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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Giveaway ~ The Bone Tree by Greg Iles

Available now from Harper Collins

Greg Iles continues the electrifying story begun in his smash New York Times bestseller Natchez Burning in this highly anticipated second installment of an epic trilogy of blood and race, family and justice, featuring Southern lawyer Penn Cage.

Former prosecutor Penn Cage and his fiancée, reporter and publisher Caitlin Masters, have barely escaped with their lives after being attacked by wealthy businessman Brody Royal and his Double Eagles, a KKK sect with ties to some of Mississippi’s most powerful men. But the real danger has only begun as FBI Special Agent John Kaiser warns Penn that Brody wasn’t the true leader of the Double Eagles. The puppeteer who actually controls the terrorist group is a man far more fearsome: the chief of the state police’s Criminal Investigations Bureau, Forrest Knox.

The only way Penn can save his father, Dr. Tom Cage—who is fleeing a murder charge as well as corrupt cops bent on killing him—is either to make a devil’s bargain with Knox or destroy him. While Penn desperately pursues both options, Caitlin uncovers the real story behind a series of unsolved civil rights murders that may hold the key to the Double Eagles’ downfall. The trail leads her deep into the past, into the black backwaters of the Mississippi River, to a secret killing ground used by slave owners and the Klan for over two hundred years . . . a place of terrifying evil known only as “the bone tree.”

The Bone Tree is an explosive, action-packed thriller full of twisting intrigue and deadly secrets, a tale that explores the conflicts and casualties that result when the darkest truths of American history come to light. It puts us inside the skin of a noble man who has always fought for justice—now finally pushed beyond his limits.

Just how far will Penn Cage, the hero we thought we knew, go to protect those he loves?

My review of Natchez Burning can be found by clicking here

About the Author

Greg Iles was born in Germany but spent most of his youth in Natchez, Mississippi His thirteen New York Times bestselling novels have been made into films, translated into more than twenty languages, and published in more than thirty-five countries worldwide. He lives in Natchez with his two teenage children.

Website

Twitter @GregIles

Amazon UK

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Thanks to Felicity at Harper for this fabulous giveaway opportunity.




~**Good Luck **~

Review ~ Pengelly's Daughter by Nicola Pryce

Corvus
July 016

A Bit of Blurb..

Cornwall: 1793. Rose Pengelly's father has been ruined - he has lost his boat yard and his fortune, plunging Rose and her mother into poverty and debt. There appears to be only one way out of their terrible circumstances; for Rose to marry Mr Tregellas, a powerful timber merchant and the man Rose believes is responsible for her father's downfall. He has made his terms clear; either she marries him or faces homelessness and destitution.

Desperate, Rose sets out to find evidence of Mr Tregellas's wrongdoing. In her search, she encounters a mysterious young sailor called Jim, who refuses to disclose his identity. Even as she falls in love with him, she questions who he really is. He may help her restore her fortune and her good name, but does he ever tell her the truth?

My thoughts about the book..

Pengelly's Daughter has all the hallmarks of a rollicking good historical adventure, and if you like a feisty heroine who doesn't stand for any nonsense and a ruggedly handsome hero who has just a hint of a secret in his background, then I am sure that this story will appeal.

Set against the sweeping majesty of the Cornish coast, Pengelly's Daughter is a family saga which gives more than a nod towards the massively successful Poldark series by Winston Graham. Does it have the same classic pull as Graham's work? Well, no, it doesn't, but that's no bad thing, as the story is more than capable of standing on its own merits.  I particularly enjoyed getting to know Rose, Pengelly's eponymous daughter, who, as the book opens, finds that she and her mother have to live in almost penury due to some bad decisions made by her father who has since been punished for a crime he may, or may not have done. Meeting a mysterious young man called Jim, who helps to get Rose out of far too many mishaps, forms the basis for this lively story about the prejudices faced by young women in Georgian England, and also of the evil machinations of despicable men who sought only to bring about the downfall of the Pengelly family. 

Do they succeed, well, I’ll leave it for you discover for yourselves, but if you enjoy a lively historical adventure, with a hint of mischance and a dash of romance, then I highly recommend Pengelly's Daughter as a good historical family saga.

Best read with …Glistening pilchards, fresh from the Cornish sea and a robust English ale..

About the Author

Nicola Pryce trained as a chemotherapy nurse before completing an Open University degree in Humanities. She is a qualified adult literacy volunteer and lives with her husband in the Blackdown Hills in Somerset.

Follow on Twitter @NPryce_Author #Pengelly'sDaughter

My thanks to Alison at Corvus for my review copy of Pengelly's Daughter.

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Review ~ There Is Always More To Say by Lynda Young Spiro

New Generation Publishing
2016

A bit of blurb..

Soho 1984: Two people meet and their worlds are changed forever. An unexpected meeting – a look that means their lives will never be the same again. In “There Is Always More To Say”, Lynda Spiro chronicles the lives of the couple through friendships, marriage, fleeting moments and snatched time. It is a passionate account about a connection between two people that never dies even when tested by distance and when life throws the unexpected at their feet.

My thoughts about the story..

I definitely agree with the author, that there is always more to say, and this cleverly written novella proves that we are always searching for the right way to say things even though we don't always know what it is we want to say.

As it says on the cover, it's a story about an 'everlasting friendship' , it's about two people who meet, fall in love and then for reasons which become apparent face a loss so deep that it hurts to even imagine how they endure it.

Told as a first person narrative, the novel's lyrical quality draws you into a cleverly contrived story which paints such a vivid picture of a relationship that it becomes an almost mesmeric read, particularly as there is some deliberate phrasing repetition.

Sometimes a book comes into your life just at the right time, and this is what happened when I opened and started to read There Is Always More To Say. Not only was I enchanted by the story as it unfolded, but also by the careful choice of quotations which start and end each section. Each struck a resonance with me and I found myself, quite unusually, book marking pages so that I could go back and re-read.

Here's my favourite from Maya Angelou:

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel..."

More about the Author can be found on her website by clicking here 

Twitter @lyndaspiro

Amazon UK

My thanks to the author for sharing her novel with me.

I am hosting an interview with Lynda Young Spiro on the 11th October. Do come and meet her...

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Blog Tour ~ Dark Water by Sara Bailey

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be part of the Dark Water Blog Tour

I'm really thrilled to interview the author 

Sara Bailey

Sara, a warm welcome to Jaffareadstoo ~ Tell us a little about yourself and what got you started as an author?

Reading. I read all the time as a child and have continued to read throughout my life, everything and anything. It’s a bit of a cliché these days to say I always wanted to write, but I did. My family were great storytellers and as the youngest I listened to them weave this magic around themselves. My brother and next sister up (there are six of us) in particular used to invent bedtime stories. I saw too how much books were admired and revered in our house. I still don’t feel I’ve really moved in somewhere until the books are unpacked. Something my husband understands as the first thing he did when we recently moved was build me a beautiful new bookcase.

Where did you get the first flash of inspiration for Dark Water? 

Two things sparked Dark Water, one was a writing exercise I did as part of my MA that made me explore my memories of growing up in Orkney. The other was Helen Dunmore’s book Talking to the Dead. I loved the brittleness of her heroine and the unexpected ending. 

Will you explain to us a little more about the plot without giving too much away? 

It’s about returning to your teenage self and how the things that happen at that time form the adult you become. Helena has to face her past when she comes home to look after her Dad. She has to find a way of living with her actions. In that way the book is also about the different versions of events that we remember and which one we end up using so we can move on. It’s a book about growing up and a book about how we retell our past. I’m always fascinated by how the same event can be remembered in different ways by all the people there. It’s also about friendship, in particular girls’ friendships. 

How do you plan your writing, are you a plotter, or a see where it goes kind of writer? 

Oh, I so want to be a plotter and I do try, but I’m a ‘see where it goes’ kind of writer really. I believe the story is in there and I just have to untangle it - like a ball of wool, find the thread and follow it. At the moment I’m working on the next book and I have all these scenes and chapters written which I know hang together somehow, I’m just not sure yet where the beginning is - once I get that, and the voice - I know I’ll be off and away. I love that moment when it feels like you’re just taking dictation, but those moments are rare and precious. 

What has been your favourite part of the writing/publishing process? 

The good writing days. I love having the initial ideas and just getting them down on the page. Oddly too, I enjoyed the editing bit right at the end, finding just the right word, weeding out the ‘blips and farts’ as one of my writer friends calls them. 

What is the main thing you want readers to take away from your book? 

That’s hard to say. I guess I want the reader to be taken back to their own teenage years and to recognise bits of themselves (obviously not all). Mainly though, I want them to feel that they’ve been told a good story. And of course I want them to fall in love with Orkney as I have done. 

And finally - how can readers find out more about you and your writing?

Go to the Nightingale website 

Nightingale Editions a new imprint of Blackbird Digital Books.

Founded by authors Jacqui Lofthouse and Stephanie Zia.

The book can be found on Amazon  and the Waterstones website or if you just want to have a look at my life go to my own website

My thoughts about Dark Water ..

Nightingale Editions
October 2016

Feelings run like a silken thread throughout the whole of Dark Water, which is a very cleverly put together story which explores the dark and often unguarded side of ourselves that so often surfaces when we are forced to remember things in our past which perhaps we would prefer to forget.

When Helena Chambers returns to her Orkney childhood home, ostensibly to care for her sick father she is unprepared for the effect that the island and its people will have on her. Buried beneath the surface of Helena's memory are the shadowy areas she has tried so hard, in the intervening decade, to suppress. An adolescence spent with her best friend, Anastasia and the undeniable repercussions of a terrible tragedy have coloured Helena's adult life. What then follows is a clever mix of past and present which all combine to form a very cleverly contrived psychological mystery.

The story is wonderfully descriptive; time and pace move ever so slowly and, almost imperceptibly, the mystery at the heart of the novel starts to gradually unfold. There is much to take in, not just in terms of what is happening to Helena in the here and now, but also about the faults and feelings she needs to explore before she can hope to lay the turmoil of her past to rest.

I really enjoyed this story which is remarkably adept for a debut novel. There is a definite sense that the author understands her audience and writes not just to impress, but also to share a love of good storytelling. Some novels can merely be a collection of words on a page, Dark Water with its depth of feeling, it's awareness of the time and tides which ebb and flow amongst us, and the glorious Orkney setting is far more than just words on a page, it is story telling at its absolute best.



Best Read With ...Orange Barley Sugar, sticky and sweet, and an ice cream float...

Huge thanks to Sara for spending time with us today and for sharing her writing thoughts so eloquently. And also to Jacqui at Nightingale for the review copy of Dark water and also for the invitation to be part of this blog tour.

You can read more from the publisher Jacqui in The Writing Coach Newsletter by clicking here 

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Sunday WW1 Remembered

 A Little Known Fact

Hugh John Lofting

1886-1947

The author Hugh Lofting was a British author and Civil Engineer who created Doctor Doolittle, one of the classics of children's literature.

 He served with the Irish Guards during the 1914-1918 conflict and created the character of Doctor Doolittle to amuse his children in the illustrated letters he sent home from the trenches. His experiences on the Western Front were considered either too horrific or too boring and so he created this much loved fictional character. Lofting was seriously wounded in the war but returned home where he developed the stories further.

Source: wikipedia

The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Being the History of His Peculiar Life at Home and Astonishing Adventures in Foreign Parts

Published in 1920

   

No one loves and understands animals like the eccentric nineteenth-century physician Dr. Dolittle—who masters animal language with the help of Polynesia the parrot. After his human patients desert him, the kind-hearted doctor finds his calling in practicing animal medicine, and his fame spreads far and wide. When a terrible epidemic breaks out among monkeys in Africa, Dr. Dolittle sets out to save them, accompanied by some of his favorite pets. Thus begins the amusing, whimsical adventures of Dr. Dolittle and the animal kingdom. Hugh Lofting, winner of the 1923 Newbery Medal for The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle, has a gifted knack for imbuing unique, distinct personalities in his characters human and animal alike.

Source:Goodreads

Close to Home...Karl Drinkwater

As a book reviewer I have made contact with authors from all across the globe and feel immensely privileged to be able to share some amazing work. However, there is always something rather special when a book comes to my attention which has been written by an author in my part of the North of England. So with this in mind I have great pleasure in featuring some of those authors who are literally close to my home. Over the next few Saturdays, and hopefully beyond, I will be sharing the work of a very talented bunch of Northern authors and discovering just what being a Northerner means to them both in terms of inspiration and also in their writing.

Today please welcome Manchester Author

Karl Drinkwater

Karl Drinkwater is originally from Manchester but has lived in Wales for nearly twenty years, ever since he went there to do a degree: it was easier to stay than to catch a train back. His longest career was in librarianship (twenty-five years); his shortest was industrial welding (one week).

Sometimes he writes about life and love; sometimes death and decay. He usually flips a coin in the morning, or checks the weather, and decides based on that. His aim is to tell a good story, regardless of genre. When he is not writing or editing he loves exercise, guitars, computer games, board games, the natural environment, animals, social justice and zombies

Is a person shaped by the place they grew up? If so, and assuming writers count as people (a truth not universally acknowledged), then we’re bound to find out more about a writer when we look at their past. Even a random sample of dates could be informative.

I usually talk about my early childhood. But let’s start later than that. What about my teenage years? Two memories spring to mind.

1. I was the non-conformist class comedian rebelling against authority at Urmston Grammar School. It was a boy’s school so I didn’t know anything about girls until I first fell in love at 16. Maybe that’s why I write about relationships a lot now.

2. After my father died it made me the man of the house. I kept a hatchet under my pillow, something school friends didn’t believe until I showed them. I explained that if a burglar tried to climb into mine or my sister’s bedrooms I’d cut his fingers off. Maybe that’s why I write about darkness a lot now.

That’s me, I’m just like everyone else: half romantic, half obsessed with apocalyptic survival. It’s a comfortable mix. But maybe my teenage years explain why I write in two genres, that thing writers are told they MUST NEVER DO. (Oh, I sometimes got in trouble at school, so you can add rule-breaker to that list. Only got caned once though.)

Although my thriller/horror writing gets most publicity (Turner, Harvest Festival, They Move Below), my last two literary novels were set in Manchester in the year 2000, often around the city centre. They’re Cold Fusion 2000 and 2000 Tunes, and I see them as love letters to Manchester: its music, its city, its people, whilst also being critical of some aspects. And they’re also more traditional love stories, after a fashion, about nerds and difficult people being able to find love and happiness and contentment. Shades of my own life sneaking in there again – impossible to separate the work from the worker.

 

The novels are concerned with place and how it shapes us, particularly in 2000 Tunes where the character of Mark gradually perceives the city of Manchester as switching from being a supportive home to being a prison of memory and lost glory. Only the promise of a new place can offer the chance to change behaviours and start again.

Both novels have many scenes set in the city centre (as it existed in 2000): often the same places and themes, but with different outcomes. Cold Fusion 2000 can be particularly tricksy. It was fun for me as a writer to play with reader expectations and assumptions, even if the ending comes as a surprise that requires re-evaluating what went before. That plot twist is an exception: I normally think of these two literary novels as being more character- and theme-focussed than plot-focussed, which makes it too measured for some readers, but compellingly believable for others.

Manchester is the home of many social movements. It’s where The Vegetarian Society started. I liked that radical and questioning side to it (and went vegan when I was at South Trafford College). I also loved the frequently down-to-earth nature of the people, at least where I lived. If you had any pretensions you were told to “shove them up yer arse”. It prevented you getting too big for your boots.

Obviously there are downsides to the city – like everywhere else, we’re seeing loss of green spaces, litter, urban blight. The little green park in Urmston where I used to sit in and eat my lunch got turned into a two-storey car park. The field I walked past on my way to work is now covered in houses. Piccadilly Gardens was once all flowers and bushes; it got concreted over; then they eventually stuck a token bit of turf on top of that (along with extra concrete walls to make it look like a prison). As a child I lived in a house by some fields; then the diggers moved in and widened the motorway until it almost touched our back garden and I had trouble sleeping (and then doing well at school) because of the continuous traffic. Independent shops replaced with supermarkets; cafes with Starbucks and Costa. Progress? The impact of globalisation, and its footprint of making everywhere the same, hits as hard in Manchester as anywhere else.

But sometimes the bad is something to rebel against. And even then, it shapes us.

©Karl Drinkwater

All photographs by kind permission

Huge thanks to Karl for kicking off my Close to Home feature and for sharing his thoughts about Manchester so eloquently.

You can find out more about Karl and his writing by clicking on the links below:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Newsletter

Amazon UK 

I hope that you have enjoyed reading today's Close to Home feature.

Coming next Saturday : Liz Bower

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