📖 Publication Day Review ~ Eighteen Seconds by Louise Beech

Mardle Books
27 April 2023

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

My mother once said to me, ‘I wish you could feel the way I do for eighteen seconds. Just eighteen seconds, so you’d know how awful it is.’

I thought about it. Realised we could all learn from being in another person’s head for eighteen seconds. Eighteen seconds inside Grandma Roberts’ head as she sat alone with her evening cup of tea, us girls upstairs in bed. Eighteen seconds inside one-year-old Colin’s head when he woke up in a foster home without his family. Eighteen seconds inside the head of a girl waiting for her bedroom door to open.

Writer, Louise Beech, looks back on the events that led to the day her mother wrote down her last words, then jumped off the Humber Bridge. She missed witnessing the horror herself by minutes.

Louise recounts the pain and trauma of her childhood alongside her love for her siblings with a delicious dark humour and a profound voice of hope for the future.

📖 My Review

We never know what is going on inside someone's head, we may think we do but its impossible to truly know another person's thought processes. However, in Eighteen Seconds, writer, Louise Beech, lays bare her thoughts and feelings as she shares this very personal account of her life, from her upbringing by a narcissistic, and negligent, mother, to the time when, in 2019, her mother jumped off the Humber Bridge, in a tragedy, which has had long lasting repercussions.

Eighteen Seconds is not an easy book to read and there were times when I had to stop and take a breather but there was never a second when I wasn't emotionally involved especially when the saddest moments of the author's life were shared in heartbreaking detail. Any personal memoir can sometimes feel intrusive and uncomfortable but Eighteen Seconds is none of these things. With skilful writing, which this author does so well, we are given a unique glimpse into her life, and that of her siblings, which is, at times, raw, brave and brutally honest, however, there is also tremendous energy, and the family's wry sense of humour and the obvious love between the siblings, brings some light relief. Tremendous credit must therefore go to the author for bringing the minutiae of her life into sharp focus and for allowing us a privileged glimpse into her family's painful past.

Over the last few years Louise Beech has written some of my absolute favourite novels, her writing is beautifully empathic and her ability to bring her characters to life is remarkable. It is humbling to now know that during some of her darkest days she was writing the novels which have come to mean so much to so many people.

About the Author

Louise's debut novel, How to be Brave, was a Guardian Readers' pick in 2015 and a top ten bestseller on Amazon. The Mountain in my Shoe longlisted for the Guardian's Not The Booker Prize 2016. The Sunday Mirror called Maria in the Moon 'quirky, darkly comic, original and heartfelt'. It was also a Must Read in the Sunday Express and a Book of the Year at LoveReadingUK. The Lion Tamer Who Lost was described as 'engrossing and captivating' by the Daily Express. It also shortlisted for the RNA's Romantic Novel of the Year and longlisted for the Polari Prize 2019. Call Me Star Girl hit number one on Kobo. It also longlisted for the Not The Booker Prize and won the Best magazine Big Book Award 2019. I Am Dust was a Top Six pick in Crime Monthly and a LoveReadingUK Monthly Pick. This Is How We Are Human was a Clare Mackintosh August Book of the Month 2021. Memoir Daffodils came out in audiobook 2022, as well as novel, Nothing Else. Memoir will come out in paperback as Eighteen Seconds 27th April 2023.

Twitter Twitter @louisewriter #EighteenSeconds

Website

@MardleBooks

📖 Blog Tour ~ Nothing Else by Louise Beech

 

Orenda
23 June 2022

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

Heather Harris is a piano teacher and professional musician, whose quiet life revolves around music, whose memories centre on a single song that haunts her. A song she longs to perform again. A song she wrote as a child, to drown out the violence in their home. A song she played with her little sister, Harriet. But Harriet is gone ... she disappeared when their parents died, and Heather never saw her again. When Heather is offered an opportunity to play piano on a cruise ship, she leaps at the chance. She’ll read her recently released childhood care records by day – searching for clues to her sister’s disappearance – and play piano by night ... coming to terms with the truth about a past she’s done everything to forget.

📖 My Review...

There a few authors whose work I will read without even looking at the blurb and who I have in my literary armoury of 'books I know I will love'. Louise Beech is one of those authors who takes you by the hand and doesn't let go until the story is told. 

Heather Harris takes a job on board the cruise ship Queen of the Seas where she is booked as the resident pianist for the duration of the voyage. Immersing herself in music has always been of great comfort to Heather especially as her childhood was filled with trauma so deep it has left a lasting scar. Now in her late forties, and at something of a crossroads in her life, Heather needs to face the demons of her troubled past, but as painful memories of Harriet, the little sister she once shared piano lessons with starts to emerge so Heather must begin to peel back the layers of hurt which she has carried within her for so long.

The power of music in all its different genres is very evident and there is a definite soundtrack running throughout the narrative, which is helped enormously by listening to the Spotify soundtrack mentioned at the start of the novel but even without this it is very easy to become immersed in the way Heather uses her connection to music in order to tell us a powerful story. Childhood trauma is never an easy subject and all credit to this talented writer for giving us Heather and Harriet's story in such a sensitive but very powerful way.

Nothing Else is one of those wonderful stories which just absolutely fits the moment. Beautifully written, and sensitively described, I was carried along on every step of Heather's journey, from the quiet times on board the Queen of the Seas when she is lost in her music, to the utter joy when life finally gives her, and the one person she loves most in the world, something to celebrate.

🍷Best Read with...a glass of chilled wine and the Nothing Else playlist gently playing 

I'm delighted to have Nothing Else as my Featured Book of the Month in July

About the Author

All six of Louise Beech’s books have been digital bestsellers. Her novels have been a Guardian Readers’ Choice, shortlisted for Not the Booker Prize, and shortlisted for the RNA Most Popular Romantic Novel Award. Her short fiction has won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition, as well as shortlisting for the Bridport Prize twice. Louise lives with her husband on the outskirts of Hull.

Twitter @louisewriter #NothingElse

@OrendaBooks #BlogTour #JubiliantJune

@RandomTTours

📖 Blog Tour ~ This is How We Are Human by Louise Beech

 

Delighted to host one of today's stops on this blog tour

Orenda Books
10 June 2021

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

Sebastian James Murphy is twenty years, six months and two days old. He loves swimming, fried eggs and Billy Ocean. Sebastian is autistic. And lonely. Veronica wants her son Sebastian to be happy, and she wants the world to accept him for who he is. She is also thinking about paying a professional to give him what he desperately wants. Violetta is a high-class escort, who steps out into the night thinking only of money. Of her nursing degree. Paying for her dad’s care. Getting through the dark. When these three lives collide, and intertwine in unexpected ways, everything changes. For everyone.

“Though This is How We Are Human is fiction, the premise was inspired by my friends, 20-year-old Sean, who is autistic, and his mum Fiona. Fiona had spoken to me about how much Sean longed to meet a girl and have sex. No one talks about this, she said - the difficulties navigating romance often faced by those on the spectrum. It ’s an issue that I wanted to explore. Fiona and Sean encouraged me and guided me through the book; Sean regularly consulted on dialogue, rightly insisting that his voice was heard, was strong, and was accurate. I cannot thank my extraordinary friends enough for their help and support.”

 Louise Beech

📖 My Thoughts..

I’ve now read every book that Louise Beech has written and each time I finish I am lost for the words which will do justice to the emotion she brings to every single story, and This is How We Are Human is no exception. I read it during a time when I was so sad that the slightest thing sent me plunging down an emotional rabbit hole, and I’m afraid that I mainly read Veronica, Sebastian and Violetta’s story with ugly tears streaming down my face, and yet, it’s not so much a sad story, it’s more of a life affirming, hopeful story and whilst there are moments which brought me to tears, there are definitely gloriously funny bits which made me laugh out loud, and wise and profound sayings which had me nodding my head in sage acknowledgement.

My heart reached out to Veronica, who only wanted what would make her autistic son happy and if that meant hiring a high class escort to teach Sebastian the delights of a sexual experience he so desperately craved, well, who are we to judge if this was morally right or wrong. Sebastian is both gloriously uncomplicated and incredibly complex but seeing the world from his perspective gave me much food for thought about some important issues I hadn't ever considered. Violetta is living a double life, her work as an escort is merely a way to pay for something which means the world to her and putting up with demanding clients is just a means to an end but when offered a chance to earn enough money for what she needs and to do so in a much safer environment is a chance worth taking. 

Blending the stories of these three very different characters together is a triumph as not only do they take us right into the maelstrom of an emotional whirlpool but their combined experiences chases away those prejudices and misconceptions which are incredibly damaging if left unacknowledged.

I really do think that Louise Beech is a magician, she sprinkles her stories with a kaleidoscope of colours, blending and turning so that all the complex pieces twirl and dance and then with a flick of a literary wand she delivers a story, which before your eyes, turns into something precious and beautiful and it is that very magic which turns This is How We Are Human into such a compelling and thought-provoking read.

About the Author

Louise Beech is an exceptional literary talent, whose debut novel How To Be Brave was a Guardian Readers’ Choice for 2015. The follow-up, The Mountain in My Shoe was shortlisted for Not the Booker Prize. Both of her previous books Maria in the Moon and The Lion Tamer Who Lost were widely reviewed, critically acclaimed and number-one bestsellers on Kindle. The Lion Tamer Who Lost was shortlisted for the RNA Most Popular Romantic Novel Award in 2019. Her 2019 novel Call Me Star Girl won Best magazine Book of the Year, and was followed by I Am Dust.

Twitter@louisewriter #ThisIsHowWeAreHuman #BlogTour

@OrendaBooks #JubilantJune

@RandomTTours

🌠

Blog Tour ~ Call Me Star Girl by Louise Beech

Jaffareadstoo is thrilled to be part of the blog tour for Call Me Star Girl

Orenda
18 April 2019

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of the book and to Anne at Random Things Tours
for my invitation to be part of this tour

Tonight is the night for secrets…

Pregnant Victoria Valbon was brutally murdered in an alley three weeks ago – and her killer hasn’t been caught.

Tonight is Stella McKeever’s final radio show. The theme is secrets. You tell her yours, and she’ll share some of hers.

Stella might tell you about Tom, a boyfriend who likes to play games, about the mother who abandoned her, now back after twelve years. She might tell you about the perfume bottle with the star-shaped stopper, or about her father …

What Stella really wants to know is more about the mysterious man calling the station … who says he knows who killed Victoria, and has proof.

Tonight is the night for secrets, and Stella wants to know everything…

With echoes of the chilling Play Misty for Me, Call Me Star Girl is a taut, emotive and all-consuming psychological thriller that plays on our deepest fears, providing a stark reminder that stirring up dark secrets from the past can be deadly..

My thoughts..

Stella McKeever is the presenter of a late night local radio show and like all live radio it’s often the people who phone in who make the show special. Tonight, on Stella’s final radio show, she makes an appeal to her listeners to share their deepest, darkest secrets with her, because, as we discover, there’s no one better at keeping secrets than Stella.

Call Me Star Girl grabbed my attention from the very beginning and even though each of her books have, so far, been quite different, what shines through is the author’s unique, and very special talent for skilled storytelling. Beautifully observed, Call Me Star Girl is this author's first venture into the psychological crime genre, and boy, oh boy, has she got the genre absolutely sussed!

The story, which flits between the present and the past, is decidedly edgy, it’s also deliciously dark and ever so creepy that even though I read the book in bright sunlight, I still found that I jumped at sudden noises, and became so reluctant to put the story down for even a minute that I only left my comfy chair in the garden to get up for refreshments to stop myself dehydrating!

Call Me Star Girl is one of those special stories which hooks you in from the opening chapter and as the story progresses and we start to learn more about Stella's traumatic past, her tense relationship with her boyfriend, Tom and her tortured love for her mother, a picture is revealed of a life which has been made all the more complicated by so much unfinished business. And even when the story ends, the strength of the characters remain with you, as close as friends, and as deep as enemies.

What I enjoy most about this author’s exceptional writing is her ability to absolutely reach out to her target audience. Her stories always feel totally relevant, genuinely reflecting real life, with all its faults and failings, giving us memorable characters who are often at their most vulnerable. 

There is no doubt that Louise Beech is an extremely talented writer, a magical weaver of tales, whose genuine love for story telling shines through with every well written word. And regardless of whatever genre she chooses to work in, I truly can’t wait to see what she comes up with next...

About the Author

Louise Beech is an exceptional literary talent, whose debut novel How To Be Brave was a Guardian Readers’ Choice for 2015. The follow-up, The Mountain in My Shoe was shortlisted for Not the Booker Prize. Both of her previous books Maria in the Moon and The Lion Tamer Who Lost were widely reviewed, critically acclaimed and number-one bestsellers on Kindle. The Lion Tamer Who Lost was shortlisted for the RNA Most Popular Romantic Novel Award in 2019. Her short fiction has won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition, as well as shortlisting for the Bridport Prize twice. Louise lives with her husband on the outskirts of Hull, and loves her job as a Front of House Usher at Hull Truck Theatre, where her first play was performed in 2012.

Website

Twitter @LouiseWriter @CallMeStarGirl

@OrendaBooks

#RandomThingsTours

Blog Tour ~ Maria in the Moon by Louise Beech

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to host one of today's stops on the 

Maria in the Moon Blog Tour

‘Long ago my beloved Nanny Eve chose my name. Then one day she stopped calling me it. I try now to remember why, but I just can’t.’

Orenda Books
30 September 2017

Thirty-two-year-old Catherine Hope has a great memory. But she can’t remember everything. She can’t remember her ninth year. She can’t remember when her insomnia started. And she can’t remember why everyone stopped calling her Catherine-Maria.

With a promiscuous past, and licking her wounds after a painful breakup, Catherine wonders why she resists anything approaching real love. But when she loses her home to the devastating deluge of 2007 and volunteers at Flood Crisis, a devastating memory emerges … and changes everything.

Dark, poignant and deeply moving, Maria in the Moon is an examination of the nature of memory and truth, and the defences we build to protect ourselves, when we can no longer hide…

My thoughts about it...

Catherine Hope is a good listener and working as she does on the Flood helpline means that using her own experiences as a flood victim helps her to understand the dilemmas faced by others in the same situation. However, the phone lines also bring other problems and Catherine finds that dealing with other people's angst is allowing her own long buried memories to surface.

What then follows is a poignant story about the power of memory and of the protective nature of self-preservation. That Catherine is a troubled soul is apparent early on; she is flawed and vulnerable and as jagged as a piece of broken glass, never allowing anyone to get close enough to really know what makes her tick. Even her best friend, Fern can't figure her out, and don't get me started on Catherine's relationship with her mother!

The novel gives us a unique insight into Catherine's life. That something horrendous happened to her in her early childhood is hinted at and, as each fragile layer is carefully removed, we get the chance to see what damage has been done and just how carefully the tracks have been covered.

Wonderfully observant, Maria in the Moon is a really perceptive story by an author who knows how to offer the very best to her readers. There is never a moment when the story doesn't flow brilliantly, making you laugh out loud in places and weep buckets the next. It's sharp and sassy, sad and sorrowful, and contains more anguish than any one person should be expected to deal with, but throughout it all, Catherine’s unique personality shines through with every lovingly created word.

More about the author can be found on her website by clicking here 

Louise Beech is an exceptional literary talent, whose debut novel How To Be Brave was a Guardian Readers’ Choice for 2015. The sequel, The Mountain in My Shoe was shortlisted for Not the Booker Prize. Both books have been number one on Kindle, Audible and Kobo in USA/UK/AU. She regularly writes travel pieces for the Hull Daily Mail, where she was a columnist for ten years.

Her short fiction has won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award forProse, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition, as well as shortlisting for the Bridport Prize twice and being published in a variety of UK magazines.

Louise lives with her husband and children on the outskirts of Hull – the UK’s2017 City of Culture – and loves her job as a Front of House Usher at Hull Truck Theatre, where her first play was performed in 2012. She is also part of the Mums’ Army on Lizzie and Carl’s BBC Radio Humberside Breakfast show.

My thanks to Karen and Anne at Orenda Books for my review copy of Maria in the Moon and for their invitation to be part of this author's blog tour.

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