June Wrap-Up

 

First up this month was Liv Constantine's The Next Mrs. Parrish. Astute readers of this blog ( and I'm chuckling here because I don't think there are any readers of this blog let alone astute ones! 😂) will remember that May ended with The Last Mrs. Parrish which I read quickly and in preparation for this follow up. I reviewed it on the blog'

https://bookphace.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-next-mrs-parrish-liv-constantine.html

My local bookshop has been hosting several writer events. Often they are local authors. Tim Burrows, a freelance journalist, wrote a book about the county of Essex. It is an attempt to dispel the myths about Essex and explode the stereotypical ideas of Essex Girl and Essex Man. It's fascinating. I am ambivalent towards Essex even though I live here. I don't love it. There are bits of it I like. This book makes it sound like an okay place.

The Maid by Nita Prose was one of my 'walking books'. So it was read on the kindle app on my phone. Not my favourite method of reading but better than not reading. I loved it ! I loved the character of Molly, clearly on the spectrum, and well observed by the author. It was an absorbing whodunnit as well.

I've read all of Kate Morton's books. Homecoming is the seventh and didn't disappoint. She is a natural story teller and her stories are often what I like to call 'big house' stories. This book alternates between two different timelines - 1959 and 2018 - and is a slow reveal of the events that surrounded the tragedy of the Turner family. Lots of twists and turns, some you see coming, others you don't. In this story the big house is called Halcyon and the action takes place in Australia.

Next up was a book that has been on my radar for a while. The Island Missing of Trees by Elif Shafak. I think it is the only book I have ever come across where one of the main characters is a fig tree! Genius. It's a beautiful, moving book that looks at the conflict between Turkey and Cyprus.  It's about love and loss and family and heritage. 

Fiona Cummins is a writer who has been on my radar for a while. I didn't realise that she is a local author and I met her at my bookshop where she came to help out for a morning during Independent Book store week.  She was lovely  to talk to and I can't believe how someone so nice can come up with such brutal and fiendish characters and twisty plots! 😂 She told me she would be returning to the bookshop in August so I am determined to read all her books by then. I started with her current book, All of Us are Broken. I’ve just finished When I was Ten and I've just started The Neighbour. I have another reserved at my local library so that means I will have just a couple to go before August if I can stay on target. They are truly UNPUTDOWNABLES!

My friend lost her Mum last October and I've been trying to support her and help her through the worst of bereavement. I remember so well what it feels like.Her Mum was an avid reader and River God by Wilbur Smith was her favourite book. My friend asked me if I would like to borrow it. I said yes but it’s sat on my shelf for a while now and I’ve been feeling bad that I had left it. So I made sure I read it this month and I enjoyed it very much. It’s pure adventure , a kind of Egyptian Game of Thrones! Smith is an experienced writer and I think my own Mum liked his books too. 

And lastly this month is a debut novel from Nikkitha Bakshani. Ghost Chilli! This was one of those delightful books about which I had zero expectations. I knew nothing the author and I just went into it blind, and it was a delight. Funny, touching, a beautifully paced narrative that just moves smoothly along. There were times when I wanted to just hug Muskan and other times when I wanted to give her a good shake! She is quite the character. 

The Next Mrs. Parrish - Liv Constantine

 

I have always believed honesty is the best policy so I will admit that when I received a copy of this book I had not read the first in the series - The Last Mrs. Parrish. But because I am diligent and thorough I tried to put in a request at my local library for a copy. But the Library's online system was down undergoing some lengthy maintenance so I ended up getting a copy for the kindle. There. I've said it. Me, who loathes kindles is such a dedicated reader and book blogger that I endured the dreaded device so that I could read the first book in preparation for the next! 

So I read the books back to back, and frankly after reading the first one I was so full of disgust for Jackson and Amber that I wasn't sure if I could endure another book featuring them so soon. But, I did. Of course I did! 

And the first thing that occupied my thoughts was how can such a fiendish plot can be created? How are minds capable of such vileness?! And how can a book that is a tale of nasty, despicable, manipulative, fraudulent people doing nasty, despicable, manipulative, fraudulent things to reasonably decent people who resort to devious behaviour simply to survive and find out the truth be so damned compelling!!?? I couldn't put the wretched book down!!! 🤣🤣 Also I was reminded slightly of The Talented Mr. Ripley and of Virginia Andrews’ Flowers in the Attic series where there seemed no end to dreadful behaviours. I also realised that I could have read the second without the first because I think it stands up as a standalone ok but I wondered how quickly I would have loathed Amber and Jackson without reading the first. 

But I'm rambling a bit. Let's get to the nitty gritty. The Next Mrs. Parrish is a thriller with lots of suspense as well as a psychological domestic tale. The characters play cat and mouse with each other throughout and there are twists and turns around every chapter! The duplicity of the two main characters is unsurpassed. I think. But the naivety of Daphne sometimes made me want to slap her! 

Briefly Daphne was married to Jackson in an abusive car crash of a marriage that ended when he succumbed to the charms of the obnoxious Amber Patterson. Jackson ends up in jail for tax evasion. That's the first book in an extreme nutshell. The second begins as Jackson's release from prison become imminent and Amber has to begin a new round of conniving and scheming. Meanwhile ex wife Daphne seemingly safe in California has to contend with her eldest daughter running away to try and see her beloved father. Throw in to the mix a blast from Amber's past and the stage is set for a tour de force of deceit, two faced, dishonourable machinations between the lot of them!! The only characters I really felt consistently sorry for were the children, especially Jax and even Tallulah who really was the catalyst for much of what followed. 

Structurally the tale is told in the third person with the exception of Daphne's story which is told in the first person, an interesting device which is more likely to engage the reader positively towards Daphne. 

The narrative stays focused, more so perhaps than in the first book? There is much that you simply can't second guess in terms of the twists and turns that it almost unbalances the reader. It's pretty well paced and simply so compelling. 

The ending was good and I can see a way for another book but I wonder if that would be a mistake? I think I would find it too stressful!!

I was interested to learn that the author is in fact two people! Two sisters. I wondered what their roles might be in the writing of the books. Are they both responsible for these fiendish plots? 🤣

My thanks to Ana McLaughlin at Quercus Books for a gifted copy.

This is where I find the softest hurt - Christiana Jasutan

 This is where I find the softest hurt  is a debut chap book of delicate words from emerging poet Christiana Jasutan. 

The collection comprises work of differing form and style from concrete poetry, prose poetry, dialogue poetry, alongside more traditional stanza driven poetry. The diversity is refreshing. 

Thematically the poems examine the body and its relationship with the self within the context of life itself, the highs and the lows, the hurts and the pleasures. 

This is set very firmly within the opening poem in the collection - Morning Ritual - a poem with four parts that illustrate the different forms ( I loved the egg shaped part that seemed to celebrate the notion that the egg contains all that is needed for life, including love) as well as the almost symbiosis between the body and the life it is living. The inclusion of some Indonesian words also features here and is evident in other poems in the pamphlet. I was grateful for Google translate!

The poet is a keen observer of the human condition -

'Thins the lesson of cooking,

of separating life with (dis)jointed fingers,

that washing the leaves under cold water

before splitting them to sections.'

Food features prominently too in several of the poems, I especially enjoyed Kitchen - 

'it still tastes heavenly; not entirely soup and not entirely cream

but this might be what our friendship is like: flavours bursting

in your mouth that go straight to your heart.'

 I particularly liked Phantom Limbs. The poem is a clever comparison of seeing yearning. and missing as the same sensation an amputee experiences with a phantom limb. 

'Not every distance is the cause of an amputation,

yet every kilometre - a phantom limb to behold.'

Here the poet seems to be missing her mum and addresses her in Indonesian. It's delightful. 

The future of poetry is safe and well in the hands and pens of young poets like Christina Jasutan. It's very exciting.

My thanks to Isabelle Kenyon for a gifted copy of the poems and a place upon the blog tour.