One Moment - Linda Green - BLOG TOUR

You know how before certain TV programmes begin the announcer warns people of violence, scenes of a sexual nature, scenes that some viewers might find distressing? And then at the end sometimes offers a helpline number that people can call if they have been affected by the issues in the programme? I’m wondering if it’s time for books to do the same? For this latest book by Linda Green should, at the very least, advise its readers to keep a box of tissues by their side for the duration.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that titles aren’t important. One Moment can be the ominous delaying phrase offered by those officials determined to make you wait. Or it can refer to that singular thing, a snapshot in time that can change forever a sequence of events. There are several moments in this story, in truth, moments where decisions and actions determine outcomes in a kind of sliding door way. 

Reminiscent of both The Curious Incident…. and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close with a tip of the hat to I, Daniel Blake  One Moment is about two people who forge an unlikely friendship. The titular One Moment is their first meeting and the one that begins a ripple effect. 

Finn is a weird kid. Good weird though.The characterisation is so good he just bursts straight off the page and into your heart. He’s 10 years old. Kaz reminded me a little of the Sarah character from Love Actually, selfless and dedicated. However Kaz tells it as it is. She’s unweird. She’s 59 years old. 

There’s a dual structure from Finn and Kaz with a ‘Before’ and ‘After’ prefix to their chapters. It becomes clear as the story progresses that the ‘Before’ and the ‘After' refer to a major event that is not revealed until later in the book. Although you do start to guess at what potentially may have transpired. It’s clever though; because there is another ongoing situation that you initially think the ‘Before’ and ‘After’ refers to so it’s a shock when you realise it isn’t that at all. But it is the major event and the second meeting that cements the relationship between Kaz and Finn and binds them. There is an unspoken element of a ‘meant to be’ aspect of crossed paths, written in the stars, fate lending a hand and all that. But it’s a godsend, the fates would have been cruel indeed not to let their paths cross. 

The writer has cleverly managed to sustain the voices of two different people, you can almost hear them speaking in your head; Finn, the child, Kaz, the adult, who have some kind of implicit understanding of each other. To do that though you have to have a deep understanding of children which this author has to be sure. It’s never stated but it seems likely that Finn is somewhere on the spectrum given some of his predilections. It’s written with an empathic comprehension of such conditions and syndromes. Kaz is that slightly under represented older character in fiction. Her story is no less deserving of our tears than Finn's but her stalwart and resilient nature offers her a buffer of sorts.

There's a supporting cast of vital characters; Lottie, Finn's best friend who totally gets him, oh, that all the Finn's in this world could have a best friend like Lottie. Terry, Kaz's  brother, if you've a brother who you love this relationship in the story will impact on you. Finn's parents, Martin and Hannah, their story will touch you. And let's not forget - Alan Titchmarsh.;) (Dammit, has anyone sent a copy of the book to him?)

It’s a story written with passion and compassion. There are sub plot that looks at the weaknesses, for want of a better word, within our benefits system, the strain that divergent parenting ideas can place upon a marriage and how the child is affected. You may feel angry, you may feel sad, you may feel uplifted ultimately. I hope that isn’t offering any spoilers. At the risk of divulging too much because, trust me, you WILL want to read this book, I’ll stop now. 

Linda Green has done it again. As she did with The Last Thing She Told Me she has offered a voice for those who may not have one but not in a soapbox, shouty kinda way but in a moving fiction that will stay with you kinda way.

My thanks to Milly Reid at Quercus Books for a copy of this book and an invitation to the blog tour. Please check out what other bloggers feel about the book.

The Paper Wasp - Lauren Acampora

A claustraphobic miasma of obsession trembling beneath a veneer of measured normality grips the reader like a hypnotist’s victim. In some ways it was less like reading a book but more like entering a dream world or word dream. Abby and Elise - friends since schooldays, although friend is not really the word here. A mutually parasitic bond that is dark and stifling, Abby, flawed and needy, balancing precariously  on the brink of instability, Elise, less obviously flawed maybe but needy too, as she seeks to fuel that need through alcohol and a career as a Hollywood starlet. After some wasted years reconnection at a school reunion ultimately leads to Abby becoming Elise’s personal assistant. 

The whole narrative is presented to us from Abby’s perspective. So we have her flawed take on events. Her clairvoyant dreams convincing her that her path is the right one. But the reader is left wondering sometimes what is real and what is a dream. Especially the ending? And as the book progresses Abby’s obsessions are like nesting dolls, one is borne from another. I don't wish to give away too much more.

It’s an unsettling story, as themes of obsession usually are but there’s also an attempt to lay bare the shallow world of Hollywood and the fragility of the art world. People’s perception of their own selves are put under scrutiny. Is Abby really an exceptional artist? Or does she just believe she is? Can Elise really act or is she just part of the LA Studio conveyor belt?

A paper wasp gathers fibre from wood and plant stems which they mix with saliva and construct a nest out of the pulp they make from that. And there is a sense here of something being chewed and spat out not as an act of construction but as an act of expulsion.  Paper wasps, too, have a venom that can provoke a severe allergic reaction. It’s a a fine titular analogy.

It’s not the first novel with a female toxic friendship and it won’t be the last but it is an arresting debut that envelops the reader yet consistently keeps them slightly off balance with its tangential prose. The narrative flows, not smoothly exactly, for it mirrors the off balance, off kilter mental landscape of Abby. The characters we need to know are defined  and solid, nearly all bar one seem victims of Abby’s machinations. 

Thanks to Ana McLaughlin at riverrun for a copy of this story. It’s damn good. 

COVID 19 - A Bookworm's View

COVID-19? It wouldn't be out of place as the title of a thriller would it? And I suppose that notion is what prompted me to put these words together as I muse about a world caught in an atmosphere of anxiety for their health. I've often mused that cyber and germ warfare may be the future of conflict. Folk are certainly conflicted by all that's going on at the moment. 

Influenza, flu, has always been a killer. Trouble is we often confuse flu with a particularly intense cold. If you've ever had real flu, my goodness, you know it. So what is it with this particular strain that's causing so much concern? Statistically, worldwide, on average 650,000 people die per year from the flu. How do the figures for COVID-19 compare? Rhetorical. I don't know the answer. 

Courtesy Flickr
RANT 73 -Visual Storyteller
The COVID-19 Coronoavirus 2019

And the origin of this virus? There are those who believe it to be natural. And there are those who believe it to be man-made and released either deliberately or accidentally. If it is natural it simply demonstrates the incredible stability of a virus and its ability to fulfil its potential.To evolve, survive and change to thwart our fragile immune systems which do not seem to evolve at comparable rates.  There have been many strains of the coronavirus over the years, SARS, MERS etc. But if it is natural could it even be one of nature's ways of trying to sort problems out. The world is overpopulated, is it a nature cull? 

And if it's man-made? What would be the purpose? Deliberate release? Overpopulation? People have been living longer; it all puts a strain on resources. Malthus was probably right.  Governments finding a way to get rid of people without resorting to overt genocide? It's a scary notion. 

There is a field of thought that believes the fatality figures we have been given are not accurate. The reason suggested for that is it would frighten people too much if they knew the truth.  But are we frightened already? A fearful population is a compliant population. A population too scared to travel. That would reduce the carbon footprint.  Maybe it's to reduce the risk of terrorism. If people are too fearful of attending large gatherings, sporting and cultural events, it offers less opportunity for terrorists to strike. 

The emphasis on the washing of hands strikes me as some kind of subversive metaphor?! Are we all washing our hands of our responsibilities?

Accidental release? Always a possibility. And one that possibly no one is prepared to admit to. But are these merely the thoughts of an avid reader? After all this is a bookish blog. But  today on social media I spotted someone who has cited horror writer Dean Koontz's  The Eyes of Darkness published in 1981 and requesting an explanation for this 'coincidence'.  The author  speaks of a respiratory illness originating from China - Wuhan specifically, in 2019 and 2020. Koontz calls it Wuhan 400. Pretty chilling. 

So maybe it's not such a departure from a bookish themed blog? And maybe it's all part of a spooky parallel universe, astral planeing type reality? Or maybe I have too vivid an imagination. Perhaps I'd better stick to washing my hands. 

The Sisters Grimm - Menna Van Praag

If I think back to my childhood much of my book diet was made up, primarily, of nursery rhymes and fairy stories. Whether that was down to my mother or circumstance I’m not sure but I can’t say I ever remember the home being without copies of Hans Andersen  and Grimm’s Fairy Tales. My Mum read Fudge the Fairy to me at bedtime before I could read for myself. She started to read The Enchanted Wood to me while I was learning to read and that motivated me to finish it off for myself. So I was exposed to magical realism from an early age. I’m old now but I still love it.  

As a book blogger social media is part of the blogging game. It’s a mixed blessing -  sometimes you see a book that nearly every blogger on the planet seems to have been sent a proof of except you. You’re the kid not invited to the party. I’m sure, I hope, that isn’t so but it often feels that way. And so it was with Menna Van Praag’s The Sister’s Grimm. I saw it everywhere. and, oh, how I wanted it! One photo even showed some goody bags! I knew with an unfailing instinct that it would be my kinda book. You can't have a book with ‘Grimm’ in the title and not be reminded of those age old fairy tales. Not published until February though…….. put it on the Wanted List.

Fast forward to now. Shout out to my local library.  On the shelf almost on publication day. I was excited by the endorsement from Bridget Collins on the cover as I enjoyed The Binding. (another one that other bloggers received but I didn’t!).  I thought ’Sisters…..’  was similar in mood to that book. I have just finished this glorious tale of four sisters. I want to be a sister Grimm. I want to live in Everwhere. Now. 

But to the manner of all things blurbish……

‘Absorbing and beautiful - a great achievement.' BRIDGET COLLINS, bestselling author of The Binding

There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of sisters Grimm on Earth.

You may well be one of them, though you might never know it.

This is the story of four sisters Grimm – daughters born to different mothers on the same day, each born out of bright-white wishing and black-edged desire.

They found each other at eight years-old, were separated at thirteen and now, at nearly eighteen, it is imperative that they find each other once again.

In thirty-three days they will meet their father in Everwhere. Only then will they discover who they truly are, and what they can truly do. Then they must fight to save their lives and the lives of the ones they love. Three will live, one will die.

You’ll have to read on to find out who and why . . .’

Something that always excites me about this genre is the imagination and the complexities of plot that leave me breathless at how one person, one mind, can create some other world, so faultlessly, so believably, that you long to shake off this virus ridden world and enter another where anything can happen. But it isn’t just about the creation of a different landscape it’s about using that landscape to offer insights and points. Here it is clearly about the empowerment of women and their self awareness. Some gritty issues about self harming and child abuse aren’t shied away from. But it’s done with a fine balance of solemnity and humour, woven within a poetic patchwork of prose that evokes and excites. 

Like many stories of this kind this has a faintly gothic feel to it with the eternal good versus evil theme. The evil here is the father of our four sisters. I’m never willingly in the spoiler business so I’ll say little about plot specifics. The four girls, all so different in personality and their elemental super powers (read the book!) took their place in the everyday world with all the problems and challenges we all face from time to time - money, relationships, employment, siblings, ageing relatives and so on. Things we can all relate to but the frequent flashbacks to their thirteen year old selves in Everwhere never lets the reader forget that this is place of imagination and magic. The male characters are well developed and offered a twist I vaguely suspected at one point only to reject the idea. Until I got to the end!

It’s not the genre for everyone. If you wish for realism in your fiction you might not appreciate this on as many levels as those of use who habitually escape into worlds of fantasy and magic. I loved it. As well as being a fine story I felt it paid homage to those fairy stories that I grew up. Let us continue to celebrate the kissing of frogs and the construction of gingerbread houses, (where you might eat the ceiling before it falls down.) ;)

Rust - Eliese Colette Goldbach - BLOG BLAST

Having largely found the experience of narrative non fiction an edifying and uplifting experience I jumped at the opportunity to read Eliese Colette Goldbach’s Rust. And as is my predilection I let initial images and responses flow freely as I contemplated this volume. I thought of Erin Brockovich, possibly because the steel works conveyed a corporate, industrial idea in my head that boded no good! I thought of Megan Phelps Roper and Unfollow, her journey from hatred to hope. I thought of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, from lost to found and I thought of William Blake and his ‘dark, satanic mills’. So with all those thoughts running around my wayward mind I settled down to read this book.

I suppose the book can be appreciated on more than one level. If you ever wondered about how something as immense as a steel works functions then this leaves virtually no stone unturned and the descriptions are vivid. You can almost see the heat steaming from the pages as you rub the dust from your eyes as you read! The many processes and the logistics of managing those processes are well detailed. The hierarchies of a workforce that seems at first disparate and at variance with each other turns out to be quite the reverse and a sense of solidarity emerges. 

But it is very much one woman’s journey through mental illness and a traumatic experience that exacerbates her condition and how she finds redemption and a way forward. You can’t actually divorce the two because her unlikely employment at the steel mill is fundamental to her coming to an understanding of herself and her place within her own world, her family, her friends. It’s a story of candour and self exploration. For the reader there are parts that will make you so very angry about what happened to Eliese. Her frustration, disappointment, for want of better words, are palpable but her refusal to allow bitterness and negativity to completely overcome her is a testament to her ultimate faith -  with a small as well as a capital ‘f’. (Faith, especially the Catholic faith play an important part in Eliese’s life.) 

The state, if not the world as a whole, then the United States is also a major subject in the book. Not overtly political but with substantial reference to the pervading atmosphere. Perhaps less accessible to readers outside of the States and Ohio in particular yet there are universal observations- 

‘The rift had been born from a particularly human failing. We had forgotten how to see each other. We had let down our guard. We had  closed our eyes. Now the weavers of shrouds and fantasies had come along, recognising our self-imposed darkness. They believed that we were too blind to know better so they covered our eyes carefully…….’

There is a salient passage that does seem to summarise dominant attitudes of society today;

‘My perspective matters most. My problems deserve to be solved. I am the spotless protagonist in the epic poem of my life, and I want a distraction from my pain.’

Thankfully the author identifies this as delusion that we need to step away from. I saw the steel and the mill as a sustained allegory for her own life. The processes required to become a ‘finished product’ so to speak. The stages she went through. The final strength of the steel that emerges through all its incarnations and not always smooth journey complement Eliese’s own. Read as such it provides a powerful image and an uplifting one. Ultimately this is an uplifting book - one woman’s often difficult and traumatic journey to defy the odds and show how possible it is to reach alternate points of view and find some peace and a place within this often confusing world.

I am thrilled to be part for the blog blast for this book and my thanks to Katya Ellis for inviting me and sending me a copy of the book. Please see what others have to say about this book. 

The Slaughterman’s Daughter - Yaniv Iczkovits translated by Orr Scharf SOCIAL MEDIA BLAST

I found this a quite extraordinary experience. It’s very many things but it’s all cemented together with a bouncy and energetic narrative that allows itself to be driven by a fertile imagination and a colourful cast of characters. A work of translation from the Hebrew by Orr Scharf who has done a wonderful job of retaining the whole Hebrew feel of Iczkovit’s writing and you can imagine reading it to the accompaniment of a klezmer band. 

So what’s all about ? Fanny Keisman is the daughter of a slaughter man. That is significant but I’m not telling you why! She has a sister Mende whose husband has absconded, in common with other husbands of this Motal region. What Fanny does is simple, it’s what any sister would do, isn’t it? She ups and goes searching for this good for nothing husband. Except you just don’t do that when you’re a wife and a mother yourself. It sets the town a-talking. And as events unfold so many questions are raised. One chance event allows everything to spiral out of control in a way that corrupts Fanny’s original intention. And I’m not saying any more than that with regard to specifics of the plot other than to add that the Secret Police get involved. Oh, and....... 'Blessed are the Cheesemakers'. ;)

It’s a substantial tome weighing in at over 500 pages but it still feels as if the author has packed a hell of a lot into those pages. There are stories within stories as the characters come from their Individual positions on the switchback of life to the communal positions they eventually hold within the broader narrative. They act, react and interact in sometimes comedic ways, sometimes heartbreaking ways. It’s part historical, part family saga, there’s even a fantasy flavour briefly but it all seems to celebrate the Yiddish tradition of colourful storytelling. I found myself humming 'If I Were a Rich Man' from "Fiddler on the Roof' for I thought of Topol and that larger than life exuberance that almost makes you read this book in capital letters. I also thought of Patrick Susskind and Perfume. And I found echoes of Ginsberg -  ‘Excited, I expected the greatest minds of our generation….’ There seems to be balance between the anarchic and the controlled which met in the middle to ignite a literary explosion.

As with many good books there are some quotable maxims - 

'….today we are not settling for the necessary but striving for the possible.’

‘Reality is not shaped by the choice between rich or wrong, but by opting for the necessary and the expedient…..’

Just a couple of examples that appealed to me. 

Apparently this guy has published three novels. Pulse, Adam and Sophie and An After Midnight Prayer some of which have won prizes or been shortlisted for prizes. I shall be seeking them out. This guy can write. 

I am delighted to be on the social media blast for this book, thank you to Corinna Zifko for the opportunity.  I heartily urge you to seek out what other devotees of this book have to say. 

My thanks to Quercus Books and MacLehose Press for a proof copy. I liked it. Lots.

In Five Years - Rebecca Serle - BLOG BLAST

Billed as the biggest love story of 2020 this book should, by law, come with a box of tissues. I’m not normally a big fan of romance per se but I was advised that this one had a twist that I wouldn’t see coming. Spot on! I didn’t! Intriguing and challenging. 

Blurb - 

 The biggest & most unexpected love story of 2020 

This is a love story, brimming with joy and heartbreak 

But it is definitely not the love story you are expecting...

Perfect for fans of Me Before You by Jojo Moyes and One Day, this heart-breaking story of love, loss and life will have you questioning everything you thought you knew about destiny...

Where do you see yourself in five years? 

Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Kohan has been in possession of her meticulously crafted answer since she understood the question. On the day that she nails the most important job interview of her career and gets engaged to the perfect man, she’s well on her way to fulfilling her life goals.

That night Dannie falls asleep only to wake up in a different apartment with a different ring on her 

finger, and in the company of a very different man. The TV is on in the background, and she can just make out the date. It’s the same night –December 15th – but 2025, five years in the future.

It was just a dream, she tells herself when she wakes, but it felt so real... Determined to ignore the odd experience, she files it away in the back of her mind.

That is, until four and a half years later, when Dannie turns down a street and there, standing on the 

corner, is the man from her dream...  

Me -
It’s a relatively slender volume with a smooth narrative that makes for an easy read in terms of ‘words per second’! But the plot has some twists in it that are simply unexpected. And if I was Queen of the Spoilers I would detail the lot for you now with a triumphant grin on my face as I witness you gasping at the author’s audacity. But I’m not! Let’s just say that the book heads in directions you aren’t expecting. It’s a consummate piece of reader manipulation, willing reader, I should add. 

The two main characters, are Dannie and Bella who have a solid and unconditional friendship. That’s the backbone of the novel. It's the kind of friendship we hope we all have. I guess it’s kinda exaggerated for fictional purposes but there’s a point to be made so it’s necessary. They are both very different people. Bella is a free spirit whilst Dannie is more career focused, ambitious

and organised with a life agenda as well as a work one. Their friendship is put to a test. Not a conventional kind of testing. It’s pretty emotional. The other characters have their place and their roles to fulfil and they fulfil them very well. Even NYC is there as a minor character. But it’s Bella and Dannie who shine.

As to the title which is important; the five years of the title refer to something that happens to Dannie which demands that she must attempt to engineer aspects of her life before five years have passed. The blurb gives you the basic idea and I’m trying hard not to give anything else away but it does force me into a rather cryptic response to the book. Thematically it’s about love and friendship, self discovery, too, maybe. There’s some food for thought without it being preachy. and there's the story that doesn't follow the straightforward path you're possibly expecting it to take. And that’s all I’m gonna say……. 

About Rebecca Serle -

Serle is an author and television writer who lives between NYC and LA. Serle most recently co-developed the television adaptation of her YA series Famous In Love for Freeform and Warner Brothers Television. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California. Her bestselling US debut adult novel Dinner List was a Book of the Month club pick, Costco bookclub pick, and Bustle Bookclub selection.

I received an advance proof of this from Quercus Books for which I am very grateful. Thank you. 
And I was thrilled to be invited aboard the blog blast for the book. Thanks to Milly Reid for inviting me.  There are lots of us. Check out what we have to say.