A satirical novel which makes a serious point about mental illness and the way we treat it.
Set in the polite society of a market town in the south of England which, below the surface, is rife with prejudice and hypocrisy.
A story which examines the traits, addictions and failings of the English middle classes.
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The Midhurst Amateur Dramatic Society are putting on a production of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, and Tessa has agreed to play a part. But when she suffers a psychotic episode, Ros, a C-list celebrity and new to the community, takes her place.
In this darkly comic tale of psychosis in the Home Counties, the stage is set for a blistering examination of mental illness, how we treat it and why we don’t. While Tessa is sectioned in a secure psychiatric hospital, the relationships in the community unravel, and by the time she’s released, all that we thought we knew, and all of our judgements, are thrown into question.
Dim the lights, turn off your phones, settle in as the curtain rises…
My Review
Honest to God I hope I never have to socialise with these people in real life, or be in a play with them. It’s not even the swearing, the smoking or the drinking – it’s the drunk-driving and the attitude. I used to work with people like this many years ago – entitled, rich, selfish, smoking dope, using cocaine, and wondering why their kids disrespect them.
Like quite a few readers, I struggled to see the darkly comic humour, other than Derek and Clive and Ethel in Mercury Ward. Maybe because my childhood was lived in the shadow of my mother’s mental illness, it was all a bit too upsetting and personal for me. Not that my mother was bi-polar or psychotic (I won’t go into details about her condition, her post-war PTSD or her eventual lobotomy), but rather that no-one understood – it was as if she had chosen to live like that. No-one would choose to be mentally ill.
But don’t let me put you off. It’s wonderfully written and the characters’ lack of understanding of mental illness is intentional. The use of language is sublime, the story will tug at the heart strings, but also make you cross. The scene where Ros finds out about Poppy, but seems more concerned that her ex is seeing her daughters behind her back says it all. Clare also warns Ros off about spending time with Scott while Tessa is sectioned following her psychotic episode, but to Ros, Scott is fair game.
The psychotic episode written from Tessa’s point of view is a hard read. Like Scott and Tessa’s friends, I just wanted her to take her meds. But it is not for me to sit in judgement, and I am not going to. My review is about the book and the fantastic writing, not the treatment of mental illness.
But if I could just say one thing (from my own personal experience), where was the help and support for Freddy, Molly and Issy? Haven’t things moved on at all since I was a child?
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Eleanor Anstruther was born London, educated in Westminster and studied History of Art at Manchester University where she was distracted from finishing her degree by a trip to India.
She was lost and found for the next twelve years, starting a commune and travelling the world before finally settling down to write.
Her acclaimed debut novel, A Perfect Explanation (Salt Books), was long-listed for the Desmond Elliott Prize.
She now lives quietly on a farm in Surrey.
Perfect Neighbours, Perfect Lies…
When Viola’s new neighbours move into Number 33, everything seems picture-perfect.
But behind the manicured lawn and polite smiles, dark secrets lurk in the shadows. As Viola, a quiet retiree, digs deeper into the strange behaviour of the family next door, she uncovers a disturbing web of lies.
The father, Rhys, is hostile. The mother, Wendy, seems to be losing her grip on reality. And their daughter, Mirabelle is an eerie eight-year-old.
When Viola sneaks into Number 33, she discovers a locked room and a secret hidden inside. Soon her curiosity turns into obsession. But as she pushes closer to the truth, the family turns the tables and suddenly, Viola is the one questioning her own sanity.
Will Viola uncover the sinister truth… or is she the next victim in this twisted game of cat and mouse?
The Family Next Door is a chilling psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the very last page.
My Review
I’m getting a bit worried. The house next door to us has become empty after all this time. The current owners lived there for twenty-eight years – we’ve been in ours for thirteen of those. It’s a spooky old house and we don’t yet know who’s going to move in. I just hope it’s not Rhys, Wendy and Mirabelle. If it is, I’m definitely not popping round for a cup of tea.
I don’t quite know what to make of Viola. I think we could be friends, but I probably don’t want to live next door to her either. She’s too nosy (she says she’s not) and suspicious. There is no way I would have gone into someone’s house if they left the door open – well maybe just the hall before closing the door – but not snooping around upstairs. And pretending to water the plants so I can spy on them? Maybe…
The Family Next Door is creepy as hell. They are a weird bunch and Rhys is a real chauvinist, but are they as odd as Viola thinks they are? Not having had children of her own, I think she also finds Mirabelle’s behaviour stranger than I would have done (with two sons and four granddaughters in tow). And her pre-retirement job working in social services probably makes her see stuff I might have missed.
However, things only get worse. By now I would have confided in someone and sought help. But Viola is that person in the horror film who goes down in the cellar while we are all yelling at the screen ‘don’t go down there!’.
At times her behaviour made me feel really uncomfortable, and I despaired of her most of the time. But it’s one of those stories where you have to keep turning the pages even though you want to hide behind the sofa. Thank goodness she’s gone home….oh no, she’s gone back. Viola what were you thinking! The Family Next Door is full of suspense and surprises, even though you may want to drag her back to safety and reality.
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of #TheFamilyNextDoor blog tour.
About the Author
Charlotte Stevenson is an author born and raised in North West Cumbria. Charlotte studied Medicine in Scotland and continues to work part-time as a doctor.
Charlotte writes dark, twisty psychological thrillers with elements of psychological horror. She is fascinated by the complexity of human behaviour and the dark depths of the mind. The Serial Killer’s Son was her first novel.
Charlotte now resides in Greater Manchester with her husband, three wonderful children and two rambunctious dogs. When not writing or working, Charlotte is a voracious consumer of audiobooks and has an ever-expanding TBR pile that she has no desire to control.
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+ 1940s, 1950s, fiction, guest post, Historical fiction, loss, love, review, Victorian Britain, World War Two, WW2
The Butterfly Girl by Tania Crosse spotlight post
A heart-wrenching tale of wartime spirit, love, loss and the courage of a young nurse during the Plymouth Blitz.
1941. The midst of the Blitz. Bombs are raining down on the city. In one terrifying moment, trainee nurse Pippa Luscombe’s life is turned upside-down when her hospital takes a direct hit.
As Pippa comes to terms with the full extent of the tragedy, she must pick up the pieces of her life. But the incident has left lasting scars. She determines to dedicate her life to her nursing career, and forget about finding love of her own.
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Until one day she discovers she has an unexpected admirer. A patient hands her a piece of paper. A heartfelt note to his butterfly girl.
In this one moment, Pippa’s life is changed once more.
The war in Europe rages on. But for Pippa this unsolicited note brings a threat much closer to home. She must make some difficult decisions as she experiences both love and loss in search of her own happiness.
Spotlight
The Butterfly Girl is the second novel in my Devonshire series to be set in wartime Plymouth. As with all cities that were badly blitzed in the Second World War, Plymouth has many tales to tell. Our heroine in the previous saga, The Convent Girl, Book 10 in the series, was an auxiliary fire-fighter. Philippa in The Butterfly Girl is a nurse, giving a different viewpoint among the mind-boggling variety of roles played by brave civilians in those terrible times.
So why did I decide what part she was to play? Two main reasons. Firstly, I was so deeply moved by the horrific event on one of the worst nights of the Plymouth Blitz in March 1941 when the brand new maternity block at the City Hospital received a direct hit. Writing this story was my way of honouring the innocents who lost their lives that night, and you will see that the book is dedicated to them. We must remember that life continued despite the trials of war. As well as being injured in air raids, the public became ill, needing care and in some cases operations, and the medical profession had to carry on as normal, though in exceptionally difficult circumstances.
Secondly, my own mother trained as a nurse during the London Blitz and related such interesting tales that I felt they ought to be recognised. Climbing in through the Nurses’ Home windows out of hours, counting swabs in theatre, paying for broken thermometers were all true. A grateful patient wrote my mother a thank you poem entitled ‘Nurse Blue Eyes’ that always made me smile because my mother’s eyes were green. This did, though, give me the idea for Archie’s poem, ‘The Butterfly Girl’, that is central to the plot. I still have some of my mother’s nursing textbooks that are mentioned in the story, but were also extremely useful for research, along with many other memoirs by wartime nurses that proved fascinating reading. As a result, I was able to describe medical procedures and medications of the period, the treatment of childhood diphtheria which was rife at the time, even down to the preparation of penicillin injections as the then new wonder-drug was not yet available in tablet form. Finally, a dear friend of mine, sadly no longer with us, began her training in1947 at the City Hospital that was soon to change its name to Freedom Fields. She also had many stories to relate, and gave me copies of various photographs of her nursing days.
Nursing is just one of the aspects of the war covered in The Butterfly Girl. I do hope that in reading it, you will also learn a little about the heroism, determination and resilience of the people of Plymouth in such appalling times, and that you will love the way Philippa and her friend, Stephanie, cope with adversity. Reviews are always greatly appreciated, and I hope you will love the characters and their stories in the same way as I enjoyed creating them.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author in her own words
“Hello, and welcome to my author page. In it, you will learn a little about the background to my stories.
“GREAT NEWS!
“I’ve just signed a contract with my lovely publishers, Joffe Books, for my latest saga, The Butterfly Girl, that will be Book 11 in my Devonshire series! It’s another heart-wrenching tale set during the Plymouth Blitz, based on true events and partly inspired by my mother’s nurses’ training during the war.
“In the meantime, why not take advantage of the special offer on the Box Set of Books 6-10? Through both world wars and into the 1950s, they show how the ugly tentacles of war reach way beyond the end of the conflicts.
“For those of you who are new to my books, each is a stand-alone, but you will enjoy them most if they are read in order. The first in the series is The Harbour Master’s Daughter, based on the history of Morwellham Quay, once the greatest copper port in the whole of Queen Victoria’s Empire. Four more Victorian tales follow, mainly set on the wilds of Dartmoor, illustrating different aspects of the harsh life on the moor, from farming, mining and quarrying, to the little known gunpowder factory and the infamous prison. A Box Set is available to download of Books 1-5, the Victorian tales. As mentioned above, a second Box Set of Books 6-10 is also now available to download, with two WW1 titles, showing how sleepy Devon was just as involved in the conflict as anywhere. Then we jump forward to the 1950s with The Dartmoor Girl and The Girl At Holly Cottage, both stories of the legacy of war, before popping back to the WW2 years with Book 10, The Convent Girl. The action actually begins in a convent in Ireland, based on my own mother’s childhood there, before moving to Plymouth where we see the run-up to hostilities through the eyes of the heroine. What will happen to her when war breaks out and Plymouth is devastated by the Blitz? You can enjoy this book without having read the previous titles, but for the eagle-eyed, there is a link to The Wheelwright Girl.
“And don’t forget my four Twentieth Century Sagas set in London and Kent, the last one of which, The Street Of Broken Dreams, won Saga Of The Year in the prestigious RoNA Awards 2020, so I can officially call myself an award-winning author! It’s the summer of 1945 and WW2 is drawing to a close. But for some it can never end. Set in Battersea, London, where I myself lived as a small child, it’s another gripping, powerful drama, quite dark in places. I believe that, like all my novels, it will tug at your heartstrings.
“Whichever of my books you choose to read, I do hope you enjoy them! So why not take a look at my website for more details? I’m sure you will discover many hours of engrossing reading!”
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Book Links
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222218613-the-butterfly-girl
Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/butterflygirl-zbt
+ 1990s, Catholic Church, crime fiction, fiction, jealousy, lies, murder, murder mystery, obsession, religion, review, secrets
A Prayer Before Killing by CC Gilmartin (The Colin Buxton Series Book #3)
An exclusive Catholic boys’ school…the death of a young nun…a potential cover-up.
When Colin Buxton arrives in Glasgow to care for his gravely ill mother, he’s drawn into a perplexing mystery: how a bangle that once belonged to a murdered nun has inexplicably appeared on the wrist of a statue of the Virgin Mary. With a priest having been convicted of the crime, could someone be trying to signal that justice wasn’t served?
As Colin delves deeper, he uncovers a group of teenage boys whose unsettling connection to the young nun raises troubling questions about the original investigation. And then there’s the school itself, whose dubious past may be concealing the truth. What secrets is the Catholic church hiding, and how far will they go to protect their own?
In A Prayer Before Killing, the third gripping novel in CC Gilmartin’s Colin Buxton Series, dark truths emerge as Colin navigates a web of deception and betrayal, challenging everything he thought he knew about faith, loyalty, and justice.
Perfect for fans of JM Dalgliesh, LJ Ross, Simon McCleave and Rachel McLean.
My Review
There’s something very Lord Of The Flies (one of the boys is actually reading it at one point) meets If about A Prayer Before Killing. Set in the 1990s in a private, Roman Catholic school, most of the teachers are priests, and the boys aspire to join the priesthood. A group of four teenage boys Matthew, Garr, Luc and Jonny, who call themselves the ‘Apostles’, are the main focus of ex-police officer Colin Buxton’s investigation into the murder of Sister Oran, in the third in the series.
We jump back and forth from 1995 to two years earlier, when Sister Oran’s body was found in the tunnels under the school, having lain dead for at least three weeks. Father Simon Young was convicted of her murder, but a number of people believe he is innocent. Colin is asked to take a ‘teaching’ job at the exclusive Holy Trinity College, but it’s really a cover so he can investigate the murder.
In a separate story, Colin’s mother is dying and he is staying with her to help neighbour Jeannie look after her. That’s what brought him back to Glasgow.
I can’t pretend that the story isn’t quite long, complicated and involved, and there are a lot of characters all of whom matter. My favourite is Caroline, with her home counties, cut glass accent, and her red Audi Quattro. She reminds me a bit of my art teacher, who drove an Austin Healey 3000. I should really dislike her, but she brings some light relief when it’s needed.
I probably have the advantage as a reader of having been to a Catholic Convent school in the late sixties, so there are some things I may understand better than many. The blind faith in miracles, the immaculate conception, the resurrection, transubstantiation etc can seem very odd to other religions, or especially to atheists. And if you believe some of the seemingly naive devotion to be far-fetched, trust me, it isn’t.
Maybe because of my background, I love a religious slant to a crime novel, probably because you can never quite leave your experiences totally behind.
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of the #APrayerBeforeKilling blog tour.
About the Authors
“We’re Chris Deans and Colin Thomas Begg, the bestselling writing duo behind the pen name CC Gilmartin.
“Scots born, we’ve lived in London, Sydney, Berlin, and Barcelona, but now call Glasgow home. With diverse backgrounds, we’ve come together to share our passion for crime fiction and suspense. The stories we create have dark secrets at their heart. Love, denial and betrayal drive, and sometimes destroy, our characters. We’re also inspired by the Scottish landscape and the great cities we’ve been lucky enough to live in.
“Want to know more about our books? Join the CC Gilmartin Readers Club at https://www.ccgilmartin.com/book-club and receive a FREE Colin Buxton story, plus regular updates on our writing and travels.”
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Get ready to giggle with ‘Frog, Fish, and Worm’!
This toe-tapping, fish-flapping, and worm-squirming adventure will have kids aged 2-8 in stitches. Watch as these three tiny titans team up against the fisherman, Stan.
But guess who joins the underwater shenanigans?
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A toothless Crocodile! With their hilarious hijinks and a pinch of teamwork, they give Stan the fright of his fishing life.
It’s a rip-roaring rhyme-time, proving that even the littlest critters can outsmart the biggest bullies. So dive into this gigglesome, fin-tastic tale, and let the underwater fun begin!
My Review
Frog, Fish, and Worm is a hilarious tale of three friends, Slimey McSprog the frog, McHish the fish, and Erm, a wiggly brown worm, who nasty Stan uses to catch fish for his dinner. The book is illustrated in bright colours which young children will adore.
It’s written in rhyme which makes it easy to read aloud. Erm is fed up with being used as bait, so the friends decide to get rid of Stan once and for all. They enlist the help of a green crocodile, but unfortunately he doesn’t have any teeth from eating too many sweets.
They still manage to hatch a plan with crocodile’s help, to send Stan on his way once and for all. It’s all very funny, and a great follow up to Christina’s first book, Dorothy Dustbucket.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Christina has had a successful career in the Art, Design and TV Industry before owning her very own Art Gallery. Inspired by her love of reading and doodling, Christina decided to put pen to paper and create Dorothy Dustbucket. Splitting time between Europe and the UK, she lives in the beautiful county of Cheshire, along with her husband and two children, who provided much of the inspiration for the children’s books.
Christina’s Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/christi87942442
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christina_b_bianco_/
Tik Tok : https://www.tiktok.com/@1christinabbianco
Book Links
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/156737966-dorothy-dustbucket
Buy Link – https://mybook.to/DorothyDustbucket-zbt
THE DARKLY TWISTED DEBUT THRILLER OF THE YEAR
How to Kill Your Family meets The Power in this entertaining and thought-provoking read, that asks:
If you had the power between life and death, what would you do?
Thea has a secret. She can tell how long someone has left to live just by touching them. Not only that, but she can transfer life from one person to another – something she finds out the hard way when her best friend Ruth suffers a fatal head injury on a night out.
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Desperate to save her, Thea touches the arm of the man responsible when he comes to check if Ruth is all right. As Ruth comes to, the man quietly slumps to the ground, dead. Thea realises that she has a godlike power: but despite deciding to use her ability for good, she can’t help but sometimes use it for her own benefit.
Boss annoying her at work? She can take some life from them and give it as a tip to her masseuse for a great job.
Creating an ‘Ethical Guide to Murder’ helps Thea to focus her new-found skills.
But as she embarks on her mission to punish the wicked and give the deserving more time, she finds that it isn’t as simple as she first thought. How can she really know who deserves to die, and can she figure out her own rules before Ruth’ borrowed time runs out?
My Review
It’s an interesting concept! “Punish the wicked and give the deserving more time. It’s that simple. Right?” Only it’s not. Giving the deserving more time is easy, especially if it’s a child, but who do you take it from? Take a few months or weeks here and there? Or ‘kill’ people you believe should be eliminated? And who decides who is wicked? Well, Thea and Sam think they have it right, though I think Thea is being coerced by Sam who promises to help her find the drunk driver who killed her parents and left her by the side of the road. He has his own agenda.
Let’s just backtrack for a second. Thea has a superpower of sorts. She can see how long people have left to live just by touching them, so when best friend Ruth hits her head in a nightclub and is about to die, Thea takes the life from the nearest stranger and gives it to Ruth. Except he didn’t deserve to die. It was a terrible mistake.
Moving on, the problem is that Thea sometimes chooses people that have hurt others, but doesn’t take into consideration that they didn’t ask for her help. And it frequently backfires. “I hate my parents or partner” doesn’t mean you want them removed from the face of the earth.
Of course Thea can ‘get away with murder’, so to speak, as who would believe that she can suck the life out of people with her power. Except Police Officer Stewart is suspicious, but he can’t work out what’s going on.
An Ethical Guide to Murder is really a morality tale, with a lot of dark humour thrown in. Entertaining and thought provoking, it will keep you up at night wondering whether Thea’s actions can ever be justified.
I can’t remember the last time I cried this much at the end of a book. Not just a sniffle, but real blobby tears, running down my face. It’s brilliant.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Jenny Morris lives in Crowborough, the home of Winnie the Pooh and an outrageous number of charity shops. She has a PhD in Cognitive Psychology and works as a behavioural scientist. When not reading or writing, she enjoys galloping around the Ashdown Forest on a horse, foraging for mushrooms and getting way too intense about board games at the pub.
+ crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, grief, kidnapping, loss, murder, Nordic noir, norway, police drama, review, Scandi noir, serial killer
Into Thin Air by Ørjan Karlsson translated by Ian Giles Arctic Mysteries #1
When nineteen-year-old Iselin Hanssen disappears during a run in a popular hiking area in Bodø, northern Norway, suspicion quickly falls on her boyfriend.
For investigator Jakob Weber, the case seems clear-cut, almost unexceptional, even though there is some suggestion that Iselin lived parts of her life beneath the radar of both family and friends.
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But events take a dramatic turn when another woman disappears in similar circumstances – this time on the island of Røst, a hundred kilometres off the coast, in the wild ocean. Rumours that a killer is on the loose begin to spread, terrifying the local population and leading to wild conspiracies. But then Jakob discovers that this isn’t the first time that young women have vanished without a trace in the region, and it becomes clear that someone is hiding something … and another murderous spree may have just begun…
My Review
I hope this is the start of a new series as I am obsessed! I just looked it up and there is a book two though I can’t see a translation yet.
There are so many crime thrillers out there, but this is up at the top with the best. Because it’s Scandi Noir, it’s gritty and dangerous, and there are so many twists and turns that will leave you breathless. All the way through you’ll be thinking – it’s him, no it’s not, it’s someone else, then back and forth. Red herring after red herring.
The main characters – Jakob Weber (and Garm the Jack Russell), Amman, Fine and Noora are brilliantly written, as are the potential villains. Even some of those who may or may not be the killer are awful, with no respect for women. They form part of the sub-plot, and I feel they will be further progressed as the series continues.
There are some who might find certain aspects of the finale a bit over the top, but I loved it. I never expected it. It was brilliant.
I have to admit that I love Nordic Noir best of all the Scandis – there is something so atmospheric about the settings, that only Icelandic Noir comes close to. One of my favourite books of the year so far.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Ørjan Karlsson grew up in Bodø, a town north of the Arctic Circle. He holds a master’s degree in sociology and received officer training in the army. He has participated in international missions for the EU, UN, and NATO, and has worked for the Norwegian Ministry of Defence and the Directorate for Civil Protection. Ørjan has written a large number of thrillers, sci-fi novels and crime novels for adults, including an acclaimed thriller series featuring Major Frank Halvorsen and Lieutenant Ida Vinterdal of the Norwegian special forces. Up in Thin Air, the first book in the Jakob Weber series, is his sixteenth novel.
Follow Ørjan on X @orjankarlsson, Instagram @orjan_nk and facebook.com/orjan.karlsson.
About the Translator
Ian Giles has a PhD in Scandinavian literature from the University of Edinburgh. Past translations include novels by crime and thriller luminaries such as Arne Dahl, Carin Gerhardsen, Michael Katz Krefeld, David Lagercrantz, Camilla Läckberg and Gustaf Skördeman. His translation of Andreas Norman’s Into a Raging Blaze was shortlisted for the 2015 CWA International Dagger.
+ 1930s, 1940s, fiction, friendship, grief, Historical fiction, history, holocaust, jewish history, jews, loss, love, nazi germany, non-fiction, review, WW2
The Teacher of Auschwitz by Wendy Holden
‘Haunting and beautiful. Excruciatingly vivid, The Teacher of Auschwitz is rigorously researched and true to the history, powerfully conveying what a smart, loving and energetic man Fredy was.’ Dr Elizabeth Baer, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
‘The closest possible narrative a person who did not experience those times herself, could have written… which will do justice to Fredy and all those victims.’ Dita Kraus, the real-life inspiration for The Librarian of Auschwitz and one of the last known survivors of the children’s block.
Fredy built a wall against suffering in their hearts…
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At the dark heart of the Holocaust, there was a wooden hut whose walls were painted with cartoons; a place where children sang, staged plays and wrote poetry. Safely inside, but still in the shadow of the chimneys, they were given better food, kept free of vermin, and were even taught meditation to imagine full stomachs and a day without fear. The man who became their guiding light was a young Jewish prisoner named Fredy Hirsch.
But being a teacher in such a brutal concentration camp was no mean feat. Whether it was begging the SS for better provisions, or hiding his homosexuality from his persecutors, he risked his life every day for one thing: to protect the children from the mortal danger they all faced.
Time is running out for Fredy and the hundreds of children in his care. Can he find a way to teach them the one lesson they really need to know: how to survive?
From the bestselling author of Born Survivors, comes an assiduously researched and powerful new novel. Drawn from archives and survivor testimonies, historian and biographer Wendy Holden tells the inspirational and uplifting true story of Fredy Hirsch: The Teacher of Auschwitz.
My Review
No matter how many books I read about the holocaust, ‘man’s inhumanity to man’ never ceases to shock and disgust me. How anyone can carry out this level of cruelty is beyond me, particularly on children. If it ever ceases to upset me, then there is something very wrong.
The Teacher of Auschwitz is different from the books I have read in the past. It is told from the point of view of a young Jewish man named Fredy Hirsch. It’s based on a true story, and many of the other characters are also real. I can’t pretend it won’t upset you, because it will and it should. The worst parts are about the children who Fredy is trying to protect by teaching them about hope and survival. He does this through sport, art, poetry and drama, enlisting the help of others with the relevant skills.
But he can’t save them all, and many parts of the book are deeply harrowing, particularly the story of the 1200 Bialystok orphans, who arrived on the ‘special’ transport. Fredy is determined to find out more about them, in spite of putting himself at risk.
Other than Fredy, one man stood out for me, a shining light in the darkness. Viktor Pestek was a 19-year-old Rottenführer who was so shocked by what he saw at Auschwitz, that he sneaked information to Fredy from the resistance, and tried to help prisoners to escape, so they could tell the world what was really happening. He was a real person and you can read more about him at the end of the book. At the apposite end of the scale, names such as Eichmann and Mengele chilled me to the bone.
It’s a brilliantly written and researched book that combines fiction and non-fiction, and evokes emotions so strong that never go away even after all these years. When the allies finally liberated the camps, I can’t imagine what it must have been like to witness the horrors therein.
Many thanks to @Tr4cyF3nt0n for inviting me to be part of the #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour
About the Author
A journalist for eighteen years, ten on the Daily Telegraph of London, her first novel The Sense of Paper was published by Random House, New York, in 2006 to widespread critical acclaim. Her non-fiction titles have chiefly chronicled the lives of remarkable subjects. The latest is Born Survivors, the incredible story of three mothers who defied death at the hands of the Nazis to give life. She has also written the memoir of the only woman in the French Foreign Legion in Tomorrow To Be Brave, and about the mother of a woman killed after marrying a Sudanese warlord in Till The Sun Grows Cold. She wrote A Lotus Grows In The Mud – the memoir of actress Goldie Hawn – and Lady Blue Eyes, the autobiography of Frank Sinatra’s widow Barbara, all of which were New York Times and Sunday Times bestsellers.
She also wrote the international bestseller Ten Mindful Minutes, her second book with Goldie Hawn and the first in a series of books for parents and children. She wrote Kill Switch, the memoir of an honourable British soldier wrongly imprisoned in Afghanistan as well as Behind Enemy Lines, about a young Jewish spy who repeatedly crossed German lines. Her book Memories Are Made Of This, a biography of Dean Martin as seen through his daughter’s eyes has become an enduring bestseller and she worked with Billy Connolly on Journey To The Edge Of The World his TV-companion travel guide to the Northwest Passage screened around the world. She co-wrote American male supermodel Bruce Hulse’s explosive memoir, Sex, Love And Fashion. Other works have included Central 822, the autobiography of a pioneering policewoman at Scotland Yard which was dramatised on BBC Radio, Biting The Bullet, charting the remarkable life of an SAS wife, and Footprints In The Snow, the story of a paraplegic made into a British TV drama starring Caroline Quentin. Wendy was also responsible for the bestselling novelisations of the films The Full Monty and Waking Ned. Her first book, Unlawful Carnal Knowledge the true story of the controversial Irish abortion case was banned in Ireland. Shell Shock, her history of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, went with an award-winning Channel 4 television documentary series. She lives in Suffolk, England, with her husband and two dogs and divides her time between the UK and the US.
+ 1930s, 1960s, 1990s, family, fiction, folklore, Historical fiction, love, Native American, religion, review
A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power
The long-awaited, profoundly moving, and unforgettable new novel from PEN Award–winning Native American author Mona Susan Power, spanning three generations of Yanktonai Dakota women from the 19th century to the present day.
From the mid-century metropolis of Chicago to the windswept ancestral lands of the Dakota people, to the bleak and brutal Indian boarding schools, A Council of Dolls is the story of three women, told in part through the stories of the dolls they carried….
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Sissy, born 1961: Sissy’s relationship with her beautiful and volatile mother is difficult, even dangerous, but her life is also filled with beautiful things, including a new Christmas present, a doll called Ethel. Ethel whispers advice and kindness in Sissy’s ear, and in one especially terrifying moment, maybe even saves Sissy’s life.
Lillian, born 1925: Born in her ancestral lands in a time of terrible change, Lillian clings to her sister, Blanche, and her doll, Mae. When the sisters are forced to attend an “Indian school” far from their home, Blanche refuses to be cowed by the school’s abusive nuns. But when tragedy strikes the sisters, the doll Mae finds her way to defend the girls.
Cora, born 1888: Though she was born into the brutal legacy of the “Indian Wars,” Cora isn’t afraid of the white men who remove her to a school across the country to be “civilized.” When teachers burn her beloved buckskin and beaded doll Winona, Cora discovers that the spirit of Winona may not be entirely lost…
A modern masterpiece, A Council of Dolls is gorgeous, quietly devastating, and ultimately hopeful, shining a light on the echoing damage wrought by Indian boarding schools, and the historical massacres of Indigenous people. With stunning prose, Mona Susan Power weaves a spell of love and healing that comes alive on the page.
My Review
When I was in my teens in 1970 I saw the film Little Big Man with Dustin Hoffman. What stuck with me was a scene in which a fleeing Native American woman was shot from behind by the US troops, killing the baby she was carrying on her back. It has never left me. I fear the horrendous scene with Blanche at school will be the same.
While Little Big Man is set decades earlier (mid 1850s), the treatment of Native Americans hadn’t changed by the last century. Regarded as savages who needed to be ‘civilised’, they were forced to adopt Catholicism with all its cruelty and prejudice. They were sent to ‘Indian’ schools, forced to go to church and were not allowed to speak in their own language.
The level of cruelty is astonishing, as is the lack of respect for their culture. It was virtually wiped out. In The Council of Dolls, we follow three women – grandmother Cora at the start of the century, her daughter Lillian in the 1930s and Sissy, growing up in the 1960s.
But we start with Sissy, born in 1961, a decade when segregation of blacks and whites was still the norm, Native Americans were regarded as primitive barbarians. Sissy is given a dark skinned doll, who she names Ethel after her godmother, and she talks to it. It talks back, giving her advice and comfort. Sissy’s mother is Lillian, whose treatment of her daughter is erratic and often abusive by today’s standards.
We then follow Lillian born in 1925, who is sent to the Carlisle Indian boarding school, where the nuns are cruel to her and her sister Blanche. Regardless of how clever the children are – Lillian could read at four years old – they are taught to be manual workers, cleaners and housekeepers to white people. Lillian has a doll she calls Mae, who she talks to like Sissy does to Ethel.
In part three, we follow Cora born in 1888, and her eventual husband Jack, who we know from later will ‘go bad’, exacerbated by the hard liquor that he is addicted to – the liquor introduced by white men to a nation that had never tasted it and often drove them mad. Cora has a buckskin and beaded doll she calls Winona.
Part four is all about Sissy – now Jesse – at fifty years old. She reflects on the three generations, and the Council of Dolls that have helped shape their lives. The dolls are their mentors, their comfort and their focus for love. Incidentally, the names of the three women were those they had to use instead of their real names, considered too native, and part of their indigenous culture.
I don’t know what else to say – I am slightly loathe to try and analyse the story too deeply as it’s not my country or my culture, but like the Aboriginals in Australia, who were the real ‘owners’ of the land, they were shoved out and made to feel like they were the usurpers. There is no justification for white men’s behaviour and some of the blame must lie at the feet of religion – I apologise to those who will disagree, but it’s a fact.
A brilliant book which everyone should read. Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of the #blogtour and giving me the opportunity to read this wonderful book.
About the Author
Mona Susan Power is the author of four books of fiction, including The Grass Dancer (a National Bestseller awarded a PEN/Hemingway Prize), Roofwalker (a collection of stories and essays awarded the Milkweed National Fiction Prize), Sacred Wilderness (a novel which received the Electa Quinney Award), and A Council of Dolls (winner of the Minnesota Book Award and High Plains Book Award, longlisted for the National Book Award and the Carol Shields Prize). She’s a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is also the recipient of several grants in support of her writing which include an Iowa Arts Fellowship, James Michener Fellowship, Radcliffe Bunting Institute Fellowship, Princeton Hodder Fellowship, USA Artists Fellowship, McKnight Fellowship, and Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellowship. Her short stories and essays have appeared in numerous publications and anthologies including The Best American Short Stories series, The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, The Missouri Review, Ploughshares, and Granta.
Mona is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna Dakhóta), born and raised in Chicago. During her childhood she was a member of the Chicago Indian Village movement, a group organized to protest the conditions of Native people lured to urban areas with promises of secure jobs and good housing, that seldom materialized. In 1979, a documentary following the experiences of this group was nominated for an Academy Award. Mona attended the Oscar ceremonies that year as a guest of the director, Jerry Aronson.
She currently lives in Minnesota, where she’s working on other novels, including, The Year of Fury.
Northern California, end of summer. Fire Hazard Severity Zone: Very High.
A mysterious death.
On the anniversary of her mother’s death, CEO-in-waiting Robyn Sandoval goes for a morning run. She knows her father – a local fire fighting hero – is desperate to speak to her, to tell her something he wants her to know before she starts her new job leading the corporation that owns most of their Northern Californian town of Destino. But when Robyn arrives, she finds him dead.
A devastating fire.
Meanwhile, after months of drought, a freak forest fire ignites on the mountain ridge looming over the town. Destino has never burned; its unique position protected by the seemingly insurmountable barrier of the ridge, a favourable wind direction, and a belief long held by the community that they are categorically safe.
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A life split in two.
Robyn is shaken to the core by her father’s death, and her life is shattered in two, the fabric of her reality shorn by the sheer force of her grief.
The next time she wakes, everything is different: her father is alive, and there’s no sign of the fire on the ridge.
To understand what is happening, she has to confront not only the secrets of her past but both versions of her present. Because back in her world, the fire is spreading and the time to find answers is running out…
My Review
I can’t pretend that I understood the concept of Time Of The Fire, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless. Zeke tries to explain to Scarlett about the many-worlds theory, using quantum physics and Schrödinger’s cat. She says she has a headache. So have I.
The idea of the many-worlds theory is that something so devastating happens that the world splits in two. In one world Harper Morgan is killed in a car crash in a terrible storm on her way back to her home in Destino. This is the prologue, the opening chapter of the book. Her husband Mack puts their daughter up for adoption and she becomes Robyn Sandoval, daughter of Eve and Alex Sandoval, and CEO-in-waiting of their massively successful company.
Initially, we follow Robyn, thirty years later. She is out for a run with her dog Hector, when she pops in to see Mack, only to find him dead on the bed. It’s evident that he has been murdered, but who would want to kill him?
We also follow Mags, who has left her husband to return to Destino to run her mother Bonnie’s diner. But it’s Scarlett Morgan who is Robyn’s alter-ego, except that’s not what she is. She is Robyn in another life, when the events of thirty years ago had happened quite differently.
But what makes this book so exciting is that it is set against the backdrop of a devastating fire (coincidence that I am reading this while the fires in Los Angeles are happening). Destino hasn’t had a fire for over 100 years and no-one is really prepared. In fact they believe themselves to be untouchable, invincible.
I was confused initially, but then it all came together and I couldn’t wait to see how it would be resolved. I loved both Robyn and Scarlett, and Mags in particular. Stick with it. It’s different, but it’s very clever and totally unique (for me anyway).
Many thanks to @Tr4cyF3nt0n for inviting me to be part of the #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour and to NetGalley for an ARC.
About the Author
Emma Kavanagh was born and raised in South Wales. After graduating with a PhD in Psychology from Cardiff University, she spent many years working as a police and military psychologist, training firearms officers, command staff and military personnel throughout the UK and Europe. She lives in South Wales with her husband and young sons.
+ autism, crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, murder, neurodivergence, police drama, police procedural, review
The Bookseller by Tim Sullivan The DS Cross Mysteries #7
THE SETTING
The body of a bookseller is discovered, lying in a pool of blood in his Bristol bookshop. Police have one question: how did the man meet such a violent, murderous end in this peaceful place?
THE CONFLICT
DS Cross’s ability to dismiss red herrings is challenged by a worrying development in his personal life. Hopelessly distracted, he needs to rely on those around him in a way he has never been comfortable doing before.
THE MURDER PLOT
It may be a quiet profession, but it’s full of passionate, ambitious characters who know the value of a rare book. Their extensive reading means they also know how to get away with murder.
But is that enough to fool the tenacious DS George Cross?
My Review
I feel I need to recap for anyone who hasn’t read any of the other books in the series, so here goes. ‘DI George Cross is on the neurodivergent spectrum (he refers to it as autism spectrum disorder) and takes everything literally. He doesn’t get jokes or irony which can be very confusing for his colleagues and intimidating for the criminals.’
His colleague DS Josie Ottey understands him though, and recognises that he is the best officer on the Avon and Somerset Major Crime Unit (MCU). But socially, he is, shall we say somewhat awkward. Near the beginning of the book Josie is promoted, technically making her his boss. This is an issue for George as he is worried that she will move and he’ll get a new partner.
In the meantime, we have seen George’s parents reunited, but Raymond suffers a stroke and ends up in hospital. George is reconsidering his career with the police.
So on to the story. This time it’s a bookseller who has been murdered, but what possible motive could there be. Is it something personal or to do with the value of antique books? And are they worth murdering for?
There are a lot of characters with complicated relationships, so it will take some unravelling for both the police and for us, the readers. It’s hard to say much more at this point, because we don’t yet know who has been murdered. Suffice to say, it’s a good story with plenty of intrigue, spice and suspense, made even more so with the added interest of George and his family and colleagues. Roll on the next one!
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read. It will be my last Pigeonhole book, as the book club is folding, and I shall miss it after all these years.
About the Author
Tim Sullivan is a crime writer, screenwriter and director whose film credits include A Handful of Dust, Jack and Sarah and Cold Feet. Early in his career he directed Jeremy Brett’s iconic portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in ITV’s The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes¸ cementing his lifelong passion for crime fiction.
Tim’s crime series, featuring the socially awkward but brilliantly persistent DS George Cross, has been widely acclaimed and topped the book charts. The Bookseller is the seventh in the series.
He lives in North London with his wife Rachel, the Emmy Award-winning producer of The Barefoot Contessa and Pioneer Woman. To find out more about the author please visit TimSullivan.co.uk
Follow him at:
Twitter: @TimJRSullivan
Facebook: Tim Sullivan novels
Instagram: @timsullivannovelist
TikTok: @timsullivanauthor
IN THE FAKED VIDEO, YOUR DAUGHTER IS DEAD. AND IF YOU DON’T PAY, SHE’LL DIE FOR REAL.
Things have been difficult for Annie since her husband left; her teenage daughter, Isla, has become a ghost of her former self. Annie’s terrified that Isla might hurt herself, and she’ll lose her, too. So when Annie receives a video of herself crying at Isla’s funeral, she’s immediately sick to her stomach.
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Confused and horrified, Annie races upstairs to check on Isla, who is perfectly alive and well. The video has been faked. But who sent it and what do they want?
One dark truth soon becomes clear: Isla will die for real if Annie doesn’t give the sender the money they’re looking for, or if she goes to the police. But Annie’s not sure she has the cash, which leaves her with one choice: find the blackmailer and stop them in their tracks.
Your Child Next is a thrilling and unputdownable novel that asks you how far you’d go to protect the ones you love. Perfect for fans of Harlan Coben and Steve Cavanagh.
My Review
Your Child Next never lets up for a second. It races along from one exciting scene to another and then smacks you in the face with even more.
Our two main protagonists – Annie and Michael – don’t know each other. But they are both being blackmailed (directly or in Michael’s case it was his late wife who had been targeted) and asked to hand over £1,000 a month in order to protect their teenage children. If they don’t, the kids will be put in danger. The kids of course, don’t believe any of it, but then they wouldn’t, would they.
Our two ‘villains’ are Maya, with her red leather biker’s jacket and lips to match, and her psychopathic partner Ollie. We discover their relationship later on. Mostly, they use others to do their dirty work (Ollie is too unpredictable to be trusted), by threatening them with – yes you guessed it – their children’s safety. And it works. What could be worse than turning your parental anxieties against you? Apart from kidnapping your dog – and yes they’ve done that as well.
Now personally, I would have gone straight to the police, even if I was warned not to, but no-one ever does in these stories. And if they had, it would have changed everything. Because we love a story where ordinary people take the law into their own hands.
I believe it’s hard to write ‘action’ scenes but in Your Child Next the author/s handle it very well without getting bogged down in the realms of confusion as is often the case. Like watching a game of Twister at an alcohol-fuelled party, it can be hard to work out who’s down on the floor and who’s balanced on one arm and a leg before tipping over into the abyss (in the book not the game of Twister). I can definitely see this being made into a TV series, it would be perfect.
Many thanks to @Tr4cyF3nt0n for inviting me to be part of the #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour and to NetGalley for an ARC.
About the Authors
MJ Arlidge has worked in television for the last twenty years, specialising in high-end drama production, including prime-time crime serials Silent Witness, Torn, The Little House and, most recently, the hit ITV show Innocent. In 2015 his audio book exclusive Six Degrees of Assassination was a number-one bestseller. His debut thriller, Eeny Meeny, was the UK’s bestselling crime debut of 2014 and has been followed by ten more DI Helen Grace thrillers – all Sunday Times bestsellers.
Andy Maslen was born in Nottingham, in the UK, home of legendary bowman Robin Hood. Andy once won a medal for archery, although he has never been locked up by the sheriff. He has worked in a record shop, as a barman, as a door-to-door DIY products salesman and a cook in an Italian restaurant. He lives in Wiltshire with his wife, two sons and a whippet named Merlin.
