March 2022 Reading Round-Up

Fifteen absolute crackers this month! 

All my reviews can be found by clicking on the captions for the pictures below.

The Embroidered Book by Kate Heartfield

Sell Us the Rope by Stephen May

A Night of Flames by Matthew Harffy

Edgware Road by Yasmin Cordery Khan

One Night on the Island by Josie Silver

And Your Enemies Closer by Rob Parker

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

This Might Hurt by Stephanie Wrobel

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie

Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu

A Life for a Life by Carol Wyer

The Blood Isles by C.F. Barrington

The Homecoming by Anna Enquist

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Mothers and Daughters by Erica James

More great books next month!

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@brownflopsy for more!

Mothers And Daughters by Erica James

 

Mothers and Daughters by Erica James.

Published 17th March 2022 by HQ.

From the cover of the book:

Even happy families have their secrets…

Since the sudden death of her husband, Naomi has steadily rebuilt the life they shared in the village of Tilsham by the sea.

Her eldest daughter, Martha, is sensible and determined – just like her father was – and very much in control of where her life is going. If she could just get pregnant with her husband, life would be perfect.

Willow, the youngest, was always more sunny and easy-going, yet drifted through life, much to her father’s frustration. But now, with charming new boyfriend, Rick, she has a very good reason to settle down.

The three women are as close as can be. But there are things Naomi has kept from her daughters. Like the arrival of Ellis, a long-lost friend from way back, now bringing the fun and spark back into her life. And she’s certainly never told them that her marriage to their father wasn’t quite what it seemed…

***********

The direction of Naomi's life has changed since the sudden death of her husband, and now out from under his shadow she finds herself content with the existence she has shaped for herself in their beautiful home in Tilsham by the sea.

Naomi's elder daughter Martha takes very much after her father. Sensible and determined she has always had her life mapped out, but even though she has a loving husband who is an equal partner in their marriage and a fulfilling career, the longed for pregnancy that she felt sure would follow naturally continues to elude her. Motherhood would make her life perfect.

Younger daughter Willow has always been the one with her head in the clouds. As an easy-going dreamer, who always frustrated her father, she has drifted along up until now, but with charming and steady new man Rick in her life she suddenly finds herself with her feet firmly on the ground and contemplating some very big changes that she cannot share with her mother and sister.

In the wake of her father's death Martha now considers herself head of the family, and although the three woman are close her determination to dictate the course of all their lives as he would have done is putting their loving relationships under strain. Martha's frustration at her inability to become pregnant is taking over her life; she constantly nags Willow to wake up to reality and settle down with her apparently eligible boyfriend; and she is set on her mother selling up the family home and moving into a smaller house nearer to her and Willow; but although she is convinced she is doing all this for their own good her bossiness is making her deaf and blind to what is going on around her and there are things she does not know.

Naomi has met someone from her past who makes her heart sing again after a long and difficult marriage. How can she share the truth with Martha and Willow about the reality of her marriage to their father, and tell them about her new found happiness? And Willow is increasing trapped in a relationship that is changing her into someone she does not recognise. What does the future hold for mother and daughters?

Mothers and Daughters is a beautifully written and thoroughly compelling family drama about the powerful undercurrents of secrets that lie deep beneath apparently still waters. 

This is what I like to call a quiet book, even though some pretty shocking events take place in the course of this story, because the weight of this tale lies very much in the powerful emotions that Erica James' delicious writing evokes as you become enmeshed in the trials and tribulations of Naomi, Martha and Willow. No spoilers here folks, because you really need to read this one for yourselves, but each of these women has secrets that they find themselves unable to share, which force them to look at themselves and their relationships with each other in a whole new light, and we are right at their sides through the dizzy highs and the desperate lows as they do.

I love how James explores a wealth of themes that delve into the complexities of family dynamics between generations in these pages, encompassing the playful and affectionate moments as well as the petty irritations that plague all families as they rub along together, underpinned by fierce and protective love, and much of what she writes about will strike a chord with readers at many different stages in their lives. Beyond this she deftly examines the darkest moments that many go through too, showing real insight into how these events can provoke misplaced feelings of blame, guilt and shame, and highlighting the circular nature of dysfunctional patterns of behaviour that are not easy to break.

My absolute favourite this about this book, as a woman of not so tender years, is the way James writes about Naomi. There has been so much written about the expectations placed on younger women to have it all, which James covers nicely through the Martha and Willow here, but it is a rare and beautiful thing to read about how expectation affects older women too. Martha, and to some degree Willow as well, see Naomi's life as being over and her one purpose to now be a doting grandmother to their own children, and they find it very hard to see her as a woman beyond the role they have given her. Older woman can and do live fulfilling lives, and are able to make decisions for themselves, after their children have grown up, despite what their children may believe. It's important to remember that there are sides to people we do not see, especially when they are our parents, and I applaud James for highlighting this so well. More please!

This is absolutely cracking read that draws you in and keeps you entertained from cover to cover. I promise you that you will shed a tear or two before you are done, and you might think a little differently about the way you view your own family relationships in the process too.  

Mothers and Daughters is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to HQ for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Erica James is the author of twenty-three internationally bestselling novels, with recent Sunday Times Top Ten bestsellers including Swallowtail Summer, Coming Home to Island House and, most recently the hardback bestseller, Letters from the Past. Her books are loved by readers looking for beautifully drawn relationships, emotionally powerful storylines and evocative settings.

In 2020, Erica received the Nielsen Silver Award for sales of over a quarter of a million copies for both Love and Devotion and Tell It to the Skies; she has previously won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award for Gardens of Delight and is a Number One bestseller in Norway.

A keen gardener herself, Erica lives in Suffolk and has a fondness for Lake Como, Formula One motor racing and travel.

The Homecoming by Anna Enquist

 The Homecoming by Anna Enquist

Translated by Eileen Stevens.

Published 1st April 2022 by Amazon Crossing.

From the cover of the book:

After twelve years of marriage to English explorer James Cook, Elizabeth has yet to spend an entire year with her husband. In their house by the Thames, she moves to the rhythms of her life as a society wife, but there is so much more to her than meets the eye. She has the fortitude to manage the house and garden, raise their children, and face unbearable sorrow by herself―in fact, she is sometimes in thrall to her own independence.

As she prepares for another homecoming, Elizabeth looks forward to James’s triumphant return and the work she will undertake reading and editing his voluminous journals. But will the private life she’s been leading in his absence distract her from her role in aid of her husband’s grand ambitions? Can James find the compassion to support her as their family faces unimaginable loss, or must she endure life alone as he sails off toward another adventure?

An intimate and sharply observed novel, The Homecoming is as revelatory as James Cook’s exploration of distant frontiers and as richly rewarding as Elizabeth’s love for her family. With courage and strength, through recollection and imagination, author Anna Enquist brilliantly narrates Elizabeth’s compelling record of her life, painting a psychological portrait of an independent woman ahead of her time and closely acquainted with history.

************

The Homecoming tells the story of the life of Captain James Cook's wife Elizabeth, the woman left behind to take charge of the household while her famous 18th century husband sailed the oceans on grand voyages of discovery.

At the beginning of the novel, we meet Elizabeth contemplating the return of her husband after being away for three years, thinking about all the tasks she must complete to welcome him home in the way he will expect, struggling to decide how she will break the news of the successes and sorrows that have been part of their family's life during his absence, and looking forward to the time they can spend together now his exploring days are likely to be coming to an end. It is a process that has become a feature of their marriage, given that during the twelve years of their union they have yet to spend an entire year together, and there has been much heartbreak for her to come to terms with on her own.

As the story progresses, Anna Enquist takes us into the heart of a woman uneasy about what the future may hold, torn between her love for a man filled with passion for achieving great things, and her fears around how they will fit together in domesticity once his sailing days are over. Enquist draws a compelling picture of Elizabeth as a woman ahead of her time, used to running her household with an absent husband, while playing the part of adoring and dutiful wife to an 18th century celebrity, and she holds nothing back about the conflicted feelings she holds within her about the adjustments she will have to make, and loss of power over her days on his return.

Their reunion holds both joy and sorrow, as they both rediscover each other and find a way to deal with the losses fate has brought to their door, but it soon becomes clear that they have different expectations about the course of their lives from this point onwards - because, of course, history records that Cook did not remain in his family home and volunteered for another voyage which was to be the one that brought about his demise. There are disappointments, betrayals, uncomfortable silences and unfathomable gulfs between these two people, that indicate they are still oceans apart despite being together. Elizabeth is forced to confront the truth that her husband does not appreciate her talents beyond the domestic sphere, and disregards her greater knowledge of the disparate natures of their children; that there are sides to her husband she does not know about; and ultimately, that the pull of his calling is too strong for him to deny.

There is no doubt that James Cook's voyages led to many fascinating discoveries, and scientific advancements, which Enquist touches on through Elizabeth's story, but she also does not shy away from the consequences of the darker side of his driving ambition and need for acclaim that undoubtedly serve to be uncomfortable reading to modern sensibilities. But it is Elizabeth that is the central focus of this story, and Enquist blends fact and fiction in a way that lets us understand quite what a clever, strong and determined woman she must have been, while exploring her realistic fears and frailties as a wife and mother. I found it particularly fascinating that it becomes clear that the very qualities that attracted Elizabeth to James prove to be the very ones that drive a wedge between them.

It is always intriguing to read a novel that highlights the stories of women in history who are eclipsed by celebrated husbands, and although sad this book does that incredibly well, especially since this is a translated work - all praise to the translator Eileen Stevens for pulling this off with aplomb. Highly recommended!

The Homecoming is available to preorder now.

Thank you to Amazon Crossing for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review, and to FMcM Associates for inviting me to be part of this blog tour celebrating translated fiction.

About the author:

Anna Enquist studied piano at the academy of music in The Hague and psychology at Leiden University. 

She is the author of the novels The Masterpiece; The Secret, winner of the 1997 Dutch Book of the Year awarded by the public; The Ice Carriers; Counterpoint; Quartet; and the international bestseller The Homecoming, which received the Prix du Livre Corderie Royale-Hermione for its French translation. Anna is also the author of A Leap, a collection of dramatic monologues, as well as numerous poetry collections, including Soldiers’ Songs, for which she was awarded the C. Buddingh’ Prize; A New Goodbye; and Hunting Scenes, winner of the Lucy B. and C.W. van der Hoogt Prize.

About the translator:

Eileen Stevens earned her MA in linguistics with a specialization in translation from the University of Amsterdam. Her many Dutch-to-English translation credits include Connie Palmen’s Your Story, My Story; Karin Schacknat’s In and Out of Fashion; Vera Mertens’s The Concentration Camp; and Ineke van Doorn’s Singing from the Inside Out. 

She has also translated numerous essays on classical music and the arts. A New Jersey native, Eileen spent twenty-five years working as a professional violinist in a Dutch orchestra and has lived in Amsterdam since 1990.

Heart Of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (Audio Book)

 

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

Narrated by Kenneth Branagh.

Released 23rd November 2010 by Audible Studios.

From the cover:

Prose that demands to be read aloud requires a special kind of narrator. For the Audible Signature Classics edition of Joseph Conrad’s atmospheric masterpiece, Heart of Darkness, we called upon four-time Academy Award nominee Kenneth Branagh.

Branagh’s performance is riveting because he reads as though he’s telling a ghost story by a campfire, capturing the story’s sense of claustrophobia, while hinting at the storyteller Marlow’s own creeping madness. Heart of Darkness follows Captain Marlow into the colonial Congo where he searches for a mysterious ivory trader, Kurtz, and discovers an evil that will haunt him forever.

***********

Originally published in 1899, Heart of Darkness is a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad. It tells the story of sailor Charles Marlow's adventure on the Congo, during his assignment as a ferry boat captain for a Belgian trading company. It is a tale that he narrates to his crew on a sea voyage some years later, telling it to them in the gloom of the falling night, which gives it the atmospheric feel of a ghost story.

As Marlow recounts the circumstances that take him on an uncharacteristic expedition away from his more usual maritime workplace, the horrendous conditions that face him as he tries to carry out his duties, and the strange assortment of people that he comes across, it becomes clear that he was obsessed with finding out more about a mysterious ivory trader called Kurtz, whose exploits are discussed in hushed tones tinged with fear by everyone he meets... but once he heads into the almost impenetrable forests of Africa to meet the man himself, what he discovers there sends him to the brink of madness.

This is a book that I have tried many times to get into over the years, but despite its relative brevity, something about the tone and intricately descriptive text has always defeated me. However, the nature of the story and its high regard as a work of seminal fiction still made it an intriguing prospect to me, and since the tale is one which is narrated as a pseudo-horror story, it seems a good idea to try once more in an audio format - and this certainly did the trick!

Branagh's narration is an absolute delight to listen to, bringing the sights, sounds, smells and feelings of utter despair alive. Although much of the text is still as impenetrable as the African interior Marlow is attempting to reach, Branagh does make this rather an engaging experience. For me, the very best parts of the tale are the ones which detail Marlow's slow and arduous journey up the Congo, passing through trading posts on his way to finally reach the infamous Kurtz. The way Marlow describes the heat, misery of the native population and grasping nature of the white men that will go to any lengths to make their fortune is very affecting, and there are some deliciously quotable sections of text from Conrad here, such as "The merry dance of death and trade" and "The great demoralisation of the land" that really strike a chord.

Personally, I feel the book misses the mark at the very point as which I thought would be the most thrilling though. The text becomes disjointed and hard to follow from when Marlow actually gets to meet Kurtz, and although this does give the impression that Marlow is succumbing to the madness that claims so many who have travelled to the dark heart of Africa, it did not strike me with horror as I was expecting. I was rather disappointed to be honest, especially since this book has spawned so many more impressive and terrifying works.

One to tick off on the list of classics to be read, and although I cannot say this is one of the best, it's definitely worth the listen for Branagh's excellent performance alone.

Heart of Darkness, the signature performance from Kenneth Branagh is available from Audible now.

About the author:

Polish author Joseph Conrad is considered to be one of the greatest English-language novelists, a remarkable achievement considering English was not his first language. Conrad s literary works often featured a nautical setting, reflecting the influences of his early career in the Merchant Navy, and his depictions of the struggles of the human spirit in a cold, indifferent world are best exemplified in such seminal works as Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, Nostromo, and Typhoon. Regarded as a forerunner of modernist literature, Conrad s writing style and characters have influenced such distinguished writers as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William S. Burroughs, Hunter S. Thompson, and George Orwell, among many others. Many of Conrad s novels have been adapted for film, most notably Heart of Darkness, which served as the inspiration and foundation for Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse Now.

The Blood Isles (The Pantheon Series Book 2) by C.F. Barrington

 

The Blood Isles (The Pantheon Series Book 2) by C.F. Barrington.

Published 3rd March 2022 by Head of Zeus.

From the cover of the book:

The second in an action-packed adventure thriller series, where modern-day recruits compete in an ancient fight to the death in the streets of Edinburgh.

New Season. New Rules. Same deadly game...

The Pantheon Games are the biggest underground event in the world, followed by millions online. New recruits must leave behind their twenty-first century lives and vie for dominance in a gruelling battle to the death armed only with ancient weapons – and their wits.

Last season's new recruits Tyler and Lana have lived to fight another day, but now they face a series of even more lethal clashes before the Grand Battle that will end the Season.

It's survival of the fittest, in the most brutal fashion imaginable. Lana must face the demons of her past, and Tyler has the mother of all targets on his back.

***********

The annual Pantheon Games, the biggest underground event in the world is in full swing, and fortunes are about to be made or lost on a whole new phase of bloodletting, by the anonymous figures that control the action from their luxurious penthouses and extensive estates across the globe. 

New recruits to the Horde, Tyler and Lana are about to face their first Blood Season on the streets of Edinburgh, against their sworn enemies the Titans - the season that will culminate in a full on Grand Battle in an unknown location. Tyler is coming down from the dubious honour of being the Horde's White Warrior, having been able to gain them the advantage of all four Assets to use in the battle to come, but his status has just hit rock bottom once more, and his search for his lost sister Morgan is not going well. The rules have changed again in a way that leaves him with a whopping target on his back, in a contrived whittling down of numbers on both sides through cat and mouse skirmishes before the big event, and he now needs to make his first kill to show himself battle-worthy.

It's hard enough to keep yourself from being gutted in this shadowy world ruled by those who have little regard for the value of life when the rules are being followed, and this time even more dangerous enemies are opting to break them for their own advantage - and to keep their secrets. Tyler, and his friends are in greater peril than ever, both within and outside the Games...

Following on in close order from the cracking first part of this series, The Wolf Mile (my review Here), this book not only keeps up the pace and excitement of book one, but exceeds every expectation on the action, adventure and intrigue stakes. Tyler begins this story on a bit of a high from his success as White Warrior for the Horde, despite it being a poisoned chalice. His wits have protected him and Lana, and given him a name as someone not afraid to use lateral thinking to gain an edge in the new world he has willingly embraced, but it is impossible to avoid the fact that he is now even more of a target for those who would like to see him fail. The Blood Season finds him right back where he started for reasons he had not foreseen, and it's time for him to confront exactly what being a player in the Pantheon Games means, which allows C.F. Barrington to take us on more bloody escapades through the streets of Edinburgh - this time with murderous intent on a whole new level. Tyler is also forced to accept how much Lana means to him, and learns that she shares his feelings, but quite how they can ever hope to be together as things stand is difficult to imagine.

As the Blood Season plays out Barrington brings in some tasty little twists and turns with a change of scene that heightens the historical perspective of the notion behind the Games, as preparation for the Grand Battle gets underway. Shenanigans at all levels of the hierarchy and on both sides of the fence take us back and forth between time-honoured battle preparations with Tyler, and the desperate cut and thrust on the streets of Edinburgh with Lana, keeping things very interesting indeed. The bad guys are forced into making moves they would rather not make, some of which have very disturbing consequences, especially for Lana. Barrington tops it all off with a glorious battle scene that is good enough to grace the pages of any epic work of historical fiction... and if that wasn't enough, he then drops in a jaw-dropping cliffhanger to hook you into the final instalment to come....

I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this little genre-busting gem, just as awed by the brilliance of the concept behind the books as I was when absorbing The Wolf Mile. This is wonderful stuff and I cannot wait for the final book in the series, The Hastening Storm!

The Blood Isles is available to buy now in paperback and ebook formats.

Thank you to Head of Zeus for sending me a paperback copy of this book in return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

C.F. Barrington spent twenty years intending to write a novel, but found life kept getting in the way. Instead, his career has been in major-gift fundraising, leading teams in organisations as varied as the RSPB, Oxford University and the National Trust. In 2015, when his role as Head of Communications at Edinburgh Zoo meant a third year of fielding endless media enquires about the possible birth of a baby panda, he finally retreated to a quiet desk and got down to writing.

Raised in Hertfordshire and educated at Oxford, he now divides his time between Fife and the Lake District.

A Life For A Life ( Detective Kate Young Book Three) by Carol Wyer

 

A Life for a Life (Detective Kate Young Book Three) by Carol Wyer.

Published 16th March 2022 by Amazon Publishing.

From the cover of the book:

Nobody can get into the mind of an erratic killer—except an unpredictable detective.

When a young man is found lying on a station platform with a hole in his head, DI Kate Young is called in to investigate the grisly murder. But the killing is no one-off. As bodies start to pile up, she is faced with what might be an impossible task—to hunt down a ruthless killer on a seemingly random rampage.

Meanwhile, Kate has her own demons to battle as she struggles to come to terms with her husband’s death. And she is hell-bent on exposing corruption within the force and bringing Superintendent John Dickson to justice. But with the trail of deception running deeper—and closer to home—than she could ever have imagined, she no longer knows who she can trust.

With her grip on reality slipping, Kate realises that maybe she and the killer are not so different after all. But time is running out and Kate is low on options. Can she catch the killer before she loses everything?

***********

DI Kate Young is still struggling to get her life on track following the death of her husband Chris, and it seems peace is not going to be coming her way any time soon. Kate's secret crusade to bring down her corrupt boss Superintendent John Dickson seems to be hitting brick walls and the valuable eye-witness she needs has disappeared like a ghost - hopefully they have gone into hiding rather than having been consigned to a grave...

Just as Kate starts despair that she will ever be able to come to terms with Chris' death, a new case demands the attention of her and her small team. A young man has been found dead on a station platform, brutally killed by a point-blank shot to the head, and there are very few leads to go on. Before long, more bodies start to pile up, each one killed in the same brutal way, but there are no links between them and it is very hard to track down a killer who appears to be acting at random.

As Kate starts to drown under the pressure of an investigation that is going nowhere, and the shock of a new discovery in her inquiry into corruption in the police force, it dawns on her that her own fragile mental state might be just the tool she needs to find the killer. Can she succeed before her personal and professional lives come crashing down?

A Life for a Life is the third book in the Detective Kate Young crime series, and it certainly lives up the promise of the books that have come before. At the start of this story, Kate's quest to hold to account all those responsible for the death of her husband has gone just about as far as it can go, and she is spiralling downwards once more without the sense of purpose her private investigation has given her. When a new case that seems impossible to crack lands on her desk, bringing her unbearable pressure from the very man she has been trying to topple, Superintendent Dickson, it appears she might finally succumb to the darkness that plagues her... but all is not lost. It is the very fact that Kate herself knows what it means to face despair that proves to be the key to unlocking this investigation - even if the reasons why she can identify with the killer cannot be shared with her team.

Talking of Kate's team, there are some very interesting developments in this department as we get to know a bit more about them, with the hint of a possible will-they-won't-they romance in the air, and an intriguing understanding developing between one person in particular who Kate has been very wary of up until now which helps her to confirm some of her suspicions about Dickson. I always love how Wyer portrays the police procedural side of her stories, and this tricky case gives them a lot of work to do.

As to be expected in Wyer's very tense crime thrillers she takes us all round the houses before the truth becomes clear about the current case, dropping in a sinister side plot with an unsettling Stephen King-esque character that I can see making an appearance again in the future, and the suspense builds nicely towards a gripping climactic scene that had me holding my breath. But it doesn't end there, because there has to be a slap in the face development in Kate's corruption inquiry too, and my goodness this one is an absolute stunner... as cliffhangers go, this is high stakes and as jaw-dropping as they come, and I cannot wait to see what Wyer has up her sleeve for the next book! 

Another first-class crime thriller from Carol Wyer, with everything to keep lovers of the genre very happy indeed!

A Life for a Life is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Buy kinks: Amazon UK     Amazon US

Thank you to Carol Wyer for sending me a paperback copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Zooloo's Book Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

USA Today bestselling author and winner of The People's Book Prize Award, Carol Wyer's crime novels have sold over one million copies and been translated into nine languages.

A move from humour to the 'dark side' in 2017, saw the introduction of popular DI Robyn Carter in Little Girl Lost and proved that Carol had found her true niche.

February 2021 saw the release of the first in the much-anticipated new series, featuring DI Kate Young. An Eye For An Eye was chosen as a Kindle First Reads and became the #1 bestselling book on Amazon UK and Amazon Australia.

Carol has had articles published in national magazines 'Woman's Weekly', featured in 'Take A Break', 'Choice', 'Yours' and 'Woman's Own' magazines and the Huffington Post. She's also been interviewed on numerous radio shows discussing ''Irritable Male Syndrome' and 'Ageing Disgracefully' and on BBC Breakfast television.

She currently lives on a windy hill in rural Staffordshire with her husband Mr. Grumpy... who is very, very grumpy. When she is not plotting devious murders, she can be found performing her comedy routine, Smile While You Still Have Teeth.

Follow her at:

Facebook     Instagram     Twitter     Website

Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu

 

Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu.

Published 17th March 2022 by Wildfire.

From the cover of the book:

With every misfortune there is a blessing and within every blessing, the seeds of misfortune, and so it goes, until the end of time.

It is 1938 in China, and the Japanese are advancing. A young mother, Meilin, is forced to flee her burning city with her four-year-old son, Renshu, and embark on an epic journey across China. For comfort, they turn to their most treasured possession - a beautifully illustrated hand scroll. Its ancient fables offer solace and wisdom as they travel through their ravaged country, seeking refuge.

Years later, Renshu has settled in America as Henry Dao. His daughter is desperate to understand her heritage, but he refuses to talk about his childhood. How can he keep his family safe in this new land when the weight of his history threatens to drag them down?

Spanning continents and generations, Peach Blossom Spring is a bold and moving look at the history of modern China, told through the story of one family. It's about the power of our past, the hope for a better future, and the search for a place to call home.

***********

Our story begins in 1938. The Japanese have invaded China and are swarming across the country like an unstoppable tide. Meilin's husband has been killed in the conflict, leaving her with a four year old son Renshu. Forced to flee their home when the city comes under attack, Meilin and Renshu embark on a dangerous journey across China in search of safety. It is a journey that brings them much hardship and sorrow, but Meilin sustains them with stories from the precious, hand-illustrated scroll her husband gave her years before their lives were ripped apart.

Meilin and Renshu eventually find themselves in Taiwan, as civil war ravages their homeland in the wake of World War II, and with family links to the Kuomintang, the nationalist party in opposition to the more powerful communists, they cannot return to the Chinese mainland. Somehow Meilin must find a way to keep them safe and provide a future for her son.

Years later, Renshu gains a scholarship to study engineering in America, changing his name to Henry Dao. It is a country that becomes his adopted home, and Henry settles into a new life with an American wife, and a daughter called Lily. He refuses to talk about his childhood or be drawn into the political concerns of China, and lives in fear for his mother trapped in Taiwan. As the years go by, he becomes more and more withdrawn and cowed by fear and suspicion.

As Lily grows older, she wants to know more about her Chinese heritage, and the grandmother she knows so little about. Her father's silence baffles her and she struggles to make sense of her own identity. How can she break through the wall he has surrounded himself with, learn about his past, and make peace with all the little pieces that make up who she is?

"Chinese history is sad, Little Girl."

Peach Blossom Spring is a sweeping, multi-generational family saga at its compelling best, that delves deep into the themes of fear, identity, family and sacrifice. Melissa Fu, drawing on the childhood memories of her own father that he kept buried deep inside for many years, weaves a beautiful tale mixing fact and fiction about China, its people, and the lives of those who are parted from their homeland by conflict - and she covers a lot of ground both literally and metaphorically.

Beginning with the courageous and determined Meilin who gives so much of herself to ensure the safety and security of her son, Fu paints a picture that holds nothing back about the horrors that war brings, as they find the future they envisaged torn from them and have to survive against the odds. She then moves onto the complex and troubled Henry, making a new life for himself that is full of opportunity, while struggling with the weight of his past and the shadow the politics of the country of his birth. And finally, we follow Lily as she tries to find her own identity by reconciling the pieces of her Chinese and American heritage and live her own life. Meilin was by far my favourite of the three, and she earned a place firmly in my heart, even though her tale is the saddest of them all. Henry is a tricky and troubled character, and I did find him difficult to warm to, although Fu explores some very insightful themes through his part of the tale. Lily's story too examines many thorny issues that come with mixed-race heritage, and at times my heart broke for her as she and her father were divided by her need to know more about his childhood and his refusal to allow the memories to resurface. 

There is something especially beautiful about the way Fu uses the notion of stories and fables throughout this book, imbuing them with a kind of magical power that ties generations together, and helps them overcome what life throws at them. The story of Peach Blossom Spring, which Fu uses so achingly brilliantly as her title is one which has such emotional significance for each of the characters, as they struggle in their own way with tough decisions about the things to pursue and those to sacrifice in the process. This brings everything together in a deeply touching and emotional way.

If, like me, you have absorbed Wild Swans by Jung Chang, and been enchanted by the books of Amy Tan, you will absolutely love this debut novel, but in many ways this book looks at China in a way I have not come across before, because it addresses a different side of the history we most often read about in fiction. What's so fascinating about what Fu does here is that her characters find themselves on the losing side of the Chinese civil war and are forced to flee to Taiwan to escape retribution at the hands of the victorious communist forces, which allows her to highlight the difficult position of Taiwan and explore the effect of fear and political machinations on her characters across a big chunk of history. I am impressed with how this makes the story unexpectedly relevant to the world we live in today.

This book is stunning and wonderfully immersive, and I could go on and on about it. It is steeped in sadness, but not without the golden thread of hope and this makes it a joy to read. I loved it!

Peach Blossom Spring is available to buy now in hardback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Wildfire for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Melissa Fu grew up in Northern New Mexico and has lived in Texas, Colorado, New York, Ohio and Washington. She now lives near Cambridge, UK, with her husband and children. With academic backgrounds in physics and English, she has worked in education as a teacher, curriculum developer, and consultant. She was the 2018/19 David TK Wong Fellow at the University of East Anglia. Peach Blossom Spring is her first novel.

The Mystery Of The Blue Train by Agatha Christie

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie.

This special edition published 1st November 2018 by Harper Collins.

From the cover of the book:

‘You could, perhaps, love a thief, mademoiselle, but not a murderer!’

When the luxurious Blue Train arrives at Nice, a guard attempts to wake serene Ruth Kettering from her slumbers. 

But she will never wake again – for a heavy blow has killed her, disfiguring her features almost beyond recognition. What is more, her precious rubies are missing.

The prime suspect is Ruth’s estranged husband, Derek. Yet Poirot is not convinced, so he stages an eerie re-enactment of the journey, complete with the murderer on board…

***************

The luxurious Blue Train takes its wealthy passengers from London to the French Riviera, and this trip finds an interesting group of travellers aboard - including the heiress Ruth Kettering with a jewel case containing some very famous rubies.

But Ruth never makes it to Nice alive, as she is murdered during the journey, and her precious jewels go missing. Who can have committed this heinous crime? Her husband, the lover she was on her way to meet. or the notorious thieves that prey upon the well-to-do on the trains travelling through France? Fortunately, Poirot is also travelling on the train and he will not rest until Ruth's murderer is identified...

This is one Christie's stories that seems slow to get going, as we don't meet Poirot until some way into the tale, after Ruth Kettering is murdered. However, the section of the story that leads up to the crime is very important in establishing who all the characters are and exactly what their motives may have been to want Ruth Kettering out of the way. 

We meet the doting father Rufus Van Aldin in an exciting introduction in the streets of Paris when he acquires the famous Heart of Fire ruby he gives to his daughter, building in a lovely bit of intrigue from the outset and establishing a delicious thread of infamous precious stones and international jewel thieves. Christie then introduces us the the rest of the central cast - Rufus Van Aldin's competent secretary, Major Knighton; the philandering husband Derek, who is desperate to change his wife's mind about divorce to avoid bankruptcy; Derek's lover, the exotic dancer Mirelle, who would very much like to see Derek inherit his wife's money, and have the rubies for herself; the sensible former lady's companion Katherine Grey from St. Mary Mead, who has inherited a fortune and is off for an adventure on the Riviera; Katherine's incorrigible relations Lady Tamplin, her young husband Chubby, and her obtuse daughter Lenox, hoping for a share of Katherine's fortune; Ruth's lover and total scoundrel the Comte de la Roche; and Ruth's maid Ada Mason - as well as a rather large and diverse set of bit part players who all have a hand in moving the story along.

This is definitely one of Christies more twisty tales, with elements of locked-room mystery and her more expansive foreign travel adventures. There are lots of red herrings and multiple potential suspects, and it's all glorious fun as Poirot goes about solving the case against some very glamorous backdrops. He even finds time for a bit of matchmaking too! Of course, the case is solved in true Poirot style at the end, as he explains exactly who did what to who, and why, and we are yet again astounded by the power of his little grey cells. I loved it!

The Mystery of the Blue Train is available to buy now - and the special edition version is an absolute beauty.

About the author:

Born in Torquay in 1890, Agatha Christie began writing during the First World War and wrote over 100 novels, plays and short story collections. She was still writing to great acclaim until her death, and her books have now sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in over 100 foreign languages. Yet Agatha Christie was always a very private person, and though Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple became household names, the Queen of Crime was a complete enigma to all but her closest friends.

This Might Hurt by Stephanie Wrobel

 

This Might Hurt by Stephanie Wrobel.

Published 3rd March 2022 by Penguin Michael Joseph.

From the cover of the book:

Natalie Collins always has a plan. Her troubled younger sister Kit rarely does.

Until Kit finds Wisewood, a secretive self-help retreat on a secluded island. It promises you'll leave a better, braver version of yourself.

But why does it forbid contact with the outside world? Why are there no testimonies from previous guests? Natalie fears it is some kind of cult.

Then, after six months of silence, she receives an email from Wisewood:

Would you like to come tell your sister what you did - or should we?

Who is digging into the sisters' past? How did they discover Natalie's secret? A secret that will destroy Kit. She has no choice but to go to Wisewood, to find out if this place of healing has more sinister motives. But as she's about to discover, Wisewood is far easier to enter than to leave . . .

********************

Sisters Natalie and Kit had a troubled childhood, which has caused a distance between them during their adult years. Natalie has always been the one with a plan, while the more fragile Kit has had trouble settling to anything, especially since the death of their mother. During one of their infrequent telephone conversations, Kit announces that she has decided to book herself into an exclusive retreat called Wisewood - a place that demands no access to the outside world for the duration of a client's stay, but which promises to help you find a better version of yourself. The idea of no contact unsettles Natalie, making her fear that Wisewood may be some kind of cult, but she has no power to stop Kit from pursuing her own choices.

After six months of hearing nothing from her sister, Natalie receives a strange email from Wisewood threatening to tell Kit all about a secret she has kept from her - a secret there is no way they could have found out about. Natalie realises that she has no choice but to travel to Wisewood herself and confess her secret, hoping Kit will forgive her. But what she discovers at Wisewood is far beyond her worst fears. There is something very sinister about this place and the transformation that has come over Kit. What goes on here, and what have they done to her sister?

This book encompasses so much, and somehow I have to try to tell you how darned excellent it is without giving away any of its secrets... not an easy task!

The story moves back and forth in time between pivotal moments in the lives of the main characters, and the events that play out at Wisewood. The narratives that tell the story lull you into a false sense of security right from the outset, delving deep into memories associated with overcoming fears elicited by some pretty disturbing formative episodes, and conjuring up an expectation in your mind about where Wrobel is taking you. But beware, dear reader, because Wrobel has some pretty impressive tricks up her sleeve that force you to change your perceptions time and time again as she drops in subtle revelations along the way. I have not seen this done quite like this before, and it is disorienting and completely brilliant in equal measure. There is nothing predictable about this story and it keeps you on your toes from the first page to the last!

Wrobel calls on all our own nightmarish fears in creating the seriously creepy island off the coast of Maine that houses Wisewood, which is particularly clever given that this is a book all about confronting ones fears. There is such a palpable feeling of isolation in the physical and spiritual sense, broken up with scenes of such emotional rawness and menace that you feel to the very core of your being, as the patients at Wisewood are manipulated into bending to the regime of its charismatic founder. The suspense builds almost unbearably and the whole piece scares the bejesus out of you, before leaving you with the kind of dystopian climax that will haunt you for some time to come.

But this is not just a well constructed dark mystery, because this book also asks some intriguing questions. Wrobel intentionally plays up the potentially disquieting aspects of wellness retreats to the max here, weaving in themes about the seductive pull of control, and how power can subvert. In doing so she explores what constitutes a 'cult', the kind of people who find themselves drawn to them, and perhaps most interestingly, the kinds of people that establish them in the first place. You will also find yourself pondering about the fine line between when a challenging technique designed to help us confront our fears and become stronger flips from therapy into abuse of the vulnerable. 

This Might Hurt is a compelling read that draws you in and takes you to unexpected places. It's slick, smart and terrifying... and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Michael Joseph for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Stephanie Wrobel is the author of The Recovery of Rose Gold, a Sunday Times and international bestseller that has sold in twenty-two countries. This Might Hurt is her second novel, an attempt to answer the questions: what sort of person joins a cult? And what sort of person leads one?
Wrobel grew up in Chicago but has lived in London for five years with her husband and her dog, Moose Barkwinkle.

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

 

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley.

Published 3rd march 2022 by Harper Fiction.

From the cover of the book:

Welcome to No.12 rue des Amants...

A beautiful old apartment block, far from the glittering lights of the Eiffel Tower and the bustling banks of the Seine. Where nothing goes unseen, and everyone has a story to unlock.

The watchful concierge.
The scorned lover.
The prying journalist.
The naïve student.
The unwanted guest.

There was a murder here last night.

A mystery lies behind the door of apartment three.
Who holds the key?

******************

Jess has always been in the shadow of her more fortunate half-sibling Ben, who managed to escape the care system for a life with a wealthy adopted family. Ben is now working in Paris as an investigative journalist, while Jess finds herself at her lowest ebb in a poorly paid job on the south coast of England. When she gets into trouble, he is the only person she can turn to for help. However, when Jess arrives at the beautiful apartment block where Ben lives, she finds he is not there, despite assuring her that he would be. The only clue she has to his fate is a voice message that cuts off in a very troubling way. 

Jess may be a fish out of water in Paris, but she does her best to follow the trail Ben has left behind, and what she discovers has her worried. The other residents of the apartment building are hostile from the start - their stories do not seem to add up, and she does not know who she can trust. She becomes convinced that something bad has happened to Ben, but can she uncover the dark secrets of the people who live in this building before she suffers the same fate?

The story is told in multiple narratives from Jess and the other residents of this elegant, and seriously eerie Paris apartment block. From the glamorous Parisian wife Sophie in the penthouse, down through the floors to the unstable young Mimi on the fourth floor, Ben's old friend Nick on the second floor, and the volatile Antoine on the first floor, everyone seems to have something to hide - even the eccentric, elderly concierge in her strange little loge in the courtyard. There is the constant, menacing feeling that Jess is being watched, and Ben's apartment on the third floor is no sanctuary from the danger that haunts the halls, stairwells, and cave-like cellar.

As is Foley's forte, the pieces of this mystery come together very gradually with the shocking truth hitting you with considerable force in the latter stages of the novel. Each narrative has something to add not just in terms of the recent history of the characters, but also their past dysfunctional relationships with each other, and the revelations set you reeling as they take you into country filled with intrigue, passion, revenge and twisted group dynamics.  

The premise is deliciously ambitious this time around, bursting out of the more character-led murder-mystery that I have come to expect from Foley. This book cleverly incorporates a claustrophobic mystery of the kind she does so well, via the old apartment block in all its faded grandeur, but it also pushes things up a notch by interweaving these elements with exciting scenes that take you on a caper through highly charged and atmospheric Parisian streets filled with rioters during a stifling summer. I really enjoyed how this moves the story along and serves to change the tempo between slow-burn and fast-paced thriller as you swap back and forth between settings - somehow combining a bit of Hitchcock with a contemporary action adventure tale.

I read this book in one single, gripping session. It manages to cram in all the tension and flawed interpersonal relationships you could wish for in a psychological thriller, with the added dose of brain-wracking whodunnit that is very heavy on the compelling mystery side. Definitely Foley's finest book to date!

The Paris Apartment is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats now.

Thank you to Harper Fiction for sending me a hard cover copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in this blog tour.

About the author:

Lucy Foley is the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The Hunting Party and The Guest List, with two and a half million copies sold worldwide. Lucy’s thrillers have also hit the New York Times and the Irish Times bestseller lists, been shortlisted for the Crime & Thriller Book of the Year Award at the British Book Awards, selected as one of The Times and Sunday Times Crime Books of the Year, and The Guest List was a Reese’s Book Club choice. Lucy’s novels have been translated into multiple languages and her journalism has appeared in publications such as Sunday Times Style, Grazia, ES Magazine, Vogue US, Elle, Tatler, Marie Claire and more.

And Your Enemies Closer (Thirty Miles Trilogy Book Two) by Rob Parker (Audio Book)

 

And your Enemies Closer (Thirty Miles Trilogy Book Two).

Narrated by Warren Brown.

From the cover:

In the North West criminal underworld, a deal goes tragically wrong, resulting in war between the two main organised crime factions in the region. Shockwaves rock the 30-mile gap between Liverpool and Manchester - with retired detective Brendan Foley right in the middle of it all.

For Brendan, six months after his resignation, life is all different. His marriage is a mess, he’s working as a nightclub bouncer, his brother is still missing and he just can’t stop searching for the crime family that destroyed his life. And at last, he’s found them - and he’s got them bang to rights.

Iona Madison, his one-time partner and now successor as a DI in Warrington Police, is tasked with a body pulled from the River Mersey - a teen-age boy that went missing the previous year, which might bring her own conduct into question. Not only that, Brendan is feeding her information whether she likes it or not - and his unsanctioned activities are causing her headaches.

And now, there’s a price on his head. A million pounds, dead or alive.

And Your Enemies Closer is a serpentine race against time as Brendan and Iona must stay one step ahead of criminals at every corner, while trying to bring justice - in whatever form it takes, and whatever loyalties it might burn.

***********

It's six months since Brendan Foley's life went to hell in a hand-basket with the case of the Warrington 27 - the case that forced him to confront the truth about his own family, and made him long for retribution with every fibre of his being. 

Finding himself unable to continue as a DI with Warrington Police, Foley is on a crusade to bring down the Culpepper crime gang that derailed his life, but he must now put his considerable talents to use from the shadows. Working as a nightclub bouncer, he spends his waking hours consumed with his need for revenge, letting all other parts of his life slide, including his marriage and his responsibilities as a father.

When Foley's snooping takes him to a storage lock-up that holds a dead body and a shed load of drugs, he calls on his old partner Iona Madison, his replacement as DI, to help. Madison has enough troubles of her own to deal with as the body of a boy has just been dragged from the Mersey - a body linked to the Warrington 27 case, and one which connects herself, Foley and some of their old colleagues to some dealings none of them are proud of.

Madison has no choice but to get involved in Foley's troubles once more, whether she  likes it or not. His meddling has dropped them all in the middle of a war between two local organised crime gangs, and the Culpeppers are out for blood. Foley and his family have a price on their heads, and a million pounds is enough to strain the loyalty of many. Will they stay alive long enough to bring the guilty to justice?

I am a big Rob Parker fan, and have enjoyed every one of his books immensely. The first part of the Thirty Miles Trilogy, Far from the Tree, was a very accomplished piece of crime writing, blending gritty gangland thriller and police procedural together into one heck of a gripping tale. Book two, And your Enemies Closer, is every bit as good, albeit with the slightly different slant of a Brendan Foley who is now well and truly in loose cannon territory. 

Right from the word go, it's clear that Foley has been consumed by his need for a reckoning with the Culpepper family, and this is going to get him into scalding hot water - now without the added balm of his warrant card. This presents Parker with a great opportunity to let the gangland side of this story spiral deliciously out of control, delving into some really dark and menacing story-lines around power struggles in the criminal underworld that cast an intriguing light on the relationship between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester - and the thirty miles that lie betwixt them. The police procedural side takes much more of a back seat this time around, although is is great to see some old friends making an appearance, even if they are also being drawn inexorably into stepping more and more out of the bounds of good conduct to protect themselves. Parker plays up the spectre of past misdeeds that tie them all together nicely, with a little stomach churning sideline too. I feel I should add here that you really do need to have read, or listened to, book one, as the plotlines are tightly wound together.

This story grabs you be the proverbials and does not let go for an instant, with Warren Brown's dulcet tones pitched to perfection as the moment demands, just like in book one. The action speeds up a-pace, drawing all the threads together in a inventive climax, and there is a sequence of very clever twists along the way, which keeps things very spicy indeed - and the resulting fall-out promises mayhem in the concluding part of the trilogy. I cannot wait!

And Your Enemies Closer is available to buy now in audio format only, as an Audible Original - expected in print and ebook format later.

About the Author:

Rob Parker is a married father of three, who lives in Warrington, UK. The author of the Ben Bracken thrillers, Crook’s Hollow and the #1 Audible bestseller Far From The Tree enjoys a rural life, writing horrible things between school runs. Rob writes full time, attends various author events across the UK, and boxes regularly for charity.

He spends a lot of time in schools across the North, encouraging literacy, story-telling and creative-writing, and somehow squeezes in time to co-host the For Your Reconsideration film podcast, appear regularly on The Blood Brothers Crime Podcast, and is a member of the Northern Crime Syndicate.