A young woman opens the door of a sauna. Inside – a scene of horror.
The brightest star in the world of cancer research, is lying there, brutally murdered and left prostrate across the top of the sauna heater. The temperature is hotter than boiling point. It’s the ultimate medical conspiracy because the dead man was working on the Holy Grail of medicine – a cure for cancer.
Who killed him and why?
Cancer researcher Dr Ronnie Ackerman must solve the mystery after she wakes up in his bed, following a disastrous one-night stand, and discovers his body downstairs. The stakes turn out to be far higher than she could ever have imagined.
Deadly Protocol will be published on 10th September 2024
AND HERE IS THE FAB COVER. SEE YOU INSIDE THE BOOK SOON!
About the Author
Roger Corke is a TV journalist who has produced and directed investigations for every major flagship current affairs series and has now written his first crime thriller.
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+ alcoholism, childhood, coming-of-age, family, family drama, fiction, grief, loss, love, motherhood, relationships, review, secrets, WW2
Junction of Earth and Sky by Susan Buttenwieser
A sweeping and emotional debut from a dazzling new voice – for fans of The Paper Palace, The Dutch House and Betty.
Coming of age in 1940s England, Alice’s life is thrown into chaos under the shadow of the war. Forced to let go of her hopes and dreams, she finds herself uprooted to America and a life she never could have imagined.
Decades later, it is the 1990s and Alice’s granddaughter Marnie is living out of a worn-out Chevy Nova, running heroin and cocaine along the New England coastline.
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Yet she carries with her memories of a nurtured childhood in hardscrabble Rhode Island, where all the disappointments of her young parents were eclipsed by her grandmother’s love.
Spanning six decades and two continents, from the shores of WWII England to the underside of 1990s America, JUNCTION OF EARTH AND SKY unfolds – in multiple timelines – the enduring bond of grandmother and granddaughter, plagued by the past but determined to find their place in the world against all the odds.
My Review
What a heartbreaking story! It made me sad, it made me cry and it made me angry. Never angry at Alice, whose life was changed forever when she was evacuated during the second world war, or at Marnie whose drug habit and desperation are what open the story. But mainly at Denise, married to Alice’s dreadful son Sonny, whose behaviour is so awful I wanted to scream at her.
Her drinking and irresponsibility result in Alice becoming Marnie’s main carer. Some of the things that Sonny and Denise do without giving a thought to Marnie make you want to cry out in horror. There is a chapter when it’s Marnie’s birthday and she is having a sleepover. Denise promises to be there but after getting drunk and going off with some man she just met, she turns up plastered and causes a scene in front of all Marnie’s friends. My heart went out to poor little Marnie.
But Marnie always has the love of her grandmother to hold on to and no-one could love her more than Alice. So what has gone wrong when we first see her shooting up and selling drugs? And who is Jimmy. her ‘boyfriend’ and dealer?
But I think what upset me most was the lack of light in the darkness, the lack of hope in the desert of despair. It just kept going from bad to worse, and I prayed that it would change for Marnie at least. Even one of the more minor characters hits rock bottom at one point after his wife dies of cancer.
Yet it’s a brilliant book, especially as it’s a debut, but I really needed a break from all the sadness every now and again.
Many thanks to @Tr4cyF3nt0n for inviting me to be part of the #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour and to NetGalley for an ARC.
About the Author
Susan Buttenwieser is the author of the short story collection, We Were Lucky With the Rain (Four Way Books) and she has been awarded several fiction fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications and she has taught creative writing in New York City schools, libraries, homeless shelters, juvenile detention facilities and at a women’s maximum-security prison. Junction of Earth and Sky is her first novel.
When it’s time to face the music, all we can do is dance…
Recently widowed Venetia Hamilton Hargreaves is left with a huge house, a bank balance to match and an uneasy feeling that she’s been sleepwalking through the last fifty years. Determined to live fully again, she embraces life with an enthusiasm and purpose she’d forgotten she could muster.
Buying the dilapidated Phoenix Ballroom and with it a drop-in centre and spiritualist church could be seen as reckless, but Venetia’s generosity, courage and kindness provide a refuge for a touching cast of damaged and lonely people who find their chosen family. As their stories intertwine, long buried secrets are revealed, missed opportunities seized and lives are renewed as the Phoenix lives up to its name.
The Phoenix Ballroom is a story of hope and second chances across the generations.
My Review
I’ve read all of Ruth’s novels, a couple of them twice (almost unheard of for me). The Phoenix Ballroom is her fifth and it’s wonderful. But don’t expect something earth shattering that will change the world as we know it. This is a feel-good novel about hope and happiness across the generations. A book to be savoured when you are feeling down, a book to lift your spirits. And of course when you are already happy.
Venetia Hamilton Hargreaves has just lost her husband Hawk after fifty years of marriage. She knows she is going to be lonely, but her son Heron thinks she needs a ‘granny nanny’ to look after her. She is horrified. She’ll manage, she’s not exactly in her dotage.
It’s probably a good time to explain the names. Hawk’s father had a thing about birds, so the children all got avian names. Hawk, of course, and then his sisters are Swan and Nightingale. Hawk passed this down to his son Heron (who’s really more of a Penguin than a Heron), and even Heron’s son got lumbered. He’s ten and he’s called Kite. And they wonder why he finds it tough at boarding school.
Heron wants to hire an awful school ma’am type as the nanny, but Venetia chooses Liberty, who has recently lost her mother and the strange will has left her with nowhere to live. There is an extra clause though. If she passes a ‘test’, there is something that she will inherit, but the solicitor is not allowed to tell her until she fulfils her mother’s wishes. Except she has no idea what they are.
Venetia also adopts a German Shepherd from a drug den and calls him Colin Firth and we mustn’t forget Evangeline, who runs a spiritualist church and drop-in centre which are about to be closed down, and the building demolished for development. And it has a ballroom, now in a state of disrepair. A ballroom that will evoke memories for Venetia.
Poor Liberty! Having been hired to look after Venetia, she now has a dog of whom she is terrified and a ten year old boy who comes to stay. And then there is Swan.
It’s such an entertaining story and works really well as an Audio book. Joan Walker’s narration is perfect and fits so well. I loved every minute.
About the Author
From Ruth herself: ‘I was born in the house where my parents still live in Bedford: my sister was so pleased to have a sibling that she threw a thrupenny bit at me. As a child I read everything I could lay my hands on: The Moomintrolls, A Hundred Million Francs, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the back of cereal packets and gravestones. I was mad about dogs and horses, but didn’t like daddy-long-legs or sugar in my tea.
‘I studied English and Drama at Goldsmiths College which was brilliant, but then I came home and got a ‘proper’ job. I worked for ten years in a senior local government position (I was definitely a square peg in a round hole, but it paid the bills and mortgage) before a car accident left me unable to work full-time and convinced me to start writing seriously. It was going well, but then in 2012 I got cancer, which was bloody inconvenient but precipitated an exciting hair journey from bald to a peroxide blonde Annie Lennox crop. When chemo kept me up all night I passed the time writing and the eventual result was The Keeper of Lost Things.
‘I live in a chaotic Victorian house with an assortment of rescue dogs and my long-suffering partner (who has very recently become my husband – so I can’t be that bad!) I am a magpie, always collecting treasures, and a huge John Betjeman fan. My favourite word is ‘antimacassar’ and I still like reading gravestones.’
Stirling and Quebec, 1900
A tale of blackmail, kidnap and terrible secrets. Of children being sent abroad, and of women trying to do the right thing at a time when they were second class citizens.
How far will Jane Knight and Eliza Frew go to protect the ones they love … and save themselves?
Child rescue and migration are the backdrops to this historical drama that packs a punch.
An intelligent and emotionally rich story which is truly engaging.
Highly commended in the Pitlochry Quaich Historical Novel competition.
AND HERE IS THE BEAUTIFUL COVER. SEE YOU INSIDE THE BOOK VERY SOON!
About the Author
Elaine Whiteford is a Scottish writer of fiction and non-fiction. She is passionate about local history and women’s social history in late Victorian and Edwardian times. The Rescue Sisters is the first of her historical novels to be published. She has had extracts of two novels published in Gold Dust magazine and short fiction published by Stryvling Press. In non-fiction Elaine is the author of The Story of Stirling Golf Club, a contributor to Wild & Temperate Seas and has had photo articles about scuba diving and marine life published in a wide range of magazines.
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In this star-crossed short story from New York Times bestselling author Alice Hoffman, timing is everything as two sisters learn to let love follow its own path.
Isabel, the long-lost Gibson sister, is finally back home on Brinkley’s Island, Maine. With Sophie and Violet, her sister and her niece, she’s got the family bookstore—and with Johnny Lenox, she’s got something even more special.
But even as life settles, not everything is falling into place. Isabel and Johnny have set the date three times, baked three wedding cakes, invited the whole island to three parties, only to have each attempt at matrimony fall apart at the last minute. Disasters seem to be conspiring against their happy ending, and Isabel is starting to wonder if their love is meant to be.
When family history comes back to haunt the Gibson sisters, Isabel knows that if she wants to make it down the aisle with Johnny, first she and Sophie will have to face the pain of their past and their present, and decide what it means for their future.
My Review
The Bookstore Wedding is the follow up to The Bookstore Sisters. Again it’s a short story about sisters Isabel and Sophie. Isabel has returned to Brinkley’s Island, Maine, where she plans to reunite with her sister after falling out ten years ago when she moved to New York.
And then there’s the bookstore and Isabel’s relationship with past love Johnny Lenox. But life is never simple. Three attempts at marriage have failed due to external circumstances – it seems that they are destined never to tie the knot. And there were a lot of cakes wasted (not that cake is ever really wasted). Then another setback befalls the sisters and it seems like history is repeating itself.
Alice Hoffman is one of my all time favourite authors (The Museum of Extraordinary Things being one of my favourite all time books) and I love her short stories. She writes in such a magical way – even when there is no magic involved – and has a way with words that is both entrancing and often whimsical. I’m looking forward to the third book in the Once Upon a Time Bookshop series.
About the Author
Alice Hoffman is the author of more than thirty works of fiction, including The World That We Knew, The Rules of Magic, The Marriage of Opposites, Practical Magic, The Red Garden, the Oprah’s Book Club selection Here on Earth, The Museum of Extraordinary Things, and The Dovekeepers. Her most recent novel is Magic Lessons. She lives near Boston.
There is a saying that “You should never work with children or animals,” but Allison Lee did exactly that, and she lived to tell the tale.
After retiring as the owner of a small chain of children’s day nurseries, she swapped childcare for animal care when she and her husband bought a twelve-acre plot of land and a dilapidated barn ripe for conversion with a dream of starting a smallholding.
She found her idyllic lifestyle wasn’t everything she had hoped for when she had to take on the local authority in a heated fight for planning permission – a fight she took on with gusto and finally won!
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Follow Allison’s journey through the highs and lows of caring for animals, from pet pigs with a fetish for bedding to playful puppies with a shocking sense of taste and smell, and kamikaze goats who wake up every morning with new ideas of how to escape and wreak havoc on the countryside.
The first book in the series of an entertaining, amusing and honest account of life as a smallholding owner.
My Review
At first this sounded like my dream come true. All those animals to look after – pygmy goats, micro pigs, miniature ponies, dogs of course, chickens etc. I’d throw in (not literally) a couple of cats personally, to help get rid of any mice. I just wasn’t sure how they were going to make enough money to keep going. I’d want to open a cafe with a petting zoo to attract some income. Maybe I’d become the next Adam Henson! But then I probably know even less about having a smallholding than Allison did at the start. And I’m definitely more Margot than Barbara.
However, Allison’s ‘dream’ turned out to be far more complicated than how to care for pigs and chickens. The perfect ‘barn conversion’ wasn’t quite so perfect, in fact no-one had managed to get planning permission so far. And was it even in the right location? Had they made a terrible mistake?
Allison’s long-suffering husband Mark seemed to just go along with her ideas. I don’t think my husband would be so patient and just leave me to get on with it. It would have to be an equal partnership, with me choosing the animals and him making sure I didn’t let my ambitions run away with me. Allison buys things all the time that turn out to be unusable (like the blankets) and doesn’t seem to give the cost a second thought. Nice to be able to do that in these uncertain times.
But there are lots of funny stories about life with the animals. They are all different. the pigs, the ponies and the goats all have different needs and every one of them has a different personality. You soon learn who not to stand behind, especially with your back turned, who is an ‘escape artist’ and who likes a cuddle. And of course which animals can be housed together, and which can’t.
It’s all very entertaining and at times hilarious. But then I love animals, just not so much mud and cleaning out poo.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Allison Lee first started writing education and non-fiction books in 2006 based on her
profession at the time in the Early Years. Having always harboured a passion for writing a novel, she got her ideas for her debut book when she and her husband bought a remote cottage set in the heart of Snowdonia, where they escape for holidays and weekends, allowing Allison to indulge her passion for writing.
Allison and her husband have two sons and two beautiful granddaughters. They live on a small holding in Yorkshire with their four dogs and animals, including sheep, pigs, goats, donkeys, ponies and chickens. Allison’s hobbies, besides caring for her beloved animals, are growing fruit and vegetables and supporting wildlife.
Social Media Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allison.lee.754703
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Website: https://allisonlee.co.uk
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Book Links
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214960028-all-the-gear-no-idea
Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/allthegear-zbt
+ 1930s, brothers, crime fiction, fiction, locked room mystery, magic, magician, murder, murder mystery, mystery, police drama, revenge, review
Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead
Hampshire, 1938. Victor Silvius is confined in a private sanatorium after attacking prominent judge Sir Giles Drury.
When Sir Giles starts receiving sinister letters, his wife suspects Silvius. Meanwhile, Silvius’ sister Caroline is convinced her brother is about to be murdered… by none other than his old nemesis Sir Giles.
Caroline seeks the advice of Scotland Yard’s Inspector Flint, while the Drurys, eager to avoid a scandal, turn to Joseph Spector. Spector, renowned magician turned sleuth, has an uncanny knack for solving complicated crimes – but this case will test his powers of deduction to their limits.
At a snowbound English country house, a body is found is impossible circumstances. Spector and Flint’s investigations collide as they find themselves trapped by the snowstorm where anyone could be the next victim – or the killer…
My Review
This is for you if you enjoy a complicated mystery that really makes you think. I read the first book in the series – Death and The Conjuror – and here we have another locked room mystery set in the 1930s. As with the first book, it’s a ‘conundrum’ for Inspector Flint, the Scotland Yard detective called to the scene, so he once again enlists the help of retired stage magician Joseph Spector. (The magician is a bit of a part-time detective and is probably the only person in London who can explain a locked-room mystery.)
The body count is higher in Cabaret Macabre, with some surprising victims and even more surprising perpetrators. Is everyone who they say they are and what is the involvement of Victor Silvius, incarcerated in a mental institution for ten years? Because Victor tried to kill prominent judge Sir Giles Drury, who he blames for the ‘suicide’ by strychnine of his one and only love Gloria Crain at the Drury’s house. Victor’s sister Caroline believes that someone is trying to kill him.
Gloria’s suicide was highly suspicious as it’s almost unheard of for anyone to use strychnine to kill themselves, as it’s drawn out and painful, an overdose of something like laudanum or even cyanide being more likely. And what possible motive did she have?
Suspicion falls on the two sons of Giles Drury and his wife, his wife’s ghastly son from her first marriage, and Sir Giles’s illegitimate son who is having an affair with someone in the family. And that’s only for starters. I said it was complicated. Great fun and plenty of mysteries to discuss with my online book club.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Tom Mead is a UK crime fiction author specialising in locked-room mysteries. He is a member of the Crime Writers’ Association and the International Thriller Writers’ Organization. His debut novel is DEATH AND THE CONJUROR, featuring magician-detective Joseph Spector.
YOU ONLY KNOW WHO YOU ARE AT THE SHARP END
Belfast 1989. The Troubles. Harry Burnard joins a police force confronted with threats on every side. His team, ‘The Squad’, a bunch of abandoned oddballs, are only allowed to work criminal cases.
But there is no crime. Only terrorism. So, do they really have nothing to do? When Harry uncovers clues about an apparently random series of sectarian stabbings, he gets caught up in an increasingly complex political landscape. And sets out to find a killer unlike any other.
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In this explosive witty novel, where not everyone is who they seem to be, it can be dangerous to know who you are.
Are you a Billy, a Dan, or an Old Tin Can?
In a land where identity is everything, it gets bloody complicated. An Old Tin Can is the first in a new black comedy crime series featuring Harry Burnard and The Squad.
My Review
Certain comedians will tell you that there are no boundaries in comedy. Everyone is a target. This has caused distress and offence in many quarters. There are just some things you can’t joke about.
My friend was born in Northern Ireland in 1947. This book would really upset her. She lived through the early part of the Troubles. And while I clearly remember being evacuated from several places (the Tate in London, my College in Cheltenham, Cavendish House department store etc) because the IRA had given the police a tip off that they’d planted a bomb, plus all the ones that did go off, I enjoyed the cleverness and wit of An Old Tin Can. The dark humour and banter is interspersed with horrific incidents of sectarian violence.
However, once our intrepid hero, Chief Inspector Harry Burnard has established that the killings are very different from what his team initially believed, I felt more comfortable. Harry is Jewish, and has come over from Brighton to take up his post in Belfast with the RUC.
I loved some of the characters, all of whom have nicknames. There’s ‘Geronimo’ McSwain, who speaks so quietly no-one can understand what he’s saying, Sergeant ‘Billy’ Graham, PCs Tarr and Bird ie ‘Tarred and Feathered’ (look it up), WPC ‘Terminator’ Anstrom (formerly known as ‘The Lez’), the only woman in The Squad. Then of course there’s Harry’s boss Superintendent Boyle, who spouts religious nonsense at Harry and is frankly so overtly racist, I don’t know how he got away with it, even in the 1980s.
Outside of Harry and a couple of others, everyone else appears totally incompetent, from the police to the Catholic IRA, and the Protestant republican UVF, all of whom seem incapable of killing the right men. But when it comes to the rising body count, these are bang on target, with no obvious links or discrimination, and just one significant clue. How long will it take Harry to persuade his bosses that these are not ‘run-of-the-mill’ sectarian killings?
It’s a fascinating look at a terrible time in our history. It’s funny, witty and brilliantly written, but I can’t pretend I wasn’t slightly uncomfortable at times.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Bryan J Mason has managed to hold down a variety of jobs including brush salesman, rent collector and tax inspector and he has also made sound effects for BBC radio and done the occasional acting job. He writes regular theatre reviews for Bristol 24/7 and StageTalk. His first novel, Shaking Hands With The Devil, took over 30 years to be published and finally came out in 2021. He lives in Bristol, with his wife and has two children in their twenties.
Social Media Links
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Book Links
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/212320197-an-old-tin-can
Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/anoldtincan-zbt
Following the deaths of her husband and son, Helen Cartwright returns from sixty years in Australia to the English village of her childhood.
Her only wish is to die quickly and without fuss.
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Helen retreats into her home on Westminster Crescent, becoming a creature of routine and habit. Then, one cold autumn night, a chance encounter with an abandoned pet mouse on the street outside her house sets Helen on a surprising journey of friendship, and a way back into life itself.
My Review
I’m totally in love with this book. If I had a banner I would wave it from the rooftops. I LOVE SIPSWORTH! It’s not just because I became very fond of Helen or that I rather like mice. It’s the way something so small could change the life of one person in such dramatic ways.
Mouse traps, for instance. Such cruel contraptions. You think they kill instantly, but they don’t. Personally, we have only ever used the humane ones. And then there’s Helen’s musings, ‘if mice are capable of giving and receiving love,’ she reasons, ‘are not pigs, cows and chickens of equal intelligence?’ She immediately buries her ‘meat products’ in the garden and becomes a vegetarian.
And what about all the mice who died for us, so we can be cured of diseases? I’m not elevating them to Jesus level, but you get my drift.
It’s only a short book, but not a single word is wasted. Every time Helen has a revelation that goes against ‘her only wish is to die quickly and without fuss’ of which she becomes less sure, she discovers a new friend. From Sipsworth himself to Cecil, Dr Jamal and the mother and son from the library, she realises that people aren’t all that bad. Pets At Home is just up the road Helen. I’m told they have a good selection of mouse food, so I’ll see you later.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Simon Van Booy is the award-winning, bestselling author of more than a dozen books for adults and children. He is the editor of three volumes of philosophy and has written for The New York Times, the Financial Times, the Washington Post, and the BBC.
His books have been translated into many languages and optioned for film. Raised in rural North Wales, he currently lives in New York where he is also a book editor and a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician.
Dual timeline around the life of a forgotten artist. The joys and traumas of love, ambition, and motherhood.
Anna grew up hearing stories from her grandmother of an ancestor artist’s adventures in St. Petersburg. Now, in the, adult Anna stands in front of Christina Robertson’s gorgeous life-sized portraits of the Romanovs and she hopes the legend is true. Her research into the painter becomes a quest to honour her granny.
In 1823 Christina Robertson realises her artistic ambitions exhibiting portraits at the National Gallery. Her happiness is secured in marrying her teenage sweetheart James and having a baby girl. But Christina is harbouring a secret from him.
Genre: Historical
Pages: 366
Publisher : Howe Street Publishing
Anna buries herself in researching Christina Robertson, a distraction from the stress of not conceiving, which is causing growing problems in her marriage.
Christina must cope with the burden of being the breadwinner through yearly pregnancies and many bereavements.
Both Anna and Christina flee to St Petersburg after marriage crises. Can they find happiness there?
My Review
Initially I was more invested in Christina’s story, but as I read on, it was Anna that I wanted to follow. I could have loved her like my own daughter (sorry Anna’s mum). She was such a lovely person, she didn’t deserve any of the bad stuff that came her way.
Christina Robertson was a talented artist in her day, painting miniatures of society ladies mainly (and a few men). As her fame increased, she commanded a higher fee and her subjects were further up the society tree. Eventually she went to Russia where she painted large portraits of the royal family.
All this is factually accurate, though the author has given her a more interesting private life. Her husband James, also an artist, is a useless article. He’s lazy and even gambles. They love each other, but having a baby every year takes its toll on Christina. Not only is Christina permanently pregnant, heartbroken, or taking care of her very young children, she must also be the breadwinner.
It was typical of the Victorian era that children were conceived every year (as they didn’t have contraception – ‘I’ll be careful’ James tells Christina), but of course this failed and many of the babies died. Christina lost three of hers. I did not know, (or truly understand why) they used the same names or derivatives thereof for succeeding children. It became very confusing at times. Ultimately, women were forced to withdraw their marital obligations (as they were viewed in those days), and the husbands would seek solace elsewhere.
While researching Christina’s life and attempting to find a link with her own interesting family, Anna finds herself making friends in Moscow, where she lives with her husband Nick. Her interest has piqued partly due to the death of her beloved grandmother. Anna also travels to St Petersburg and back to Scotland for the funeral. Through her contacts in Russia and her mother’s neighbour in Scotland, her life changes totally. I was so pleased for her.
A beautifully written, emotional and fascinating book, it’s an insight into people’s lives in the 1800s, compared to the modern day. Thank goodness things have moved on.
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of #ThePaintress blog tour.
About the Author
“I am an Edinburgh based writer of historical fiction. I was born in Fife and originally studied English Literature at Edinburgh University. I spent most of my life living overseas in countries as far-flung as Vietnam, Azerbaijan and most recently, Egypt. I travelled extensively, including frequent visits from Cairo to both Istanbul and Rome, immersing myself in their ancient cultures and fascinating histories. Retelling history from the point of view of women is where the fun begins.”
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Born in 1931, artist and Philosopher Tony Wilson has kept diaries since the 1980s and for the first time ever, a selection is being published. With philosophical musings and artworks, and an insight into the workings of an artistic and extraordinary mind, Life is Like a Banana will be published by Anthony Eyre in June.
Tony Wilson’s life and artistic development is documented through paintings, sketches and intellectual reflections, and in Life is Like a Banana, the reader accompanies him on his travels through the decades; whether it’s around Bradford-on-Avon, or further afield in Turkey and Ireland. The simplicity of Tony Wilson’s watercolour paintings, where at times only a few brushstrokes are used, perfectly convey the fullness of living.
The book reveals Tony’s personal life – the documentation of his life’s loves, whether that’s his grandchildren, his wife Pat or his dog Rufus. But it also captures global concerns, such as his thoughts on the pandemic or his commitment to understanding how society functions.
The book is filled with quotes, diagrams and observations, many of which highlight his Assembly and Performance Thinking – the basis of his previous book The Wheels of Society, which the TLS described as an ‘erudite critique of individualistic political philosophy… short and wise, lithely grasping three ideas that academia is belatedly struggling to digest.’
Life is Like a Banana is a journey through space and time, and with Tony Wilson’s arresting watercolours on every page, this is a collector’s item for art and philosophy lovers alike.
My Thoughts
The watercolours and drawings are so simple, yet so striking. The handwritten musings give them depth and personality. I particularly like the restaurant, the children and the dogs.
I have included a few examples of my favourites. The one on the right below reminds me of a restaurant where my husband and I had lunch in Rhodes in 1981, which I still think about fondly. The child above with his hands over his face ‘Oscar being shy‘ shows so much expression without even seeing his features.
The dog sketches at the bottom are ‘smudge first with finger then draw with pen‘. So simple but effective. My husband said to me ‘you could do that’, but I couldn’t and I wouldn’t because this is Tony’s inimitable style. The emotion behind the sketches and painting would be missing.
Tony is so talented. I’d never heard of him before and I’m surprised.
Many thanks to Grace Pilkington Publicity for inviting me on the #LifeIsLikeABanana blog tour
About Tony
Tony Wilson was born in Dublin in 1931 and studied economics at Trinity College before qualifying as a chartered accountant. After six years in Paris with Price Waterhouse he went to England working as financial controller in the Avon Rubber Company, GKN, and British Oxygen. He lives near Bath where he paints, writes and makes beer. He has had five one-man exhibitions and has shown in the RA Summer Exhibition. He is the author of Universe on a Bicycle (2007) and The Wheels of Society (2021) which were both published to critical acclaim.
+ 1970s, adoption, Catholic Church, family, female friendship, fiction, friendship, grief, Historical fiction, Ireland, loss, motherhood, rape, religion, review, secrets, seventies
The Walk by Emma Marns
‘The two girls sat in the back of the car, their destination unknown and their crimes worse than murder.’
In November 1979, Ailbe and Maire disappear from their rural village in Ireland, never to return. Pregnant out of wedlock, they are now outcasts from society.
Genre: Historical fiction / Literary fiction / Contemporary
Publisher: Cranthorpe Millner Publishers
Believing they will at least have each other, the girls are devastated when Ailbe is dumped at the gates of a place known only as ‘Bessborough’, whilst Maire is forced to continue on to Dublin, to be cared for by the relatives of her married lover.
What follows is an enduring tale of family, love, friendship, secrecy, self-sacrifice and the extraordinary endurance of women in the most appalling of circumstances.
My Review
This was heartbreaking. And the worst part is that while the story of best friends Maire and Ailbe is fictional, this happened in Ireland over many decades. Teenage girls who became pregnant out of wedlock – even if they were raped like Ailbe – were sent away to places like Bessborough, where they would give birth to their babies and then forced to hand them over to a good Catholic couple, who would often take them to another country. Sometimes the mothers didn’t even see their babies, but at Bessborough they had to feed and care for them, often until they were toddlers, and then give them away, the babies crying for their Ma.
I was taught by the nuns at our local Convent School, and while they were strict, they weren’t evil like ‘Sister’ at Bessborough. The pregnant girls had to endure the pain of labour and loss as punishment for their terrible ‘sin’. If they had murdered someone, they would probably have been treated better. They were dangerously ignored, sometimes resulting in the death of mother or baby, or even both. The bodies were buried without recognition. Anyone who has seen the film Philomena with Judi Dench will understand what I’m talking about.
Nineteen-year-old Maire was in love with Fionn, not knowing that he was already married with two young children. He arranges a car to take her to Dublin to stay with his Aunt Bridget, a trained midwife, who will keep her safe and deliver the baby. Poor Maire thinks Fionn is then going to come for her and marry her.
In the meantime, Ailbe travels in the car with her, but instead of carrying on together, Ailbe is dumped at the gates of Bessborough and her nightmare begins. When Maire finds out about Fionn, she is heartbroken, but Bridget takes good care of her and loves her like a daughter. While it’s a terrible story, it doesn’t compare to that of Ailbe and the others, who must suffer every kind of punishment and indignity.
It’s a wonderful book, but be prepared to be shocked and saddened.
On another note, if I ever mention something being expensive, my brother always says ‘you can’t take it with you’. My Irish friend told me that in Ireland they say ‘there are no pockets in a shroud’. In The Walk, Bridget tells Maire ‘what am I going to do with it, have pockets sewn into my shroud?’ I had to have a little chuckle.
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of #TheWalk blog tour
About the Author
I always wanted to be a writer, and when studying Heaney and Friel at A-Level and then James Joyce at university, I felt an unexplainable pull towards Ireland and the stories I suspected were there! After completing my undergraduate degree at UEA (it’s wonderful) and an NCTJ qualification in Sports Journalism, I enjoyed a brief but fruitful career writing about football and other pursuits much too energetic for me in real life.
I then embarked on an M.Phil. in Irish Writing from the truly magnificent Trinity College Dublin as a mature student (27 is mature?! News to me) and it was there that I first had the idea for The Walk. It took ten months to write and two YEARS to sign a publishing contract – so if you are in the pursuit of something worthwhile right now and facing a good deal of rejection and setbacks, please don’t give up!
In my day job I work at East 15 Acting School as their administrator / doer-of-all-the-things / resident coffee-maker and friendly person, which is a joy and I love it dearly. I have a lovely husband (Bradley) and a beautiful daughter (Melody) who keeps me busy when I’m not working, writing – and definitely not sleeping.
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