, it’s also a story about self-determination and self-belief. There is no doubt that, in the hands of this imaginative writer, Robert Goodenough’s unique journey of self-discovery is both heart-breaking and uplifting in equal measure.

At the Edge of the Orchard is a story about family. It’s about the unbreakable bonds that tie people together and of the challenges that life can bring.

Best read with...Crunchy bites from a sweet Golden Pippin and several glasses of tart and punchy Applejack cider...



About the Author



Visit on Facebook
Follow on Twitter @Tracy_Chevalier

My thanks to The Borough Press and Lovereading.co.uk Reading Panel for my review copy of 

At the Edge of the Orchard

More reviews of  At the Edge of the Orchard can be found here

Available to buy online and at all good books shops from the 8th March 2016


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Review ~The Fatal Flame by Lyndsay Faye

Headline Review
May 2015

The Fatal Flame

Gods of Gotham # 3

New York,  in 1848, was a place of little charm and scant employment. The Bowery girls who worked in downtown Manhattan eked out a slender living in the manufacturies of the notorious Five Points district. Some were employed as seamstresses in appalling conditions, whilst others were loured into equally dreadful and degrading roles as prostitutes, and as supplicant servants to unscrupulous individuals who exploited them to their full extent. Timothy Wilde is one of the original NYPD coppers, who along with with his brother and associate, Valentine, attempt to bring law and order to this swirling hotchpotch of survival.

In Fatal Flame, a series of mysterious building fires threatens one of the city's corrupt political leaders, and it becomes a race against time for Wilde to discover both the perpetrator and the raison d'etre behind these horrific crimes.

Overall, I thought that the murder mystery at the heart of the story was nicely done and conveyed the right amount of gritty realism. Timothy Wilde appears a worthy protagonist and manages to move the story along with energy and enthusiasm. However, having not read either of the first two books in the series, I did feel a little lost at times, and didn’t always appreciate the references to a back story I didn’t fully understand. That said, I am sure that the followers of this series from the beginning will find much to enjoy, and will find the story beautifully written with a fine eye for historical detail. 

Amazon UK

Gods of Gotham Series

About the Author

My thanks to the team at Headline Review for my copy of this book

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