Jollof Rice And Other Revolutions by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi

 

Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi.

Published 19th January 2023 by Trapeze.

From the cover of the book:

Nonso, Remi, Aisha, and Solape forge an unbreakable bond at a Nigerian boarding school, where we meet them for the first time in the middle of a riot. The uprising triggers a chain of unforeseen events, forever altering their lives.

Through a set of interlocking stories - traversing seamlessly through different voices between Nigeria and the US - Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions provides a window into the past, present, and future for a generation of Nigerian women.

We meet Solape's mother, whose life was irrevocably altered by the fallout of the school riot years before. We see Nonso grapple with the world outside Nigeria when she moves to America having fallen in love with an African-American man. We meet Remi's future husband, Segun, in the Bronx as he becomes entangled with the police. Meanwhile, Aisha's overwhelming sense of guilt about what happened the night of the riot haunts her, until she sees a chance to save her son's life and, through her sacrifice, redefine her own.

***********

Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions is an amazing collection of inter-connected stories revolving around a group of four Nigerian school friends - Nonso, Remi, Aisha, and Solape - whose lives are shaped by tragedy. 

Intriguingly, the collection actually begins with a story that takes place between 1897 and 1931, well before the birth of our central characters, giving fascinating insight into what is to come, through the history of a remarkable woman called Adaoma. The four friends are then introduced to you during their school days, in a deliciously entitled story that gives its name to the collection.  

The following eight stories, all with very clever titles, take you through the passage of time with vignettes on the lives and families of the four friends, sandwiched between the aforementioned historical tale, and a really thought-provoking speculative near-future piece. They are all different in style, content, and sometimes location, but they fit elegantly together, linked through the stunning use of echoing themes that flay you to the emotional bone. There are way too many themes to mention in a review, but some of my favourites cover different facets of parenthood, inter-generational conflict, marriage, identity, guilt, sacrifice, and duality. My favourite story is Goody Goody, which made me sob, but each and every one is superb in its own way.

Ogunyemi clearly draws from her own experience as a woman with a foot in two cultures in writing this book, as someone born and raised in Nigeria, but living and working in America. This comes through strongly in many of the stories, especially those about identity, and the constant push and pull of expectation from two different traditions. This brings a striking intimacy to many of the thoughts and feelings of the characters.

Ogunyemi's writing is simply beautiful, her prose is mesmerising, and the image she conjures of these women taking control of their destinies is glorious. I absorbed this gem of a collection in one delicious bite!

Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Orion 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:

Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi was born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria. A finalist for the 2009 PEN/Studzinski Award, her stories have been published in New Writing from Africa 2009 (a collection of PEN/Studzinski Award finalists’ stories), Ploughshares, and mentioned in The Best American Short Stories 2018. Her poetry has appeared in the Massachusetts Review, the Indiana Review and Wasafiri. She graduated from Barnard and UPenn with bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in computer science. Omolola is a Professor of Preventive and Social Medicine at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles, where she teaches and conducts research on using biomedical informatics to reduce health disparities. She lives in California with her husband.

Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions is her first book. It was selected as a New York Times Editors Choice (October 20, 2022), made The New Yorker's list of "Best Books of 2022 So Far," was a Los Angeles Public Library pick for "Best of 2022: Fiction," and was the October 2022 selection for Roxane Gay's Audacious Book Club with Literati.

A Winter Grave by Peter May

 

A Winter Grave by Peter May.

Published 19th January 2023 by riverrun.

From the cover of the book:

A TOMB OF ICE

A young meteorologist checking a mountain top weather station in Kinlochleven discovers the body of a missing man entombed in ice.

A DYING DETECTIVE

Cameron Brodie, a Glasgow detective, sets out on a hazardous journey to the isolated and ice-bound village. He has his own reasons for wanting to investigate a murder case so far from his beat.

AN AGONIZING RECKONING

Brodie must face up to the ghosts of his past and to a killer determined to bury forever the chilling secret that his investigation threatens to expose.

Set against a backdrop of a frighteningly plausible near-future, A Winter Grave is Peter May at his page-turning, passionate and provocative best.

***********

Scotland, 2051. The body of an investigative journalist is found frozen in the ice on the mountains near Kinlochleven by a young meteorologist, sparking a police investigation.

Cameron Brodie, a seasoned Glasgow detective, is sent to investigate the death, in the company of a pathologist Dr Sita Roy. This is an investigation he was reluctant to accept, despite the fact that his mountaineering expertise makes him the ideal candidate, but the bad news he has just received means he now has a very personal reason for being in Kinlochleven.

Climate change makes the Scottish highlands a treacherous place to be. However, the weather does not seem to be the only unpredictable thing hampering the investigation, and Brodie and Roy find themselves in grave danger once they establish that the journalist's death was the result of foul play. What was he up to in this remote spot, and why did someone want him dead? Can Brodie get to the truth, and tie up his own loose ends, before his fate is sealed?

Set in a dystopian near future, where climate change has drastically changed to face of the earth, A Winter Grave is an absolutely gripping combination of cli-fi thriller and police procedural that kept me glued to the page from beginning to end.

Brodie is a man who is desperate to make amends for the choices he has made, and this investigation in Kinlochleven offers an unexpected opportunity to try to lay his ghosts to rest. Little does he know how dangerous his visit to the remote Scottish highlands will be. The action moves between the investigation in 2051, and the history of Brodie's relationship with his wife and daughter, building a picture of a gifted detective tortured by the things he has done in the past. As it turns out, his personal agenda is closely connected to how this investigation plays out, and more secrets are about to be exposed than those relating to the case.

May is a master story teller, and he keeps his cards very close to his chest throughout, carefully dropping his reveals with perfectly timed precision. The two strands of the story come together beautifully, upping the tension notch by notch. Events spiral violently out of control, towards an action-packed climax that combines the truth behind the bloody events in Kinlochleven with a shocking confession from Brodie, in a highly enjoyable double whammy of twists... and the ending is sublime!

There is a wealth of glorious themes to delve into in this book. The impact of climate change is central to the story, and it makes for an unsettling backdrop. The future May describes is a bleak one, made all the more chilling by the fact that it is firmly grounded in science. May weaves magic in the way he uses the environment, and extreme weather, building on this framework to enhance the menacing plotlines. The atmosphere of isolation and peril he creates is suburb, and this adds deliciously to the mayhem he has his characters engaging in. Throw in all manner of human frailty, juicy corruption, greed, manipulation, and games of power, and this becomes the kind of book you find impossible to put down. I love how May uses technology in this story too!

I absorbed this book in one tasty bite, as I knew I would at the hands of an accomplished author who knows exactly how to engage his audience with thrills, spills, and visceral emotion. What a book!

A Winter Grave is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

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

About the author:

Peter May was born and raised in Scotland. He was an award-winning journalist at the age of twenty-one and a published novelist at twenty-six. When his first book was adapted as a major drama series for the BBC, he quit journalism and during the high-octane fifteen years that followed, became one of Scotland's most successful television dramatists. He created three prime-time drama series, presided over two of the highest-rated serials in his homeland as script editor and producer, and worked on more than 1,000 episodes of ratings-topping drama before deciding to leave television to return to his first love, writing novels.

In 2021, he was awarded the CWA Dagger in the Library Award. He has also won several literature awards in France, received the USA's Barry Award for The Blackhouse, the first in his internationally bestselling Lewis Trilogy; and in 2014 was awarded the ITV Specsavers Crime Thriller Book Club Best Read of the Year award for Entry Island. Peter now lives in South-West France with his wife, writer Janice Hally.

The Forgotten Promise by Paula Greenlees

 

The Forgotten Promise by Paula Greenlees.

Published 1st September 2022 by Penguin.

From the cover of the book:

Malaya, 1920: Two girls make a promise in the shadows of the jungle. A promise that life won't let them easily keep.

Malaya, 1941: Ella is running her late father's tin mine in the Kledang hills, while Noor works as her cook. When the war that felt so far away suddenly arrives on their doorstep, Ella is torn apart from her family. Her daughter Grace is left in Noor's care as Japanese soldiers seize the mine.

Ella is forced to make an impossible choice that takes her to England, thousands of miles from home. She is desperate to be reunited with her loved ones. But will the life she returns to be anything like the life she left behind?

***********

Malaya, 1920. Ella and her childhood friend Noor make a promise that they will always by like sisters, but with one the daughter of the household, and the other the child of the family's cook, this will be a difficult vow to keep.

Malaya, 1941. Ella is now a wife and mother, in possession her late father's tin mine with her English husband, Johnnie. Noor has taken her mother's place as the family's cook, and the closeness that once made them inseparable has long since been driven away by the gulf in their social standing.

War is coming to Malaya, but when the Japanese finally invade, everyone is taken by surprise. Ella is separated from Johnnie and her daughter Grace, and forced to flee to England with her baby son. The fate of her husband and daughter is a mystery to her, and she does not know that Grace has been left in the care of Noor, who must do all she can to hide the child's identity from the Japanese invaders when they seize the mine.

Will Ella ever be reunited with her husband and daughter? And what will she find if she is able to return to the land of her birth? 

I really enjoyed Paula Greenlee's debut novel, Journey to Paradise, which was set in post-war Singapore, so I was really looking forward to picking up her follow-up The Forgotten Promise, and being immersed in wartime Malaya.

Greenlees establishes the relationship between Ella and Noor with a poignant episode, which foretells of the harsh realties that will divide these childhood friends, so it is no surprise when the story moves forward to 1941, that we find their association rather different than in former days. Ella and her husband are now successfully running the mine, and Noor is very much confined to the kitchen, as domestic staff. Ella has almost entirely forgotten their promise to be like sisters, and although realistic about the situation, Noor feels sad about the distance between them.

The early part of the story sets the scene of a colony on the brink of war, and paints an authentic picture of the social structure that has forged the gulf between Ella and Noor, despite Ella's mixed heritage. As in Journey to Paradise, Greenlees excels here with rich descriptive writing that beautifully evokes a feeling of time and place - but of course, this is not going to last. Even though the invasion of the Japanese has been anticipated, this is a country completely taken by surprise when it comes, and it brings about the tragic break-up of Ella's family. Ella flees to England with her son, and Greenlees writes with feeling about the experience of a woman torn in two, and completely out of her depth in an unfamiliar country down-trodden by war. Meanwhile, Noor must find a way to survive under Japanese occupation, whilst loyally protecting Ella's daughter from harm. 

The story tends to give more attention to Ella, with Noor's struggle in Malaya taking a smaller share, which I do think is a shame. I found myself wanting much more of Noor and less of Ella to make it more balanced, especially as Noor is by far the most engaging character in the book, and Ella's attitudes make her rather difficult to warm to. There was a missed opportunity to explore the lesser told story of life under Japanese occupation with real depth through Noor's eyes, as a result.

However, there are so many things in this story that Greenlees does spectacularly well, and these show how much her writing has developed since her debut novel. This is a weighty book that comes in at just over 500 pages, and it carries you on a sweeping tide from the Japanese invasion in 1941, through to the post-war period following VJ Day. There is so much history here, and Greenlees has clearly done her research well. The details about the chaotic period immediately following the defeat of Japan is particularly fascinating.

The most striking thing about this book though is the way Greenlees makes this almost entirely the province of the women, against the backdrop of wider world events. It is the emotional side of their story that keeps you turning the pages, and you feel the impact of their heartache, loneliness, and divided loyalties with force. Fear of spoilers prevents me from waxing lyrical here, but I was very impressed with the way in which Greenlees does this so well through the stories of both Ella and Noor, and through Ella's friend Melody, touching on a bevy of themes around women and war. I did guess the twist quite early on in the story, but liked how Greenlees uses this to allude to a factual piece of history she also references in Journey to Paradise, and to bring in a satisfying thread of reconciliation to tie up things nicely at the end.

This is a compelling read, and I really enjoy how Greenlees blends the personal lives of her characters with such engaging history. I look forward to seeing where she turns her attention next.

The Forgotten Promise is available to buy now in paperback and ebook.

Thank you to Penguin for sending me an ecopy 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:

Paula has lived in various places, including Singapore, where she was based for three years. It was while living in Singapore that the first seeds of her debut novel, Journey to Paradise, developed. Her writing, although set against exotic backgrounds, is set on the cusp of change – the shift from colonial dominance to independence. She likes to dig into a variety of issues and her main protagonist is, in many ways, a metaphor for the political and social events surrounding her at that time. It isn’t always an easy journey, but in the end, success comes her way. The Forgotten Promise tells the story of Ella, a young Eurasian woman, whose life is turned upside down by the Japanese occupation of Malaya, and it is through her lens and that of Noor, her cook, that the narrative is revealed. 

Paula has always wanted to be a writer. As a little girl she used to spend hours writing stories and turning them into books, even using flour and water as paste to stick the pages together. She spent hours writing poetry and plays as a teenager and has always written short stories in her spare time. It is this need to write and a love of reading that led her to take a degree in English and European Thought and Literature, and later a Masters Degree in Creative Writing. 

As a writer, she feels it is important to have a wide range of interests – not only does it adds flavour and layering to prose, but allows it allows time for ideas to mull and to percolate. People watching in cafés is one, long walks is another, and travel, which has proved to be a little harder in then past couple of years.. Good food is essential to her (you will find lots of food descriptions in her writing) and she loves to cook using the best ingredients she can find. As well as a love of travel, she is a keen amateur photographer and her latest trip took her to Cambodia and she hopes to return to Southeast Asia in the near future. She is currently working on a new 3 book series.

Paula lives in Warwickshire with her husband and an extremely friendly Labrador and you can find out more about her on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. More details HERE.

Becoming Ted by Matt Cain

 

Becoming Ted by Matt Cain.

Published 19th January 2023 by Headline.

From the cover of the book:

A charming, joyful and surprising story about love, friendship and learning to be true to yourself, Becoming Ted will steal your heart.

Ted Ainsworth has always worked at his family's ice-cream business in the quiet Lancashire town of St Luke's-on-Sea.

But the truth is, he's never wanted to work for the family firm - he doesn't even like ice-cream, though he's never told his parents that. When Ted's husband suddenly leaves him, the bottom falls out of his world.

But what if this could be an opportunity to put what he wants first? This could be the chance to finally follow his secret dream: something Ted has never told anyone...

***********

Forty-one-year-old Ted finds himself at a crossroads when his husband, Giles, leaves him for another man. Working in his family's ice-cream business has never been what he wanted to do with his life, but somehow he has never had the heart to tell his parents how he feels - or even that he has never actually liked ice cream.

Boyed on by his enthusiastic best friend Denise, Ted begins to drag himself out the rock-bottom place he is in, and gradually reassess what he wants from life. Was his relationship with Giles really as happy as he thought? Has he spent his life living by the rules of others, rather than being himself? It is time to dust off the secret that he has kept for far too long, and follow his dream!

Becoming Ted is a lovely tale of finding the courage to be yourself, and I am going to be very careful about what I give away here, because where Matt Cain takes you in this follow-up to The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle is an emotional adventure you really need to take for yourself - I promise, it is worth every moment.

Ted is in a low place at the beginning of this tale. His all consuming journey to happiness, through rediscovering his self-confidence and remembering who he is inside, is the spine of this story. However, he has a helping hand from an enchanting cast of characters, who work through their own issues and insecurities along the way too. My favourites are his conflicted friend Denise, who is determined to help Ted achieve his dream, even if her methods might be a little suspect; wise old Stanley, who gives Ted perspective on his problems; and most importantly, Oskar, running from his past in Poland, and with his own journey to make too. The separate threads of their experiences weave together with accomplished flair from Cain, and bring real poignancy and depth to the story. Each character helps Ted find a way to move on from the pain of his past to achieve his destiny, and I love how they all manage to reach a better place by the end of the book too.

Cain writes with heart, humour, and honesty. He weaves some dark themes in this novel around control, betrayal, prejudice, loss, and abandonment; but he balances them beautifully with warmth, love, and friendship. There are secrets, lies, and many misunderstandings to be overcome, but the most uplifting of endings brings romance, forgiveness and reconciliation to the fore in a way that makes your heart sing - and your eyes brim over with tears. Treat yourself to some life affirming loveliness with this warm hug of a book!

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

Thank you to Headline 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:

Matt Cain is a writer, broadcaster, and a leading commentator on LGBT+ issues.

He was Channel 4’s first Culture Editor, Editor-In-Chief of Attitude magazine, has written for all the major national newspapers, and presented the flagship discussion show on Virgin Radio Pride. He's also an ambassador for Manchester Pride and the Albert Kennedy Trust, plus a patron of LGBT+ History Month.

Matt's first two novels, Shot Through the Heart and Nothing But Trouble, were published by Pan Macmillan. His third, The Madonna Of Bolton, became Unbound’s fastest crowdfunded novel ever before its publication in 2018. His latest, The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle, was published by Headline Review in May 2021 and Becoming Ted will follow in January 2023.

Born in Bury and brought up in Bolton, Matt now lives in London with his partner, Harry, and their cat, Nelly.

Dead Man's Creek by Chris Hammer

 

Dead Man's Creek by Chris Hammer.

Published 5th January 2023 by Wildfire.

From the cover of the book:

Newly-minted homicide detective Nell Buchanan returns to her hometown, annoyed at being assigned a decades-old murder - a 'file and forget'.

But this is no ordinary cold case, her arrival provoking an unwelcome and threatening response from the small-town community. As more bodies are discovered, and she begins to question how well she truly knows those closest to her, Nell realises that finding the truth could prove more difficult - and dangerous - than she'd ever expected.

The nearer Nell comes to uncovering the secrets of the past, the more treacherous her path becomes. Can she survive to root out the truth, and what price will she have to pay for it?

***********

Newly promoted Detective Nell Buchanan is sent to her hometown of Tulong, after the skeleton of a long-dead man is found in unusual circumstances. Her brilliant, but unpredictable, boss Ivan Lucic, remains behind in Dubbo, as a cold case is unlikely to prove the challenge of their tricky investigation among the opal mines of Finnegan's Gap... but appearances can be deceptive.

Small towns can be dangerous places, and Nell has reasons to be reluctant to return home to confront the distance between her and her family - reasons which she has no choice but to examine when more bodies are found that could be connected to her own past.

Opal Country, Chris Hammer's excellent spin-off from his Martin Scarsden series, brought Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic together, and their successful pairing in Finnegan's Gap has earned Nell a promotion and a place on Lucic's team. However, there is little to celebrate when she finds herself at the centre of a near impossible search for the perpetrators of crimes that go way back into the history of her home town, especially when she is hampered by a lack of evidence, the presence of some very dangerous characters, and her own connection to the people and place. 

The story unfurls layer by beautifully contrived layer, playing out in the present through Nell's eyes; and the past through the voice of her mother Tessa in the 1970s; broken up with intriguing extracts from the statement of Nell's grandfather James Waters, which guide you to the truth about what happened in Tulong, beginning with his boyhood in World War II. The way the separate threads play out, and eventually collide in the present, is an absolute masterclass in storytelling. I was held spellbound from the intriguing prologue, right through to the astonishing revelations at the climax of this book, and I loved every brilliant second.

This is very much Nell's show, with everything I love about twisty small town dynamics, and the way history can shape families and communities. Lucic remains almost entirely in the background, until all the dirty little secrets and lies that have been consigned to the depths, in more ways than one, are laid bare, and her family's connection to some very uncomfortable history is exposed. And what a lot of history there is to delve into! There is so much here about the bygone times of New South Wales, especially around World War II and the impact of the Vietnam War, which I found fascinating. I learned so much that I did know know about the home front in Australia during those periods, and went down many a rabbit hole in the process, which I always love doing. 

But Hammer does not confine himself to history in this novel. There is plenty to get your teeth into about gritty contemporary issues too, and the way in which the disaffected can be subverted into becoming embroiled in a cause, for good or bad, is used with great effect. 

This is my favourite Hammer yet. It makes for a story that is the very best of Outback Noir in every way, shape, and form. Dead Man's Creek earns a place on my books of 2023 pile, and I cannot wait to see where Hammer takes this series next!

Dead Man's Creek is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook, and audio formats.

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

About the author:

Chris Hammer was a journalist for more than thirty years, dividing his career between covering Australian federal politics and international affairs. For many years he was a roving foreign correspondent for SBS TV's flagship current affairs program Dateline. He has reported from more than thirty countries on six continents. 

Chris's non-fiction book, The River, published in 2010 to critical acclaim, was the recipient of the ACT Book of the Year Award and was shortlisted for the Walkley Book Award. Scrublands, his first novel, was published in 2018 and was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Debut Dagger Award, Best Debut Fiction at the Indie Book Awards, and Best General Fiction at the ABIA Awards. It has also been longlisted for the Ned Kelly Best Crime Novel of the Year. Scrublands was optioned for television by Easy Tiger (a Fremantle Media company). 

Chris has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Charles Sturt University and a master's degree in international relations from the Australian National University. He lives in Canberra with his wife, Dr Tomoko Akami. The couple have two children.

Our Man In Kuwait by Louise Burfitt-Dons

 

Our Man in Kuwait by Louise Burfitt-Dons.

Published 20 November 2022 by New Century Publishing.

From the cover of the book:

Kuwait 1960. With Soviet backing Iraq plans to invade.

Gordon Carlisle lives in the expat community of Ahmadi with little to worry about other than when to next don his dinner jacket.

When enlisted by an MI6 agent everything changes.

Even marriage to his beautiful new wife Anita breaks down as he becomes a suspect in a chain of deaths in the Protectorate.

Ian Fleming’s time in Kuwait is recorded at first hand as Britain prepares to meet the Iraqi forces head on with Operation Vantage.

Our Man In Kuwait is a colonial-era thriller set against the background of big power conflict. The ultimate timepiece tinderbox of sun, sex and spies.

***********

Kuwait, 1960. With the rumoured threat of a Soviet-backed Iraqi invasion on the horizon, the expat community of Ahmadi is starting to feel unsettled, although business is mostly as usual. Gordon Carlisle, newly married and working for the preventative medicine division at Southwell Hospital, normally has little to concern him beyond his routine work, visits to the Hubara Club, and the busy round of engagements among his social set. However, his involvement in an investigation into a recent anthrax outbreak has earned him some renown, the nickname 'James Bond of the Desert', and the unwelcome interest of the security services.

Gordon is contacted by an MI6 agent who encourages him to gather information about those who might be sympathetic to the Iraqi cause. Although he is reluctant, he can hardly refuse, and Gordon, being Gordon, he tries to do his best to complete his task. Unfortunately, the consequences of this send his life spinning out of control. His recent marriage after years of singledom to a beautiful, younger woman has already made him the subject of gossip in this close community, and he is now the target of rumours connected to the mentally fragile wife of one of his old friends too. His relationship with Anita is heading for the rocks, as he becomes increasingly bewildered by her suspicious behaviour, and her coolness towards him - and then, to top it all, he finds himself implicated in a brutal murder. It is not the best time to be asked by the powers that be to entertain the famous Bond author himself, naval intelligence officer, Ian Fleming... but perhaps this might be a silver lining to the cloud that is hanging over him?

I was not really sure what to expect of this book. The title suggests a nod to Graham Greene's humorous espionage thriller, Our Man in Havana, but the blurb promises a hard-edged colonial thriller, with an injection of Cold War spy shenanigans. Which would it prove to be? Well, in fact this is a glorious mix of both - an accomplished espionage thriller that thrums with the authenticity of an expat community in the dying days of colonialism, and one which has clever little touches of tongue in cheek sardonic humour among its twisty plotlines. Burfitt-Dons uses her experience as a child growing up in Kuwait in the uncertain era in which story is set, and the real-life friendship that existed between her own father and Ian Fleming, to craft a delicious mix of fact and fiction that holds you fast all the way to a beautifully contrived climax.

Nothing about this time and place escapes Burfitt-Dons' attention, from the over-arching impact of political unrest; religious division; territorial claims; the fear of insurgency; the rival interests of multiple intelligence agencies; and the complexities of divided loyalties. In addition, she immerses you in the nitty-gritty of the domestic arrangements of this community, with their preoccupations with money, status, appearance, and the private lives of their friends and neighbours, bringing in a compelling human element. You find yourself becoming equally caught up in the thriller elements of the story, as you do in the gossip and speculation among the ex-pat community members, and I loved how Burfitt-Dons uses the themes of secrets and betrayal throughout. Everything blends together in a very entertaining whole, and the inclusion of Fleming's visit to advance the plot is genius. 

Gordon is an unlikely hero in this story, with his innate decency and unusual menagerie of creatures, but I became really fond of him as he naively entangles himself in a series of ever more dangerous situations, while trying to do the right thing.  I have my fingers crossed that Burfitt-Dons decides to write a sequel featuring dear old Gordon, because I really want to follow more of his brand of adventures. I am seriously impressed with this mix of baking sun, sex and spies!

Our Man in Kuwait is available to buy now in hardcover, paperback and ebook.

Thank you to Louise Burfitt-Dons 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:

Known for her use of personal experience to write behind the scenes, Louise Burfitt-Dons draws on her Kuwaiti birth and early upbringing in the oil rich State to write her new spy thriller Our Man In Kuwait.

The plot was inspired by certain incidents that took place during 1960 when the expat community was living under threat of invasion by neighbouring Iraq. That same year author and Naval Intelligence freelancer Ian Fleming visited the country and closely befriended her father Ian Byres, the Preventative Health Officer for Kuwait Oil Company. Louise was seven. She remembers vividly the men's shared interest in her father's personal zoo and the ensuing contest between a viper and scorpion on their lounge carpet. The two "Ian"s then went out on one of her father's hawking expeditions into the desert which features in the story. 

Other elements of which she became aware, such as the British double-agent Kim Philby's tour of the Gulf States prior to his defection to the Soviet Union in 1963, helped shape some of the other major characters, Louise's Kuwaiti experience and research features in her earlier books. In The Missing Activist, a private investigator goes undercover to learn about Jihadi brides and the sequel The Killing of the Cherrywood MP sees her tackling the counter reaction to Islamic extremism by the Far Right. In The Secret War she probes links between the Chinese Communist Party and UK universities. 

Louise has also TV thrillers for the Lifetime TV network.

When I First Held You By Anstey Harris

When I First Held You by Anstey Harris.

Published 24th January 2023 by Lake Union Publishing.

From the cover of the book:

Silence tore them apart. Can the truth bring them back together?

In 1960s Glasgow, anti-nuclear activists Judith and Jimmy fall in love. But their future hopes are dashed when their protestors’ squat is raided and many, including Jimmy, are sent to prison. Pregnant and with no word from Jimmy, Judith is forced to enter an unmarried mothers’ home, give up their baby and learn to live with her grief.

More than half a century later, Judith’s Mending Shop restores broken treasures, just as Judith herself has been bound back together by her late, much-missed partner, Catherine. But her tranquillity is shattered when Jimmy—so different and yet somehow the same—reappears, yearning to unpick the painful past.

Realising they each know only half of the other’s story, Jimmy and Judith finally break the silence that tore apart what might have been their family. Amid heartbreak and hope, how much can now be mended?

***********

In the years since the death of her much missed partner, famous artist Catherine Rolf, retired social worker Judith has valiantly carried on running Catherine's beloved Mending Shop, which restores broken treasures in much the same way as she repaired Judith's broken heart more than fifty years ago. Lately, however, she has been wondering whether keeping the shop going herself is really what Catherine wanted for her. Maybe the time has come for her to step aside and follow a new path?

Then, following news coverage about the work of the Mending Shop, Judith's fragile progress is shattered by the appearance of someone from the dark days of her past - Jimmy McConnell. The man she last saw in 1960s Glasgow, when he was dragged away from the squat where she and other anti-nuclear protesters lived, to be sent to prison. The man who left her pregnant with no option but to enter a mother and baby home and give up her much wanted daughter for adoption. The man who betrayed her.

Jimmy's shock return sends Judith reeling. He wants the chance to explain what happened all those years ago, but they are strangers who barely know each other, and Judith is unwilling to stir up all the painful memories associated with that episode of her life. Can they find a way to mend the heartbreak that tore them apart? Should they even try?

Inspired by Anstey Harris' own family history, When I First Held you delves into the shocking history of forced adoptions throughout the 1950s to 1970s, when unmarried mothers were made to give up their babies to preserve the fallacy of 'family values'.

It is really difficult to talk too much about this one without giving spoilers, as the story covers a lot of ground emotionally, ideologically, historically, and geographically, which is darned impressive. It moves back and forth between Judith and Jimmy's relationship in the 1960s and the resulting sad tale of Judith's pregnancy; and the present from when Jimmy unexpectedly walks back into Judith's life. Judith is the central narrator, and the force of her inner turmoil cuts you to the quick as she takes you through her heartrending experiences, both firsthand in the past, and when she revisits them upon Jimmy's arrival. As the story progresses beyond Judith and Jimmy's painful reunion, another character adds their voice to the story... but I leave you to discover who this is for yourselves.

This is my first book from Anstey Harris, and I have been bowled over by her beautiful writing. Judith's voice drew me in from the very beginning, and the impact of her sense of loss is heart-breaking to bear witness to. She is beginning to find a way forward until Jimmy intrudes into her life, but his arrival brings up all the things she thought she had recovered from through her happiness with Catherine, opening raw wounds once again.

However, it is not so easy to paint Jimmy as the villain of the piece as you might think. When he and Judith come to tell both sides of their sad history, we begin to understand every facet of their tragic love story. The truth on both sides unfurls with perfect timing, slowly changing you perspective on their relationship and the factors that came into play to keep them apart. I shed many tears as they gradually worked through the mountain of pain that lay between them, and found a way to forgive each other and themselves. I especially loved the way Harris separates the idea of the people they were in the past when they parted, and who they have become when they are reunited.

Harris keeps nothing back about the impossible position unmarried mothers found themselves in if they became pregnant and had no husband, or family, to support them. There are many difficult scenes to negotiate in this part of the story that will break your heart in two. Interestingly, in the telling, she touches on the difficulties of obtaining reliable contraception, and the harsh facts of the wider adoption process too. The thread around nuclear protests of the 1960s is absolutely fascinating as well.

For all the pain in this book, with its exploration of the agony of different aspects of loss, it is balanced by love, understanding, and reconciliation in abundance. Judith's journey is an all consuming one, and Harris tells it with accomplished skill. My favourite theme is the way Harris uses unity - especially at the end of the book. I sobbed!

This is an incredible book, guaranteed to be on my best of 2023 pile. I will be buying Harris' back catalogue without further ado - her writing is wonderful.

When I First Held You is available to buy in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

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

About the author:

Anstey Harris was born in an unmarried mothers’ home in Liverpool in 1965. Now a mother and stepmother herself, she lives in Scotland where she runs a writing retreat. She has been inspired by her family history, and hopes to give a voice to the women and children—16,000 a year during the 1960s in the UK—separated from each other by forced adoptions.

Anstey won the H. G. Wells Short Story Award in 2015 and her debut novel, The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton, a Richard and Judy Book Club choice, won the Sapere Books RNA Popular Romantic Fiction Award in 2020. Her second novel, Where We Belong, was shortlisted for the RNA Book of the Year Award 2021 and she numbers Libby Page, Katie Fforde and Beth O’Leary among her many fans.

Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie

 

Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie.

This edition published 21st May 2015 by Harper Collins.

First published 1940.

From the cover of the book:

An elderly stroke victim dies without having arranged a will…

Beautiful young Elinor Carlisle stood serenely in the dock, accused of the murder of Mary Gerrard, her rival in love. The evidence was damning: only Elinor had the motive, the opportunity and the means to administer the fatal poison.

Yet, inside the hostile courtroom, only one man still presumed Elinor was innocent until proven guilty: Hercule Poirot was all that stood between Elinor and the gallows…

***********

When beautiful Elinor Carlisle receives a rather worrying letter about her wealthy aunt Mrs Laura Welman, she decides to take a trip down to Hunterbury with her cousin Roddy Welman to check that everything is in order. They find the old lady downcast by her latest stroke, but she is soon cheered by the news of their engagement, and the ever positive Dr Lord and two attending nurses seem to have everything in hand.

The presence of the lovely Mary Gerard, daughter of Mrs Welman's former lady's maid and the childhood playmate of Elinor and Roddy, is less comforting, at least for Elinor. Mary has recently returned to Hunterbury after being supported through her education by Mrs Welman, who is very fond of her. Roddy finds himself immediately attracted to her, and Elinor is not blind to his change of heart.

When Mrs Welman dies unexpectedly following another stroke, after expressing a wish to make provision for Mary's future, the atmosphere at Hunterbury becomes unbearable. Mrs Welman has died without making a will, leaving Elinor the sole heir to her fortune, and suspicious eyes are cast her way. The tension between her and Roddy inevitably brings an end to their relationship, and Elinor wants nothing more than to see Mary, the instrument of her heartbreak, dead. So, when Mary succumbs to poison, Elinor is the prime suspect. All the evidence points to Elinor as the perpetrator of the crime, driven by motives of jealousy and hatred. But is she guilty of more than just wishing her rival out of the picture? Dr Lord thinks not, and asks Hercule Poirot to use the power of his little grey cells to save Elinor from the gallows.

The story is split into three parts - the first detailing the story at Hunterbury up to the point when Mary Gerrard is murdered and Elinor arrested; the second outlining Hercule Poirot's investigation; and the third taking you into the courtroom as the trial against Elinor plays out. 

Not unusually for Christie, her star detective Poirot does not appear for a while in this story - in fact, he is absent for the entire first part, apart from a brief mention in the prologue. Part two is when he excels in all his cerebral glory, as he runs through the evidence in the case, asks pertinent questions, and puts his knowledge of 'the psychologies' to good use. 

What is unusual for a Poirot story however, is that and he is almost entirely silent during the third part of the tale too. His crucial discoveries have only been hinted at up to this point. What he has uncovered is finally revealed as the court case proceeds through legal jousting and the testimony of several witnesses, culminating in a suspenseful wait before the verdict is announced. He does pop up again at the end with some sage wisdom for Dr Lord to round the story off nicely though. This is a completely different format from any other Christie I have read before, but it works marvellously well.

This is Christie at her very best, with complex characters and twisty plotlines that hide the truth for almost the entire story. This is one that you really have to delve into to discard the red herrings, as all the evidence points strongly to one person, but Poirot shines through. It goes without saying that Poirot is always my favourite in one of his mysteries, but Dr Lord with his unprofessed love for, and quiet devotion to, Elinor made him a little treasure in this tale.

There are some intriguing details in this story that set the scene of time and place in a more tangible way than many other Christie stories, which I found quite delicious. This comes across beautifully in the way she uses popular culture in reference to the movies playing at the cinema through the story, especially in the letters that pass back and forth between the two nurses, Nurse O'Brien and Nurse Hopkins - which are also used to fill in a lot of vital background information too. Well played Agatha!

As my first book in the brand new #ReadChristie2023 challenge, celebrating her use of methods and motives, this has been an absolute winner. That is jealously ticked off the list, and I cannot wait to see what is on the menu for February.

I alternated reading the print edition of Sad Cypress, and listening to the excellent audio book narrated by my favourite Poirot David Suchet this month - it was delight to listen to his dulcet tones once again. 

Sad Cypress is available to buy now in multiple formats.

About the author:

Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in over 70 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 20 plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.

The Wrong Key by A.J. Campbell

The Wrong Key by A.J. Campbell.

Published 12th January 2023.

From the cover of the book:

Unlocking the truth is the only way to save her daughter...

When her US counterpart is involved in a serious car accident, London-based Steph Knight is sent to New York to provide cover at the company she works for.

After her recent traumatic divorce, it’s the perfect opportunity for a fresh start and for Steph to spend some time with her teenage daughter, Ellie, a gifted musician, before she leaves for university.

In New York, Steph meets corporate lawyer Edward, and Ellie meets bartender Jack. Both women become embroiled in whirlwind romances that intensify over a hot and sultry New York summer. But as Steph begins to uncover a web of corruption within her company that seemingly reaches right to the top, she feels increasingly threatened, with no idea who she can trust. Not even the men they've fallen for are beyond suspicion.

And just when it appears things can’t get any worse, Ellie disappears.

When Steph receives an ominous text message and a video, she knows her daughter has been kidnapped. To secure her safe return, Steph must stop her investigation at work. The clock is ticking. Ellie’s life is in danger.

Alone, terrified and far from home, Steph has to draw on all her inner strength and investigative skills to find Ellie before it’s too late. Because a mother’s love knows no bounds, Steph is going to save her daughter, even if it kills her…

***********

It has been a difficult time for auditor Steph Warren after the shock break-up of her marriage. She has been gradually piecing her personal life back together, but soon her talented musician daughter Ellie will be off to university to follow her dreams, and Steph is unsure what the future holds.

When Steph is needed in New York to stand-in for her American counterpart Melissa, who has been involved in a serious car accident, it seems the ideal opportunity for her and Ellie to spend some time together before their lives change for ever. Their summer adventure gets off to a great start too, when Steph meets corporate lawyer Edward, and Ellie meets bartending college student Jack, and they both fall into whirlwind romances.

However, the job that Steph was sent here to do is another matter. Having looked into Melissa's work, she is convinced that there is some kind of corruption going on around the high value trades that pass through the company. Veiled threats to leave things well alone, and the feeling that someone is following her, have Steph increasingly concerned, but she is determined to get to the truth. When Ellie goes missing and the threat of violence becomes real, she does not know who she can trust - including the men that she and Ellie have become close to.

With Steph under pressure to drop her investigation at the risk of losing her daughter, she must use all her wits to find Ellie before it is too late...

The Wrong Key immerses you in the world of corporate finance stateside in the Big Apple itself, New York. Auditor Steph is a fish out of water in this place, but she has been trying to take on new challenges since the break-up of her marriage, and the prospect of promotion on the horizon means she is prepared to give this opportunity her all. Being in this new city emboldens Steph to take the plunge into a new romance too, and despite her plan to use this trip spend more time with Ellie, it has turned into something that has taken them both in unexpected directions.

But... this being an A.J. Campbell, you know you are in for far more than a cosy little transatlantic romance. The sinister prologue from Ellie tells you from the beginning that danger lies ahead for her and Steph, and all the time you are on tenterhooks, eyeing everyone and everything with suspicion, while you wait for the shoe to drop. 

Campbell creates a delicious atmosphere of menace, with characters you are never quite sure you can trust, despite appearances. Once things begin to go seriously awry, she mixes up the mystery by throwing a few well-crafted red-herrings your way to keep you guessing, right until the twists and turns work themselves out in a thrilling climax. The pages fly by as the narration between Steph and Ellie swaps back and forth, and the tension rises with perfect pacing. I loved the way the title hints at an integral part of the story too - in a way that proves to be really rather clever.

The story flows well, leads you on nicely, and is entertainingly cinematic. Although, for me, there is perhaps a little link in the chain missing between the full-on edge of your seat reckoning scene and the tying-up-of-threads epilogue, there is so much here to get your teeth into. I very much enjoyed the satisfying ending Campbell contrives - and I am sure you will too. This is a read in one gripping session thriller, which is exactly what I did as I could not put it down! I think it might be Campbell's best one yet!

The Wrong Key is available to buy now in paperback and ebook now.

Thank you to A.J. Campbell for sending me an ecopy of this book in return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

AJ CAMPBELL is an Amazon bestselling author of psychological suspense and promises stories full of twists, turns and torment. Her fourth book The Phone Call was released in July 2022 and topped the Amazon charts for several months. She has just released her fifth novel The Wrong Key.

AJ draws inspiration for her stories from seemingly unbelievable situations in which ordinary people find themselves. She creates compelling characters that resonate with her readers. AJ lives in the UK on the Essex / Hertfordshire border with her husband, sons, and cocker spaniel, Max. A dog lover, Netflix junkie, wine and Asian food enthusiast, either reading or writing, AJ enjoys nothing more than getting stuck into a twisty book!

Dirt by Sarah Sultoon

 

Dirt by Sarah Sultoon.

Published by 19th January 2023 by Orenda Books.

From the cover of the book:

This is no utopia…

1996. Northern Israel. Lola leaves an unhappy home life in England for the fabled utopian life of a kibbutz, but this heavily guarded farming community on the Arab-Israeli border isn’t the idyll it seems, and tensions are festering.

Hundreds of miles away, in the Jerusalem offices of the International Tribune newspaper, all eyes are on Israel’s response to a spate of rocket attacks from Lebanon, until cub reporter Jonny Murphy gets a tip from a mysterious source that sends him straight into the danger zone.

When the body of an Arab worker is discovered in the dirt of the kibbutz chicken house, it triggers a series of events that puts Lola and the whole community in jeopardy, and Jonny begins to uncover a series of secrets that put everything at risk, as he begins to realise just how far some people will go to belong…

***********

1996, Northern Israel: Lola thought she had left her unhappy family life, and feelings of never quite fitting in, back in the UK, when she followed her best friend Sam out here to sample the famed kibbutz lifestyle. But it is not quite so easy to leave your problems behind when you are living among strangers in a heavily guarded compound near the Lebanese border, and you understand only a fraction of the divisions that trouble this land.

In Jerusalem, young reporter Jonny Murphy is also in Israel, searching for a sense of belonging among the family his mother left behind when she 'married out' of the Jewish community. His work immerses him in the fallout of the recent rocket attacks from Lebanon, and when he receives a surprising tip about something odd going on in a kibbutz near the northern border, he is sure he is on to a big story.

An Arab worker has been found murdered in a chicken house on the kibbutz, and it sparks a series of events that put Lola and her fellow kibbutzniks in danger. Can Jonny uncover the secrets that lie at the heart of this community before it is too late?

I love a story with layer upon layer to peel back before the truth becomes clear, and Dirt by Sarah Sultoon does this to perfection. What begins as a tale of a group of volunteers finding their feet in a kibbutz community that it not quite as idyllic as anticipated, especially given the strain of frequent missile attacks from just over the border, ripens into a story rife with complex relationship dynamics that are provoked by more than political and religious tension.

Following on from a chilling prologue, the story is driven by the narrations of Lola and Jonny, setting the scene about atmosphere between the workers at the kibbutz from one side, and the over-arching time and place on the other. You get the feeling that something is very wrong here about the way the workers interact with each other, but it is not until the murder brings Jonny on the scene in pursuit of a headline grabbing scoop that the secrets start to spill - especially when he is forced to reluctantly take on the role of detective.

Sultoon touches on so much in the telling of this tale, and her knowledge of the conflict that marks the Middle East really comes through in the way she spins what is essentially a murder mystery into a complicated story that twists beautifully into a cracking political thriller. However, it is the human factors that really make this book for me, in the way she floods it with echoing themes around blood, family, identity, loyalty, and power, using them with a light touch to lay bare what lies underneath the surface in more ways than one. Jonny and Lola are both broken, and I very much enjoyed how Sultoon uses their search for belonging to ramp up the emotional content too. And, as a fan of a clever book title, I must say that Dirt deserves a mention as one filled with many shades of delicious meaning.

This is a book to read in one sitting, as you follow the suspense suffused threads to their explosive conclusions - which I guarantee will take you to places you do not see coming! I am really looking forward to adding more Sarah Sultoon to my reading pile!    

Dirt is available to buy now in paperback and ebook.

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

About the author:

Sarah Sultoon is a journalist and writer, whose work as an international news executive at CNN has taken her all over the world, from the seats of power in both Westminster and Washington to the frontlines of Iraq and Afghanistan. She has extensive experience in conflict zones, winning three Peabody awards for her work on the war in Syria, an Emmy for her contribution to the coverage of Europe's migrant crisis in 2015, and a number of Royal Television Society gongs. 

As passionate about fiction as nonfiction, she recently completed a Masters of Studies in Creative Writing at the University of Cambridge, adding to an undergraduate language degree in French and Spanish, and Masters of Philosophy in History, Film and Television. 

When not reading or writing she can usually be found somewhere outside, either running, swimming or throwing a ball for her three children and dog while she imagines what might happen if ...