The Quality Of Love by Ariane Bankes

 

The Quality Of Love by Ariane Bankes.

Published 2nd May 2024 by Duckworth.

From the cover of the book:

A rich family archive reveals the incredible lives and loves of two sisters who captivated Europe’s intelligentsia.

When her mother Celia Paget died, Ariane Bankes inherited a battered trunk stuffed with letters and diaries belonging to Celia and her twin Mamaine. This correspondence charted the remarkable lives of the Paget sisters and their friends and lovers, including Arthur Koestler, Albert Camus, Sartre and de Beauvoir, and George Orwell.

Out of this rich archive, The Quality of Love weaves the story of these captivating and unusually beautiful identical twins who overcame a meagre education to take 1930s London society by storm and move among Europe’s foremost intellectuals during the twentieth century’s most dramatic decades. Above all, it is a sparkling portrait of the deep connection between two spirited sisters.

***********

When Ariane Bankes' mother, Celia died, she left behind a battered trunk stuffed full of memories that shone a light on the lives of two remarkable women - the Paget twins, Celia and her twin sister, Mamaine. In The Quality of Love, Bankes employs this archive to piece together the history of these women, from earliest childhood, showing how they came to be involved with the intellectual movers and shakers of the 20th century.  

Bankes uses her mother's photographs, letters and diaries to cover a lot of historical ground in a very engaging way, weaving through the decades to tell a tale of two bold and beautiful women who eschewed societal conventions to follow their own path, even if this meant they were not always happy with the choices they made - especially when it came to their passionate, and tempestuous relationships. This is almost like a tour through the annals of modern history - society balls of the Roaring Twenties; glamorous sojourns on the Continent in the 1930s; the grim determination and austerity of World War II; the Cold War years; Middle Eastern conflict... we take a stroll through them all, led by the vivacious Paget twins.

Throughout, Bankes details how the sisters carved out a place for themselves at the heart of political, philosophical, and literary circles, rubbing shoulders (and sometimes conducting torrid affairs) with leading figures of the intelligentsia, such as Orwell, Camus and Koestler. You can really feel the vibrancy of the world in which they lived, where the ideas that shaped the 20th century were fervently discussed. They were no slouches when it came to their own careers and intellectual pursuits either, even though their health was often fragile.

This book is essentially an emotional love letter from Bankes to her mother, and the aunt she never knew, and it incorporates so much history and social history in the telling. The bond that Celia and Mamaine shared, and the more intimate sides of the lives of their friends and family (many of them very famous characters), really stand out and make this book so readable - especially via the informal snaps and snippets of personal letters concerned with affairs of the heart and matters of sickness and health. 

Fascinating, and poignant, I easily consumed this in an afternoon, and it sent me down lots of rabbit holes about the people Celia and Mamaine knew, and the events they lived through. Highly recommend if you enjoy books that offer intriguing insight into historical context through the hidden lives of extraordinary women. 

The Quality of Love is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Duckworth for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Ariane Bankes had a long career in publishing, including at John Murray and V&A Publishing, before becoming a writer, critic and curator. 

Her writing has appeared in the Spectator, TLS, Financial Times, Country Life and Slightly Foxed. 

She is Honorary President of Koestler Arts, and runs the Hatchards & Biographers’ Club First Biography Prize and the Elizabeth Buccleuch Prize.

The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl

 

The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl.

Published 2nd May 2024 by Magpie.

From the cover of the book:

Ripping open the envelope, she read Celia's last words to her. There was just one line written on the paper: 'Go to Paris.'

The last word anyone would use to describe Stella St. Vincent is adventurous. She's perfectly comfortable with the familiar, strict routines of her life as a copyeditor in New York. Or at least, she is until she receives a mysterious note from her late mother and a one-way plane ticket to Paris.

Alone and overwhelmed in a foreign city, Stella avoids new people and ventures out as little as possible. But then she meets Jules, an octogenarian art collector with very different ideas about how she should spend her time in the French capital. And to start with, there's a vintage Dior dress with her name on it.

Somewhere between the cramped shelves of Shakespeare and Company bookshop, the crisp tablecloths of the Brasserie Les Deux Magots and a pile of discarded paintings at a busy flea market, long-buried truths about Stella's own past begin to emerge. Soon she starts to wonder if there might not have been more to her mother's suggestion than she first suspected...

***********

Stella St. Vincent's tumultuous childhood has shaped her into an adult who only feels safe with a life of order and routine. The comfortable little existence she has carved out for herself as a copy editor in New York takes an unexpected turn when her estranged mother dies and leaves her a modest bequest and a one way plane ticket to Paris, accompanied by the instruction that she is not to return home until all the money has been spent.

Alone in  a strange city, Stella is afraid to push herself out of her comfort zone. Keeping to her basic hotel room, she only ventures out to visit some of the more famous tourist sites, and eat inexpensive, plain food - until chance takes her into a little dress shop, where she tries on a stunning vintage Dior dress... and feels herself transformed. 

Stella's Paris adventure is really about to begin, and with it she will go on a journey of self-discovery that encompasses all the delights the city has to offer - especially when it comes to food, fashion, art, and love.

The Paris Novel is an enchanting book about one young woman's adventure in glamorous 1980s Paris, where she finds out, not only, a lot about herself, but also about the complicated woman who was her mother. At a loss to understand why the woman she felt very little connection with has sent her to Paris, Stella's trip starts small, but a vintage Dior dress sets her on a path that immerses her in new sights, sounds, smells, and tastes - and brings her into contact with a host of new people who become friends... and something more.

Woven among the sumptuous threads of gourmet food and wine, beautiful dresses, and a charming sojourn in the magical environs of the Shakespeare and Company bookshop, Reichl conjures lovely storylines around friendship and family (both blood and found), which touch the emotional sweet spot to perfection. I also loved the treasure hunt thread to the story that has Stella delving into the history of a woman who was the muse to several famous artists, and whose own paintings (and reputation) have been lost to time.

There is a delightful whimsical quality to this novel that comes from the way Reichl blends fact and fiction to paint Stella as an Alice in Wonderland character who dives down the rabbit hole to discover a world she has never experienced before - and with Stella I went down a lot of rabbit holes of my own about the real characters and places that are part of this story. Warm, funny, poignant, and full of delicious food, this book is utterly entrancing! I adored it!

The Paris Novel is available to buy now in paperback and ebook formats.

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

About the author:

Ruth Reichl, Gourmet's editor in chief, is the author of the best-selling memoirs Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me with Apples, and Garlic and Sapphires, and the forthcoming Not Becoming My Mother and Other Things She Taught Me Along the Way. 

She is executive producer of the two-time James Beard Award-winning Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie, which airs on public television across the country, and the editor of the Modern Library Food Series. Before coming to Gourmet, she was the restaurant critic for the New York Times, receiving two James Beard Awards for her work. She lectures frequently on food and culture.

Thirty Days Of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen (Paperback Release)

 

Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen.

Published in paperback 9th May 2024 by Orenda Books.

From the cover of the book:

Copenhagen author Hannah is the darling of the literary community and her novels have achieved massive critical acclaim. But nobody actually reads them, and frustrated by writer’s block, Hannah has the feeling that she’s doing something wrong.

When she expresses her contempt for genre fiction, Hanna is publicly challenged to write a crime novel in thirty days. Scared that she will lose face, she accepts, and her editor sends her to Húsafjöður – a quiet, tight-knit village in Iceland, filled with colourful local characters – for inspiration.

But two days after her arrival, the body of a fisherman’s young son is pulled from the water … and what begins as a search for plot material quickly turns into a messy and dangerous investigation that threatens to uncover secrets that put everything at risk … including Hannah…

Atmospheric, dramatic and full of nerve-jangling twists and turns, Thirty Days of Darkness is a darkly funny, unsettling debut Nordic Noir thriller that marks the start of a breath-taking new series.

***********

Danish author Hannah Krause-Bendix writes novellas about the human condition, but they have failed to sell, despite regularly featuring in the high-brow literary prize lists. Hannah is starting to wonder if writing books no one reads is worth the emotional toll that is feeding her alcoholism, no matter how worthy she believes them to be. Struggling with writer's block, her first attempt at a love story is going nowhere, so she decides to head for the literary festival her agent Bastian has been begging her to attend.

Hannah quickly realises that this is not an environment likely to improve her mood. Everything about it emphasises the gulf between her carefully considered, heartfelt prose, and the popular publications she holds in contempt. Her irritation is incited into fury when she is confronted by her literary nemesis, best-selling crime writer Jørn Jensen, who epitomises everything she hates about genre fiction. Inadvertently, Hannah's outrage results in her being openly challenged to write a crime novel of her own in only thirty days, and she is forced to take up the gauntlet or admit to public humiliation.

Bastian sends Hannah off to remote Iceland settlement Húsafjöður to get to work, hoping that the small town vibes and quirky characters will inspire her, but her writer's block persists and rattling-off a crime novel is much harder going than she thought. Two days after her arrival, the body of a young man is pulled from the water, and she is driven from her jaded mood by morbid curiosity. She begins to ask questions about the death, which, while giving her a rich seam of plot ideas for her book, put everyone in danger. Hannah's growing conviction that this was no accident threatens to expose long buried secrets that some in Húsafjöður would rather stay hidden...

Thirty Days of Darkness is the first part of a brand new crime series starring author, turned unlikely criminal investigator, Hannah Krause-Bendix. Hannah is a spiky character. She begins this story in a self-pitying black hole that keeps everyone at arm's length, except her long-suffering agent Bastian. When her caustic attitude gets her into a spot of bother, the scene is set for Jenny Lund Madsen to weave a layered journey of self-discovery for Hannah, bringing together a highly enjoyable mix of dark comedy and the delicious Nordic noir elements that I love.

The theme of darkness runs cleverly through the threads of this tale, from pitch black moods and the sinister influence of those hiding secrets, to a menacing atmosphere heightened by dwindling daylight hours. In turn, the concept of isolation echoes across the story, reflected in the setting of a remote small town in Iceland, the weather that closes in, and in the history of many of the characters - whether it be a self-imposed distance, or as the result of a community that marginalises those that do not fit its rigid expectations. I particularly enjoyed how Madsen uses language barriers to play on the theme of isolation too.

This is a sharply plotted crime tale, full of mystery, that pulls off the difficult task of blending grit and pitch black humour to perfection. Madsen contrives tense thrills, bloody spills, compelling passionate interludes, and spot-on moments of slapstick comedy - and you can cut the claustrophobic, small-town vibes with a knife. It kept me guessing, made me chuckle at Hannah's blundering about, and has a powerful punch when the shocking reveals start to drop. And that is not all, because Madsen also casts an insightful eye on so many aspects of the world of books, touching on assumptions about the worthiness of different genres, and the writing process, which is very thought provoking.

I consumed this book, and take my hat off once more to Megan E. Turney for her first-class translation work. The little twists, turns, and thawing of frosty relationships have me looking forward with high anticipation to the next book in the series!

 
Thirty Days of Darkness is available to buy now in hardcover, paperback, ebook and audio formats. Buy link HERE. Also available in Sainsburys! 

Thank you to Orenda Books for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

**Review originally published May 2023 for hardcover publication.

About the author:

Jenny Lund Madsen is one of Denmark’s most acclaimed scriptwriters (including the international hits Rita and Follow the Money) and is known as an advocate for better representation for sexual and ethnic minorities in Danish TV and film. 

She recently made her debut as a playwright with the critically acclaimed Audition (Aarhus Teater) and her debut literary thriller, Thirty Days of Darkness, first in an addictive new series, won the Harald Mogensen Prize for Best Danish Crime Novel of the year and was shortlisted for the coveted Glass Key Award. 

She lives in Denmark with her young family.

The Coming Storm (The Coming Darkness Book Two) by Greg Mosse

 

The Coming Storm (The Coming Darkness Book Two) by Greg Mosse.

Published 25th April 2024 by Moonflower Books.

From the cover of the book:

SOMETIMES THE CALM IS DEADLIER THAN THE STORM.

The hotly-anticipated sequel to Sunday Times Thriller of the Year The Coming Darkness sees the return of special agent Alexandre Lamarque.

He may have saved the world from darkness, but he knows his work is not done yet.

There’s still a terrorist threat out there, pulling together the strands of a new and even more destructive conspiracy to bring the world to its knees.

Battling with personal tragedy on one hand, and the intrusion of new-found celebrity on the other, Alex and his allies must re-emerge from self-imposed exile to face the fight of their lives.

From the streets of Paris, the lithium mines of Southern Mali, and the mighty Aswan Dam, they come up against forces whose intentions are as devious as they are malign. Time is against them, and there’s more at stake than ever. Can they survive the coming storm?

***********

Having saved the world from disaster in The Coming Darkness, special agent Alexandre Lamarque and fellow operatives, his lover, Mariam Jordane, and close friend, Amaury Barra, have been ordered to lie low. This is harder than anticipated given the fame that comes with the widely circulated stories of their heroic deeds, as it not only makes them of great interest to journalists hungry for headlines, but also those who seek revenge for the plans they foiled. Alex knows that this job is far from finished, but tracing the threads of conspiracy that linger is extremely difficult now he cannot operate from the shadows, even with his remarkable powers of intuition. 

As Alex and his team gradually get back to work, they must navigate a whole new set of pressures. They are taken on different paths around the world as their personal lives become caught up with their professional duties, and it becomes clear that the fate of the world lies in their hands once again. A storm is coming, and the clock is counting down...

Picking up the threads of the rollicking first part of this series, The Coming Darkness (which you should read before this book), Greg Mosse pitches Alex Lamarque against enemies who are even more devious than the shady Tabula Rosa organisation. Marked by personal tragedies, and trying to keep out of the public eye, Alex, Mariam and Amaury are sent in separate directions this time around, each with their own role to play in different parts of the globe. 

The disparate threads unfurl with a simmering slow-burn, reaching boiling point only in the final stretch of the book, and Mosse touches on a veritable feast of themes through the twisting plotlines he contrives for Alex, Mariam, and Amaury - and the characters holding the fort back home. There is less of the team-work I enjoyed in the first book, but I liked that Mariam and Amaury get much meatier parts to play in the overall story as a result. 

With luscious descriptions of location, and plenty to get your teeth into around the motivations of the characters, there is a lot to occupy your attention in the near future Alex inhabits, where the global impact of climate change is starting to bite. Mosse delves into water politics; complex relationships between corporate organisations and governments; the secretive plans of those who wish to protect themselves while the world burns; and the aims of terrorists vs peaceful protesters. There is some very thought provoking stuff here about what it really takes to build and run a successful survivalist stronghold in the face of extinction level events too.

This very much has the feel of a second book in a trilogy, maintaining a constant menacing pitch before smacking you full in the face with bold moves and emotional surprises in the final swathes of the story, in order to pull you into book three... which I really hope comes soon, as I need to know what happens next!

The Coming Storm is available to buy now in paperback, and ebook.

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

About the author:

Greg's first career was in theatre as actor, director & writer. He has lived and worked in Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Madrid. 

Having worked as an interpreter at a variety of international institutions, in 2015 Greg returned to theatre. Since then, he has written and produced 25 plays and musicals. 

His debut novel, The Coming Darkness, was named Best Thriller 2022 accolade from The Times and one of the Books of the Year by the Sunday Times. It was endorsed by big names like Lee Child and Anthony Horowitz, and Greg appeared as a guest on BBC Radio 4 Front Row. 

He now lives in Sussex with his wife, the novelist Kate Mosse.

Murder Under The Midnight Sun (Stella Blómkvist Book 2) by Stella Blómkvist

 

Murder Under the Midnight Sun (Stella Blómkvist Book 2) by Stella Blómkvist.

Translated by Quentin Bates.

Published 5th May 2024 by Corylus Books.

From the cover of the book:

What does a woman do when her husband's charged with the frenzied killing of her father and her best friend? She calls in Stella Blomkvist to to investigate - however unwelcome the truth could turn out to be. 

Smart, ruthless and with a flexible moral code all of her own, razor-tongued lawyer Stella Blomkvist is also dealing with a desperate deathbed request to track down a young woman who vanished a decade ago. It looks like a dead end, but she agrees to pick up the stone-cold trail - and she never gives up, even if the police did a long time ago. 

Then there's the mystery behind the arm that emerges from an ice cap, with a mysterious ruby ring on one frozen finger? How does this connect to another unexplained disappearance, and why were the police at the time so keen to write it off as a tragic accident? 

Brutal present-day crimes have their roots in the past that some people would prefer to stay forgotten. 

As Stella pieces together the fragments, is she getting too close to the truth and making herself a target for ruthless men determined to conceal secret sins?

***********

2010: Reykjavík, Iceland. Formidable lawyer, Stella Blómkvist's reputation of dogged determination has her engaged in pursing several cases likely to have her butting heads with the authorities... nothing new there.

A dying mother's request for some answers in the unsolved disappearance of her daughter ten years ago is her first order of business. Dismissed as another instance of a tourist who fell prey to Iceland's unpredictable landscape, Stella soon uncovers a lead the police failed to discover - something that they are less than willing to concede.

Then her friend's husband is charged with the murder of his father-in-law and lover, and needs Stella's help to prove his innocence. But as Stella digs into the ever more complex circumstances surrounding the case, she unexpectedly begins to see a connection with her recent attempts to help a journalist pal out of the spot of bother he is in over a book he is writing. Someone here is telling lies, but she cannot yet see who... or why.

And if all this was not enough, there is also the mystery of a severed arm, bearing a distinctive ruby ring, that Stella had the misfortune to happen upon after an accident on a glacier. It is all another day at the office for the indefatigable Stella Blómkvist...

Murder under the Midnight Sun is the second book in the best-selling Icelandic crime series following the adventures of headstrong lawyer Stella Blómkvist, now being published for the first time in English by Corylus Books, in translation by Quentin Bates. The real identity of the author of this series is unknown, even though the first book was published in the 1990s, although there has been a lot of speculation about who lies behind the Stella Blómkvist name.

After the no holds barred introduction of Stella in the first book, Murder at the Residence, this second instalment follows the same themes of missing persons, murder, corruption, and political machinations, but on a much grander scale. Beginning with the search for a missing girl, in a very cold case that appears to be clouded by cover-ups and misdirection, Stella is soon ruffling feathers... but her capacity to get under the skin of authority figures does not stop there. Blómkvist then adds delicious layers of story to develop her other plotlines, weaving in sprawling threads that gradually explode to encompass Cold War espionage, clashing political ideologies, and shattering moments of global history, which would provide creditable fodder for any top-drawer spy yarn.

The action moves slickly between Stella's efforts to get to the truth of the multiple cases that currently consume her interest, providing an entertaining showcase for her intelligence, quick thinking, and ability to ferret out clues where others have failed - often through unconventional, and border-line legal methods that put a smile on your face. And in the telling, you learn a lot more about the woman behind the reputation, particularly when it comes to her personal relationships. There is less of the predatory Stella that makes her such a complicated person to like in the first book, and more about the backstory that has shaped her into someone that shies away from letting her emotions show, which I really enjoyed. This is still very much an authentically noir novel though, and Stella continues to charm with the wise-cracking, ball-busting elements of her personality that get results... and she certainly gets results.

I absorbed this book in one tasty gulp, totally immersed in the sharp plotting, which is driven beautifully along by Quentin Bates' considerable talents as a translator. I get the feeling that he revelled in the way Blómkvist clearly warms to Stella's theme in this second book too, with more action to get to grips with on the way to the satisfying conclusion. Roll on book three! 

Murder Under the Midnight Sun is available to buy now in paperback and ebook formats.

Thank you to Corylus Books for sending me an ecopy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Ewa Sherman for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Stella Blomkvist has been a bestselling series in Iceland since the first book appeared in the 1990s, and has attracted an international audience since the TV series starring Heida Reed aired. 

The books have been published under a pseudonym that still hasn't been cracked. The question of Stella Blomkvist's identity is one that crops up regularly, but it looks like it's going to remain a mystery...

About the translator:

Quentin Bates is a writer, translator and journalist. He has professional and personal roots in Iceland that run very deep. He worked as a seaman before turning to maritime journalism. 

He is an author of a series of nine crime novels and novellas featuring the Reykjavik detective Gunnhildur (Gunna) Gísladóttir. In addition to writing his own fiction, he has translated books by Guðlaugur Arason, Einar Kárason, and crème de la crème of the Icelandic crime fiction authors Lilja Sigurðardóttir, Óskar Guðmundsson, Jónína Leósdóttir, Sólveig Pálsdóttir and Ragnar Jónasson. 

Quentin was instrumental in launching IcelandNoir, the crime fiction festival in Reykjavik.

 April 2024 Reading Round-Up

Fourteen spectacular books on the reading pile in April!

You can find your way to my reviews for these by clicking on the pics below...

Nothing Without Me by Helen Monks Takhar

Sword of the War God by Tim Hodkinson

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan

The Holiday Escape by Heidi Swain

The Kitchen by Simone Buchholz

Better Left Unsent by Lia Louis

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope

Old Romantics by Maggie Armstrong

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Comeback by Ella Berman

Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie

The Scandalous Life of Ruby Devereauxby M.J. Robotham

More brilliant books on the way in April...

If you like my photos, why not pop over to Instagram and give me a follow - you can find me at @brownflopsy

The Scandalous Life Of Ruby Devereaux by M.J. Robotham

 

The Scandalous Life of Ruby Devereaux by M.J. Robotham.

Published 11th April 2024 by Aria, Head of Zeus.

From the cover of the book:

Everyone knows Ruby Devereaux's books. But no one knows her story... until now.

From a teenager in wartime England to a veteran of modern-day London - via 1950's New York, the Swinging Sixties, Cold War Berlin, Venice and Vietnam - Ruby Devereaux has lived one hell of a life: parties, scandals and conflict zones, meeting men and adventure along the way. In a writing career spanning seven decades and more than twenty books, she's distilled everything into her work. Or has she?

Now beyond her 90th year, Ruby's energy is ebbing and her beloved typewriter put away. Until a call from her publisher presents Ruby with an ultimatum, and the impetus to embark on one last book - "warts and all", as she says. Even in her dotage, Ruby M Devereaux has the power to surprise, because whatever this author does, she does on her own terms. Always.

Is Ruby finally about to reveal the secrets of her infamous life?

***********

Infamous author Ruby Devereaux, now in her nineties, takes on the obligation of writing one more book for her publisher. This time, rather than drawing on her exploits to write fiction, this will be an honest portrayal of her own life. Armed with an eager young assistant, courtesy of her agent, Ruby begins to tell her story in her own inimitable style...

Author, M.J. Robotham does a brilliant job channelling her creation, Ruby Devereaux, to spin a fictional memoir of a quite remarkable woman. Beginning in wartime England with Ruby's teenage sexual awakening and the birth of her career as a published author, Robotham proceeds to anchor you in time and place at each stage of Ruby's life, taking you on a tour of international proportions - via glamourous 1950s New York; La Dolce Vita Venice; Cold War Berlin; Vietnam; and behind-the-Iron-Curtain Budapest; with various momentous stops back home in the land of her birth.

The story unfurls with sections of Ruby's memoir in chronological order, linked together by occasional brief scenes that give you a glimpse of her writing process, or from the illuminating point of view of her agent, Marina. But what makes this so original is the unconventional way Ruby tells her story, through her interactions with the twelve men in her life who she has loved, lost, learned life lessons from, and who have provided inspiration for her novels.

Ruby is a force of nature who springs vividly from the page. Her character is driven by the conviction that you should seize the moment, and you cannot help but fall in love with her as she lays herself bare through her reflections on her globetrotting adventures. There is plenty of drama set against the backdrop of many of the significant moments of the second half of the twentieth century, and this combines beautifully with the emotional aspects of Ruby's story. In the telling, Robotham delves deep into different facets of romance; the highs and lows of relationships; family dynamics; ambition; motherhood; grief; loneliness; alienation; and mental health; tugging mercilessly on your heart-strings - and she serves up a powerful side order of the horrors of war and the grip of addiction too. 

Intriguingly, at no time does this feel like a book steeped in doom and gloom, despite the poignant places Robotham takes you to. Yes, there are tears (have the tissues handy), but this book is enormous fun too, packed to the gills with warmth and well judged humour that will have you chuckling to yourself often - especially when it comes to Ruby's irreverent personality, and the sheer enjoyment of being alongside her as she immerses herself in everything life has to offer. I easily blasted through this engaging book in a matter of hours, and thoroughly enjoyed every single moment spent with Ruby Devereaux.

The Scandalous Life of Ruby Devereaux is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Head of Zeus for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

M.J. Robotham saw herself as an aspiring author from the age of nine, but was waylaid by journalism, birth, children and life. After twenty years as a midwife, she is now a full-time author, writing historical fiction as Mandy Robotham, She lives in Gloucestershire with her partner and muse mutt, Basil.

Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie

 

Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie.

Published in paperback 21st Marsh 2024 by Oneworld.

From the cover of the book:

AKORFA AND SELASI WERE ONCE INSEPARABLE. NOW, THEY MUST REPAIR THEIR BROKEN RELATIONSHIP OR LOSE EACH OTHER FOREVER.

Growing up in the same small Ghanaian town, Selasi and Akorfa were more than just cousins, they were best friends. The girls shared everything: their dreams, their desires, their every secret. But as they enter their teens Selasi begins to change, until Akorfa barely recognises the sullen, withdrawn girl she once knew so well.

Years go by before they cross paths again, and their lives look very different now. Although they are separated by continents, they have each found success in their careers: Akorfa works in international development in the US; Selasi is a restaurateur running the hottest spot in Accra. It takes a crisis to pull them back together, forcing both women to confront shocking secrets and childhood trauma that neither one has been willing to address. Now they must bridge the gulf between them to stop history repeating itself.

From the author of Reese's Book Club pick His Only Wife, Nightbloom is a powerful story about female friendship, the relationships that shape us and the people we never quite leave behind.

***********

Cousins Akorfa and Selasi grew up in the same small town in Ghana. With mothers who were best friends, it was almost inevitable that they would become inseparable, but a friendship that seemed unbreakable was eventually torn asunder by difficult family circumstances.

As the years go by, the two women follow separate paths in marriage, motherhood, and their careers - Akorfa in international development in the USA, and Selasi as a successful restaurant owner in Accra. Their lives seem as far apart as the miles that divide them, but when Akorfa's father dies, she returns home to Ghana and unexpectedly bumps into Selasi. It is a meeting that provokes a bitter outburst of recriminations, and forces them to confront the secrets that bind them.

Nightbloom is a powerful and thought-provoking novel that has quite rightly earned its place among the longlisted titles of this year's Women's Prize for Fiction. The story unfurls in a very clever way, starting with Akorfa's narrative in the first half of the book, and then flipping perspective to Selasi's point of view for the second half. This deliberately leads you down a path of looking at their relationship in a particular way, before everything gets tipped on its head in a 'there are two sides to every story' kind of way.

Medie's writing is a delight, and she examines a spectacular array of themes around different facets of power, responsibility, prejudice, systemic racism, corruption, and culture shock through the stories of these two women, via intelligent plotlines far too complex to delve into in a short review - especially given their geographical locations in societies that are both broken in a number of profound ways. 

But what really pulls you into this novel, and keeps you turning the pages all the way to surprise conclusion, is how Medie writes about the far more intimate details of the shifting relationship between the two women. She beautifully explores how the tangled threads of close female friendship can be divided by complicated family dynamics and the rawness of perceived slights, and then bound tightly back together by shared experiences of trauma. 

This is a fascinating book, full of cultural detail about Ghana. Medie immerses you completely in the lives of each of these women in turn and leaves you to make up your own mind about the rights and wrongs of their actions and what happened between them, although it is Selasi's astonishing strength of character that shines out for me. 

Like any book that addresses weighty issues there are no easy answers when it comes to the shape of the future they face at its conclusion, but I think Medie makes the right choices about where this story goes, and she leaves you with some interesting things to ponder about fighting against pressure to remain silent about abuse and corruption. I thoroughly enjoyed it.  

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

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

About the author:

Peace Adzo Medie’s debut novel, His Only Wife, was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, a New York Times Notable Book of 2020, and a Time Magazine Must-Read Book of 2020. It was also a Reese’s Book Club pick. Her book, Global Norms and Local Action: The Campaigns to End Violence Against Women in Africa, was published by Oxford University Press in 2020. 

She has won numerous awards for her scholarship and has held several fellowships, including the Oxford-Princeton Global Leaders Fellowship. She holds a PhD in public and international affairs from the University of Pittsburgh and a BA in geography from the University of Ghana.

The Comeback by Ella Berman

 

The Comeback by Ella Berman.

Published 11th April 2024 by Aria, Head of Zeus.

From the cover of the book:

They say she owes him everything.
Now she wants to burn it all to the ground.

Grace Turner was one movie away from Hollywood's A-List. So no one understood why, at the height of her career and on the eve of her first Golden Globe nomination, she disappeared.

Now, one year later, Grace is back in Los Angeles and ready to reclaim her life on her own terms.

When Grace is asked to present a lifetime achievement award to director Able Yorke - the man who controlled her every move for eight years - she knows there's only one way she'll be free of the secret that's already taken so much from her.

The Comeback is a moving and provocative story of justice - a true page-turner about a young woman finding the strength and power of her voice, from the author of Reese's Book Club pick Before We Were Innocent.

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Former child star, Grace Turner, was on the brink of establishing herself as Hollywood royalty. With a Golden Globe nomination for her latest movie, she seemed to have everything she ever wanted, so why did she mysteriously disappear? 

After a year away from the limelight, facing awkward silences and simmering recriminations in the less than welcoming bosom of her family, Grace is back in Los Angeles trying to pick up the threads of her life, amidst intense media speculation about where she has been and why. 

Battling her demons, Grace is doing her best to stay away from the drink and drugs she has relied on to numb her from the things she would rather forget, while trying to help her younger sister steer clear of the mistakes she has made. But when she is asked to present a lifetime achievement award to director Able Yorke, the man who secretly manipulated her career and her whole persona for eight troubled years, she is forced to decide between stardom and sharing the secrets that have torn her apart.

With delicious echoes of Eve Babitz, Ella Berman's The Comeback delves beneath the glitzy glamour of Hollywood to explore how the disturbing power games of a lauded director bring a young star to breaking point. Told from the first person perspective of Grace, who was plucked from British school-girl obscurity to take a starring role in a Hollywood franchise, the story flips between the present, a year after disappearance, and the past, as she relives her experiences working with Able Yorke.

The threads of the story unfurl as Grace struggles to find her own identity and come to terms with the trauma of her time being abused and manipulated by gas-lighting Yorke. She is stuck between grasping at the chance of a comeback, and finally admitting to the world that he is not the man everyone thinks he is, and neither path is easy. The slow-burn pace sizzles with tension and spellbinding atmosphere, brimming with character driven scenes between Grace and her husband, parents, sister, entourage, and Yorke's wife Emilia, that are laden with the weight of things unsaid. Intriguingly, Yorke is mostly absent from the timeline in the present that weaves through Grace's painful episodes of paranoia, depression, and attempts to avoid relapsing into comforting darkness of her addictions, until the cracking final sections of the novel - but his predatory personality looms large via the disturbing flashbacks.

Grace is a complex character, prone to wildly swinging moods, but she makes a perfect unreliable narrator. At times she is difficult to like, but as the threads of the story work themselves out, you find yourself very much on her side, yearning for a resolution that can help her on the way to healing... via some well deserved revenge, if possible. Berman's writing is exquisite, and she conjures breath-taking scenes that ooze with brittle emotion. She also manages to incorporate a smidgeon of pitch-black humour to make you chuckle, even while your heart is breaking. 

This is a seriously classy novel that packs a formidable punch, and easily makes it on to my list of books of 2024. Berman deftly picks apart all that is wrong with the toxic environment that still pervades Hollywood, despite the #MeToo campaign, and along the way, she examines trauma, alienation, difficult family relationships, identity, and loneliness with sharp insight. I devoured it from prophetic prologue all the way to the ending that was everything I needed it to be.

The Comeback is available to buy now in paperback, ebook, and audio formats.

Thank you to Head of Zeus for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Ella Berman grew up in both London and Los Angeles and worked at Sony Music before starting the clothing brand London Loves LA. She lives in London with her husband, James, and their dog, Rocky. 

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

 

The Yellow Wallpaper and selected writings by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

This edition published 15th Jan 2009 by Virago Modern Classics.

The Yellow Wallpaper originally published 1892.

From the cover of the book:

'It is stripped off - the paper - in great patches . . . The colour is repellent . . . In the places where it isn't faded and where the sun is just so - I can see a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure, that seems to skulk about . . . '

Based on the author's own experiences, The Yellow Wallpaper is the chilling tale of a woman driven to the brink of insanity by the 'rest cure' prescribed after the birth of her child.

Isolated in a crumbling colonial mansion, in a room with bars on the windows, the tortuous pattern of the yellow wallpaper winds its way into the recesses of her mind.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was America's leading feminist intellectual of the early twentieth century. In addition to her masterpiece The Yellow Wallpaper, this edition includes a selection of her best short fiction and extracts from her autobiography.

***********

The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story about a young woman diagnosed as having a 'nervous condition' after the birth of her child. Her doctor husband prescribes a period of rest for her recuperation (widely known as the rest cure), and rents a dilapidated, once grand country house for three months over the summer, where she languishes in the former nursery at the top of the house while he is frequently absent.

Denied of all intellectual stimulation, including reading or writing, and confined to a shabby room with bars on the windows and a bed fixed to the floor, her thoughts turn inwards. She becomes obsessed with tracing the pattern in the peeling yellow wallpaper, consumed by the idea that there is a malevolent presence trapped behind the overlaid prints, and she falls gradually into madness.

Based on her own experience of being prescribed the 'rest cure' following a bout of what we would now know as post-natal depression, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's most well-known story is widely held to be a feminist masterpiece. 

The story unfurls through the fragmented, first-person journal entries of our unnamed protagonist, which she secretively scribbles when unobserved by her husband and his housekeeper sister, and they set a chill in your heart as you are party to her increasingly fractured sanity. 

Since it was first published in 1892, there has been much debate about how metaphorical Gilman intended her story to be in terms of feminist themes, but there is no doubt that it stands as a convincing argument against the ridiculous treatments prescribed for women dismissed as 'hysterical' at the time it was written - and it is an incredibly vivid, deeply unsettling, example of Gothic literature, that thrums with themes of madness, patriarchal control, and female rage.

Whatever the hidden meanings, I think it is enough to know that this story had considerable impact on views about the 'rest cure', which is after all, why she wrote it. She even sent a copy to Dr Silas Weir Mitchell, the pioneer of the 'rest cure' - and the very man who nearly sent her spiralling into madness when he recommended this treatment... his response is sadly unrecorded.

This is a story I have been meaning to read for a long time, and I am glad to have finally got around to it with the #QuietClassics2024 gang. 

The Yellow Wallpaper is available to buy now in various formats.

About the author:

Charlotte Perkins Gilman; also Charlotte Perkins Stetson, was a prominent American feminist, sociologist, novelist, writer of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction, and a lecturer for social reform.