Let the Light Pour In - Lemn Sissay

 

The premise is simple enough; a short poem written each day as dawn breaks for the last ten years and the best of them collected together in one volume. The result is anything but simple; it is joyous, thought provoking, positive, bold, audacious even but  these words cannot encapsulate the achievements in this deceptively compact volume of poems. Small enough to slip in a pocket and carry with you for those moments when only a poem will do. 

And for those who might eschew ‘modern poetry’ because they ‘don’t understand it’ or it ‘doesn’t rhyme’ this is perfect. All the poems are quatrains (stanzas having four lines with alternate rhymes) and the ideas contained within them can be as simple or as complex as the reader wishes to make them.  You can read one poem in minutes but the ideas will say in your head for infinitely longer.

I felt that many particularly resonated with me because of morning for a start. I am a morning person and I crave the light. I can see this book being a salve during the winter months when I am deprived of light. I loved the conversations night and day, sun and moon, had with each other.

‘How do you grow?’said night

‘How do you keep it in the day?’

’To keep what I have,’ said light

‘I have to give it away.’

Some of the poems offer little epigrams to get you through the challenges of everyday life but not in a self help, preachy way but in a gentle, encouraging way.

The lesson of dawn is

Subtle and sublime - 

Take it easy, but take it all

One day at a time.

Some are astute observations -

      This little island

      With its little angry people

      And its little shouty church

      And its pointy little steeple.

I could continue but I fear I’m in danger of quoting the entire book. I read many poems aloud because for me that’s how poetry should be read and I found myself concluding some with a resounding, ’YES!’

I love this book and when I’m not carrying it around with me it’s going firmly on my forever shelf.

My thanks to Canongate Books for a gifted copy.

The Wolf Hunt - Ayelet Gundar-Goshen translated by Sondra Silverston - Blog Tour

 A deceptive thriller, The Wolf Hunt examines several issues such as antisemitism and relocation, but overwhelmingly, parenthood and how much a mother and a father understand their child.

Lilach seems to have it all: a beautiful home in the heart of Silicon Valley, a happy marriage, and a close relationship with her teenage son, Adam. But when a local synagogue is brutally attacked, her shy, reclusive, son is compelled to join a self-defense class taught by a former Israeli, Special Forces officer. And when a Black teenager dies, rumours begin to circulate that Adam and his new friends might have been involved. As scrutiny invades Lilach’s peaceful home, and her family's stability is threatened, she is forced to reckon with a devastating question: do you ever really know what your child is capable of?

With a perfectly paced narrative and a tight plot the reader is thrown into as much confusion as Lilach (aka Leela). I found my suspicions aroused several times only to be thwarted by the developments but I will smugly aver that my suspicions were not totally unfounded! The book is peppered with many challenging and often upsetting moments which rendered it as much an investigation of character than a mere thriller. The whole scenario is overseen by Leela, and it is from her perspective that we see things. It’s quite interesting that our only insight into how husband, Mikhael and son Adam see the situation is from Leela’s narration and understanding. Although the police are very much involved Leela is main investigator and narrator.

I found the book compelling reading. It's one of those slow burning thrillers that create a palpable atmosphere of tension and uncertainty which has you reading on and on in the hope of resolution. I enjoyed the structure of the plot where one pivotal event, which on one level seems unrelated to the whole, is the catalyst for what follows. The novel is then set up for the characterisations to take over almost. Leela is the dominant female character but Mikhael, Adam and Uri form a solid male trinity and it is almost as if Leela is up against all of them as well as the situations that develop throughout the course of the novel. But the minor characters are also solidly drawn, the deceased boy's mother, residents of the care home where Leela works, for example.

The translation is superb. I completely forgot that I was reading a book translated from the Hebrew and yet the narrative lost nothing of the rich cultural heritage.

My thanks to Kate Wilkinson at Pushkin Press for a gifted copy and a place upon the blog tour. Mine is but one opinion so do please check out what other bloggers have to say.

Harlem After Midnight - Louise Hare

As a book blogger receiving book mail from publishers and other outlets never ceases to thrill me to the very core. After all these years I never take it for granted and I still feel very privileged that a handful of publishers are still willing to send me books in spite of my despite of e- reading and my poor standing on social media. But every so often a book comes along that goes beyond that thrill and renders me almost speechless with delight. And so it was with Louise Hare’s Harlem After Midnight. After I opened the package I just kept holding the book and smiling, I couldn’t do anything else! 

I read and enjoyed the author’s first two novels immensely and when I started this third one I was ecstatic to find that it featured Miss Lena Aldridge again. She was the main character in Ms. Hare’s second book, Miss Aldridge Regrets. It was a murder mystery set on board a cruise ship, and I often wondered what became of Lena and Will Goodman when the ship reached New York. Now I know!

But, fear not, you do not have to have read Miss Aldridge Regrets to thoroughly enjoy this book. It works perfectly well as a standalone. This time all on dry land in Harlem. If you’ve ever been to New York, you know that Harlem is a neighbourhood at the north end of Central Park on Manhattan. It’s inhabitants are predominantly African-Americans. It was an area that enjoyed a kind of cultural renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s so the novel works beneath the backdrop of musicians and singers during that time.

The novel opens with a horrifying incident, where a woman falls from a second story window in the dead of night and in her hand she holds a passport in the name of Lena Aldridge. I was shocked by this opening. I had barely started the book and my heroine seemed in peril.

The narrative gives us the voices of several characters including Lena in the first person, her father in the third person, and others, that I won’t divulge for fear of spoilers. Having found a place to stay with the help of Will,  Lena wants to try and find out what happened earlier in the century to make her father flee to London. Lena also wants to know where she stands in her relationship with Will. And that’s as much of the plot as I’m prepared to discuss! It’s something of a dual narrative with a couple of mysteries going on.

As much as it is a mystery, it’s also a character driven book. with some strong women in the characters of Lena, Will’s sister, Bel and Will’s friend, Claud. And some determined men in the form of Will and his friend, Louis. There are moral issues at play here and considerations of race and colour are never far from the surface. A 1930s New York is palpably described from the elevated subway to the Empire State Building. The chapter headings, too, offer a flavour of jazz and be bop - 'It Ain't Necessarily So', 'Stompin' at the Savoy' (in Broadway font!)

There are secrets aplenty to unravel and the narrative dances along as we lindy hop with it from New York to London as the truth and the mysteries start to unfold. Does Lena get her answers? I'm not saying! 

 

It's a delight to read a story like this. I can't help hoping that there's more of Lena's story to come in the future but I guess I'll just have to wait.

My thnaks to HQ Stories for my gifted copy.

Night Train to Marrakech - Dinah Jefferies

 As I began to read this book news of the dreadful earthquake in Morocco came through. And somehow, reading about this vibrant country has made the tragedy affect me all the more deeply. So I dedicate this review to all of those people who lost their lives, or their homes, or their loved ones in one of nature’s unpreventable disasters.

I was intrigued to read that this is the third in a series of books. It certainly works very well as a standalone, but it’s made me keen now to read the previous books. But there’s plenty enough going on in this book to keep me satisfied for a while. This is what fiction is all about. It’s escapist, it’s romantic it’s exciting and it takes you to places you may never have been or even aspire to visit but you can do it all vicariously from the comfort of your armchair . This is the work of a born storyteller. Someone who knows how to create an atmosphere and populate it with diverse characters, some of them you love and some of them you loathe and fear. It’s fairly clear that there are secrets to be uncovered, particularly where Clemence is concerned and I enjoyed the way that her character was developed from the rather cold remote figure at the beginning of the book to the loving grandmother by the end. I enjoyed the balance of age ranges amongst the characters. From the youngsters like Vicki and Tom and Bea, to the oldsters, like Theo and Clemence. Issues about family relationships abound, offering the reader plenty of food for thought. It’s not a soft read either. There are some nailbiting moments and some horrifying moments.it’s a most immersive read, and I look forward to reading the previous books in the series at some point.

My thanks Readers First for my copy.

The Book of Fire - Christy Lefteri

 Chapter 1 pulls no punches. Straight in for the kill figuratively speaking. In some ways, it was a strange opening. I was so excited to read this book having read the author’s previous two and practically absorbed them intravenously but it took me a chapter or so to really get into it .Frankly, reader, I was scared! I hate that sense of anticipation that isn’t fulfilled. But by the time I reached the end of the book I wanted to read it all over again!

Lefteri garnered much acclaim with her first book, The Beekepper of Aleppo and she followed it up with Songbirds cementing her place as a novelist of note. The Book of Fire does nothing to erode that reputation.

In the wake of the furnace like temperatures in Europe this year the book is piercingly topical. Wild fires are a hazard of many regions in the hotter months but the numbers were exceptional this year. However the premise in this book is a fire started deliberately. It’s never called arson but I guess that’s what it is. And it spreads like…..well….. like wildfire.

And so the story  looks at the event itself, the immediate aftermath and the the adaptation required after the event. It also highlights the strength of the human spirit, how people respond in a disaster and tragedy and the time it takes to recover from the physical and emotional injuries.

It’s a dual narrative with the chapters entitled The Book of Fire being the narrator, Irina’s blow by blow account of her and her daughter’s escape from the fire and their efforts to survive. The other chapters are the present day accounts of dealing with life after the disaster. There is an interesting twist in the story where the perpetrator of the fire is found by Irina in the forest in questionable circumstances that see the police involved. 

For me a slow starter but like many conflagrations the flames spread rapidly and I was overcome with word inhalation. Confident, assured writing that offers the reader a palpable experience. Descriptions so visual you feel that you’re there with Irina, daughter, Chara and husband, Tasso. Characterisations so clearly defined that you want to reach out and soothe. I will confess I was in tears at least a couple of times. 

The world can be a greedy, acquisitive place and that avarice can sometimes have apocalyptic consequences as this book so aptly illustrates. Yet the world is also full of some wonderful people who selflessly give and others whose strength of spirit carries them thought disaster to redemption.

So….. Christy Lefteri has done it again….. given us a book that haunts and moves and asks us to consider our world and our lives. 

Now I can’t believe I struggled to get into it! 

My thanks to Readers First.

The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley - Sean Lusk

 

This book first hit my radar when I saw it discussed on BBC Two’s Between the Covers last year. But I didn’t act upon that recommendation. My interest was piqued again when the book was long listed for the Walter Scott Historical Fiction Prize. I was fortunate enough to win the entire long list on a social media giveaway! I am still pinching myself in disbelief at such a generous prize. By the time my prize arrived though the shortlist had been announced and unfortunately The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley did not make it. I focused on the shortlist promising myself that I would read the remaining long listed books when I had fulfilled my current deadlines and commitments. That time has come and this is the first book from those remaining that I’ve chosen. A very good choice I’d say! I couldn’t put it down. I read on and on putting my insomnia to good use and I was totally captivated by Abel and Zachary and Franny and Leonora and Tom and Mrs Morley, and, and, and…….EVERYONE!

I think in part I can understand why the book didn’t make the shortlist for as much as the book is historical with a wealth of research into the Ottoman Empire and the hierarchy of an 18th-century court in Constantinople. It is more than that. It’s a coming-of-age story, it’s an adventure story, a mystery story and it’s utterly spellbinding.The historical research is impeccable, not least from the description of the Istanbul sequences in the book. But Abel and his automata are so palpably depicted that you can hear and see them in your own second sight! Zachary‘s gift also propelled the book towards the fringes of magical realism.

The relationships between the characters are great and believable. One of the endorsements on the cover of the book references a Dickensian feel to them, which is absolutely spot-on. The book also embraces the traditional approach to storytelling that is also in the Dickensian tradition. 

The plot is detailed, clever and well constructed and the dovetailing and significance between one event and another is seamless offering the reader a most satisfying continuity. Even as the narrative switches from Tring to Istanbul to Lundy and more, there’s no sense of fragmentation. The locations nestle together despite the disparate distances involved.  I think that works so well because the journeys undertaken were not just of a physical nature. They seemed to be of a spiritual and emotional one too.

It’s an absolutely delightful book, and I hope that some enterprising filmmaker might see fit to bring a celluloid element to the tale.

Cleaner - Brandi Wells

 

I remember a cleaner I once had at work who cleaned my room conscientiously at the end of the day. However whenever she was on duty , I made sure to be out of my room when she worked. She was – nosey – in a word! Always prying, commenting, trying to tease both personal and corporate information out of me. She actually made me feel very uncomfortable. So I was intrigued to read this book by Brandi Wells.

The art of satire is alive, well, and residing within a deceptive, simply presented novel, Cleaner. When I first picked the book up I was anticipating a lightweight, almost superficial read that would entertain me at best. Then I read the first paragraph and I knew I was in for so much more.

Cleaner is a deliciously quirky, funny, subtle polemic that has so much to say about employment, status, hierarchies, confidentiality and self-esteem. It’s sharply observed and this author is astute and perceptive when it comes to her fellow human beings.

None of the characters are named except for the pet names the cleaner has devised based on her observations of the employees’ desks (and contents!) and their computers! The two other characters have initial letters which is a powerful device, always has been, think Kafka! But this is no existential tale. It is very much a story of now, of today, of contemporary attitudes. 

The main protagonist is the cleaner and what a triumph of a character she is. The entire narrative is seen through her eyes; her perceptions and assessments of the situations she is in and the people she encounters. There is a subtlety to her perception of herself and her relationship with those she cleans for which makes for some laugh out loud moments as her behaviour makes it clear who her favourites are and who they aren’t! Her self belief is admirable and she takes a pride in her work and ensuring that she does a good job.  Of course there has to be more to the story that somebody cleaning an office block! The cleaner’s desire to protect the organisation for whom she cleans borders on the obsessional at time and provokes some questionable behaviour in terms of security and confidentiality but if the end justifies the means? I’ll say no more plot wise. 

In many ways it’s a dark read but it elicits a great deal of thought about contemporary attitudes, in the workplace certainly but in the wider platform of life and how much we really know of our fellow man other than our own assumptions. The poignancy of that is best illustrated towards the end of the novel when the cleaner’s own assumptions were exploded. 

I found it a highly entertaining and thought provoking read, original. My thanks to Tandem Collective for a gifted copy. 

The Humans - Matt Haig

 

It is something of an achievement to create a fiction that is both humorous and sagacious all in one. But that’s exactly what Matt Haig has achieved in The Humans. Amazon put this book in the “alien invasion“ genre which is something of a paradox since it suggests some kind of tactical aggression, which it isn’t really. We can chuckle as our hapless, nameless Vonnadorian  navigates his way in, what is for him, our mystifying planet where he must encounter and deal with all the nuances of humankind, and their cultures and their language and their conventions and their etiquette, and and and……….. easy to see how that is a recipe for some amusing moments. But it’s also a recipe for an objective and wise appraisal of where the human race might be going wrong, but let’s not be too negative, where they might be going right as well.

‘After an “incident“ one wet Friday night where he was found walking naked through the streets of Cambridge, Professor Andrew Martin is not feeling quite himself. Food sickens him. Clothes confound him. Even his loving wife and teenage son are repulsive to him. He feels lost amongst an alien species and hates everyone on the planet. Everyone, that is, except Newton (and he’s a dog). Who is he really? And what could make someone change their mind about the human race?’

And what follows is whether he changes his mind or not. I’m not about to divulge the plot because what happens is exactly what makes the novel so entertaining and so readable. And I should imagine it is one of the most perfect books for bookclubs to read and discuss. Towards the end of the book, one of the chapters is called “Advice for a human“ and is seven pages of 97 bullet point “wisdoms“ for humans. It swings a pendulum between profound wisdom and utter silliness. ‘ Be curious. Question everything. A present fact is just a future fiction.’ ‘ The Dark Ages never ended. (But don’t tell your mother.)’

I enjoyed all the characters. I thought they were very well drawn and realistic inasmuch as myself, a mere human, can appreciate an alien as realistic, since so far, I don’t believe I have met one. I wouldn’t swear to it but I don’t think so. I particularly enjoyed the depictions of Isobel and Gulliver, wife and son.  Some of the others were functional. The plot zigzags from a degree of authenticity to downright ridiculous but it does work. I suppose I found the ending a little rushed and only very slightly predictable. But it is a book that you can laugh and cry almost simultaneously, and it’s certainly very endearing and entertaining.

I read this as part of a Canongate Books readalong. I’ve read a couple of other Matt Haig books, but I think this is my favourite so far.