Review ~ The May Bride by Suzannah Dunn

Little, Brown Book Group
March 2014

I am always interested to read Suzannah Dunn's interpretation of history as I know that her modern way of recounting the past is not always to everyone's taste, but for me her novels work as a refreshing change from the more conventional historical narratives.

The May Bride is recounted by Jane Seymour, whose recollections of her sister in law, Katherine Filliol's arrival at Wolf Hall in the early days of her marriage to Jane's brother, Edward, forms the foundation for the story. Jane is irresistibly drawn towards the charismatic older girl and is devastated when that trust is later betrayed in a scandal which rocks the family’s foundation forever.

Refreshingly different, this book looks at the dynamics of a family divided, not just by infidelity, but also by the betrayal of trust, and the alteration of a family’s love and loyalty to each other.

If you want a conventional Tudor saga with the royal family playing a pivotal role, then this book may well be a disappointment to you, but if like me, you want something refreshingly different which brings the Tudor age alive in a very different way, then I am sure you will enjoy The May Bride as much as I did.

My thanks to Netgalley and Little Brown Books for my review copy of this book.

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The Author

Suzannah Dunn

Sunday War Poet.....

Robert Graves

(1895-1985)

1915

I’ve watched the Seasons passing slow, so slow, 

In the fields between La Bassée and Bethune; 

Primroses and the first warm day of Spring, 

Red poppy floods of June, 

August, and yellowing Autumn, so 

To Winter nights knee-deep in mud or snow, 

And you’ve been everything. 

Dear, you’ve been everything that I most lack 

In these soul-deadening trenches—pictures, books, 

Music, the quiet of an English wood, 

Beautiful comrade-looks, 

The narrow, bouldered mountain-track, 

The broad, full-bosomed ocean, green and black, 

And Peace, and all that’s good. 

Robert Graves was an English poet and author of antiquities specialising in classical Greece and Rome. He was soldier and poet during WW1.

His most famous work I, Claudius was published in 1934.


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Review ~ The Collector of Dying Breaths by M J Rose

Atria Books
April 2014

 This novel, which is set in the 16^th century court of Catherine de Medici, features the alchemical science around the production of elixirs, both poisonous and perfumed, and the intrigue associated with mystical divination of the perfumer. Creating deadly poisons for a deadly queen is not without some danger and René le Florentin, plucked from obscurity to be the Queen’s perfumer  gets drawn into dangerous circumstances.

In the present day, renowned mythologist, Jac L’Etoile, becomes obsessed with the work of René le Florentin, and when she discovers that he may have been working on an elixir that would unlock the secret to immortality, Jac becomes obsessed with the notion of René’s dying breath collection.

This dual time narrative blends the violent days of the Medici court, with 21^st Century France and uncovers a story of corruption, violence and obsession, which transcends time. Although this is an interesting idea for a novel, reminiscent of Patrick Suskind’s Perfume, I’m not sure that on the whole the story really really worked for me. I found myself losing interest in places, particularly with the present day narrative, which I felt was a little clumsy in places. I much preferred the 16^th century story, in which  the author expertly captured the menace and obsession which is associated with the court of Catherine de Medici.

 Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for my copy of this book to read and review.

Review ~ CAULDSTANE by Linda Gillard

A Gothic novel in the romantic suspense tradition of Daphne du Maurier and Victoria Holt.

....If you live in fear, you fear to live....

Synopsis

When ghostwriter Jenny Ryan is summoned to the Scottish Highlands by Sholto MacNab – retired adventurer and Laird of Cauldstane Castle – she’s prepared for travellers’ tales, but not the MacNabs’ violent and tragic history.
Lust, betrayal and murder have blighted family fortunes for generations, together with an ancient curse. As members of the family confide their sins and their secrets, Jenny learns why Cauldstane’s uncertain future divides father and sons.
But someone resents Jenny’s presence. Someone thinks she’s getting too close to Alec MacNab – swordsmith, widower and heir to Cauldstane. Someone will stop at nothing until Jenny has been driven away. Or driven mad.

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” Especially a dead woman.

***

 My thoughts on CAULDSTANE

When Jenny Ryan travels to Cauldstane Castle in the Scottish Highlands to meet with the enigmatic explorer, Sholto MacNab, she expects that his aversion towards female writers will prove something of a stumbling block; however, Sholto needs someone to ghost write his memoirs and Jenny is the best there is in the business. With some trepidation on both their parts, Jenny and Sholto begin the daunting task of fleshing out the glorious details of Sholto’s life and yet malevolent forces at work within the castle are set to make sure that Jenny’s task is far from straightforward.

Running throughout the narrative like a shadowy thread is a story of a spiteful spirit whose unpleasant interference threatens the very safety of those people whose affinity for Cauldstane runs deep. But where there is darkness there is also light and a delicious assortment of characters whose very personalities infuse the story with warmth and charm. From the enigmatic and tenacious Sholto, through to the mesmerising charm of Alec, the armourer whose skill at swordplay leaves Jenny, and no doubt a few other female readers, quite breathless, this story of ancient curses, malevolent mischief and illicit desire has all the ingredients of an outstanding Gothic novel.

As a reader I have devoured books by Daphne du Maurier and Victoria Holt and there is no doubt that Linda Gillard’s rare gift for storytelling has been influenced by her own passion for this type of Gothic romance. Her uncanny ability to create pictures with words takes you on a journey into the very heart and soul of the Scottish Highlands and as the cold stone of Cauldstane Castle trembles under your fingertips, you sense the fear and feel the ingrained majesty and loneliness of this place of ancient secrets, curses and sadness.

To lose yourself in a Linda Gillard novel is like curling up on the sofa with your best friend whose secrets are infinitely more exciting than your own and in whose company you never fail to be mesmerised.

CAULDSTANE is available as an ebook and paperback on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

Author Website 

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CAWDOR CASTLE

SCOTLAND

The inspiration for CAULDSTANE

The author in my spotlight is ....Linda Gillard

I am delighted to welcome back to my blog

Linda Gillard

as she chats about her inspiration for her

 latest book

CAULDSTANE

Linda ~ welcome back to Jaffareadstoo 

What inspired you to write Cauldstane?

At one level the inspiration was a visit to Cawdor Castle which, although ancient, is still family-owned and inhabited. As I was touring the castle, I had the idea of writing about a family who are struggling to hold on to their home and heritage. 

At another level the inspiration for CAULDSTANE was being treated for breast cancer. Many people suggested I write about my experience, but it was bad enough living it, I didn’t want to write about it. But I felt I had to find a way to assimilate it, so I decided to write an allegorical novel, about my experience, but not describing it. Cancer haunts me still, even though my treatment ended in 2012.

You don’t need to know any of this background to enjoy the novel, which is basically a gothic romance and a book about fear.

CAWDOR CASTLE
Photo courtesy of the author

What can you tell us about the story which will pique the reader’s interest?

Cauldstane is a decaying 16^th century castle in the Highlands. It’s been the home of the MacNabs for generations, but in the 21^st century they’re finding it hard to hold on. The family is divided. Should they just sell up or try to use the castle and estate as the basis of a business? Cauldstane is blessed with quirky architecture, red kites and a riverside location, but there’s also an ancient MacNab curse and a malevolent ghost who poisons lives and relationships and wants to drive the family out.

Cauldstane is a money pit, but the real damage is caused by fear – fear of what might happen – and, as one of the characters says, “If you live in fear, you fear to live”. Fear is a kind of wasting disease that affects each of the MacNabs in different ways. (No prizes for guessing that my ghost is how I personified cancer.)

How many rough drafts did it take before you were happy with the story?

I don’t do drafts, not complete ones. I draft a few pages, maybe as much as half a chapter, then I edit it thoroughly before moving on. When I’ve completed the chapter, I edit again. I’ll edit many times until I’m happy. Progress is slow, but by the time I get to the end of the book, it’s almost ready to publish. I edit again, but I never change much.

I don’t think I could face re-drafting a novel. I think if I knew how a book was going to turn out, I’d have little interest in writing it. For me writing fiction is about investigation and discovery. I like to be surprised!

Although your books are difficult to categorise, you do have a penchant for strong heroines and slightly damaged heroes – is there anything of Linda Gillard in any of the characters?

Oddly enough, I think you’ll find me in my heroes, rather than my heroines, but I don’t think I've ever put myself into a book, only aspects of myself.

I suppose the most “autobiographical” books are EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY and UNTYING THE KNOT. In those books I used aspects of myself to create both heroes and heroines. Calum, the hero of EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY is a teacher and I used to be a teacher. There’s a lot of me-as-a-teacher in him.

Your writing is very atmospheric – how do you ‘set the scene’ in your novels and how much research did you need to do in order to bring Cauldstane to life?

I always write about places I know or I’ve invented, but I do quite a bit of research, especially studying photos. You can absorb so much detail and atmosphere from photos.

I’d already visited a lot of castles as research for a previous novel, UNTYING THE KNOT (yes, I have a thing about castles!) but my main sources of inspiration were Cawdor, Crathes and Craigievar Castles, all of which were local for me, living in the Highlands.

Readers often comment on the atmosphere and settings in my books but I don’t make a special effort to create them – rather the reverse. I don’t like writing description, so I always try to keep it brief. I tend to select telling details and focus on those. If you give readers a few vivid details, they’ll “fill in” and visualize the rest of the setting.

Perhaps my books are strong on atmosphere because everything seems very real to me. I see it all in my head, like watching a film. Stephen King said writing is telepathy. An author sits at her desk and visualizes the scene. A hundred years later, someone reads the book and sees the same scene. It’s a kind of magic.

Cauldstane has a malevolent spirit – do you believe in ghosts?

I think perhaps I do. I’ve written two paranormal novels featuring ghosts. (THE GLASS GUARDIAN is the other one.) When I was researching ghosts, I came to the conclusion that it’s very difficult to dismiss all the eyewitness accounts. There’s a substantial body of evidence, some of it quite convincing. I read two books by journalists who started out as ghost-sceptics and ended up converts. As a scientist explains in CAULDSTANE, physicists are beginning to come up with theories that could explain some paranormal experiences.

I’ve never seen a ghost, but I’ve often sensed a “presence”. There was one room in my old house on Skye where I really wasn’t comfortable. I sensed it immediately when I went to view the house before I bought it. Even though I lived there for six years, I never felt OK in that room. Neither did my daughter. We both sensed something.

Scotland is very much a character in your novels – what enchants you about the place, its people and its history?

I love the light, the accents, the wildlife, the emptiness of the landscape, the energy. I even like the awful weather! Although I'm English, Scotland is the only place I've ever felt at home. When I was a student I visited Edinburgh and fell in love with the place. Then over the years, as I saw more of Scotland, I became determined to live there one day. There’s not much of Scotland I haven’t seen and I've lived in a lot of different locations, including on a couple of islands.

I wrote my first novel (EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY, set on a Hebridean island) when I was living in a Norfolk suburb, pining for the Hebrides. That book allowed me to live there “in my head”.

Cauldstane is book number seven for you – do you have a favourite, and will there be a book 8?

I think my best book is A LIFETIME BURNING, but I wouldn't describe it as my favourite. At the moment my favourite is probably UNTYING THE KNOT. It was the very devil to write and I gave up on it twice, but I've since grown fond and rather proud of it.

I have an idea for an eighth novel, but I'm just at the daydreaming stage, gathering books together for research. But if the novel gets written, the main character might be a garden.

You can find Linda on her website and also on her author page on Facebook 

http://www.lindagillard.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/LindaGillardAuthor

Linda ~ It's been a real pleasure to have you spend some time on Jaffareadstoo.

Thank you so much for sharing with us your inspiration for

CAULDSTANE

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The Bard is 450....

April 23 2014

is the 450th anniversary

of the birth of

 William Shakespeare.

23 April 1564 - 23 April 1616

William Shakespeare
Wikipedia

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves

Whilst the actual date of Shakespeare's birth is not known, it has been assumed that he was born on or around 23rd April. His baptism date is given as the 26th April 1564. Born and brought up in Stratford-upon -Avon, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway at 18 and had three children, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and  Judith.

By 1585-1592, Shakespeare was in London making a career as a writer, playwright and part owner of a company of players, known as The Lord Chamberlain's men, later known as The King's Men.

Producing most of his work between 1592 -1613, he at first wrote comedies and histories, but by the end of the 16th century he was writing tragedies and tragicomedies and was collaborating with other playwrights.

He died in 1616 and is buried at the Holy Trinity Church Stratford-upon-Avon and is also commemorated at Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey, London. 

***

I recently reviewed two books which feature William Shakespeare as one of the leading characters.

Myriad Editions
March 2014

Aemilia Bassano, the daughter of an impoverished court musician, uses her intelligence and her considerable beauty to make her way amongst the upper echelons of Elizabethan high society. As the mistress of Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon, the patron of Shakespeare’s theatre company, Aemilia, is soon noticed by the charismatic playwright William Shakespeare, and it is this abiding love/hate relationship between Shakespeare and Aemilia which is the real focus of the story. There is much debate about the identity of the mysterious ‘Dark Lady’ who features in the sonnets of William Shakespeare. This novel cleverly explores the alleged fascination which the playwright had for Aemilia Bassano, and it is entirely possible that she could have been muse and his one true love.

Beautifully written, with a real authenticity, the story reads like a time travel journal, and effortlessly takes the reader into the very heart of Elizabethan London, to a land alive with political mayhem and society scandal. The glitterati of the great, and the not so good, of Elizabeth’s court are shown as bright and brittle butterflies, who flit into and out of the story with comparative ease, and yet, it is in the minutiae of daily life where the story really comes alive. With comparable ease, we are taken from the squalor and stench of death-carts and plague-pits, through to the posturing and raucous swagger of the actors who parade centre stage at the Globe theatre.  Throughout the novel, there is an authentic ripeness to the narrative with the inspired use of colourful and slightly risqué language, which helps to support the time travel idea, and thankfully, there is a good glossary which places the vocabulary into context.

There is no doubt that Aemilia’s unrivalled charm, wit and intelligence gave her the impetus to become the first professional female poet, and yet, it is her struggle for control, appreciation and survival in a male dominated world, which is her lasting legacy.

Polygon
February 2014

This imagined autobiography of the life of the eminent bard starts as William Shakespeare, on his death bed, attempts to exit this mortal coil by recounting his life story to his lawyer Francis Collins. Making sense of this enigmatic playwright’s life and times is no easy feat and the author has done a commendable job in fleshing out the details of Shakespeare’s life from his early childhood in Stratford, through to adulthood amongst the glittering court world of Elizabethan politics and Jacobean skulduggery.

There is no doubt that the author has done his research extremely well and has unearthed snippets of Shakespeare’s life which shows that the bard lived a colourful and extremely lively existence. There are some lovely descriptive accounts of both Elizabethan and Jacobean England when the glittering prose really does leap off the page and by leaving nothing to the imagination the sights, sounds and smells of the era really do come gloriously alive.

There is a compelling lyricism to the narrative which is rather poetic and it certainly has more than enough historical content, in fact, there were times when I forgot that the book was a novel as it is presented more like a non-fiction account and some of the lovely literary prose is achingly reminiscent of some of Shakespeare’s own writings.

I’m not sure that this book will appeal to reading groups per se unless they have a real interest in complex historical content. My view is that this book stands rather as a multifaceted personal read and more as one to be savoured slowly rather than read at full speed.

Both these book were originally reviewed for newbooks - the magazine for readers and reading groups

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Review ~ Beautiful Day by Kate Anthony

Penguin
April 2014

I was rather surprised by this story as on first glance I thought perhaps that the story would be a little bit fluffy. However, very soon into the book there is a real temptation to read through it very quickly, not because the book is light on content but because the story takes hold and makes you want to know what’s going to happen next.

On the surface it’s a gentle story about Rachel, who is a young single mother, trying to support her children by taking a job in a care home looking after vulnerable adults. Rachel’s confidence has been battered by a disastrous marriage but her resolve in caring for her family means that she must make sacrifices and working in such a demanding job is never going to be easy.

I think what makes the book so readable is that the story explores relationships in realistic detail. I especially enjoyed following Rachel’s interaction with her fellow care workers, and more especially with Philip, a vulnerable adult in the home, who needs a special brand of cosseting. Rachel’s chaotic private life echoes the sort of journey many single mothers make every day, as they try to juggle the responsibilities of parenthood with the very real need to make ends meet. Rachel’s return to work is never going to be easy but the deftness of the story and the realistic way in which the characters are allowed to evolve, make this book an absolute joy to read and enjoy.

On the whole I think that this is a commendable debut novel. The author has shown a real empathy with the characters she has created and more importantly she has the skill to share this vision with her readers. I look forward to more books from this talented author.

My thanks to Real Readers for my review copy of this book.

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