Blog Tour ~ Corpus by Rory Clements

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be hosting the first day of the  Corpus Blog Tour

1936.

Europe is on the brink of a cataclysm.

The Nazis have marched into the Rhineland.

In Russia, Stalin has unleashed his Great Terror.

Spain has erupted in civil war.

Zaffre
January 2017

In Berlin, a young Englishwoman evades the Gestapo to deliver vital papers to a Jewish scientist. Within weeks, she is found dead in her Cambridge bedroom, a silver syringe at her side.

In a London club, three senior members of the British establishment light the touch paper on a conspiracy that will threaten the very heart of government. 

In a country house near Cambridge, an elderly couple are discovered brutally murdered. 

But what has this to do with the looming abdication of Edward VIII and the unstoppable march of fascism?

Set against the drumbeat of war and moving from Berlin to Cambridge, from Whitehall to the Kent countryside, and from the Fens to the Aragon Front in Spain, this superbly atmospheric, accomplished and original novel marks the beginning of a major new series from bestselling author Rory Clements.

My thoughts about the book...

1936 was a momentous year, as not only were political storm clouds starting to rumble across Europe with the rise of Adolf Hitler, but also in London, the prime minister, Stanley Baldwin, was facing a national crisis as Edward VIII continued his self-destruct trajectory in his determination to marry Wallis Simpson. These events should have little or no bearing on the quiet life of a Cambridge history professor but when Thomas Wilde is inadvertently drawn into a mystery surrounding a particularly violent double murder, and the seemingly unrelated death of a young woman, an almost palpable sense of gloom starts to pervade.

What then follows is a tense and atmospheric novel which sees, Tom Wilde and his friend, Lydia Morris become more and more embroiled in events which inevitably start to spiral out of control. Using his considerable academic familiarity with how the Elizabethan spymaster, Thomas Walsingham operated his legions of spies, Wilde can't help but use this knowledge in order be one step ahead of the local constabulary, almost to the point of doing their work for them, which inadvertently leads him and Lydia into all sorts of very dangerous situations.

The history of the time is well explained, particularly the rise of the Nazi party, the unease surrounding the Spanish civil war and the divisions between the Bolsheviks all, of whom, seem to find their way into the pages of this fascinating historical conspiracy. However, it is in the minutiae of old fashioned sleuthing where the story starts to truly come alive. The mystery at the heart of the novel is intelligently written with this author's fine eye for historical detail and even though the overall pace of the novel is never fast and furious, there are certainly more than enough twists and turns in the plot to keep the reader guessing until the end.

Corpus starts the beginning of a new spy thriller series, and I am sure that by the end of this tense thriller there will be readers who, like me, will be eager to make the acquaintance of Professor Wilde in future novels.

Best Read With... ...Dover sole and a well chilled bottle of Pouilly-Fuissé ...

About the Author

RORY CLEMENTS won the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award in 2010 for his second novel, Revenger. He is the author of the John Shakespeare series of novels which are currently in development for TV by the team behind Poldark and Endeavour. Since 2007, Rory has been writing full-time in a quiet corner of Norfolk, England, where he lives with his family. 

Find out more on the author's website by clicking here  or find him on Facebook by clicking here

My thanks to Emily at Zaffre for her invitation to be part of this tour. Tour runs until the 10th February, so do catch up with the rest of the tour stops. Follow the tour on Twitter #Corpus

Sunday WW1 Remembered...

It wasn't all about fighting on the Western Front. 

The troops spent long tedious hours when nothing much was happening, so with great endeavour the men found ways to entertain themselves. To alleviate the boredom the men would play cards, such as pontoon and brag and a board game called Crown and Anchor.

Crown and Anchor Board game
© IWM (EPH 7436)

Pack of 'Waddington's Number 1 Playing Cards', associated with the First World War service of Herbert Copestake in the Royal Flying Corps. The set of linen-finish cards by John Waddington Ltd (Leeds and London) is complete with its original (though now damaged) box. (© IWM)

Waddington  Playing Cards
© IWM (2325)

When away from the front line the men were able to have more free time, and once their morning routines had been completed games of football could take place, mostly against each other but occasionally against other units in the area. There was also the opportunity to visit the local areas and the etsaminets, small cafes that sold food and wine, became a place where the men could find some consolation in home cooked food and companionship.

An elderly lady serves coffee to British troops at a French estaminet behind the lines at Croix-du-Bac, near Armentières.(© IWM)

(Ernest Brookes)
© IWM (Q635)

Music Halls, variety shows and theatres were all very popular during the war and the troops found the opportunity to bring this form of entertainment to the Western Front. Music and singing could provide huge escape for them.

An open air performance in front of a large audience of troops by the "Bohemians" concert party of No. 14 Convalescent Depot at Trouville. The stage has been erected in the shell of a ruined building. 16 August 1918. (©IWM)

© IWM (Q 11503)

The men would sing sentimental songs which reminded them of wives and girlfriends at home. Occasionally someone would have a gramophone sent out to them from home with boxes of popular records. Officers being sent home on leave were often instructed to bring back a new record so that a collection could be built up.

Singing helped to lift the spirits and when the wine and beer flowed the men were able to forget their troubles, and as the alcohol took effect, the song words became slightly more bawdy, which had a great effect on their morale !

DECCA Gramophone
© IWM (EPH 7660)

It's a Long Way to Tipperary and Pack Up Your Troubles were very popular.

Listen to more -  Podcast 44 IWM : Wartime Leisure and Entertainment

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Close To Home ...Paula Daly

As a book reviewer I have made contact with authors from all across the globe and feel immensely privileged to be able to share some amazing work. However, there is always something rather special when a book comes to my attention which has been written by an author in my part of the North of England. So with this in mind I have great pleasure in featuring some of those authors who are literally close to my home. Over the next few Saturdays, and hopefully beyond, I will be sharing the work of a very talented bunch of Northern authors and discovering just what being a Northerner means to them both in terms of inspiration and also in their writing.

Please welcome North West Writer

Paula Daly

Tell us a little about yourself and what got you started as an author?

Before becoming an author I was a self-employed physiotherapist, but I was miserable at work and my friend suggested I should try writing something. She thought I’d be good at it. She told me to read Stephen King’s book On Writing, which I did, and unexpectedly I found once I started to write I couldn’t stop. 

Your books are based in North West England – how do the people and its landscape shape your stories?

My first four books are set in the Lake District. I write psychological thrillers and the sometimes bleak but beautiful landscape of the Lakes really lends itself to this kind of fiction. As for the characters, elements of the people I know, people I see everyday, creep into each character. This is what makes them real to me and hopefully to the reader too. 

In your research for your books, do you visit any of the places you write about and which have made a lasting impression?

I know the places I write about. I wouldn’t write about an area I wasn’t familiar with because I couldn’t make it come to life. But I’m always on the lookout for unusual settings. Something that can make an ordinary scene more interesting. In The Mistake I Made I had a lot of fun writing scenes that took place on the Windermere car ferry. Hopefully the reader enjoyed the fact that they’d not read something like it before. 

Corgi
2016

As a writer based in the North West, does this present any problems in terms of marketing and promoting your books and if so, how do you overcome them?

I’m very lucky to be with Penguin Random House, because a large commercial publisher like this will cover the costs of sending an author out to promote their books. 

If you were pitching the North West as an ideal place to live, work and write – how would you sell it and what makes it so special?

Hmm, if I was to pitch the North West as an ideal place to live everyone would want to come and live here. So here’s my pitch: the weather’s terrible and the people are very unfriendly, nobody smiles and it’s an awful place for a writer to live and work. Totally uninspiring.

Writing is a solitary business - how do you interact with other authors?

I don’t feel a great need to interact with other writers so much as to connect with other people in general. So I get out the house, walk the dog, chat to friends etc. I just do what any normal person does to connect to the wider world. 

How supportive are local communities to your writing, and are there ever any opportunities for book shops, local reading groups, or libraries to be involved in promoting your work?

Cumbria libraries have been very supportive of my work and have arranged numerous events at which I’ve spoken about books and writing and chatted to readers. We don’t have many independent bookshops left but Bookends in Keswick and Carlisle go out of their way to promote my books and I’m very grateful to them. 

And finally, if someone is new to your work, which book do you think they should start with?

Start with whichever piques their interest. The books follow a loose kind of order, so ideally, start with Just What Kind of Mother Are You? But really, it doesn’t matter. They can be read in any order. 

Corgi
2014

Paula's latest novel The Trophy Child  is out in hardcover on the 26th January

Bantam Press
26 January 2017

A doting mother or a pushy parent?

Karen Bloom expects perfection. Her son, Ewan, has been something of a disappointment and she won’t be making the same mistake again with her beloved, talented child, Bronte.

Bronte’s every waking hour will be spent at music lessons and dance classes, doing extra schoolwork and whatever it takes to excel.

But as Karen pushes Bronte to the brink, the rest of the family crumbles. Karen’s husband, Noel, is losing himself in work, and his teenage daughter from his first marriage, Verity, is becoming ever more volatile. The family is dangerously near breaking point.

Karen would know when to stop . . . wouldn’t she?

You can pre-order The Trophy Child here

You can find out more about Paula by visiting her Facebook page by clicking here  

Huge thanks to Paula for sharing her books and her love of the North West with us today.

Coming next week : Cath Staincliffe

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Today my guest author is ...Kirsten McKenzie

 I am delighted to welcome back to Jaffareadstoo

Kirsten McKenzie

Hi Kirsten, a warm welcome back to Jaffareadstoo and thank you for spending time with us today...

How have things been for you since you were last on the blog ?

If you’d suggested in January 2013 that I’d be typing this up as part of my new role as a full time author, I would probably have laughed hysterically. But it’s amazing how life changes once the desire is there, and following hard work.

In January 2013 I started writing my first novel, Fifteen Postcards, a historical fiction book loosely based on my family’s antique shop, with a dash of Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop thrown in. It was published in 2015 by Accent Press, a UK based publisher.

Accent Press
2015

After the success of Fifteen Postcards, I started on its sequel, The Last Letter. Initially I thought writing a second book was going to be a doddle, as easy as pie. I had my systems in place, research was streamlined, reference books stood proudly on my bookcase a short stretch away. It was anything but easy. There was a mantle of expectation hadn’t existed with the first book. Would it be as well received as the first or was I trying to stretch my knowledge too far?

Accent Press
2016

But writing The Last Letter was also like visiting an old friend - my characters seemed to have missed me and they had matured. I’d had one review for Fifteen Postcards where the reviewer had called my protagonist a bubble-head, and you know what? She was right, and that really helped me develop Sarah Lester further. Reviewers are great!

Almost all the reviews for Fifteen Postcards mention the research which must have gone into the book, and they’re right. The research for The Last Letter was no different. You end up down a two hour rabbit hole on the internet researching Victorian hearth tiles, or hats from 1860 worn by ladies in India. I’ve learnt so much, and ended up incorporating things I never imagined I’d write about because of those hours lost in the Internet. Writing can be a lonely occupation, but Twitter has been a remarkably social tool - I’ve found that people on Twitter love to help. Often I’d pose a question along the lines of “How long would it take to walk from Manse Street to High Street?”, and then an discussion would erupt online as various people questioned the answers given by others and offered their own opinions. Highly entertaining and it made me feel part of something greater than me just sitting at my desk by myself. I love Twitter and I’m very enthusiastic there, and probably a little too outspoken about some aspects of life in general.

My first book took eighteen months to write, the second took twelve but the process after writing it was that much more complicated and time consuming than with the first. The cover of The Last Letter went backwards and forwards between the publisher and I, the release date needed to be agreed upon, the pricing of the first book at the release of the second. Even the editing process seemed more complex because I’d had the previous experience to compare it with. With Fifteen Postcards I was such a novice that I stumbled through everything blindly, and to my utmost surprise, it ended well.

And now The Last Letter is out there and doing well. And I quit my day job as an Antique Dealer. A leap of faith greater than writing the first, or even the second book, and one which is paying off.


More about the Author

Kirsten is currently working on her third book, 'The Ruination Of Art', set in the magical city of Florence, Italy. She lives in Auckland with her husband and two daughters, and a doddery old cat.

You can find out more about Kirsten and her writing on her website by clicking here 

Visit her on Facebook or Follow on Twitter @Kiwimrsmac or find on Goodreads

Huge thanks to Kirsten for sharing her time with us today.

Jaffa and I wish you continued success with your writing and look forward to

 hearing all about 'The Ruination of Art'

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Review ~ The House of New Beginnings by Lucy Diamond

Pan Macmillan
26th January 2017

A bit of blurb..

Number 11, Dukes Square, looks just like the other houses on the Brighton seafront: a Regency terrace with elegant sash windows, a winding staircase, and post piled up in the hall for its tenants. It might be part of the city's history, but it's also a place of brand new beginnings.

Georgie has followed her childhood sweetheart to Brighton but is determined to carve out a career for herself in journalism. Throwing herself into the city's delights is fun and exciting, but before she knows it, she's sliding into all kinds of trouble . . . 

Charlotte's in the city for a new start, hoping to keep her head down and somehow get over the heartbreaking loss she's suffered in the past. But Margot, the stylish old lady on the top floor, has other ideas. Like it or not, Charlotte must confront the outside world, and the possibilities it still holds.

A terrible revelation sent Rosa running from London to start again as a sous chef. The work is gruelling and thankless but it's a distraction at least . . . until she comes up against the stroppy teenager next door who challenges her on her lifestyle choices. What if Rosa's passion for food could lead her to more interesting places?

As the three tenants find each other, it's as if a whole new chapter of their lives has begun.

My thoughts about the book..

What Lucy Diamond always does so well is to craft a story that could so easily be about people you meet every day, in fact, many people in real life could find themselves in the same sort of situations as the women who are the focus for The House of New Beginnings.  It's a story about finding your way when everything around you seems to be thwarted against you, but yet, you know that deep down with good friends you can survive and come through, and hopefully, at the end of it all be stronger and more prepared to face life than ever before.

The author writes with great understanding of what makes women tick and soon plunges her characters into the nitty gritty of life's problems and yet,  at the same time she keeps the writing warm and compassionate. There are some nice areas of light and shade, with moments that made me happy, but there are also some sadder recollections, particularly Charlotte's story, which made me want to make everything better for her. The other characters who flit into and out of the story add complexity and there some unexpected surprises along the way which help to make the story all the more thought-provoking.

I found much to enjoy in The House of New Beginnings, not just about the situations the three women find themselves in but also about living and working in Brighton, about sharing secrets and about starting life anew when it would be just as easy to carry on in the same old rut. This is one of those stories that you could comfortably read at any time of year. It would make a perfect holiday read but it's also one of those lovely books that you can just curl up with on a cold afternoon, preferably with a cup of hot chocolate close at hand.

Best Read With...One of Rosa's salted caramel muffin and a creamy cappuccino 

About the Author

Lucy Diamond lives in Bath with her husband and their three children. She is the author of the bestselling novels Summer at Shell Cottage, The Beach Cafe, The Year of Taking Chances and The Secrets of Happiness.

Website click here

Twitter@LDiamondAuthor

My thanks to  Jess at Pan Macmillan for my copy of this book

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Blog Tour ~ Relativity by Antonia Hayes

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be hosting today's stop on the 

Relativity Blog Tour 

Corsair
Little, Brown
17th January 2017

A bit of book blurb..

Ethan is an exceptionally gifted young boy, obsessed with physics and astronomy.

His single mother Claire is fiercely protective of her brilliant, vulnerable son. But she can’t shield him forever from learning the truth about what happened to him when he was a baby; why Mark had to leave them all those years ago.

Now age twelve, Ethan is increasingly curious about his past, especially his father’s absence in his life. When he intercepts a letter to Claire from Mark, he opens a lifetime of feelings that, like gravity, will pull the three together again.

Relativity is a tender and triumphant story about unbreakable bonds, irreversible acts, and testing the limits of love and forgiveness.

My thoughts about the book..

Twelve year old Ethan is remarkably gifted. His knowledge of particle physics and the universe far exceeds his age limit. However, life is never going to be easy for Ethan or for his single mother Claire especially in light of a tragedy that happened when Ethan was just a baby. What actually happened to cause this tragedy is explained in the course of the story which is sympathetically told in three viewpoints, namely that of Ethan, Claire, and Mark, Ethan's father and Claire's estranged husband.

The individual voices of these three very different narrators are incredibly strong but each is no less compelling and as their individual stories start to unfold therein lies the strength of the novel which looks at the very minutiae of life and dissects just how tragic misfortune can either shape us, or make us.

Ethan's story is a joy to read, his twelve year old self just on the cusp of adolescence is beautifully described, as is his overwhelming knowledge of physics. I expected to be bamboozled by some of Ethan's theories but the author does a really good job of explaining just how a gifted twelve year old would see the universe rather than, perhaps the more complicated way that Mark, his particle physicist father, would view events.

Relativity is an exceptionally good first novel, taking what could so easily have been a subject filled with angst and despair but this talented author turns it into a story filled with hope and goodness and the joy of simply being alive in a world which seems to get ever more complicated

I am always intrigued by the choice of a one word book title so much so  I looked up the definition of relativity and found Einstein's theory that states that..

 "..all motion must be defined relative to a frame of reference and that space and time are relative, rather than absolute concepts: it consists of two principal parts .. "

Ok, so not having a particular penchant for physics I am perhaps no wiser however, what I am sure of is that this incredibly well written novel eventually allows you understand just how important everyone is in the scheme of things, and of how that in the universe every single one of our actions has a greater effect in the long term.

Best Read with...A MacDonald Cheeseburger , heavy on the pickle..

About the author

Antonia Hayes, who grew up in Sydney and spent her twenties in Paris, currently lives in London with her husband and son. Relativity is her first novel.

Find out more about the author on her website by clicking here

or on Twitter @antoniahayes

My thanks to Clara at at Little Brown for the invitation to be part of this blog tour. 

Blog Tour ~ The Silk Weaver by Liz Trenow

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be hosting the first day of 

The Silk Weaver  Blog Tour 

Published by Pan Macmillan,
26 January 2017 in paperback priced £7.99

It's all about the book...

A novel of illicit romance set against the world of the silk trade in London

Anna Butterfield moves from her Suffolk country home to her uncle's house in London, to be introduced to society. A chance encounter with a local silk weaver, French immigrant Henri, throws her from her privileged upbringing to the darker, dangerous world of London's silk trade. Henri is working on his 'master piece' to make his name as a master silk weaver; Anna, meanwhile, is struggling against the constraints of her family and longing to become an artist. Henri realizes that Anna's designs could lift his work above the ordinary, and give them both an opportunity for freedom…

This is a charming story of illicit romance, set against the world of the burgeoning silk trade in eighteenth-century Spitalfields - a time of religious persecution, mass migration, racial tension and wage riots, and very different ideas of what was considered 'proper' for women.

My thoughts about The Silk Weaver...

Inspired by real historical events and characters, The Silk Weaver takes us back in time to the London of 1760, back to a time of social and political unrest and to what was an uneasy time if you attempted to earn your living in the burgeoning silk weaving industry.

Not that Anna Butterfield knew very much about the manufacture of silk when she first arrives in London from her home in rural Suffolk.  Staying with her more affluent relatives, Anna is about to be launched into London society and although this doesn’t sit easily with her , she knows that making a good marriage will be enough to save her father and  younger sister from  a life of hardship. From the start of the story, we know that Anna would much rather use her skill at painting to become an artist, however, Anna’s Aunt Sarah is equally determined to make the most of Anna’s assets in the marriage market.

What I enjoyed about The Silk Weaver was the genuine authentic feel to the narrative. It is obvious in the way that the story is allowed to develop that the author has done considerable research in order to bring to life this story of social unrest and illicit romance. Time and place is captured really well with some lovely details, particularly Anna's entree into society and of her burgeoning friendship with the French silk weaver, Henri Vendome, both of which are a real joy to read. I especially enjoyed the references to Anna's interest in art and of her encounters with some of the great artists of the time, however, for me, the story truly came alive in the story of silk manufacture. I found the description of the silk weaving process quite fascinating, especially the care and attention given to Henri's weaving of his master piece, and of the role Anna played in the creation of Henri's sumptuous silk design.

The Silk Weaver is a really lovely historical novel. It has a fine blend of romance and dangerous intrigue and yet, there is also friendship, love and a genuine desire to see that hope can survive, a combination which I think works very well. I am sure that fans of Liz Trenow’s previous novels will be as captivated by The Silk Weaver's story as I was.

Just as an nice addition I was intrigued by the silk image which graces the back cover of the book and discovered that it was printed around the time that this story is set by the renowned silk designer Anna Maria Garthwaite . There are comprehensive author notes at the back of the book in which the author discusses both the history and the inspiration behind the story of The Silk Weaver which I found to be most interesting.

Best read with… a cold veal pie and a cup of the newly fashionable coffee..

About the Author

Author website click here

Follow of Twitter @LizTrenow

Liz Trenow is the author of three previous historical novels: The Last Telegram, The Forgotten Seamstress and The Poppy Factory. Liz's family have been silk weavers for nearly three hundred years, and she grew up in the house next to the mill in Suffolk, England, which still operates today, weaving for top-end fashion houses and royal commissions. This unique history inspired her first two novels, and this, her fourth novel.

Liz is a former journalist who spent fifteen years on regional and national newspapers, and on BBC radio and television news, before turning her hand to fiction. She lives in East Anglia, UK, with her artist husband, and they have two grown-up daughter.

My thanks to the author and Alice at Pan Macmillan for the invitation to be part of this blog tour 

Tour runs 17th January -  29th January

Do visit the other stops on the tour.

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