Blog Tour ~ Real Life by Adeline Dieudonné (Roland Glasser Translator)

Delighted to host today's Blog Tour stop

World Editions Ltd
20 February 2020

My thanks to the author and random Things Tours for my copy of this book
and the invitation to be part of the blog tour.

At home there are four rooms: one for her, one for her brother, one for her parents … and one for the carcasses. The father is a big game hunter, a powerful predator; the mother is submissive to her violent husband’s demands. The young narrator spends the days with her brother, Sam, playing in the shells of cars dumped for scrap and listening out for the chimes of the ice-cream truck, until a brutal accident shatters their world.

The uncompromising pen of Adeline Dieudonné wields flashes of brilliance as she brings her characters to life in a world that is both dark and sensual. This breathtaking debut is a sharp and funny coming-of-age tale in which reality and illusion collide.

What did I think about it..

An unnamed narrator, a traumatised small boy, a submissive wife, a violent hunter, and a house with four rooms, all add up to a story which is as sinister as the four people who occupy its spaces.

Right from the start of Real Life I was completely drawn into this very dark, contemporary story, which is unlike any coming-of-age story I have ever read before. Raw, visceral and quite challenging there is never a moment when the narrative doesn't entice you into its secret places, drawing you further and further into the narrator's frightening world.

Real Life is not going to be to everyone's taste, as its thought provoking themes are really very dark, however, that's where the appeal of the novel lies, in that the story, so cleverly manipulated by the author makes you sit up and take notice of everything the young narrator is experiencing in her troubled home life. Thankfully, Real Life has some really special moments, with flashes of brilliance which linger and allow the lyricism of the language to flow seamlessly.

Written by a Belgian author, and beautifully translated, this story has rightfully won several French literary awards, and after finishing this powerful story, in one sitting, I can well understand why such high praise has been heaped upon it. 

About the Author

ADELINE DIEUDONNÉ was born in 1982 and lives in Brussels. A playwright and short-story writer, her first novella, Amarula, was awarded the Grand Prix of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles. Two further booklets were published by Editions Lamiroy in 2017: Seule dans le noir and Bonobo Moussaka. Real Life was recently awarded the prestigious Prix du Roman FNAC, the Prix Rossel, the Prix Renaudot des Lycéens, and the Prix Filigrane, a French prize for a work of high literary quality with wide appeal. Dieudonné also performs as a stand-up comedian.

ROLAND GLASSER is an award-winning translator of French literature, based in London.

Twitter #RealLife

@WorldEdBooks

@RKbookpublicist

#RandomThingsTours

Blog Tour ~ Foxfire, Wolfskin and other stories of Shapeshifting women by Sharon Blackie

Delighted to be taking part in this Blog Tour

September Publishing
2 October 2019

My thanks to the publishers, Ruth Killick Publicity and Random Things Tours for my copy of this book
and the invitation to be part of his blog tour

Charged with drama and beauty, this memorable collection by a master storyteller weaves a magical world of possibility and power from female myths of physical renewal, creation and change. It is an extraordinary immersion into the bodies and voices, mindscapes and landscapes, of the shape-shifting women of our native folklore. We meet the Water Horse of the Isle of Lewis, the huldra, the Scandinavian supernatural forest-dweller, and Baba Yaga of Slavic folklore (but will she help you or kill you?) Here too is the Snow Queen; the wild bird-woman of the Sliabh Mis Mountains; Blodeuedd, the Welsh ‘flower-faced’ woman.

Illustrations by Helen Nicholson

Drawing on myth and fairy tales found across Europe – from Croatia to Sweden, Ireland to Russia – Sharon Blackie brings to life women’s remarkable ability to transform themselves in the face of seemingly impossible circumstances. These stories are about coming to terms with our animal natures, exploring the ways in which we might renegotiate our fractured relationship with the natural world, and uncovering the wildness – and wilderness – within.

What did I think about it..

There’s something quite special about the myths and legends which give a country its identity. Stories which reach through the mists of time, soaking into our subconscious, so that whilst we don’t always know where they originated, we remain emotionally connected to the haunting quality of their particular brand of magic.

In this extraordinary collection we allow our imagination full reign in stories which set fire the soul, which are in turn both mournful and uplifting, hauntingly beautiful and inherently dangerous. Beautifully written and highly original in their delivery, the author’s natural story-telling ability shines through with every well written word, capturing the very essence of our long forgotten myths and folklore.

Every reimagined story has its own unique strength and yet there is something distinctly fascinating to be found in all of them. The thirteen stories vary in length, some are quite short, just a couple of pages, whilst others are a little longer, however, collectively, they form a wonderfully diverse mixture which are supported by stunning black and white illustrations. I have several favourites amongst the thirteen and in particular I would like to mention Wolfskin, Foxfire and Snow Queen as being stand out stories for me. At the back of the book is a fascinating notes section where the author explains the origins, placing the stories in their historical and geographical context.

This is a really special collection of haunting stories which I’m sure will appeal to anyone who has an interest in the old tales of myth and folklore.

About the Author

Dr Sharon Blackie is a writer, mythologist and psychologist, and an internationally recognised teacher of the mythic imagination. Her bestselling book, If Women Rose Rooted, won a 2016 Nautilus award, and laid out a haunting heroine’s journey for every woman who finds power, inspiration and solace in the natural world. She has an international following through her online communities, and the courses and workshops she offers through ‘The Hedge School’. Her first novel, The Long Delirious Blue, was described by the Independent on Sunday as ‘hugely potent’. She lives in Connemara, Ireland. 

Twitter  #FoxfireWolfskin

@septemberbooks

@RKbookpublicist

#RandomThingsTours

Blog Tour ~ Mr Todd's Reckoning by Iain Maitland

Jaffareadstoo is thrilled to be part of the blog tour for Mr Todd's Reckoning 

Contraband
25 April 2019

My thanks to the publishers and Ruth Killick PR for my copy of the book
and the invitation to be part of the blog tour

Norman Bates is alive and well… He's living just next door

Behind the normal door of a normal house, in a normal street, two men are slowly driving each other insane. One of them is a psychopath.

The father Mr Todd is at his wits’ end. He’s been robbed of his job as a tax inspector and is now stuck at home... with him. Frustrated. Lonely. Angry. Really angry.

The son Adrian has no job, no friends. He is at home all day, obsessively chopping vegetables and tap-tap-tapping on his computer. And he’s getting worse, disappearing for hours at a time, sneaking off to who-knows-where?

The unholy spirit in the safety of suburbia, one man has developed a taste for killing. And he’ll kill again.

My thoughts..

When I read this author's previous book, Sweet William, I was impressed with the way he, very quickly, gets right into the complicated personalities of the characters he brings to life and, right from the start of this story, both Malcolm Todd and his beleaguered, son, Adrian are really quite memorable. There's a creeping menace which underlines the very ordinariness of their lives but which also reiterates that old adage that we never really know what's going on behind the closed doors of seeming respectability. There's anger and frustration and a whole heap of anguish which is brought to life with subtle hints and a real glimpse into the dark depths of a very complex individual.

It’s really difficult to do this book justice without giving anything away so I’ll concentrate on the author’s unique style of writing which is spare to the point of starkness and yet, there is a wonderful analytical observation about people and of the way that we only ever see what we want to see, and that even the most unremarkable of people can harbour the wildest secrets.

Mr Todd's Reckoning is a really dark, almost claustrophobic story, with some genuinely creepy moments that had me reeling in disbelief, and which made me stop to consider that nothing in life is ever as it first appears.

Mr Todd’s Reckoning is a very clever psychological thriller which is quite different from anything I have ever read before but which is made all the more special for being so unique.

About the Author

Website

Twitter @iainmaitland #mrtoddsreckoning

@SarabandBooks 

@rkbookpublicist

Blog Tour ~ The Wolves of Leninsky Prospekt by Sarah Armstrong

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to host today's final stop on the 

The Wolves of Leninsky Prospekt Blog Tour

Sandstone press
7 February 2019

My thanks to the publishers and to Ruth Killick PR for my copy of the book
and the invitation to be part of the blog tour

It’s 1973 and Martha has been sent down from Cambridge for distributing left-wing leaflets and doing no work. To escape parental disapproval, she marries her friend Kit, posted to Moscow by the diplomatic service. Kit is gay, but having a wife could keep him safe. In Moscow, Martha struggles to make sense of a difficult but fascinating new world. 

Who can she trust? Who can she even talk to? She takes Russian lessons, makes the wrong friends, becomes familiar with a strange and wonderful city, and unwittingly becomes a spy.

My thoughts..

Martha is a bit of a free spirit and when she returns home after being sent down from Cambridge her parents don't really know what to do with her. Martha solves the problem by marrying her gay friend Kit and travelling with him to Moscow. That this marriage is one of convenience suits both Martha and Kit, however, Martha finds out, to her cost, that life in Russia is very different from being in England. Her natural excitement at being in such a wonderful, but rather strange, country is hampered by the political and social restrictions which, even as a married woman, are placed upon her.

Spending time in Moscow with Martha in the Russia of the 1970s, when this story is set, is enlightening as not only does the shadier side of life emerge, but also the references of living in a place where everyone is under suspicion comes across in a story, by a different narrator, which runs like a thread throughout, and which explains the analogy to the wolves of Leninsky Prospekt.

The Wolves of Leninsky Prospekt is an interesting read and the author has done a good job of recreating this mysterious time in Russian history. There was a nice sense of time and place and I especially enjoyed reading of Martha’s exploration of the parks and woods of the city and of her dealings with some of the more shady characters who flit into and out of the story. That some of these characters aren't particularly likeable helps to add an uncomfortable atmosphere, to what is, in effect, quite a cautionary story about a bygone world.

About the Author

Sarah Armstrong is the author of The Insect Rosary (‘a brave debut’- Anne Goodwin) and The Devil in the Snow (‘an intriguing and compelling story – Liz Trenow). Her short stories have been published in magazines and anthologies, and she teaches undergraduate and postgraduate creative writing with the Open University. Sarah lives in Colchester with her husband and four children.

Twitter @sarahsiobhana

@rkpublicist

@sandstonepress

Amazon UK

Hist Fic Saturday ~ As the Women Lay Dreaming by Donald S Murray

On Hist Fic Saturday


Let's go back in time

Saraband Books
8 November 2018

My thanks to the publishers and Ruth Killick Publicity for my copy of this book

It's 1936 and Alasdair and Rachel are sent by their grieving father to the Outer Hebrides – to the remote and strange Isle of Lewis. The children move in to the blackhouse home of their grandfather and experience a traditional way of life that is a world away from the Glasgow of their earliest years. They soon discover that their kindly granddad is a man unlike others. He thinks differently, has a strong creative streak and still longs for his beautiful first wife, who died too young. And there is one event that shapes him more than any other – the sinking of the HMS Iolaire, which claimed the lives of some 200 people on the very last leg of their long journey home from war.

My thoughts about it..

On the 1st January 1919 HMY Iolaire was bringing servicemen back from active service in WW1. With families waiting at the harbour disaster struck when the yacht sank just yards from the edge of Stornaway harbour with the loss of 200 lives. This was a tragedy of epic proportions, as this isolated Outer Hebridean community had already been greatly affected by losses during the war, and the area, already struggling to cope, never fully recovered. For some, especially those who called these islands home, life would never be the same again.

In 1936, some twenty years after the disaster, and following a family tragedy children Alasdair and Rachel Cruickshank leave Glasgow and are sent to live, with their maternal grandfather Tormod Morrison, on the Isle of Lewis. Tormod's compassionate and understanding nature helps his grandchildren cope with their own sense of grief, and yet, as the book progresses, it becomes obvious that Tormod's own sense of loss runs deep and colours everything about his world. Parts of the book are especially poignant, particularly Tolmod's journal entries from 1918 and yet, there is also a real sense of understanding, not just about the Hebridean way of life, but also about the beauty of really knowing the landscape which shapes your soul.

The book is a sensitive and compassionate look at the effects of this devastating tragedy on a small community and how the scars of such a disaster never really heal. The beauty of the Outer Hebrides and the often bleak landscape act a perfect foil for what is rather a sad story but which is beautifully explained by an author who knows how to bring the history of this community alive.

The Iolaire centenary commemoration took place on the Isle of Lewis on the 1st January 2019.  #Iolaire100

About the Author

Photo Credit : Sandie McIver

A son of the Hebrides, Donald S. Murray is a writer and poet whose work has been shortlisted for both the Saltire Literary Awards and the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award. His critically acclaimed books bring to life the culture and nature of the Scottish islands, and he appears regularly on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland. The author now lives in Shetland.

Twitter @DonaldSMurray #asthewomenlaydreaming

#Iolaire100

@SarabandBooks

Book Link

Blog Tour ~ Songs by Dead Girls by Lesley Kelley

Jaffareadstoo is excited to be hosting today's stop on the Songs by Dead Girls Blog Tour

Sandstone Press
19 April 2018

My thanks to the publishers and to Ruth Killick Publicity for the inviatation to be part of the tour and my copy of the book

What's it all about...

Nobody likes the North Edinburgh Health Enforcement Team, least of all the people who work for it. An uneasy mix of seconded Police and health service staff, Mona, Bernard and their colleagues stem the spread of the Virus, a mutant strain of influenza, by tracking down people who have missed their monthly health check. 

When Scotland’s leading virologist goes missing, Mona and Paterson from the Health Enforcement Team are dispatched to London to find him. In a hot and unwelcoming city, Mona has to deal with a boss who isn’t speaking to her, placate the professor’s over-bearing assistant, and outwit the people who will stop at nothing to make sure the academic stays lost. 

Meanwhile, back in Edinburgh, Bernard is searching for a missing prostitute, while Maitland is trying to keep the chair of the Parliamentary Virus Committee from finding out quite how untidy the HET office is.

My thoughts about it...

A deadly pandemic has affected much of the population and in order to control the spread of this deadly virus, Health Enforcement Teams are employed to make sure that people attend a monthly health check. These stringent regulations are essential if the virus is to be contained and those who skip the test are hunted down.

The North Edinburgh Enforcement Team is on the case of two people who have flaunted these regulations. The investigative skills of HET operatives, Mona and Paterson, are needed in order to find the whereabouts of a leading academic who is about to miss his monthly check-up. Their undercover investigation takes them to London, where they encounter all sorts of problems. Meanwhile back in Scotland, the HET are on the trail of a missing prostitute, who may have links with the darker side of Edinburgh life.

This is a really interesting premise for a story; I especially enjoyed the dystopian feel to the narrative, particularly around the Orwellian tactics used against those individuals who missed their monthly check-ups. The double mysteries at the centre of the story are well plotted and I enjoyed the fast pace of the novel, and allowing two different sides to the story, one in London, and the other in Edinburgh, adds an interesting dynamic.

Songs by Dead Girls is now the second book in the Health of Strangers series and even though I haven’t read the first book, I was soon able to pick up the story and could follow the background reasonably well, although it took me a little while to get to understand the quirks of the central characters. The North Edinburgh Enforcement Team are an odd bunch of people, however, their lively wit and petty squabbles add an interesting dynamic to what is potentially, a dark and rather sinister working environment. That they continue to survive ,and thrive, in this setting is testament to the author’s skill in bringing this dystopian world to life in a lively and entertaining way.

About the Author

Lesley Kelly has worked in the public and voluntary sectors for the past twenty years, dabbling in poetry and stand-up comedy along the way. She has won several writing competitions, including the Scotsman’s Short Story award in 2008. Her debut novel, A Fine House in Trinity was long-listed for the William McIlvanney award in 2016. She lives in Edinburgh.

Website

Twitter @lkautho #songsbydeadgirls

@sandstonepress @rkbookpublicist

Amazon UK

Christmas Read ~ A Maigret Christmas by Georges Simenon

Penguin Classic
23 November 2017

My thanks to Ruth Killick Publicity for my copy of this book

From 2013-2019 Penguin is publishing new translations of all 75 Maigret novels, the work of a team of the world's top translators, This unprecedented translation project offers readers a new opportunity to discover the 'extraordinary master pieces of the twentieth century' (John Banville).

In November for the first time, Penguin published the three stories together, in a new translation by David Coward. This seasonal collection features Inspector Maigret and other characters from the Maigret novels in three separate cases:

A Maigret Christmas

Seven Small Crosses in a Notebook

The little Restaurant near Place des Ternes: A Christmas Story for Grown Ups


I have to admit from the offset that I haven't read any of the Maigret stories before. Having got that confession out of the way, let us concentrate on this selection of three Maigret Christmas stories which have been newly translated.

Perhaps slightly longer than a short story and more of a novella, A Maigret Christmas, sees the indomitable Maigret involved in clearing up a mystery right on his doorstep and whilst the great man has been looking forward to a lie-in on Christmas morning, it would seem that fate has decreed otherwise.

Again more of a novella, Seven Small Crosses in a Notebook, gives us an insight into the workings of Maigret's police department as the action takes place on Christmas Eve in the police control room. And whilst Maigret does not make an appearance in this story, there is still evidence of  his influence in the way the operation works. To say more about the Seven Small Crosses in a Notebook would, I think spoil the effect.

And the third and final story, which is much shorter is The little Restaurant near Place des Ternes: A Christmas Story for Grown Ups which sees a festive charitable gesture turn into something far more significant, and which heralds some important changes. Again, Maigret doesn't make an appearance in this story but as ever the characteristics of this author's fine skill with words is in evidence.,

For anyone, like me, who haven't read any of the Maigret stories before then this taster is a good introduction to George Simenon's most famous detective and to his unique style of writing and sharp observation of the human psyche. The classic nature of the stories stand out and it is testament to the strength of the original writing that the stories continue to be so successful. The order of Maigret's sleuthing belongs to that golden age of crime detection when everything seemed to be concluded with no jagged edges or blurry boundaries and as such makes a welcome change from today's more grittier crime investigation novels.

A Maigret Christmas is beautifully translated by David Coward, and is elegantly produced with an evocative cover, which is so reminiscent of France. Without doubt, this is a lovely introduction to classic crime and to a worthy hero.

About the Author

Georges Simenon was born in Liege, Belgium in 1903. Between 1931 and 1972 he published five novels and twenty-eight short stories featuring Inspector Maigret. This trio of festive tales,Un Noel de Maigret, was originally published in 1951 when Simenon was living in the USA. He died, in Switzerland in 1989.

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Blog Tour ~ Sweet William by Iain Maitland

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to host today's stop on the 

Sweet William Blog Tour

Contraband
October 2017

My thanks to  the publishers and also to Ruth Killick Publicity for my review copy of this book
 and the invitation to be part of this blog tour

What's it about ...

Just One Chance. Now or Never. Run

A father desperate to be with his young son escapes from a secure psychiatric hospital, knowing he has just one chance for the two of them to start a new life together. He plans to snatch the three-year-old – and run away to a new life in France … but first he must find the boy, who has been fostered by his murdered wife’s family, and stay clear of the police, already in pursuit. He will be utterly ruthless in pursuit of this outcome. But William is a diabetic who needs insulin to stay alive…

Cut through with dark humour, Sweet William is a story of mental illness, a foster family under pressure, and an aggrieved father separated from his precious child. As the fugitives are pursued through the back roads of East Anglia the story reaches its terrifying climax. The result is an incisive and deeply affecting literary thriller.

My thoughts about it ...

This is one of those difficult books to review without exposing anything of the story, as to give even the smallest hint of what's happening would be to spoil, what is, a very compelling and, it must said, decidedly dark thriller. 

Being caught up in the life of this desperate father, who wants to spend time with his adored son, should on the surface work out well, however, the father in Sweet William isn't anything like your typical father. To say that he has been confined in a secure psychiatric unit for committing heinous crimes is enough to set your teeth on edge from the very start of the story, the opening of which, makes for compelling reading. 

Sweet William moves along quickly in real time and the way in which this unique forty-eight hour time lapse evolves allows the story to have a scarily realistic edge. There is much to be aware of, both in terms of the capriciousness of a supremely flawed individual, and also, far beyond this unpredictability there are elements of the story which terrified me, not in a 'being afraid of the dark' sort of fearfulness, more in an escalating feeling of apprehension, which made me very uncomfortable, both in terms of the eventual outcome, and ultimately, for the safety of young, William. 

Sweet William is a taut and tense psychological thriller. The author commands the narrative well and keeps the momentum from start to finish. The roller coaster of a journey he takes us on is highlighted by the vividly descriptive way he brings to life the difficulty and emotional impact of a family, and an individual, in absolute turmoil.

About the author

Iain Maitland is the acclaimed author of Dear Michael, Love Dad (Hodder, 2016), a moving book of letters written to his son, who suffered from depression and anorexia. Iain is an ambassador for Stem4, the teenage mental health charity, and has discussed mental health issues on The One Show. He lives in Felixstowe.

Twitter @iainmaitland #SweetWilliam @SarabandBooks

Amazon UK

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Blog Tour ~ A Message from the Other Side by Moira Forsyth

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to host today's stop on 

A Message from The Other Side Blog Tour

Sandstone Press
July 2017

What's it all about...

When Catherine moves several hundred miles away from her sister, Helen says, ‘Phone calls aren’t enough’, but they make it easier to edit the truth. Helen can dismiss Gilbert and his enchanted Factory as ‘weird’ when she’s never met him, and Catherine thinks Helen foolish for loving the unreliable and dangerous Joe. Neither sees the perils concealed in what they have not told each other, or guesses at the sinister connection between their separate lives. A Message from the Other Side is a novel about love and marriage, but even more about hatred and the damage people do to each other in the most ordinary of families.

What did I think about it...

When Catherine Sinclair receives an mysterious and unsettling telephone call from someone who has been missing for years, it opens up a whole host of memories, not just for her, but also for her sister Helen. What then follow is the effect that this phone call has on the equilibrium of a group of people who are unsettled by their memories of the past.

The story flips between time frames and follows the lives of the two sisters, Catherine and Helen, which gives us an insight into their tangled relationships, both with each other, and also with the men in their lives.

The story took me a little while to get into as I had to keep flipping back and forth in order to get the characters and their connections with each other clear in my mind, but once I had these in place then the story started to work more clearly.

The author is good at character development and in A Message from the Other Side she weaves an interesting, and suspenseful, family story about the complexities of sibling relationships, especially when those relationships are also bound by uncertainties about each other's romantic attachments.

Overall, this is a quietly perceptive story which allows the complexities of relationships to unfold in interesting detail.

About the author

Moira Forsyth is the author of four previous novels and many short stories and poems published in anthologies and magazines. She worked for many years in Education, including teaching in a Young Offenders’ Institution in the North of England, then latterly in Highland as the strategic lead for government initiatives to assist young people to move on successfully from school. She has been with Sandstone Press since its inception in 2002.

More can be found on Moira's website by clicking here

Follow on Twitter @moira_forsyth

The Message from The Other Side ebook deal is currenly just £1 on Amazon, iBooks and the Kobo Store.

Click on the links for more details:

https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/a-message-from-the-other-side

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Message-Other-Side-Moira-Forsyth-ebook/dp/B01MU2SGDI

My thanks to Diana at Ruth Killick Publicity for her kind invitation

 to be part of this blog tour.

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