What She Left Behind - Emily Freud - Blog Tour

 Having read Emily Freud‘s first novel My Best Friend’s Secret I knew she has a penchant for a killer twist so I started this new book confidently believing I knew what to expect. And as I smugly read through part one I was congratulating myself on having sussed out exactly what was going on. Then I started part two. Ha ha! My complacency was seriously challenged and the self satisfied grin drained from my face. 🤣

The tension in this story is relentless from the opening paragraphs to almost the last full stop. An incredible sense of claustrophobia was created and the house in the woods somehow put me in mind of a TV drama, Close to Me. A palpable sense of unease is created in this climate of fear and control, consummate gaslighting, on the part of the main male character, is chilling.

The success, for the reader, of a story like this is the unfolding of the plot and its twists. So I don’t want to risk giving anything away. I did figure out what was happening to a degree but there was always a sense of doubt. The final denouement from the police in the penultimate chapter fills in all the finer points and details which reveal the full extent of the control.

The paradox of trying to create a normal family life when it’s anything but contribute to the intrigue and menace that the reader feels. I frequently felt very unsettled and off balance as I read.

As you progress through the novel the two timelines become a little blurry and I found myself flicking back through the pages to double check to see if what I had read was…. what I had read!

The first two thirds of the book seem slow burning and controlled then everything starts to speed up in the final third further contributing to the off kilter feel. It seems to mirror the frenzy the reader finds themselves in as they feverishly turn the pages to find out just really what is going on.

The characters provoke a range of emotion. The children are absolutely adorable. They all had my heart from the off.  The male characters, apart from George, are unpleasant. And there were times when I wanted to smack Lauren and Eliza and yell at them to take some kind of positive action! But I guess if they had we wouldn’t have had this story! 😉 

It’s a thoroughly entertaining read but it’s rarely a feel good read. At times it was quite harrowing and upsetting. So the need for a positive resolution became imperative for me. Is there one? Oh no! You’re not gonna get me to divulge a thing. You need to read the book. 😉

My thanks to Joe Christie at Quercus Books for a proof and a place on the blog tour. And my thanks to Emily Freud for coming up with another killer twist! 

(un)interrupted tongues - Dal Kular - Blog Tour

“ Creativity heals trauma” could almost be the summing up of the whole collection of these poems from Sheffield poet Dal Kular. This phrase from the concluding piece “Epilogue“ strikes a poignant chord after you’ve experienced the whole cycle of poems and I had the feeling that catharsis was but one byproduct of this original selection of poetry.

Stylistically the poems are unconventional; some almost concrete poems, others defying those inviolable laws of structure, grammar and punctuation! Hurrah! And for me, poetry works best if I read aloud and (un)interrupted tongues is no exception.

Thematically the work looks at a life lived under the mantle of racial, cultural and creative challenges and I felt there was a metaphysical finger flip to anyone who might say ‘can’t’ or ‘won’t’ because Dal Kular is emphatically telling us that whoever we are, we can.

I found the symbolism of the peacock powerful and maybe because the beautiful cover features peacock feathers I especially loved the poem, (Bruised | 1984 Sheffield. Ghost of We (after Ka Ba, Amiri Baraka) which I thought played with the established idea that the peacock indicates eternal life and regrowth, the annual shedding of the feathers and the growing back. 

Audre Lorde is clearly an influence and one poem is addressed to her as ‘Aunty Audre’ as a kind of response to Lorde’s speech ‘The transformation of silence into language and action’ . It’s one of the most compelling poems in the collection. 

There is an element of playful defiance  throughout the work but there are some astute observations in that wonderful way poetry has of conveying a wealth of concepts within a short phrase, ‘Un-holy the folk.’ from ‘angrez shouts the night alight:’ which is another of my favourite poems and you just have to read this one out loud.I forbid you to do otherwise! 😉

It’s not a volume to be read and hidden away on a shelf with your other poetry books.It’s to be dipped in and out of and proclaimed at salient moments in your life, not just for yourself but for others. 

My thanks to Isabelle Kenyon of Fly on the Wall Press for a copy of these poems and a place upon the blog tour. 

Skip to the End - Molly James

Oh don’t! Skip to the end, I mean. Tempting as it might be to follow instructions, read the whole book. Please.

This is a charming novel. It made think of the film About Time with Bill Nighy and Domnhall Gleeson, a premise where fantasy and real life collide sufficiently enough to make you believe.

It’s one of those books where as a reader I kind of knew where it was headed. And that always confuses me because sometimes calling a book predictable sounds critical. But in fact I often wonder whether that is the intention of the author?  To make the outcome almost obvious? It’s a kind of bond between reader and writer because we both know what’s going to happen and we’re both looking on as our hapless heroine flounders her way to what is a fairly obvious conclusion. 

I won’t say there weren’t some surprises here but the main one, the big one, somehow I just knew it was always going to be. Nevertheless I still bawled my eyes out at the end!

So skip to the beginning and join Amy, May, Jay, Gareth, and Charlotte, their fabulous friendship, their lives and their loves. Prepare to be entertained.

My thanks to Team Bookends for a proof.

 

Villager - Tom Cox

 

It’s taken me a while to get round to reading this book published earlier in the year. I had various deadlines which kept interfering but also because I felt nervous. Nervous! I hear you nervously echo. Why? It’s a book. Yes, but I revere Tom Cox.  I’ve read most of his books and I’ve loved them and this is his first novel and I was scared I wouldn’t love it. I couldn’t bear the thought of that. I’ve read Help the Witch which is a collection of short stories. Short stories are fiction but they aren’t a novel. I enjoyed the collection immensely and was relieved that Mr. Cox’s inimitable style endured across these stories. But could he sustain that for a whole novel? 

Villager is quirky and genre defiant from the off. And somehow I was relieved to find that. So it was a good start. As I became immersed in the story Tom’s passion and admiration for the natural world, customs and traditions from folklore,  and music all weave their threads throughout the narrative. His views on the world and some of the people in it are made clear through the philosophies and opinions of his characters. 

Underpinning the novel is the village of Underhill; a distinctly unhobbity place populated by diverse and individual people. They share the narration and a variety of devices are employed structurally throughout. I especially enjoyed the Message Board chapter which had me chuckling out loud. Tom’s wit is evident throughout the book. Time frames are traversed back and forth and a sense of magic cements the story as a whole in the form of a kind of earth spirit, Me, commenting on all that transpires over time. ( I could almost see this character as Cox himself!)

It’s not a fast paced book it rather captures the essence of a ramble across  Dartmoor taking everything in. But also the book demonstrates Cox’s perceptions; towards people, but mostly the natural world where his descriptions demonstrate a love, respect and a reverence. It was as if he was subliminally urging the reader to ensure their relationship with our planet is beyond reproach.  I also felt there was a sense of championing the creativity that can drop between the chairs because central to the story is RJ McKendree a musician and his album Wallflower. One time with a cult following the music has all but disappeared and it made me think about how music can fall in and out of the popular consciousness. I loved the musical references and it’s got me listening to my Judee Sill and Nick Drake albums again. 

It’s a substantial, meandering work. Like a river it has its tributaries that all run into it at some point evidencing some careful plotting. It is demanding I read it again and lose myself in a world that never loses touch with the current global shenanigans but also casts an ethereal glow all around me and speaks of better things. 

Oh me of little faith! How could I ever have doubted him? OF COURSE he can write a novel. He’s Tom Cox.

I pledged to Unbound as I’ve done for several of Tom’s books, probably all his Unbound ones, and I’ll continue to do so for as long as he writes for them. And this beautiful book will take its place alongside Tom’s other books which have their special place on my bookshelves.

Constellations of Eve - Abbigail Nguyen Rosewood

 

One love story, three permutations, Eve, Pari and Liam. This is an extraordinary novel formed from quite exquisite prose and concepts which derive from Buddhist principles of reincarnation and rebirth. The stories fuse and combine then split and diverge across the novel quite organically and seamlessly.

Self-destruction is never far from the surface and elements of the book can be seen as quite heartbreaking until you summon your inner Buddhist. Then it all forms part of a cohesive whole. The book could be viewed as a protracted paradox and what can be seen as a seemingly straightforward fictional narrative moves into an almost existential parallel universe with a sometimes dreamlike quality as the scenes and times shift.

It’s an ambitious novel to challenge many a reader conceptually and philosophically. But the rewards are rich and there is a very real sense, for me, of having experienced something very special. The characters, though, are not always good people all the time! In some cases they’re downright obnoxious! Elements of their relationships are toxic and destructive. But they all seem driven by a desire that’s not necessarily of their own making. There is a sense that they’re all powerless to have any kind of control over their own fates.

Love, art and beauty are the core themes of the novel. These disciplines intersect between the lives of the protagonists and their almost shapeshifting roles. Although in a sense it is a book which defies any specific categorisation for it deals with some pertinent issues in our current world as well as issues that affect individuals- ambition, creativity, fate even. Perhaps the opening quotation by the physicist Carlo Rovelli  offers a clue as to what follows from the beginning to the conclusion of the book.

‘…our  knowledge of time has reached: up to the brink of that vast nocturnal and star-studded ocean of all that we still don’t know.’

The concept of a constellation – several stars forming a whole -  together with the biblical connotations of Eve propel us into an almost metaphysical landscape. There is one part where the book seems to sum up its own achievement! 

‘…the stupor exceptional art tended to induce.’

Eve is an artist and throughout the book a mosaic is being constructed which reinforces that concept of several components creating a whole, like a constellation and I found the mosaic as a metaphor for life quite powerful.

Lovers of a conventional story structure might find the book challenging but I would urge anyone to persevere and surrender yourself to the beautiful writing and the original ideas within the book. I guess it takes the sliding doors concept to a whole new level! There are those who believe that the position of the stars accounts for the outcome of significant moments in their lives and it is fascinating to contemplate how events would pan out with even a small shift in time and the universe. 

My thanks to Isabelle Kenyon for a copy of the book.

Matrix - Lauren Groff

 

 

 This was one of those books that seemed to pop up all over social media and was lauded by people whose opinion I respect and trust. So I was delighted to snaffle this edition from my local library. I’m the first person to read this copy and I feel a disproportionate sense of pleasure from that!

Little is known of Marie de France other than her possible presence at the court of Henry II and the fact that she wrote poetry. She wrote in Francien which is a Parisian dialect and suggests that Paris was the part of France she hailed from. Apparently her writings made it clear that she spent much of her life living in England.

Naturally if she was present at the court of Henry II she was known to the King’s wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine who features prominently in Groff’s masterful imagining of Marie’s life. With little in the way of concrete, historical evidence about Marie to go on Groff has given rein to her own imagination. An imagination where romantic inclinations on Marie‘s part towards Eleanor engulf Marie for the whole of the book.

The book offers us a 17-year-old Marie exiled to a rundown and struggling abbey. The nuns are ailing and hungry. Marie turns things around and the abbey flourishes. So much so that the success may even be a threat to its inmates. Marie holds it all together resolutely and Groff offers us a sense of a strong, determined woman.

I suppose the core of the novel is a feminist one and indeed Groff’s dedication is to “…. all my sisters“ and it is indeed a glorious celebration of female triumph against all the odds and the sense of pulling together to achieve what might seem daunting initially. 

Groff’s writing is substantial, evocative and intelligent, conveying the essence of life in a 12th century religious order. Whilst research on Marie herself may have been limited the attention to detail of monastic life and abbey protocol demonstrates extensive research. There is a sense of controlled, thoughtful, composed writing which seems to mirror some aspects of Marie‘s personality. A latent sense of power too, hides beneath much of the narrative. Although Marie dominates and rightly so, Groff’s other characters are potent, especially Eleanor of whom we know a great deal more than Marie certainly in terms of historical evidence. 

Perhaps because I read it recently I was reminded J R Thorp’s Learwife not just because a nunnery provides the location but the same substance and intelligence inhabits both narratives.

This book has been shortlisted for a couple of awards and apparently Barack Obama cited it as one of his favourite reads of 2021. That’s quite an endorsement.

The Night Ship - Jess Kidd

 

A work of historical fiction surrounding the story of the Dutch East India Company ship the Batavia Jess Kidd’s The Night Ship is so much more than a fictional retelling of “one of the worst horror stories in maritime history“. It contains some of the elements of Gothic fiction and in the hands of a consummate storyteller it fair sparkles with the gems of a purposeful narrative and believable characterisations. That the author understands children is evident from her children’s books so having children as the two main characters in this dual time frame novel is no big surprise. The delightful, feisty Mayken in 1628 and the quirky, individual Gil in 1989 follow their fates in skilful tandem. Their lives hold several parallels, not least their almost orphan status but you sense a deeper connection that has you thinking past lives and reincarnation. Both possess a sense of the supernatural in their imaginings and efforts to make sense of a world that tries so hard to elude their comprehension.

Borrowing from Sumerian epic poem Gilgamesh and aboriginal mythology with Bunyip the novel is broad in its conception but like so much good storytelling ultimately it pares down to Good versus Evil. Elements of ghost and horror fused together in both timeframes and the almost spiritual link between the children is subtly explored as both learn that within the adult world there are those to trust and those to fear. Research is impeccable and the sequences that take place aboard the ship are palpable and redolent with sensory descriptions. The atmosphere created racks up the tension and fear. One of the marks of  good historical fiction for me is when it sends me ‘googlescuttling’ for more details and that’s exactly what this did. I was unaware of the tragedy of the Batavia and I feel better informed since reading this book. Man’s inhumanity to man never ceases to fill me with despair. But the endurance of children fills my heart with joy. This wasn’t a book merely to educate, it was a book to entertain, and to make me think, and to make me overflow with the sheer pleasure of an author able to construct such an immersive story. 

My thanks to Readers first for a prize copy.

Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black – Cookie Mueller

 As I read the first few pieces in this astonishing collection I thought Cookie Mueller must be the love child of Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady! So much reminded me of Kerouac’s autobiographical fiction and the frenetic, drug crazed antics reminded me of Cassady. Despite her headstrong lifestyle Mueller comes across as a warm and witty woman. Reading about her zest for life, her devil may care attitude and risk taking adventures gave me the same kind of buzz I got when I first read On the Road over 40 years ago! But there was something incredibly euphoric about recapturing a sensation from a past that I thought was, well, in the past!

Mueller paints a palpable and volatile picture of San Francisco in the 60s and 70s, this is balanced out by her accounts of life in other parts of the world, especially her trip to the Amalfi Coast. I suppose there are some who might take exception to the extent of the recreational drug use but it is part of the overall picture of the life that Mueller is describing and depicting. In fact it can be seen as an important part of social history for that period. 

But the book is not wholly autobiographical. There are some short stories written in the 80s aptly titled Fables. They are thoroughly entertaining and good examples of Mueller’s wit and imagination, not to mention offering some food for thought too.

However the final section of the book which contains the columns she wrote for various publications were almost prophetic. Mueller describes the art scene of the 80s but also offers some social comment, and remember this is before the advent of social media, that I found most relevant to today. She references climate change and pollution, discussing deforestation and the depletion of the ozone layer contributing to the deterioration of the planet and fears that unless Man adapts and evolves his survival may be in the balance.

Tragic that this talented author died aged only 40 but my, what she packed into that life makes our own lives seems so staid and static. Boy, she was a tough cookie! 😉 She seemed so busy living life I’m amazed she found time to write, but she did and we are all the richer for it. She has a very conversational and easily accessible style be it an autobiographical piece, a short story or a magazine article. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I thank Canongate Books for my copy which has swiftly found its way to my ‘read again soon’ pile.