July 2023 Reading Round Up

What a month! 

Some absolutely stunning books have been on the menu in July!

You can fìnd your way to my reviews for these books by clicking on the pictures below:

The Cornershop in Cockleberry Bay by Nicola May

Those in Peril by Wilbur Smith

The Housekeepers by Alex Hay

The Blood of Others by Graham Hurley

The Bleeding by Johana Gustawsson

A Month in Provence by Gillian Harvey

You Can't See Me by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

The Flames by Sophie Haydock

The Little Italian Hotel by Phaedra Patrick

Endless Night by Agatha Christie

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

The Revels by Stacey Thomas

The Silent Friend by Alison Stockham

Consumed by Greg Buchanan

One by Eve Smith

London, with Love by Sarra Manning

73 Dove Street by Julie Owen Moylan

More great books coming up in August!

If you like my pics too, why not head over to Instagram to give me a follow at @brownflopsy

73 Dove Street by Julie Owen Moylan

 

73 Dove Street by Julie Owen Moylan.

Published 20th July 2023 by Michael Joseph.

From the cover of the book:

When Edie Budd arrives at a shabby West London boarding house in October 1958, carrying nothing except a broken suitcase and an envelope full of cash, it's clear she's hiding a terrible secret.

And she's not the only one; the other women of 73 Dove Street have secrets of their own . . .

Tommie, who lives on the second floor, waits on the eccentric Mrs Vee by day. After dark, she harbours an addiction to seedy Soho nightlife - and a man she can't quit.

Phyllis, 73 Dove Street's formidable landlady, has set fire to her husband's belongings after discovering a heart-breaking betrayal - yet her fierce bravado hides a past she doesn't want to talk about.

At first, the three women keep to themselves.

But as Edie's past catches up with her, Tommie becomes caught in her web of lies - forcing her to make a decision that will change everything . . .

***********

London, 1958. In grey post-war London, Edie arrives at the door of a shabby boarding house with nothing but a few belongings in her broken cardboard suitcase, and a big secret she must keep hidden. She hopes that 73 Dove Street will provided a refuge from the actions her abusive husband has driven her to, until she can decide how to move forward.

On the second floor lives Tommie. Caught in a destructive cycle, she works for an eccentric old woman during the day, and spends her nights in seedy Soho chasing a man who can never give her the solace she craves. She does not know quite what to make of Edie, who is hiding away on the third floor in the tiny attic room that used to be her own.

73 Dove Street's landlady, Phyllis, is going through troubles of her own. Having thrown her unfaithful husband out on the street, she is suddenly forced to confront the grief that has been hiding for so long. 

As Edie's past catches up with her, she and Tommie forge a friendship that offers the chance for both of them to make a new future, but there are hard decisions to be made.

73 Dove Street is the follow up to Owen Moylan's splendid debut That Green Eyed Girl, and in it she turns her attention to three women whose lives have taken a tragic turn, in 1950s London. The story plays out in 1958 for the three women, and with flashbacks to the history of Edie's relationship with her controlling husband, delving deep into the heartbreak that has shaped them, and cutting you to the bone with the sorrow, misplaced guilt, and regrets that consume them. 

Owen Moylan brings 1950s London alive with all its complicated contradictions, and weaves the impact of the legacy of WWII into the stories of Edie, Tommie and Phyllis to heartrending effect, and she paints a disturbingly accurate picture of the lives they are forced to lead. I do not want to go into their stories in any detail, as Owen Moylan tells their tales much better that I can, but much in these pages made me terribly sad and angry, as she holds nothing back in examining themes of trauma, PTSD, aching grief, alienation, and domestic abuse. However, thankfully, there is also some healing and hope to give you something to cling to at the end of the story.

I love Owen Moylan's writing. She has such a way of speaking up for the her female characters to show exactly how time and place affects their hopes and dreams, and here she does this in story that combines elements of mystery, loss of innocence, and domestic suspense that keep you turning the pages from beginning to end - all while and making you reflect on how much women's lives have changed... or not. This book worked its way right under my skin, and it will stay with me for a long time. I shed tears for Edie, Tommie and Phyllis in their turn, and so will you.

73 Dove Street is 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:

Julie Owen Moylan was born in Cardiff and has worked in a variety of jobs, from trainee hairdresser and chip shop attendant at sixteen to business management consultant and college lecturer in her thirties.

She then returned to education to complete her Master's degree in Film before going on to complete a further Master's degree in Creative Writing. Julie is an alumna of the Faber Academy's Writing a Novel course. She lives in Cardiff with her husband.

London, With Love by Sarra Manning

 

London, with Love by Sarra Manning.

Published in paperback 3rd August 2023 by Hodder and Stoughton.

From the cover of the book:

London. Nine million people. Two hundred and seventy tube stations. Every day, thousands of chance encounters, first dates, goodbyes and happy ever afters.

And for twenty years it's been where one man and one woman can never get their timing right.

Jennifer and Nick meet as teenagers and over the next two decades, they fall in and out of love with each other. Sometimes they start kissing. Sometimes they're just friends. Sometimes they stop speaking, but they always find their way back to each other.

But after all this time, are they destined to be together or have they finally reached the end of the line?

***********

Jennifer and Nick meet at college in 1986, and although Jennifer is irritated by his pretentious attitude she falls in love with him at first sight. Jennifer is certain Nick will never be interested in a girl like her, so when a dramatic incident at a Smith's concert forges a close friendship between them, she accepts that their relationship is destined to never be a romantic one, however much she wants it to be.

Over the next twenty years, Jennifer and Nick are fated to meet again and again, and each time the connection they share draws them together. But somehow, the timing is never right for them both to acknowledge at the same time that the spark between them could be something more. On each occasion, they follow a pattern of harmony, followed by emotional bust up that breaks their friendship. What really lies between them, and will it ever blossom into true love?

London, with Love follows the mixed up will-they-won't-they relationship between Londoners Jennifer and Nick, set against a wonderfully nostalgic journey through the decades. Told through the eyes of Jennifer, as she goes through various iterations of the person she wants to be (with accompanying changes in her preferred first name of Jen, Jenny and Jennifer), sometimes with Nick as a central character in her life, and others when she wants to never see him again.

Fate decrees that Jennifer and Nick will keep on meeting, with echoes of David Nicholls' novel One Day, however, this gorgeous book affected me so much more than the unfulfilling tale of damp dishcloth Emma and insufferable Dexter (apologies to One Day fans, but they are). Manning writes Jennifer and Nick with such authentic yearning and the course of their mistimed love for each other drew me in completely. Jennifer makes for a wonderful heroine, vulnerable and feisty in equal measure, as all heroines should be, and Nick has a fathomless quality to him that gives glimpses of the tenderness that he hides within. With lashings of heart, humour, aching sorrow, and soaring joy, this is a story about the lows and highs of true friendship, and the bittersweet history of a couple for whom the timing never seems quite right - until the moment that tragedy makes them really look closely at their feelings for each other... but no spoilers here. However, I will say that the combination of their characters is enchanting, and in a strike of brilliant story telling, Manning keeps her cards close to her chest when it comes to the final outcome. 

There are so many things about this book that I adored. The little twist of setting each chapter around a rail/tube station is genius, with the Tube as a character in its own right, and Manning perfectly evokes the feeling of time and place for each decade - from spot on popular culture references, to the tragic events that take play out in the background of Jennifer and Nick's own bumpy journey. Their deep affection for the glorious messy city of London comes through loud and clear, and will resonate with those of us who feel strong ties with the city of our birth (even if you are from south of the river, as I am). Manning conveys the complex emotions that we often feel about family beautifully too.

I do not know how I have not read a Sarra Manning book before this one, because London, with Love is simply delicious. Romantic, moving, and totally unforgettable, this book hits the emotional sweet spot to perfection. 

London, with Love is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook, paperback and audio formats.

About the author:

Sarra Manning has been a voracious reader for over forty years and a prolific author and journalist for twenty five.

Her novels, which have been translated into fifteen different languages include Unsticky, You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, After The Last Dance, The Rise And Fall Of Becky Sharp and Rescue Me. Sarra has also written over fifteen YA novels, and four light-hearted romantic comedies under a pseudonym.

She started her writing career on Melody Maker and Just Seventeen, has been editor of ElleGirl and What To Wear and has also contributed to The Guardian, ELLE, Grazia, Stylist, Fabulous, Stella, You Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar and is currently the Literary Editor of Red magazine.

Sarra has also been a Costa Book Awards judge and has been nominated for various writing awards herself.

She lives in London surrounded by piles and piles of books.

One By Eve Smith

 

One by Eve Smith.

Published 20th July 2023 by Orenda Books.

From the cover of the book:

One law. One child. Seven million crimes…

A cataclysmic climate emergency has spawned a one-child policy in the UK, ruthlessly enforced by a totalitarian regime. Compulsory abortion of 'excess' pregnancies and mandatory contraceptive implants are now the norm, and families must adhere to strict consumption quotas as the world descends into chaos.

Kai is a 25-year-old `baby reaper´, working for the Ministry of Population and Family Planning. If any of her assigned families attempt to exceed their child quota, she ensures they pay the price.

Until, one morning, she discovers that an illegal sibling on her Ministry hit-list is hers. And to protect her parents from severe penalties, she must secretly investigate before anyone else finds out.

Kai's hunt for her forbidden sister unearths much more than a dark family secret. As she stumbles across a series of heinous crimes perpetrated by the people she trusted most, she makes a catastrophic discovery that could bring down the government … and tear her family apart.

***********

In the face disaster as a result of a climate emergency, the UK has accepted the need for drastic change. The One party now holds sway with limits on the resources people can consume, and a one-child policy that is strictly enforced.

Compliance is policed by dedicated agents working for the Ministry of Population and Family Planning. For those breaking the one-child limit, punishments are hard, with compulsory abortion for 'excess pregnancies'. Many women have agreed to mandatory contraceptive implants to prevent a visit from the 'baby reapers' at the Ministry, but there are always those who choose to break the rules.

Kai is a 25 year old 'baby reaper' and although she sometimes finds her role difficult, she is positive that the one-child policy is the only way for humankind to have any sort of future. However, her faith in Party policy is shaken when she discovers that she has an illegal sibling of her own. With the clock counting down, Kai must undergo a covert investigation to discover how and why her parents broke the rules, before the authorities come for her family, but what she uncovers goes much deeper than a dark family secret... 

One is the third epic near-future novel from Eve Smith, and it is her most ambitious so far. Smith has an uncanny knack for looking at contemporary issues and speculating just how perilous they could become, and her prophecies are eerily accurate. Following on from her previous chilling forays into antibiotic resistance and genetic manipulation, with The Waiting Rooms and Off Target respectively, in One Smith turns her insightful eye towards climate change and population control - weaving an exploration of the pitfalls that lie ahead for humankind into a cracking dystopian thriller.

Smith paints a picture of a world in freefall. Unchecked climate change has altered the face of the planet, and led to an influx of immigrants into the UK. The most important single initiative to save the planet is the introduction of a one-child policy, to reduce the population in line with ever dwindling resources. This policy is non-negotiable and enforced with brutal measures, but the chance of a future that the One party promises gives people hope. However, not everyone is convinced by party propaganda, especially the vulnerable who inevitably pay a bigger price in pursuit of utopia, and this allows Smith to introduce a compelling storyline that forces Kai to confront the lies that have seduced her.

So much of this novel evokes the menace of Orwell's 1984, especially in the rigid control of the state on individual freedoms and the use of propaganda, but Smith also injects her tale with pace and delicious twists in a way that is so evocative of the gripping stories of Michael Crichton. This gives her a spellbinding style all of her own, that combines a heartfelt message with a page-turner story that holds you fast from unsettling beginning to bittersweet ending.  

A word here for Smith's impressive skill in offering timely issues for our consideration in a way that makes them beautifully accessible to her readers. This book will have you pondering some very weighty topics, and thinking long and hard about the inevitable consequences of where we are heading. She offers no easy answers about the dilemma we face in controlling the global population explosion, but urges us to stop and consider the kind of future we want. Her intention is to offer us a cautionary tale, and she pulls this off to perfection. And before you close the covers, I recommend a read of the section at the end of this brilliant novel, touching on the inspiration behind it. It is hard to ignore the evidence presented to us about climate change, and the liberties being taken with reproductive rights across the globe in the here and now, so take heed.

I think this is Smith's best novel yet. It showcases how much her writing has matured over the course of her three extraordinarily prescient novels, and the confidence she has gained in conveying her passion for her subjects of choice. I cannot wait to see where she takes her readers next!

One is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats. You can support the very best in indie publishing by buying direct from Orenda Books HERE.

About the author:

Eve Smith writes speculative fiction, mainly about the things that scare her. She attributes her love of all things dark and dystopian to a childhood watching Tales of the Unexpected and black-and-white Edgar Allen Poe double bills. In this world of questionable facts, stats and news, she believes storytelling is more important than ever to engage people in real life issues.

Longlisted for the Not the Booker Prize and described by Waterstones as "an exciting new voice in crime fiction", Eve’s debut novel The Waiting Rooms, set in the aftermath of an antibiotic resistance crisis, was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize First Novel Award and was selected as a Book of the Month by Eric Brown in The Guardian who compared her writing to Michael Crichton’s.

Eve’s previous job as COO of an environmental charity took her to research projects across Asia, Africa and the Americas, and she has an ongoing passion for wild creatures, wild science and far-flung places. When she’s not writing she’s racing across fields after her dog, trying to organise herself and her family, or off exploring somewhere new.

Consumed by Greg Buchanan

 

Consumed by Greg Buchanan.

Published 20th July 2023 by Orion.

From the cover of the book:

A slick, smart, stylish - and shocking - thriller from one of the most exciting new voices in crime fiction.

On a lonely farmstead, a 70-year-old woman falls down outside and, unable to move, is consumed overnight by two of her pigs.

It seems like a tragic accident, except the woman was well-known photographer Sophia Bertilak - and inside her house, someone has removed all her photos from their frames, seemingly erasing her past...

The first photo Sophia ever took remains her most infamous: a missing girl who was never seen again. Forensic veterinarian Cooper Allen is drafted in for the post-mortem - and slowly becomes obsessed with the victim, her family, and the crimes she brought to light decades ago.

As Cooper pulls on a dark thread of deception, secrets and lies, she begins to unravel the case - as well as herself...

***********

Forensic veterinarian Cooper Allen is in picturesque Lethwick for a reluctant reunion with her estranged mother and sister. Arriving at the hotel with a few days grace to prepare herself for the forthcoming ordeal, she is in the right place, at the right time, to consult with the local police force on an unusual case. Former renowned photographer, seventy-year-old Sophia Bertilak appears to have suffered a tragic accident, after falling down outside her rural home and having been consumed by her two pigs. Cooper's job is to undertake a post-mortem on the hastily euthanised pigs, to see if she can gather any information about this bizarre death, but there is little left in the way of mortal remains to offer any clues. 

With Cooper's part in the investigation over, the police discharge her to continue with her family holiday, but several things about this case tug at her conscience, and she becomes obsessed with finding out exactly what happened to Sophia - especially when she discovers Sophia's link to the infamous disappearance of a young woman, that was never solved. What Cooper does not realise is that her relentless digging will set her on a dangerous path...

Consumed follows the continuing story of forensic vet Cooper Allen, which began in Greg Buchanan's quite brilliant debut novel, Sixteen Horses. Cooper has had a tough few years since the events of the Sixteen Horses investigation, which still haunt her despite undergoing therapy for her psychological scars. She has found it hard to reassemble the fractured pieces of her life, particularly when it comes to being close to another human being, and some of the behaviours she has fallen into keep her very isolated. 

Cooper's fragile state causes her to get in too deep in this story, as she latches on to the inconsistencies in the Sophia Bertilak investigation. The heart of the matter lies in Sophia's connection to the case of a missing young woman, Stephanie Earlsham, who was assumed to be dead until Sophia captured her on film in the company of an unknown man in 1964. These photographs made her famous and began her career as a well known photo journalist. In an additional sinister twist, Sophia unintentionally took a photograph of a missing child on the same day. Neither Stephanie, nor the unnamed child, have been traced since. 

The storylines of the current police investigation, Cooper's unauthorised digging, and the tension of her family reunion burgeon, branching out into a bevy of delicious threads around past sins and corruption. The timeline jumps around between past and present, but Buchanan does a splendid job keeping a tight grip on each part, building tension as Cooper's tenacity uncovers a complex web of secrets and lies. He gradually draws you in to paint a picture that elicits as many questions as it does apparent answers, until the superb ending brings about an epiphany that shockingly throws a different light on everything you think you know. 

This is masterful storytelling, ripe in themes of loss, loneliness, trauma, and alienation, which echo in the experiences of many of the characters, and the way Buchanan weaves many shades of 'consumed' throughout is seriously slick. I am somewhat relieved that he has dialled down the references to animal cruelty this time around, but even so he does not shy away from describing nature as red in tooth and claw (or possibly hoof and snout), and I thoroughly enjoyed the way he examines the complex relationship between animals and humans with real insight. A word here for the superb way in which Buchanan pitches his tent in a very different setting for this story from his debut, and yet floods the whole fabulous book with equally menacing undercurrents, and there is something incredibly unsettling about the way the picturesque backdrop contrasts with the darkness playing out in the foreground. Outstanding!

Greg Buchanan made his mark with Sixteen Horses, breaking through as one of the most exciting new writers in the crime genre, and Consumed confirms that he is far from a flash in the pan. This is, quite simply, one of the finest literary crime novels I have ever had the pleasure to be 'consumed' by. More please, Mr Buchanan!

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

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

About the author:

Greg Buchanan is a BAFTA-longlisted writer for interactive and screen. His debut novel Sixteen Horses was selected for BBC Two's Between the Covers and Waterstones Thriller of the Month.

The Silent Friend by Alison Stockham

 

The Silent Friend by Alison Stockham.

Published 24th July 2023 by Boldwood Books.

From the cover of the book:

When it comes to saving yourself, who will you betray?

Louise has a shadowy past that she wants to break free from and when she develops an unlikely friendship with Isabelle, her neighbour, she finally finds the family she’s always yearned for.

But Louise knows more about Isabelle than her new friend realises, more specifically about her imprisoned husband – and the circumstances behind his arrest.

Louise is faced with a choice: to continue lying to her only friend or tell the truth and ruin any chance she has of starting over…

***********

Louise is desperate for a new start, but it is so hard to break away from the difficult situation she has become trapped in, especially as she has no one she can rely on to help her. When the husband of her pregnant neighbour Isabelle is arrested for a heinous crime, Louise suddenly finds herself making her first real friend - and the feeling of being needed makes her see that turning her life around might be possible after all.

But she is hiding secrets from Isabelle about her murky past, and her connection to the crimes of her husband. Louise must make a choice - should she come clean and put herself in the firing line to help her only friend, or stay quiet and cling on to the little 'family' she has dreamed of for so long? 

The Silent Friend is an intriguing mix of psychological thriller, crime story, and domestic noir, and Alison Stockham does an excellent job of weaving these elements together to make a compelling tale. Without giving the game away, Louise is a troubled soul with a difficult upbringing, and her vulnerabilities lead to her getting involved in the dodgy dealings of Isabelle's unpleasant husband. Isabelle is completely in the dark about the real nature of her husband's activities, and Louise's desire to protect herself ends up drawing the three of them together in a complex web of lies and deceit. Over the course of this gripping story, Louise finds herself with a dilemma when she begins to care about what happens to Isabelle and her child, and desperately wants to save them from a future with a man she knows to be violent and unpredictable.

Stockham explores some really interesting themes around childhood trauma, domestic abuse, guilt, sacrifice, and redemption, and the choices Louise makes take this story in unexpected directions. The threads twist and turn, with carefully timed reveals that change your perception of Louise over the course of the book, leading to a heart warming ending full of hope - which is a very different place from where it all begins.

This is my first book by Alison Stockham, but it will definitely not be my last. I really enjoyed how she blends her emotional themes into a proper page turner, with a title full of shades of meaning, and the story gives you a lot to ponder on about real friendship and absolution.

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

BUY LINK

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

About the author:

Alison Stockham’s debut novel The Cuckoo Sister was longlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize. 

Having worked in TV documentary production for the BBC and Channel 4, Alison is now the Events Coordinator for the Cambridge Literary Festival.

The Revels by Stacey Thomas

The Revels by Stacey Thomas.

Published 20th July 2023 by HQ.

From the cover of the book:

The stage is set and the witch-hunt is about to begin…

‘I am no witch. I have not sold my soul to the devil for powers. What I am has never openly been whispered of, yet it is enough that people would hang for it.’

England, 1645.

After his half-brother dies, aspiring playwright Nicholas Pearce is apprenticed to Judge William Percival, an infamous former witch-hunter who is under pressure to resume his old profession.

In a country torn apart by civil war, with escalating tensions between Catholics and Protestants, Royalists and Roundheads, and rumours of witchcraft, Nicholas hides a secret: the dead sing. He hears their secrets, but will he find the courage to speak up to save innocent lives, even if it means putting himself in great danger?

***********

England, 1645. Illegitimate son, Nicholas Pearce is called back home to the house of his wealthy merchant father to take on the role left behind by his recently dead half-brother Francis. Unaccustomed to the part he must now play, and unwilling to give up his life as an aspiring playwright, Nicholas is persuaded to comply in a bargain with his father that promises he will reveal the name of the mother Nicholas does not remember.

Nicholas finds himself apprenticed to the former witch-hunter, William Percival, who prefers to leave his notoriety behind in his present job as a judge - but the past will not leave him alone. Plagued with requests to resume his former life, Percival attempts to do what he can to clear women of false charges of witchcraft when he is called to stand in judgement of them, with Nicholas' help, but in these unsettled times it is a near impossible task - and Nicholas must watch his step at every turn, because he has a secret that also makes him a target for those out to make their name. For Nicholas can hear the dead sing...

The Revels is a compelling story of witchcraft and injustice, which breaks the mould by being set against a background somewhat later that the witchy novels I have read before. Stacey Thomas takes you beyond the menacing times under King James I, driven by his obsession with hunting witches, to an England torn asunder by civil war between the Royalist supporters of Charles I and the Roundheads, which feeds an all new tide of revenge provoked attacks on the innocent.

There is so much here that harks back to the former horrors of the spate of witchcraft trials that we have heard so much about, and Thomas plays beautifully with the shadows of the tragedy of the lives lost that still looms large over these later times - especially the story of the Pendle witches. She blends this with the atmosphere of suspicion that now pervades the land in the midst of civil war, channelling the division caused by warring factions and religious dissent into the mix, which makes for a glorious setting that is ripe for those looking for a way to gain personal advantage with a little bit of old fashioned revenge - including powerful manipulators who do not care how many innocent souls are lost in the process. And their weapon of choice? Accusations of witchcraft...

On a twist in what you normally expect from a book about with trials, there is another element here that adds real complexity, and cleverly muddies the waters, for some of our characters certainly have skills which many would claim to be Devil-sent. Thomas paints many of these characters in shades of grey, playing on themes of guilt, power, injustice, and complicity, which add intriguing depth to how the story plays out. My favourite element is the unusual crime-solving partnership that develops between Nicholas and his love interest, the unconventional Althamia, which was a joy - and gives rise to the prospect of a cracking sequel, should Thomas so wish. I am certainly not ready to let go of them yet.

If you love a witchy adventure then there is plenty in this stunning debut to please, and it offers some delicious departures to what you normally expect in a book about witch trials too - all while paying homage to the suffering of those who lost their lives as the result of hatred and fear. 

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

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

About the author:

Stacey Thomas was born in Paddington, home to Paddington Bear and the Puppet Theatre Barge. Stacey studied English & History at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. She is a contributor to Bad Form Review and an alumna of the Curtis Brown Creative novel writing course, where she wrote her witchy debut, The Revels. 

The Revels won HarperCollins’s inaugural Killing It Competition for Undiscovered Writers and will be published by HQ Stories in July 2023.

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey.

Narrated by Matthew McConaughey.

Released 20th October 2020 by Audible.

From the cover:

From the Academy Award-winning actor, an unconventional memoir filled with raucous stories, outlaw wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction.

I've been in this life for 50 years, been trying to work out its riddle for 42, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last 35. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.

Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers. I found a reliable theme, an approach to living that gave me more satisfaction, at the time, and still: If you know how, and when, to deal with life's challenges - how to get relative with the inevitable - you can enjoy a state of success I call 'catching greenlights.'

So I took a one-way ticket to the desert and wrote this book: an album, a record, a story of my life so far. This is fifty years of my sights and seens, felts and figured-outs, cools and shamefuls. Graces, truths, and beauties of brutality. Getting away withs, getting caughts, and getting wets while trying to dance between the raindrops.

Hopefully, it's medicine that tastes good, a couple of aspirin instead of the infirmary, a spaceship to Mars without needing your pilot's license, going to church without having to be born again, and laughing through the tears.

It's a love letter. To life. It's also a guide to catching more greenlights-and to realising that the yellows and reds eventually turn green too. Good luck.

The audiobook now includes an exclusive interview with Matthew McConaughey which was recorded during his book tour in 2021.

***********

When actor Matthew McConaughey hit his milestone 50th birthday, he decided the time was ripe to review his diaries from the last 35 years and distil all he has learned about life into a memoir. Greenlights is the result, and as memoirs go it is rather an unconventional one. Instead of simply being an account of his life and times, he also offers a hefty slice of life coaching advice about how to deal with the challenges that come your way - opening up to life's 'greenlights' to find fulfilment and happiness.

McConaughey narrates this book himself, and his enthusiasm carries you along through the stories he tells of his early life, career, and family, interspersed with cheerleading references to this things he calls 'bumper stickers' (basically mottos to live by) and 'prescriptions' about how to achieve happiness. 

For a good portion of this audio book, I thought this rather charming, especially since his voice is like Texan honey, but after a while I found myself wanting more about his acting roles (there is actually very little detail here apart from one or two of his more famous parts), and a bit less of the life coaching - so much so that I put the audio book to one side for a good few months and have only just completed it.

If you like your memoirs to be full of inspirational advice rather than a string of acting anecdotes, then you will find plenty here to enjoy, and there is a lot to make you ponder on how you live your life - even if you do not always agree with his philosophy or beliefs. However, it does not quite hit the mark for me, given that I was here for the acting nitty gritty, even with Matthew's dulcet tones. I think this is a book that will divide the crowd!

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

About the author:

Academy Award–winning actor Matthew McConaughey is a married man, a father of three children, and a loyal son and brother. He considers himself a storyteller by occupation, believes it's okay to have a beer on the way to the temple, feels better with a day’s sweat on him, and is an aspiring orchestral conductor.

In 2009, Matthew and his wife, Camila, founded the just keep livin Foundation, which helps at-risk high school students make healthier mind, body, and spirit choices. In 2019, McConaughey became a professor of practice at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as Minister of Culture/M.O.C. for the University of Texas and the City of Austin. McConaughey is also brand ambassador for Lincoln Motor Company, an owner of the Major League Soccer club Austin FC, and co-creator of his favorite bourbon on the planet, Wild Turkey Longbranch.

Endless Night by Agatha Christie

 

Endless Night by Agatha Christie.

This edition published 9th February 2017 by Harper Collins.

From the cover of the book:

Gipsy’s Acre was a truly beautiful upland site with views out to sea – and in Michael Rogers it stirred a child-like fantasy.

There, amongst the dark fir trees, he planned to build a house, find a girl and live happily ever after.

Yet, as he left the village, a shadow of menace hung over the land. For this was the place where accidents happened. Perhaps Michael should have heeded the locals’ warnings: ‘There’s no luck for them as meddles with Gipsy’s Acre.’

Michael Rogers is a man who is about to learn the true meaning of the old saying ‘In my end is my beginning…’

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Michael Rogers is a man who has never felt the need to follow convention and settle down. His life has been spent going with the flow, moving from job to job, and woman to woman, as his will takes him. But when he comes to beautiful Gypsy's Acre in Devon, he knows that this is the place he wants to build a house, and make a home with a woman he can truly love - and as luck would have it, chance has just brought to him heiress Fenella (Ellie) Guteman, the woman of his dreams.

Michael and Ellie fall in love, despite the gulf in their backgrounds, and settle down to happily married life in the new modern house they have built overlooking the sea. However, Gypsy's Acre comes with a curse. Those who live here are asking for darkness to come calling...

Endless Night is an Agatha Christie story like no other I have read before. Told in a single person narrative from Michael Rogers, who takes us through his history with Gypsy's Acre and the woman who brings him the fortune he needs to make his desires come true, it is pervaded with an overwhelming sense of menace from beginning to end. Rogers is compelling narrator, and he brings in a small and intimate cast of friends and relations around him and Ellie as he spins his tragic tale.

It is apparent from the very beginning of this story that a happy ending is not going to be on the cards, but Christie well and truly leads you down the garden path about the intentions of practically every character here with a bevy of red herrings, before the truth about what is going on hits you full-square between the eyes in the most shocking fashion. In fact this is the first time I have had to rewind a Christie audio book (here delightfully narrated by my old favourite Hugh Fraser) to re-play the most devastating reveal from her devious imagination ever, even though she frequently blindsides me with her stories! It is a corker!

This is my rather offbeat choice for this month's #ReadChristie2023 challenge, which explores love/lust in her books, and as usual, I alternated between reading the text and listening to the audio book. This story is all about how the lines between love, lust, greed and obsession can become blurred, and it fits the bill perfectly. 

Endless Night 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 Little Italian Hotel by Phaedra Patrick

 

The Little Italian Hotel by Phaedra Patrick.

Published 20th July 2023 by HQ.

From the cover of the book:

Ginny Splinter, acclaimed radio host and relationship expert, prides herself on knowing what’s best for others. So, she’s sure her husband, Adrian, will love the special trip to Italy she’s planned for their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. But when Ginny presents the gift, he surprises her with his own very different plan: a divorce.

Beside herself with heartache, Ginny impulsively goes live on air to invite four heartbroken listeners to join her instead. From hiking the hills of Bologna to sharing a gondola in Venice and dancing until dawn, Ginny and her guests embark on a holiday of full of fun, hope and healing.

Sunny, tender and brimming with charm, The Little Italian Hotel explores love, the importance of friendship, and reclaiming the present moment – even if it means leaving the past behind.

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Agony aunt Ginny Splinter loves helping people work out their issues on her radio programme, drawing on experience from her own marriage to give them advice about creating a happy home life. However, Ginny is forced to rethink her seemingly picture-perfect existence when she surprises her husband with the holiday plans she has made for their 25th wedding anniversary... and rather than being delighted, he tells her that he wants a divorce.

Ginny is devastated, and at a loss to explain how her marriage could have broken down without her noticing, especially as she is supposed to be a relationship expert. On impulse, she confesses her heartache live on air, and invites four heartbroken listeners to share her holiday instead. Ginny and her eccentric group of guests settle into the shabby Hotel Splendido in the hills of Bologna to embark on three weeks of shared activites to help them all work through their heartache. Can their time at The Little Italian Hotel help them find a way to heal?

Phaedra Patrick takes us to the beautiful Bologna hills for a touching story about love, friendship, and finding a way forward when life gives you lemons, that curiously blends the concepts of Deborah Moggach's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel with Willy Russell's Shirley Valentine.

Radio relationship guru, Ginny Splinter is in for a shock when she realises that her marriage is not quite as perfect as she thought. Unable to cancel the dream holiday she planned with her husband, she ends up in Italy with four strangers: elderly Edna, cheery teacher Heather, awkward carpenter Eric, and businessman Curtis. At first it is not easy to tell what has brought them on this holiday, but over the course of the story they open up to share their poignant tales of tragedy and loss, which tug mercilessly on your heartstrings. With a heartwarming twist or two, Patrick uses their developing friendship to help them to accept their situations and move forward. Interestingly, this healing also extends to the owner of Hotel Spendido himself, who it turns out has significant worries of his own.

I did find Ginny a tricky character at times, and am in two minds about the direction in which her story ultimately goes, but I enjoyed how her journey combines with those of Enid, Heather, Eric and Curtis - and the way this tale pokes fun at the smugness of the celebrity self-help set is amusing. There are lots of touching and humorous moments, and Patrick brings in many different facets of loss, heartache, and expectation through the stories of the characters. This makes their heartache widely relatable, and I shed more than a few tears as they each told their stories. The simple moments of friendship and fun they spend with each other are really lovely, and the locations are simply beautiful.

I came to this book expecting a story full of romantic suspense, and although there is an element of that here, this really is more about friendship and acceptance. Patrick throws in quite a few knotty issues to add depth, which makes this a good option for a book club read - as an added bonus there are some questions at the end of the book to provoke discussion about many of the themes that arise too. There is hope and an uplifting vibe, but be prepared for bitter-sweet feelings amongst the warm and fuzzies.

 The Little Italian Hotel is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

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

About the author:

Phaedra Patrick has always wanted to write books but came to it the long way around. She originally studied art and marketing and then worked as a stained glass artist, film festival organiser and communications manager. She won several awards for her short stories and has now written six novels, four of which became USA Today bestsellers. 

She lives with her family in Saddleworth, UK, where she writes full time.

Her debut novel, The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, was translated into twenty five languages worldwide and was optioned by a major Hollywood film studio. Her second novel, Rise and Shine, Benedict Stone (named Wishes Under the Willow Tree in the UK), was made into a Hallmark movie in 2021. Her third novel, inspired by her love of stories, is The Library of Lost and Found. It was selected as ’The Great North West Read,’ to be read across 300 libraries in the UK in 2019. Her fourth is titled The Secrets of Love Story Bridge (The Secrets of Sunshine in the UK) and her fifth, The Messy Lives of Book People (titled The Book Share in the UK) was the Barnes & Noble fiction pick for June 2022 in the USA. Her sixth novel is The Little Italian Hotel, a warm, uplifting escape about the power of love, friendship and following your dreams.