Bad Fruit by Ella King

 

Bad Fruit by Ella King.

Published 18th August 2022 by Harper Collins.

From the cover of the book:

Every family has it's secrets...

LILY IS A GOOD DAUGHTER

Every evening she pours Mama a glass of perfectly spoilt orange juice. She arranges the teddy bears on Mama’s quilt, she puts on her matching pink clothes. Anything to help put out the fire of Mama’s rage.

MAMA IS A GOOD LIAR

But Mama is becoming unpredictable, dangerous. And as she starts to unravel, so do the memories that Lily has kept locked away for so long.
She only wanted to be good, to help piece Mama back together. But as home truths creep out of the shadows, Lily must recast everything: what if her house isn’t a home – but a prison? What if Mama isn’t a protector – but a monster . . .

***********

Lily tries to be a good daughter, and as the youngest child she has taken on the role of the one who keeps her mother's wildly swinging moods under control. While her older sister and brother, and even father, seem to provoke Mama's rage, Lily spends her time smothering who she really is to be a mirror image of her mother, and the picture of obedience. All must be right for the sake of peace, down to the perfectly spoilt orange juice Mama prefers, and the 'just-so' placement of the many teddies on Mama's quilt.

As the time approaches for Lily to leave home and take up her studies at Oxford, Mama is becoming increasingly more unpredictable and violent. Mama's desire to control every little detail of her family's lives is having even more of an effect on them all than ever before. As Mama unravels, the behaviour Lily has adopted to cope with the secrets that must be hidden from outside eyes is no longer enough to keep her on an even keel, and she finds herself overwhelmed with flashbacks that make her question whether all the things Mama has claimed about her past are in fact true. Is her home something other than a haven, and is her mother actually a monster?

I do love a story of a dysfunctional family, and this is one of the best I have read in a good long time. Ella King draws you in right from the beginning with Mama's strange behaviour and the weird controlling relationship she has with everyone in her family, especially her youngest child Lily. It becomes impossible to look away even for a second as everything gets darker and more disturbing as Lily's flashbacks allow you to put all the little pieces together about what lies at the heart of Mama's broken psyche, and you begin to see who is complicit in preserving the wrongness of this status quo.

King does a splendid job of subtly altering your perspective on the characters as the story develops and Mama's fiction about her own childhood in Singapore is brought into shocking focus. Mama is certainly a very unpleasant character, but no one really comes out of this well when it comes to how Lily has taken the brunt of making their lives better, which is particularly painful to read. The tension builds to epic proportions as you long for Lily to break free of the poisonous atmosphere of her home life, and King keeps you teetering on the very edge with twist and twist again moments that make it impossible to see what the resolution will be right up to the time when the full truth of Mama's cruelty is exposed. 

I was very impressed with the way King has you questioning the motives of every person in this family, even Mama herself, and throws you a thought provoking curve ball that explores whether understanding the acts that have shaped a person can ever forgive the depravity of the behaviour they inflict upon the innocent, and if those who are complicit share equal guilt. She also deftly portrays what can happen when dysfunction is allowed to roll over from generation to generation, and offers a masterclass in how a theme can be used to great effect in many aspects of a story in the way she uses the notion of spoiled goods.

This is a cracking debut, beautifully conceived and sharply written. If horrendous families are your thing then this is a book that needs to be right at the top your reading pile - although you might need a lie down in a darkened room at the end. I loved it! 

Bad Fruit is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Harper Collins for sending me a hardcover copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Ella King is a British-Singaporean novelist, an award-winning writer (3rd in the Aurora Prize for Short Fiction 2019 and winner of the Blue Pencil Pitch Prize 2019), and a graduate of Faber Academy’s novel-writing program. She has worked as a corporate lawyer and for anti-human trafficking and domestic violence charities.

Ella lives in Greenwich, UK with her husband, two daughters and a ginger Siberian cat and is currently working on my second novel. 

A Caribbean Mystery (Miss Marple) by Agatha Christie

 

A Caribbean Mystery (Miss Marple)by Agatha Christie.

This edition published 2022 by Harper Collins.

From the cover of the book:

Major Palgrave enjoys an audience, and, in Miss Marple, he discovers a captive audience too polite to walk away.

But midway through recounting the tale of a multiple murder, he stops suddenly when something, or someone, catches his eye.

Then, when he’s found dead the following day, Miss Marple suspects that someone wanted to silence the talkative major. Permanently.

Never underestimate Miss Marple...

***********

Miss Marple is on holiday in foreign climes on the Caribbean island of St Honoré, and although it was rather kind of her nephew Raymond to pay for her stay at the Golden Palm resort she is actually a little bored. Nothing really seems to happen here, and Miss Marple finds herself longing for the hustle and bustle of village life back home in St Mary Mead. But some excitement is about to head her way...

During her stay, Miss Marple has frequently been the conversational target of retired Major Palgrave, and being too polite to stop him regaling her with many tales of his foreign adventures, she has learned to only half listen while he is droning on. One afternoon, when he is well into a story about a murderer, Major Palgrave is pulled up short by something that he spots over Miss Marple's shoulder and he never finishes his tale - or shows Miss Marple the photograph he claims to have in his wallet of the guilty party. Miss Marple does not concern herself too much with this unfinished tale, until Major Palgrave is found dead the very next day, apparently from natural causes. Given the nature of his last conversation with her, she cannot help but be suspicious about his untimely death -  if only she had been paying more attention to his story. Miss Marple is sure that something sinister is happening in this tropical paradise. Can she find the murderer before they strike again?

On the surface this appears to be a very nice hotel in the kind of resort that attracts respectable guests with more than a little money to spend, but scratch a little deeper and you discover that some of these people are keeping secrets that they would rather stay hidden. Major Palgrave's death sets Miss Marple thinking, and it is not long before her innocent little old lady act garners information from several guests that is very enlightening, particularly about the newly-weds Tim and Molly Kendal that have recently taken over the hotel, and the two couples who holiday together here every year Greg and Lucky Dyson and their friends Edward and Evelyn Hillingdon. 

Most entertainingly in this story, Miss Marple's ally in getting to the bottom of everyone's little secrets is not a police detective this time, but cranky old millionaire Jason Rafiel, who comes to appreciate that she is much more than she appears - being not so much a twittering old woman, but Nemesis in disguise. Together they form a formidable duo in the pursuit of justice.

This is one of my favourite Miss Marple stories, and it follows classic Christie lines by offering a likely bunch of suspects for you to cast your eye upon in search of the villain of the piece, and a host of red herrings to discard before the mystery is solved. Christie also goes to town in the way that only she can in delving into the very worst that human nature has to offer with infidelity, cold-hearted calculation, and revenge being the top of the list of factors that motivate more than one of the characters to stray from the path of righteousness. It is glorious!

As usual for my Christie stories, I alternated between the text and the audio book, which is narrated very nicely by Emilia Fox - I enjoy her narrations enormously, but am inclined to think that she is perhaps a little young for Miss Marple and would have preferred Stephanie Cole as I loved her version of At Bertram's Hotel.

This book was my August choice for the #ReadChristie2022 Challenge for the prompt a story which is 'Set in a hot climate'. 

A Caribbean Mystery is available to buy now in multiple formats.

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.

Mad, Bad And Dead (Judi Westerholme Book Three) by Sherryl Clark

 

Mad, Bad and Dead (Judi Westerholme Book Three) by Sherryl Clark.

Published 22nd August 2022 by Verve Books.

From the cover of the book:

A dead employee. A missing child. Anonymous phone calls in the dead of night. Judi Westerholme's troubles aren't over yet...

Already struggling to juggle co-running the local pub with her childcare responsibilities for her orphaned niece, Judi does not need life to become any more complicated.

Yet, as usual, complications arrive in spades: she starts receiving threatening, late-night phone calls before discovering one of her employees, Kate, shot dead.

Judi finds herself caught up in a murder investigation, as well as the hunt for the Kate's fourteen year-old daughter, who has been missing since the murder.

Add in the uncertainty of her relationship with Melbourne-based DS Heath and the fact that her estranged mother's nursing home keeps urging her to visit, and Judi might finally be at breaking point.

***********

Judi Westerholme has her hands full co-running the local pub/bistro in the small Australian town of Candlebark, being a parent to her orphaned three-year-old niece Mia, coping with an on-off relationship with a Melbourne detective, and fielding the frequent demands from her estranged mother's care home to go visit her. She could certainly do without any further complications coming her way, but somehow she does seem to attract them. Suddenly she has to deal with the added burden of late night threatening phone calls from an unidentified caller, and the very vocal accusations of the owner of the local spa, which have her unsettled.

When her normally reliable employee Kate fails to turn up for work Judi is immediately concerned. Shockingly, she discovers that Kate has been shot dead by an unknown intruder, and Kate's fourteen-year-old-daughter Emma has gone missing. On top of everything Judi is now caught up in a murder investigation that opens up a disturbing can of worms about the life Kate and Emma used to lead in Sydney, and what they have been running from. Of course, Judi being Judi she cannot stand on the side-lines, but this investigation might just bring her to breaking point.

Mad, Bad and Dead is the third instalment in the Judi Westerholme Aussie crime series, but my first Sherryl Clark book. There are some threads that run through the book from Judi's previous adventures, especially in terms of her relationships with quite a few of the the characters, but the crime story itself is self-contained and I had no trouble to reading this as a stand-alone.

I love an Aussie crime story, especially one set in a small Outback town, so this book caught me right from the word go. It ticks all the boxes of my taut small town vibe requirements and makes a fabulous backdrop for the story that Clark weaves around the good... the mad... the bad... and the dead of the cast of characters she creates. Interestingly, this has the added spice of a metropolitan edge too, as some of the action takes place in Melbourne, and it brings in a lovely element of big city corruption and double-dealing as Kate and Emma's part of the story unfolds. I really enjoyed how Clark builds in crackling tension and a tangible atmosphere of mystery and menace in both environments, injecting very clever misdirection and making you question who Judi can trust - even among her friends. I did not see the harrowing direction in which this story was taking me, and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. She also has you looking closely at the different approaches to small town vs big city police procedurals, which was quite thought provoking.

Judi is a complex character, and has clearly been profoundly affected by her upbringing, her previous brushes with violence, and how she has related to the trustworthy and incompetent among the police fraternity. She sometimes lets her temper get the better of her, which I think makes her quite relatable, but her heart is firmly in the right place. There are characters here to both ground her, and incite her rage, and the interplay between them causes plenty of riveting drama, as well as some very touching moments and a good dose of humour. 

This is one of those gratifying books that combines a solid central core of characters with a gripping crime story. I really felt that I had become part of the community of Candlebark, and I did not want to say goodbye to them at the end of the story. I will definitely be picking up the next book in the series to find out what happens next, and look forward to going back and reading he first two books to catch up on all the back stories. Highly recommended if you are partial to top quality Aussie noir!

Mad, Bad and Dead is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

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

About the author:

Sherryl Clark has had 40 children's and YA books published in Australia, and several in the US and UK, plus collections of poetry and four verse novels. She has taught writing at Holmesglen TAFE and Victoria University. She recently completed a Master of Fine Arts program at Hamline University, Minnesota, and is now studying for a PhD in creative writing.

The Lost Diary Of Samuel Pepys by Jack Jewers

 

The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys by Jack Jewers.

Published 4th August 2022 by Moonflower Books.

From the cover of the book:

It is the summer of 1669 and England is in dire straits.

The treasury's coffers are bare and tensions with the powerful Dutch Republic are boiling over. And now, an investigator sent by the King to look into corruption at the Royal Navy has been brutally murdered. Loathe to leave the pleasures of London, Samuel Pepys is sent dragging his feet to Portsmouth to find the truth about what happened.

Aided by his faithful assistant, Will Hewer, he soon exposes the killer. But has he got the right person? The truth may be much more sinister. And if the mystery isn't solved in time, then England could be thrown into a war that would have devastating consequences . . .

The diaries of Samuel Pepys have enthralled readers for centuries with their audacious wit, gripping detail, and racy assignations. Pepys stopped writing at the age of 36. Or did he? This action-packed historical thriller, described as "Bridgerton meets Sherlock" imagines what might have happened next.

***********

Summer, 1699: Samuel Pepys is a man who knows how to enjoy himself - as his illuminating diaries can confirm. But he is considering whether he should continue recording his adventures for posterity now his wife Elisabeth has discovered not only their existence, but also the details of what he has been up to.

His personal and professional lives are proving to be a little stressful, and to top it all he finds he has been selected by his boss at the Navy Office, The Duke of Albemarle, for a mission that will require all of his ingenuity to complete. He must drag himself away from the pleasures of London to investigate the death of a Crown Agent who was looking into corruption in the Royal Navy in Portsmouth. 

With England on the brink of war with the Dutch, it is vital that Pepys gets to the bottom of what is going on in Portsmouth, and he drags along his faithful assistant Will Hewer to help him in his investigation. What they are about to discover will embroil them in a deadly plot that involves espionage, secret societies and double dealing that reaches higher than they can imagine - and of course, he can't help himself from writing it all down, in a brand new diary...

In The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys Jack Jewers reimagines all new adventures for one of the most famous diarists of them all, Samuel Pepys. The story picks up one week after Pepys' final known volume and details his secret mission in Portsmouth to get to the bottom of murderous shenanigans and apparent attempts to drag England into an ill-advised war with the Dutch.

The story starts as it means to go on, with a bawdy bang and rumours of intrigue, and develops into a fun-filled caper involving drama, passion, and competing secret societies with unfathomable loyalties in the streets of Portsmouth, London and on the high seas. Pepys takes on the role of somewhat of a bumbling Sherlock Holmes to Hewer's Dr Watson as they try to get to the bottom of the mystery here, while continuing Pepys' well-earned reputation as a diarist recording all sorts of fascinating information about the times in which he lived. There is so much lovely period detail, all mixed up with vivid characters from all levels of society, and more swashbuckling fun than you can poke a quill at. I really enjoyed how Jewers has Pepys not only casting his observant eye at those all around him, but makes him question what he thinks he knows about himself too.

This is such an immersive and entertaining debut novel that has the feel of the first part of a new series. It serves to establish an excellent cast of characters around Pepys that it would be delightful to see cropping up in further tales of more of Pepys' escapades - and there is a nice little hook at the end that promises a lot more dangerous missions to come! 

The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Moonflower Books and Midas PR for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Jack Jewers is a filmmaker and writer, passionate about history. His career has been spent telling stories in all media, and his body of work includes film, TV, and digital media. His films have been shown at dozens of international film festivals, including Cannes, New York, Marseille, Dublin, and London’s FrightFest, garnering multiple accolades, including an award from the Royal Television Society and a nomination for Best Short Film by BAFTA Wales. The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys is his first novel.

Every Shade Of Happy by Phyllida Shrimpton

 

Every Shade of Happy by Phyllida Shrimpton.

Published 18th August 2022 by Aria, Hed of Zeus.

From the cover of the book:

Algernon is at the end of his life.

His granddaughter is at the start of hers.

But they have more in common than they think...

Every day of Algernon's 97 years has been broken up into an ordered routine. That's how it's been since the war, and he's not about to change now. Until his 15-year-old granddaughter arrives on his doorstep, turning Algernon's black-and-white life upside down. 

Everything from Anna's clothes to the way she sits glued to her phone is strange to Algernon, and he's not sure he likes it. But as the weeks pass, Algernon is surprised to discover they have something in common after all–Anna is lonely, just like him. 

Can Algernon change the habits of a lifetime to bring the colour back into Anna's world?

***********

When single mother Helene's relationship comes to a very unexpected end, she has no choice but to move back into her widowed father Algernon's tiny Essex house with her fifteen-year-old daughter Anna in tow. Helene and Algernon have always had a difficult relationship, and he did not handle the news well when she fell pregnant after a one night stand, so this is not going to be easy for anyone concerned.

At ninety-seven-years-old Algernon is used to an orderly life. He is not at all happy about the routine he has settled into since his wife Evie's death being interrupted by the return of his daughter and the child he has never allowed himself to meet. He does not know what to make of colourful Anna and her modern ways. Anna, in her turn, is dismayed by the crusty old man who seems to radiate nothing, but disapproval for her. Missing her old home, school and friends, she finds herself feeling more and more isolated. 

But as time goes by, Algernon begins to realise that he has something in common with his granddaughter that makes him reflect on the direction his own life has taken - loneliness. Can he find the courage to break out of the rut he has allowed himself to sink into and help Anna regain her spark?

Where do I even begin with this magical story? Told in alternating narratives from Algernon and Anna, this beautiful book is one that works its way right into your heart. I absolutely loved the way that Phyllida Shrimpton manages to write convincingly about both a crotchety old man at the end of his unfulfilled life and a fragile, sensitive young girl with her life ahead of her, gradually breaking down the barriers between them as they get to know each other and find common ground. Their characters develop ever so slowly over the course of the story, opening up to show you their thoughts, hopes, regrets, and heartache, and their little amusing asides serve to lighten the book in a way that stops it all becoming overwhelmingly sad. There are so many deeply touching and heart-warming moments in this book that I found myself crying on and off almost throughout the whole story - building up to pretty much constant sobbing for the final third of the novel. 

The story transforms so wonderfully as we learn about the memories and regrets Algernon has kept hidden, even from his own daughter, and realises that the way he has lived his life is not what he wants for Anna. His acknowledgment that his own behaviour has meant him losing out on so much is so poignant, and his message that you must look forward, not back, comes across so well in the way Shrimpton weaves his story with both Anna's and Helene's. I could spend all day waxing lyrical about the enchanting way in which all the threads come together in such a superb mix of heart and humour, but I would much rather you read it for yourself, because it is worth every moment. The supporting cast is small, but perfectly formed too - I challenge you not to be charmed by Cat, Jacob and Gary and the way they help everything along nicely.

I completely adored this book. As a first stab at writing for an adult audience Shrimpton has created something truly marvellous to behold, and I cannot wait to read more from her. This really is something very special. 

Every Shade of Happy is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Aria for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review, and a for inviting me to take part in this blog tour.

About the author:

Phyllida Shrimpton is a full time UK author who first wanted to write a novel after having a vivid dream at the age of 15 which she thought might make a good plot for a book. Finally in 2015 she finally stopped procrastinating about it and turned this dream into the plot for a YA novel, Sunflowers in February, published in 2018. This novel won the Red Book Award in Falkirk, Scotland and was shortlisted for the Centurion Book Awards for Bath and North East Somerset schools. The Colour of Shadows was published in 2019 and was shortlisted for the Amazing Book Awards.

Deciding to make the move to writing adult novels, Phyllida’s latest novel Every Shade of Happy will be published in August 2022 by Aria Fiction.

Phyllida’s books are centred around uplifting fiction and with the firm belief that there are two sides to every story.

The House at Helygen by Victoria Hawthorne

 

The House at Helygen by Victoria Hawthorne.

Published 18th August 2022 by Quercus.

From the cover of the book:

A HOUSE CAN HOLD A THOUSAND SECRETS . . .

2019: When Henry Fox is found dead in his ancestral home in Cornwall, the police rule it a suicide, but his pregnant wife, Josie, believes it was murder. Desperate to make sense of Henry's death she embarks on a quest to learn the truth, all under the watchful eyes of Henry's overbearing mother. Josie soon finds herself wrestling against the dark history of Helygen House and ghosts from the past that refuse to stay buried.

1881: New bride Eliza arrives at Helygen House with high hopes for her marriage. Yet when she meets her new mother-in-law, an icy and forbidding woman, her dreams of a new life are dashed. And when Eliza starts to hear voices in the walls of the house, she begins to fear for her sanity and her life.

Can Josie piece together the past to make sense of her present, or will the secrets of Helygen House and its inhabitants forever remain a mystery?

***********

2019: Josie and Henry Fox have big plans to save Henry's rambling, ancestral home, Helygen House in Cornwell. They are committed to making this a family home for themselves and the child Josie is carrying, and turning the estate into a going concern - even if Henry's stern mother Alice disapproves of all the changes they have planned to the house and grounds she see as her home.

When Henry is found dead in the house, apparently after committing suicide, Josie is convinced that it was murder, but who would want to kill Henry? Josie is determined to find out the truth, but this is proving difficult with overwhelming grief, a new born to look after, and a mother-in-law that she is not sure has her and her daughter's best interests at heart. As Josie digs into the dark past of Helygen House, she finds herself jumping at shadows, and fearing that there really is something wrong with this place.

1881: Eliza Fox arrives at Helygen House with her new husband Cassius, full of hopes about their married life together, but her mother-in-law Harriet is far from welcoming towards her and her new husband is not quite the man she thought he was. The atmosphere in this house is strange, and Eliza gets the feeling that there are secrets she has not been told about her new home - secrets that threaten not only her sanity, but her life.

The story is told in two timelines that flip back and forth between the present and the past, in true timeslip style, but rather than just sticking with the narratives of our two brides Josie and Eliza as they navigate their way through the sinister pitfalls of Helygen House, Hawthorne also throws in a nice little curve ball by bringing in the voice of Harriet too. This proves to be very clever story telling as it not only weaves mystery through the parts of the story told through Josie and Eliza as they uncover some uncomfortable truths about the lives they find themselves living, but also allows us a fascinating glimpse of the one person that dictates how their fates play out - Cassius. 

There are family secrets galore here as you gradually put together all the little pieces of the twisty parallel mysteries in both time lines, building suspense notch by notch, until all the skeletons come tumbling out of their respective hiding places in two cracking climaxes, that bring everything together in a way that has dangerous consequences for Josie. There are lovely echoes that reverberate through time too, especially in terms of seriously creepy mother-in-laws, and motherhood, and Hawthorne plays up the underlying Gothic atmosphere of voices from beyond the grave scarily well.

I gobbled this one down in one sitting, and really enjoyed how Hawthorne threads the theme of women's rights subtly throughout the story. She also delivers with deliciously satisfying endings in both timelines, which I applaud. There is a lot here that reminded me of the way Stacey Halls captures your imagination, gives you a good dose of an unsettling drama, and urges you to take a good hard look at the injustices that face her female characters, so if you are a fan of Hall's writing then you will find a lot here to enjoy. Haunting, and highly recommended for some historical fiction chills.

The House at Helygen is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

About the author:

Victoria Hawthorne is a pseudonym of bestselling psychological suspense author Vikki Patis. She writes atmospheric historical suspense rich with familial secrets and strong female protagonists. THE HOUSE AT HELYGEN was published in April 2022 by Quercus, with another to follow in 2023.

After She'd Gone by Alex Dahl

 

After She'd Gone by Alex Dahl.

Published 18th August 2022 by Aries, Head of Zeus.

From the cover of the book:

Unsettling, gripping and glamorous. A timely psychological thriller about the danger of beauty, the lure of power, and the fierce love of a mother for her son.

Liv keeps a low profile in Sandefjord, Norway: she's just another tired single mother, trying to make ends meet. She has never told her son about the secrets she carries or the life she lived before he was born. She will do anything to keep him safe.

Anastasia's life is transformed when she moves from Russia to Milan to work as a model. She's rich. She's desired. But there's a dark side to the high-pressure catwalk shows; the sun-baked Italian palazzos; the drink-fuelled after-parties hosted by powerful men. Soon, she will do anything to escape.

Selma is a journalist in Oslo. She's investigating scandals in the modelling industry, but can't get her article published. Then a woman goes missing in Sandefjord. Now Selma is about to uncover the biggest story of her life...

***********

Liv Carlson is a woman who tries to live under the radar. Fiercely protective of her autistic son Adrian, she has told him nothing of the secrets she keeps about the life she used to live. To all intents and purposes, they seem to be a single mother and her son getting along as best they can in Sandefjord, Norway, but Liv's past is about to catch up with her.

In Milan, Anastasia cannot believe how much her life has changed in the last few months. No longer living a simple life with her grandmother in Russia, she is now an aspiring cat-walk model. At first this life seems full of glamour and excitement, but Anastasia begins to see beneath the gloss to the ugly truth about the world she has now become a part of. Soon she begins to lose herself and longs for an escape back to the life she lived before she became famous.

Selma is a tenacious Oslo journalist. Having just finished writing an exposé into the dark side of the modelling industry, it seems her story may never see the light of day, because of pressure from powerful figures who would prefer their shady activities to remain secret. Frustrated, Selma needs to distract herself with another story, and something about the report of a woman and her son who have mysteriously gone missing from Sandefjord catches her attention. Selma has no idea that her new investigation is about to take her into even more dangerous waters.

The story is told through the eyes of Liv, her son Adrian, Anastasia and Selma, cutting back and forth between them as you build up a picture of their hopes, fears, and ultimately, struggles for survival. It takes some time to see how Anastasia's story fits into the picture, and Dahl uses the atmosphere of mystery this injects to ramp up the suspense in the most delicious way. Their individual voices are beautifully written, as I have come to expect from Dahl, and you become entirely invested in the threads of their stories, anticipating the time that they surely must collide to answer the many questions she conjures in your mind as the book progresses. They are all thoroughly convincing in their roles, although Adrian is particularly well drawn, and I think Dahl does an absolutely cracking job of keeping him in character all the way through - my heart broke for him as he tries to make sense of the things that befall him.

Scandi-noir is one of my favourite genres and I loved the parts of the story that take place in the ice and snow of Norway, which give added bite to the shocking opening parts of the book, but Dahl also mixes things up nicely to please the lovers of a summer scorcher too by bringing in the glamour and heat of Italy and other sun-baked locations as she immerses you in the world of modelling. This makes for a fascinating contrast as scenes switch back and forth between the characters - all the while hitting that unsettling sweet spot that danger lurks beneath the surface in them all. There is such a lovely contrast in the parts of the story that tell of simple pleasures that are cast away in favour of false idols, and of naivety that gives way to realisation that the world is sometimes not as innocent as we might think too.

There are layers upon layers here, and too many themes that Dahl touches upon to mention in a simple review, but expect some intriguing things to ponder upon - especially about neurodiversity, beauty, power, and the bond between a mother and her son. This is a sophisticated book and it drew me in completely. Dahl cleverly weaves her magic to misdirect, dropping little reassuring whispers that convince you that you know where this story is leading, until the moments she catches you with disclosures that have you second guessing yourself time and time again. The pacing of the reveals is perfect, and I did not see what this was heading until she hit me with a highly enjoyable twist and twist again ending that ticked all my thriller boxes. There is also a nice little aside about Dahl's previous excellent book Cabin Fever, for those who spot it!

I loved it! My favourite Alex Dahl yet.

After She'd Gone is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Aries for sending me a hardcover copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Ransom PR for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Alex Dahl is half-American, half-Norwegian author. Born in Oslo, she studied Russian and German linguistics with international studies, then went on to complete an MA in creative writing at Bath Spa University and an MSc in business management at Bath University. She was also a model in her late teens and this is how she came up with the idea for After She’d Gone. 

 A committed Francophile, Alex loves to travel, and has so far lived in Moscow, Paris, Stuttgart, Sandefjord, Switzerland, Spain, Bath and London. 

She is the author of four other thrillers: Cabin Fever, Playdate, The Heart Keeper, and The Boy at the Door, which was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger.

A Hundred Million Years And A Day by Jean-Baptiste Andréa (Audio Book)

 

A Hundred Million Years and a Day by Jean-Baptiste Andréa.

Narrated by Hugh Weller-Poley. From the book translated by Sam Taylor.

Released 2nd June 2022 by Gallic Books. 

From the cover:

Stan has been hunting for fossils since the age of six. Now, in the summer of 1954, he hears a story he cannot forget: the skeleton of a huge creature—a veritable dragon—lies deep in an Alpine glacier. And he is determined to find it. But Stan is no mountaineer. To complete his dangerous expedition, he must call on loyal friend Umberto, who arrives with an eccentric young assistant and expert guide Gio.

Time is short; the four men must descend before the weather turns. As bonds are forged and tested, the hazardous quest for the Earth’s lost creatures becomes a journey into Stan’s own past.

A Hundred Million Years and a Day is a mesmerizing story of nature, adventure, and of one man's determination to follow his dream, whatever it may take.

***********

Stan is a man obsessed with fossils. Ever since he found his first one at the age of six, it was his passion to become a palaeontologist, and he obtained the dizzy heights of professorship at a young age, but the one great discovery he has always hoped to find has eluded him.

In the summer of 1954, while attending an academic function in Paris, Stan hears an unlikely story from a small child about the skeleton of a dragon lying in a cave beside an Alpine glacier. He has a suspicion that these fossilised remains might just be the chance he has been looking for to make his name for posterity, even though he knows nothing about mountaineering.

Stan persuades his old colleague Umberto to join him in his quest, and Umberto brings along his eccentric assistant Peter to help. In the company of experienced guide Gio, the men set off up the mountain in search of Stan's dream. Their chances of finding the cave are slim, and they must be back down the mountain before the weather turns against them.

Strong bonds are forged between the men as they battle against the unpredictable weather and inhospitable conditions. Nothing is easy about this expedition, and they are sorely tested as the difficulties of their task cause tempers to fray, but as they inch forward in their search for treasure from the past Stan finds himself turning over memories from his own life too. In this place, high above the world, Stan is finally able to come to terms with all the painful experiences that have shaped him.

The story cuts back and forth between Stan's account of the expedition through the seasons of a single year (Summer through to Spring), with flashbacks to poignant moments of his childhood and the events that convinced him his destiny lay on a remote glacier in the Alps. For a relatively small book, there are so many moments of gripping action and adventure, with a glorious atmosphere of suspense, and I adored the way that the glacier and the dragon both become characters in their own right as the story plays out.

The human characters are vividly drawn and their personality traits contrast cleverly throughout the story to bring about moments of touching harmony and tense contention which take you thorough a wide range of emotions. Stan himself is not always an easy person to like, and there are times when he acts in a way that brings you up sharp as you want to give him a reality check, but his dedication to his dream somehow keeps you rooting for him even at his darkest moments. The impact of their near impossible task in conditions that push them to the very edge of their sanity is profound, and Andréa ensures you feel the human toll with force, but there is also warmth, humour, and companionship between them that is deeply moving. Stan's memories also bring alive the fondness he still feels for the mother he has lost with intense poignancy, and you cannot fail to be struck the powerful hatred he harbours for his brutish father in every fibre of his being. Everything about the physical environment too is described in stunning detail - you see the harsh beauty, and appreciate the subtle dangers that can make complacency fatal, almost as if you are there.

I must stop to praise the translation by Sam Taylor, because it is extremely difficult to retain nuance and emotional complexity in a work of this kind without introducing a sense of distance between the original and translated book, especially one which packs a lot into a novella-sized story, but this book oozes with sentiment and meaning in every carefully chosen word. It is superb. I also love the way an audio book can bring a story to alive with the right narrator, and Hugh Weller-Poley does this to perfection. I found myself becoming completely lost in his voice right from the beginning.

This book really worked its way under my skin and reduced me to a blubbering mess at the end. I came to it expecting a mountaineering story of derring-do and masculine feats of strength, and although there is plenty of both here, it is the tenderness and philosophical depth of this tale that has left its impression on me in a way that I will never forget. This is a very special book.  

A Hundred Million Years and a Day is available to buy now in paperback, ebook, and audio formats.

Thank you to Gallic Books for granting me a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Jean-Baptiste Andrea was born in 1971 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye and grew up in Cannes. Formerly a director and screenwriter, he published his first novel, Ma reine, in 2017. It won twelve literary prizes, including the Prix du Premier Roman and the Prix Femina des Lycéens. A Hundred Million Years and a Day was shortlisted for the Grand Prix de l’Académie Française 2019 and the Prix Joseph Kessel 2020, and awarded the 2020 Prix des lecteurs lycéens de l’Éscale du livres. Translated by Sam Taylor, it is published in paperback and eBook by Gallic Books.

About the translator:

Sam Taylor is an author and former correspondent for The Observer. His translations include Laurent Binet’s HHhH, Leïla Slimani’s Lullaby, Riad Sattouf’s The Arab of the Future and Maylis de Kerangal’s The Heart, for which he won the French-American Foundation Translation Prize

The Mortification Of Grace Wheeler by Colette Dartford

 

The Mortification of Grace Wheeler by Colette Dartford.

Published 18th August 2022 by Whitefox.

From the cover of the book:

A stale marriage, an illicit affair. Who pays the price?

Faced with an empty nest when her only child goes to university, the flaws in Grace's marriage are sharply exposed. Finding excuses to escape the taut atmosphere at home, she is drawn into an affair that ignites a mid-life sexual awakening.

But when her secret is discovered there is a terrible price to pay, and Grace is not the only one who pays it.

A compelling and emotional read, The Mortification of Grace Wheeler shines a spotlight on a marriage in crisis, the challenges of being a middle-aged woman, and the fear that your best years are behind you.

***********

Grace Wheeler's life is turned upside-down when her only child goes off to university. Although she knew that facing an empty nest would be hard, it is the way that this has thrown other areas of her life into sharp relief that proves to be unexpectedly challenging. Suddenly the twenty-three year age gap between her and her older husband Cal seems impossible to breach, especially given his recent heart problems that have noticeably aged him. They seem to have nothing in common now that their son Josh is no longer here, and the prospect of spending empty hours with Cal and his boorish attitudes fills Grace with dread.

Grace decides that an interest all of her own is what she needs to get her out of the house and away from Cal. She opts to try some fly-fishing lessons, reasoning that since this is one of Josh's passions they will be able to spend time together when he visits in the holidays - but it is the instructor himself that surprisingly proves to be the most interesting part of the whole experience. 

Grace finds herself drawn into a passionate affair with a younger man that makes her feel alive and fulfilled for the first time in her sheltered life, but when her secret is discovered, there are disastrous consequences for Grace, her marriage and her wider friends and family.

I was not sure what to expect from this novel, but once I started reading it I could not put it down and devoured the whole thing in one tasty bite. Grace is a complex character, and although many of her decisions are suspect ones, there is a delicious push-and-pull to the dilemmas that suddenly confront her in all parts of her life, which makes her story very relatable - particularly to older women readers. Grace wants to escape from the boredom and predictability of her own life. Her marriage is stale and she craves a distraction. There is an inevitability to what follows, and perhaps a middle-aged woman embarking on an affair with a younger man is a bit of a cliche, but there is so much more to this tale. 

Dartford's writing is a joy. She draws you into a story that beautifully mixes the mundane with moments of cutting emotion and high drama, touching on a wealth of themes that go beyond the problems of a woman who becomes untethered and learns some harsh truths about herself and those around her. The pitfalls and delights of mixed families, marriage and motherhood dominate the storyline, but Dartford also casts an insightful eye on the conflicting feelings that creep up on you when you hit middle age. I also really enjoyed how she explores female friendship; the dating scene for older women; the difficulties associated with failing health and loss of independence; and the notion of letting go in many aspects of her characters' lives. 

This book pulls no punches. It is not about the saucy escapades of a bored, middle-aged housewife looking for fun between the sheets. It addresses some weighty emotional, and even societal, issues in a way that goes beyond the obvious consequences of acts of infidelity; the secrets we keep; and the lies we tell to others, and ourselves. This is a book with bite, and it is all the better for it. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Mortification of Grace Wheeler is available to buy now in paperback and ebook formats.

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

About the author:

Colette Dartford writes contemporary fiction with compelling emotional themes. Her debut novel, Learning to Speak American, was shortlisted for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and published by Bonnier Zaffre. Her second novel, An Unsuitable Marriage, was a Kindle bestseller for over 18 months. 

In addition to her novels, Colette has had award-winning Flash fiction, short stories and poetry, published in popular magazines and anthologies. 

The Mortification of Grace Wheeler is her third novel. Colette lives in Bath with her husband and a very demanding labradoodle.

Smorgasbowl by Caryn Carruthers

 

Smorgasbowl by Caryn Carruthers.

Published 10th December 2021.

From the cover of the book:

Smorgasbowl isn't only a fun word to say, it's a fun way to cook and eat. Smorgasbowls are a simple and effective way to create meals that inspire. When stuck in an uninspired food rut or accommodating food allergies, creating smorgasbowls will free you. 

Using bowls, sauces, toppings, interesting cooking methods and even leftovers you will learn to create delicious and exciting meals using the four pillars of bowl building detailed in the book. 

You'll be a master of unique and crave-able recipes like: Apple-Chickpea Kale Salad with Orange-Mustard-Dill Dressing, Spiced Cauliflower with Beans, Slaw and Vegan Ranch Dressing and Roasted Veggie and Millet Bowl with Anchovy-Walnut Dressing. 

Your journey to the exciting and delicious world of eating smorgasbowls starts here. Let's begin!

***********

Something a little bit different on the blog today, because I am reviewing a cookery book - as I like to do now and again. I have a big collection of cookery books and am always interested in trying something that offers a new way to think about how you eat, so Smorgasbowl by Caryn Carruthers really caught my eye. The concept of 'bowl foods' has recently become quite popular here in the UK, but I have not yet tried any of them myself, so I was keen to see what this book had to offer. 

I have a copy of the paperback version, which is large format and comes with lots of lovely full-colour photographs to show you what you are aiming to achieve with the recipes (something I always appreciate), and has a very attractive cover to draw you in. It both feels and looks very nice, which is satisfying given the £20.00 asking price.

Caryn starts by introducing you to what she calls the Four Pillars of a balanced smorgasbowl - Flavour, Texture, Nutrition, and Temperature - going into easily understandable detail about their importance in creating something delicious to eat, and explaining the equipment you will require. She then moves onto how these elements should be combined to produce a tempting smorgasbowl. The concept itself is surprisingly simple.

The remainder of the book is packed with about 100 pages worth of examples and recipes to try out for yourself, with options for any time of the day. They indicate whether each recipe is suitable for of gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, and paleo (I had to look this one up) diets - and the example recipes also give nutritional information spilt into the Four Pillar categories, which is quite interesting. The recipes are for an American audience, so you do need to do a bit of translation as you go along, but most things are obvious and Google can help out where the names might be unfamiliar - I must confess pepitas did confuse me somewhat until Google told me these were pumpkin seeds, and I am still bemused by the recipes where 'broth' is called for, but I simply substituted this for stock which I assume is our equivalent. I think it might be a good idea to include a translation for the UK audience here, if Caryn really wants this book to take off on this side of the Atlantic.

The recipes are easy to follow in all other respects, and do make up tasty combinations - some are unusual, but for the most part they work well. I am not entirely convinced by sweet potato as a breakfast ingredient, but that might just be me! The methods used are also pretty straightforward even for the novice cook, but I probably would not recommend jumping straight in with this book if you are an absolute beginner as you do need to have a good base level of cookery knowledge.

For me, the best thing about this book is that it does make you think about how you put meals together to create something that looks and tastes good. I really liked the idea of combining cooked and raw ingredients with accompanying sauces to liven things up, and it does make you more aware of the look and nutritional content of the food you prepare. The recipes are all very flexible, so you can swap ingredients in and out according to taste and what you have available too - which makes it very inspiring. I also liked that Caryn has chosen to repeat the sauce/dressing recipes throughout the book so they are next to the recipe you need them for, as well as including them in a chapter of their own. This is very convenient what you are cooking as you do not have to keep flipping back and forth. 

Overall, this is a great addition to my cookery book shelves, and I will definitely go back to it when I am thinking of trying out some new combinations of flavours and textures. It certainly inspired me to put together meals that follow the four principles more frequently - I might even invest in some large bowls for the future!

Smogasbowl is available to buy now in hardback, paperback and ebook formats.

Buy link: Amazon UK

Thank you to Literally PR 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:

Caryn Jeanne Carruthers is a food lover and artist of many mediums. Her passion for healthy eating and her love of cooking started young and flourished when faced with food allergies and sensitivities. She believes food is love and shares her recipes and creations in that spirit. Caryn authors the blog tastynfree.com where she shares her photography, recipes and thoughts on gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar-free food.

Smorgasbowl is Caryn’s first book where she has enjoyed the challenge of creating the book in its entirety, including the photography, cooking, styling, recipe creation, book design and writing. She was born and raised in Colorado and currently lives in Austin, TX with her husband, two kids and two dogs.

You can fid out more about Caryn Carruthers on her Tastynfree.com which is full of more recipes to try too!

Impostor Syndrome by Kathy Wang (Audio Book)

 

Impostor Syndrome by Kathy Wang.

Narrated by Laurel Lefkow.

Released 26th May 2022 by Isis Publishing.

From the cover:

In 2006, Julia Lerner is recruited by Russia's largest intelligence agency. By 2018, she's in Silicon Valley as COO of Tangerine, one of America's most famous technology companies. She funnels intelligence back to the motherland, but now Russia's asking for more, and Julia's getting nervous.

Alice Lu is a first-generation Chinese American whose parents are delighted she's working at Tangerine. One afternoon, while performing a server check, Alice discovers some unusual activity, and now she's burdened with two suspicions: Tangerine's privacy settings aren't as rigorous as the company claims they are, and the person abusing this loophole might be Julia Lerner herself. 

The closer Alice gets to Julia, the more Julia questions her own loyalties. Russia may have placed her in the Valley, but she's the one who built her career; isn't she entitled to protect the lifestyle she's earned?

***********

Julia Lerner may seem to have it all as COO of Tangerine, one of America's most prestigious technology companies, but her life is not quite what it appears to be. To reach the dizzy heights of Silicon Valley royalty she has been given a little helping hand along the way courtesy of Russian Intelligence.

Abandoned as a child, she grew up in a Russian orphanage, and was desperate to escape the hard life that lay before her. Her guile and ability to think on her feet got her recruited to the SPB in 2006, and, as her handler Leo Guskov's special project, 'Minerva' has been passing information back to her spymasters for years via a loophole in Tangerine's privacy settings.

It is now 2018 and Julia has come to enjoy the life she has in America. Recently married, and with a baby on the way, Julia is no longer willing to risk losing all that she has gained. When Leo begins asking her for information that is becoming more difficult for her to obtain secretly, she is worried that she may be exposed. Where do her loyalties really lie?

Alice Lu is a first-generation Chinese American, working in a lowly role at Tangerine. Her career has not gone the way she was hoping, but her parents are delighted that she works at such a distinguished company. One afternoon, while carrying out a routine sever check, she notices some abnormal activity. This takes her down a rabbit hole that uncovers the privacy backdoor that allows Julia to access the information she has been passing on to Leo. Can Julia Lerner really be abusing her power?

Impostor Syndrome is not your average espionage thriller. It certainly contains all the elements you need to make up a cracking page turner about the life of a spy under deep cover, but along the way it also has you looking long and hard at the fallacy of the American Dream; and the toxic environment of Silicon Valley, especially when it comes to women.

The story splits between Julia, Leo, and Alice, as they play their separate roles of secret agent, SPB handler and investigator, but rather than making them caricatures careering about in a pacy spy caper Wang takes you right inside their heads so you can understand exactly what motivates them to act as they do. This creates a very interesting novel that wanders into satire country, and it means it is not easy to label any of them as good or bad. 

In fact there is something relatable in each of their stories that draws your sympathy - Julia's desire to keep what she feels she has earned, Alice's conviction that something is rotten at the heart of Tangerine, and Leo's acknowledgement that there are parts of his job that are becoming more distasteful as the years go by. I really enjoyed how Wang explores their dilemmas, comparing and contrasting different facets of their experiences as the book progresses. I actually found myself rooting for Julia almost from the very beginning of the story, even though she is a spiky character, because she had such fire and determination.

Wang touches on so many themes in the telling of this tale. She casts a sharp eye on the modern face of espionage, the abuse of power, privacy, racism, sexism, and the reach of monster organisations. The way she looks at how women are forced to play the game dictated by patriarchal rules to succeed in business is especially insightful. She also has a ball with mixing up shades of almost every possible human emotion in her characters, and she makes you feel each and every one - particularly anger and outrage.

The audio book is narrated by Laurel Lefkow, who is a new voice artist to me. It did take me a while to get into the clipped rhythm of her speech patterns, as I do not listen to a lot of audio books narrated by American voices, but she actually turned out to be the perfect choice to carry the story through to its fascinating conclusion. She was particularly good at voicing the female characters. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, and the ending is deliciously ironic. There is scope for a sequel here too, which I would really like to read, so Kathy Wang if you are listening, I very much want to know what happens next!

Impostor Syndrome is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Isis publishing for allowing me access to an audio recording of this book in return for an honest review, and to The Reading Closet for inviting me to take part in this blog tour.

About the author:

Kathy Wang grew up in Northern California and holds degrees from UC Berkeley and Harvard Business School. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and two children.

Housebreaking by Colleen Hubbard

 

Housebreaking by Colleen Hubbard.

Published 11th August 2022 by Corsair.

From the cover of the book:

Following a long-standing feud and looking to settle the score, a woman decides to dismantle her home - alone and by hand - and move it across a frozen pond during a harsh New England winter in this mesmerizing debut.

Home is certainly not where Del's heart is. After a local scandal led to her parents' divorce and the rest of her family turned their backs on her, Del left her small town and cut off contact.

Now, with both of her parents gone, a chance has arrived for Del to retaliate.

Her uncle wants the one thing Del inherited: the family home. Instead of handing the place over, and with no other resources at her disposal, Del decides she will tear the place apart herself - piece by piece.

But Del will soon discover, the task stirs up more than just old memories as relatives-each in their own state of unravelling - come knocking on her door.

This spare, strange, magical book is a story not only about the powerlessness and hurt that run through a family but also about the moments when brokenness can offer us the rare chance to start again.

***********

Twenty-four year old Del has no wish to return to her small Maine hometown, but fate might just have thrown her a curve-ball. Sacked from her job for a major indiscretion, and without a roof over her head now her gay room-mate, and only friend, Tym wants to move in his latest boyfriend, she does not have a lot of choices. So when her detested uncle declares he wants to buy her decrepit old family home so he can develop the site, she finds herself on a bus heading back to the place that only holds bad memories for her.

The house is in a bad state, but Del realises that it actually does elicit some good recollections after all, even if they all relate to the time before the scandal that led to her parents' divorce. It is not quite as easy to give this up as she thought, even if she does need the money, especially as it was the only thing her mother inherited from her parents - something that still rankles her detestable uncle even though he was bequeathed all the land around it. Instead, she decides she will sell the site, but dismantle the house by herself and move it to the other side of the nearby pond, as an act of insurrection.

The following months see Del tearing her old home apart, and moving it piece by piece across the surface of the frozen pond, during a harsh New England winter. No one believes she will complete the task she has set herself, most of all her unlikeable family. But as the weeks go by it becomes much more than a way to get back at them for the hurt she has kept hidden within. As the house comes down, Del begins to make peace with the bad memories contained in its very walls, and finds a way to move on with her life.

This is just the kind of quiet book that I adore. One that delves into the nitty-gritty of real life, human connection, and the experiences that shape us into the people we become. Colleen Hubbard does this in spades in this story, but she also takes you beyond that into the deliciously poignant country of using the past to make a positive change.

Del is a spiky character who has thrown up walls around herself to keep those pesky emotions at bay. No spoilers in this review, but she has had a lot to deal with in the past, and her life has shrunk to an existence that revolves around her room-mate Tym, who has taken her under his wing after the death of her father. This is a place she would have stayed too, despite her youth, until destiny throws a spanner into the works. I wanted to give her a great big hug right from the beginning of the story - not that she would have let me!

There are a lot of painful scenes in this story, as Del works through the hurt she has carried for much of her life, and you feel every ounce of the hard graft she has to perform both physically and emotionally to get to the place she does at the end. I very much enjoyed how her relationship changes with many of the characters that Hubbard weaves throughout the story, particularly as the determination of this friendless, angry young woman touches the lives of those around her. A special mention goes to Tym, who is carrying the weight of hefty sorrows of his own - ones that really anchor this book to the time in which it is set; and also to Billy, Eleanor, Greg and Jeanne. It was lovely to be with them as they each got to really know Del, each other, and themselves.

If you are partial to the tender, emotionally rewarding work of authors like Elizabeth Strout then you will love this book, because Hubbard knows exactly how to make you feel for her characters in the same way. This book made my heart ache, but it also made me laugh, and the uplifting ending is to die for. I did not want to let the characters go at the end, which is the highest praise I can give to any author's work. This is an impressive debut and I look forward to more from Colleen Hubbard.

Housebreaking is available to buy now in hardcover and ebook formats now.

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

About the author:

A native of New England, Colleen Hubbard now lives in the U.K. with her family. She wrote her debut novel, Housebreaking, while on maternity leave from her job with the NHS. She graduated from the University of East Anglia's MA program in creative writing, where she earned the Head of School Prize with a distinction.

The Shimmer On The Water by Marina McCarron

 

The Shimmer on the Water by Marina McCarron.

Published in ebook 4th August 2022, and in paperback 10th November 2022, by Aria, Head of Zeus.

From the cover of the book:

When you're lost sometimes the only way to look forward is to look back...

Three women. Two generations apart. One secret they share.

Maine, 1997. As the people of Fort Meadow Beach celebrate the Fourth of July, four-year-old Daisy Wright disappears and is never seen again.

Maine, Present Day. Fired from her job and heart-broken, Peyton Winchester moves back home for the summer. Bored and aimless, she finds a renewed sense of purpose when an ad for a journalism course reminds her of a path not taken. Returning to life in her hometown brings back all kinds of memories – including Daisy's vanishing when she was a young girl herself.

As Peyton begins her search for the truth, new discoveries begin to intertwine Daisy's past and her present with irreversible consequences.

***********

Maine, 2021. Peyton Winchester, at a low ebb after being fired and having the stuffing kicked out of her by a disastrous romance, returns to her small Maine hometown of Fort Meadow Beach for the summer. Back under her parents' roof, in her stifling childhood bedroom, she is bored and frustrated with the direction her life has taken. The cool relationship she has with her mother is not helping, and her lack of purpose only seems to be making things more awkward between them. 

Reflecting on her past dream to become a journalist, Peyton starts to ponder on the unsolved case of six-year-old Daisy Wright, who went missing from the town's beach on 4th July 1997. She cannot shift the feeling that she might know something that would help to solve the mystery, even though she too was only a small child at the time. As spending time in town brings the memories flooding back, she begins to put together the pieces of what happened that day, and her conviction that she holds the key to solving the case becomes overwhelming.

Tennessee, 1965. Eualla Tompkins is growing up in poverty with a down-trodden mother, a drunk for a father, a violent older brother, and a frail younger sister called Minnie. She is starting to realise that their poverty marks them as different to many of the other people in town. When Eualla and Minnie return home from school one day to find that their mother has abandoned them, Eualla and Minnie's lives take a turn for the worse. Euallla knows that their only chance for survival is for her to work as hard as she can to get them out of this place once and for all.

The story flows back and forth between the thread of Peyton's search for the truth about Daisy's disappearance in the present, and Eualla's coming of age tale from 1965 onwards, with flashbacks to the time around Daisy's disappearance in 1997. It takes some time to understand quite how Peyton and Eualla's sides of the story relate to each other, which adds a delicious layer of extra mystery on top of the slow-burn build-up into what happened to Daisy, but after a while you see where McCarron is going with this. The threads gradually weave together and cleverly collide in a way that allows you to not only fill in all the gaps about the difficult family relationships that flood this novel, but also serves to ramp up the tension around Peyton's search for the truth.

There is so much here about dysfunctional relationships that perpetuate through time, of the push and pull of love, and yearning to cast off the things that we feel hold us back, and McCarron uses these themes to beautifully examine how we cannot move forward until we acknowledge how the past has shaped us. There are very painful depictions of mother-daughter and sibling relationships that rip your heart out, but as the story progresses you learn that it is not always quite that easy to paint anyone in shades of black and white even if you do not agree with their actions. These characters are complex, and as McCarron slowly peels back the layers, the chance for reconciliation does present itself as she reveals the truth we have been grasping for on more than one level.

The story caught me from the very first page, and I loved how McCarron manages to create a really compelling, genre-busting novel that combines a cracking mystery about the unsolved case of a child's disappearance, with a delicious exploration of complicated family dynamics. I was so impressed by her ability to combine the poignancy of an incisive dissection of what motivates people to do the things they do, with a riveting story full of suspense. This is not an easy task, and yet McCarron achieves it seamlessly, keeping you firmly on the edge of your seat in all areas of the story. She also uses water, and the tug of hidden depths nicely throughout.

This book really took me by surprise in the way it blends so many themes and intriguing elements together in one perfect package. I read the whole brilliant novel in one fell swoop, unable to look away for a minute. Marina McCarron is a class act, and I cannot wait to read more from her. 

The Shimmer on the Water is available to buy now in ebook, and will be published in paperback in November 2022.

Buy links:      Amazon     Waterstones

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

About the author:

Marina McCarron was born in eastern Canada and studied in Ottawa and Vancouver before moving to England. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Publishing degree. She has worked as a reporter, a freelance writer, a columnist and a manuscript evaluator. She loves reading and travelling and has been to six of the seven continents. She gets her ideas for stories from strolling through new places and daydreaming. Her debut novel, The Time Between Us, came to her as she stood at Pointe du Hoc on a windy June day and asked the magical question, what if...?