Review ~ The Bones of You by Debbie Howells

Macmillan
July 2015

Everyone has secrets but some are more dangerous than others.

Eighteen year old Rosie Anderson has disappeared, and in the pretty village where she lives, alarm bells start to ring, as Rosie is so quiet and inoffensive that no-one can quite believe she would act so out of character. And yet for her family, and the village at large, the nightmare is only just beginning.

The Bones of You takes a family tragedy of epic proportions and cleverly weaves a tense psychological thriller which is a cut above the average whodunit. It is beautifully written, with a real sense of both mystery and suspense that you can't help but be drawn into the story, as right from the very start, we know that something dreadful has happened. As the story unfolds we are allowed a glimpse into the very heart and soul of a family who are completely at odds with themselves.

What then follows is a cleverly plotted and suspenseful family drama which looks at the concealment of secrets and of the overwhelming deceit of lives in turmoil. I think that there was just the right amount of suspense and whilst the book doesn’t focus on police procedure there is a very clear sense that this is a complex criminal case which has very human emotions at its heart.

Reminiscent, perhaps, of The Lovely Bones, but no less important because of that comparison, I think that to say more about book’s content would be to give far too much away, and that would be so unfair. However, what I will acknowledge is that this is a very clever debut novel, by a talented author who I am sure will go on to give us more heart stopping moments. I can't wait to see what she does next.

About the Author

Debbie Howells is a florist and lives with her family in Sussex. Her agent discovered The Bones of You on the slush pile and immediately spotted it as a future best seller.

Find Debbie on her website

Follow her on Twitter @debbie_howells

Amazon UK

My thanks to Lauren at Macmillan and Bookridgr for my copy of The Bones of You

Published 16 July and available from all good book shops. 

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The author in my spotlight is ....Laura Elliot

I am delighted to welcome to the blog

Laura Elliot

 Author of 

Bookouture
August 2015

Hi Laura ~ welcome to Jaffareadstoo and thank you for taking the time to answer our questions :

What gave you the idea for writing The Betrayal? 

I began the story some years ago when Ireland was undergoing a massive property collapse. I read a feature in the papers about couples whose marriages had ended but were unable to sell their house and buy two separate places. Their solution was to divide their house into two apartments and live apart from each other. I kept imagining what it must be like to be separated – yet together – all the tensions and complications that would arise. 

Tell us more about the novel's background. 

It began life as a rom-com about the couple, Nadine and Jake and their family. Then, one morning, the character Karin entered the story. Suddenly the direction began to change and become edgier. While I was trying to decide whether to keep her - or banish her into the wilderness - I had to go into hospital for surgery on my back. When I was in the post-operative stage, high as a kite on morphine, she started talking to me. It was sheer stream of consciousness – unlike the struggle I’d been having with her on the page. That experience placed her firmly into the narrative, created my ending – and turned The Betrayal into a psychological thriller. 

What was the most difficult aspect of the writing the story? How did you overcome it? 

Changing the direction halfway through. I had to abandon a huge amount of material I’d written about Jake and Nadine’s family – and change the structure. I hated getting rid of scenes I’d enjoyed writing – and which I knew were good - but that’s where the discipline of being a writer comes into play. 

Whilst you are writing you must live with your characters. How do you feel about them when the book is finished? Are they what you expected them to be? 

When I first begin to develop my characters they are flimsy, ghostly. Everything they say seems clichéd, as are their actions. Then they start developing personalities, flesh and muscle. I try to see into their minds, feel their emotions, keep them from doing things that are out of character. And, yes, by the time I finish with them, they are what I’d hoped. I’m half in love with them – but also very glad to shake them free from my imagination. 

What do you enjoy most about writing stories and do you write for yourself, or other people? 

What I most enjoy is the challenge of exploring experiences I’m never likely to have – hopefully. I write for myself – but it’s difficult not to be influenced by other people’s opinions. I work my way through those feelings and pay no attention to trends. The first book I wrote was for children – a fantasy story about an imaginary land, magic and realism combined. I was told there was no market for fantasy and it would never sell. It did sell but that attitude still persisted until Harry Potter entered the fray and proved the opposite. 

How do you manage to balance writing with your everyday life and what do you do to relax? 

I begin work early in the morning and work until about four. That’s about as much as I can do without turning into a zombie. I live beside the sea – and the estuary that features in The Betrayal – so lots of walking to unwind – or to inspire. I love reading, music, theatre, film, do some yoga – and quite enjoy a visit to my local pub. 

Visit Laura on her website
Find her on Facebook
Follow her on Twitter @Elliot_Laura
Amazon UK


My review of The Betrayal can be found here

Huge thanks to Laura for sharing her thoughts so eloquently and to Kim at Bookouture for her help with this interview.

Laura's books  can be found on 

Amazon 

    

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Sunday War Poet ..

The theme for this month's war poetry

is 

Places

To Germany

by

Charles Hamilton Sorley

(1895 - 1915)

You are blind like us. Your hurt no man designed,

And no man claimed the conquest of your land.

But gropers both through fields of thought confined

We stumble and we do not understand.

You only saw your future bigly planned,

And we, the tapering paths of our own mind,

And in each other's dearest ways we stand,

And hiss and hate. And the blind fight the blind.

When it is peace, then we may view again

With new-won eyes each other's truer form

And wonder. Grown more loving-kind and warm

We'll grasp firm hands and laugh at the old pain,

When it is peace. But until peace, the storm

The darkness and the thunder and the rain.

(1914)



Charles Hamilton Sorley was an English poet of the First World War. Born in Aberdeen, educated at Marlborough College, in 1915 he enrolled in the Suffolk Regimental and arrived on the Western Front in May 1915.

He was killed in action in October 1915 at the Battle of Loos.


His sole work was published in January 1916 to critical acclaim.



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Review ~ The Betrayal by Laura Elliot

Bookouture
14 August 2015

A Perfect Divorce. A New Flame. A Deadly Obsession

It’s almost impossible to read The Betrayal without an image of Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction running through your mind. However, this classic story of just how far it’s possible for someone to go in order to seek revenge has been updated for a contemporary audience.

Nadine and Jake have an interesting marriage. They’ve been together since they were very young and have successfully navigated the choppy waters of family life. Their four children have now flown the nest, and just when times should be on a more even keel, the recession hits hard and their already struggling music business faces troubled times. Jake’s trip to America, to keep on side one of their biggest clients, should be the one ray of hope but his ill-fated journey to America opens up a whole series of events which will shape Nadine and Jake’s life forever.

It’s often a cliché to say that a book is unputdownable, when quite often it’s not and you can go about your daily chores without ever thinking about the story you are reading. This is not one of those stories, as from the very start of the story when Jake enters the airport and Nadine catches a glimpse of Karin Moylan, a woman from her past, you just feel the hairs on the back of your neck start to rise, and you instinctively know that this story is going to be rather special.Time and place is captured perfectly, the wild and windswept Irish coastline acts as a perfect backdrop and is so beautifully described that, even though I’ve never visited , I felt at one with the wildlife of Broadmeadow estuary, and could picture Nadine and Jake’s home at Sea Aster quite vividly

The story is beautifully descriptive, not just about the minutiae of a marriage in turmoil, but also about the visceral pull of illicit sexual magnetism, and of the recklessness and downward spiral of overwhelming attraction. From the sparse rawness of Nadine’s pain, to the hurt and confusion of Jake’s culpability, and also, of course, the sheer magnetism of Karin’s damaged personality, all these elements combine to make this one of those truly unforgettable stories which you just want to tell everyone to read for themselves. 

...so, read it...

About The Author

Visit Laura on her website

Find her on Facebook

Follow her on Twitter @Elliot_Laura

Amazon UK

My thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book

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Today my Guest Author...... is Anne Allen

I am delighted to welcome back to the blog

Anne Allen

Anne ~ welcome back to Jaffareadstoo...

Jo has suggested I write about what is so special about Guernsey that I've already written four books based on the island. Here goes…

It's a beautiful island only a few miles from the French coast although it's British. Not very big – seven miles by five – and can be driven around in about an hour and a half, Guernsey has a certain mystique, a feeling of separateness that epitomises islands. Its fascinating history has been traced back to Neolithic times, with old burial mounds and menhirs dotted around the island. As someone who studied history for my degree, it was wonderful to spend time in a place embodying centuries of British history. Initially Guernsey and the other Channel Islands were Norman French, belonging at one time to William the Conqueror; hence the strong French influence found to this day. The islands passed into British hands some few hundred years later but the local dialect, or patois, is Guernsey-French and I never did manage to understand it!

I arrived, with my three children in tow, in 1988, to set up a residential natural health centre, which promptly fell through weeks later. At the time I was a psychotherapist and set up my own practice to keep a roof over our heads. A year earlier I had fallen in love with both the island and the people and was determined to live there, whatever the cost. Guernsey has such beautiful sandy beaches, cliff walks, winding lanes and a pretty 'capital' in St Peter Port that it proved irresistible. The thousands of tourists who visit each year, from all over Europe, are testament to its many attractions.

St Peter Port is a must for visitors, having something for everyone. There are narrow cobbled streets – some a little steep, I admit! – full of great shops, cafés and restaurants, with gorgeous views over the harbour and neighbouring islands of Herm and Sark. I'm sure you've all heard of Les Miserables? Well, Victor Hugo finished the book and wrote others while in exile from France, living in St Peter Port. His house is exactly as it was back in the nineteenth century. All the beaches are lovely but my favourites are Vazon and L'Ancresse. And if you do go over, don't miss Herm☺ It's a tiny island, only one mile by a mile and a half, and takes about 15 minutes by ferry from St Peter Port and has an atmosphere all of its own. Readers of my books may notice how much I love it! There are no cars or bikes and everyone walks around at their own pace. A place to unwind and, for some reason, always seems to enjoy better weather than Guernsey. I was over in June and spent a super day there, even managing to fit in a book-signing as I sat in the sun☺

Although I left Guernsey some years ago, returning reluctantly to England, I go back at least once a year and this last time I found it extra hard to leave. My older son still lives there and I have some lovely friends to catch up with, making my visits fly by. And, of course, I need to fit in research for my novels. In June, when I launched my latest book, The Family Divided, I went around the island to decide where to site the action for my next, Echoes of Time. Not having a car, I hopped on a bus which took me around the complete coast in an hour and a half and it cost me £1! An absolute bargain…

Anne's latest book

The Family Divided is out now 

Amazon UK 
Amazon.com

My review is here

Sarnia Books
 June 2015

Find Anne on her website

On Facebook

On Twitter @AnneAllen21

Huge thanks to Anne for sharing her love of Guernsey and for bringing the place and its people so gloriously alive in The Guernsey Novels.


Visit Guernsey



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Review ~ Three Strange Angels by Laura Kalpakian

Buried River Press
2015

When the renowned author, Frank Carson, is found dead in a Californian swimming pool, in February 1950, it is left to Quentin Castle, a junior partner in his father’s literary agency, to break the news to Carson’s wife. Sympathetic to the plight of Carson’s now impoverished widow, and enraptured by the effect Claire Carson has on him, Quentin volunteers to bring Carson’s body back to England. However, once in Hollywood, Quentin is faced with a world very different from the post war austerity of 1950s Britain, and he is faced with series of choices which will affect his life forever.

Initially, the book gets off to a slow start. There is much to take in, both in terms of where the story is leading and of the characters who flit into and out of the story. I found that I had to concentrate on what was happening, and when, and why and to whom. Having said that, the story does start to make sense and about two thirds of the way into the story I became more involved with Quentin’s character and felt more at ease in his company.

The story spans several years and describes time and place accurately, I got a real sense of post war Britain and of the literary world  of which Quentin is so much a part of and which the author describes well.

So overall, it’s a slow burner of a book and something rather different for me. I’m glad I had the chance to give it a try.

About the Author

Laura Kalpakian is the author of eleven novels and three prize-winning collections of original short fiction. Her work has appeared extensively in the UK and the USA. She has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a residency at Hawthornden Castle, Scotland, and her 2006 novel, American Cookery was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. A native Californian, Laura was educated on both the east and west coasts of the USA, and lives in the Pacific Northwest.

My thanks to Buried River Press for my review copy of this book

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Review ~ Twice Royal Lady by Hilary Green

Buried River Press
2015

Matilda, Empress of the Germans and Lady of the English, daughter of Henry I of England, was always destined to be used as a political pawn and her life from childhood was governed and shaped by the men who would control her destiny.

Twice Royal Lady begins in Germany when eight year Matilda is being prepared for her betrothal to the future Holy Roman Emperor, Henry V. We begin to learn what shaped Matilda's character and where she got the indomitable strength which she would later have to rely on.

Matilda's life is well-documented and has been the subject of many historical novels, all of which portray Matilda as a remarkable and formidable woman. This book is no exception, and whilst it doesn't throw up any new evidence about her life, it does reiterate just how fickle medieval politics was, and shows the capriciousness and volatility of male dominance.

There is no doubt that medieval history is a fascinating minefield of plot and counter plot and I think 

Hilary Green has done a good job in bringing the medieval world to life in a very readable way. Both time and place feel authentic and the author is largely considerate towards Matilda and describes her life in an interesting and informative way. 

About The Author

Hilary Green is a trained actress and spent many years teaching drama and running a youth theatre company. She has also written scripts for the BBC and won the Kythira short story prize. Hilary now lives in the Wirral and is a full time writer.

My thanks to Buried River Press for my review copy of Twice Royal Lady.

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