🎧 Audio Book Review ~ Guard Her With Your Life by Joy Ellis ( Narrated by Tom Bateman)

 

6 April 2023

My thanks to Audible and Midas for this audio book

Audible, a world-wide leader in spoken-word entertainment, has launched this gripping thriller from Joy Ellis, author of the hit Jackman and Evans series from Joffe Books. Audible acquired World English audio rights from Lorella Belli at the Lorella Belli Literary Agency. This new story is narrated by Tom Bateman, best known for the series Da Vinci’s Demons and the film Murder on the Orient Express.

Guard Her with Your Life is a new standalone thriller which tells the story of Detective Sam Helsdown. Sam hasn’t seen his daughter Zoe in two years and he’s excited and more than a little nervous to be at the airport picking her up for a visit. She’s 10 years old and has flown on her own for the first time.

Flight BA631 from Athens has already landed and soon a trickle of people begins entering Arrivals. Among them is a little girl who runs towards him, head down, and throws herself into his arms saying ‘Daddy!’.

The only problem is – it’s not his daughter.

Shortly afterwards Sam receives a phone call from his ex, Julia. ‘Help will come. Until then, guard her with your life.’

Soon unknown enemies are closing in and Sam must risk everything to keep this girl safe – and to discover her true identity.

Joy Ellis, author of Guard Her with Your Life said: “I’m so excited that Guard Her With Your Life is narrated by the star Tom Bateman. I have received such support for Jackman and Evans, I hope everyone is gripped by Detective Sam Helsdown just as much as I was writing his adventure.”

Tom Bateman said: “Narrating a thriller like Guard Her with Your Life was such a great experience, taking the listener on a journey full of twists and turns until the big reveal. I’m so pleased to be working with Joy Ellis and Audible on bringing this captivating story to life. I was hooked from the beginning and I’m sure listeners will be too.”

📖 🎧 My Review..

Detective Sam Helsdown is excited, and also apprehensive, about meeting his ten year old daughter, Zoe at the airport as he hasn't, thanks to the acrimonious relationship he has with his ex-wife, seen Zoe for two years.  When the little girl arrives unaccompanied Sam is shocked when she greets him as "daddy" because the girl in front of him isn't Zoe. What then follows is an interesting stand-alone thriller which sees Sam tested to the limit but at the same time never forgetting that at the centre of the story is a child who Sam has been told to guard with his life.

Overall I enjoyed listening to this audio novella, it's quite a quick listen, at just over three hours, so the plot moves along quickly however, whilst Tom Bateman is an interesting narrator, for me, his voice did come across as quite bland and I found my attention wandering a bit. This is the first book I have read by this author and I would be interested in reading more of her work, particularly her Fenland series which I have heard are rather good.

About the Author

Joy Ellis is a crime author from Lincolnshire who, once a florist, joined Joffe Books in 2016. She has written three series, totalling 30 books, all of which are available on Audible. Joy Ellis has sold over 3.6 million copies of her books in English across all formats and her books have been translated into 14 languages.

The Jackman and Evans series is currently being developed for television, starring Richard Armitage as DI Rowan Jackman.

About Audible

Audible, an Amazon company, is a leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling, offering customers a new way to enhance and enrich their lives every day. Audible.co.uk content includes more than 700,000 audiobooks, podcasts, and Audible Originals. Audible has millions of members around the world who subscribe to one of 10 localised services designed for customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the US. Audible members download nearly 4 billion hours of content annually and listen across a wide range of supported devices.

Website

@audibleuk @midascampaigns

📖 Book Feature ~ You’ll Never Walk Alone by Rachel Kelly

Yellow Kite
3 November 2022

My thanks to the publishers and Midas for the opportunity 
to feature this book on the blog

You'll Never Walk Alone is a collection of the kind of inspirational texts - mainly poems - that can accompany us, whatever we are feeling, from sorrow to delight. The texts are not just about words which can console us or comfort us - though they often do this too. Rather these are poems that allow us to enjoy a full range of emotions. The poems are organised according to the season in which they 'belong': we all have seasons of our minds, be they wintery and dark, or more spring-like and hopeful. Comprising 52 poems, with analysis by Rachel, You'll Never Walk Alone introduces a poem for each week of the year plus tips on bringing poetry into your life.

This book will show you how to bring poetry into your everyday emotional reality, where it can be a new tool for well being. And one that means you'll never walk alone.

The texts are introduced by Sunday Times bestselling author Rachel Kelly, who cites the therapeutic power of poetry as one of the key factors in her own recovery from depression, as she shows how poetry can be a tool for well being – one that means you'll never walk alone.With this book by your side, you will feel comforted when times are tough and cheered when they are joyful.

Having spoken all over the world from Delhi to Sydney, America and across the UK, former Times journalist Rachel runs Healing Words poetry workshops for mental health charities, at festivals and in prisons, and has been a judge for the Koestler Poetry Prize and the Rethink Mental Illness Poetry Awards, as well as being an official ambassador for Rethink Mental Illness, SANE, The Counselling Foundation and Head Talks. 

We all need a bit of help sometimes with our mental health and in those quiet moments when we sit and reflect on what’s going on in our lives it’s often very comforting to have a gentle books of words which helps to focus our minds.

You’ll Never Walk Alone is the perfect antidote for #BlueMonday. It’s available in hardback and ebook from wherever you buy your books.

Twitter @RachelKellyNet 

 #BlueMonday

@yellowkitebooks

@midascampaigns

📖 Blog Tour ~ A Banker's Journey by Daniel Gross

 

Radius Book Group
13 October 2022

My thanks to Midas pr for my copy of this book
and the invitation to the blog tour

Who was Edmond J. Safra? “The greatest banker of his generation,” in the estimation of a former World Bank President. The founder of four massive financial institutions on three continents, and a proud child of Beirut’s Jewish quarter. An innovative avatar of financial globalization, and a faithful heir to a tradition of old-world banking. The leading champion and protector of the Sephardic diaspora.

In A Banker’s Journey, financial journalist and historian Daniel Gross, who, like Safra, traces his heritage to Aleppo, Syria, reconstructs the public life of an intensely private man. With exclusive access to Safra’s personal archives, Gross tracks the banker’s remarkable journey from Beirut to Milan, São Paulo, Geneva, and New York—to the pinnacle of global finance.

Edmond Safra was fifteen in 1947, when his father sent him to establish a presence in Milan, Italy. Fluent in six languages, and with an eye for value, managing risk, and personal potential, Safra was in perpetual motion until his tragic death in 1999. The modern, global financial empire he built was based on timeless principles: a banker must protect his depositors and avoid excessive leverage and risk. In an age of busts and bailouts, Safra posted remarkable returns while rarely suffering a credit loss.

From a young age, Safra assumed the mantle of leadership in the Syrian-Lebanese Jewish community, providing personal aid, supporting the communities that formed in exile, and championing Sephardic religious and educational efforts in Israel and around the world.

Edmond J. Safra’s life of achievement in the twentieth century offers enduring lessons for those seeking to make their way in the twenty-first century. He inspired generations to make the world a better place.

📖 My Review

I know nothing about the world of high finance, or banking, and I have to admit that, before picking up this biography, I hadn't heard of Edmond J. Safra but always keen to learn something new and read something out of my comfort zone, I settled down to learn more about how Edmond J. Safra built a global financial empire. Born in 1932, in Beirut, Safra's career spanned much of the tumultuous years of the twentieth century and is a fascinating account of survival, philanthropy and determination to succeed.

Comprehensively written, and with a fascinating selection of photographs, both personal and professional, we gradually get an idea of what maketh the man. It is obvious that the author has done extensive research into how Safra made a hugely successful global empire and used it for philanthropic good, helping those who were unable to help themselves. In using Safra's personal archives the author has been able to bring into focus the important achievements of this quite private individual who spent much of his time helping, and becoming, the leading champion, and protector, of the Sephardic diaspora.

As with all well written biographies there is much to consider and the author has been quite thorough in his descriptions of the business empire Safra created whilst at the same time revealing the personality of the man. A Banker’s Journey is an interesting account of Safra’s life and times especially as we trace his journey from Beirut, Milan, São Paulo, Geneva, and New York and beyond to the height of his success as, perhaps, the 'greatest banker of his generation'.

About the Author

Daniel Gross is one of the most widely read writers on finance, economics and business history. Over the past three decades, he has reported from more than thirty countries, covering everything from the dotcom boom to the global financial crisis and the great recession of 2008-2009.Gross worked as a reporter at the New Republic and Bloomberg News, wrote the 'Economic View' column in The New York Times, and served as Slate's 'Moneybox' columnist. At Newsweek where he was a columnist and correspondent he anchored seven cover stories. He is the best selling author of eight books.

Gross was educated at Cornell University and holds an MA in American History from Harvard University. His great- grandparents emigrated to the United States from Aleppo and Damascus.

Twitter @grossdm #ABankersJourney

@MidasPr

Website

📖 Blog Tour ~ Salt Crystals by Cristina Bendek ( Translated by Robin Myers )

 

Charco Press
27 September 2022

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book
and to Midas pr for the invitation to the blog tour

“The mosquitos haven’t recognised me yet, or the sun; I’ve become more foreign than native…my home is a tiny island in an enormous archipelago that isn’t even shown properly on maps of Columbia. Life here is a continual conversation between lethargy and longing…It’s the contrast I find amazing – the fact that there are so many islands in one.”

Rising gently from the crystal waters of the Caribbean Sea is San Andrés, an island whose ownership and history is fractured by geography, colonisation and burgeoning tourism. The novel centres on Victoria, whose own origins with San Andrés span generations and map these fragments, but her identity is contested by her accent, skin colour and years spent far away, living in Mexico City.

Now returning to the island she once called home on the wake of a broken relationship, Victoria is forced to reconcile the island she once knew with the one she now faces. Haunted by the memory of her parents and the ancestors that came before them, the island converges and crystalises around Victoria and she must piece together her own sense of belonging, understanding of herself and the possibility of a real future for herself and San Andrés.

Winner of Elisa Mujica Prize for Novels (Columbia, 2018) and now translated into English for the first time by ground-breaking publisher, Charco Press, and skilful translator Robin Myers, SALT CRYSTALS is a novel that “captures the essence of a spirit rarely explored in Colombian literature” (El Pais, list of the best 20 novels published in Colombia in 2019).

📖 My Review..

After many years of living in Mexico, Victoria returns to the island of San Andrés, in the Caribbean Sea, where she becomes reacquainted with the sights, sounds and scents of the island and shares with us her experiences and the painful memories which are evoked by her return to the place she once called home.

Salt Crystals is a story about searching for identity and as we become more involved with Victoria’s quest to discover more about her own family background so we learn about the history of the island and the political difficulties it is experiencing in the present. That the author was also born on San Andrés adds a special authenticity to this debut story and her connection to the place and its people is very evident.

Beautifully written and deeply descriptive, Salt Crystals is an interesting observation about life on this tiny island "Engrossed in the rhythm, I think, we're like the salt that makes the seas, simmering in the heat of a History as acidic as wound-healing vinegar. My abstractions evaporate. In this enormous womb, I know we're like salt crystals, refractory, luminous, mirrors for each other.."

In 2018 Salt Crystals won the Elisa Mújica National Novel Prize (Columbia). Beautifully translated by Robin Myers this is the first time the book appears as an English translation.

📖 Best read with ...fried breadfruit 

About the Author

Cristina Bendek is a Caribbean author. She was born on the island of San Andrés (Colombia) in October 1987. In 2018 her first novel, Salt Crystals, won the Elisa Mújica National Novel Prize (Colombia). The novel has been translated into Portuguese (Moinhos, 2021), and Danish (Aurora Boreal, 2020), and now appears in English translation for the first time with Charco Press, which will also launch the novel in Spanish for the North American readership. Some of her work has also been translated into German. Cristina is also a journalist but spends her time researching Caribbean literature and writing fiction. She lives in Berlin.

About the Translator

Robin Myers is a New York-born, Mexico City-based poet and translator. Her translations have appeared or are forthcoming from the Kenyon Review, the Harvard Review, Two Lines, The Offing, Waxwing, Beloit Poetry Journal, Asymptote, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Tupelo Quarterly, and Inventory. In 2009, she was named a fellow of the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA); in 2014, she was awarded a residency at the Banff Literary Translation Centre (BILTC); and in 2017, and she was selected to participate in the feminist translation colloquium A-Fest. Recent book-length translations include Lyric Poetry Is Dead by Ezequiel Zaidenwerg (Cardboard House Press), Animals at the End of the World by Gloria Susana Esquivel (University of Texas Press), and Cars on Fire by Mónica Ramón Ríos (Open Letter Books).

About the Publisher

Charco Press is an award-winning independent publisher of top-quality contemporary Latin American literature in translation.

Shining a light on the rich array of fiction currently coming out of Latin America, Charco Press brings the region’s most exciting contemporary writers to new readers in the English-speaking world, publishing books that are entertaining, engaging and thought provoking. Charco Press meticulously seeks out the perfect translators to bring their authors’ work to life for English readers, often championing new and emerging translators, as well as established names.

Launched in 2017, Edinburgh-based Charco Press has already achieved international recognition, with one book longlisted and two shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, and the publishing house being named Scotland Small Press of the Year 2019 and 2021 at the Nibbies. Marking its fifth birthday in 2022, Charco Press has recently launched an English-first series, ‘Untranslated’, embracing texts by English-speaking authors linked to Latin American culture, as well as its first Spanish-language OriginalES edition

Twitter @cristinabendek #SaltCrystals

@charcopress 

@midapr

📖 Blog Tour ~ Homesick by Jennifer Croft

 

Charco Press
23 August 2022

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book
and to Midas pr for the invitation to the blog tour

The coming of age story of an award-winning translator, Homesick is about learning to love language in its many forms, healing through words and the promises and perils of empathy and sisterhood.

Sisters Amy and Zoe grow up in Oklahoma where they are home schooled for an unexpected reason: Zoe suffers from debilitating and mysterious seizures, spending her childhood in hospitals as she undergoes surgeries. Meanwhile, Amy flourishes intellectually, showing an innate ability to glean a world beyond the troubles in her home life, exploring that world through languages first. Amy's first love appears in the form of her Russian tutor Sasha, but when she enters university at the age of 15 her life changes drastically and with tragic results.

📖 My Review..

Homesick is an unusual book, quietly introspective and cleverly arranged in short, thought provoking chapters, some little more than vignettes, which allow the story of sisters, Amy and Zoe to evolve at entirely its own pace. Powerfully evoking the special relationship between sisters author Jennifer Croft uses this memoir to explore the connection she had with her sister, the consequences of this relationship resonates throughout the book.

Reading like fiction but with its heart very much placed in memories, this coming of age memoir is beautifully and succinctly written and by keeping the dialogue in the third person it allows the author to remove herself emotionally whilst at the same time recounting her difficult growing up in Oklahoma with academic parents and the effect that her sister's diagnosis of a benign brain tumour had on all their lives going forward.

Homesick is easily read over the space of an afternoon but that doesn't mean it is light on content, far from it, as I found much to peruse and ponder over in the course of the book and all credit to the author for presenting this memoir in such a contemplative and rather different sort of way.

About the Author

Jennifer Croft won a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship for her novel Amadou, the 2020 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing for her illustrated memoir Homesick and the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for her translation from Polish of Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights. She is also the author of Serpientes y escaleras and Notes on Postcards, as well as the translator of Federico Falco’s A Perfect Cemetery, Romina Paula’s August, Pedro Mairal’s The Woman from Uruguay, Olga Tokarczuk’s The Books of Jacob, Sylvia Molloy’s Dislocations, and Sebastián Martínez Daniell’s Two Sherpas. She holds an MFA from the University of Iowa and a PhD from Northwestern University.

For Charco Press, she has translated Federico Falco's A Perfect Cemetery (2021), Sylvia Molloy's Dislocations (forthcoming 2022), and Sebastián Martínez Daniell’s Two Sherpas (forthcoming 2023).

Twitter @jenniferlcroft #Homesick

@charcopress @midaspr

📖 Blog Tour ~ The Last Girl to Die by Helen Fields

 

Avon
1 September 2022

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book
and also to Midas pr for the invitation to the blog tour

In search of a new life, sixteen-year-old Adriana Clark’s American family moves to the ancient, ocean-battered Isle of Mull, far off the coast of Scotland. Then she goes missing. Faced with hostile locals and indifferent police, her desperate parents turn to private investigator Sadie Levesque.

Sadie is the best at what she does. But when she finds Adriana’s body in a cliff side cave, a seaweed crown carefully arranged on her head, she knows she’s dealing with something she’s never encountered before.

The deeper she digs into the island’s secrets, the closer danger creeps – and the more urgent her quest to find the killer grows. Because what if Adriana is not the last girl to die?

I am delighted to be able to share an extract from The Last Girl To Die (p.62-64) 

An emerald mist was blowing off the sea at 5 a.m. It infiltrated the gaps in my ancient window and brought the scents of seaweed and salt. The curtains were damp as I pulled them back, and there was no chance I would fall back to sleep. Knowing that no one else in my corridor wanted to be woken at that time, I left my room and the hotel quietly, made for the hills behind the town and headed south. The drop away from the land to the sea was timeless. Beyond the town, the remoteness hit me. I saw only a handful of houses as I walked. Trees that had stood for generations lined my path and the heather underfoot added a scratchy cushioned layer to the earth. Seagulls eyed me suspiciously from the air, but it was the fishing boats and lobster pots they wanted. The island was a place removed from the world, and although Tobermory was a slice of civilisation, it hadn’t made a dent in the wildness of the scenery. The sea breathed in and out with me as I walked. Finally, back at The Last Bay Hotel, I showered, dressed, put on my best attitude and went to explore what the Mull Historical Emporium had to offer.

The once dark-green sign was weather faded to something less bold and more mossy, which was how the inside felt too. The dust was what I noticed first. Overhead lighting filtered into glass cabinets that should have sparkled, lighting up the debris of ages. Guidebooks and maps alongside history books with transparent plastic covers gave the Emporium the air of a dying library. Bric-a-brac sporting various clan motifs with fading price tags lined the walls and lay unloved on shelves. Portraits, landscapes, a few animal heads that made me queasy. A lock of hair in a pearl inlay box. Many of the displays offered minute handwritten information cards next to them. A ship’s manifest in a language I couldn’t make out. Half the items for sale, the remainder there to encourage tourists through the doors. Not quite a museum; not quite a shop. There were several areas to wander through, each tiny and featuring a different period in Mull’s history. Low oak beams, exposed inner walls and three small but beautiful open fireplaces. ‘Can I h-help?’ The stutter on the ‘h’ told me immediately who was standing behind me. He was close enough that I could feel the heat of his body against my back.

I turned my head to reply, but kept my body facing the fireplace I was admiring. ‘Hi,’ I said. ‘I was looking for a guidebook about the island.’ ‘I know who you are,’ he said. The sentence took time to get through, each word a trial. I waited for him to finish. Damp with sweat, his clothes needed more care, as did his hair and nails. ‘I love this building. How old is it?’ ‘1820,’ he said. I could smell sour fruit acid on his breath and his fingers flexed and twitched as he spoke to me. ‘What’s your name?’ ‘Sadie,’ I replied. ‘Sadie,’ he repeated back to me slowly.

‘They call you Skittles, right?’ He gave a broad grin revealing teeth that confirmed what Rachel had told me about his diet. ‘Did you ever talk to Adriana? Did she ever come in here?’ His smile melted. ‘She’s d-d-dead,’ he said, the stutter worsening as his face reddened. I watched, recognising his limited abilities as we talked. At some point a diagnosis would surely have been made, but I was no psychologist. It seemed to me that Skittles was functioning only at a basic level. He could answer direct questions, repeat facts, ring purchases up on a till, but beyond that I had doubts. ‘Do you know Mackinnon’s Cave where she was found?’ I asked. ‘It’s d-dark there at night,’ was his reply. ‘Don’t l-like it.’ ‘Really?’ I said. ‘I thought I saw you going out late last night. You got in your car and drove somewhere.’ His eyes slid from my gaze. ‘Get you a g-guidebook,’ he muttered, walking off. I followed, disliking the fact that I was leaping to conclusions, but the seeds were planted in my mind and already sprouting. ‘Do you live here too or just work here?’ I asked as he reached up to a shelf behind the counter and took down a book. ‘Live,’ he said. ‘Nine ninety-nine.’ I handed over a ten-pound note and watched as his fingers took their time punching each button on the old-fashioned till. I picked up my purchase and left to check out Adriana’s regular haunts and retrace the steps of her final day.

Tobermory
Photo by kind permission of the author

📖 My Review..

Sadie Levesque is a Canadian private investigator who has been employed by an American family living on the Isle of Mull who are desperate to find their missing teenage daughter. The disappearance of sixteen year-old Adriana Clark has left the small Scottish town of Tobermory bewildered but when Sadie discovers a body in an isolated cave, it would seem that the townsfolk start to close ranks and with a less than helpful local police force, Sadie soon finds that she is battling against prejudice, local indifference and long buried superstition.

Sadie Levesque is an interesting protagonist, she's not afraid to challenge the local police team, ruffling feathers and upsetting male egos in her quest to uncover the dark and deadly secrets of Tobermory and the reasons why young girls in the town are being targeted in such a terrifying way. As always this talented author get right into the heart of the action, weaving complex strands of the story with precision and with interesting dialogue from the island itself which gives an extra insight into its dark and mysterious past. The story moves along quickly as there is much to discover and many twists, turns and red herrings before the final sad denouement, which doesn't disappoint.

Mysterious, addictive and compulsive reading, The Last Girl to Die is an atmospheric standalone thriller which uses local myth, pagan legends and eerie superstition to bring this thrilling story to life.

📖 Best read with..a comforting glass of single malt whisky

About the Author

Photo by kind permission of the author

A former criminal and family law barrister, Helen Fields has the expertise and experience to make the characters and plots scorch with authenticity. With a background as both a prosecutor and defence counsel, Helen Fields has a depth of knowledge about crime that lends a fierceness to her writing. From Court Martials to care proceedings, the Coroner Courts to the Crown Court, Fields draws on her professional years for the extraordinary colour and texture that makes her writing jump off the page.

Twice long-listed for the McIllvanney Scottish Crime Book of the Year, and a multi-bestselling author whose books have been translated across the globe, Fields consistently produces high impact, compelling novels that readers love.

Now translated into 22 languages, and also selling in the USA, Canada & Australasia, Helen's books have won global recognition. In 2020 Helen’s novel, 'Perfect Kill' was longlisted for the Crime Writers Association Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. In 2020 Perfect Remains was shortlisted for the Bronze Bat, Dutch debut crime novel of the year. Helen also writes as HS Chandler, and has released legal thriller 'Degrees of Guilt'. Her audio book 'Perfect Crime' knocked Michelle Obama off the #1 spot.

Twitter @Helen_Fields #TheLastGirlToDie

@AvonBooksUK 

@midaspr

Photo by kind permission of the author

📖 Blog Tour ~ Tell Me Your Lies by Kate Ruby

 

Simon & Schuster
28 April 2022

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book
and to Midas PR for the invitation to the blog tour

  

Lily will do anything to protect her picture perfect family. She’s made ruthless choices to make sure their secrets stay buried, and she’s not going to give up control now.

Rachel is her middle daughter. When her partying tips into addiction, Lily hires renowned therapist and healer, Amber, as a last resort. But how much are Rachel’s problems down to the very secrets Lily is determined to keep locked away?

Amber is the skilled and intuitive confidante that Rachel desperately needs. But as Rachel falls increasingly under her spell, pulling even further away from her family, Lily grows suspicious that there is a far more dangerous reason for Amber’s arrival in all their lives.

📖 My Review..

The fractured relationships of a family are laid bare in this clever psychological thriller which brings the story from the viewpoint of three main narrators, namely Lily, Rachel and Amber.

We pick  up the story some twelve months before when Rachel is admitted to hospital following a drink and drugs binge. In desperation, Lily, Rachel's mother employs the services of Amber, a psychotherapist and healer, whose empathetic skills seem to be just what is needed to bring Rachel out of her spiral of self destruction. Over the course of the year, Rachel becomes more reliant on Amber and more estranged from her own mother and that's when the tension really starts to bite. 

Tell Me Your Lies is an interesting window into the lives of a dysfunctional family and the many reasons why they are so out of step with each other becomes apparent as this dark and sinister story progresses. Creative, intelligent, and with enough great twists and turns in the plot which kept me turning the pages, Tell Me your Lies is a great debut from an exciting new talent in this psychological suspense genre.

📖 Best Read with.. a glass, or two, of ice cold vodka

About the Author

Kate Ruby is a producer and screenwriter, with a high flying career in television. Tell Me Your Lies, a psychological thriller, is her debut novel and is currently in development with a major TV show. As an executive producer for drama, she spent a decade at the BBC, working on shows including Spooks and Being Human. Currently head of Television for a global production company she has worked on major Netflix shows including Watership Down, Traitors and The English Game. She has recently worked on the BBC/HBO adaption of JP Delaney's bestselling thriller The Girl Before staring Gugu Mbatha Raw and David Oyelowo.

Twitter @katerubybooks #TellMeYourLies

 @simonschusteruk

@midaspr

London Book Fair 2022

The London Book Fair Keynotes and Seminar Highlights Announced

Olympia, London  5th-7th April 2022

Programme to include UN, Google, HarperCollins, Amazon, PRH, Sharjah Book Authority, Nielsen and more

Authors include Maggie O’Farrell, Monique Roffey, Daisy Johnson, Stacey Halls, Derek Owusu, Peter James, Louise Candlish, Natasha Carthew, KL Slater, Mahsuda Snaith and Milly Johnson

Ben Okri and Louise Moore to deliver keynotes

Main Stage introduced for 2022, featuring expert panels

The London Book Fair (LBF) has announced Booker Prize winning novelist and poet Ben Okri and Penguin Michael Joseph Managing Director Louise Moore as the keynote speakers for this year’s Fair.

Okri, acclaimed author of The Famished Road, will appear in conversation with journalist Sarah Shaffi, discussing the role of art during challenging and divisive times. Publishing expert Moore will shine a light on the importance of commercial fiction for the book industry and explore why it does not receive the same respect as other genres.

This year’s The London Book Fair will feature the introduction of the Main Stage is a theatre, sponsored by Legible, which will host agenda-setting talks and panel sessions led by experts from across the publishing industry.

Highlights from the Main Stage, sponsored by Legible, include:

Ben Okri: Art in a Time of Crisis. Wednesday 6th April, 11:00 -11:45, Main Stage. Booker Prize winning novelist and poet appears in conversation with journalist and editor Sarah Shaffi to discuss the importance and role of art in challenging times.

Why does the publishing industry not better recognise the merits and importance of commercial fiction? Tuesday 5th April, 10:30-11:15, Main Stage. Louise Moore, Managing Director of Penguin Michael Joseph, discusses the importance of commercial fiction for publishers, and asks why the industry does not champion its success.

The Role of Publishing and Culture During Global Conflict. Tuesday 5th April, 15:15-16:00, Main Stage. In a session led by the Publishers Association, representatives from the British Council, International Publishers Association and Cambridge University Press consider the role of publishers and wider cultural institutions during global conflict, and debate how culture can play a role during difficult times around the world.

COVID-19: What's next for publishing? Tuesday 5th April, 11:45-12:30, Main Stage. Representatives from Nosy Crow, HarperCollins, Bookouture, Amazon Publishing and the Booksellers Association explore how the pandemic has impacted the publishing industry and how it may shape the future of the book world.

Nielsen Report –The UK book market: Pandemic effects and the picture in 2022. Wednesday 6th April, 12:00-12:45, Main Stage. Nielsen Books highlights the publishing trends which emerged during the pandemic, and reveals what readers have been buying over the past two years.

The Future of Book Supply. Wednesday 6th April, 10:00-10:45, Main Stage. HE Ahmed Al Ameri, Chairman of Sharjah Book Authority, speaks with David Taylor, MD of Lightning Source UK, about the future of the supply chain and print on demand, with examples of the work being done at Sharjah Publishing City.

The Future of Work is Hybrid. Tuesday 5th April, 13:00-13:45, Main Stage. Spokespeople from Google Workspace, Hachette and Tsedal Neeley, author of Remote Work Revolution: Succeeding From Anywhere look at how technology could help the publishing industry to build a successful hybrid working model.

In addition to the series of world class sessions on the Main Stage throughout the three days of The London Book Fair, a seminar programme of expert panels, author talks, and industry presentations will be taking place across Olympia.

The seminar programme runs across Author HQ, Highlights from the seminar programme include:

Tuesday 5th April

Maggie O’Farrell In Conversation. Tuesday 5th April, 13:30-14:15, English PEN Literary Salon. Author of the Day Maggie O’Farrell, Sunday Times bestselling author and winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, appears in discussion with journalist Jo Finney, giving an insight into her writing process, talking about Hamnet, and highly anticipated upcoming novel The Marriage Portrait.

The Power of the Bookshop: The Role Booksellers Play in Championing Your Book. Tuesday 5th April, 13:15-13:45, Buzz Theatre. Emma Bradshaw, Head of Campaigns at Booksellers Association, joins Bookbar founder Chrissy Ryan and author Ingrid Persaud to discuss how bookshops can celebrate and amplify titles.

Celebrating Working Class Writing. Tuesday 5th April, 14:20-15:05, Author HQ. Working class writers Eva Verde, Natasha Carthew and Mahsuda Snaith discuss why it is important to include conversations around class when it comes to improving diversity and representation in publishing.

Trending on TikTok= book sales: the perfect equation? Tuesday 5th April, 12:10-12:55, Author HQ. Social media experts including Naomi Bacon from Tandem Collective, author Fiona Lucas, Zaahida Nabagereka, Head of Social Impact at Penguin Random House UK and Ashley Baugh, Associate Director at Midas, discuss the role of TikTok in the book world and ask which trends on the platform are here to stay.

London Book Fair Charity of the Year presents… Happy Here: Centering Traditionally Marginalised Narratives in Children’s Publishing. Tuesday 5th April, 13:00 – 13:45, Olympia Theatre. LBF 2022 Charity of the Year, the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE), hosts a panel with author and academic Darren Chetty, trailblazing independent publisher Knights Of, and national charity, BookTrust, discussing how the three organisations came together to publish and champion Happy Here, as well as exploring the importance of moving discourse away from defending the necessity of inclusive literature towards the value of improving the quality of publishing output to better serve the readership.

How publishers can successfully create a culture of diversity and inclusion. Tuesday 5th April, 16:30-17:15, Main Stage. Cat Mitchell, Lecturer and Programme Leader for the Creative Writing and Publishing BA at the University of Derby provides actionable guidance for creating a diverse and inclusive workspace.

Sharjah Market Focus: In Conversation with HE Mohammed Al-Murr. Tuesday 5th April, 16:30-17:15, English PEN Literary Salon. Short story writer Al-Murr discusses his work and the influence of Emirati literature.

Across language and time: translating classics. Tuesday 5th April, 16:30-17:15, Olympia Theatre. The Polish Book Institute and the Spotlight on Catalan organisers Institution Ramon Llull host a panel on the challenges of translating classic literature from William Shakespeare and Jane Austen.

Wednesday 6th April

From Book to Screen: Crime and Thrillers. Wednesday 6th April, 13:15-14:00, Author HQ. Bestselling crime writers Peter James, Kate Ruby and Louise Candlish share how they keep readers gripped, both on the page and onscreen.

The Cover Design Wheel of Fortune. Wednesday 6th April, 17:00-17:45, Author HQ. By popular demand, designers Ceara Elliot, Jack Smyth and Nico Taylor return to The London Book Fair, using real life case studies to explore the book cover design process from beginning to end.

In conversation with Afra Atiq, Emirati poet, spoken word artist and PhD Candidate and LBF Author of the Day. Wednesday 6th April, 13:30-14:15, English PEN Literary Salon. Market Focus Author of the Day Atiq appears in conversation, discussing her career and what inspires her poetry.

Independent Women: The Tale of Three Start-ups. Wednesday 6th April, 12:30- 13:15, Olympia Theatre. Magic Cat Publishing, Guppy Books and Hashtag Press, three small independent presses run by award-winning women, discuss the realities of setting up a publisher in the Children’s sector and what their experiences have taught them.

Illustrator of the Fair: Diane Ewen. Wednesday 6th April, 14:30-15:00, Author HQ. Award-winning illustrator Ewen speaks about her career, what she hopes to communicate through her illustrations, and representation in Children’s books.

KL Slater in Conversation: Writing for Audio. Wednesday 6th April, 11:00-11:30, Author HQ. Audible bestselling author KL Slater discusses publishing fifteen titles in just six years, the challenges and rewards of writing specifically for audio, and how audiobooks have helped to build her fanbase and brand as an author.

Pajtim Stavoci in conversation with Octavia Bright. Wednesday 6th April, 12:00-12:45, English PEN Literary Salon. Award-winning novelist Stavoci speaks to writer and broadcaster Bright about love, war and migration on the eve of the publication of his latest novel Bolla.

Bringing Dutch Literature to the World. Wednesday 6th April, 12:10-12:55, Literary Translation Centre. The London Book Fair’s dedication to translation continues as the Dutch Foundation for Literature and Amazon Crossing host a conversation on the importance of Dutch literature and the nuances of translating works from the Netherlands.

Sustainability Conference: programmed by IPA, PA and Elsevier. Wednesday 6th April, 13:30-16:30, Main Stage. High level discussion on how sustainability translates for the publishing industry.

Thursday 7th April

Greg James and Chris Smith In Conversation. Thursday 7th April, 13:30-14:15, English PEN Literary Salon. The Great Dream Robbery and Kid Normal writers Greg James & Chris Smith will discuss their bestselling work and their upcoming release Super Ghost.

How to Make a Living From Writing. Thursday 7th April, 10:45-11:30, Author HQ. An expert panel from the Society of Authors, including Nicola Solomon, Juliet McKenna, Abie Longstaff and Katrina Naomi, share their tips for earning money through writing, and the best opportunities for aspiring authors.

Building A Better, Greener Business. Thursday 7th April, 10:00-12:00, Olympia Theatre. Nielsen Books explores how the pandemic has impacted supply chains, and what can be done to build a more sustainable, resilient system.

Derek Owusu in conversation with Tice Cin. Thursday 7th April, 12:00-12:45, English PEN Literary Salon. Owusu, award-winning author of That Reminds Me discusses displacement, mental health across generations and the desire to find one’s voice in his forthcoming book Losing The Plot.

How I Write. Thursday 7th April, 13:00-13:45, Author HQ. Bestselling novelists Stacey Halls, Milly Johnson and Tim Sullivan provide a behind-the-scenes look at their writing routines, offering insight into how they write.

Publishing Outside of London: what are the benefits? Thursday 7th April, 15:15-16:00, Author HQ. The benefits of regional publishers’ offices is discussed by a panel consisting of Chief Executive of New Writing North Claire Malcolm, Publishing Director at HarperNorth Genevieve Pegg, Publishing Director at Sweet Cherry Publishing Sanjee de Silva, and Publishing Director at Comma Press, Ra Page.

New Fiction at the Threshold of Myth. Thursday 7th April, 11:45-12:30, Author HQ. Catalan author and European Union Prize for Literature winner Irene Solà speaks to acclaimed novelist Daisy Johnson about the influence of folktales on literature, and how modern fiction blurs mythology and reality.

Subscription Reading Programs and Translated Literature. Thursday 7th April, 12:10-12:55, Literary Translation Centre. Amazon Publishing shares more on their subscription reading programmes Amazon First Reads, Prime Reading, and Kindle Unlimited, and explains how these help readers discover global translations.

Andy Ventris, Director of The London Book Fair, said: “We are delighted to share highlights from this year’s agenda-setting seminar programme, and to announce 2022 keynote speakers. Ben Okri is one of the most celebrated poets and authors of our time, while Louise Moore is at the very forefront of British publishing, and we are honoured to have them both at this year’s fair. We know that attendees will be eager to hear their thoughts on publishing, the impact of books in our society, and how the industry may evolve in future.

”The London Book Fair's events programme is renowned for its insight into publishing and the introduction of the Main Stage for 2022 provides a platform for some of the most exciting sessions we have ever programmed. We are thrilled to have such an incredible range of organisations appearing across this year’s seminar programme, and look forward to learning from the knowledge and experience of our speakers.”

The London Book Fair (LBF) is the largest spring book trade and publishing event in the world, and will take place in person for the first time in two years at Olympia London, 5-7th April 2022.

Visitor registration is now open, click here for details 

The full 2022 seminar programme is available to view on The London Book Fair website

Follow on Twitter @LondonBookFair #LBF22

Blog Tour ~ The Sound at the End by Kirsty Logan

Audible

13 January 2022

My thanks to Audible and Midas PR for the opportunity to listen to this audio recording
and for the invitation to the blog tour.

A chilling, immersive audio experience, The Sound at The End follows the eclectic crew of an Arctic research base and the newcomer who may uncover the secrets they’re each desperate to outrun, written by award-winning novelist Kirsty Logan and performed by a full cast.

On a near-abandoned research base in an Arctic ice field, a skeleton crew works to ensure the center doesn’t collapse amid treacherous storms. Officially, Trieste Grayling arrives in order to explore and film a sunken shipwreck for a documentary film; privately, she's working through a complicated grief. Trieste soon realizes she's not the only one who was attracted to this intense isolation in order to escape her ghosts.

Each of the crew members harbor dark secrets: Mal, the ever-competent medic conducting mysterious therapy sessions; Sweetie, the reclusive engineer with scarred hands; Thorsteinn, the aloof diver tender; Avelina, the temperamental base manager whose stories of home don't quite add up; Grace, an underwater welder and recovering addict; and Judd, the erratic former member of a ‘90s boy band. As they begin to reach breaking point, each one's hidden ghosts finally comes into the light.

My Review ..

The Sound at the End is a completely absorbing audio book experience with a chilling and haunting story at its heart. Atmospheric, and ice cold, the brooding nature of the Arctic ice field, the isolation of the near abandoned research station, complete with belligerent polar bears, comes to life in this Audible Original production. 

The mystery at the heart of the story is revealed gradually and once I got used to the different narrators, all of whom do a great job of bringing the characters to life, I found the rather claustrophobic effect of living life confined together in a small space really well done. 

The characters who make this such a compelling listen are all very complex which is certainly conveyed by the individual narrators in the tone of their voices and their unique mannerisms which make the whole experience so immersive. I found Trieste, she's the one we hear the most, to be an interesting mixture of naivety, and foolhardiness, especially in her interaction with the other characters who, it would seem, all have something to hide. 

I don't want to recount any of the specifics of story as I think this audio production is better listened to without any preconceived notion of where the story is heading. However, I will say that I found the story fascinating and the immersive nature of the background sounds add an absorbing dimension to the overall brooding nature of this haunting, and well crafted, thriller.

Narrated by : Lisa Carrucio Came, Alexiane Cazenave, Don Gilet, Laurel Kefkow, Freya Meva, Yasmin Mwanza, Clive Russell

Listening time :10 hrs 35 minutes.

About the Author

Twitter @kirstylogan

Website

@AudibleUK

@midaspr

📖 Blog Tour ~ Dálvi : Six Years in the Arctic Tundra by Laura Galloway

 

Allen & Unwin
3 February 2022

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book
and to Midas PR for the invitation to the blog tour

An ancestry test suggesting she shared some DNA with the Sámi people, the indigenous inhabitants of the Arctic tundra, tapped into Laura Galloway's wanderlust; an affair with a Sámi reindeer herder ultimately led her to leave New York for the tiny town of Kautokeino, Norway. When her new boyfriend left her unexpectedly after six months, it would have been easy, and perhaps prudent, to return home. But she stayed for six years.

Dálvi is the story of Laura's time in a reindeer-herding village in the Arctic, forging a solitary existence as she struggled to learn the language and make her way in a remote community for which there were no guidebooks or manuals for how to fit in. Her time in the North opened her to a new world. And it brought something else as well: reconciliation and peace with the traumatic events that had previously defined her - the sudden death of her mother when she was three, a difficult childhood and her lifelong search for connection and a sense of home.

Both a heart-rending memoir and a love letter to the singular landscape of the region, Dálvi explores with great warmth and humility what it means to truly belong.

📖 My Review..

I don't often read memoirs but this story, along with the stunning book cover, really piqued my interest, especially as the author spent six years living in one the most beautiful but remote places in the world. Discovering that she shared DNA with the indigenous Sámi people, who live in the Arctic tundra, opened up a world of possibilities which came at a time in Laura's life when she needed a complete change of environment.

Told in alternate chapters I found the parts of the book about Laura's unconventional American upbringing particularly interesting but it is the chapters which take us on her Arctic adventure, which are fascinating, shining a new light on the idea of taking time out in the wilderness. Laura's relationship with a Sámi reindeer herder is short lived but rather than return to America, Laura stayed on in Kautokeino, the tiny Norwegian town, and with sheer determination she makes this her home and starts to make new friends.

The author is a good raconteur and describes her life in a candid and thought provoking detail. I admired her strength of spirit in taking up a new challenge in a place which had its own complicated language and customs and where she didn't always fit in but all credit to her for taking on the challenge and coping admirably with an adventure which had some scary moments.

Invoking the spirit of the Arctic Tundra and the remoteness of the landscape Dálvi : Six Years in the Arctic Tundra is an engaging read about life lessons and second chances.

About the Author

Laura with her dogs Rássi andNilla
Photo credit: Bjarne Joakimsen

Laura Galloway is a writer and communications strategist. She began her career at the Los Angeles Times and holds a Master of Arts in Indigenous Journalism from the Sámi University of Applied Sciences in Kautokeino, Norway, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Southern California. An ardent animal lover, she and her partner live with her two reindeer-herding dogs and two cats.

Twitter @LauraGalloway #DálviBlogTour

Instagram @authorlauragalloway

@allenanaunwinuk

@midaspr

The Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize ~ Longlist 2022

 

Through themes of identity, conflict and love, the 2022 long list comprises eight novels, two poetry collections and two short story collections:

A Passage North – Anuk Arudpragasam (Granta)

 What Noise Against the Cane – Desiree Bailey (Yale University Press)

 Keeping the House – Tice Cin (And Other Stories)

 Auguries of a Minor God – Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe (Faber)

The Sweetness of Water – Nathan Harris (Tinder Press/Headline)

No One is Talking About This – Patricia Lockwood (Bloomsbury Circus)

 Milk Blood Heat – Dantiel W. Moniz (Atlantic Books)

Hot Stew – Fiona Mozley (John Murray Press)

 Open Water – Caleb Azumah Nelson (Viking, Penguin General)

 Acts of Desperation – Megan Nolan (Jonathan Cape)

 Peaces - Helen Oyeyemi (Faber)

 Filthy Animals – Brandon Taylor (Daunt Books Publishing)

The international longlist for one of the world’s largest literary prizes for young writers – the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize – will be announced on Thursday 3rd February. From Sri Lanka to Trinidad, Texas, and Ireland via the Middle East, this year’s longlist features a powerful, international collection of writers who are offering platforms for under-represented voices.

This year’s longlist celebrates female voices from around the world and includes: the gritty debut novel by interdisciplinary London artist Tice Cin titled Keeping the House, American novelist Patricia Lockwood’s meditation on love, language and human connection in No One is Talking About This, Dantiel W. Moniz’s debut collection of short inter-generational stories in Milk Blood Heat that contemplate human connection, race, womanhood, inheritance, and the elemental darkness in us all, British writer Fiona Mozley’s urban comedy Hot Stew, the honest and darkly funny debut novel Acts of Desperation by emerging star of Irish literature Megan Nolan, and British-born Prague-based Helen Oyeyemi’s exploration of what it means to be seen by another person in Peaces.

There are also two female poets up for the £20,000 Prize including Desiree Bailey for her lyrical quest for belonging and freedom in What Noise Against the Cane as she draws on her cultural identity and upbringing in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as Indian-born Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe whose first poetry collection Auguries of a Minor God follows two different journeys, the first of love and the wounds it makes and the second following a family of refugees who have fled to the West from conflict in an unspecified Middle Eastern country.

The debut novelist line-up is further completed by the contemporary classic The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris who fuses together historical fiction and the complex reality of society today, and the achingly beautiful love story Open Water (now sold in 13 territories worldwide) by 25-year-old British-Ghanaian writer Caleb Azumah Nelson who shines a light on race and masculinity. Additionally among the 12 authors on the 2022 longlist are Sri Lankan writer Anuk Arudpragasam for his masterful novel, A Passage North, which explores age and youth, loss and survival in the wake of the devastation of Sri Lanka's 30-year civil war and Brandon Taylor’s Filthy Animals that brings together quietly devastating stories of young people caught up in violence and desire, while longing for intimacy.

Chaired by Jaipur Literature Festival’s founder-director and award-winning author Namita Gokhale, the longlisted titles will now be whittled down to a six strong shortlist by an impressive panel of judges including novelist, playwright, and winner of the 2006 Dylan Thomas Prize Rachel Trezise, celebrated Poet and novelist Luke Kennard who recently won the 2021 Forward poetry prize, novelist and Swansea University lecturer Alan Bilton, and Nigerian British author Irenosen Okojie who was awarded an MBE For Services to Literature in 2021.

Worth £20,000, it is one of the UK’s most prestigious literary prizes as well as the world’s largest literary prize for young writers. Awarded for the best published literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under, the Prize celebrates the international world of fiction in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories and drama.

The shortlist will be announced on the 31st March, followed by the Winner’s Ceremony held in Swansea on 12th May, two days before International Dylan Thomas Day.

Follow on Twitter @dylanthomprize #SUDTP22

@midaspr