Review ~ Only We Know by Karen Perry....

Michael Joseph
2015

Only We Know opens in 1982, and in the searing heat of a Kenyan summer three children play happily in a local river. They are drenched with sunshine and filled with promise of eternal happiness, but before the day is out, something happens, which will have devastating consequences.

What then follows is cleverly put together suspense story which takes the concept of chance, and the uncontrollable nature of the passage of time, and weaves together a story which looks at the festering nature of silence and secrets. Thirty years on from that fateful summer in Kenya, and Nick, Luke and Katie are now sadly estranged from each other but that critical part of their lives is indelibly etched within each of them and when something happens, fate intervenes and inevitably, the mystery of that long ago summer starts to unravel.

I really enjoyed this story and read it almost in one sitting, as it’s one of those stories which tempts you to read on, to discover just a little bit more. It’s not an all action read , its appeal is much more subtle than that, but there is a nice sense of the intermingling of past and present, so that , as the story is exposed in greater detail, you can’t  help but be enticed  into a world of secrets and lies.

I first came across this talented writing duo with the publication of their first collaboration in The Boy Who Never Was, in 2014 and I am equally as impressed with this, their second book together.

Best read with a glass of smooth, Jameson whiskey, and a bowl of rich, Kenyan meat stew..

About the Authors

Karen Perry is the pen name of Dublin based authors Paul Perry and Karen Gillece.

Follow them on Twitter @karenperrybooks

My thanks to the Curtis Brown Book Club for my copy of this book.

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Review ~ The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault

Virago
(VMC 640)
August 2015

Ancient Greek history has never been something that I have felt comfortable with, due, I suppose to my education in this area of history being sorely lacking. My high school wasn't the sort of place where the classics sat comfortably, so perhaps the fault is that I never grew to understand the pull of ancient mythology at an age where I might have soaked up it with rather more interest.

So, when offered the chance to read this reissued book by Mary Renault, originally published in 1956, I started with an open mind, after all the introduction to the novel, tells me that Mary is an exceptional story-teller, and to some extent I would agree with that statement,  she certainly does have the ability to weave a tale around the ancient world. She paints her characters with a yearning passion and her vivacity for the world she recreates, is evident in the way she controls the story. She doesn't shy away from portraying the intricacies and subtle nuances of history and graciously allows her characters enough space to tell their own story.

I'm not going to lie and say that I found this book riveting, because I didn't. In fact, in places it was hard going, but by the end of the novel, and I have to admit that I skim read my way through a lot of it, my opinion remains that classical history is something I still find really difficult to totally enjoy.

And yet,undoubtedly there are readers who love Mary Renault's books and I am sure that they will be delighted that they are being reissued as modern classics by Virago. 

Best read with copious cups of strong tea and an entire packet of chocolate hobnobs.

About the author

My thanks to the Curtis Brown Book Club and Virago for the opportunity to read and discuss this novel.

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A Book revisited ~The Glass Painter's Daughter by Rachel Hore

A Tale of three covers ...

It's an interesting concept, this idea of re-branding books by changing the cover, because what it does is attempt to re-invent the story for a new audience, and it's surprising to see just how the trend in book covers changes with the passage of time. 

When I was given a copy of The Glass Painter's Daughter to read for the Curtis Brown Book Group - my initial thought was ..oh, I've read that, and as I've also read some 600 books, or more,  since this one, truthfully,  I couldn't really remember the finer details of the story .

I hoped that my 2009 Goodreads review would come to the rescue....and it did....

2009
Pocket Books

Here it is....

The Glass Painter's Daughter, whilst for me it wasn't quite as good as The Dream House and The Memory Garden, it is still a lovely read, with a fascinating dual time frame and some wonderful characters....I loved the descriptions of the different glass and would love to 'see' the Raphael window.....It has some wonderful angel quotes interspersed throughout the chapters...this one has always been a favourite of mine ....

It heads chapter 34...

We are never so lost our angels cannot find us.....

As you can see, I didn't write long reviews back in 2009. 

The Glass Painter's Daughter then went through another book cover change to look like this...

2009
Simon&Schuster

I'm not sure that this cover bears any resemblance to what the story is really about - it could be a totally different story...

And now in 2015, the cover has been updated again to look like this...

2015
Simon &Schuster

I can see 'more' of the story perhaps in this cover. I get a sense of Fran, the central character, who is on a journey of self discovery, she very much a loner, self sufficient, purposeful and determined. I see her in this figure and am drawn into the journey she is undertaking. I like the shadowy church rising in the background. 

There seems to be a trend for stylized covers, a representation of what lies within, and this is almost like a story board drawing you into the concept of what's about to happen.

Book cover art is so important. As a reader, the first thing I notice about a story is the book cover.  I want to be drawn into the story, I want to look at the picture and imagine the journey I'm going to take and imagine the adventure waiting to happen.

I've given up on a book several times because I find the cover hateful - and several covers spring to mind but I won't do the authors the injustice of naming them here.

And now, the million dollar question - which, of the three covers, do I like the best.... I think it's this latest cover which I like because it makes the story feel more contemporary. I like the muted colours and the gentleness of the cover art.

So, what did I make of reading The Glass Painter's Daughter second time around...

Fran Morrison returns home to London when her father's illness forces her to abandon her successful music career. Entering Minster Glass, her father's glass making business, is like stepping back in time and for Fran it conjures memories of a past she would rather have kept hidden. When she and her father's assistant, Zac, are given a commission to restore a damaged glass picture, the angel revealed in the glass tells a fascinating story of love, both lost and won and of the tragedy and heartbreak of devastating loss.

It's a lovely, lovely story with an over riding gentle theme which gives the novel a heart warming feel. Whilst it can be considered to be rather a slow read, for me this works, as there is ample time to become comfortable with the characters and there is enough space in the narrative to enjoy the way the story unfolds. I liked the authentic way Victorian England was brought to life in Laura's story, but was equally beguiled by the present day dilemmas faced by Fran as she struggled to find her rightful place in the tantalising world of glass making. And as the past and present intermingle, both the similarities and differences between Fran and Laura's individual stories are brought to life. The angel theme which pervades throughout the story is nicely done and I particularly enjoyed the angel references which head each chapter.

It's a slow burner of a story which looks at the rawness of human emotion, with an overriding theme of redemption and hope.

We should pray to the angels for they are given to us as guardians

St Ambrose, De Vidius

About the Author

My thanks to the Curtis Brown Book Club for my copy of this book to read.

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Review ~ A Better Man by Leah McLaren

Corvus
Atlantic Books
August 2015

Nick Wakefield is a workaholic. His successful business leaves him little time to spend with his wife, Maya and their twins,Foster and Isla, and even when he does spend time with them he is filled with a sense of boredom and a feeling of not really belonging in their world. Maya is a good mother, but her intensity and yearning for fulfilled motherhood does not leave any space for her to be the wife Nick wants. When he approaches his lawyer friend, Gray,to make tentative inquiries about divorcing Maya, he is filled with dismay at the amount of money he will lose in a joint asset split divorce. Advised by Gray to become a better husband in order to minimise his losses in a future divorce settlement , Nick sets out to become a better husband and father. What then follows is a salutary warning of being careful of what you wish for, because as Nick changes, so does Maya, with disastrous consequences.

I really enjoyed this wry look at modern marriage and parental responsibilities and about what happens when the boundaries between the two start to blur. Initially, I really disliked Nick , he was selfish and arrogant and totally immersed in himself and what he wanted. But then, Maya too was also very selfish, possessively absorbed in her children and obsessed to the point of paranoia about her precious babies eating or doing the wrong things. The twins were adorable, frighteningly observant in the way only small children can be,  and this observation by Foster sums up Nick entirely  as   "Even when daddy's home, it's like he's away "...out of the mouths of babes, springs to mind.

The writing in A Better Man is confident and skillful, and I am sure that the premise of the story will resonate throughout the affluent world, as it's about what happens when possessions, greed and apathy take priority over feelings. I really liked the way both sides of the stories emerged which allowed Maya and Nick to tell the story from their point of view. I'm not sure that I liked either of them any more by the end of the novel, but I thought that the interesting twist at the end concluded the story nicely.

Follow Leah on Twitter @leahmclaren
Amazon UK

I read this book as part of the Curtis Brown Book Club

My thanks to Corvus and Curtis Brown for my copy of this book.

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Review ~ The Summer of Secrets by Sarah Jasmon

Black Swan
13 August 2015

One day
She was there...
And the next she was gone



The summer of our childhoods are made all the more poignant when our memories are linked to reminiscences of the past.

In 1983 Helen is an introverted sixteen year old living a rather sad existence. Her mother is no longer on the scene having left the family home some time ago, leaving both Helen and her father with a palpable air of abandonment. Helen is apathetic and the ennui of a summer holiday stretching ahead of her offers no charm or promise of anything resembling fun. That is, until, the enigmatic Dover family, move into one of the nearby canal cottages, bursting into Helen's life with a bohemian air of adventure and an overwhelming sense of excitement. Helen is mesmerised by the Dover children, and immerses herself so deeply into their lives that it becomes difficult to imagine her life without them in it. But then, one day something happens, which changes everything and leaves Helen with a sense of desolation which changes the course of her life forever.

The Summer of Secrets is quite unhurried, slow and considered in places, with a real sense of atmosphere. I had a distinct sense of time and place and could picture the canal side very easily. The characters are realistic, both charming and perplexing in equal measure,  and with a distinct air of mystery which is fascinating to observe. I liked the way the story took in two time frames, and whilst the bulk of the story is set in the summer of 1983, the continuation of the story, thirty years later,  in 2013, is done in a sympathetic and entirely appropriate way and very cleverly shows the vulnerability of loneliness and the way in which our memories are often distorted by events of the past.

This interesting coming of age debut story cleverly reflects the weariness which all too often enfolds teenagers, who seem to meander through life with little focus or meaning. All it takes is just one unexpected act to hurtle them out of their supposed apathy and into a world which is far more exciting than their own. 

The Summer of Secrets is a commendable debut novel by a talented new author, and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.

The Summer of Secrets is available to pre-order.

Amazon UK

My thanks to Ben Willis at Transworld Publishers

I read this book as part of the Curtis Brown Book Club

The Summer of Secrets was the July 2015 Book Club Read

About the author

Sarah Jason lives on a canal boat near Manchester with her children. She has had several short stories published, is curating a poetry anthology, and has recently graduated from the Creative Writing MA course at Manchester Metropolitan University. The Summer of Secrets is her first novel.

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