📖 Book Review ~ Lake of Echoes by Liza Perrat

 

Perrat Publishing
28 June 2022

Sainte-Marie-du-Lac Series #1

My thanks to the author for my copy of this book

A vanished daughter. A failing marriage. A mother’s life in ruins.

1969. As France seethes in the wake of social unrest, eight-year-old Juliette is caught up in the turmoil of her parents’ fragmenting marriage.Unable to bear another argument, she flees her home.

Neighbours joining the search for Juliette are stunned that such a harrowing thing could happen in their tranquil lakeside village.

But this is nothing compared to her mother, Lea’s torment, imagining what has befallen her daughter. Léa, though, must remain strong to run her auberge and as the seasons pass with no news from the gendarmes, she is forced to accept she may never know her daughter’s fate.

Despite the villagers’ scepticism, Léa’s only hope remains with a clairvoyant who believes Juliette is alive.

But will mother and daughter ever be reunited?

📖 My Review...

In the summer of 1969, eight year old, Juliette Bellefontaine lives with her parents, Léa and Bruno, and her grandmère, Mamie Louise, at the Auberge de Léa which is situated near the atmospheric, Lac du Héron. This picturesque lake is a place of natural beauty however, it also has a brooding presence which is made all the more forbidding when Juliette goes missing after being upset by yet another noisy argument between her mother and father. Juliette's disappearance is quite out of character as she is normally a bright and sunny little girl, who enjoys playing with her friends, or running around with her dog, Belle, and yet with no real clues as to her whereabouts the local gendarmerie have to conclude that Juliette may well have been taken against her will. 

What then follows is a tense story of a mother's unwillingness to accept that she will never see her daughter again and of the effect that suspicion and mistrust has on a small community. This is a place where it would seem that whilst everyone knows each other's business there are still dangerous secrets deep in the heart of this rural community. The oppressive atmosphere of the late 1960s comes alive with a definite sense of foreboding which strikes right at the heart of the story and there is a sense of creeping unease which is skillfully handled by an author who knows just how to keep the suspense alive without ever compromising on the emotional pull of the story.

Beautifully written, rural France comes alive in the minutest detail and with an intricate and suspenseful mystery at its core, Lake of Echoes sees the successful start of a new historical mystery series by this talented writer.

🍷Best Read with..a slice of Mamie Louise's lemon chiffon pie

About the author

Liza grew up in Australia where she worked as a general nurse and a midwife. When she met her French husband on a Bangkok bus, she moved to France, where she has been living with her family for twenty-nine years, working as a medical translator and a novelist.

Several of her short stories have won awards, and been published in anthologies and small press magazines. Her articles on French culture are published in international magazines such as France Magazine, France Today and The Good Life France.

Sign up for Liza’s occasional newsletter about new book releases and receive a FREE copy of Friends & Other Strangers, her award-winning collection of Australian short stories.

If you enjoy Liza’s books, follow her on BOOKBUB

WEBSITE

BLOG

FACEBOOK

TWITTER @LizaPerrat

Universal Retail book link

Author in the Spotlight ~ Liza Perrat

 

I am delighted to have author, Liza Perrat in the spotlight today

Welcome back to Jaffareadstoo, Liza. Where did you get the first flash of inspiration for Lake of Echoes?

There was no real flash of inspiration, but after writing a French historical trilogy (The Bone Angel), each of which can all be read as a standalone, then three Australian-set drama novels, I hankered to return to a backdrop of rural France, where I live. I’ve always loved history and given that I write about strong female characters, the late 1960s seemed like an ideal era.

Without giving too much away – what can you tell us about the plot, place and people?

Lake of Echoes –– the first in the new Sainte-Marie-du-Lac series –– is set in late 60s France, a time of great social unrest, change and feminism. Also a time of fear of communism and the Cold War. I wanted to “echo” (excuse the pun!) these themes through the characters and setting.

As for the plot, I have always been (a bit morbidly) fascinated by psychopaths, but I’m not a crime writer (others do it far better than me!). I’ve also been fascinated, and horrified, for much of my life, by the disappearance of the Beaumont children, three Australian siblings, from Glenelg Beach in South Australia, in 1966. The children, aged 9, 7 and 4, like many other children of that time, were allowed to catch the bus to the beach and spend time there alone. That would never happen these days. Lake of Echoes explores both of these themes.

Are you a plotter, or a start writing and see where it takes you, sort of writer?

I like to have a general idea of the story before starting, just vague notions that will develop, and change, as the story is written. The novel often comes out as a completely different story from the initial idea though!

Your writing is always atmospheric – how do you ‘set the scene’ in your novels and how much research did you do in order to bring Lake of Echoes to life?

I live in rural France, so the atmosphere of these novels is very much created from my day-to-day environment. I always need to visualise a scene before writing it, which, I think, helps.

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

By the time a book is published, I have written, edited and tweaked at least 10 versions of it, so I’m usually sick of it at that stage, and keen to move on to the next story. Sometimes characters surprise me, so I generally let them do what they want, if possible. I am though, thinking about carrying some of the Lake of Echoes characters over into book 2 of this series.

Your style of writing is very much ‘from the heart’. Does this take its toll on you emotionally, and if so, how do you overcome it?

It can do, for especially emotional scenes. Though once I’m away from my writing desk, I usually forget about it. I was a nurse in a previous life, and tended to take home my emotions with me then but that was ‘real life’!

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 would love to be retired, but I’m not yet, so I write on my days off (I work part-time) and weekends. When my children were young and spare time was as precious as gold, I was very disciplined and made the most of every free second. Now they’re grown up, I’m not very disciplined, and mostly write when I feel like it.

What do you hope readers will take away from Lake of Echoes?

Well, mostly I hope they’ll be entertained, and I hope they’ll enjoy the story.

A vanished daughter. A failing marriage. A mother’s life in ruins.

1969. As France seethes in the wake of social unrest, eight-year-old Juliette is caught up in the turmoil of her parents’ fragmenting marriage.

Unable to bear another argument, she flees her home.

Neighbours joining the search for Juliette are stunned that such a harrowing thing could happen in their tranquil lakeside village.

But this is nothing compared to her mother, Lea’s torment, imagining what has befallen her daughter.

Léa, though, must remain strong to run her auberge and as the seasons pass with no news from the gendarmes, she is forced to accept she may never know her daughter’s fate.

Despite the villagers’ scepticism, Léa’s only hope remains with a clairvoyant who believes Juliette is alive.

But will mother and daughter ever be reunited?

Steeped in centuries-old tradition, against an enchanting French countryside backdrop, Lake of Echoes will delight your senses and captivate your heart.

Emotionally gripping historical women’s fiction for Kelly Rimmer and Kristin Hannah fans.

"A testament to female resilience, depth and strength, this is a universal story set in a changing world." JJ Marsh, author of The Beatrice Stubbs Series.

About Liza Perrat

Liza grew up in Australia where she worked as a general nurse and a midwife. When she met her French husband on a Bangkok bus, she moved to France, where she has been living with her family for twenty-nine years, working as a medical translator and a novelist.

Several of her short stories have won awards, and been published in anthologies and small press magazines. Her articles on French culture are published in international magazines such as France Magazine, France Today and The Good Life France.

Sign up for Liza’s occasional newsletter about new book releases and receive a FREE copy of Friends & Other Strangers, her award-winning collection of Australian short stories.

If you enjoy Liza’s books, follow her on BOOKBUB

WEBSITE

BLOG

FACEBOOK

TWITTER @LizaPerrat

Universal Retail book link: mybook.to/LakeofEchoesEbook 

Huge thanks to Liza for being my Author in the Spotlight today

Book Review ~ The Lost Blackbird by Liza Perrat

 

London 1962. A strict and loveless English children’s home, or the promise of Australian sunshine, sandy beaches and eating fruit straight from the tree. Which would you choose?

Ten-year-old Lucy Rivers and her five-year-old sister Charly are thrilled when a child migrant scheme offers them the chance to escape their miserable past. But on arrival in Sydney, the girls discover their fantasy future is more nightmare than dream. Lucy’s lot is near-slavery at Seabreeze Farm where living conditions are inhuman, the flies and heat unbearable and the owner a sadistic bully. What must she do to survive? Meanwhile Charly, adopted by the nurturing and privileged Ashwood family, gradually senses that her new parents are hiding something. When the truth emerges, the whole family crumbles. Can Charly recover from this bittersweet deception?

Will the sisters, stranded miles apart in a strange country, ever find each other again?

A poignant testament to child migrants who suffered unforgivable evil, The Lost Blackbird explores the power of family bonds and our desire to know who we are.

What did I think about it..

The Lost Blackbird is about a lost generation and the shameful story of children, often without permission, being transported to Australia. This is not the same as the convict transportation which took place in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries but was the rather ambiguous promise of a better future for those children who were often the innocent victims of the British care system of the 1960s.  With the promise of better prospects, hundreds of child migrants left England bound for new homes, new families and, even, new parents.

In The Lost Blackbird we follow the story of two such children, Lucy and Charly Rivers who are placed in care when their home situation alters dramatically. With no say whatsoever in their future, both girls find that their life, as they know it, in England, is over, and whilst the six week sea voyage to Australia on board, The Star of New South Wales, is filled with excitement, the reality of their arrival in this strange country is far from perfect.

This is is a fascinating look at two very different lives, the younger child, Charly, given in adoption to new parents who only want what's best for themselves, whilst the older girl, Lucy, is treated abominably on a remote farm with other migrant children and is subjected to a life which amounts to little more than slavery.

The author writes well about this shameful period in British and Australian history and whilst I had heard a little about the child migrant scheme I didn't know the full extent of the horror some of the children faced when they arrived in this new land of promise. Part of the story broke my heart to learn that children could be treated so badly and whilst The Lost Blackbird shows both sides of the 'adoption' process there was little doubt as to the psychological damage that was being inflicted on children who only needed love and care, and yet were forcibly removed from everything that was familiar to them.

Beautifully written by an author who knows how to get right into the heart of a story, I read The Lost Blackbird, often with tears in my eyes, appalled at the wanton cruelty, and so often, hoping against hope that something would help to change the circumstances, not just for Lucy and Charly Rivers, but also for all those other innocent young lives who were being so cruelly exploited.

The Lost Blackbird takes us on a journey of false promises, danger, degradation and loss and yet, there's also a glimmer of hope which I clung to throughout the whole of this powerful story.

About the Author

Liza grew up in Australia, working as a general nurse and midwife. She has now been living in France for twenty-seven years, where she works as a part-time medical translator and a novelist. 

She is the author of the French historical The Bone Angel series. The first book in Liza’s Australian series, The Silent Kookaburra is a domestic noir, psychological suspense set in 1970s Australia.  The second in the series, The Swooping Magpie is currently under revision. 

Website

Blog

Twitter @LizaPerrat 

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Review and #Giveaway ~ The Swooping Magpie by Liza Perrat

November 2018

My thanks to the author for my ecopy of this book

The thunderclap of sexual revolution collides with the black cloud of illegitimacy. 

Sixteen-year-old Lindsay Townsend is pretty and popular at school. At home, it’s a different story. Dad belts her and Mum’s either busy or battling a migraine. So when sexy school-teacher Jon Halliwell finds her irresistible, Lindsay believes life is about to change. 

She’s not wrong. 

Lindsay and Jon pursue their affair in secret, because if the school finds out, Jon will lose his job. If Lindsay’s dad finds out, there will be hell to pay. But when a dramatic accident turns her life upside down, Lindsay is separated from the man she loves. 

Events spiral beyond her control, emotions conflicting with doubt, loneliness and fear, and Lindsay becomes enmeshed in a shocking true-life Australian scandal. The schoolyard beauty will discover the dangerous games of the adult world. Games that destroy lives. 

Lindsay is forced into the toughest choice of her young life. The resulting trauma will forever burden her heart.

My thoughts about the book..

During a long, hot, Australian summer, Lindsay Townsend attracts the attention of the rather handsome surfer, Jon Halliwell. Lindsay thrives on his attention and before long their relationship develops into something rather more intimate, which complicates matters because Lindsay is only sixteen and Jon is her high school teacher.

The story that follows and Lindsay's journey from girlhood to womanhood embraces all that was wrong with the sexual revolution in the early 1970s. Forced to grow up way before her time, Lindsay realises that she is caught up in events which she really has no control over, and that's where the heart of the story lies and where the writing becomes really compelling.

The author describes what happens to Lindsay, and I'm not about to spoil the story by giving the plot away, but safe to say that a great deal of research has gone into describing a situation which happened to so many girls. and as the story progresses it really makes you stop and consider just how lucky we are that times have changed.

The Swooping Magpie is an emotional story, with some sections so realistic that it's quite hard to read without feeling enormous sympathy for Lindsay and what she endured. Time and place come alive so beautifully that I felt like I walked every step of Lindsay's emotional journey alongside her. The hedonistic days of a 1970s summer which seemed to go on forever, combined with the pain and passion of first love, and the evocative scent of sea and salt which lingers in the air will remain with me for a long time.

The Swooping Magpie is the second book in the Australian series which is set in the 1970s and the author has, once again, delivered an emotional and thought-provoking story, which is both compelling and desperately sad in equal measure.

I'm really excited to have the chance to offer 5 copies of The Swooping Magpie in this giveaway.Do enter 😊

About The Author

Liza grew up in Australia, working as a general nurse and midwife. She has now been living in France for over twenty years, where she works as a part-time medical translator and a novelist. She is the author of the historical The Bone Angel series. The first, Spirit of Lost Angels, is set in 18th century revolutionary France. The second, Wolfsangel, is set during the WW2 Nazi Occupation and the French Resistance, and the third novel – Blood Rose Angel –– is set during the 14th century Black Plague years.

Website

Twitter @LizaPerrat

Amazon UK

By clicking here : You can read an interview with the author into the background to The Swooping Magpie and here's the chance to win an ecopy of the book 😊

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Guest Author ( and #Giveaway ) ~ Liza Perrat

❈ Jaffareadstoo is delighted to welcome author, Liza Perrat to the blog ❈

Hi Liza, thank you for being our guest today and for giving us an insight into the story behind The Swooping Magpie

Following on from The Silent Kookaburra

Liza’s new release, The Swooping Magpie also reflects the social changes of 1970s Australia, in a chilling tale of love, loss and grief, and, through collective memory, finding we are not alone.

Inspired by a true-life scandal that rocked Australia, here’s the story behind The Swooping Magpie.

It is difficult for any Australian born after the feminist movement to understand the plight of being sixteen, pregnant and unmarried in 1970. The sanctity of marriage was still the vital cornerstone of Australian society and it was impossible to envisage raising a child outside this union blessed by church and state. 

Rather than rejoicing at bringing forth this new life, these girls were shunted into a world of shame –– hidden at home or sent interstate to homes for unmarried mothers. 

But The Swooping Magpie doesn’t only evoke a society refusing support to mothers battling to raise an infant alone. It also exposes the brutal adoption industry practices that targeted healthy newborns for infertile couples.

Until the mid-70s it was common practice to adopt out the babies of unwed mothers. In the 1960s, Sydney’s Crown Street Women’s Hospital was one of largest sources of Australia’s adopted babies. Patient documents from Crown Street and other maternity hospitals show that from the moment most unmarried girls arrived, their records were marked “for adoption”.

They were given three days after the birth to sign consent, and then thirty days to change their minds. These laws were meant to give legal certainty to adoptive parents, while protecting relinquishing mothers’ rights. But in practice those rights were either denied or the women had no idea they existed. 

Many girls never even saw their child, and the original birth certificate was sealed. 

Approximately 250,000 girls had their newborns taken, many claiming they were coerced into signing paperwork whilst under postpartum sedation. Forced to pay this terrible price for pregnancy outside marriage, thousands of women harboured their grief, in silence, for decades.

The thunderclap of sexual revolution collides with the black cloud of illegitimacy. 

Sixteen-year-old Lindsay Townsend is pretty and popular at school. At home, it’s a different story. Dad belts her and Mum’s either busy or battling a migraine. So when sexy school-teacher Jon Halliwell finds her irresistible, Lindsay believes life is about to change. 

She’s not wrong. 

Lindsay and Jon pursue their affair in secret, because if the school finds out, Jon will lose his job. If Lindsay’s dad finds out, there will be hell to pay. But when a dramatic accident turns her life upside down, Lindsay is separated from the man she loves. 

Events spiral beyond her control, emotions conflicting with doubt, loneliness and fear, and Lindsay becomes enmeshed in a shocking true-life Australian scandal. The schoolyard beauty will discover the dangerous games of the adult world. Games that destroy lives. 

Lindsay is forced into the toughest choice of her young life. The resulting trauma will forever burden her heart.

And here's a tantalizing excerpt from Chapter 1:

I wrinkle my nostrils against the caustic smell of cat piss as we pick our way across the filthy footpath to the black gate.

My mother steps aside as the high gate creaks open, nods at me to go through. I scowl, don’t move.

‘You heard what your father said, Lindsay.’

With a sigh, I push past her.

The storm flushed away, the humidity has seeped back into the air at this tail-end of another scalding Australian summer. There’s no warmth in me though, only ice-blocks freezing my insides so that I become so cold I can’t stop shivering.

It’s not just the fear that sets me quaking, but the helplessness too. Like when I was a kid about to launch myself down the slippery dip. I’d hesitate, knowing that once I slid off there was no turning back, even if the metal burned my bum raw, or that once I reached the bottom I’d tumble forwards and scrape my knees.

My mother nudges me ahead of her. I don’t realise it yet, and I won’t speak of the whole sorry tale for years to come, since every time I thought about it, the memories would leave me frustrated, sad and angry, but I would recall walking through those black iron gates as crossing the threshold into the darkest hell.

About the Author

Liza grew up in Australia, working as a general nurse and midwife. She has now been living in France for over twenty years, where she works as a part-time medical translator and a novelist. She is the author of the historical The Bone Angel series. The first, Spirit of Lost Angels, is set in 18th century revolutionary France. The second, Wolfsangel, is set during the WW2 Nazi Occupation and the French Resistance, and the third novel – Blood Rose Angel –– is set during the 14th century Black Plague years. 

The first book in Liza’s new series, The Silent Kookaburra, published in November, 2016, is a psychological suspense set in 1970s Australia. 

Liza is a co-founder and member of the writers’ collective Triskele Books and also reviews books for Bookmuse. 

Connect with Liza online: 

WEBSITE

BLOG

TWITTER @LizaPerrat

FACEBOOK

TRISKELE BOOKS

Sign up for her new book releases and receive a FREE copy of Ill-Fated Rose, short story that inspired The Bone Angel French historical series. 

Follow Liza on Bookbub

Purchase an e-book of The Swooping Magpie: https://www.books2read.com/u/bMQdr7

Paperback coming soon!

✨ A  FABULOUS GIVEAWAY ✨

AN E-COPY IN YOUR PREFERRED FORMAT FOR 5 LUCKY WINNERS

OPEN INTERNATIONALLY

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Review and Giveaway ~ The Silent Kookaburra by Liza Perrat

Triskele Books
2017

What's is all about ..

All eleven-year-old Tanya Randall wants is a happy family. But Mum does nothing besides housework, Dad’s always down the pub and Nanna Purvis moans at everyone except her dog. Then Shelley arrives –– the miracle baby who fuses the Randall family in love for their little gumnut blossom.

Tanya’s life gets even better when she meets an uncle she didn’t know she had. He tells her she’s beautiful and could be a model. Her family refuses to talk about him. But that’s okay, it’s their little secret.

Then one blistering summer day tragedy strikes, and the surrounding mystery and suspicion tear apart this fragile family web.

Embracing the social changes of 1970s Australia, against a backdrop of native fauna and flora, The Silent Kookaburra is a haunting exploration of the blessings, curses and tyranny of memory.

Unsettling psychological suspense blending the intensity of Wally Lamb with the atmosphere of Peter James, this story will get under your skin.

What did I think about it..

In 1970s Australia eleven year old Tanya Randall is growing up in a family which always seems to be at odds with itself. Her mother is not quite functioning on all cylinders, her father spends too much time and too much money in local bars and even the curmudgeonly Nanna Purvis does little to help to relieve the stress that Tanya faces. Bullied at school for her weight problem and her friendship with the 'foreign' girl, Angela, Tanya seems to be forever just one step out of step with both her family and her peers. The arrival of Shelley, her sickly baby sister,  does nothing to help relieve the unrelenting unhappiness of Tanya's life. The only bright spot is Tanya's clandestine meetings with someone who may bring even more problems into her already troubled life.

What then follows is a tightly plotted psychological thriller which induces all the languor and the heat of a blisteringly hot Australian summer. The image of a sad and lonely adolescent is beautifully described as is the waywardness and emptiness of a family who are damaged irreparably by the events which unfold during this time.

The Silent Kookaburra is a real departure for this author whose previous novels include the excellent historical Bone Angel series and as a huge fan of that series I wasn’t sure whether I would be disappointed by the author’s change of direction. I’m pleased to say that I was hugely impressed by this novel. Throughout the story the psychological tension is palpable as is Tanya’s involvement in the unfolding events of which she is too inexperienced to fully understand. The writing is flawless and only someone who has a deep affinity for this part of Australia can write with such descriptive assurance. Time and place came completely to life for me; I could hear the ‘Garooagarooagaroo’ cackle of the Kookaburra and could smell the sweet scented jasmine that whispered in the slight breeze above the gum tree where baby Shelley lay whingeing in her pram. But most of all I fell in love with Tanya, naïve, unsophisticated and yet with a wisdom that belied her tender years, all I wanted was for her to find some sort of peaceful resolution to counterbalance the horror of what was being thrown at her by her dysfunctional family life.

The Silent Kookaburra is a tight and tense family drama which engages the reader’s attention from start to finish, and which bears all the hallmarks of this talented author’s fine attention to detail and natural story telling ability.

Best read with..Vegemite sandwiches and an endless supply of tea..

About the Author

Find out more about Liza on her website by clicking here 

Find her on Facebook and Follow on Twitter @LizaPerrat

Discover more about Triskele Books by clicking here

The author is very kindly giving away an e-copy of The Silent Kookaburra
 to 5 lucky winners of this giveaway. 

Open Internationally.

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Good Luck

~***~

Review ~ Blood Rose Angel by Liza Perrat

Perrat Publishing
November 2015

Blood Rose Angel takes us back to a dark and dangerous time, when Héloïse, the local midwife is forced to choose between her family’s wellbeing, or those who are suffering the devastating effects of the Black Death, the notorious plague which strikes at the very heart of the medieval community of Lucie-sur-Vionne.

As always, time and place is beautifully authentic and from the start of the novel I was transported back in time to the complicated dangers of living in 14th century rural France.  Arm in arm with Héloïse, I wrapped myself in a warm cloak, and travelled alongside her as she tended to the travail of the peasant women of Lucie-sur-Vionne. The tension is palpable; the shadowy atmosphere is filled with gloom and is all too sadly complicated by uneducated prejudices and widespread hysteria. Inevitably, Héloïse finds out to her cost, that with knowledge comes responsibility, and as the superstition of local folk is allowed to fester and gain momentum, perilous forces take flight, and even as she is drawn into the fight for survival, always at the heart of the novel, is Héloïse’s absolute conviction that she is following her destiny as the keeper of the Bone Angel talisman.

What I like about this author’s writing style is the way in which she allows both characterisation and plot to have equal importance, with neither one attempting to outshine the other. The medieval setting comes gloriously alive, with all the sights,sounds and smells of the medieval world, and yes, also the petty indifferences, which are so reminiscent of this dangerous time. However, Blood Rose Angel is also inhabited by vibrant and memorable characters who take command of their story and as they leap fully formed onto the page, we are allowed a tantalising glimpse into the intricacies and sadness of their daily lives.

Having travelled the Bone Angel Talisman journey from its inception with Spirit of Lost Angels and Wolfsangel, there is no doubt that Blood Rose Angel is a fitting conclusion to the trilogy.  I was enthralled in the story from start to finish, and by the end, was completely immersed in medieval French culture, and it must be said, rather sorry to say goodbye to Heloise. However, as with all good stories which have been well told, I know that her story will always quietly linger in the shadows of my imagination.

Whilst Blood Rose Angel concludes the story, as with Spirit of Lost Angels and Wolfsangel, all the novels can be read comfortably as standalone historical fiction.

Best read with.... wooden cups of yeasty ale and rich, currant pastries liberally soaked in wine ....

  

About the Author



Visit Liza Perrat on her website
Follow on Twitter @LizaPerrat


Amazon UK

Triskele Books

Read an extract from Blood Rose Angel 

You can sign up for her email newsletter where you can find a fabulous free copy of

Ill fated Rose a short story that inspired The Bone Angel series,

My thanks to the author for sharing her book with me.

~***~

My guest author today is ....Liza Perrat ....( and giveaway)

I am delighted to welcome back to Jaffareadstoo

Liza Perrat

Liza grew up in Wollongong, Australia, where she worked as a general nurse and midwife for fifteen years.

When she met her French husband on a Bangkok bus, she moved to France, where she has been living with her husband and three children for twenty years. She works part-time as a French-English medical translator, and as a novelist.

Since completing a creative writing course twelve years ago, several of her short stories have won awards, notably the Writers Bureau annual competition of 2004 and her stories have been published widely in anthologies and small press magazines. Her articles on French culture and tradition have been published in international magazines such as France Magazine, France Today and The Good Life France.

Spirit of Lost Angels is the first in her French historical trilogy, The Bone Angel Series. The second – Wolfsangel – was published in October, 2013, and the third, Blood Rose Angel, will be published in November, 2015.

She is a founding member of the author collective, Triskele Books and reviews books for BookMuse.

***

I am really thrilled that to get us in the mood for her new novel, Liza is very kindly sharing a tantalizing extract from  Blood Rose Angel.

Blood Rose Angel

November 2015

The outlaw looked on the birth scene with obvious surprise. A scowl darkened his grimy, sweat-slick face. ‘Christ drowning in merde. What the …?’ He stepped inside, a stench of smoked fish and old ale filling the room, the horsewhip he brandished in one shovel-like hand making unearthly cracks. 

Despite the fearsome display, and the sword in his scabbard, a reckless courage flared inside me. 

‘Get out,’ I ordered, jabbing a finger at the door. ‘Can’t you see this is a birthing room … a sacred place for women only?’ 

The outlaw glowered down at me. ‘Bit bold for a woman, aren’t you? Who might you be?’

‘I’m the midwife, and I order you out of this cot now!’ A drop of sweat rolled down my nose.

The room remained silent, save the outlaw’s bellows-like panting, and the ragged breaths of the women and Nica’s boys. The man’s gaze flickered sideways, locked on the newborn. He stepped towards Alix and her baby. ‘What’s wrong with its head?’ 

‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘He’s a perfect child.’

‘Yes, perfect,’ Poppa affirmed.

‘Looks like the head of the Devil itself.’ The outlaw laid his whip over the baby’s brow, stroking the tender skin with the tip, as if caressing a kitten. ‘Such a monstrous thing don’t deserve to live.’ His scarred face puckered into a grin that could have melted stone. 

The new mother shrank away, whimpering and clutching her son to her breast. 

‘Don’t hurt that newborn,’ I said, ‘or God will see you straight to Hell.’

The outlaw turned his crooked stare on me. In a movement more deft than a slaughterer’s knife, he wrenched the babe from Alix’s grasp. Jerking the newborn free of his swaddling, he held the bawling child upside down by the ankles. 

As the infant screamed, writhing like a trout snagged fresh from the Vionne, the outlaw eyed the cot wall beside him. My insides seized with sudden terror.

Oh Lord no! Blessed Virgin save him. 

‘Stop,’ I said. ‘Give me that child.’ I began rocking my angel pendant back and forth before the brigand, stepping towards him until I was level with the black hairs unfurling from his tunic. His eyes widened, fixed on the talisman’s glowing blue and green ones.

I knew the newborn’s life––probably all our lives––depended on not showing him fear. As a woman who’d lived without a man at her hearth for almost two years, I’d learned that terror only fuelled such lawless beasts.

With the soft, low voice I’d used to sing my daughter to sleep, I said, ‘If you don’t hand me the baby, and leave this cottage right now, a pack of wolves will pounce on you as you sit around the fire with your friends, boasting the spoils of Lucie. They’ll rip out your black heart and feed it to the Devil.’

Still gripping the bawling child, the outlaw’s eyes didn’t flicker from the swinging pendant. 

‘Give me the child,’ I went on, in my lullaby voice. ‘Pass him to me now.’ The pendant swung back and forth, back and forth.

Blood Rose Angel is published 14 November 2015

Paperback

Amazon Ebook

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Barnes & Noble

Blood Rose Angel has been longlisted in the MsLexia Novel Competition, 2015

You can find more about Liza on her website 

Follow her on Twitter @LizaPerrat

You can sign up for her email newsletter where you can find a fabulous free copy of  

Ill fated Rose  a short story that inspired The Bone Angel series, 

***

Thanks to Liza's generosity 

Here is an amazing giveaway opportunity for up to 3 lucky winners. 

Open internationally

 1 Paperback copy of Blood Rose Angel and 2 e-copies available.

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Huge thanks to Liza for giving so generously of her time and for providing this fabulous giveaway.


Don't forget to use the Rafflecopter widget for your entries to the giveaway and DO leave a comment on the blog indicating e-copy or paperback



Thank you




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Liza Perrat's Itty Bitty Christmas...

Wishing you a Merry Christmas

from

Liza Perrat

What’s your earliest Christmas Memory?

Christmas morning of 1974, when we awoke to learn that the city of Darwin had been destroyed by cyclone Tracy overnight. Years later, I wrote a short story about it– Santa Never Made It-­ in my Australian short story collection...
  Friends, Family and Other Strangers From Downunder:

Do you have any special Christmas Traditions?

When I was a child we always had Chinese takeway with our neighbours every Christmas Eve. Commonplace nowadays, it was a bit of a treat in the 70s. Nothing special these days besides a beach BBQ, as I’m often home in Australia for Christmas.

What’s your favourite festive carol or song?

None, they all make me feel nostalgic and melancholy (no idea why).

 Do you have a favourite festive film?

That would have to be A Charlie Brown Christmas

What’s your favourite festive read ?

Gone with the Wind (not really festive, I know, but….)

Are you organised or do you leave everything until the last minute ?

Try to buy presents online, or before December and avoid the shops at all costs after that. Food is last-minute though.

Christmas Tree – real or artificial?

Real, from the nursery in our village (when I’m in France), then I curse about having to sweep up pine needles every day.

Tinsel or Glitter?

Tinsel

Gingerbread Latte or Orange spiced Hot Chocolate?

Orange-spiced Hot Chocolate. In fact, anything that contains chocolate.

Mince Pie or Yule Log?

Yule log

Christmas Dinner – Traditional Turkey or something Different?

Never a turkey as nobody in the family likes it. Usually a seafood platter, or a capon, or boeuf en croûte with truffle sauce …mmnn

Christmas Tipple – Bucks Fizz/Mulled Wine or something stronger?

Grandmother’s-special-secret-ingredients-Polish-vodka/lemony-very-acoholic-thing

A fun game of after dinner charades or more chocolates and the television?

TV in bed and more chocolates… and a good book.

Amazon UK
Amazon.com



My review of Spirit of Lost Angels is here
My review of Wolfsangel is here

Liza is offering a very generous giveaway of her books in this international giveaway.

Paperback copies available to UK only
Ecopies are open internationally

Winners will be notified early in the New Year


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Huge thanks to Liza for her generous giveaway and for sharing her Christmas with us

Jaffa and I wish you a very Merry Christmas

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