Foolish Heroines - June Wentland - Blog Tour

If you’re looking for something a little different then I do believe you can find it in June Wentland’s debut novel, Foolish Heroines. It has been described as magic realism but there’s a quirkiness here that might allow the book to fit into the absurdist fiction genre too. Nothing is quite as it seems as we explore the seemingly ‘normal’ surface lives of several women and find that our understanding of normality is challenged in a most delightful and mind expanding way.

The  characters are diverse; for example, there’s recently widowed Lily, who is one of my favourite characters, there’s Janina who struggles to communicate with her husband, belly dancing Shaz, Fatima the florist, a collection of enlightened and skilled felines - Frida Kahlo is one -, Gladys the spider!  And the interactions between all the characters and the meshing of the, sometimes, crazy events makes for an unpredictable read! But unpredictable in an uplifting sense. I am loathe to give too much away because much of the joy of the book is coming across these bizarre events and occurrences. In that sense it is a difficult book to summarise because there is so much going on in it.

Although the story starts innocently enough and you think you’re getting another dysfunctional family tale with people trying to sort out the niggles and challenges of life you are soon confronted with this out of kilter world that Ms. Wentland has constructed. It’s a little unnerving to begin with but as the narrative gathers momentum and you adjust to the characters, the situations and the landscapes you find that it is a ride you just don’t want to end.

On a broader level it could be seen as a voyage of self discovery for a group of women. It’s colourful, vivid writing with warmth and wit. If you are a female reader this might alter your perception of Horlicks forever! It’s contemporary yet contains within in it a sense of traditional, almost fairy tale story telling that is refreshing. It often felt like I was experiencing the book rather than merely reading it!

My thanks to Isabelle Kenyon at Fly on the Wall Press and Valley Press for a gifted copy.

Valley Press  have a Jan 2022 sale offering 22% off, you just need to enter code JAN22 when shopping on https://www.valleypressuk.com at the basket stage and the discount will be applied.