📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ Snow Widows by Katherine MacInnes

William Collins
14 April 2022

My thanks to the publishers and Alison Menzies PR for my copy of this book

Katherine MacInnes' lively biography Snow Widows retells the story of Scott's expedition to the South Pole from the point of view of the five women closest to the ill-fated party. Her remarkable feat of historical reconstruction reveals a story of press intrusion, media management and the role of newly developed technology in bringing the story home. From fundraising to controlling the narrative, the women's influence runs right through this familiar story. Snow Widows offers a fresh perspective and a fascinating window onto a lost world

This group biography focusses on Kathleen Scott, who campaigned tirelessly to fund her husband's expedition and Catherine Oates, who sent prodigious funds in support of her son; Oriana Wilson, whose marriage was also a true scientific partnership and Empire Emily Bowers who had travelled the world as a missionary teacher; and set apart by her working class origins, Lois Evans, whose pension was a fraction of the other women’s, who suffered to see her husband (the only rating) scapegoated.

📖 My Review ...

We know so much from history about those intrepid Antarctic explorers who risked life and limb to conquer places which, to most of us, still remain out of reach. And yet we rarely give a thought to the women they left behind to follow these ambitious dreams and of the consequences on the lives of their families. Snow Widows seeks to redress the balance and gives a comprehensive look at the five women behind the heroes, wives and mothers who, it must be said, are heroines in their own indomitable way.

Kathleen Scott - Wife

Oriana Wilson - Wife 

Emily Bowers -Mother

Caroline Oates - Mother

Lois Evans - Wife

Scott's ill fated final expedition to the Antarctic in 1912 is well documented but this unique account is shown through the eyes of each of the women who lived with the staunch ambition of their husbands and sons. Snow Widows brings, not only this vision to life in an authentically and meticulously researched account, but it also allows the Edwardian era to come alive with striking perception. I enjoyed getting to know these five very different women and by juxtaposing their individual accounts with what was happening to the Terra Nova we gain a remarkable insight into how much they all sacrificed in order to allow their menfolk the freedom they took for granted.

This is not a book to be rushed as the detail is considerable but it is definitely a fascinating and very readable biographical account by a writer whose passion for her subject shines through with every well written word. I felt immersed in detail, both large and small, transported back to the time of this fateful expedition and to those women who waited, in vain, for their return.

About the Author

Here's Katherine meeting the figurehead of the Terra Nova

©Kate Stuart Photography

Katherine MacInnes was shortlisted for the Biographer's Prize for an early proposal for Snow Widows over a decade agao. Since then she has continued to research the five women, both in the UK and New Zealand, the gateway to Antarctic exploration. Whilst bringing up her family she has written four children's books, three plays and graduated with a Masters degree from Oxford University. Formerly an arts journalist she has written features and reviewed popular literature and given talks on the invisible women behind polar exploration at the Royal Geographical Society. She is a member of the society of authors and the Biographer's Club.

Twitter @WmCollinsBooks

@alisonmenziespr

📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ Gone by Michael Blencowe

Leaping Hare Press
27 April 2021

My thanks to the publishers and Alison Menzies PR for my copy of this book

Inspired by his childhood obsession with extinct species, Michael Blencowe takes us around the globe from the forests of New Zealand to the ferries of Finland, from the urban sprawl of San Francisco to an inflatable crocodile on Brighton’s Widewater lagoon. 

Spanning five centuries from the last sighting of New Zealand’s Upland Moa to the death of Lonesome George, the Pinta Island Giant Tortoise in 2012, his memoir is peppered with the accounts of the hunters and naturalists of the past as well as revealing conversations with the custodians of these totemic animals today. With charm and insight he reveals what made these species unique; what their habits and habitats were; who discovered (or killed) them; what remains of them; and where we can view what survives of them today. 

Tortoise

He inspects the only known remains of a Huia egg at Te Papa, New Zealand; views hundreds of specimens of deceased Galapagos tortoises and Xerces Blue Butterflies in the California Academy of Sciences; and pays his respects to the only soft tissue remains of the Dodo in the world.

Xerces Blue Butterfly

📖 My Thoughts..

Whenever I read about creatures who are no longer with us I realise just how transitory is our time on earth when whole species can be wiped out, especially as our surviving knowledge comes largely from those who hunted them to extinction in the first place. I'm thinking of those who travelled the globe discovering such rarities as giant tortoises in the Galápagos, the majestic Dodo bird in Mauritius or in the midst of the American gold rush, the stunning Xerces Blue butterflies of San Francisco.

Dodo bird

The book is divided into easy to enjoy sections, not filled with interminable references that you need a reference book to look up, but more about the homely nature of each creature, the places they made their home, the people who found them, the reasons for their extinction, and also about the custodians who look after, so carefully, the little pieces of them which remain.

Here are the creatures you will find in Gone :

The Great Auk. Majestic flightless seabird of the North Atlantic and the ‘original penguin’.
The Spectacled Cormorant. The ‘ludicrous bird’ from the remote islands of the Bering Sea.
Steller’s Sea Cow. An incredible ten tonne dugong with skin as furrowed as oak bark.
Upland Moa. The improbable birds and the one time rulers of New Zealand.
Huia. The unique bird with two beaks and twelve precious tail feathers.
South Island Kōkako. The ‘orange-wattled crow’, New Zealand’s elusive Grey Ghost
Xerces Blue. The gossamer-winged butterfly of the San Francisco sand dunes.The Pinta Island Tortoise. The slow-moving, long-lived giant of the Galápagos Islands.
Dodo. The superstar of extinction.
Schomburgk’s Deer. A mysterious deer from the wide floodplains of central Thailand.
Ivell’s Sea Anemone. A see-through sea creature known only from southern England.

Gone is a very readable account of some of those creatures who have literally gone, disappeared, vamoosed into the ether, but with clever words and pictures they again walk along the corridors of our imagination. Michael Blencowe uses his expert knowledge and deep love of the natural world to introduce us to some of the world's extinct creatures, and in doing so opens up an abundance of information you never knew you needed to know about some of those forgotten creatures who exist only as specimens in dusty museums or highlighted on the pages of natural history encyclopedias.

The beautiful illustrations which grace the pages of the book are by artist Jade They ( instagram @jade_they)

About the Author

Michael Blencowe lives in West Sussex where he works and volunteers for a number of wildlife conservation charities, and writes for many local publications. He was co-author, with Neil Hulme, of The Butterflies of Sussex and has produced a factual insert on caterpillars for Julia Donaldson’sforthcoming children’s book, The Woolly Bear. 

During the first Lockdown he used the observations of nature in his own garden to produce the hugely popular 100 Day Wildlife Diary for the Sussex Wildlife Trust. He is a regular speaker at events. His passion for wildlife began in his South Devon childhood where he first encountered tales of the last British Bird to be declared extinct, The Great Auk.

Twitter @LeapingHareBooks #MichaelBlencowe #Gone

@QuartoKnows

@alisonmenziespr

Review ~ Letters to the Earth Introduced by Emma Thompson

William Collins

14 November 2019

Letters to the Earth brings together the voices of children and the public with authors, scientists and playwrights in the first creative project of its kind.

Alongside letters from the public, Letters to the Earth received submissions from artist and peace activist Yoko Ono, actor Mark Rylance, writer and illustrator of The Lost Words Jackie Morris, novelist Anna Hope, environmental writer Jay Griffiths and Green Party MP Caroline Lucas . Together they are an invitation to consider how this existential threat affects the way we live our lives and the action we take.

Lots of books consider the climate and ecological crisis from a political or scientific perspective, but Letters to the Earth is the first book to chronicle how humankind is collectively processing planetary crisis.

What did I think about it..

This is an interesting collection of emotional letters and documents which collectively give a greater awareness of the strength of public feeling on the subject of climate change.  We can continue to hide our heads in the sand but no-one can fail to see the impact of adverse weather conditions on our planet, and regardless of our individual political agenda, climate change is something which is affecting all of us right now. We only need to look at the severe impact of earthquake, devastating forest fires, and closer to home, the destruction caused by frequent flooding in those areas where flood defenses are stretched, quite literally, to breaking point.

The Letters to the Earth are written by people who represent all of us - from parents and children, politicians and poets, actors and activists and songwriters and scientists, all seek to remind us that we are facing a world in climate crisis. The individual writings are all quite different in content, however, the one thing they all have in common is the amount of passion expressed in each and every heartfelt plea for us to stop, look, listen and act now, before it's too late.

Beautifully presented in an easy to read format, Letters to the Earth, has something for everyone to consider, from letters by those people who are instantly recognisable like the activist Yoko Ono, to a letter written by a perfectly articulate 12 year old, but what they all have in common is that each and everyone of them makes you stop  to really consider the impact of climate change.

I've been thoroughly educated by reading Letters to the Earth because it's written in a way which speaks to all of us in a strong and meaningful way. It's one of those books I'll definitely keep on my book shelf and read frequently to remind me that we can all do our bit to save this world in crisis. 

I really don't want us to be the ones who cause so much irreparable damage to this beautiful planet that we bring about its destruction.

Twitter @CultureDeclares #LetterstotheEarth

@WmCollinsBooks

Publication Day Review ~ The Secret Life of Books by Tom Mole

✨✨ Happy Publication Day ✨✨

Elliot & Thompson
19 September 2019

My thanks to the publishers and Alison Menzies for my copy of this lovely book

We love books. We take them to bed with us. They weigh down our suitcases when we go on holiday. We display them on our bookshelves or store them in our attics. We give them as gifts. We write our names in them. We take them for granted. And all the time, our books are leading a double life.

The Secret Life of Books is about everything that isn’t just the words. It’s about how books transform us as individuals. It’s about how books – and readers – have evolved over time. And it’s about why, even with the arrival of other media, books still have the power to change our lives.

In this illuminating account, Tom Mole looks at everything from binding innovations to binding errors, to books defaced by lovers, to those imprisoning professors in their offices, to books in art, to burned books, to the books that create nations, to those we’ll leave behind.

It will change how you think about books.

What did I think about it...

Any bibliophile will be excited about a book about books, and there's something very special about The Secret Life of Books, from the sumptuous red and gold beauty of its cover, to the very readable contents which explains everything you never knew you needed to know about books.

We know that books come in all shapes and sizes, from the pocket size Penguins of old, to the glossy majesty of coffee table books, they entice us with their words and pictures which promise a world full of magic and mystery. I'm not a great traveller, but from the comfort of my arm chair I can go forwards or backwards in time or I can take off and head to exotic locations, and I am able to do this thanks to the imagination of authors who share their stories with me. 

The Secret Life of Books is a wonderfully presented meander through the world of books, looking at what books actually do for us and how they transform us as individuals. And it's not just about stories or the facts contained within, it's about how books become books, how they are part of the treasure of our age - just think about the wealth of history and information which are contained within our libraries, and of the prestigious books and ancient texts which make up our shared history.

The author writes really well and brings his thoughts and feeling about books to life, capturing the very essence of the emotional meaning of books. There is no doubt that our world would be all the poorer without the absolute treasure of books and all the magic that they contain.

If there's a bibliophile in your life, The Secret Life of Books would be a great gift. It's published by Elliot & Thompson and is out today 😊 📖

About the Author

Tom Mole is a professor of English Literature and book History at the University of Edinburgh where he runs the Centre for the History of the Book. He has taught at Universities in the UK and Canada, and has lectured widely in Europe,Australia and North America. he has written or edited several volumes about books and literature, including What the Victorians Made of Romanticism, which won the 2018 Saltire prize for Research Book of the Year. he lives in Edinburgh with his wife and young daughter.

Twitter @ProfTomMole #TheSecretsLifeOfBooks

@eandtbooks

Blog Tour ~ Under the Rock by Benjamin Myers

Jaffareadstoo is thrilled to be hosting today's final stop on the Under the Rock Blog Tour

Elliot&Thompson
25April 2019

My thanks to Alison Menzies and the publishers for my copy of the book and the chance to take part in the blog tour

In Under the Rock, Benjamin Myers, the novelist perhaps best known for The Gallows Pole,winner of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2018, returns to the rugged landscape ofthe Calder Valley in a bold and original exploration of nature and literature. 

The focus of his attention is Scout Rock, a steep crag overlooking Mytholmroyd, where the poet Ted Hughes grew up. In solitude, Ben Myers has been exploring this wooded ten acre site for over a decade and his Field Notes, scribbled in situ are threaded between sections entitled Wood, Earth, Water and Rock. Taking the form of poetry, these Field Notes are “lines and lists lifted from the landscape, narrative screen-grabs of a microcosmic world that are correspondent to places or themes explored elsewhere, or fleeting flash-thoughts divined through the process of movement”

My thoughts..

As a Lancastrian I have been well aware of that old adage that the only good thing to come out of Yorkshire is the M62, but having once spent several years living across the border in Leeds I am also aware of the unique charm of the county. In Under the Rock, the author explores the region around Scout Rock, near his home in Mytholmroyd, an area in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, a place which teems with a rich, and somewhat forbidding, heritage.

Under the Rock gets right under your skin as the author shows his love for this wild and untamed area in words which have a lyricism that so often matches the stark beauty of the landscape. From adventurous walks through the invasive confusion of Japanese Balsam, to the brooding nature of Giant Hogweed, this is not a place that instantly conjures picturesque beauty, however, the author’s undeniable skill with words brings the area to life in such a vibrant way that I feel as if I clambered Scout Rock along with the author and his dog, Heathcliff , as my guides.

The book is divided into five sections which each bring something very special to the mix with each section appropriately named, Wood, Earth, Water, Rock and Beyond which collectively shine a spotlight on an area which is both fascinating and disturbing in equal measure. I’m usually a bit of a butterfly when it comes to reading non-fiction and tend to dip into and out at whim, but rather unusually for me, I was so engrossed in the narrative that I read Under the Rock completely sequentially, from first page to last, without ever racing ahead to see what was coming up in another section. 

The author’s ability to totally immerse the reader in his writing is what makes Under the Rock such a captivating read, and it really doesn’t matter if you’re not familiar with the landscape, although I would imagine that those who live in the shadow of Scout Rock will find much to identify with, however, even for this Lancastrian, who still has a great deal of affection for the county I once called home, Scout Rock, and its surrounding nooks and crannies, is all the more precious for being so magically brought to life by this talented author.

About the Author

BENJAMIN MYERS was born in Durham in 1976. He is a prize-winning author, journalist and poet. His recent novels are each set in a different county of northern England, and are heavily inspired by rural landscapes, mythology,marginalised characters, morality, class, nature,dialect and postindustrialisation. They include The Gallows Pole,winner of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction,and recipient of the Roger Deakin Award; Turning Blue, 2016; Beastings,2014 (Portico Prize For Literature & Northern Writers’ Award winner), Pig Iron, 2012 (Gordon Burn Prize winner & Guardian Not The Booker Prize runner-up); andRichard, a Sunday Times Book of the Year 2010.Bloomsbury will published his new novel, The Offing,in August 2019.

As a journalist, he has written widely about music, arts and nature. He lives in the Upper Calder Valley, West Yorkshire,he inspiration for Under the Rock.

Website

Twitter @BenMyers1 #UndertheRock

@eandtbooks

Review ~The Pull of the River by Matt Gaw

A journey into the wild and watery heart of Britain

Elliot & Thompson
21 February 2019

My thanks to the publishers and Alison Menzies PR for my copy of this book

Matt Gaw and his friend James take a handsome, homemade canoe, painted a joyous nautical red the colour of Mae West’s lips on an exploration of Britain’s rivers. Over chalk, gravel, clay and mud; through fields, woodland, villages, towns and cities, Matt reveals many places that otherwise go unnoticed and perhaps unloved, finding delight in the Waveney, Stour, Alde/Ore, upper and lower Thames, Lark, Great Ouse, Granta and Cam, Wye, Otter, Colne, Severn and the Great Glen Trail.

My thoughts..

There's something really lovely about the idea of meandering gently along beautiful British waterways in a canoe, quietly moving in time to the dip and fall of a gentle current, and following the curve and flutter and iridescent blue of a kingfisher in flight. For Matt Gaw and his friend James Treadaway this became a reality when they took to the water in their two-man canoe and escaped into the secret world of rivers.

It's not all about gentle waterways as there are some journeys where wild water and deep channels make the going a little tougher however, what comes across is the absolute lure of the river and when combined with the author's enthusiasm and fine way with words, the whole thing gives a glimpse of the landscape from an entirely different perspective.

This is such a wonderful idea for a book as both the places along the river, and the wildlife that call the riverbank home, come beautifully alive. The author's account of the gentle exploration of various rivers and the adventures that he and his co-canoeist had along the way certainly makes for interesting reading.

The book is nicely divided into specific river journeys, and even though most of the rivers mentioned were new to me, I have enjoyed taking a journey into the unknown, and, moving along the waterways with the author as my guide, I now feel as if I can visualise our glorious waterscape in a whole new light.

About the Author

Matt is a writer, journalist and naturalist who lives in Bury St Edmunds. His work has been published in the Guardian, the Telegraph and the Times. He works with the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, edits Suffolk Wildlife and writes a monthly country diary for the Suffolk Magazine. This is his first book.

Website

Twitter @MattGaw #PullOfTheRiver

@eandtbooks

Review ~ The Smallest Things : On the Enduring Power of Family by Nick Duerden

 💖💖 Happy Publication Day 💖💖

Elliot&Thompson
14 February 2019

My thanks to the publishers and to Alison Menzies PR for my copy of this book
and the kind permission to share this extract from the book.

Nick Duerden’s grandparents were always just . . . there. A mysterious yet unchanging presence, a source of dutiful visits, birthday cards and carefully preserved rituals: lunches, dinners and endless card games.

But, as he enters midlife, and his 98-year-old grandmother enters a care home, he realises that, like so many of us, he should perhaps have paid more attention to her true worth years before.

As Nick goes in search of the secrets his late mother took to the grave, he finds it can be the smallest things that keep us together when so much is left unspoken. This is a memoir of the tiny dramas that fill all our lives, and a celebration of the special ties that can bind two intimately connected strangers. Tender and poignant, it captures the richness, and also the complexity, of family life.

Extract..

How to remember us

Before you go, I want to give you something to remember us by. It’s clear to me you need some clothes, because why else would you have worn the same pair of jeans all week, with the rips at the knees? You really should have let me fix them for you. It wouldn’t have been any trouble. Anyway, your grandfather has many trousers here, and he doesn’t wear most of them. Look at these ones. Corduroys! And brown is always fashionable. No matter if they are too long and too wide, I can take them up, and in. Try them on, let me see you in them.

For consecutive birthdays, we will buy you a wallet made from real Italian leather. You may well let them pile up in a drawer at home, each unused and still in their presentation boxes, but eventually you will use every one of them. Life is long. You will always need to keep your money somewhere.

Here, take these cups. They are made from china. For coffee. Every time you have your morning espresso, think of us. No, no. I will wrap them up so they won’t break in your luggage. You can have the saucers, too. Do you have spoons in London?

For your wife, this scarf. A coat, perhaps? The collar is real fur. Or these lace doilies, beautiful for decoration. This umbrella? For the plane, some sandwiches. Four, so you won’t go hungry. Ham, cheese, tomatoes. And for the fridge at home: tortellini, ravioli. Gnocchi. Do you know gnocchi? You do? Some sweets for the plane, so your ears won’t pop.

Take the sweets. Remember us, yes? Don’t forget.

My Thoughts..

Love comes in many guises and on ♡Valentine's Day♡ it is all too easy to focus on the romantic love between couples but as this lovely book reminds us, love is all around us, and it's often the smallest things which make all the difference.

In this memoir of tiny dramas the author focuses on the strength of family, of the need to belong, and of the values instilled into us by our relationships with our significant others, and not just in a romantic way but also in a familial way. And by using the example of his grand-parents, the author takes us through the recollections he has of staying with them, and how these visits affected his upbringing and yet, what really shines throughout the book is the the love he had for his grandparents, and of the gradual realisation that they wouldn't be around forever.

This is a beautifully written memoir, which struck quite a few chords with me as my own mother is  97 and in a nursing home. Some days she doesn't know who I am or of my association with her and  this really hurts as I feel like I have lost the person she once was, and yet, there are still lovely moments when she surprises me and I can see that beneath the mask of dementia, she loves and remembers who I am and what I mean to her.

We take for granted those who mean the most to us and yet as this book so beautifully describes they really do 'hold the keys to who we really are'...♡

About the Author

Nick lives in London with his Spanish wife and children. History is repeating itself as his two daughters have a Spanish grandmother. He is an experienced broadcaster appearing on national TV and radio, and writes regularly for the national press.

Website

Twitter @Nick_Duerden


@eandtbooks


@alisonmenziespr

Blog Tour ~ Literary Landscapes

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be part of the Literary Landscapes Blog Tour

Charting the Worlds of Classic Literature

Literary Landscapes: the Real-Life Settings of the World’s Favourite Fiction

General editor John Sutherland

Published 25 October, £25 hardback Modern Books 

My thanks to the publishers and Alison Menzies for my invitation to be part of this Blog Tour

Literary Landscapes draws together those well-loved authors who are synonymous with a place and time, celebrating Hardy’s Wessex, Joyce’s Dublin and Du Maurier’s Cornwall. It comes right up to date with recent bestsellers, such as Eleanor Catton’s Booker Prize winning The Luminaries, Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City and Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend. Its charm lies in the way these favourites are interspersed with the unfamiliar, providing much to explore.

Led by John Sutherland, a team of specialist literary critics have contributed individual essays on over 70 literary novels where landscape is as central to the tale as any character, and just as easily recognized. Entries are beautifully illustrated with archive material, original artworks, maps and photographs. International in breadth and scope, Literary Landscapes is an enchanting read that book lovers will not be able to resist dipping into.

I'm delighted to be able to share this tantalising excerpt from one of my all time favourite books:

Monroeville, Alabama, USA 

Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) by Margaret Oakes

“The sole location of the characters we meet in To Kill a Mockingbird is southern rural Alabama, in the fictional town and county of Maycomb. Approximately 70 miles north of Mobile, Maycomb looks like many rural southern towns. Southern Alabama is flat, pine forested, and not generally the home of the large plantations associated with the Deep South; those locations tend to be in northern Alabama, a wealthier area mentally distant and somewhat questionable to those living nearer the Gulf. Maycomb County residents farm smaller plots or depend on the Tombigbee or Alabama Rivers for their livelihood in fishing or transport. The main physical feature of this environment is the weather, and that factor affects its inhabitants deeply.

Corporeal ennui caused by climate is a constant in life in the southeastern American states: engulfing heat, brain-fogging humidity, the slow drone of cicadas, and the overwhelming nature of semi-tropical vegetation that grows so quickly and profusely that battling it eventually becomes pointless.

Maycomb is described as ‘tired’, the dirt streets turning to ‘red slop’ in the rain, even the shade of the oaks is ‘sweltering’. Over time people can become immobilized in body, unlikely to move briskly and with energy without becoming fatigued and enervated. Clothing and people wilt by midday and movement is slow: people ‘ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of stores around it, took their time about everything’.”

Website

Twitter @modernbooks #LiteraryLandscapes

If you would like to win a copy of this fabulous Literary journey. Follow @modernbooks and tweet your own favourite #LiteraryLandscape for a chance to win a copy of Literary Landscapes.