The Good Neighbours - Nina Allan

There are some writers whose books you read and you know exactly what to expect. You know exactly what their style and their genres are. It’s very comfortable and very satisfying. But then you can get a writer whose very diversity is almost the opposite of that. Not that their books are uncomfortable or unsatisfying, no, no, no!  It actually makes the experience highly exciting with an enhanced level of anticipation. Nina Allan is one such a writer. Having read The Dollmaker I found her style to be “genre defiant“ and having just read The Good Neighbours she’s done nothing to alter my opinion! Interesting then that Google books want to place it in various genres - fairy tale, magical realism, visionary and metaphysical. Strange this desire we have to conveniently compartmentalise things. It’s all of those genres yet it’s none of them either. And it doesn’t matter. 

The story of a friendship cut dramatically short. The story of a friendship that endures beyond the tragic. The story of a person looking for answers. The person looking to the past to maybe to find the present, and in turn themselves. The person examining their memory with its flaws and its unreliability. A fusion between our contemporary world of realities and a whimsical, fey, parallel world that may have the answers we seek.

Brimming with the literary, cultural references conjuring images and atmospheres from pages past Nina Allan sends the willing reader to accompany Cath, the photographer/ record store employee back to the Isle of Bute where she spent time during her informative years. Using a camera as a metaphorical Sherlock Holmes type magnifying glass Cath photographs ‘murder houses’. 

But one such house is personal. For it is the house where her childhood friend, Shirley, was murdered by her own father. Not surprisingly, for it is an event from a couple of decades ago,  the house is now occupied by somebody else. And that gives another dynamic to the story.
I’m unwilling to give too much more away. I hope I haven’t given too much away already! But such a intriguing premise is safe in the hands of a story weaver like Nina Allan. Always one to keep the narrative interesting the predominantly present day narrative is interspersed with flashbacks from the past and imagined conversations. One of the most endearing aspects of the Dollmaker was the stories within a story technique used to such great effect in that book. It’s less of a feature here but Ms. Allan uses additional techniques to keep things interesting, informative and flowing. She manages to strike a balance between what might be seen as the mundane, ordinary lives but caught up in other worldly happenings.

I guess at the heart of the story is a flawed individual, somebody looking at the imagined and the real to reach some kind of redemption, make some kind of sense of their life. It’s rich vibrant prose full of mystery. Like me it may have you scuttling to google Victorian painter Richard Dadd and cause you to think more deeply about fairies than you may have done before. 

Cathy is a deep character. She presents as somebody desperate to find herself. Somebody easily hurt but quite tenacious, bordering on the obsessive maybe. As a reader I found myself willing her on. Wanting her to make the right choices and the right decisions, feeling perhaps that the reader could see her more clearly than she could see herself. 

For me anyway Nina Allan has done it again. Created a book of depth and imaginative diversity that gives you plenty to think about after you’ve finished reading it. And to revel and admire the skill and art of an instinctive story teller. 

My thanks to Ana McLaughlin at riverun for a gifted copy

Widowland - C.J.Carey Social Media Blast

  

This is a humdinger and no mistake. 1984 for the #metoo generation. Many dystopian novels focus on a stylised and imagined society, frequently futuristic. Widowland takes a situation, that those of us of a certain generation must surely have considered, and that is – where might we be if we had submitted to Germany rather than proceeded to World War II ? 

Widowland speaks of limits to literature and the construction of a hierarchy for females, doctrines of a regime called The Alliance, a paradox if ever there was one. It’s like Orwell meets Margaret Atwood with Mary Wollstonecraft making it a threesome. 

It’s a chilling tale with an air of unease and tension that builds slowly with an almost suffocating crescendo towards the end, heart in mouth stuff. It’s set in a world that’s drab and grey although there is the  sense that beyond this island’s shores something brighter beckons. 

Rose is a cleverly constructed character who seems to show the reader all of the pitfalls and risks of life in a rigid regime. She is interesting too because she does not present as overly rebellious or defiantly opposed to the regime she’s living under, in fact at times she seems colourless but she needs to for as the story progresses  she arrives almost organically at some obvious realisations. There was a sense at times that she didn’t automatically comprehend exactly how she thought and felt. It was as if acceptance was implicit. Somebody brainwashed and on a treadmill of life. What happens if you dare to step off that treadmill?

It’s a compelling narrative, desire to find out what happens runs alongside a disbelief and  incredulity for what might have been. And although it’s a fiction there’s almost a sense of panic being created, well for this reader certainly, because....... you just never know! 

It’s a crisp narrative with attention to detail, salient detail, some astute characterisations and a pace that drives the reader on. One of those books you don’t really want to put down for a second until you reach the end.

Names that fill your heart with chill appear to be flourishing, albeit ageing, when you thought they were all “dealt with“. I still get a shiver of intense consternation if I imagine the Gestapo and the SS conducting their business in good old London town. But there are other names that fill your heart with joy, namely some very strong female novelists like Jane Austin and Emily Brontë. Although what Rose has to do to the text of their seminal novels doesn’t bear thinking about.

This is an intelligent treatment of an alternate history which works on a number of levels and and I felt it was very much aimed at today’s woman. But I also wondered how generations, postwar generations, respond to a narrative such as this? I’ve come to it as an older reader whose father fought in the war and whose mother’s family were bombed out of London during the Blitz. The threats depicted here, from The Alliance, are very palpable given all than I’d heard from my parents and their friends about the behaviour of the Nazis.

But more broadly a novel like this warns us of the dangers of a hierarchical and totalitarian regime. And we need to be very afraid. I wonder what Rose might have made of this book if she were required to work on it? And I wonder how she would have “reorganised“ the text to satisfy The Alliance? 

My thanks to Milly Reid of Quercus Books for a gifted copy of this novel and opportunity to participate in the social media blast.

Volta - Nikki Dudley - Blog Tour

It’s not often I cry when I’m reading a crime/psychological thriller. Actually that’s a fib. Often doesn’t come into it. I’ve never cried reading one before! But I did here. There’s one really, genre transcending, moving moment. But there are moments a many in this thriller which won last year’s Virginia Prize for Fiction.

‘When Briony Campbell confesses to killing her boyfriend, a straightforward crime of passion soon turns into a baffling mystery. Haunted by demons from his past, lawyer S.J. Robin is assigned to the case. But as confusion - and the body count - rises, he's forced to question who is guilty and who is innocent. Can he see justice served and hold on to the woman he loves?’

It’s a story to make you think rather than taunt you with edge of the seat, white knuckle action although it’s not without some tense moments to say the least. The two main characters are flawed individuals -  flawed is maybe an understatement for at least one of them! The reader is treated to hints and snippets of what may or may not have happened in the past which has fuelled the present day lives of Briony and S.J. We are almost invited to be amateur psychologists as we are allowed to observe our two protagonists and form our opinions as realisation, like a drip feed, is offered to us throughout the progress of the narrative. I guess the clue is in the title - ‘volta’ - Italian for ‘turn’. I’ll say no more than that for fear of offering any spoilers. But it all makes for a substantial mystery.

I always find it interesting when a female writer presents with a main male character and seems to understand so perfectly how that character will react and interact in the book’s given situations. It demonstrates an encompassing perception of the human condition. I found myself warming to S.J. more than Briony. Their similar pasts, leaving them both damaged, had led them down divergent paths.

But for all that it is a mystery, a thriller, I found it multi themed even heading ‘chicklitwards’ in some sequences!  There is much about relationships on several levels, friendships, self perception, not necessarily accepting things at face value, so it’s a substantial work. The dynamics of relationships is subtly explored as S.J becomes involved with a friend’s sister who also happens to be a counsellor. It’s a multi narrative with S.J’s first person recounting and the other characters’ third person perspectives. It’s one of those stories where as a reader you think you’ve joined the dots but you’re never quite sure, that element of doubt runs through the fiction until the conclusion where it’s all tied up, not nicely exactly for it’s not all happy endings but you are not left with ends untied.

About the author.

Nikki studied for her BA and MA at Roehampton University. Her dissertations focused on changing her writing practices, experimentation and the long poem. She grew up in inner city London and attended state school in Camden. Nikki has been in love with words since she wrote short stories in her scrapbook at primary school and discovered what a metaphor was.

Interviews:
Interview: Alex Pearl's website
Feature: Roehampton site
Interview: My journey from student to novelist

Streetcake magazine and prize:
Nikki is Managing Editor of streetcake magazine, which she started with Trini Decombe in 2008. streetcake publishes an online issue every 2-3 months and in 2019, launched the streetcake experimental writing prize for 18-30 year olds, supported by the Arts Council England. The prizes include mentoring from published writers, personalised feedback and developmental support, publication and book bundles. 

My thanks to Nikki Dudley for a gifted copy and to Isabelle Kenyon at Fly On the Wall for a place upon the blog tour. 

The Startup Wife - Tahmima Anam

Obliquely satirical this was a joy to read. A witty, perceptive, sharp, smart firecracker of a novel that doesn’t lose pace for a second. I confess that as a blogger/reader who is, shall we say more mature than some, the world of IT isn’t something that I am specifically familiar with. I’m no technophobe but terms like “start-up“ and “algorithms“ were never part of the younger me’s vernacular. My formative years were spent during an age where there was no Internet and no social media and I appreciate that we are now enjoying generations who are born into that world. However I’m also aware of the fragile world of start-ups and how the flavour of the month one day is consigned to the garbage bin the next. It’s a potent reminder of how the concept of entrepreneurism  has escalated in our cyber times. 

So clearly this is a very contemporary and topical novel. Nevertheless there are some wider issues here;  the place of women in the workplace, in society, sexuality, race not to mention questions of morality and spirituality. 

 

'Meet Asha Ray.  

 

Brilliant coder and possessor of a Pi tattoo,  Asha is poised to revolutionise artificial intelligence when she is reunited with her high school crush, Cyrus Jones. 

Cyrus inspires Asha to write a new algorithm. Before she knows it, she's abandoned her PhD program, they've exchanged vows, and gone to work at an exclusive tech incubator called Utopia.

The platform creates a sensation, with millions of users seeking personalised rituals every day. Will Cyrus and Asha's marriage survive the pressures of sudden fame, or will she become overshadowed by the man everyone is calling the new messiah?

In this gripping, blistering novel, award-winning author Tahmima Anam takes on faith and the future with a gimlet eye and a deft touch. Come for the radical vision of human connection, stay for the wickedly funny feminist look at startup culture and modern partnership. Can technology  - with all its limits and possibilities - disrupt love?'

 And that's it in a nutshell! Between them Cyrus and Asher develop WAI, created, according to Cyrus, "to introduce a new kind of interaction with social media. Instead of being built around what people like it's built around the things that mean something to them."

 

But of course we wouldn't have a novel if things ran smoothly! Do love and business make good bedfellows? It's a book that is very easy to engage with. Asha is the dominant character for me and the one I was rooting for all along. After all it is her story. She is the tituar startup wife. Cyrus is charismatic but there were times when I would like to have throttled him. Jules? I just wanted to give him a great big hug! But when you have a book that evokes such feeling in you towards the characters you know these are excellent characterisations. 

It's a novel very much of our time. Particularly within the context of how connected our lives have become via mobile devices and the Internet etc. In some ways our online presence has become more important than our off-line presence. But issues regarding women in the workplace, balancing professional and personal lives endures whatever our social climate might be.

I think this author has touched upon a very pertinent part of our modern world. And I think this will resonate with many women whether they've been involved in startups or not. But, in spite of it serious intent, it's all been done in a very entertaining and witty way. I thoroughly enjoyed the read.

My thanks to Canongate books for a gifted proof copy.

 

Matilda Windsor is Coming Home - Anne Goodwin

  Given the intrinsic gravity of the subject matter Anne Goodwin has done an impressive job of striking a balance between empathic sensitivity and some light hearted humour. The humour in no way dilutes or detracts from the heart of this novel which looks at the life of one woman incarcerated from early adulthood in a psychiatric institution. Indeed some humour is necessary for without it one’s anger would be hard to contain. Although there is still much more progress needed, attitudes to mental health have shifted in recent decades. Stories like these are essential to raise awareness and bring the tools for understanding to a wider consciousness, so that history is never allowed to repeat itself.

But the story isn’t just about dear, sweet Matty Windsor. It’s also about Henry, a demoted public servant and it’s also about Janice, an idealistic, yet practical social worker who became a social worker ‘Not for the paltry pay, not for professional prestige, but for the human connection with people who are otherwise hard to reach.‘ She’s a wonderful character, who wants to “give the dispossessed a voice.“ She is a cement of sorts linking both Henry and Matty within the narrative. The characterisations are astute and perceptive and you can’t fail to engage with all three of these seemingly different people. But maybe they have more in common than we are first led to believe. Identity, finding one’s place in the world, interacting and reacting, looking at cause-and-effect, motivation, are all crucial.

Henry is well-intentioned but there are times when you want to stick a firecracker up his posterior! But underlying it you know what eats away at him and has done for all his life and it will break your heart. His redemption towards the conclusion of the novel is uplifting.

But Matty, Matty........ The heart of this book and fueling something of a mystery within the tale, as bit by bit, her story unravels, from her first person perspective. And the horror of what has happened to her becomes searingly potent. The sense of injustice that has been served upon this poor woman just makes you want to protect her, nurture her and try to make everything all right for her. And as the institution she’s been resident in for the last 50 years is scheduled for closure Matty’s future seems precarious as she searches for her own closure. Matilda Windsor is coming home but what does home really mean?

It’s a bittersweet story. The research is impeccable but I understand that much of what occurs is from firsthand experience. And indeed some of the bureaucracy and local government protocols will be all too familiar to many readers. It’s depicted here so accurately. However what occurred between the four walls of an asylum may not be so familiar. It’s a story that needs to be told. Lessons need to be learned. Fiction can do that. It can entertain and it can educate. And when the fusion of the two work well together a book can leave a lasting impression on you. And so you’ll be thinking about Matty Windsor long after you turn the last page of this story. And I doubt you’ll ever consider jelly babies in the same way again!

My thanks to the book’s author, Anne Goodwin, for gifting me a much treasured signed copy.

The Coldest Case - Martin Walker - Blog Blast

 If you are a cross platform crime fan any phrase suggesting a cold case will have you thinking of New Tricks or Unforgotten. In The Coldest Case Bruno Courreges is up to his ‘old tricks’ and most definitely not forgotten!

 I’ve always been amused by the genre ‘cosy crime’ for it is such a contradiction. How can crime ever be cosy? But one of the things I love most about Martin Walker’s Dordogne Mysteries is how he depicts a slice of life for Bruno and his associates and the crimes slot in neatly alongside the daily doings in St. Denis. There are usually enough recipes in each book for the determined reader to open a Michelin starred restaurant I reckon!! Bruno, his wonderful Bassett Hound, Balzac, his horse Hector, dominate an almost idyllic picture of life in this valley town. I say almost because when all is said and done Bruno is a policeman and there are crimes committed, not to mention the challenges of life and, in this story, the perils of a long hot, dry summer. But the balance is delightful.

Cosy crime can also be a deceptive genre. The reader can be lulled into thinking it’s an easy, undemanding read but Martin Walker isn’t afraid to inject contemporary and topical issues into his plot lines. Never overtly political there are some meaty incidents here to get you thinking.

Now to all matters blurbish -

‘Bruno’s promotion to Chief of Police of the whole valley of Vezere river has not changed his first loyalty to the town of St Denis. His main wish is to keep the local people safe and his town free from crime. But crime has a way of finding its way to him.

 For thirty years, Bruno’s boss, Chief of Detectives known as J-J, has been obsessed with his first, unsolved case, and Bruno knows that it continues to haunt him. A young male body was found in the woods near St Denis and never identified. J-J keeps the skull as a reminder and calls him “Oscar”.

Visiting the famous pre-history museum in nearby Les Eyzies, Bruno see some lifelike heads expertly constructed from ancient skulls. He suggests performing a similar reconstruction on Oscar as a first step towards identifying him. And so the search for Oscar’s killer begins again in earnest.’

That deals with the bare bones of the crime, no pun intended. It’s intriguing and the detailed plot is a fascinating one as Bruno and his colleagues strive to unravel identities and chains of events. But Bruno still has to maintain his local policing responsibilities not to mention his private life! It all adds up to a thoroughly enjoyable read, even more so if you are already acquainted with Bruno. For he is one of life’s good guys and seems to be in possession of endless skills and capabilities, empathic and perceptive. He’s a comfortable character and a reader feels safe when in his company. Martin Walker’s narrative flows along; evenly and well paced, populated with a host of characters, old and new. All well defined, people you might recognise if you bumped into them. It is a wonderful series of stories.

The books are also the most wonderful advert for that particular region of France. Walker’s love of the region shines through as he depicts in vibrant detail the sights, sounds and smells of an area overflowing with rural French bonhomie.

My thanks to Joe Christie at Quercus Book for my gifted copy and a place upon the blog blast.

 

Both of You - Adele Parks Blog Tour

 

I read Adele Parks’ first book Playing Away several years ago. I know it was a ‘freebie’ but I can’t remember the exact provenance. I think it was from a general freebie website. It was before I became a bona fide reviewer and blogger! I read it. I didn’t like it! It was chick lit as I remember. So when I received a proof of Both of You I wasn’t overly excited. But….. oh my……I loved this!   I have to say I struggled to put it down. What a twist, half way through the book! Never saw it coming! 

I will say that elements of the chick lit genre were evident in some of the narrative, characterisations and detail but overall this book is as far from that as you can get!  A deliciously dark, twisty tale of extensive subterfuge. Of paradoxes and moralities . Of conflicts and desires. It’s going to be hard not to give anything away. So I am practising restraint. As I progressed through the story I had narrowed my suspicions down to maybe two or three people and it was one of those I suspected! The plotting is complex and well executed. The potential for plot holes was immense but I didn’t find any. I struggled with liking some of the characters. And I guess one of the challenges of the book was considering my feelings towards the ‘victim’ (I use the word loosely because it’s questionable as to the nature of what makes someone a victim and I’m desperate not to expand for fear of giving anything away).

Structurally the narrative is offered through several people’s different points of view. which made for an interesting read as you have to bear in mind that perceptions vary from person to person. Salient points and facts are revealed as the book unfolds offering clues for the reader to try and piece together what happens and how it could happen. 

The ending is inevitable, not wholly unexpected but no less devastating when you read it. The reader questions the states of minds of several characters and is left wondering what might possibly happen next. It’s possibly a far fetched premise if you are desirous of fictional realities but it was, for me, completely absorbing and entertaining. 

Thanks to HQ stories for a place upon the blog tour although I have been omitted from the blog tour poster for some reason. Nevertheless I include it here in support of my other excellent blogging colleagues.