📖 Blog Tour ~ Angels of Mud by Vanessa Nicolson

 Thrilled to be part of this blog tour

Harbour Books
29 July 2021

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book
and to Grace Pilkington Publicity for the invitation to the blog tour.

In Angels of Mud we jump through time, between the interwoven stories of mother and daughter. The readeris immediately transported to Clerkenwell soon after the end of World War II, where they learn Mary’s story;about her marriage and the upbringing of her daughter Cara. Through this narrative, Nicolson paints a vivid picture of women’s lives in one of London’s Italian communities.

Cara’s story begins in 1966, when she accepts a job in Florence and witnesses the catastrophic Arno flood,which kills over 100 people and destroys millions of artworks and rare books. It is a pivotal event in Cara’s life and she becomes one of the volunteers, an ‘Angel of Mud’, helping to recover the damaged artefacts. Great personal turmoil takes place in times of national disaster, and Cara is faced with important questions about who she is and who she wants to be.

This tale, with its twists of thwarted love and concealed sexuality, offers fresh insight into the daily lives of Fiorentini at a key time in the history of the city, while also providing, by contrast, a vivid picture of life in post war Clerkenwell.

Vanessa Nicolson beautifully captures raw emotion and the complex nature of mother and daughter relationships and how easily and unwittingly a daughter can find herself following in her mother’s footsteps. She writes with an acute historical sensitivity about the two cities, both of which she knows well. Angels of Mud is as rich in topographical detail as it is in emotional truth.

📖 My Thoughts..

Mary Williams lives in the Little Italian area of Clerkenwell. Her hasty post-war marriage, in 1946, to book shop owner, Geoffrey, is largely unexciting, and constrained within the bonds of respectability she simply follows the pattern of life her mother, Nora, has set out. Mary doesn't know how much she craves excitement, until temptation beckons.

Twenty years, later Mary's only daughter, Cara, is at a crossroads in her life and when an opportunity to live and work in Florence presents itself, Cara decides to take up the challenge of being an independent women, after all, it's the swinging sixties and women now have more freedom than at any other time and certainly more than Mary could ever have dreamed of. 

Living alone in Italy is something of challenge for Cara, and I particularly enjoyed seeing the city of Florence through Cara's perspective. Her naivety is refreshing, as is her search to find out more about herself in the process of living alone. Cara's newly found independence culminates when she joins a group of women volunteers, known as Angels of Mud, who try their best to save rare manuscripts and art work when the River Arno burst its banks in the floods which devastated Florence in November 1966.

Moving forwards and backwards in time we learn so much about both Mary and Cara and in doing so a vivid picture emerges of women almost imprisoned by the circumstances of their lives, each of them wanting more from life, but neither women really knowing how to reach out to take what is on offer. I felt immense sympathy for Mary, as caught as she is between passion, and propriety, she becomes something of a sad, and rather, lonely figure.

Absorbing, and thought-provoking, this multi-generational novel captures all the insecurity of a fractured mother-daughter relationship. It does so with a perceptive insight into very different generations of women who even though they share a common bond of family, they struggle with life, each of them making mistakes and having to live with the consequences of their actions.

About the Author

Vanessa Nicolson has published two acclaimed memoirs, Have You Been Good? (Granta2015) and The Truth Game (Quartet 2017). Angels of Mud is her first novel. She grew up in Florence and London, the daughter of an Italian mother and Britsh father, and has worked as an art historian, curator and journalist. She lives in Sissinghurst, Kent.

Twitter @GracePublicity #AngelsofMud

📖 Blog Tour ~ If Only He'd Told Her by Katherine Markland

 

Delighted to be hosting Day 2 of this blog tour 

2QT Limited
27 August 2021

My thanks to Katherine for answering my questions
and Grace Pilkington Publicity for the invitation to the blog tour 

When Emma, 32, loses her boyfriend Mark to cancer, she’s struck by grief. But their relationship was far from straightforward and her grief is compounded by a need to analyse their past, to understand what happened between them and to get to the bottom of the niggling question - did he really love her? The story begins at Mark’s funeral and moves through time. We follow the characters through their lives in Oxford, Bristol, and Belfast, their travels round Jordan, and accompany Emma on another journey; to untangle a complex relationship overshadowed by terminal illness. Largely based on Katherine Markland’s own story, If Only He’d Told Her is a refreshingly honest and beautiful depiction of how difficult it can be to love someone intent on pushing you away. As in all relationships, there are moments of cruelty, hostility and communication breakdown, followed by soul-stirring moments of pure love and intimacy. In this devastating account of a knotty relationship and the pain of loving and losing someone who is terminally ill, Emma looks inside her time with Mark and finds the kindness and love she needs to let him go. This is an unusual love story of strength and tenderness in the face of adversity.

**I'm delighted to have Katherine as my guest on the blog today**

📖 Katherine, tell us a little about yourself and how you got started as an author. 

I have always loved writing. I can be creative, but I also get very easily bored. I couldn’t write all day or write full time, and I can’t be creative under pressure, but relaxed and at my own pace, I really enjoy it. I’d done a few creative writing courses, I was enjoying writing short pieces, and then life presented a story to me and I made the most of the opportunity.

My background is in Psychology – I have always been interested in people. I took Psychology at University, and have continued in that field ever since, but for me, Psychology is more about understanding, than helping, or rather that understanding helps. The one thing I really gained from my degree was the knowledge that everything anyone does, can be understood – there is always a reason, you just have to look deep or wide enough. I work full time as a Psychologist. I live in Dorset, I have for a while, and when I’m not working, I love nature, walking and hiking, and being outdoors.

📖What can you tell us about If Only He’d Told Her without giving too much away?

If only he’d told her is essentially my story. It’s the story of a girl who falls in love with a man who is dying and while they both try and deny it to start with, they have to face it, it tears them apart, but in the end, they come back together. It’s a romance, but not a standard boy-girl romance – it’s clear from the start that they get together, it’s more about relationships, the good and the bad, and what these tell us about ourselves.

📖 If Only He’d Told Her is your first novel, what is it like to be a new author?

It’s very exciting to have my first novel published - I’m really pleased with the book and how everything has turned out, I have enjoyed the process and I’ve met some very nice people, but at the same time, it is quite worrying. I have no idea what to expect, I really hope the book is received well. I really hope other people like it.

📖 Whilst you are writing you must live with your characters. How do you feel about them now the book is finished? Are they the people you expected them to be?

This wasn’t an experience for me. My novel is based on my own story, so I knew the characters all along. The story has developed as I’ve gone on, what’s become important and what’s less so, but this has been what’s made it interesting. I’ve learnt a lot along the way, mostly a lot about myself!

📖What were the challenges you faced whilst writing this novel?

There was one section that was hard to write. There’s a part of the story where the relationship simply falls apart, it was painful at the time, and to go back over it was hard work too. I really struggled to get started on that section, and then was never happy with what I’d written. For most of the book, I wrote a little almost every day, but after struggling for a while I decided this section needed something different. I booked a hotel room in Nice for four days, for just myself with no distractions, and blasted through it for four days almost solid. The section wasn’t finished in the four days, but it wasn’t far off.

📖 Tell us about your writing day - are you disciplined, strictly 9 til 5, or are you more of a have a cup of coffee and think about it sort of writer?

I work full time doing something else, and write very much in my spare time. While writing this book, I wrote mostly in the evenings, or in cafes and coffee shops during visits to parks and gardens. I need to be relaxed - as I said earlier, I can’t be creative under pressure, but I also can’t do a lot at a time, it’s mostly just little snatches of time, here and there.

📖What do you hope that readers will take away from reading If Only He’d Told Her?

I suppose on the surface, that death and illness are horrible, that everyone experiences them differently, that no-one can tell you how to feel, but you can come through. That relationships are never straightforward, but communication is so important. And then also, on a deeper level, that whatever you’re looking for, you will find it, you just need to keep looking until you do. I hope the book is seen as positive.

Katherine, where can we follow you on social media?

There’s a website for the book: www.ifonlyhedtoldher.com, with details also of events and news, and a means for getting in touch.

About the Author

Katherine Markland lives in Dorset with her two cats. At the age of 32, she lost her boyfriend to cancer. Based largely on her own true story, If Only He’d Told Her recounts her journey through grief, to find that love does exist after all. Her journey was aided by the writing process, and she hopes the finished product may aid others too.

Twitter @GracePublicity

📖 Blog Tour ~ The Settlement by Ruth Kirby-Smith

 

Delighted to share this interview with Ruth Kirby Smith

on today's concluding blog tour stop

2QT Limited (Publishing)
15 February 2021

My thanks to the author for my copy of this book
and to Grace Pilkington Publicity for the invitation to be part of this blog tour.

We all have secrets. And perhaps it’s time for Sarah’s to come out. 

It’s 1984 and Olivia is returning home for her grandmother Sarah’s funeral. Sarah was a loving matriarch in small Irish village Lindara, so why would someone spit at her coffin? When Olivia finds Sarah’s red leather notebook, she unearths the secret her grandmother took to her grave… In 1910 Sarah promises her anti-home rule husband Theo that she’ll keep her free thinking, suffragette views to herself. But one night Sarah finds she’s drawn into something which compromises her principles. Later, when Theo gets dementia, he pesters Sarah about something called ‘The Settlement’. She’s mystified, but on opening a letter all is revealed. As the truth unfolds, we watch as Sarah is faced with an impossible decision - will she protect her stepson or her unborn child? Based on the story of her father’s childhood, Ruth Kirby-Smith has delved deep into both Irish history and her family history. Like Olivia, Ruth leaves no stone unturned in the search for the truth. Vivid, gripping and powerful, The Settlement makes the reader question what they’d do in Sarah’s situation. The Irish road to freedom brings to mind the Easter Uprising, Kilmainham Gaol and the Irish Civil War, but little is known about the Anti-Home Rule Movement. With this as a background for the novel, The Settlement is both informative and thrilling.

Welcome to Jaffareadstoo, Ruth 

 

What inspired you to write The Settlement?

I was inspired by my father’s unusual childhood and when I investigated his family’s story it took me to a fascinating period in Irish history which I knew nothing about. Irish independence has always been about the Easter Uprising and the fight for independence, but I did not know details about the anti-home rule movement and its organisation. The two things together – family and history – gave me the basis for my book.

Without giving too much away what can you tell us about the story?

The book combines a period in history with a personal story. Although it is categorised as a historical novel it has romance, history, murder and mystery and with an interesting twist at the end.

Sarah is the main protagonist; tell us about her and why she is pivotal to the story?

Sarah is pivotal in two respects. At a personal level, the book tells of her journey from a girl with no ambitions beyond marriage to an interesting complex woman who has started a business and developed a free-thinking mind of her own. She is not always a good or likeable person but has a well-developed sense of loyalty. At a political and social level, she voices her thoughts on Irish independence and the relationship between the English and Irish.

When combining historical fact with fiction it must be quite a challenge to get the balance right. How have you managed this without compromising on authenticity?

I did a lot of research for the book and used several sources. Sometimes it was important to include complex information such as the numbers of people who signed The Ulster Covenant as it demonstrated the extent of the opposition to home rule in N Ireland. I also detailed the type and number of guns which were shipped to Ulster in April 1914 as a way of demonstrating the determination of the anti-home rule cause. The main thing was to tell a good story and to find a way to use historical fact in an absorbing tale.

As it is 100 years since the partition of Ireland, in researching the background to the novel did anything leave a lasting impression on you?

I was surprised that the accumulation of arms and threats of violence came from the Ulster Protestants in the first instance. The Irish had pursued the quest for independence through political means at Westminster and the first show of violence from them was in the Easter Uprising of 1916 a full four years after the gunrunning into Larne. I was impressed by the organisation of the Anti-Home rule movement but not with their threats of violence for political ends.

Is it difficult to find a balance between research and writing? Can you ever have too much historical detail in historical fiction?

My first and last mission was to tell a good story. Historical fact is the fuel that feeds into the story but if you want historical fact then read history books.

Whilst writing The Settlement you live with your characters every day. How do you feel about them now the book is finished, are they who you expected them to be?

I always have a plan before I start to work. Some writers say they start a story and do not know where it will take them or how it will end but that is not how I work, and I cannot imagine working in that way. Things develop and change as you write of course but I had a clear idea of my characters and plot from the start. The most complex character was Sarah, and she is quite different from my maternal grandmother who was rather cold and severe. I now realise that grandmother probably had mental health issues, perhaps post-natal depression, which people were not so aware of in her day. I think the main characters in the book are interesting and complex and all of them have flaws.

What would you like readers to take away from the story?

A feeling that they loved the story, that they did not want it to end and that they would give it a 5* review and recommend it to all their friends.

Ruth, thank you for being our guest today, and for sharing your inspiration for The Settlement

Twitter @ruthkirbysmith

@GracePublicity