Will the stag escape the hunters? Did the lion eat the mouse? And why exactly did the fox invite the stork round to share a meal?
Find your own answers to these questions as you engage with the stories retold here by Leon Conrad in the rich oral storytelling tradition.
The layout of this book is specially designed to encourage reading aloud. The fables are perfectly complemented by Alessandro Scafi’s charming illustrations. Leon’s virtuosic readings of the poems are also available as an audio book.
So awaken your mind and lend me an ear –
Come, free your senses. I’ll take you to where
There’s a magical place, filled with creatures with flair –
A country of wolf, sheep, of crow, stork and bear,
Of talking trees, rabbits, the fox in his lair …
The power of these stories will take us right there.
My Review
So why is it that fables always seem to revolve around lions, foxes, wolves, and crows, with the occasional mule (or donkey), mouse and dog thrown in? Is it because they are crafty? Or brave? Apart from the mule that is. I wasn’t sure about the dog. So I hope the author won’t mind that before reviewing the book, I wanted to do some research.
It appears that certain animals are the most often represented in fables and each has its own meaning. Lions are strong, proud and fearless. In Christian symbolism the wolf may represent the devil. The mule is stupid and foolish. The mouse is clever and cunning, like in the story of The Lion and the Mouse.
“Please let me go. Please let me go and play.
You never know – I might be useful to you one day.“
Foxes are clever, but we knew that. They are also used to getting what they want, like in The Fox and The Grapes
“WANT them!
WANT those grapes.
DIG those grapes
And their groovy shapes.“
The dog is loyal and selfless. However in this poem, Wild Dog Dingo’s Winter, the dingo is a wild dog, so he has no-one to be loyal to.
“And so, the seasons flow –
Even though here I must leave
Our story and that little,
Shivering, curled up ball of fur
Which is our wild dog Dingo.”
The crow, like the wolf, often represents evil and is the harbinger of death, but I dispute this, as I am a bit obsessed with Corvids in literature and feel they are misunderstood. They are patient and intelligent, and in The Fox and the Crow, the crow manages to outwit the fox, and in the end, they learn to respect each other. I love how the fox tricks the crow into dropping the cheese, but the crow gets wise and when they next meet, he hides the cheese first so he doesn’t lose it. At their final meeting, when they are both old, the fox breaks the cheese in half and they share. Now if there isn’t a moral in there somewhere, I’ll be damned. Or maybe we should just call it a guide for life.
“Now you won’t find one moral printed here in this book
And it just doesn’t matter how hard you look.
I’m sorry if you think I’ve taken them away –
I haven’t. It’s how Aesop told them way back in his day.
He wanted to help people think matters through
For themselves.…”
I really loved these verses. The most famous fables are all here, but with added humour. They are written in a way that begs to be read aloud to children of all ages. Adults will enjoy the nostalgia if you remember these from your own childhood. Hopefully you remember them with fondness (unlike my earliest experiences of Struwwelpeter, which terrified the life out of me and still does). And I must also say that the illustrations are beautiful.
I didn’t want to attempt an academic study of the place of fables in the modern world or ‘criticise’ the structure of the poetry, as that would be ridiculously arrogant of me. I just loved the verses for their beauty and simple storytelling.
Many thanks to @LiterallyPR for inviting me to be part of the #AesopTheStoryteller blog tour.
About the Author
Leon Conrad is a multi-award-winning, traditionally published author and storyteller. He has been a regular columnist, had articles published in journals and magazines, written theatre shows, and contributed to radio programmes. He teaches creative writing and is a meticulous and collaborative editor and story structure consultant to both fiction and non-fiction writers, ‘plotters’ and ‘pantsers’ alike.
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Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent
Jessica Regan (Narrator) Stephen Hogan (Narrator) Sara Lynam (Narrator)
Sally Diamond cannot understand why what she did was so strange. She was only doing what her father told her to do, to put him out with the rubbish when he died.
Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and worried police, but also a sinister voice from a past she has no memory of. As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, recluse Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, finding independence, and learning that people don’t always mean what they say.
But when messages start arriving from a stranger who knows far more about her past than she knows herself, Sally’s life will be thrown into chaos once again . . .
My Review
My husband’s late granddad used to say ‘When I go, stick me in a bin bag Paul… (his daughter), and put me out with the rubbish.’ Of course we knew he was joking and wouldn’t have dreamt of doing it. But Sally takes things literally, so she does. When her father dies, she attempts a DIY cremation. Which attracts the attention of the guards, and the media. And that’s where the story begins.
Initially I found Sally intriguing, sad, often humorous, and I couldn’t stop listening (I had an audio version from Borrowbox). Then after a bit I wanted more – where was the story going – and I certainly got it. We moved from Sally to Peter and to be honest, I found his parts the more interesting of the two. If you think Sally’s childhood is dark, it pales into comparison with Peter’s. Because just when you think things couldn’t get any darker, they do. And then darker still.
Sally has social and behavioural issues and she doesn’t remember anything before she was seven years old, when she was adopted. She is 42 at the beginning of the book. She has trouble with anger management, but can relax when she plays the piano, and she’s very good.
Peter lives with his father, and never goes out, His father tells him he has a terrible, rare disease that means he can’t be touched by anyone who isn’t family or he will die a horrible, painful death. Peter is seven and believes every word. A bright child, he is homeschooled, but he is lonely and has no friends. He’s already quite creepy.
I have given the book 5 stars, but I have to admit that I would have preferred a slightly different ending. One of the outcomes was not unexpected, but it did drag something very different, kicking and screaming, into the world of mainstream commercialism. The other was depressing. Anyway, enough said. No spoilers etc. A brilliant read, one of my favourite books of the year, and the narration on audio made it even better.
About the Author
Liz Nugent worked as a stage manager in theatres in Ireland and toured internationally before writing extensively for radio and television drama.
Unravelling Oliver was published in 2014, hit the number 1 spot for several weeks and won Crime Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards.
Lying in Wait, published in 2016, went straight to number 1 and was chosen for the Richard & Judy Book Club. It won the Radio 1 Ryan Tubridy Listeners Choice Award at the Irish Book Awards.
In October 2017, Liz won the Irish Tatler Woman of the Year Award in Literature.
Skin Deep was published in 2018. It also went straight to number 1 in the bestsellers charts and scooped two awards at the An Post Irish Book Awards in Nov ’18: Crime Novel of the Year AND the Radio 1 Ryan Tubridy Listener’s Choice Award.
Little Cruelties (Our Little Cruelties) was published in 2020. Another number 1 bestseller, it topped the charts for fifteen weeks, was nominated for Crime Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, long listed for a CWA award at Theakston Crime Festival at Harrogate. It was listed as one of the most recommended thrillers of the Year by the New York Times.
Liz was presented with the James Joyce Medal for Literature (via Zoom!) in February 21 and was a Guest of Honour at Iceland Noir in November 21.
It’s 1989 – the so-called Second Summer of Love. The days are endlessly hot, and ravers are riding on a hedonistic wave of Acid House and MDMA.
It’s the biggest youth movement since the 60’s and it’s out of control.
Rave organisers mix with underworld gangsters who don’t care about the devastating consequences.
Genres: Thriller / Crime / Mystery
Pages: 305
But when ravers start dying, undercover cops are sent to infiltrate the chaotic, deadly scene. Little did anyone know that their actions in those heady days would come back to haunt them nearly a decade later.
Was it really the Second Summer of Love, or a deadly Summer of Death? And can the instigators be caught twice?
About the Author
Catherine Yaffe is the author of crime thrillers that readers and reviewers frequently describe as compulsively readable. A graduate of Curtis Brown Creative academy, Catherine wrote her first crime thriller, The Lie She Told in 2020 whilst the UK was in Lockdown. On its release it debuted in the top 10 hot new releases on Amazon and to date has accrued hundreds of five-star reviews
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Marceline Baldwin is a shy and mild-mannered pastor’s daughter. Then she meets the charismatic Jim Jones. She falls madly in love.
They have a mutual desire to change the world and quickly become inseparable. In the midst of 1950s segregated America, Jim and Marceline Baldwin Jones made headlines for being the first white family in Indiana to adopt a black child. They adopt five other non- white children and called themselves ‘the rainbow family’.
Jones’ following begins to grow and becomes The People’s Temple, welcoming people from all walks of life and giving hope to the disenfranchised. They build a commune in the jungle of British Guyana on the ideals of equality and brotherly love, but the reality is very different. Jim Jones is a dangerous egotist and when things start to fall apart, he plans his mass-murder suicide mission. If he’s going to die, he will take his followers with him…
On November 18th 1978, nine hundred and nine people died in the jungle in British Guyana.
Published on the 45th anniversary, Paradise Undone explores the tragedy through the voices of four protagonists – Marceline Baldwin Jones and three other members of the Peoples’ Temple. Drawing on extensive research and interviews, Annie Dawid blends fact and fiction, using real and composite characters to tell a story about the greatest single loss of US civilian lives in the 20th century.
My Review
There were times this book made me cry, at others it made me cross. Often at night I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The babies and children who were murdered (yes murdered because they didn’t have any choice), but also about Christine, held down by four men and injected with the poison. That was the worst kind of murder if there is such a thing. It was very hard to read. The sedatives were supposed to help alleviate the suffering, but they took 15 minutes to work, by which time it was far too late – the victims were already dead, having suffered excruciating pain and convulsions.
By the end I hoped I would understand why they would follow a drug-crazed lunatic (which is what pastor Jim Jones became by the end). I would try to understand the power of brainwashing. For some of the very poor, any life was better than what they knew. Many had been drug addicts, and the African Americans had been racially abused all their lives. But what about the white middle classes? How were they taken in by him?
Initially the The People’s Temple was all about uniting everyone together in true socialism, where everyone was equal regardless of colour, nationality or creed. Children were adopted into ‘rainbow families’. Charismatic leader Jim and his quiet wife Marceline became the Mother and Father of the temple. But some of his quotes are unbelievable – he saw himself as the only means to salvation. He talks as if he is God.
I AM PEACE
I AM JUSTICE
I AM EQUALITY
I AM FREEDOM
I AM GOD
Once they had moved to Guyana and set up Jonestown, Jim had become paranoid about the authorities coming after them, with snipers to take them out. He told everyone that the children would be taken and killed. Now I am not sure whether he actually believed any of it, but it was certainly a way to stop people defecting. Those who did were the traitors, the ones who would eventually lead to the ultimate White Night “the term…used to denote a crisis within Peoples Temple and the possibility of mass death during or as a result of the crisis*”. It had been well rehearsed.
On that fateful night, everyone was to take a drink of Fla-Vor-Aid which contained cyanide and sedatives. If they were too young to swallow it, or were reluctant, they were injected instead, often by force. Jim Jones himself was shot in the head, whether self-inflicted or by someone else, we’ll never know.
Strangely, I don’t remember the Jonestown massacre in 1978 (even though I was in my twenties at the time). Maybe it wasn’t widely reported in the UK. But some years later, when TV loved to promote the most dramatic events, Waco made the national news here, and similarities were drawn with Jonestown. Another 15 years on and I studied cults as part of my OU degree, and we looked at Jonestown, Waco and others, though not in great detail. I am still interested in the idea of brainwashing.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author Annie Dawid, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
*https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35371
About the Author
Annie Dawid has published five books, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry and essays. She teaches at the University of Denver, University College master’s program in creative writing online from her home in very rural Colorado. Her fifth book, Put Off My Sackcloth, was published last year by The Humble Essayist Press. It was a runner up in the Los Angeles Book Festival 2021 autobiography category and a finalist in the 2022 Memoir category from Book Excellence and in non-fiction, Rubery International Book Award 2022. Paradise Undone: A Novel of Jonestown won the 2022 Screencraft Cinematic Book Contest.
Sometimes the greatest spectacle hides the darkest secrets . . .
In an alternate London, the city’s Theatre District is a walled area south of the river where an immersive production – the Show – has been running for centuries, growing ever bigger, more sprawling and lavish. The Show is open to anyone who can afford a ticket but the District itself is a closed world; even the police have no jurisdiction within its walls.
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Juliet’s mother died when she was a baby. Brought up by her emotionally distant father and even more distant stepmother, she has never felt wanted. It’s only when her father passes away that Juliet – now nineteen – learns her birth was registered in the District. Desperate to belong somewhere at last, she travels to London where she hopes to unearth the truth about her identity, her mother’s death and her father’s years of silence – and claim her birthright.
But in the District, there is only one central truth: the Show must go on. And in a world where illusions abound, and powerful men control the narrative, Juliet has no idea of just how far some will go to ensure certain stories are never told . . .
My Review
When Juliet’s father died, his last words were ‘Madeleine, Mad…e…liene’. Juliet’s stepmother asked her, ‘What’s going on? Did he say something?’ ‘No. I mean it didn’t make sense,’ says Juliet.
Juliet never really connected emotionally with her distant father and her stepmother Clare treated her like an outsider. Her half sisters were always ‘the girls’, never ‘your sisters’. And who was Madeleine? Obviously Clare knew, but she didn’t say anything.
Juliet wanted to be a dancer, but Clare had taken her away from Miss Abbeline’s ballet school, so she could go to secretarial college. Juliet though has other ideas, especially when she discovers that her birth was registered in the Theatre District. I am not going to try and explain this because at times I didn’t really understand. I felt as though I was reading in an alternative reality, but that’s the whole point. The Theatre District is an alternative reality, an alternative London, where the police have no jurisdiction and the show must go on. And it does, in a loop, and performers are queuing up to be part of it. Punters must enter a ballot to secure a ticket, or pay a fortune to buy one.
In the meantime, a girl’s body has been found floating in the river. But is she connected to the District? There have been others, all young women, but the police have been unable to find any definitive links. The truth is not what I imagined – it’s even more sinister. But what is the truth? Because no-one seems to be telling the truth.
The story introduces us to some memorable characters apart from Juliet and Miss Abbeline. There is the Moonshine Girl who died or did she, the Girl in the Silver Shoes who trod the high wire, charismatic Ethan the Shadow Man, DC Lambert, Eugene whom Juliet befriends, and the director Conrad Danes.
There’s a bit of The Night Circus here, a little bit of Neil Gaiman. At times it was quite dark. It took a while to get going, but then it was magical, dangerous and intriguing. It’s beautifully written, drawn from the author’s vivid imagination. A classic in the making.
Many thanks to @Tr4cyF3nt0n for inviting me to be part of the #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour and to NetGalley for an ARC.
About the Author
Anne is originally from the north-east, but somehow slid down the map and finished up in a small village near Bath, where she lives with her partner and three sons. She has an MA in English Language and Linguistics from Edinburgh University, and an MSt in Linguistics from Oxford University. During her postgraduate studies, she worked as an etymologist and proofreader for a dictionary, carrying out research at the Bodleian Library.
Armed with her linguistics-related degrees and work experience, Anne took the somewhat illogical next step and became a criminal lawyer. In 2011, after several years spent working in the London courts and police stations, Anne remembered that she’d actually planned to be a writer, and commenced work on her first novel. This was slightly unfortunate timing, given that she was right in the middle of relocating to Somerset with her family, who seemed to feel that a little less novel-writing and a little more packing might be warranted. They probably had a point.
Over the next couple of years Anne fitted writing work around her day job as a solicitor. Her writing has appeared in various newspapers, magazines and anthologies, and has won various awards.
In 2016, The Space Between the Stars was published by Pan Macmillan in the UK and Random House in the US. She wrote most of this novel while studying for a Creative Writing MA at Bath Spa University. Her second novel, The Theatre of Glass and Shadows, will be published in May 2024 by Bonnier.
Anne enjoys working with other writers, through editing, mentoring and teaching.
Maria Grayson has sworn off relationships and love, focusing instead on her double life. During the day she works in the family business and lives as a socialite.
At night she dons a mask and assumes the identity of Balestra to fight crime on the streets of New York. She balances her two lives as best as she can, but that balance is threatened when a new drug floods the streets of New York…and Tomas Dorrance walks into her life.
Genre: Crime / Thriller / Romance
Tomas Dorrance arrives in New York on a business trip with his father and twin sister and finds that he’s immediately captivated by Maria. After spending one passionate night with her, Tomas is obsessed and wants more time with her. The more he sees her, the more he wants something more than casual sex.
As Balestra, Maria must stop the spread of a new drug and find and destroy the source. As Maria, she must resist falling for Tomas, who is doing his best to change her mind about love and relationships. Her two lives are on a head-on collision course and Maria doesn’t know if she’ll come out alive or with her heart intact.
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Clayton Stumper is an enigma.
He might be twenty-five years old, but he dresses like your granddad and drinks sherry like your aunt.
Abandoned at birth on the steps of the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers, he was raised by the sharpest minds in the British Isles and finds himself amongst the last survivors of a fading institution.
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When the esteemed crossword compiler, Pippa Allsbrook, passes away, she bestows her final puzzle to him: a promise to reveal the mystery of his parentage and prepare him for his future.
Yet as Clay begins to unpick the clues, he uncovers something even the Fellowship have never been able to solve – and it’s a secret that will change everything…
My Review
This story is so character-driven, that you have to get to know everyone before you can really get into the book. First of all, we have Clayton Stumper, our reluctant hero, who as it says in the synopsis ‘dresses like your granddad and drinks sherry like your aunt’. Except he’s only 25 and was abandoned at birth on the steps of the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers. He has no idea who he is in more ways than one.
Then we have Pippa Allsbrook – the Pipster – who is the matriarch of the Fellowship. She set it up and she looks after it and everyone in it. She is a crossword compiler for The Times newspaper, using the soubriquet ‘Squire’ as it makes her sound like a man and men are the usual setters.
Earl is probably my favourite of everyone (how I love Earl with his golden locks and his sheepskin jacket!). He is a mazemaker and Pippa is rather in love with him, except he is married (and devoted to) his wife Rosa. We never actually see her.
Nancy, younger than the others, was a cab driver in London and the second only woman (missed being first by a whisker) to learn the Knowledge by the time she was nineteen. She lives with her mother, who is very controlling, and smokes like a chimney – Nancy that is. She sets the questions for a pub quiz.
Angel is my second favourite character. In her thirties, and into all things ‘spiritual’, she was the housekeeper at the hotel that eventually became a sort of commune for this eccentric group of puzzle makers. When they moved in, she came with the property, like a pet donkey, or a maiden aunt, that is part of the contract. She is even more eccentric than the rest of them put together.
Hector paints pictures that are used as jigsaws. He is very good at it and his jigsaws are massively popular. Very mainstream. When Pippa first discovers him, he is living in his camper van.
But enough of the people (there are loads more). When Pippa dies, Clayton must solve the biggest puzzle of all. Where did he come from and who are his biological parents? Pippa has left him one final puzzle, the clues all hidden for him to find and the result could change his life forever. It’s a wonderful story, and the characters will become your friends and stay with you for many years to come.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Samuel Burr is a TV producer who has worked on popular factual shows including the BAFTA-nominated Secret Life of 4-Year-Olds. Samuel’s writing was selected for Penguin’s WriteNow scheme and in 2021 he graduated from the Faber Academy. He previously studied at Westminster Film School.
Captain Kit loves snacking.
Shipmates Joy and Pedro hide the food one day with a surprising outcome.
A rhythmically-told story for 3 to 5 year olds featuring pirate adventures and cake.
Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Age: 3-5 year olds
My Review
Pirates and cake – what could be more fun! Captain Kit loves cakes and sweets, but they are not good for him, so his fellow shipmates Joy and Pedro hide the food one day, and even resort to firing it overboard.
“While Captain Kit was sleeping,
They grabbed the cakes and buns.
They fired them all into the sea
From cannons and musket guns.”
But they never expected what happened next.
This charming book is written in rhyme so it’s easy to read out aloud, while slightly older children will be able to read it for themselves.
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of the #CaptainKit blog tour
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Julie thought he was the man of her dreams
I walk into my bedroom. There’s a woman in my bed. Next to my fiancé. He promises her he has no idea who I am. That he’s never seen me before. He’s calling me a stalker.
But before I even know how to respond, someone’s breaking down the front door. Pounding up the stairs. I run, but I can’t hide.
Now I’m trapped in a cabin in the middle of nowhere in the midst of a blizzard with a man who swears he doesn’t know me. As though the last five years together never happened.
He’s lying.
And then he looks me right in the eye and whispers so our kidnappers can’t hear him:
‘I’m sorry.’
HER PERFECT FIANCÉ IS TURNING HER LIFE INTO A PERFECT NIGHTMARE.
My Review
Julie arrives home at 6.52 in the morning to find her fiance in bed with another woman. She was away at a conference, but came home early to surprise him. Not half as much as what she saw surprised her.
Julie and Colton have been together for five years and now he’s doing it in the bed they bought together, in the house they bought together, and only recently moved into, with someone else. Who is this woman?
‘Who is she?’
‘Her name is Monique.’ Like it matters what her name is. And so it begins.
A race against time thriller, as Julie and Colton are forced to escape through a second floor window, while being pursued by an unknown assailant. But what do they want with them? What has Colton done that has put them in danger? Or is it about Julie?
This was very exciting, moving quickly from one dangerous situation to the next. And poor Julie has no idea what’s going on. But does Colton?
It’s a fairly complicated plot, at times a bit far-fetched, but this is fiction, and stranger things have happened in real life. I quite liked Julie, hated Colton, Keith and Michael, but for some reason I found Monique the most interesting. She’s like a Bond villain, all sleek black hair and a slinky cocktail dress, with a small gun hidden about her person. Sophisticated. Unlike frumpy Julie.
And I also love the poleman Stamper. He’d be great in his own series.
Many thanks to the author for giving me the opportunity to beta read The Perfect Fiance before publication.
About the Author
T.J. Brearton’s books have reached half a million readers around the world and have topped the Amazon charts in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. A graduate of the New York Film Academy in Manhattan, Brearton first worked in film before focusing on novels. His books are visually descriptive with sharp dialogue and underdog heroes. When not writing, Brearton does whatever his wife and three children tell him to do. They live happily in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. Yes, there are bears in the Adirondacks. But it’s really quite beautiful when you’re not running for your life.
+ audio book, fiction, gothic, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, Historical fiction, review, superstition, witchcraft
Fyneshade by Kate Griffin narrated by Charlie Sanderson
Many would find much to fear in Fyneshade’s dark and crumbling corridors, its unseen master and silent servants. But not I. For they have far more to fear from me…
On the day of her grandmother’s funeral, Marta discovers that she is to be sent to be governess at Fyneshade, her charge the young daughter of the owner, Sir William Pritchard.
All is not well at Fyneshade. Sir William is mysteriously absent, and his son and heir Vaughan is forbidden to enter the house. Marta finds herself drawn to him, despite the warnings of the housekeeper that Vaughan is a danger to all around him. But Marta is no innocent to be preyed upon. Guided by the dark gift taught to her by her grandmother, she has made her own plans. It will take more than a family riven by murderous secrets to stop her…
My Review
It’s one thing when the heroine is not very nice, but Marta is truly evil. Not because her French grand’mere was supposedly a witch, or because of the way she treats the young girl who she is sent away to ‘educate’, or the fact that she would be considered ‘no better than she should be’ in those days, but because of the way she views herself and others and is happy to wreak havoc on anyone who crosses her.
Discovering that she is not to be married to her lover Nathaniel, she accepts that she is to be sent away to be governess to ten-year-old Grace, the daughter of Sir William Pritchard, the owner of Fyneshade. She has never met him and told he is away for lengths at a time. She is shocked to discover that all members of staff at the house appear to be either old, unlovely, or in some way debilitated. They are shocked when Marta arrives and is young and attractive.
But the biggest shock is when Marta discovers that Grace is not what she expected (probably Downs from the description) and will not be learning how to become a society lady. But Grace is a lot cleverer than Marta gives her credit for. She is an accomplished artist, and she knows her way round the house, through the secret tunnels as well as the usual routes. The tunnels include getting to the stables where her older brother Vaughan lives, having been barred from the house for many years. It’s all very mysterious.
Marta calls Grace ‘Dearest’ and compliments her on her loveliness and talents, but in reality she treats her with spite and disdain. She is really horrible. She doesn’t even like the dog – has always hated their smell – well that’s a trigger if there ever was one! I’m surprised the dog isn’t more on to her, to be honest.
Marta has an agenda, of course, and will stop at nothing to carry out her plan. But will she succeed, and how far is she prepared to go? You will ask yourself how you feel about her, and do you want her to get her comeuppance? Or do you want her to succeed? By the end I’m not sure you will have much sympathy left.
I listened to this book on Audible and the narration was excellent and entertaining.
About the Author
“I’ve always loved getting lost in a good book. It’s why I studied English Literature at university. What a luxury to read novels for three years! After a few false starts, I was taken on as a trainee reporter by a local newspaper where I worked very happily for several years.
“I love old buildings and the stories they tell. I’m very lucky that my current work as press officer for a heritage charity allows me to visit and explore some amazing, inspiring places, including the wonderful Wiltons Music Hall in the East End. Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders (published by Faber and Faber) is partly based on that building. ‘Kitty’ is my first book and later this year Templar will publish my first first book for children The Jade Boy , written under my maiden name Cate Cain
“As I hope you can tell, I am passionate about history and about London in particular. I was born in the City at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, within the sound of Bow Bells – so I really am a true-born cockney! One of my earliest memories is being taken to the top of The Monument by my father when I was about four years old. Clearly, the story of the Great Fire made an impact on me as that’s what The Jade Boy is all about…”
“Never-my-name and Isn’t-my-name were naughty fairy twins.
But Isn’t-my-name went missing, which is where my tale begins.”
When Never-my-name loses her fairy twin sister, Isn’t-my-name, while playing on the snowy mountainside, she fears she may never see her again. Enlisting her fairy helpers, Never-my-name searches high and low but Isn’t-my-name is simply nowhere to be found.
Publisher: Brown Dog Books
Paperback: 32 pages
Genre: Children’s fiction
What she doesn’t know is Isn’t-my-name has gone on an accidental adventure where the help of a tea-loving, ancient green dragon and a blast of his fiery breath may hold the key to her safe return.
Never-my-name and Isn’t-my-name: naughty fairy twins is a beautifully illustrated poem by author Colin Stern that will delight young children up to six years old.
With colourful characters and gentle humour, this fantastical fairytale is a classic in the making that will spark the imagination. The catchy rhythm and rhyme of this simple story, meanwhile, makes it perfect for reading aloud at bedtime … or any time.
My Review
What a gorgeous book! I love that it is written in verse – it makes it flow beautifully when reading aloud. And I adore the illustrations. They look very modern in style, and remind me of cutouts stuck on the page. I mean that in a good way.
When Isn’t-My-Name goes missing, Never-My-Name and the other fairies start looking for her. But where has she gone?
Isn’t-My-Name has slipped down a never-ending hole where she meets a grass-green dragon.
‘You’re just in time to make my tea, but what’s your name, my dear?’ asks the dragon.
‘It’s Isn’t-My-name,’ she replies, but the dragon decides to call her Jane. ‘It Isn’t-My-name,’ she shouts at the dragon. And however is she going to get home (after making the tea of course).
Younger kids (and their mums and dads) are going to love this book.
Many thanks to Palamides PR for inviting me to be part of the #blogtour and for my signed copy of the book.
About the Author
For more than 40 years, until his retirement in 2005, Dr Colin Stern was one of the UK’s most respected paediatricians, both treating young patients and spearheading innovative areas of medical research at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital. While he had excelled at literature in his youth, where he received guidance from none less than decorated British poet Siegfried Sassoon, it wasn’t until the tragic passing of his wife Ann, whom he cared for during her battle with dementia, that he once more turned to writing. His first work, poetry collection A Catafalque for Ann was quickly followed by an explosion of delightful children’s verse, inspired by the many tales he had told to his grandchildren. Since then he has expanded into medical memoir with Listening to Mother and has multiple new books in the works. He is based in Wiltshire, where he lives with his partner, Eileen.
Visit www.ColinStern.co.uk
+ female friendship, fiction, gay, gay community, grief, lockdown, loss, love, mental health, mental illness, psychiatric hospital, review
Hold Back The Night by Jessica Moor
From the Observer debut novelist of the year, comes a blistering, heart-wrenching new novel of complicity and atonement, delving into one nurse’s experience of the little-known history of conversion therapy and the heart-breaking betrayal of the AIDS crisis.
March 2020. Annie is alone in her house as the world shuts down, only the ghosts of her memories for company. But then she receives a phone call which plunges her deeper into the past.
1959. Annie and Rita are student nurses at Fairlie Hall mental hospital. Working long, gruelling hours, they soon learn that the only way to appease their terrifying matron is to follow the rules unthinkingly. But what is happening in the hospital’s hidden side wards? And at what point does following the rules turn into complicity – and betrayal?
#HoldBackTheNight X/Twitter @jessicammoor @ZaffreBooks @Tr4cyF3nt0n
Instagram @ms_jessica_moor @manilla_press @thebookdealer #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour
1983. Annie is reeling from the loss of her husband and struggling to face raising her daughter alone. Following a chance encounter, she offers a sick young man a bed for the night, a good deed that soon leads to another. Before long, she finds herself entering a new life of service – her home a haven for those who are cruelly shunned. But can we ever really atone?
The powerful and captivating new novel from the celebrated author of Keeper and Young Women, Hold Back The Night is Jessica Moor’s most powerful and commercial book to date. A darkly compelling character-led novel, drawing on themes of complicity and betrayal.
My Review
There is a scene that takes place in 1959, where Annie and Ruth are asked to assist with a patient who is having electric therapy (or electric shock treatment as we know it today). Along with one of the interns they have to hold her down, while she is ‘shocked’. I had to stop reading. My mother had this treatment in the 50s. I never knew they had to be held down. She later had a leucotomy and this also occurs at Fairlee Hall, where the girls are training to be ‘mental nurses’.
In the side wards, patients are receiving treatment to make them ‘normal’. This, we discover later on, was a means of treating homosexuals with emetics and images of young men, all designed to deter them. The alternative was prison as it was still illegal to be actively gay in the UK until 1967. Alan Turing was chemically castrated in 1952 for homosexual acts, again as an alternative to prison.
As student nurses, Annie and Ruth have to do as they are told, but at what point do they question the rules and ask themselves if what they are doing is wrong. Are they complicit in something morally questionable? Many years ago I worked in a nursing home where dementia patients were forced to use the toilet with two HCAs holding them down and removing their clothing. I was very upset about it. Nowadays, it would be considered an assault.
In 1983, Annie is widowed and is a single mother to 13-year-old Rosie. One day she meets a young man named Robbie and his older friend Jim, and gives them a home when no-one else will, because this is the AIDs crisis, and homosexual men are shunned by society, people terrified of ‘catching’ it. And Annie needs the rent money from all her spare rooms. But soon her home becomes a haven for those dying of AIDs, and mostly they do. Sometimes their own parents have shunned them as well as society.
It’s 2020 and it’s the time of the pandemic. The country has been locked down. I usually hate stories that take place during the pandemic, but it’s necessary here to draw parallels with the AIDs crisis in the 80s. How they were dealt with and how much has changed.
Annie is now in her eighties. She lives alone. She talks to Rosie every day on the phone. Rosie thinks she should come to stay with her, that she is too vulnerable on her own. She also talks to Jim, who of all her lodgers, has survived AIDs, though he will always be HIV positive.
The book is not written in that order though. We start with a phone call in 2020, and then move around the timelines as the story progresses. It’s a very powerful novel that questions whether following the rules is always the right thing to do, even when we know it’s wrong, and can we atone by trying to right the wrongs. Even though the 1959 parts were hard for me to read, I really enjoyed the book (if that’s the right word).
Many thanks to @Tr4cyF3nt0n for inviting me to be part of the #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour and to NetGalley for an ARC.
About the Author
Jessica Moor grew up in south-west London and studied English at Cambridge before completing a Creative Writing MA at Manchester University where her dissertation was awarded the Creative Writing Prize for Fiction.
Prior to this she spent a year working in the violence against women and girls sector and this experience inspired her first novel, Keeper. Her second novel, Young Women, was published in 2022.
She was selected as one of the Guardian’s 10 best debut novelists of 2020, longlisted for the 2020 Desmond Elliot Prize and a Mystery Writers of America Award. She won the 2022 Nouvelle Voix du Polar. She lectures in Creative Writing.
