Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu

 

Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu.

Published 17th March 2022 by Wildfire.

From the cover of the book:

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

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

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

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

***********

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

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

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

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

"Chinese history is sad, Little Girl."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

About the author:

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

The Mystery Of The Blue Train by Agatha Christie

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie.

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

From the cover of the book:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

About the author:

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

This Might Hurt by Stephanie Wrobel

 

This Might Hurt by Stephanie Wrobel.

Published 3rd March 2022 by Penguin Michael Joseph.

From the cover of the book:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

About the author:

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

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

 

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley.

Published 3rd march 2022 by Harper Fiction.

From the cover of the book:

Welcome to No.12 rue des Amants...

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

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

There was a murder here last night.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

About the author:

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

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

 

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

Narrated by Warren Brown.

From the cover:

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

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

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

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

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

***********

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

About the Author:

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

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

One Night On The Island by Josie Silver

 

One Night on the Island by Josie Silver.

Published 17th February 2022 by Penguin.

From the cover of the book:

One cottage. Two strangers.
Every great love story starts somewhere...

Cleo writes about love stories every day. She just isn't living one of her own.

When the editor of her dating column asks her to marry herself on a remote Irish island - a sensational piece to mark Cleo's thirtieth birthday - Cleo agrees. She's alone but not lonely, right? She can handle a solo adventure.

Cleo arrives at her luxury cabin to find a tall, dark, stubborn American who insists it's actually his. Mack refuses to leave, and Cleo won't budge either. With a storm fast approaching, they reluctantly hunker down together. It's just one night, after all . . .

But what if one night on the island is just the beginning?

***********

Cleo writes a dating column called "Finding my Flamingo' for an online magazine, following her exploits to find the man of her dreams, but so far her soulmate has been conspicuous in his absence. With her 30th birthday looming, her editor asks her to write a piece about 'marrying' herself instead, and books her into an isolated lodge on the remote Irish island of Salvation for her undertake the 'ceremony'. Cleo is unsure about the whole thing, but when she finds out it will mean avoiding the surprise birthday party her family have planned for her, she decides to give it a go. Maybe this is just the opportunity she needs to find her inner solo adventurer?

When Cleo arrives at her windswept cabin, she discovers that there has been a mix-up on the booking front and a tall, handsome, and rather grumpy American called Mack insists the lodge is actually his for the next few weeks. With a storm approaching, they are forced to share the tiny holiday cottage for the night, keeping as far away from each other as they can in the confined space. It's only for one night, right? But neither of them know what this one night will bring...

One Night on the Island is one of those stories that works its way into your heart right from the start, and well and truly makes its home there. Told in alternating chapters from Cleo and Mack, this is essentially about the love that blossoms in this little cottage away from their world-weary cares, with each of them gradually opening up to each other and sharing their hopes, dreams, sorrows and secrets in the weeks they spend together. Obviously the course of true love does not always run smooth, and the real world will keep insisting on throwing obstacles in the way, but that's all part of the fun!

On the island there is a lovely cast of characters to help the story along, and I adored them all - especially the wonderful women of the knitting circle. Josie Silver writes them with such warmth and personality, revelling in their quirks and and the wisdom they have to teach both Cleo and Mack about life, relationships and community.

This book was an absolute joy to read, with some beautiful reflections on family, parenthood, love and loss, and having the courage to make a change. It has the perfect recipe of heart, humour and hot-under-collar-moments that makes it one to go back to again and again when you need a little comfort in your life. I laughed and cried my way through it (sometimes at the same time), working up to a full on sob session at the end. What more do you need?

One of my favourite books of the year! Josie Silver you have a new fan!

One Night on the Island is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Penguin 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:

Josie Silver is the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of One Day in December and The Two Lives of Lydia Bird. She has been published in 31 languages (and counting) and has previously been featured in Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine Book Club. Josie is an unashamed romantic, and lives with her husband, their two teenage sons, and an ever-growing cast of animals in a little town in the Midlands. One Night on the Island is her third novel.

Edgware Road by Yasmin Cordery Khan

 

Edgware Road by Yasmin Cordery Khan.

Published 3rd March 2022 by Head of Zeus. An Apollo book.

From the cover of the book:

A wide-ranging and affecting debut novel about family and identity, from an award-winning historian.

1981. Khalid Quraishi is one of the lucky ones. He works nights in the glitzy West End, and comes home every morning to his beautiful wife and daughter. He's a world away from Karachi and the family he left behind.

But Khalid likes to gamble, and he likes to win. Twenty pounds on the fruit machine, fifty on a sure-thing horse, a thousand on an investment that seems certain to pay out. Now he's been offered a huge opportunity, a chance to get in early with a new bank, and it looks like he'll finally have his big win.

2003. Alia Quraishi doesn't really remember her dad. After her parents' divorce she hardly saw him, and her mum refuses to talk about her charming ex-husband. So, when he died in what the police wrote off as a sad accident, Alia had no reason to believe there was more going on.

Now almost twenty years have passed and she's tired of only understanding half of who she is. Her dad's death alone and miles from his west London stomping ground doesn't add up with the man she knew. If she's going to find out the truth about her father – and learn about the other half of herself – Alia is going to have to visit his home, a place she's never been, and connect with a family that feel more like strangers.

***********

Our story begins in 1981 with Khalid Quraishi, a man who considers himself lucky in more ways than one. He has a beautiful wife and daughter, and a job he loves rubbing shoulders with the high and mighty in the glitzy Playboy casino in London's West End. It's a world away from his upbringing in Karachi, and he sees bright things ahead for him and his family. But Khalid is also a gambler, and his compulsion to play the odds in pursuit of that tantalising big win leads him into trouble. 

1987 finds him with a broken marriage and desperate to recapture his dreams. When he is offered the chance of a lifetime to get involved with a business deal involving the creation of a new bank, he is sure that this will be the big break he needs. But appearances can be deceptive and this time the gamble involves some very dodgy business partners.

In 2003, Khalid's daughter Alia has only hazy memories of her father, as she saw little of him after her parents' divorce, beyond infrequent meetings at Underground stations around London. When he was found dead in 1987, after failing to turn up to one of their father-daughter Tube meetings, the police put his death down to an accident - although the fact that his body was dragged from the Solent was rather odd for a man who lived in the Edgware Road. This loss has always left Alia feeling that she knows little about the Pakistani half of her heritage, and how this impacts her own sense of identity. The time has come for her to find out what sort of man Khalid was and why he ended his days in a watery grave...

This is a book full of delicious surprises! It starts with the slow-burn of a domestic drama of a family torn apart by one man's ambition and inability to control his gambling addiction, and then heads off into a glorious twisty and expansive mystery thriller that delves into corruption, ineptitude, and very dark deeds.

Although the novel begins way back in 1981, the story primarily consists of two timelines - 1987, with Khalid's tale, and a parallel thread from a new MP in the House of Commons, Mark Denby; and 2003 when Alia is compelled to find out more about her father. The timelines swap back and forth building layer upon layer, until we begin to see the truth about Khalid's foolish naivety, and how he gets himself mired in underhand deals on a global scale through a chance meeting with Saudi businessman and arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. 

Alia's detective work drives the story, ratcheting up the tension and pulling you in as she tracks down the clues, confronts the complicit, and reels from the impact of what she finds out. The significant emotional impact of what she discovers is really interesting, affecting not only her view of her father, but also the way she sees herself and what she is due. I also thoroughly enjoyed how Mark Denby is used as a story device to shed light on the truly shocking scale of the corruption Khalid unwittingly becomes involved in, and adds a very cleverly worked element of tangible menace and very believable conspiracy to the piece.

The scale of this novel is immense in the way it brings in themes of identity; the driving ambition of immigrants desperate to leave their old lives behind, and yet tied to their heritage; the complexities of family dynamics; and a whole raft of political and societal issues. I was especially struck by the way Cordery Khan does such an impressive job conjuring the perfect feeling of time and place for every single part of this truly stunning debut. It's not just that she takes us from London to Pakistan and back again and across the different timelines so well, but the way she brings the complicated and contradictory sides of the late 1980s alive in these pages so authentically, recreating the brashness, the clash of cultures, the tense political atmosphere under Thatcher, the endemic racism and sexism yet to be addressed, while at the same time blending real and fictional characters, and pervading this all with the unmistakable sense that change is coming. As someone old enough to remember all this first hand, I am in awe!

This is a book that easily makes it onto the pile of my books of the year. Definitely one you do not want to miss!

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

Thank you to Head of Zeus 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:

Yasmin Cordery Khan is an historian and broadcaster. She is the author of The Great Partition (for which she won the Gladstone Prize for History), and The Raj at War, and has written for the Guardian and the Observer. Edgware Road is her first novel.

A Night Of Flames (A Time For Swords Book Two) by Matthew Harffy

 

A Night of Flames ( A time for Swords Book Two) by Matthew Harffy.

Published 3rd March 2022 by Aries, Head of Zeus.

From the cover of the book:

A wild land. A lethal fanatic. A violent revolt.

Northumbria, AD 794. Those who rule the seas, rule the land. None know the truth of this more than the Vikings. To compete with the seafaring raiders, the king of Northumbria orders the construction of his own longships under the command of oath-sworn Norseman, Runolf.

When the Vikings attack again, the king sends cleric turned warrior, Hunlaf, on a mission to persuade the king of Rogaland into an alliance. But Hunlaf and Runolf have other plans; kin to seek out, old scores to settle, and a heretical tome to find in the wild lands of the Norse.

Their voyage takes them into the centre of a violent uprising. A slave has broken free of his captors and, with religious fervour, is leading his fanatical followers on a rampage – burning all in his path. Hunlaf must brave the Norse wilderness, and overcome deadly foes, to stop this madman. Can he prevent a night of flames and slaughter?

***********

AD: 794. Welcome to the next instalment of cleric-turned-warrior Hunlaf's memoir. This sequel to the cracking A Time for Swords follows closely on from the success of Hunlaf and his companions to save Werceworthe from the marauding Vikings, but the threat of attack for the coastal communities of Northumbria remains high, and Hunlaf and oath-sworn Norseman Runolf have unfinished business that calls them to the wild Norse lands across the sea - Runolf to hold his wife to account for her betrayal with his own brother Skorri, and Hunlaf to rescue his cousin Aelfwyn from her fate as a Viking thrall and to track down the mysterious book called The Treasure of Life.

Now they need transport, and master-shipbuilder Runolf promises a ship the like of which they have never seen. The next part of their quest gets underway once they have secured the funds to build this sea-going marvel from King Aethelred himself, although their negotiations bring with them the added requirement to take along the King's man Lord Mancas on their journey to establish a peace treaty with the Vikings - nothing like adding to their already substantial burden.

After much trial and tribulation, and a little serendipitous push from the hand of fate, Runolf's ship Brymsteda is ready to sail. The crew is made of companions old and new and this will be a new adventure for them all. Their journey is perilous, with many hazards to overcome, but these are nothing compared to what faces them when they reach Runolf's homeland. An escaped thrall is rampaging through these lands gathering a hoard of murderous religious fanatics who call him Ljósberari, the Lightbringer, and there are rumours of terrible slaughter in his wake - it is a name Hunlaf has heard before, in the pages of the book he seeks. What darkness awaits them in these wild Norse lands?

The first book in this series, A Time for Swords, introduced some wonderful characters in Hunlaf, Runolf and their companions, binding them together through adversity against the Viking raiders, and then promising an intriguing adventure to come in the pages of this second book. Knowing this starts with established characters and an impending journey means this volume of the series has a different feel right from the off.  Here you are aware that you are embarking on a quest of epic proportions with old friends, and Harffy not only fulfils this brief in spades, but he surpasses every expectation by taking you on a gripping adventure that encompasses the very best of immersive historical fiction, weaving in threads of mystery, fantasy and bloody horror along the way.

The story is more or less split into parts of a saga, which works beautifully in this setting. There are many trials to be undergone in the course of their quest, and each one calls on the members of our fellowship to use their various skills to propel the story onwards - a ship must somehow be built; a suitable gang of compatriots must be gathered together; a dangerous sea journey must be undertaken; and the perils of the Norse wilds must be overcome; not to mention that both Hunlaf and Runolf have personal business of their own to take care of. I love how Harffy threads the various stages of the adventure together, leading you onwards to what always promised to be difficult tasks and then throwing in a darkly delicious curve ball that channels Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness in all its macabre glory. No spoilers from me dear reader, but I cannot remember the last time I was so terrified reading a work of historical fiction - the way Harffy builds suspense, ramping up to a tense and heart-in-the-mouth climax is impressive in the extreme. Would all our heroes survive? I was genuinely frightened for them all!

But of course, this is not just all about blood, guts and the clash of iron, even those these parts are hugely entertaining. Many of the players in this saga undergo some interesting character development this time around. Hunlaf in particular is forced to confront exactly what it means to be a warrior; to find a way to reconcile love and loss with a sense of purpose; and to look at people in a different way. Runolf too shows his hidden depths, and he is not the only one. This brings a real poignancy to the story, and really tugs on the old heart strings - tears were shed...  

Oh, and there are maps, dear readers... maps!!!

In what I now recognise to be classic Harffy style, there is a seductive pull into the next book in the series that suggests many more adventures for Hunlaf await - this time in much warmer waters. I cannot wait!

About the author:

Matthew Harffy lived in Northumberland as a child and the area had a great impact on him. The rugged terrain, ruined castles and rocky coastline made it easy to imagine the past. Decades later, a documentary about Northumbria's Golden Age sowed the kernel of an idea for a series of historical fiction novels. The first of them is the action-packed tale of vengeance and coming of age, THE SERPENT SWORD.

Matthew has worked in the IT industry, where he spent all day writing and editing, just not the words that most interested him. Prior to that he worked in Spain as an English teacher and translator. Matthew lives in Wiltshire, England, with his wife and their two daughters.

Sell Us The Rope by Stephen May

 

Sell Us the Rope by Stephen May.

Published 2nd March 2022 by Sandstone.

From the cover of the book:

‘When it’s time to hang the capitalists, they will sell us the rope.’ 

May 1907. 

Young Stalin – poet, bank-robber, spy – is in London for the 5th Congress of the Russian Communist Party. As he builds his powerbase in the party, Stalin manipulates alliances with Lenin, Trotsky, and Rosa Luxemburg under the eyes of the Czar’s secret police. 

Meanwhile he is drawn to the fiery Finnish activist Elli Vuokko and risks everything in a relationship as complicated as it is dangerous.

***********

It's 1907 and an extraordinary conference is being held in the East End of London - the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Party. An unlikely happening for the streets of Stepney, the conference is gathering together delegates from many different parts of the Communist movement, including guiding lights from within the Bolshevik and Menshevik factions, to discuss matters of policy and how to take their cause forward - even such luminaries as Lenin, Trotsky, Rosa Luxemberg, Maxim Gorky, Maria Andreyeva, and a young Josef Stalin.

The Congress is viewed with interest by opponents and sympathisers to the cause alike, especially by Okhrana agents from the Tsar's secret police force, who have their own devious ways of manipulating what happens inside the conference hall. The days pass slowly giving time for Stalin to have a few adventures in the grimy streets of London, and he finds himself drawn to a feisty young delegate from Finland, called Elli Vuokko, who is also taken under the wing of Rosa Luxemberg. This is an attraction that puts them under the shadow of suspicion, and as the fractures in the Party begin to show, very real danger lies ahead for them both...

Sell Us the Rope is a reimagining of the factual events of the 1907 5th RSDP Congress, which really did take place in the unlikely quarters of down-at-heel Stepney, in the East End of London. As bizarre as this sounds, some very famous names from the Communist movement spent the days of the conference arguing matters of policy and intent, and the resulting shenanigans provide an intriguing backdrop to this story.

May shines some fascinating light on Stalin in these pages, making his portrayal of a character we normally think of as a monster surprisingly human. There is certainly good in the character at this point in time, which we see through his interactions with Arthur, the son of his London landlord; his relationship with Vuokko; and his reflections on his wife and son; but May does not shy away from delving into the darkness that lies at Stalin's heart too, especially the way he broods on his difficult upbringing, and how the resulting resentment festers at his core.

There are many surreal moments in this novel that make it a very entertaining read, but it is actually the way May casts a prophetic eye on what is to come in the years that follow, while offering a satirical snapshot of the rise of Communism, that make this such an impressive book. You cannot fail to be aware of the conflict between the soft-handed intellectual and calloused-palmed worker elements of the Party, particularly through the eyes of Stalin and I really enjoyed how May uses these threads to examine how this shapes him into the man he becomes. It's evident that few realise quite how dangerous Stalin will be in the future - how their high-handed manipulation and contempt for a seemingly lowly player in the game affects the course of his ambition. This adds a real feeling of menace throughout - despite the glimpses of Stalin's still present softer side. In many ways, it reminds me of Armando Iannucci's cracking film The Death of Stalin in the way it combines humour with poignancy, whilst flooding the piece with transfixing history. And while we are on the subject of humour... oh my, the Okhrana spies, the Bunins - a simultaneously humorous and chilling combination!

Beyond the central theme, there are some cracking female characters in this story. I loved how May gives them centre stage on and off through Vuokko and Luxemberg, the one all keen and feisty, and the other older, wiser and much more jaded - both of them looking at the prospect of freedom and equality under Communism from different stand-points. Their developing relationship was rather lovely, and their communal bathing episodes so very touching. The cameo by Maria Andreyeva, as she shares her valuable pointers on how to form a connection with potential donors, was brilliant too. Kudos to May for highlighting the role of women in history here.

This really is a stunning read, with a rather brilliant title, and I might add a timely one given the historical perspective it offers about the complex history of Russia. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Sell Us the Rope is available to buy now in ebook and paperback, from your favourite book retailer, or direct from Sandstone HERE.

About the author:

Stephen May is the author of five novels including Life! Death! Prizes! which was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and The Guardian Not The Booker Prize. He has also been shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year and is a winner of the Media Wales Reader’s Prize. He has also written plays, as well as for television and film. He lives in West Yorkshire.

The Embroidered Book by Kate Heartfield

 

The Embroidered Book by Kate Heartfield.

Published 17th February 2022 by Harper Voyager.

From the cover of the book:

‘Power is not something you are given. Power is something you take. When you are a woman, it is a little more difficult, that’s all’

1768. Charlotte, daughter of the Habsburg Empress, arrives in Naples to marry a man she has never met. Her sister Antoine is sent to France, and in the mirrored corridors of Versailles they rename her Marie Antoinette.

The sisters are alone, but they are not powerless. When they were only children, they discovered a book of spells – spells that work, with dark and unpredictable consequences.

In a time of vicious court politics, of discovery and dizzying change, they use the book to take control of their lives. But every spell requires a sacrifice. And as love between the sisters turns to rivalry, they will send Europe spiralling into revolution.

***********

If ever there was a sweeping story, then this is certainly it! Kate Heartfield takes us right into the very centre of court politics in Europe in the mid-eighteenth century, through the experiences of two daughters of the Habsburg empire - Charlotte and Antoine, daughters of Empress Marie Theresa. Charlotte is headed to Naples to become the wife of Ferdinand, a man she has never met, and Antoine to France to become wife of the Dauphin and be renamed Marie Antoinette.

The sisters embark on their marriages with uncertainty, but they do not go unarmed, because each has the power to wield dangerous magic - a magic learned from the pages of a secret book of spells with an embroidered cover, given to them by their governess before she was brutally murdered. A gulf opens up between them as they become wives and mothers with kingdoms to protect and nurture, and their former closeness becomes rivalry as they try to take control of their own destinies by using all the skills at their disposal. However, the magic takes its toll each time it is used, and the sacrifices that have to be made are sometimes overwhelming...

Heartfield has taken on an ambitious task by delving into the lives of the Habsburgs, one which she clearly relishes and does with considerable skill. There is everything you could possibly want in terms of expansive history, tricky politics, and a delicious exploration into how women wield power, through the experiences of two daughters born to be used as pawns in the complex game of thrones playing out in central Europe in this period. 

However, this is no ordinary historical fiction tale - here there be magic. For me, this makes this novel something of a game-changer, asking some interesting questions about the lives of these women and the fates that consumed them. At every turn, what you think you know about the events that history records takes on an intriguing twist once the seductive whisper of magic enters the arena, bringing in some real menace, with a thread of a secret underworld of magisters with their own dark, mysterious purpose. This makes it a gripping, speculative novel, as every motivation, action and outcome suddenly becomes one you look at in a different light.

There is so much history here, laid out in an engaging way that draws you into the lives of some very famous names, and Heartfield writes them as vivid characters with hopes and dreams, and qualities to be both admired and loathed, making them so human. Right from the start there is a prickling at the back of your neck as you cannot fail to know what will happen to Antoine when she becomes Marie Antoinette, making her story so poignant. I did not know all that much about the life of Charlotte (also known to history as Maria Carolina) though, and found her side of the tale completely fascinating, and almost as tragic in many ways.

This is certainly a chunky book at over 650 pages, and there are a lot of characters with important parts to play that you need to keep track of (I am very thankful to the detailed list of characters at the start of the book for helping with this), but at no time does this feel over-long. You become so totally invested in the lives, loves, triumphs and tragedies of the characters that this is one of those novels that sweeps you along on a tide of intrigue and adventure, and takes you through practically the whole gamut of the emotional range. One to satisfy your cravings for glorious period detail, and magical happenings in one very pretty package!

The Embroidered Book is available to buy now in ebook, hardcover and audio formats from your favourite book retailer.

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

About the author:

Kate Heartfield is the author of The Embroidered Book, a historical fantasy novel out in February 2022. Her debut novel won Canada’s Aurora Award, and her novellas, stories and games have been shortlisted for the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, Sunburst and Aurora awards. A former journalist, Kate lives near Ottawa, Canada.