📖 Blog Tour ~ Good Taste by Caroline Scott

 

Simon Schuster
13 October 2022

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book
and to Random Things Tours  for the invitation to the blog tour

You can tell a lot about a person from what they like to eat..

When Stella Douglas, author of a much-loved but not very successful biography of a forgotten cookery writer, is summoned to see her editor in London, she is dreading being told her writing career is over before it's even started. But much to her surprise, she finds she is being commissioned to write another book - this time a history of food in England and how the English like to eat. It's to be quintessentially English and will remind English housewives of the old ways, and English men the glory of their country. The only problem is - all English food is really from elsewhere.

So Stella sets about inviting recipes from all corners of England, in the hope of discovering a hidden culinary gem. But what she discovers is oatcakes and gravy and lots of lots of potatoes.

📖 My Review..

I can think of no better way to spend a rainy October afternoon than to settle down with the latest book by this talented writer. Good Taste is a rather lighter foray into historical fiction than the author’s previous books which have focused mainly on the aftermath of WW1. 

The story starts in 1931 when we meet Stella Douglas, a struggling writer, who realises that her biography about a not very well known cookery writer is never going to make her fortune and is fully expecting to be decommissioned by her editor. It is with great surprise, however, that Stella is asked to research and write a book about the history of English cookery. Stella’s detailed search into the vagaries of English cuisine takes to her to the different counties of England and in her travels from north, south, east and west she discovers rather more than she bargained for especially when her trusty old Austin breaks down in Gloucestershire.

I've really loved being with Stella, she's such a delightful character that it becomes very easy to be taken over by her completely and whilst food plays a big part in her story there is so much more to be found than recipes for oatcakes and gravy. Beautifully descriptive the story reads like a beautiful homage to this eccentric country I call home, from the idiosyncrasies of our not so national cuisine, to our ability to laugh at ourselves whilst at the same time making the best out of every situation. Good Taste is an absolute joy to read and I devoured it ...forgive the pun, over the space of a couple of days, lost in Stella's world and her quest to find the best, and worst, of English cuisine whilst at the same time finding out so much more about herself.

Good Taste is warm, witty, wise and utterly glorious - I loved it.

Best Read with...a Chorley cake, slathered in butter, with a side slice of Lancashire cheese.

About the Author

Caroline completed a PhD in History at the University of Durham.She has a particular interest in the experience of women during the First World War, in the challenges faced by the returning soldier. Caroline is originally from Lancashire, but now lives in south-west France.

Twitter @CScottBooks #GoodTaste

@simonschusterUK

@RandomTTours

📖 Blog Tour ~ The Visitors by Caroline Scott

Simon & Schuster
25 November 2021

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

Esme Nicholls is to spend the summer in Cornwall. Her late husband Alec, who died fighting in the war, grew up in Penzance, and she’s hoping to learn more about the man she loved and lost.

While there, she will stay with Gilbert, in his rambling seaside house, where he lives with his former brothers in arms. Esme is fascinated by this community of eccentric artists and former soldiers, and as she gets to know the men and their stories, she begins to feel this summer might be exactly what she needs.

But everything is not as idyllic as it seems – a mysterious new arrival later in the summer will turn Esme’s world upside down, and make her question everything she thought she knew about her life, and the people in it.

Full of light, laughter and larger-than-life characters, The Visitors is a novel of one woman finally finding her voice and choosing her own path forwards.

📖My thoughts..

Esme Nicholls is still grieving the loss of her husband whose death in WW1 has left her not only with a lasting legacy of sadness, but also a desperate need to put the lost pieces of her husband back together. On the advice of her employer, Esme spends a summer at Espérance, a house in Cornwall, ostensibly to discover more about the area her husband grew up in, but, whilst there, she gets to know the group of ex-soldiers, who make Espérance their home. 

The Visitors is a poignant and compelling story about surviving great loss, not just the loss of a life partner but also the loss of self which has been brought about by experiencing, and surviving, great psychological trauma. Set some years after the end of the war there is still a noticeable burden of sorrow carried by those who survived what they had seen, and experienced, in Northern France. This eclectic band of brothers, all survivors of the Great War, hide their troubles behind an air of bravado and glorious eccentricities and even as they shield their sadness under cloaks of respectability, their hidden horrors are all too evident. 

Thoughtfully written, and meticulously researched, detailed aspects of the war come through in poignant snippets of a memoir written by Rory, a gentle soul, whose trauma runs deep and whose burgeoning friendship with Esme is sensitively expressed. Esme herself is quietly introspective, her sense of loss is palpable and yet, when needed, she shows such utter strength of character that it quite broke my heart to see her diminished by a set of circumstances she could never have imagined.

Beautifully reminiscent of a fractured time in history, the gentle eloquence of the novel shines through with every well written word as, once again, this talented story teller gives us a powerful and poignant story which shines the spotlight on human frailty, the horror of war, and its devastating aftermath.  

About the Author

Caroline completed a PhD in History at the University of Durham. She developed a particular interest in the impact of the First World War on the landscape of Belgium and France, and in the experience of women during the conflict – fascinations that she was able to pursue while she spent several years working as a researcher for a Belgian company. Caroline is originally from Lancashire, but now lives in southwest France. The Photographer of the Lost was a BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick.

Twitter @CScottBooks #TheVisitors

@simonschusterUK

@RandomTTours

🍴Sunday Brunch with Jaffareadstoo ~ Caroline Scott

 

On this quiet Sunday morning why don't you put the kettle on, make your favourite breakfast and settle down for Sunday Brunch with Jaffareadstoo

🍴I'm delighted to welcome, author, Caroline Scott to our Sunday Brunch today🍴

🍴Good morning, Caroline.What favourite food are you bringing to Sunday brunch?

How about I bring some good baguettes? And does Jaffa like croissants? My cat adores them. (I do hope no vets are listening.) 

🍴Would you like a pot of English breakfast tea, a strong Americano, or a glass of Bucks Fizz?

A coffee would be lovely, thank you. Perhaps we might drift towards the fizz later… 

🍴Where shall we eat brunch – around the kitchen table, in the formal dining room, or outside on the patio?

Is the sun shining? Let’s grab the chance to be outside.

🍴Shall we have music playing in the background? And if so will you share with us a favourite song or piece of music that makes you happy?

I heard this 1928 version of Vaughan Williams’ ‘The Lark Ascending’ on the Backlisted Podcast in March and it really touched me. There’s something enchantingly lark-like about this old recording and your soul seems to lift with it.

🍴Which of your literary heroes (dead or alive) are joining us for Sunday Brunch today?

Sadly, most of my invitations have been posted to the hereafter. I’ve asked Helen Dunmore, Stella Gibbons, Barbara Pym, Angela Carter, Thomas Hardy, Wilfred Owen, Dylan Thomas and Ted Hughes. It should be lively, shouldn’t it? 

🍴Which favourite book will you bring to Sunday Brunch?

If I had to pick one single book to evangelise about over brunch, it would be J.L. Carr’s A Month in the Country. A perfect little book, it takes you on a picturesque and quietly emotional journey and always leaves you feeling slightly better about life. 

🍴When you are writing do you still find time to read for pleasure? And is there a book you would like to read but haven’t had time for …yet! 

When I’m writing I tend to focus on reading work-related books, mostly non-fiction, and don’t give myself much time off. But I’ve got a long just-for-pleasure reading list waiting for when I finish my current project. (Oh, joy!) I really wanted to read Horatio Clare’s The Light in the Dark last winter. I read such wonderful reviews of it. I’ll definitely be making time for it this winter. 

Elliot & Thompson
3 October 2019

🍴What’s the oldest book on your book shelf?

A book of Robert Browning poems from 1911. I have to admit that I fished it out of somebody else’s rubbish sack! 

🍴Where do you find the inspiration for your novels?

I mostly find ideas through reading non-fiction. I’m always jotting down potential plots. 

🍴Have you a favourite place to settle down to write and do you find it easier to write in winter or summer?

I write more in the winter than in the summer because I have fewer work commitments, and with the long, dark days, I feel like I can justify time spent escaping into stories. I usually work at my dining room table. It’s well lit, I’m nice and warm by the radiator, and my dog is very often snoring by my side.


🍴When writing to a deadline are you easily distracted and if so how do you bring back focus on your writing?

I’m pretty good at keeping to deadlines. I’ve worked from home since 2003, and you do get into the discipline of managing your own time schedule… that, or you slide into watching Homes under the Hammer in your pyjamas all day. If I get stuck, I tend to take my dog for a walk. Poor Tally has to listen to a lot of dialogue and plot lines.

🍴Give us four essential items that a writer absolutely needs?

Books. Peace. Space. Tea. 

🍴What can you tell us about your latest novel or your current work in progress?

I’m currently writing a novel about a group of artists in Cornwall in the 1920s – but I shouldn’t say too much about that because my agent hasn’t read it yet!

  

Caroline's latest novel. When I come Home Again 

was published by Simon & Schuster on 1 November 2020

Simon & Schuster
November 2020

They need him to remember. He wants to forget.

1918. In the last week of the First World War, a uniformed soldier is arrested in Durham Cathedral. When questioned, it becomes clear he has no memory of who he is or how he came to be there.

The soldier is given the name Adam and transferred to a rehabilitation home. His doctor James is determined to recover who this man once was. But Adam doesn’t want to remember. Unwilling to relive the trauma of war, Adam has locked his memory away, seemingly for good.

When a newspaper publishes a feature about Adam, three women come forward, each claiming that he is someone she lost in the war. But does he believe any of these women? Or is there another family out there waiting for him to come home?

Caroline,where can we follow you on social media? 

Twitter @CScottBooks 

Instagram

Website

More about Caroline

After completing a PhD in History, at the University of Durham, Caroline Scott worked as a researcher in Belgium and France. She has a particular interest in the experience of women during the First World War, in the challenges faced by the returning soldier, and in the development of tourism and pilgrimage in the former conflict zones. Caroline is originally from Lancashire, but has lived in southwest France for the past fifteen years.

Thanks so much, Caroline, for joining us for Sunday Brunch 

It's been great fun!

Follow us on Twitter @Jaffareadstoo

#SundayBrunchwithJaffareadstoo

His Fic Saturday ~ Blog Tour ~ When I Come Home Again by Caroline Scott

 

Thrilled to host one of today's Blog Tour stops 

On Hist Fic Saturday

Let's go back to ...1918

Simon&Schuster
29 October 2020

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book
and Random Things Tours for the invitation to the blog tour

They need him to remember. He wants to forget. 1918. In the last week of the First World War, a uniformed soldier is arrested in Durham Cathedral. When questioned, it becomes clear he has no memory of who he is or how he came to be there. The soldier is given the name Adam and transferred to a rehabilitation home where his doctor James is determined to recover who this man once was. But Adam doesn’t want to remember. Unwilling to relive the trauma of war, Adam has locked his memory away, seemingly for good. When a newspaper publishes a feature about Adam, three women come forward, each claiming that he is someone she lost in the war. But does he believe any of these women? Or is there another family out there waiting for him to come home? 

Based on true events, When I Come Home Again is a deeply moving and powerful story of a nation’s outpouring of grief, and the search for hope in the aftermath of war.

What did I think about it..

As first hand memories of the Great War fade into the shadows of history so does our perception of what it was like for families up and down the country to receive that deadly telegram with the devastating words " Missing, presumed, killed" and just how much hope clung to the belief that their loved ones would eventually return, hale, hearty and none the worse for their adventure.

When a uniformed soldier is found cowering in Durham Cathedral in the last few days of WW1, the authorities have no clue as to his identity as the soldier remembers nothing of either his time in the army, or of his previous life with family and friends. Seemingly traumatised, the man, known only by a made up name of Adam Galilee, is taken to Fellside House, a rehabilitation hospital in the English Lake District where kindly doctors attempt to put the jigsaw pieces of Adam's life back together. However, in a desperate attempt to discover Adam's identity, a newspaper publishes a feature along with grainy photograph of him which brings several women to the hospital, each convinced that Adam is someone precious to them.

What then follows is a deeply, emotional story which looks at the trauma of loss and grief, not just of those who are desperately searching for a lost loved one, but also from the fragmented pieces of men who had lost so much of what was precious about themselves. Horrors of trauma and the inglorious nature of war haunts their dreams, and colours their world with nightmare scenes of death and destruction on a scale never before witnessed.

When I Come Home Again is a beautifully written story by an author who doesn't shy away from those stories which have a strong emotional impact. She gives us a really special lyrical quality to the story especially in the describing the area around Fellside House, the natural glory of gardens, the surprises revealed by nature but alongside is the uncompromising effect of the nightmare visions conjured by men who only ever wanted to forget what they had witnessed.

When I Come Home Again is a compelling and heart-wrenching story by a talented author who brings this traumatic period in history alive in a very special way.

About the Author

Caroline completed a PhD in History at the University of Durham. She developed a particular interest in the impact of the First World War on the landscape of Belgium and France, and in the experience of women during the conflict – fascinations that she was able to pursue while she spent several years working as a researcher for a Belgian company. Caroline is originally from Lancashire, but now lives in southwest France. The Photographer of the Lost was a BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick.

Twitter @CScottBooks #WhenIComeHomeAgain

@simonschusterUK

@RandomTTours