Today my author spotlight falls on Helena Halme....

I am delighted to welcome Helena Halme to talk her about her book 

Coffee and Vodka

March 2013

What is it about your book that will pique the reader’s interest?


Coffee and Vodka has been dubbed, ‘Nordic Noir meets family saga’, because it’s a story of a dysfunctional family set in Stockholm.

Eeva is 11 years old in 1972, when Pappa decides the family will move from a small Finnish town to the more prosperous Swedish capital. There the displacement causes a family rift so severe Eeva is still reeling from it thirty years later when she’s forced to re-live the dramatic events of her childhood. The forty-two-year-old Eeva’s emotional roller-coaster journey back to her hometown to see her gravely ill grandmother, is the central theme of Coffee and Vodka.


How long did it take you to write the first draft of Coffee and Vodka?


I started writing Coffee and Vodka as part of my final piece of work for a MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, so the first half of the novel only took a couple of months. After I graduated, I was determined to finish the novel and wrote fairly intensely for the next three or four months. So all in all, the draft took six months. But the editing process took a lot longer and the version which is out now is the novel’s fourth incarnation.


The book world is very competitive – how do you get your book noticed?

A good professionally designed cover is a must, as is employing an experienced editor. I am lucky in that there’s a bit of a Nordic vibe going on in fiction at the moment, which makes it easier to sell a tale of immigration set in Sweden.

But to get noticed as a Finnish author, I also stay in touch with the Nordic community online and in person through the many Finnish and Swedish ex-pat events in London. My blog, Helena’s London Life, also attracts readers, and I always respond to queries and comments from my fans.


What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Read as much as you can and write every day. What you write doesn’t really matter, as long as you keep on improving your craft. The more you read the better you write and the more you write the better an author you become. Boring, I know!

For me the MA in Creative Writing spurred me onto thinking that writing could be a career, so if that’s what you need, I wholeheartedly recommend the course.



Which writers have inspired you?

I fell in love with Doris Lessing’s prose in my twenties and although I love a bit of Ian McEwen, William Boyd or Jeffrey Eugenides, I do prefer female authors. Margaret Atwood, Tessa Hadley, Louise Millar, Joanna Trollope, Rose Tremain and Lucy English are just some of my favourites. But the list is endless and constantly updated. At the moment I’m reading, and enjoying tremendously, ‘The View on the Way Down’ by Rebecca Wait.

Helena ~ thank you so much for spending time on my blog. Jaffa and I wish you much success with your writing career. Do come and visit us again soon.

Helena is kindly offering one copy of her book Coffee and Vodka to one lucky winner

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**

My Review of Coffee and Vodka

In 1974, Eeva and her family move from Finland to Stockholm. In many respects this should have been an easy transition but the cultural differences between the two countries play an important role in the early part of the story. Evva is still a child and isn’t fully aware of the undercurrents of emotion which affect both of her parents, and whilst her elder sibling, Anja is close enough in age, there doesn’t seem to be a strong emotional bond between the sisters. Thirty years later in 2004, Eeva returns to Finland, ostensibly to visit her sick grandmother, but this visit is also a disturbing return to the country of her birth and stirs up long buried secrets and stifled emotions.

Overall, the story of Eeva and her family really took me by surprise. There are some clever observations which really make you sit up and take notice, and the dissection of family values is particularly well done. It is interesting to observe the changes that time imposes on all of the characters, as Eeva, Anja and their parents are very different people thirty years on. Part of the appeal of the story is observing how these changes affect the future happiness of all the family.

In the past my own personal knowledge of Scandinavian writing has been confined to the crime fiction genre of scandi-noir. It is always refreshing to try something different, and Coffee and Vodka with its subtle shades of light and dark is a perfectly good place to start.

******

Review ~ The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Book Blurb

Sage Singer is a baker, a loner, until she befriends an old man who's particularly beloved in her community. Josef Weber is everyone's favourite retired teacher and Little League coach. One day he asks Sage for a favour: to kill him. Shocked, Sage refuses—and then he confesses his darkest secret – he deserves to die because he had been a Nazi SS guard. And Sage's grandmother is a Holocaust survivor. How do you react to evil living next door? Can someone who's committed truly heinous acts ever atone with subsequent good behaviour? Should you offer forgiveness to someone if you aren't the party who was wronged? And, if Sage even considers the request, is it revenge…or justice?

***

My words cannot even begin to do justice to this novel, nor do I have the eloquence to honour those whose story mirrors this one. 

All the way through this extraordinary book, I kept repeating like a mantra, this is just a story; this is just a story –

This. Is. Just. A. Story.

But of course, this isn't just a story, is it? It is based upon a universal truth which is made all the more shocking by being shrouded in reality, and whilst I can't begin to understand what it was like to live with terror, pain, hopelessness and loss on such a grand scale, what I can acknowledge is that simple acts of kindness are what make us human.

The dual themes of forgiveness and redemption which snake through this novel are expertly achieved. Sage Singer, vulnerable and lost in her own grief, befriends, Josef, an elderly German who visits the bakery in which she works. It is an unlikely friendship, made all the more implausible by the request Josef makes of her, a request which will have repercussions, not just on Sage but on those she loves.

There have been lots of comments about this being the best of Jodi Picoult’s books to date, and I have to wholeheartedly agree. There is the usual fine attention to detail, the sharply observed social nuances and the fly on the wall feeling of occupying the same time and space as the characters, but where she excels this time, is in the narration of the story which is woven like a tapestry into several strands, all of which are equally compelling.

Brava !

My thanks to my lovely friend Anne for passing this story to me - I shall pass it on to someone else.

 Jodi Picoult 

Edward III and the Triumph of England by Richard Barber

Penguin  Books UK
August 29th 2013

Edward III, hero of  Crécy, and one of England's most renowned Kings is the focus for this comprehensive and well written historical tome. From the beginning, the book is layered with chivalric honour and tales of military tactics which helped to catapult this small and rather insignificant country towards martial victory on a grand scale.

To be honest I found the book rather heavy going in places, and whilst I cannot deny that the book is packed full of historical content, the prospect of reading the book in linear fashion was a little daunting. 

I think that this book is something to be dipped into and out of when the mood takes you, and best read in small manageable portions which are then going to be easier to digest and absorb.

I am a huge advocate for the use of ebooks but on this occasion I feel that I have missed something by reading it electronically. My opinion is that this book is probably more enjoyable in paper form, not only will it look impressive on a book shelf, but also flipping backwards and forwards is still easier on paper, and this book is definitely one of those that you need to be able to back track easily.

If you enjoy medieval history, then this book is well worth having a look at.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books UK for my digital copy of this book.

Book Beginnings on Fridays.....

Hosted by Gilion at Rose City Reader

Book Beginnings on Fridays as stated by the host was started:

"to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires."

You can share on Google + and social media , please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings and there's also a Mr Linky on the host's blog.

Book Beginning : The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

My father trusted me with the details of his death. "Ania," he would say,"no whiskey at my funeral. I want the finest blackberry wine. No weeping, mind you. Just dancing.And when they lower me into the ground, I want a fanfare of trumpets, and white butterflies" A character was my father. .....

Wouldn't we all like a fanfare of trumpets and white butterflies when we are lowered into the ground.....

A very kind friend passed this book onto me and I have resisted the temptation to dive straight into the story but there seems to be a consensus amongst readers that this is Jodi Picoult's best book to date , so I've come to a decision.....why wait .....

Thanks for visiting my Friday Book Beginnings.

Jodi Picoult is the best selling author of over 21 books, she never fails to grab my attention with her dramatic story lines.

Find out more about her on her website

Review ~ The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

Penguin Books UK
August 2013

My darling Cecilia.

If you’re reading this , then I've died.

When Cecilia Fitzpatrick discovers a letter written by her husband, that is only meant to be opened after his death, she is naturally curious. As her husband, John-Paul, is very much alive, she fights the urge to open the letter.  However, as we know, natural curiosity exists and before long Cecilia is aware of something bubbling beneath the surface of her successful life, and her once placid husband now seems strangely troubled by the idea that this letter has surfaced. What then follows is a clever dissection of family life, which shows, all too easily, the risk of unburdening secrets which have long been buried. The catastrophic events that are unleashed by the revelation of what this letter contains makes for interesting reading.

Initially, the book gets off to a slow start and the unexpected introduction, at chapter two, of a completely new set of characters threw me off track for a while and I didn't know where the story line was going to take me, but eventually the strands started to come together, and I became quite immersed in the way in which the author navigated through quite a complex plot. The characterisation was really well done, there are some interesting people, I especially liked the quirky headmistress of the primary school, whose antics during the Easter Bonnet parade made me smile, and I thought that Rachel Crowley acted with great dignity, her melt down, such as it was, was quite poignant.

I enjoyed putting the pieces of the puzzle together and well before the revelation of The Husband’s Secret, I did guess where the story was leading, but that didn't detract from the overall enjoyment.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books UK for my copy of this book

 

Liane Moriarty is the Australian author of five novels. Three Wishes, The Last Anniversary, What Alice Forgot, The Hypnotist's Love Story and The Husband's Secret.

Today my author spotlight falls on ~ Gillian Bagwell

I am delighted to welcome back to Jaffareadstoo
one of our favourite authors

Gillian Bagwell

Author of

Venus in Winter

Berkeley
July 2013

Gillian ~ welcome back and thanks for taking the time to tell us all about your latest book 

Venus in Winter

What is it about Venus in Winter that will pique the reader’s interest?

Many things, I hope! Bess of Hardwick was a fascinating woman who lived a very long life in a very eventful period in history, yet she hasn’t had much fiction written about her. She was born in genteel poverty and by near the end of her life, in the late sixteenth century, rose to become the most wealthy and powerful woman in England besides Queen Elizabeth. Much of her success was because she married well and was widowed four times, each time inheriting money and property. But she was very shrewd and very smart. After her fourth husband died, she built Hardwick Hall, a palatial house in Derbyshire which remains much as she left it. She oversaw the building personally, and supervised an army of several hundred artisans and laborers over the years.

She certainly knew all the Tudor monarchs from Edward VI forward, and was a lady in waiting to Queen Elizabeth. In my book I have her present at the court of Henry VIII in time to witness his marriages to Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr, which she might well have done. She also knew many of the other giants of the century from Queen Elizabeth’s minister William Cecil, Lord Burleigh to Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, and Elizabeth’s other favorite, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.

From about the age of fifteen, she served in the household of Henry and Frances Grey, and was very close to their daughters, especially Lady Jane Grey, and she kept a portrait of Jane close to her for the rest of her life.



In your research for the novel, did you discover anything which surprised you?

I think one thing that surprised me is that Bess has over the centuries developed somewhat of a reputation of being a very hard and unpleasant person. It surprised me because the first biography of Bess that I read was the most recent, that by Mary Lovell, which presents Bess as certainly strong, determined, and formidable, but also very warm and caring—based on primary evidence such as letters between Bess and her second and third husbands, much of which hadn’t been used by previous biographers. Bess’s fourth husband began to go a little mad and accused her of all kinds of things that weren’t true, but some of the mud stuck. I think that some of the animosity towards her from her own period was also because men then weren’t used to and didn’t like to see powerful women.



Bess is considered to be a formidable woman, do you think you would like her if you met her ? 

Well, that’s kind of a hard question. I think she would be very interesting to encounter and I might well enjoy her company. She must have been very personable and charismatic to achieve much of what she did and count so many powerful people among her friends, including those from opposing factions. But she was very much woman of her time. She moved villages and enclosed common pasture land without compunction when she wanted to do something else with the land, which must have been very hard for the poor people it affected. She was extremely ambitious for her granddaughter Arbella, who at one point was considered very likely to succeed Queen Elizabeth on the throne, and controlled her and restricted her so severely that they ultimately had a falling out that was never repaired. Similarly, she was very disappointed in her eldest son, Henry, whom she considered a wastrel. She was hard on people who didn’t measure up to her expectations.

One of the things that I enjoyed about writing this book is that I covered Bess’s early years, about which not as much is known as the later part of her life. This gave me an opportunity to portray her as curious, uncertain, observing, learning, finding her way in the very slippery and dangerous world of the Tudors.



If Venus in Winter was optioned for a TV drama/ movie, who would you like to play Bess ?

Cate Blanchett has the right appearance and strength to play Bess in the prime of her life. Bess was a redhead and fair skinned, just like Queen Elizabeth. But she had blue eyes, whereas the queen’s eyes were dark. Jessica Brown Findlay, who plays Lady Sybil on Downton Abbey, would make a lovely young Bess. Jessica Chastain would be great for her a little older.

If I am able to write the sequel, about the second half of Bess’s life, Maggie Smith would make a wonderful Bess in her later years. Strong, tough, but with humor and heart. And continuing the Downton Abbey theme, Samantha Bond, who plays Lord Grantham’s sister, would be great for the start of the book, which would begin with Bess’s fourth marriage when she was forty.

Can you tell I don’t watch a lot of TV or see many movies? I’m just not up on who’s out there! And you can’t have a movie with five or six actresses playing the same character! Good thing this is all fantasy. 

***

My review of Venus in Winter 

Venus in Winter charts the first forty years in the life of Bess of Hardwick, from her early life as a gentlewoman in the service of Lady Zouche, through to her subsequent marriages, and life at the centre of the Tudor court. As one of the most successful women of the Tudor age, there is no doubt that Bess always had her eye on the main chance, and in using her unique appeal, she succeeded in securing an advantageous place in society. Her many marriages, she had four, took her to the very pinnacle of success, but unfortunately, Bess learned that heartbreak came with triumph, and she was certainly no stranger to sadness.

The story reads very easily, there is the same fine attention to detail and the meticulous research we have come to expect from this author’s writing. Rich in detail and alive with treachery, the story of Bess of Hardwick is a fascinating read, the complexity of court intrigue and the corruption and greed of some of the major Tudor personalities comes gloriously alive in a tale of classic ambition and ruthless pride.

There is no doubt that had she been alive in the 21st century, Bess of Hardwick would have been a female entrepreneur in charge of a global company. She was feisty, determined, and as a woman placed in the midst of Tudor England her consummate ambition and spirited determination to succeed was unsurpassed.

Another great historical novel from this talented author.

Gillian ~ thanks so much for spending time with us. Jaffa and I are always happy to chat about your fine historical novels. Come back and see us again soon.

Review ~ The Wishing Thread by Lisa Van Allen

Ballantine Books

September 2013

As an enthusiastic knitter, I was really interested to read this book which is in part magical realism and part fantasy, and which features the deliciously quirky Van Ripper sisters, whose home is the aptly named ‘Stitchery’ in the heart of Sleepy Hollow. Surrounded by the essence of their craft, the sisters are said to knit magic into their stitches, weaving good fortune and love potions into gloves,hats and scarves for their neighbourhood. However, the sisters combine their talents in very different ways. Aubrey is the one who has stayed at home with family matriarch, Mariah, whilst Bitty and Meggie have spread their wings further afield. When Mariah, dies, the sisters come together for a reunion in Sleepy Hollow, in which the future of the Stitchery must be decided.

This quirky story really kept my interest and I found much to enjoy, not just from the references to knitting but also in how the story pulled together all the elements and combined them to form a story of family, and the unshakeable bonds which bind us together. There is no doubt that the author has great skill with words; her fine attention to detail and wonderful cast of characters make this a lovely book to read. The idea of knitted magic is so well done, you almost find yourself hoping that all hand knitted goodies held the same brand of enchantment.

I really enjoy this type of magical realism and found that much of the story reminded me of the writing of Sarah Addison Allen’s, whose work I enjoy. Without doubt, The Wishing Thread compares very favourably against this authors work and I can only hope that Lisa Van Allen goes from strength to strength in a genre which suits her style of writing quite perfectly.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine for my ecopy of this book