The Therapist by B.A. Parris (Audio Clip Tour)

 

The Therapist (Audio Book) by B.A. Parris.

Narrated by Olivia Dowd and Thomas Judd.

Released 16th April 2021 by HQ.

From the cover:

Tell me your secrets.... 

When Alice and Leo move into a newly renovated house in The Circle, a gated community of exclusive houses, it is everything they’ve dreamed of. But appearances can be deceptive....

As Alice is getting to know her neighbours, she discovers a devastating, grisly secret about her new home - and begins to feel a strong connection with Nina, the therapist who lived there before.

Alice becomes obsessed with trying to piece together what happened two years before. But no one wants to talk about it. Her neighbours are keeping secrets, and things are not as perfect as they seem....

The million-copy Sunday Times best-selling author B A Paris returns to her heartland of gripping psychological suspense in this powerful tale of a house that holds a shocking secret.

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As part of the blog tour for the gripping psychological thriller The Therapist by B.A. Parris it is my pleasure to bring you a clip from the audio book narrated by Olivia Down and Thomas Judd.

The Therapist is available to buy now in hardback, paperback, ebook and audio formats from your favourite retailer, or via the link HERE.

Thank you to HQ for inviting me to take part in this blog tour.

About the author:

B.A. Paris is the internationally bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors, The Breakdown, Bring Me Back, The Dilemma and The Therapist. Having sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide, she is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller as well as a number one bestseller on Amazon and iBooks. Her novels have been translated into 40 languages, and Film and TV rights to Behind Closed Doors have been optioned. She is currently based in the UK.

The Chateau by Catherine Cooper

 

The Chateau by Catherine Cooper.

Published 2nd September 2021 by Harper Collins.

From the cover of the book:

They thought it was perfect. They were wrong…

A glamorous chateau...

Aura and Nick don’t talk about what happened in England. They’ve bought a chateau in France to make a fresh start, and their kids need them to stay together – whatever it costs.

A couple on the brink...

The expat community is welcoming, but when a neighbour is murdered at a lavish party, Aura and Nick don’t know who to trust.

A secret that is bound to come out…

Someone knows exactly why they really came to the chateau. And someone is going to give them what they deserve.

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Welcome to The Chateau, the follow up to Catherine Cooper's hugely entertaining debut The Chalet which was one of my absolute favourite snowy thrillers from 2020 (read my review HERE).

This time the twisty action takes place in the heart of the French countryside (with a snowy interlude, I am happy to say), where young couple Aura and Nick have relocated with their two small boys to transform a crumbling chateau into a fancy B & B and wellness retreat - and to try to save their marriage. 

At the beginning of the story, we see everything through the eyes of Aura, meeting various new neighbours, a film crew who are there to document their progress restoring the chateau and a mysterious older woman who comes to stay as part of a volunteer scheme. To say they are a mixed bunch is an understatement, and there are some pretty suspicious characters among them - hurray! Although you know Aura and Nick are escaping some murky goings on back home in the UK from the hints she drops, you only start to learn exactly what went on when the story opens up into the very best kind of thriller - a tale from different points of view. As Nick adds his own narrative, and we also meet the character Ella, the action moves back and forth between the time before the move to France and the present, and the gaps slowly start to fill in.

The gloriously twisty story plays out with strange goings on in the chateau, and a slow dawning that the legacy of what Nick and Aura have left behind in the UK is going to haunt them in France, despite the picture-perfect fiction Aura is trying to create about their new lives in a rural idyll. It's not long before a murder shatters their lives and the secrets they have been trying to conceal are bound to be revealed. Someone knows why they have moved here and will not rest until they have their revenge.

As with the The Chalet, Catherine Cooper channels Agatha Christie by throwing together a cast of players who all seem to have something to hide, and this allows her to bring in a crateful of red herrings to distract you from the truth of what is really going on here. I think I suspected almost every single character of being guilty of murder along the way before discovering that their crimes lay in other sinful directions, which kept the entertainment factor high throughout. The tension rises beautifully as threads of desire, deception and vengeance weave into a compelling page turner, and you start to jump at shadows along with Aura, until the truth is revealed in a delectable twist and twist again ending that I did not see coming. And this one also leaves you with a proper chill, dear readers.

Although I can't go into the themes Cooper explores without giving away the game, I was very impressed by the way she raises some interesting questions about moral dilemmas, reputation, conspiracy theories, technology, and the influence of social media in the telling of this tale, which gives it surprising depth too.

This really is another cracking thriller from the pen of Catherine Cooper and I am very much looking forward to whatever her twisty imagination comes up with next. She has confirmed her place among my auto-read list!

The Chateau is available to buy now from your favourite book retailer in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Harper Fiction for sending me a paperback copy of this book in return for an honest review and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Catherine Cooper is a freelance journalist living in the South of France with her husband and two teenage children. She moved from London in 2009 so that her children could grow up bilingual and they could all ski more, and to enjoy a more relaxed pace of life. She learned to ski on a school trip when she was 14 and has loved it ever since. She is an avid thriller reader and has been since she discovered Agatha Christie as a child.

The Chalet is her first published full-length novel, though she has also written several (unpublished) thrillers for teens and a (what used to be called) chick lit novel set in TV production. The Chateau is her second published novel.

Other than skiing and reading, she loves travel, rollercoasters, and spends far too much time on social media. Some of her other favourite things include Alan Partridge, sparkly flip flops and salt and vinegar crisps.

Let Us Prey (Audio Book) by David James Smith

 

Let Us Prey by David James Smith.

Released 16th July 2021 by Audible Originals.

Narrated by David James Smith.

From the cover:

An incredible true story of evil in the heart of rural England.

Ben Field was good looking, charming, and as a passionate student of English literature he knew the power of words to seduce. When Ben arrived in the village of Maids Moreton in Buckinghamshire, sixty-nine-year-old Peter Farquhar found him irresistible. They set up home together and underwent a ‘betrothal’ ceremony at a church. Peter changed his will to make Ben its beneficiary. A year later Peter was dead.

Ben moved on to a neighbour in the same street, Ann Moore-Martin, who also fell helplessly in love with him. All the time Ben was setting her up to redraft her will so that he would benefit on her death.

Remarkably Ben described in intimate detail his manipulations, perverse fantasies and desires in numerous journals and diaries, providing a unique insight into the mind of a killer.

This is an extraordinary story of corruption and evil within a seemingly cosy middle class English setting. Combining the forensic attention to detail of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood with the rural whimsy of an Agatha Christie novel, Let Us Prey is an astonishing account of one of the most bewildering and fascinating murders of modern times.

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If you are a fan of true crime stories then you will probably have heard of Ben Field, who was convicted of killing 69-year-old novelist and former English teacher Peter Farquhar in 2019. I confess that I had not heard of this case, so found the details revealed in this audio book by journalist David James Smith horrifyingly compelling.

This book is narrated by Smith based on his own investigation into the murder of Farquhar, citing Field's own journals to show how he manipulated those around him and indulged in perverse fantasies that, although he later claimed with merely flights of fancy, contained very specific details about the acts he actually carried out. These journals provide a fascinating, if viscerally chilling, look into the mind of a killer, portraying Field as an extremely cruel and calculating individual.

But this is not just an account of Field himself. Interestingly, Smith spends a lot of time examining the life of Farquhar too, which gives rare insight into how someone comes under the spell of a manipulative charmer like Field. Farquhar comes across as complex mix of convivial and boorish traits, but it was his inner conflict between his strong religious faith and the inability to come to terms with his homosexuality that made him vulnerable, and Field knew exactly how to get under his skin - and his roof - even going so far as to go through a betrothal ceremony with Farquhar in order to get his hands on some of the older man's money. It was an inner turmoil and desperate desire to be accepted and loved that proved to be Farquhar's undoing, and he never realised that the man he thought loved him too was constantly gaslighting and drugging him.

It seems surprising that Field's deviousness and expert level machinations almost allowed him to get away with murder, as no one suspected this outwardly charming young man of any wrongdoing at the time of Farquhar's death, instead falling hook line and sinker for the picture of his victim as a chronic alcoholic that he had created. However, Field was not content with what he had gained from his victim and decided to move on to prey on another resident of the small village of Maids Moreton - the elderly Ann Moore-Martin, who fell in love with Field. Keen to repeat the process that had been so successful with his first victim, Field got to work on Moore-Martin, but eventually her family became suspicious after she fell ill and when Field was arrested his past misdeeds were uncovered. Sadly Moore-Martin later died of natural illness, but her life had been deeply affected by her experience with Field. Like with Farquhar before, Smith gives us a look at the life of this lonely woman to show how she also fell under the charismatic Field's spell.

This is not a story for the faint hearted, or it has to be said anyone with only a passing interest in true crime tales. This book extends to over the nine hour mark, and is the most detailed account of a murderer and those he preyed upon that I have ever experienced. At times the actions, thoughts and desires of Field are very hard to listen to, especially when detailing the more sadistic parts of his crimes and although I do not consider myself squeamish I did struggle with the cruelty depicted. The narration itself is not especially expressive, and could be considered to be a bit on the monotonous side by some, but in view of the subject matter I actually found the laying out of events in a factual way helped to make it more believable - grim, but true. In any case, there is no doubt that Smith has done an incredible amount of research into this case.

If you love your true crime detailed, chilling and disturbingly fascinating then this is going to be a book for you. It is certainly an unflinching look into the face of evil.

Let Us Prey is available to buy now.

Thank you to Midas Public Relations for providing me with a copy of this audio book in return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

David James Smith is the author of six acclaimed non-fiction books and is an award-wining journalist for The Sunday Times Magazine of London.

His latest book Let Us Prey - A True Story of Murder and Deception is an Audible Original, available exclusively on Audible read by the author. It is an account of the Maids Moreton case.

Codename Firefly (Number 10 Book 2) by C.J. Daugherty

 

Codename Firefly (Number 10 Book 2) by C.J. Daugherty.

Published 2nd September 2021 by Moonflower Books.

From the cover of the book:

Gray Langtry is on the run. As the only child of the British Prime Minister, Gray's life has been in turmoil ever since her mother was chosen to lead the country. Both she and her mother are targets of a Russian assassination plot. And what's worse, members of her mother's own cabinet are involved. A team of bodyguards never leaves her side. The press attention is relentless. And then there are the death threats.

Now, after an attempt on Gray's life, she has been moved to an elite boarding school in the British countryside. Shielded by high walls and locked gates, Gray finally feels safe, but the plotters are still hunting, and soon they will find her.

Gray's personal bodyguard, Julia, and the school's young headmistress are determined to protect her. They both know how dangerous things are. The assassins searching for Gray are highly trained. And when they arrive they will aim to kill. 

Dylan, a mysterious American student, seems to know more than he should - but he's always there when Gray needs him. Can she trust him? Can she trust anyone?

As winter closes in and darkness falls, Gray will have to think fast. The hunters are coming.

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If you are familiar with C.J. Daugherty's books then you will know that she has a knack of writing engaging and thoroughly enjoyable YA fiction. Her new Number 10 series is set in the same world as her Night School books, and the first book Number 10 introduced us to Prime Minister Jessica Langtry and her teenage daughter Gray. The second book in the series, Codename Firefly, goes a step further towards the Night School series, because in this book Gray finds herself as pupil at the exclusive Cimmeria Academy - which features in the Night School books.

Since Gray's mother became Prime Minister both of their lives have changed enormously, with their every move the subject of close scrutiny by the media, but it has also put them in danger by making them the targets of a Russian assassination plot. In an effort to provide some protection for Gray, she has been enrolled in the elite boarding school Cimmeria Academy, where her parents and security team believe she will be away from the prying eyes of the press and the chance that those with sinister intent will be able to get anywhere near her again. Of course, she has her own team of body guards on hand to make sure she remains safe behind the high walls of the Academy too, and they will be keeping an eye on her using her unique codename Firefly.

Gray starts to feel safe for the first time in many months, settling into school life, coming to terms with the events of Number 10, and making friends among the kind of students that know only too well what it means to live a high profile life. She also finds herself becoming close to an American student called Dylan, but she is really not sure whether she can trust him as he seems to know more than a bit too much about her and why she is here.

Unfortunately, it's not long before Gray's peace is shattered when Russian spies discover where she is laying low, and send a team of masked men to abduct her. Her security team manage to thwart their efforts more than once, but this is a foe determined to succeed. The constant feeling of danger is very unsettling and although she tries to carry on with the routine of school life, it is proving impossible to ignore the fact that her life is in danger once more. As the dark nights close in, Gray must learn how to protect herself from attack - especially since someone on the inside is helping the Russians in their deadly pursuit.

My favourite thing about these books is the way they make both domestic and world politics so accessible to a younger audience, and their success lies in the way this is done through the eyes of a teen herself, combining her very typical hopes, dreams, likes, dislikes and anxieties with real world danger and intrigue in the upper echelons of Downing Street, Whitehall and beyond. Gray herself is a lovely character, at times brave and bold, and at others shy and fearful - forming a very realistic mix of traits in any teenage girl trying to find her identity and forge a path in the world, which makes her highly relatable to teenage readers. In this second book, we get to see Gray making friends in a school environment, albeit a rather select set of classmates, bringing an a big dollop of threads in the coming of age vein, and we also get an intriguing glimpse behind the faces of her security team, which broadens the range of themes explored in the story nicely.

I can't go into too much in the way of detail without giving the game away, but this is so much more than a tale of teenage angst. There is plenty here to get readers of all ages perching on the edge of their seats, with gripping storylines that include elements of danger, conspiracy and mystery - all of which provide wide appeal and actually make these great books for you to read alongside your teens. The way Daugherty touches on many topical issues around relationships, divorce, sexuality, mental health and of course politics in an age appropriate way (perfect for readers aged 13 and up), incorporating them into a cracking page turner, gives plenty of opportunity to talk freely about subjects which might not always trip off the tongue too - a little school librarian tip for you there folks!

Back to school time seems like the best time to think about choosing some great new books for your teen readers, and I can highly recommend any of C.J. Daugherty's books as ones sure to please the most picky among them - but I am going to give a little extra shout for the Number 10 books too, because this is shaping up to be an absolute cracker of a series. I am really looking forward to the next one!

Codename Firefly is available to buy now from your favourite book retailer in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Moonflower Books and Midas Public Relations 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:

Former crime reporter Christi (C.J.) Daugherty began writing her bestselling Night School series while working as a communications consultant for the British government – where she would visit Number 10 regularly. The young adult series was published by Little Brown and went on to sell over a million copies worldwide. A web series inspired by the books clocked up over two million views and won dozens of awards. In 2020, the books were optioned for television. Daugherty is the author of The Echo Killing series, published by St Martin’s Press, and co-wrote the fantasy series, The Secret Fire, with French author Carina Rozenfeld. 

While working as a civil servant, she had meetings at Number 10 Downing Street, and saw people disappearing through a small door to a staircase heading below ground level. This became the inspiration for Number 10. FYI: she still doesn't know if there are tunnels below Number 10. But hopes there are.

Her books have been translated into 24 languages and have been bestsellers in multiple countries. She lives in the south of England with her husband, the BAFTA nominated filmmaker, Jack Jewers.

A Rattle of Bones (Rebecca Connolly Book 3) (Audio Book) by Douglas Skelton

 

A Rattle of Bones (Rebecca Connolly Book 3) (Audio Book) by Douglas Skelton.

Narrated by Sarah Barron.

Released 1st September 2021 by Isis Audio.

From the cover:

In 1752, Seamus a'Ghlynne, James of the Glen, was executed for the murder of government man Colin Campbell. He was almost certainly innocent. When banners are placed at his gravesite claiming that his namesake, James Stewart, is innocent of murder, reporter Rebecca Connolly smells a story.

The young Stewart has been in prison for 10 years for the brutal murder of his lover, lawyer and politician Murdo Maxwell. Rebecca soon discovers that Maxwell believed he was being followed prior to his murder and his phones were tapped. As Rebecca keeps digging, she finds herself in the sights of Inverness crime matriarch Mo Burke, who wants payback for the damage caused to her family in a previous case.

Set against the stunning backdrop of the Scottish Highlands, A Rattle of Bones is a tale of injustice and mystery, and the echo of the past in the present.

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Rebecca Connolly is an investigative journalist who once worked for the Highland Chronicle, until she became disillusioned with the direction of modern journalism, but she has now made a place for herself at a small news agency in Inverness where her skills can be put to better use. These days she mostly covers small time stuff, and tries to get over some painful memories that refuse to stay buried, but she always has her eye out for a canny story - and one is about to fall into her lap.

Rebecca's interest is piqued when banners suddenly start appearing around town on sites associated with James of the Glen (known as James Stewart) who was wrongly hanged for a crime he did not commit in 1752, during the Jacobite Rebellion. The banners are intended to draw attention to the case of another James Stewart, who was convicted ten years ago for the violent murder of his lover, ex-lawyer and politician Murdo Maxwell. The word is that this James Stewart has also been the victim of a miscarriage of justice, although the details of the new evidence that apparently exonerates him are sketchy at best.

This is a case that has captured Rebecca's attention in the past, but she was unable to gain any real traction with her pieces suggesting that the young James Stewart was not the person with blood on his hands. Unfortunately, her lack of success caused James' grieving mother Afua to lose faith in the notion that any help was to be gained from the media in her campaign to have her son freed - and also come to the conclusion that Rebecca in particular could be of any use.

With interest in the case rekindled, Rebecca is off on the trail of both justice for the young James Stewart - and a story, of course - if she can get Afua back on side and find out exactly what the new evidence entails. This is an investigation that is gong to take her in the path of the allegedly great of the Highland social set, the not necessarily good of the police force, and the undeniably baddest of the dodgy political and criminal fraternities. Can Rebecca find the evidence to prove that James is innocent, while keeping her own demons at bay and herself safe from harm?

What a glorious crime story this turned out to be! Although this is actually the third book in the Rebecca Connolly series, and incidentally my first Douglas Skelton, it can easily be tackled as a standalone story so don't worry if you have not read the previous books. Inevitably, there are threads to the tale that reflect Rebecca's previous triumphs and tragedies, but they don't have a bearing on the James Stewart case itself.

This is a story that delves into both the past and the human psyche. Skelton displays an absolute masterclass in plotting and imagination to weave the threads of this crime novel into something that builds slowly into the kind of tale that becomes completely engrossing. So many times I found myself just stopping what I was doing to listen to the first class narration by Sarah Barron, who handles all the accents brilliantly by the way, as I was completely drawn into the story.

I don't really want to go into the delicious twists, turns and delectable misdirection that Skelton throws your way in this story, because this is a spoiler free zone, but the themes he touches on are surprisingly deep and poignant. The parallel storylines of the two James Stewarts separated by time cleverly highlight the issue of the pursuit of justice for those convicted of a crime they did not commit, and bringing in the past allows Skelton to have a little fun with a haunting spectral undercurrent of a land that calls for sins of the past to be put right - playing up the Highland environment to the max.

I thoroughly enjoyed how the case of the contemporary James Stewart incorporates a mix of the worlds of media, politics, law enforcement and gang culture, using the themes of truth, power, revenge, sexuality, skin colour and ideology to divide enemies and drive the story, bringing a modern twist to the historical battle between Scot and Sassanach that did for James of the Glen. There are also some absolutely lovely characters here, nicely drawn to elicit a range of emotions that take you all the way through love, loss, heartbreak, reconciliation and forgiveness, and there are some truly chuckle worthy moments to lighten the mood too.

This novel really bowled me over with how slick and intelligently constructed it is, and I was very entertained by being totally blindsided in the way Skelton spins aspects of the story to persuade you to look completely in the wrong direction - how I love that WTF  moment when you realise you read something completely wrong! This may be my first Douglas Skelton, but it will not be my last, as I will definitely be going back to enjoy the first two books in the Rebecca Connolly series in the not too distant future!

A Rattle of Bones is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats, from your favourite book retailer.

Thank you to Isis Audio for sending me a copy of the audio version of this book, in return for an honest review, and to Danielle Price of The Reading Closet for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Douglas Skelton was born in Glasgow. He has been a bank clerk, tax officer, taxi driver (for two days), wine waiter (for two hours), journalist and investigator. He has written eleven true crime and Scottish criminal history books but now concentrates on fiction. His novel Thunder Bay (2019) was longlisted for the McIlvanney Award. Douglas has investigated real-life crime for Glasgow solicitors and was involved in a long-running campaign to right the famous Ice-Cream Wars miscarriage of justice.

Resistance (City of Spies Book 2) by Mara Timon

Resistance (City of Spies Book 2) by Mara Timon.

Published 2nd September 2021 by Zaffre.

From the cover of the book:

THREE WOMEN. ONE MISSION. ENEMIES EVERYWHERE.

May 1944. When spy Elisabeth de Mornay, code name Cécile, notices a coded transmission from an agent in the field does not bear his usual signature, she suspects his cover has been blown - something that is happening with increasing frequency. With the situation in Occupied France worsening and growing fears that the Resistance has been compromised, Cécile is ordered behind enemy lines.

Having rendezvoused with her fellow agents, Léonie and Dominique, together they have one mission: help the Resistance destabilise German operations to pave the way for the Normandy landings.

But the life of a spy is never straightforward, and the in-fighting within the Resistance makes knowing who to trust ever more difficult. With their lives on the line, all three women will have to make decisions that could cost them everything - for not all their enemies are German.

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It's May 1944, and the top secret plans for D-Day are well underway. Elisabeth de Mornay, code name Cécile, is no stranger to life behind enemy lines as an SOE agent, but since her last mission which took her unexpectedly from Paris to Lisbon she has been working in London with the team that decodes messages from agents in Occupied-France. When the suspicion arises that one of her agents has been compromised, Cécile is ordered to return to France to discover if there is a mole in the ranks of the Resistance, something that would be disastrous not only for British agents and all those who view their Nazi overlords with unfriendly eyes, but also the plans to destabilise German operations in the run up to D-Day. 

Cécile is parachuted back behind enemy lines in the company of her new Operation Jedborough commander Léonie, with plans to establish themselves undercover before meeting up with Cécile's old French compatriot Dominique. This is going to be a tricky mission, not least because of in-fighting within the Resistance, but also because the new personas being taken on by both Cécile and Léonie come with challenges of their own - and Cécile is about to come face to face with someone from her past in a way that might derail the whole operation. Danger lies all around, and not all their enemies are German. Cécile, Léonie and Dominique must learn to trust each other if this mission is going to succeed. 

Having adored the first book in this series. Mara Timon's fabulous City of Spies, I was chomping at the bit to catch-up with Elisabeth de Mornay, aka Cécile, in her new espionage thriller Resistance. In the last book, Cécile was mostly based in Lisbon, after she was forced to flee from Paris when her cover was blown. Wartime Lisbon was a glorious revelation, and Cécile's adventures there lead to some intriguing complications in the events in Resistance, with many familiar faces cropping up again (one very significant one in particular), so I highly recommend going back to read City of Spies if you have not done so already - and it's a corker, so why wouldn't you?

Resistance has Cécile returning to more familiar territory to those of us that love a wartime espionage story, as she is back behind enemy lines in Occupied-France and once again taking on the role of radio-operator, or 'pianist' as they are known in the trade. This is a story full of delicious intrigue and danger, where Cécile and her compatriots are never sure who to trust, and the tension is ramped up nicely by the fact that you know there is a mole within the Resistance from the very start. This also brings in a lovely thread of mystery to the proceedings, as Cécile goes about trying to discover who the traitor is among their ranks.

What really makes this story for me is that this is very much a tale about the women involved in wartime espionage, like City of Spies, and Mara Timon writes about them so beautifully. They are courageous, intelligent and highly skilled, but they are real women with feelings and vulnerabilities too - which often gives them a different insight into their jobs than their male counterparts, and it really brings them alive off the page. This also allows Timon to explore a little of the glamour of the situation vis-a-vis the costumes, the practicalities required as part of their cover stories, and the heavy toll a life of secrecy can take on the emotions, which happens so rarely in a spy yarn written by a male author. I love it!

There are many things I would like to rave about in this review, especially in terms of who crops up again in Cécile's life, but fear of spoilers refrains me. However, I can say that Timon has a fabulous take on the behind enemy lines tale in terms of the cover stories she chooses for Cécile and Léonie, which leads you to look on the trope in quite a different way; and the relationships and character development between our triad of femme formidable over the course of the story is profoundly moving. She also brings in a wealth of historical fact, which blends perfectly into the threads of the characters, and gives you an awareness of what is happening in France and beyond at this stage of WWII. I particularly enjoyed the chaos that ensues when D-Day finally gets underway, as I don't think I have ever read anything about what was happening in Occupied-France itself ahead of the Allied invasion.

I was a bit worried that I would find it difficult to love Resistance quite as much as I did City of Spies, but I really should not have been concerned. There is a different tone to this story, which is not surprising given the change in backdrop, but Mara Timon knows how to weave a spy story at its fierce, female, and spellbinding best and I was gripped from the first page to the last. Mara you made my cry this time too. I cannot wait for book three!

Resistance is available to buy now in paperback and ebook formats from your favourite book retailer.

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

About the author:

Mara Timon is a native New Yorker and self-proclaimed citizen of the world, who began a love affair with London about 20 years ago. She started writing short-stories as a teenager, and when a programme on the BBC caught her interest, she followed the "what-ifs" until a novel began to appear.

Mara lives in London and is working on her next book. She loves reading, writing, running, Pilates, red wine and spending time with friends and family - not necessarily in that order.

 August 2021 Reading Round-Up

Fourteen lovely books consumed this month - and at least three of them are going to be in my top reads of 2021! Please click the captions on the individual photos below to go to the relevant review! 

Cecily by Annie Garthwaite

Cave Diver by Jake Avila

Love, Hope by Juliet Ann Conlin

Patience by Victoria Scott

The Fair Botanists by Sara Sheridan

The House of Whispers by Anna Kent

Did You Miss Me? by Sophia Money-Coutts

She's Mine by A.A. Chaudhuri

End of Summer by Anders de la Motte

Nobody's Perfect by Stephanie Butland

Deception (audio book) by T.J. Blake

The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper

In My Mother's Footsteps by Mona Hajjar Halaby

The Silence of Scheherazade by Defne Suman

More great books next month!

If you have enjoyed my photographic efforts, please head to my Instagram page

@brownflopsy for more!

The Silence of Scheherazade by Defne Suman

 

The Silence of Scheherazade by Defne Suman.

Translated by Betsy Göksel.

Published 19th August 2021 by Head of Zeus/Apollo.

From the cover of the book:

At the heart of the Ottoman Empire, in the ancient city of Smyrna, a devastating moment determines the fates of four families.

On an orange-tinted evening in September 1905, Scheherazade is born to an opium-dazed mother in the ancient city of Smyrna. At the very same moment, a dashing Indian spy arrives in the harbour with a secret mission from the British Empire. He sails in to golden-hued spires and minarets, scents of fig and sycamore, and the cries of street hawkers selling their wares. When he leaves, seventeen years later, it will be to the heavy smell of kerosene and smoke as the city, and its people, are engulfed in flames.

But let us not rush, for much will happen between then and now. Birth, death, romance and grief are all to come as these peaceful, cosmopolitan streets are used as bargaining chips in the wake of the First World War.

Told through the intertwining fates of a Levantine, a Greek, a Turkish and an Armenian family, this unforgettable novel reveals a city, and a culture, now lost to time.

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The Silence of Scheherazade is the complex and lyrical tale of four families living in the ancient city of Smyrna (now the modern city of Izmir), during the latter years of the Ottoman Empire. The story begins with a young woman smoking opium in a tower to allay the pains of childbirth, at the same time as a debonair Indian spy arrives by sea - his mission to spy for the British Empire. They don't yet know it, but their lives are inextricably linked. 

The story then plays out across the seventeen years that follow, taking in the triumphs and tragedies of a Levantine, a Greek, a Turkish and an Armenian family: four families settled in this ancient, cosmopolitan and vibrant city whose fates intertwine until a terrible night of brutal violence elicits a blazing inferno that shatters their lives - and then beyond, through the story of Scheherazade herself.

This is a meandering tale that moves back and forth in time, encompassing oodles of detailed history and exploring the differences between the families as it delivers a rich and evocative look at how their culture and experience define both who they are and what they become. You can almost feel yourself walking among the different quarters of the city, drinking in the sounds, smells, and myriad languages that come with a place that has a history stretching back hundreds of years - a bustling and prosperous city, at the heart of an ancient empire. But beneath the surface, there are long held allegiances that are about to lead to conflict between neighbours, as an empire with its roots in the 13th century becomes the focus of attention from more than one nation intent on staking a claim to this land in the wake of WWI. 

It's fair to say that this is a book that you do have to digest slowly, because the language is elaborate, swinging between intricate descriptions of people, place and many layered history - kudos to the translator Betsy Göksel here, because this cannot have been an easy task. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, and you have to concentrate hard to keep a handle on who's who, principally when their lives touch and you find yourself looking at the same people from different points of view: it would have been very helpful to have a cast list at the front of the book, because I did find myself getting a bit lost at times. 

However, I really enjoyed the way Defne Suman compares and contrasts the behaviour and customs of the different families, which not only serves to show what life is like in Smyrna, but also connects the strong female characters that anchor this tale in an intriguing way. It is the women of this story that we are really interested in - particularly Edith and Scheherazade - but you will have to read it for yourself to find out why. I would also suggest doing a little research into the history of Smyrna, as it is a book that assumes you have some idea of the political and ideological conflict that spans the course of the story, which I did not - this really helped me to understand what was happening, and took me down more than one fascinating rabbit hole.

For a story that has so much of the feeling of a fable about it, the title The Silence of Scheherazade is nothing short of brilliant. The way Suman weaves very human tales of birth, death, grief and romance rife with themes of silence, secrets, and storytelling is truly lovely, and is worthy of the famous narrator of the 1001 tales herself. This a challenging read that you have to invest time and attention in to reap the rewards, but it is certainly worth making the effort to discover its (Turkish?) delights, especially if you know very little about the history of this part of the world.

The Silence of Scheherazade is available to buy now in hardback, ebook and audio formats, from your favourite book retailer.

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

About the author:

Defne Suman was born in Istanbul and grew up on Prinkipo Island. She gained a Masters in sociology from the Bosphorus University and then worked as a teacher in Thailand and Laos, where she studied Far Eastern philosophy and mystic disciplines. She later continued her studies in Oregon, USA and now lives in Athens with her husband. 

The Silence of Scheherazade was first published in Turkey and Greece in 2016 and is her English language debut.

In My Mother's Footsteps by Mona Hajjar-Halaby

 

In My Mother's Footsteps by Mona Hajjar-Halaby.

Published 5th August 2021 by Thread Books.

From the cover:

‘Refugees are like seeds that scatter in the wind, and land in different soils that become their reluctant homes’ my mother once told me. As a small child, I looked up at my mother and clutched her hand. The puffiness of her palm reminded me of a loaf of warm pita bread, and when she laced her fingers into mine like a pretzel, I felt safe. I would have walked with her to the ends of the earth.'

When Mona moved from California to Ramallah to teach conflict resolution in a school for a year, she kept a journal. Within its pages, she wrote her impressions of her homeland, a place she had only experienced through her mother’s memories.

As she settled into her teaching role, getting to know her students and the challenges they faced living in a militarized, occupied town, Mona also embarked on a personal pilgrimage to find her mother’s home in Jerusalem.

Mona had dreamed of being guided by her mother down the old souqs, and the leafy streets of her neighbourhood, listening to the muezzin’s call for prayer and the medley of church bells. But after fifty-nine years of exile, it was Mona’s mother who held her daughter’s hand as they visited Jerusalem together, walking the narrow cobblestone alleys of the Old City. Their roles were reversed. Mona had become her Mama’s legs and her memory – and the one to tell her story going forward.

In My Mother’s Footsteps is a moving and heart-rending journey of a daughter discovering her roots and recovering her mother’s beloved past. It’s also an intimate and tender account of daily life for Palestinians as never seen before.

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I think that most people who follow the news must be very aware of the difficult conditions that the Palestinian people live under. It's not easy to know where to start reading about such a complex and emotive issue, but if you are looking for a way to gain some insight into the current situation in Palestine then this memoir, In My Mother's Footsteps, might be a very good place for you to begin. In this book, Mona Hajjar-Halaby, American citizen and daughter of Palestinian refugees, follows two main themes: the first is through her own experiences of working as a teacher in Ramallah and Jerusalem, which shows us much about how Palestinians live under Israeli occupation; and the second is to explore the recollections and stories of her own mother about her life in Palestine before she was forced to flee her homeland during the war of 1948 - and there is plenty of heartbreak to be derived from both sides of the story.

Even though I already had a good idea of what to expect from this book, I still found myself shocked about the reality of life for the Palestinian people. I defy you not to be horrified about the injustice that they experience every day of their lives, and yet there is something so wonderfully compelling about their resilience, their quiet stoicism, their hospitality and their enduring love for their homeland, despite the attempts to subvert their history. In these pages, Mona writes so eloquently about these people and her connection with them, that you cannot fail to be profoundly moved by her words.

For me, it is the parts of the story where she is quite literally walking in the footsteps of her mother that are the most touching, and also the most viscerally powerful. Here, as she visits the significant places from her mother's Palestinian past, we cannot fail to be aware of the true face of war, the plight of refugees, how propaganda can skew reality, and how a fiction can be spun to represent 'alternative facts'. It is in these moments, through the magic of her mother's stories, that Mona really comes to understand her own identity and accept that she is truly Palestinian above all other things - despite what it says in her passport. This part of the story culminates in Mona's mother returning to Jerusalem for an incredibly poignant visit with her daughter, and her mother's bittersweet joy as she visits the places from her past brought tears to my eyes.

There is a lot to take in within this memoir in terms of emotion and historical fact, and I found the best way to appreciate the power of the story was by a combination of written word (via the ebook) and listening to the audio version, narrated with feeling by Lameece Issaq, which allowed me to go over some of the parts again while fully immersing myself in both Mona and her mother's words - and the introduction of the audio book narrated by Mona herself really gets you closer to everything that follows.

I find myself with a lot to reflect on after reading this book. I am grateful to Mona for acknowledging that she and her family come from a position of privilege which many refugees do not enjoy, but I am still struck by the awareness that even though this allowed them freedoms not available to many displaced people their heartbreak remains just as valid. 

In a book that is so much about the past, it is easy to think that this is a book about playing the blame game, and in many ways this is true, but Mona's side of the story is very much about the present which balances out the book well and begs the question about what comes next for Palestine. From having heard Mona speak about this memoir, I am aware that she does not consider herself an activist or expert in foreign affairs and as such is unqualified to speculate on how peace can be achieved in Palestine, but I would have liked to have seen a conclusion to the book in which she expresses her personal view on what the future might hold for her spiritual homeland - and perhaps, an acknowledgement that much of the lack of political will to find any real solution has been fostered by her own adopted country. Instead, I was left wondering about how Mona sees the situation playing out, and quite what we can do as bystanders to support the Palestinian people in a meaningful way. However, I will add that if you are interested in the answers to these questions too, then it is worth checking out her fascinating interview with Thread Books to mark the publication of this book, which you can find here. It is really worthwhile listening to what she has to say, and I think you will find her outlook very positive - I know I did.

This is definitely one of those timely books that really should be widely read, and it shines with the love of family and the power of stories passed down generation to generation - these are the things that stand the test of time, enduring through adversity, and it is in these words that Mona has found her own identity and sense of belonging.

In My Mother's Footsteps is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats from your favourite book retailer.

Thank you to Thread Books for granting me access to the ebook and audio editions of this work in return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of the readalong.

About the author:

Mona Hajjar Halaby is a Palestinian-American educator, writer and social historian. In order to preserve Palestinian culture and heritage, she has created "British Mandate Jerusalemites Photo Library" on FaceBook, and "The Palestine Ethnographic Society." She collaborated on an interactive documentary "Jerusalem We Are Here," which takes participants on a walking tour of a neighbourhood in Jerusalem past and present, and presents a map that documents the houses in the neighbourhood with their documents, photos, and stories. Hajjar-Halaby has written a parenting book, a book on her classroom practice and has a new book coming out in May entitled, "In My Mother's Footsteps: A Palestinian Refugee Returns Home."

The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper

 

The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper.

Published in paperback 2nd September 2021 by Apollo/Head of Zeus.

From the cover of the book:

Sold by her mother. 

Enslaved in Pompeii's brothel. 

Determined to survive. Her name is Amara. 

Welcome to the Wolf Den...

Amara was once a beloved daughter, until her father's death plunged her family into penury. Now she is a slave in Pompeii's infamous brothel, owned by a man she despises. Sharp, clever and resourceful, Amara is forced to hide her talents. For now her only value lies in the desire she can stir in others.

But Amara's spirit is far from broken. By day, she walks the streets with the Wolf Den's other women, finding comfort in the laughter and dreams they share. For the streets of Pompeii are alive with opportunity. Out here, even the lowest slave can secure a reversal in fortune. Amara has learnt that everything in this city has its price. But how much is her freedom going to cost her?

Set in Pompeii's lupanar, The Wolf Den is the first in a trilogy of novels reimagining the lives of women who have long been overlooked.

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Meet Amara, once the much loved daughter of a Greek doctor, she was sold into slavery after his death, when her mother was unable to save them from their slide into poverty. She now finds herself a slave in a brothel in Pompeii, owned by a cruel master she despises. Gone are her dreams of studying medicine, instead she spends her days and nights as a plaything for any man who has the price to buy himself some female company, along with the other unfortunate she-wolves, finding comfort in their friendship and the shared burden of the life they have been forced to lead.

But Amara is no fool. She knows there are ways to win your freedom in Pompeii, and if she can find herself a patron willing to pay for her exclusive attentions she might just be able to save herself from a bleak future. But how much is she willing to sacrifice to achieve her freedom?

Everything about this wonderful novel was right up my historical fiction loving, Pompeiian street! Elodie Harper, inspired by the graffiti still visible on the walls of Pompeii today, takes us right into the heart of this Roman city with a delicious feeling of time and place - and fills its streets with a compelling array of characters from all walks of life. You can almost feel yourself strolling through the cobbled alleys, browsing the goods at the forum, gossiping at the baths, and marvelling at the combat skills of the gladiators in the arena.

The story revolves around Amara and the other women of the brothel, ruled with a rod of iron by their master Felix, who has his fingers in many pies including moneylending - and it is the fortunes of these women that captivates you from the very first page. Harper does not shy away from the unflinching truth of the life of a slave in a Roman city, and it is through the occupants of the wolf-den that we feel the heartbreak the most: the hopelessness they feel, the brutality inflicted upon them, and the contempt shown to them by the so-called respectable citizens (although they are still keen to use their services), and yet we also experience their strong sense of sisterhood and spirit, despite the petty rivalries that arise among them. 

I really enjoyed the way the characters of the she-wolves develop over the course of the story, as we come to understand their survival strategies, and experience their triumphs and tragedies. It is Amara who changes the most, gradually losing more of herself in her determination to keep body and soul together, as she learns how to play Felix at his own dangerous game. As the story gets progressively more complex, burgeoning into a tale with layer upon layer of secrecy, intrigue and countermoves against a backdrop that brings in all levels of Pompeiian culture and society (and a very famous name from Roman history), it becomes impossible to tear your eyes away from the page until you reach the shattering climax.

This really is an enthralling story, beautifully written, plotted and researched. It brings in so much about the Roman way of life, particularly their unpalatable views of the worth of an individual, and the role of women - giving voice to those who have long been overlooked. It made me sob my heart out and seethe with rage at the things our incredible she-wolves have to endure, but the experience is one I would not have forgone for a second. I cannot wait for the next instalment, The House with the Golden Door, coming May 2022.

The Wolf Den is available to buy now from your favourite book retailer in hardback, paperback, ebook and audio formats.

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

About the author:

Elodie Harper is a journalist and prize-winning writer. Her story Wild Swimming won the 2016 Bazaar of Bad Dreams short story competition, which was judged by Stephen King. She is currently a reporter and presenter at ITV News, and before that worked as a producer for Channel 4 News. Her job as a journalist has seen her join one of the most secretive wings of the Church of Scientology and cover the far right hip hop scene in Berlin, as well as crime reporting in Norfolk where her first two novels were set – The Binding Song and The Death Knock. Elodie studied Latin poetry both in the original and in translation as part of her English Literature degree at Oxford, instilling a lifelong interest in the ancient world. The Wolf Den is the first in a trilogy of novels about the lives of women in ancient Pompeii.