Review ~ Sisters of Treason by Elizabeth Fremantle

Penguin UK
May 2014

In Sisters of Treason, the author weaves together historical fact and fiction and brings to life the story of the enigmatic Grey sisters, who along with their more tragic sister, Jane, were forced to live within the shadow of the Tudor crown, and who were destined to leave their own mark on Tudor history.  In the aftermath of the execution of Lady Jane Grey, Mary Tudor’s court is a scheming hive of plot, counterplot and malice, and for the Grey sisters keeping close to the Queen is not a comfortable arrangement. However, keeping your enemies close is a theme which will reverberate throughout the reigns of both Tudor queens.

Told in the combined voices of sisters, Katherine and Mary Grey, and also of Levina Teerlinc, who is a court painter, we are given an insight into just what life was like at the centre of Tudor politics and of how both Katherine and Mary were always kept within a hair’s breadth of the Tudor crown. Both sisters lived a tragic life and this is sensitively and emotionally explored in a novel which covers both the reigns of ‘bloody Mary' and her more charismatic, but no less terrifying sister, Elizabeth.

There is no doubt that this new voice in historical fiction really knows how to bring the royal court alive in a believable and realistic way. Beautifully written and meticulously researched Sisters of Treason abounds with danger and political skulduggery, and offers a unique insight into a royal court where being a potential Tudor heir and female was fraught with danger and which ultimately would have no happy ending for any of the trio of Grey sisters.

 My thanks to Francesca Russell at Penguin Books UK and NetGalley for my copy of this book.

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About the Author

Elizabeth Fremantle holds a first in English and an MA in creative Writing from Birkbeck. As a Fashion Editor she has contributed to various publications including Vogue, Elle,Vanity Fair and the Erotic Review. Sisters of Treason is her second book following on from Queen’s Gambit.

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Sunday War Poet ...

Richard Aldington

1892-1962

Bombardment

Four days the earth was rent and torn

By bursting steel,

The houses fell about us;

Three nights we dared not sleep,

Sweating, and listening for the imminent crash

Which meant our death. 

The fourth night every man,

Nerve-tortured, racked to exhaustion,

Slept, muttering and twitching,

While the shells crashed overhead.

The fifth day there came a hush;

We left our holes

And looked above the wreckage of the earth

To where the white clouds moved in silent lines

Across the untroubled blue. 

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Edward  Aldington, known as Richard, was an English writer and poet. Aldington was best known for his World War I poetry, the 1929 novel, Death of a Hero, and the controversy arising from his 1955 Lawrence of Arabia: A Biographical Inquiry. His 1946 biography, Wellington, was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

Review ~ Ghostwritten by Isabel Wolff

Harper
March 2014

Jenni is a ghost-writer who is entrusted by Vincent Tregear to write his elderly mother’s memoirs, but in order to meet up with Klara, Jenni must return to Polvarth in Cornwall, a place which, for Jenni, holds some very unhappy memories.

On the surface, Jenni and Klara have little in common and yet under Jenni’s gentle questioning a common theme of love, loss and a lifetime of regret starts to emerge. Gradually, the story of Klara’s family life in Java unfolds. We learn about her early life on a Javan rubber plantation, and of an idyllic childhood, spent with family and friends.  However, the Japanese invasion of the island during the Second World War changes Klara’s family forever and her incarceration in one of the notorious internment camps, with her mother and younger brother, is a forcible reminder of the evil that men do and of the fundamental need to survive.

Beautifully written, this sensitive and emotional read captures the stories of two very different women and yet manages to convey the extreme sadness of both their lives without ever resorting to over sentimentality. I am sure that reading groups will find much to discuss, not just about the emotional vulnerability of both women, but also of the history and circumstances which affected Java during the Pacific War in the Far East.

My thanks to newbooks for my copy of this book.

About the author

Isabel Wolff's ten bestselling novels are published worldwide. 'Ghostwritten', set in present day Cornwall and on wartime Java, was published in the UK in March 2014; 'The Very Picture of You' was published in the UK and the US in October 2011. 'A Vintage Affair', was an Amazon.co.uk 'Best of 2009' title and was shortlisted by the American Library Assocation for their Reading List awards (Women's Fiction).

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We Did It .....

Jaffa and I have managed over 100,000 views of a blog we thought no-one would ever read. 

Thanks for staying with us and do keep popping by for more reviews and giveaways...

We appreciate your company.


Thank you

For being part of our world of books.

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BookaDay....part two

Great fun currently on Twitter with this initiative from @boroughpress

Borough Press

#BookADayUK

I'm joining in on twitter @jaffareadstoo

 I will also post my book choice on this thread.

I pretend to have read it

I honestly can't think of anything !!



Makes me laugh

An old favourite

Moonfleet by J Meade Falkner

Favourite fictional father

Mr Bennet from Pride and Prejudice

"An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. -- Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr Collins, and I will never see you again if you do "

Can’t believe more people haven’t read it

Future Classic

Bought on a recommendation

There's a foxy Jaffa look a like on the cover

Still can’t stop talking about it

Favourite cover

 Too many choices but my current read has a lovely cover.

Summer read

Out of print

Made to read at school

Hooked me into reading

Never finished it

Should have sold more copies

Want to be one of the characters

Bought at my favourite independent bookshop

The one I have reread the most often

Would save if my house burned down

Love is all you need - The Sophie King Prize

Corazon Books
June 2014

Love is All You Need, the story anthology from the winners 

of

 The Sophie King Prize 2014. 

This time, Sophie's competition for new romance writing attracted entries from all over the world, and the winning stories will be published digitally on June 11th and in print on August 4th.

Love is All You Need

Enjoy these 10 great stories with heart - the winning tales of love from The Sophie King Prize 2014, chosen by bestselling author Sophie King.

"...I picked those that surprised me and also left a lovely warm feeling. 

A bit like a love affair, really..."

Sophie King 

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Meet 10 women, from different places, backgrounds and times, and each with a different experience of men and romance.

Their stories in turn hold the promise of romance, reflect on finding love, or show the lengths we'll go to for the special person in our lives.

An anthology of stories which are funny, thought-provoking, and thrilling, with characters you'll empathise with as they discover that ... Love is All You Need.

Stories by Alyson Hilbourne, Yvonne Eve Walus, Johanna Grassick, Pauline Watson, Melanie Whipman, Linda Triegel, Laurel Osterkamp, Helen Yendall, Mary Lally, Sherri Turner.

Love is All You Need  is available now exclusively from Amazon

And will be available in print from the 11 August 2014

Published by Corazon Books

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At Last ...

At last my eagerly awaited copy can be plucked from the shelf.

Waterstones - Liverpool.

One of only two copies left on the shelf

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