+ childhood, family, female friendship, fiction, folklore, friendship, literature, obsession, rape, relationships, review, secrets, superstition
The Beloved Girls by Harriet Evans
‘It’s a funny old house. They have this ceremony every summer . . . There’s an old chapel, in the grounds of the house. Half-derelict. The Hunters keep bees in there. Every year, on the same day, the family processes to the chapel. They open the combs, taste the honey. Take it back to the house. Half for them -‘ my father winced, as though he had bitten down on a sore tooth. ‘And half for us.’
#TheBelovedGirls @harrietevansauthor Instagram @annecater @RandomTTours #RandomThingsTours
Catherine, a successful barrister, vanishes from a train station on the eve of her anniversary. Is it because she saw a figure – someone she believed long dead? Or was it a shadow cast by her troubled, fractured mind?
The answer lies buried in the past. It lies in the events of the hot, seismic summer of 1989, at Vanes – a mysterious West Country manor house – where a young girl, Jane Lestrange, arrives to stay with the gilded, grand Hunter family, and where a devastating tragedy will unfold. Over the summer, as an ancient family ritual looms closer, Janey falls for each member of the family in turn. She and Kitty, the eldest daughter of the house, will forge a bond that decades later, is still shaping the present . . .
‘We need the bees to survive, and they need us to survive. Once you understand that, you understand the history of Vanes, you understand our family.’
My Review
Another book that’s gone straight to my top books of the year. This book is so unique, amazing, heartfelt, sad and at times quite creepy. It revolves around the annual bee ceremony where the Hunter family and the whole community must follow the path to the old Chapel at Vanes to open the combs and taste the honey.
‘Half for us and half for them, else the Devil take us all’
It all sounds highly risky and even more so this hot summer of 1989. August 31st is the 18th birthday of Joss and his twin sister Kitty and the bees have had to wait an extra two weeks and this had made them crosser than ever. We discover there have been accidents in the past. But it’s an obsession for Charles Hunter and his sister Ros – why is the ceremony so important to them?
‘We need the bees to survive, and they need us to survive. Once you understand that, you understand the history of Vanes, you understand our family.’
Each year members of the family must play their parts including The Outsider and The Beloved Girls. There is a song that is sung during the procession. It is chanted to the tune of ‘Green grow the rushes O….’
‘Three, three, the rivals,
Two, two, the beloved girls’
Clothed all in green, O…
One is one and all alone, and ever more shall be so.‘
There are so many elements to this book that it’s hard to give a resume. In 1984, 17-year-old Janey Lestrange goes to stay with the Hunters – Joss, Kitty, little sister Merry, mum Sylvia and dad Charles. She has a great time and bonds with Kitty but does not return until 1989, the year of a devastating tragedy.
Many years later, Cambridge graduate and successful barrister Catherine, married to Davide, and with two children Carys and Tom, vanishes from the train station on the eve of her anniversary. A number of things have happened in her life and these are revealed at stages throughout the book. To tie them all together and discover the truth, we must examine the lives of young Janey, her father Simon, Sylvia Hunter and Kitty.
I can’t praise this book highly enough. This is a story to be savoured, not rushed and then read again. I am certain it will become a classic – it’s so sad and beautiful and full of emotion.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours and to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
About the Author
Harriet Evans is the author of several top ten bestsellers including the Sunday Times bestselling The Garden of Lost and Found and Richard and Judy bookclub selection The Wildflowers. She used to work in publishing and now writes full time, when she is not being distracted by her children, other books, sewing projects, puzzles, gardening, and her much-loved collection of jumpsuits.
Last year, she and her family moved from London to Bath.
+ Canada, Detective novel, euthanasia, family, fiction, friendship, murder, murder mystery, police drama, revenge, review, secrets, thriller
The Madness of Crowds (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #17) by Louise Penny
You’re a coward.
Time and again, as the New Year approaches, that charge is leveled against Armand Gamache.
It starts innocently enough.
While the residents of the Québec village of Three Pines take advantage of the deep snow to ski and toboggan, to drink hot chocolate in the bistro and share meals together, the Chief Inspector finds his holiday with his family interrupted by a simple request.
He’s asked to provide security for what promises to be a non-event. A visiting Professor of Statistics will be giving a lecture at the nearby university.
While he is perplexed as to why the head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec would be assigned this task, it sounds easy enough. That is until Gamache starts looking into Professor Abigail Robinson and discovers an agenda so repulsive he begs the university to cancel the lecture.
They refuse, citing academic freedom, and accuse Gamache of censorship and intellectual cowardice. Before long, Professor Robinson’s views start seeping into conversations. Spreading and infecting. So that truth and fact, reality and delusion are so confused it’s near impossible to tell them apart.
Discussions become debates, debates become arguments, which turn into fights. As sides are declared, a madness takes hold.
Abigail Robinson promises that, if they follow her, ça va bien aller. All will be well. But not, Gamache and his team know, for everyone.
When a murder is committed it falls to Armand Gamache, his second-in-command Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and their team to investigate the crime as well as this extraordinary popular delusion.
And the madness of crowds.
My Review
There’s a kind of breathlessness about the style of writing. Full of throwaway comments like ‘….Gamache knew the wraiths hidden in this basement. He could even name them. Not actually an advantage, when it came to wraiths.’ And the sweary duck. What’s that all about? I think maybe if I had read at least some of the previous 16 books I would understand. Especially about the duck. And the monkeys. Or maybe not the monkeys.
“They brush them with garlic butter, then grill them over coals,” says the Asshole Saint Dr Vincent Gilbert.
“What a coincidence,” replies Gamache, scanning the menu. “Exactly what I plan to do with you.”
The writing, the dark humour and the repartee are brilliant. I love it.
But this is no comedy. There’s been a murder, the body found lying face down in the snow. Who is it and why did someone kill her? So many questions, so many suspects. And how does this link to other events many years in the past? If it even does.
The plot revolves around Professor Abigail Robinson whose statistics show that there won’t be enough money to go round following the Covid pandemic. She therefore suggests that the sick and elderly should be euthanised in order to protect the rest. And this also includes disabled babies and children. I’m reminded of Nazi Germany and the theory of eugenics. But are Abigail’s conclusions spurious? Can statistics be manipulated? And is fear and desperation the reason for The Madness of Crowds? It would appear so as people are buying into it. And she’s coming to a university near you to cause unrest and the threat of violence.
There is a lot of discussion between the main characters such as Armand Gamache, his son-in-law Jean-Guy, his wife Reine-Marie, fellow police officer Isabelle and Chancellor Collette Roberge. Occasionally there is too much speculation and I started to lose track at times.
And what part does Haniya Douad play? Called the Hero of the Sudan and nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, I didn’t really understand why she is there, except maybe as a sounding board. Unless we have met her before, though I don’t think we have.
I really enjoyed this book, though I wish I had read at least one or two of the others. Then I would have understood the characters better and there are a lot of them. But it’s a brilliant, intelligent read, sometimes more of a why-done-it than a who-done-it.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
LOUISE PENNY is the author of the #1 New York Times and Globe and Mail bestselling series of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels. She has won numerous awards, including a CWA Dagger and the Agatha Award (seven times), and was a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best Novel. In 2017, she received the Order of Canada for her contributions to Canadian culture. Louise lives in a small village south of Montréal.
Three sisters. Two strangers. One secret.
Maggie has an impossible choice. Stay and protect her family from the hooded stalker in the woods? Or return to Rose and help her fight the doctors who want to remove life support from their sister, Daisy?
#STONETHEDEADCROWS @CarrieMagillen @annecater @RandomTTours #RandomThingsTours
There’s a man at Daisy’s bedside. He says Rose can trust him. But he’s telling her disturbing things about her devoted new husband that can’t possibly be true.
Two strangers start the clock. It’s ticking for three devoted sisters. And when time runs out, they won’t just be fighting for each other’s survival. They’ll be fighting for their own.
Three. Two. One.The countdown has begun.
My Review
Three sisters. Two points of view. We don’t hear from Daisy because she’s been in a coma for three years. Younger sister Rose visits every week and sits by her bedside, talking to her and holding her hand, because people in a coma react to sound and touch stimulation like a familiar voice or favourite music, don’t they.
Maggie is on a sabbatical in a cabin in the woods with author husband Luc, 18-month-old Alfie and their dog Cairo. She’s been working to support Luc while he writes his second novel, but she’s stressed and needs a break. In fact she doesn’t want to go back at all. But then she sees a hooded man in the woods and she’s convinced he’s after her, stalking her.
Rose is married to surgeon Nathan. Strikingly handsome, but horribly arrogant, jealous and controlling. When Rose meets psychologist Dr Saeed Sharif who has been treating Daisy before and after her coma, they are instantly drawn to each other. But Nathan has other plans for both Rose and Daisy. And Saeed seems to know more than he should.
Creepy, tense and shocking, it’s impossible to say more without giving anything away. Read it alone. Keep your ideas to yourself. But no matter what you think is going on, I guarantee you won’t see it coming. Prepare to be shocked. This is a psychological thriller like no other. Brilliant.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours.
About the Author
Carrie Magillen is the bestselling author of When He’s Not Here. She was born in Cambridge and worked as a computer engineer for fifteen years, all the while with a yellowing copy of Plot by Ansen Dibell on her bookshelf and her soul dying a little every time she asked if you’d switched it off and back on again.
When her husband said, ‘Never let a little thing like money stand in the way of your dreams,’ she studied creative writing at Webster (NL), Wollongong (AU) and Winchester (UK)… not because of a fanaticism with Ws.
She now lives in a quaint Hampshire village with her husband and two very hairy children American Cocker Spaniels. Despite growing everything from carrots to cucamelons, fermenting vegetables and clabbering milk, she’s actually pretty normal.
GEOGRAPHICAL LINKS TO BUY
https://geni.us/STDC-Amazon
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STORE LINKS (UK AND USA)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0979BB9SD
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https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/B098J279V6
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+ child abuse, childhood, crime fiction, family, fiction, jealousy, marriage, obsession, Psychological fiction, review, secrets, thriller, twins
Invite Me In by Emma Curtis
To those who think they know her, Eliza Curran has it all: two healthy children, a stunning home and a wealthy, adoring husband. No one would guess the reality of her life: trapped in an unhappy marriage to a controlling man, she longs for a way out.
When she takes on a new tenant, her life changes unexpectedly. Dan Jones is charming and perceptive, and quickly becomes a close friend to the whole family.
But Dan’s arrival threatens to tip Eliza’s fragile world out of balance. And when someone has as many secrets as Eliza does, the smallest slip could destroy everything . . .
My Review
So much I loved about this book and so much that frustrated me and made me want to scream. Eliza is maddening, both in her behaviour and her choices. Her wealthy husband Martin is controlling, even from his wheelchair, following a terrible accident that has left him a paraplegic. Eliza is a recovering alcoholic and Martin ‘saved’ her from her addiction. She owes him and he believes he has the power to take the children away from her if she steps out of line.
Martin’s pregnant sister Ali is Eliza’s best friend and their children play together all the time. Ali’s husband Pete works for Martin as his architect on building projects. But there is no loyalty where Martin is concerned. He’d ditch Pete in the blink of an eye if someone better pitched for the work.
But Eliza has secrets, leaving her vulnerable, so when charming, attractive, Dan Jones rents one of her flats, she is quickly bowled over. I get this up to a point. She is unhappy in her marriage and is flattered by Dan’s attention. But so is Isabel, the beautiful, young French Au pair who looks after the children Aurora and Lucas. If I had an Au pair she would be more like Nanny McPhee than Isabel, but Martin seems immune to her charms.
As Dan insinuates himself into the family, things start to spiral out of control for Eliza. She has no idea how to handle the situation and I lost any sympathy for her as she makes one stupid choice after another. Only by the final third did I almost start to take her side. Reality hits her like a punch on the nose, but still she does the most stupid things.
It’s a great book though, full of excitement and reading in staves with my fellow Pigeons added to the enjoyment. Sometimes the comments enhance the experience!
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Emma Curtis was born in Brighton and now lives in London with her husband. After raising her two children and working various jobs, her fascination with the darker side of domestic life inspired her to write her acclaimed debut novel, One Little Mistake. When I Find You was her second thriller.
+ adventure, Antarctica, crime fiction, female friendship, fiction, murder, murder mystery, review, secrets, thriller
The Dark by Emma Haughton
ONE DEAD BODY
TWELVE SUSPECTS
TWENTY-FOUR-HOUR DARKNESS
In the most inhospitable environment – cut off from the rest of the world – there’s a killer on the loose.
A&E doctor Kate North has been knocked out of her orbit by a personal tragedy. So when she’s offered the chance to be an emergency replacement at the UN research station in Antarctica, she jumps at the chance. The previous doctor, Jean-Luc, died in a tragic accident while out on the ice.
The move seems an ideal solution for Kate: no one knows about her past; no one is checking up on her. But as total darkness descends for the winter, she begins to suspect that Jean-Luc’s death wasn’t accidental at all. And the more questions she asks, the more dangerous it becomes for them all . .
My Review
Not always believable but always entertaining, The Dark is all a bit Agatha Christie with snow and ice. Except Dr Kate North is no Miss Marple. She’d be a rubbish detective and while us Pigeons (book club) were often screaming at the page at her ineptitude, plus her addiction to painkillers and tranquillisers (how did she get the job?), by the end we all grew to love her (maybe ‘love’ is a bit strong).
But don’t let any of that put you off. It’s a brilliant roller-coaster (or in this case more of a tobogganing runway) of a ride (apologies for the cliche), never knowing who is telling the truth, who was murdered or even if, the picture ever-changing. Some of us guessed towards the end, but we still weren’t sure.
The main ‘character’, however is not Kate, but the setting. Pitch dark once winter has set in, freezing cold and claustrophobic, in spite of the miles of frozen space outside, it’s amazing that anyone would want to live here cooped up with 12 other people for months on end. Even more so when one of them could be a killer. We never really understand exactly what they are doing there – some kind of research programme I guess.
I read this in daily ‘staves’ with The Pigeonhole and couldn’t wait for the next one to be released. If I had the whole book, I think I would have read it in one go. Preferably with a mug of hot chocolate and a very warm blanket. Brrr.
If I had any criticism at all it would be that there are too many characters to flesh them all out sufficiently, which meant we couldn’t work out the possible motive any one of them might have.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Emma grew up in Sussex; after a stint au pairing in Paris and a couple of half-hearted attempts to backpack across Europe, she studied English at Oxford University then trained in journalism. During her career as a journalist, she wrote many articles for national newspapers, including regular pieces for the Times Travel section.
Following publication of her picture book, Rainy Day, Emma wrote three YA novels. Her first, Now You See Me, was an Amazon bestseller and nominated for the Carnegie and Amazing Book Awards. Better Left Buried, her second, was one of the best YA reads for 2015 in the Sunday Express. Her third YA novel, Cruel Heart Broken, was picked by The Bookseller as a top YA read for July 2016.
The most unlikely friendship. The most unexpected consequences.
When Anna’s husband cheats on her, she’s sure she’ll never be happy again. But then she meets 94-year-old Grace. Despite an age gap of more than fifty years, the pair set out together on a life-changing journey halfway across the country in search of some answers.
#DearGrace @clareswatman @annecater @RandomTTours #RandomThingsTours
Sometimes the only way to move on is to revisit the past. But will Anna and Grace be prepared for what they find?
A story about love, female friendship, heartbreak and learning to forgive.
My Review
There are three central characters in this heartfelt, uplifting book. First of all we have Anna, a 39-year-old carer, whose husband cheated on her and left her feeling bereft and unable to trust anyone with whom she might form a future relationship. Then there is 94-year-old Grace, who Anna is looking after. Jilted at the altar over 70 years ago by Arthur, after he returned from the war, Grace found happiness with ‘her Roy’, a lovely man who took care of her and only recently passed away.
Grace has outlived her peers and her friends, but she is particularly close to her great-nephew Tom, grandson of her brother Ernest. Tom visits two or three times a week and tends her beloved garden. Tom is kind and handsome (he would have to be, wouldn’t he), and soon Grace is hatching a plot – she does that a lot – but neither party is up for it.
Grace is a wonderfully written character. She truly melts our hearts and soon Anna becomes both her friend and confidante. A strange pairing with over 50 years between them, but age is no barrier to friendship, and what starts out as a job becomes a close bond with trips to the cafe and the beach, and ends with a trip of a lifetime.
This is such an uplifting tale, though the sadness and heartbreak faced by Grace in her younger years and now, will have you in tears. Anna’s story made me more angry than sad. She obviously married an idiot who didn’t appreciate her, but will she be able to put it behind her and find love and romance? You’ll have to read this fabulous book to find out.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours.
About the Author
Clare Swatman is an author and journalist. She has had two previous novels published, with her debut, Before You Go, selling in 22 territories around the world. She has also spent 20 years writing for women’s magazines in the UK.
Her latest novel, Dear Grace, is inspired by her love of Lowestoft, the town where she spent many happy holidays with her late grandparents.
Clare lives in Hertfordshire in the UK with her husband and two boys. Even the cat is male, which means she’s destined to be outnumbered forever.
Facebook at Clare Swatman Author, Insta @clareswatmanauthor, and twitter, where she’s @clareswatman
The Gathering Storm: Book 1 in the Sturmtaucher Trilogy, a powerful and compelling story of two families torn apart by evil.
‘Kiel, Northern Germany, 1933. A naval city, the base for the German Baltic fleet, and the centre for German sailing, the venue for the upcoming Olympic regatta in 1936.
#TheGatheringStorm #SturmtaucherTrilogy @alanjonesbooks @annecater @RandomTTours #RandomThingsTours
The Kästners, a prominent Military family, are part of the fabric of the city, and its social, naval and yachting circles. The Nussbaums are the second generation of their family to be in service with the Kästners as domestic staff, but the two households have a closer bond than most.
As Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist Party claw their way to power in 1933, life has never looked better for families like the Kästners. There is only one problem. The Nussbaums are Jews.
The Sturmtaucher Trilogy documents the devastating effect on both families of the Nazis’ hateful ideology and the insidious erosion of the rights of Germany’s Jews.
When Germany descends ever deeper into dictatorship, General Erich Kästner tries desperately to protect his employees, and to spirit them to safety.
As the country tears itself apart, the darkness which envelops a nation threatens not only to destroy two families, but to plunge an entire continent into war.’
My Review
Firstly I need to say that I was worried about the effect reading this book would have on me, as I knew it would be personal. My mother was Jewish, born in Bucharest and from the age of 12 living in Vienna. Her family knew about the prejudice and discrimination towards Jews, but were able to get out in 1938, the only incident of note being tear-gassed in an opera house in Vienna. Once in London they were evacuated to Cheltenham, where they remained throughout the war and beyond.
I was not prepared however, for Hitler’s invasion of Poland, the massacre of the Jews, the establishment of ghettos and the carving up of the country with parts of it going to Russia. My father was a Polish Catholic, so while not affected by the treatment of the Jews, he joined the army at 16 and was captured by the Soviets and sent to freeze in a prisoner-of-war camp in Northern Russia.
But enough about me. This book is staggeringly brilliant, the work, the research, the emotions it invokes and the horror. There were times when I gasped at what was perpetrated against not just the Jews, but also the Roma, disabled people, homosexuals and anyone who did not make up the perfect Aryan race. This included the rape and murder of young Jewish girls by drunken SS soldiers (one incident of which will stay in my head for a long time to come) and the burning of the synagogue in Warsaw, killing 200 Jews praying inside. I knew these things happened but it is described here in such terrifying detail, yet without embellishment or glorification. It doesn’t require any. It’s not Hollywood. It’s horror in its own right, a perfect example man’s inhumanity to man.
The story itself is told from the point of view of two families who live in Kiel. General Erich Kästner and his wife Maria and their four children Franz, Johann, Eva and Antje, and the Nussbaums, who are Jews and have worked for the Kästners for many years. Yosef, Erich’s driver, his wife Miriam and their two children, Ruth and Manny, are great friends with their employers. Ruth and Antje in particular, are the best of pals.
But as Hitler and his cohorts – Himmler, Goebbels, Heydrich, Goering and Hess, amongst others, develop their plans to remove all non-Aryans from Germany, while invading and annexing Czechoslovakia, the Sudetenland and Poland, life for the Jews becomes harder and harder as they lose their rights, their jobs, their homes and their savings. It is not so bad for the Nussbaums, living with the Kästners, but how long can it last? As their friends escape to Palestine or attempt to go to America or the UK, the Nussbaums prefer to stay put for the moment.
Apart from the main historical figures as mentioned above (whose involvement in the book is factual and forms the background of the fictional story), the only one who is real is Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. We learn a lot about Hitler’s plans and the time-line starting in 1933, through his dated memos to Erich Kästner, as well as newspaper reports in the Kiel Morgenpost. This is a very clever plot device as it seamlessly weaves the facts into the fiction.
You can read about Canaris here: “Wilhelm Franz Canaris was a German admiral and chief of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, from 1935 to 1944. He was initially a supporter of Adolf Hitler but by 1939 had turned against the regime.” Source: Wikipedia
In 1945 Canaris was taken to Flossenbürg concentration camp, where he was publicly humiliated and executed for high treason. By this time the war was almost over.
But of everything I read in this wonderful book, I probably found this passage amongst the most upsetting:
28/09/1939 Memo from Wilhelm Canaris to Erich Kästner – “The Fuhrer has signed an authorisation…. that exonerates the Reich’s physicians from prosecution in relation to euthanasia of German citizens living in institutions with mental and physical disabilities whom the physicians deem incurable and thus unworthy of life.”
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours.
About the Author
Alan Jones is a Scottish author with three gritty crime stories to his name, the first two set in Glasgow, the third one based in London. He has now switched genres, and his WW2 trilogy will be published in August 2021. It is a Holocaust story set in Northern Germany.
He is married with four grown up children and four wonderful grandchildren.
He has recently retired as a mixed-practice vet in a small Scottish coastal town in Ayrshire and is one of the RNLI volunteer coxswains on the local lifeboat. He makes furniture in his spare time, and maintains and sails a 45-year-old yacht in the Irish Sea and on the beautiful west coast of Scotland. He loves reading, watching films and cooking. He still plays football despite being just the wrong side of sixty.
His crime novels are not for the faint-hearted, with some strong language, violence, and various degrees of sexual content. The first two books also contain a fair smattering of Glasgow slang.
He is one of the few self-published authors to be given a panel at Bloody Scotland and has done two pop-up book launches at the festival in Stirling.
He has spent the last five years researching and writing The Sturmtaucher Trilogy.
Q & A
What made you switch genres from gritty crime thrillers to a WW2 trilogy?
A story, or the kernel of one, wormed its way into my mind just as I was finishing my last book, ‘Bloq‘. I should probably have written a few more crime novels on the back of the relative success that Bloq had, but I couldn’t get the story or the characters out of my mind. I’d read a fair bit of historical fiction over the years, but I re-read a few of them, and picked up one of the most successful historical fiction books of all time, The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follet, just to get a perspective on the amount of history, and detail, and how many characters went into a book like that. It confirmed what I’d thought – the detail was astounding but it had to be seen through the characters’ eyes, and the characters had to have enough depth and be real enough for the reader to care.
What inspired you to write about the plight of the Jews in Nazi Germany? Were you inspired by other writers or films you have seen or by real events?
I’ve been fascinated and horrified by the Holocaust since reading Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank at around ten or eleven years of age. I’ve read widely about it since, both novels and non-fiction, and watched countless films and documentaries about that most terrible time in history, thinking that I knew enough about it, without knowing every detail. I was wrong.
How much research did you have to do?
I did about a year’s research initially, which included a trip to Germany, and to Denmark, just to see the locations I’d chosen for the books for myself. During this time I was also setting out an outline for what was to one book. As I got deeper into my research, I realised that there was so much more to the Holocaust than I’d thought possible, and as I added events that my characters would have lived through, it quickly became evident that one book wouldn’t be enough. Even during the writing process, I found that a great deal of what I call micro-research was needed for each paragraph, and sometimes each sentence or even each word, and I found myself spending half a day looking for evidence or corroboration to back up some fact or other that I wanted to put into the books.
How many of the characters are fictional and how many are actual historical figures?
All the main characters, except for Wilhelm Canaris, are fictional. Most of the political leaders, the NSDAP Hierarchy and senior military figures are real. In between, there is a mish-mash of real characters, fictional ones, and some who are fictional but loosely based on real people. I included a few notable Kiel citizens who made the newspapers of the day – Dr. Friedrich Schumm, Wilhelm Spiegel and Otto Eggerstedt, as they fitted in with the story and with my fictional characters, and I felt that their stories deserved to be told; they were truly brave men. The Gestapo chief towards the end of the war, and a few other senior Gestapo figures were also real, and again they fitted the storyline to perfection.
How important is setting in your books?
Massively so. When the inspiration about the book first came to me, sailing played an important part in the story. When I researched Germany for popular sailing venues, there were some inland lakes that might have been suitable, but when I found out that Kiel was not only the centre for German sailing and the venue of the infamous 1936 Olympic games, but that it was also the most important German Naval base, I knew I’d found the location for my book. The first book largely takes place in and around Kiel, with small cameos in Hamburg, Hanover and Berlin. Once the war begins in 1939, the book follows the path of the German invasion of Poland. There are a number of locations elsewhere in the second and third books, but don’t want to give away any spoilers…
What is your typical day as a writer? Has Covid had an impact on this?
While I was working, I would spend on average five hours a day researching, writing or editing, getting up around 5 – 6 am, getting in a few hours before work, then cramming in an hour or two later in the day. Extra hours at the weekend would make up for any shortfall during the week. I retired from being a vet in December last year which has allowed me to work 10-12 hours a day on the books, mainly editing, but also doing the cover and the trailer video, plus all the promotion and marketing stuff that goes with self-publishing.
Do you listen to music while you write? Or do you prefer total silence?
I usually write in silence – this is a change for me, as I always used to have background music on. I don’t know why it changed.
What sort of books did you read as a child and what is your favourite book ever (as an adult or child)?
I was brought up in a very religious household, and we had no television set, so I filled my time with reading. I read everything as a child from Asterix to Enid Blyton, from Roald Dahl to Robert Louis Stevenson. My favourite kids book was Stig of the Dump, I think, but I moved on to adult books such as Alistair Mclean, Nevile Shute, Nicholas Monsorrat and Hammond Innes at quite an early age. As an adult, I find it impossible to choose a favourite, to be honest, as I read quite a wide range of genres. It would be between Mila 18 by Leon Uris, Shogun by James Clavell, and Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Being a vet, and a father and a grandfather are all up there, and I became an RNLI coxswain on our local lifeboat a few years ago – I joined fairly late in my life, and that is also in close contention, but I think writing and publishing the Sturmtaucher trilogy will trump everything as my greatest achievement.
+ fiction, loss, obsession, Psychological fiction, revenge, review, secrets, thriller, writers group
The Heights by Louise Candlish
He thinks he’s safe up there.
But he’ll never be safe from you.
The Heights is a tall, slender apartment building among the warehouses of Shad Thames, its roof terrace so discreet you wouldn’t know it existed if you weren’t standing at the window of the flat directly opposite. But you are. And that’s when you see a man up there – a man you’d recognise anywhere. He’s older now and his appearance has subtly changed, but it’s definitely him.
Which makes no sense at all since you know he has been dead for over two years.
You know this for a fact.
Because you’re the one who killed him.
My Review
This is a story of revenge and obsession. Ellen is a woman on a mission. She has set out to avenge a tragedy in her family and she blames one person. She will stop at nothing until he is dead.
And he is dead. She knows because she killed him. So how come he is living in the penthouse of a very expensive high rise building in Shad Thames? She would know him anywhere, even though he looks slightly different. He lives in her dreams and her waking hours. She can never let him go.
Ellen is a most unlikely killer. Well educated, middle class, some would say she’s a snob.
The Heights is a riveting, exciting thriller told from the point of view of Ellen and her ex-husband Vic. It is only the tragedy that keeps them in contact.
I’m not sure how I felt about Ellen. Would I behave in the way she does if I had experienced her personal circumstance? I sincerely hope not, because after a while she appears deranged and her idea of fairness and compassion has been totally eroded. Her behaviour impacts on the rest of her family and her hate is eating her up from the inside.
This book kept me on tenterhooks from start to finish. I loved it.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Louise Candlish is the author of 14 novels, including THE OTHER PASSENGER, a dark thriller about envy and deception set on the Thames river buses. It was a Richard & Judy Book Club pick and has been longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2021.
OUR HOUSE, a #1 bestseller in paperback, ebook and audio book won the British Book Awards 2019 Book of the Year – Crime & Thriller and will soon be on our screens as a major ITV series made by Red Planet Pictures.
Before writing fiction, Louise studied English at University College London and worked as an illustrated book editor and advertising copywriter.
She lives in a South London neighbourhood not unlike the one in her novels with her husband, teenage daughter, and a fox-red Labrador called Bertie. Follow her on Twitter at @louise_candlish, Instagram @louisecandlish, or facebook.com/LouiseCandlishAuthor. She’d love to hear what you think of her books.
+ adventure, child abduction, crime fiction, family, fiction, kidnapping, Psychological fiction, revenge, review, thriller
The Rising Tide by Sam Lloyd
HOW DID IT COME TO THIS?
The news doesn’t strike cleanly, like a guillotine’s blade. Nothing so merciful. This news is a slovenly traveller, dragging its feet, gradually revealing its horrors. And it announces itself first with violence – the urgent hammering of fists on the front door.
Life can change in a heartbeat.
Lucy has everything she could wish for: a beautiful home high on the clifftops above the Devon coast, a devoted husband and two beloved children.
Then one morning, time stops. Their family yacht is recovered, abandoned far out at sea. Lucy’s husband is nowhere to be found and as the seconds tick by, she begins to wonder – what if he was the one who took the boat? And if so, where is he now?
As a once-in-a-generation storm frustrates the rescue operation, Lucy pieces together what happened onboard. And then she makes a fresh discovery. One that plunges her into a nightmare more shocking than any she could ever have imagined . .
My Review
Lucy is beautiful and kind and everyone in the fictional, coastal town of Skentel adores her. Her husband Daniel Locke was brought up in care – he had a tough start along with his friend Nick Povey with whom he is in business – but he now has the perfect marriage and a quirky seven-year-old son called Fin with Lucy. Fin – her ‘little bookworm; her weaver of words; her teller of fine tales’. Lucy also has an environmentally passionate, 18-year-old daughter Billie from a previous relationship. One of many relationships in fact because Lucy has a past, a very dark past.
But together, she and Daniel have built a life in Skentel, renovated a house on the cliffs at Mortis Point, built up Daniel’s Locke-Povey Marine company and run a successful cafe/bar called the Drift Net in the town, where all the locals and tourists meet.
Then one day everything changes. Their yacht the Lazy Susan is found out to sea, there is no-one aboard. It looks like it was abandoned. From hereon things just go from bad to worse. Where is Daniel? As the worst storm in decades is about to take hold of the Devon/Cornwall north coast, how can Lucy battle the elements to find him? I can’t say any more without spoilers. Let’s just say there are more red herrings than you can shake a rod at.
Police Officer Abraham Samson Rose is a strange kettle of fish (apologies for another fishy reference but we are by the sea). The author says he describes himself as ‘…chiselled at speed from the roughest clay to hand.’ When he was a teen my son would have said that he probably ‘fell out of the ugly tree and hit all the branches on the way down’. He’s also a man ‘of faith’. Believing himself to be dying he no longer cares about police procedure – he says he follows a higher power. While reading along with my fellow Pigeons, I think I can safely say that he was most people’s favourite character. Because don’t imagine Daniel and Lucy are Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy. They are both quite horrible at times, to the point where either one could be capable of anything.
I loved The Memory Wood by the same author last year, but this one is my favourite. It never lets up. At the end it’s so fast-paced and exciting you won’t want to stop reading for a second.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Sam Lloyd grew up in Hampshire, where he learned his love of storytelling. These days he lives in Surrey with his wife, three young sons and a dog that likes to howl. His debut thriller, The Memory Wood, was published to huge critical acclaim in 2020.
+ crime fiction, family, fiction, murder, murder mystery, psycopath, relationships, review, secrets, sisters, thriller
Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena
In this family, everyone is keeping secrets – even the dead.
In the quiet, wealthy enclave of Brecken Hill, an older couple is brutally murdered hours after a tense Easter dinner with their three adult children. Who, of course, are devastated.
#NotAHappyFamily @sharilapena @annecater @RandomTTours #RandomThingsTours
Or are they? They each stand to inherit millions. They were never a happy family, thanks to their vindictive father and neglectful mother, but perhaps one of them is more disturbed than anyone knew. Did someone snap after that dreadful evening? Or did another person appear later that night with the worst of intentions? That must be what happened. After all, if one of the family were capable of something as gruesome as this, you’d know.
Wouldn’t you?
My Review
The Mertons are not a happy family. In fact they are not a very nice family either. A father who loved to criticise, bully and demean his children. A mother who never stood up for them or cared.
The eldest daughter Catherine is cool and calculating on the outside, but underneath there is something much darker, more sinister. Husband Ted doesn’t know what she’s capable of. Probably better he doesn’t. Then there’s Dan. Like a coiled spring, he is always on edge. His father sold the family business rather than let him ‘destroy’ it and now Dan has lost all his savings in a dodgy property investment. His wife Lisa no longer trusts him. And where does he go at night when he drives to ‘relax’?
Finally Jenna is a loose canon. She lives off her parents – she gets an allowance – but her shocking behaviour leaves a lot to be desired. She brings her new boyfriend Jake to that dreadful Easter Sunday dinner and he sees the family for what they really are.
Irena brought the three children up single-handedly and now they are all grown up she still cleans for Fred and Sheila Merton two days a week. She knows how cruel Fred was and how he pitted the children one against the other. Fred’s sister Audrey also knows more than she’s currently saying, but she’ll be happy to spill the beans when the time comes.
And what is the connection with Ellen Cutter and her daughter Rose?
Let’s face it. They all have motive. And opportunity. Not all of them have an alibi. But who would go that far? Even for millions of dollars. Exciting and tense, this book never lets up for a moment. By the end you’ll be left breathless.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours.
About the Author
Shari Lapena worked as a lawyer and as an English teacher before writing fiction. Her debut thriller, The Couple Next Door, was a global bestseller, the bestselling fiction title in the UK in 2017 and has been optioned for television. Her thrillers A Stranger in the House, An Unwanted Guest, Someone We Know and The End of Her were all Sunday Times and New York Times bestsellers.
+ family, fiction, forgiveness, friendship, Greece, literature, loss, murder, obsession
One August Night by by Victoria Hislop
It’s the 25th August 1957. The island of Spinalonga closes its leper colony. And a moment of violence has devastating consequences.
When time stops dead for Maria Petrakis and her sister, Anna, two families splinter apart and, for the people of Plaka, the closure of Spinalonga is forever coloured with tragedy.
#OneAugustNight @VicHislop @headlinepg @annecater @RandomTTours #RandomThingsTours
In the aftermath, the question of how to resume life looms large. Stigma and scandal need to be confronted and somehow, for those impacted, a future built from the ruins of the past.
Number one bestselling author Victoria Hislop returns to the world and characters she created in The Island – the award-winning novel that remains one of the biggest selling reading group novels of the century. It is finally time to be reunited with Anna, Maria, Manolis and Andreas in the weeks leading up to the evacuation of the island… and beyond.
My Review
I remember when The Island was published in 2005. I read it in one sitting. I stayed up virtually all night to finish it. Spinalonga was a leper colony off the coast of the Greek Island of Crete. This was the 1940s and 50s, before there was a cure for leprosy. The book followed the lives of people in the village of Plaka and those who were diagnosed were sent away for ever. Even children were sent to live with a ‘new’ family on the island. Parents initially sent them to school in long trousers in case anyone saw the signs of leprosy on their legs. Spinalonga eventually became a community with its own school, church, medical centre and shops.
One August Night continues the story after the cure has been found. Maria Petrakis is one of those who survived. Her mother Eleni was sent to Spinalonga where she died, while her father Giorgios rows the boat back and forth with new exiles and supplies.
It is 1957 and Maria is finally coming home, having been cured. But on the day she arrives in Plaka, there is a terrible tragedy which involves her whole family.
Manolis has always been in love with Maria’s sister Anna to the point of obsession. But Anna is married to his cousin Andreas Vandoulakis. He knows that the tragedy of that day was partly his fault and he must seek a new life away from Plaka and his family. Away from Maria, to whom he was betrothed before she was sent to Spinalonga. Away from Sofia the child who might be his. In The Island it is Sofia’s daughter Alexis who travels to Crete to find out the secrets her mother has been keeping from her about Spinalonga.
The sequel to The Island follows the lives of these people, tied by family, love, tragedy and redemption. We also meet other wonderful people along the way, including Dr Nikos Kyritsis, who was involved in finding the cure, and Kyria Agathi, Manolis’s landlady in Piraeus. They are amongst those who will help Maria and Manolis come to terms with everything that happened. We also still see the stigma and prejudice attached to leprosy even though it can be completely cured. It is a very slow developing disease and if caught early enough leaves no lasting scars.
One August Night is not about leprosy though – it’s about the aftermath of the tragedy on that fateful day and how it affects everyone connected. But the standout story for me is that of Maria, whose ability to forgive is so magnanimous it is hard to understand, but I was full of admiration for her.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours and to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
About the Author
Inspired by a visit to Spinalonga, the abandoned Greek leprosy colony, Victoria Hislop wrote The Island in 2005. It became an international bestseller, has sold more than six million copies and was turned into a 26-part Greek TV series. She was named Newcomer of the Year at the British Book Awards and is now an ambassador for Lepra. Her affection for the Mediterranean then took her to Spain, and in the number one bestseller The Return she wrote about the painful secrets of its civil war. In The Thread, Victoria returned to Greece to tell the turbulent tale of Thessaloniki and its people across the twentieth century. Shortlisted for a British Book Award, it confirmed her reputation as an inspirational storyteller. Her fourth novel, The Sunrise, about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the enduring ghost town of Famagusta, was a Sunday Times number one bestseller. Cartes Postales from Greece, fiction illustrated with photographs, followed and was one of the biggest selling books of 2016. The poignant and powerful Those Who Are Loved was a Sunday Times number one hardback bestseller in 2019 and explores a tempestuous period of modern Greek history through the eyes of a complex and compelling heroine. Victoria’s most recent novel, One August Night, returns to Crete in the long-anticipated sequel to The Island. The novel spent twelve weeks in the Top 10 hardback fiction charts.
Her books have been translated into more than thirty-five languages. Victoria divides her time between England and Greece and in 2020, Victoria was granted honorary citizenship by the President of Greece. She was recently appointed patron of Knossos 2025, which is raising funds for a new research centre at one of Greece’s most significant archaeological sites. She is also on the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.
Twitter: @VicHislop • http://www.facebook.com/OfficialVictoriaHislop • http://www.victoriahislop.com
Cockroaches are people too! And they are kind of cute, don’t you think. Until there is one crawling around your kitchen floor. Then it’s not so cute after all. Not in real life.
Anna and Johnson are discussing The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. The topic for Anna’s theoretical essay is whether Kafka would kill a cockroach.
But a theoretical cockroach is one thing. A real one is quite another. But what if the cockroach is really a person?
“One read of Kafka and you’re both crawling up the walls of your own insanity.” Another fun radio play from my favourite podcast.
Would Kafka Kill a Cockroach? was written by Tilly Lunken
And directed by Emmeline Braefield
Starring:
Gareth Turkington as Johnson
Honey McKenna as Anna
Robert Penny as Nick
Produced by Cat on a Piano Productions
Music:
Minor Blues for Booker by E’s Jammy Jams
Creeping Spiders by Nat Keefe and Beatmower
The Theatrephonic Theme tune was composed by Jackson Pentland
Performed by
Jackson Pentland
Mollie Fyfe Taylor
Emmeline Braefield
Cat on a Piano Productions produce and edit feature films, sketches and radio plays.
Their latest project is called @Theatrephonic, a podcast of standalone radio plays and short stories performed by professional actors. You can catch Theatrephonic on Spotify and other platforms.
For more information about the Theatrephonic Podcast, go to catonapiano.uk/theatrephonic, Tweet or Instagram us @theatrephonic, or visit our Facebook page.
And if you really enjoyed Would Kafka Kill a Cockroach? listen to Theatrephonic’s other plays and short stories and consider becoming a patron by clicking here…
