Book Review ~ Homeward Bound by Richard Smith

 

Troubador Publishing
2020

My thanks to Ben at Cameron Publicity and Marketing for my copy of this book

George is a recently widowed seventy-nine-year-old. He nearly made it as a rock star in the 1960s and he’s not happy. Tara is his teenage granddaughter and she’s taken refuge from her bickering parents by living with George. Toby is George’s son-in-law and he wants George in a care home. 

George has two secrets. 1) He’s never revealed why his music career stalled. And 2) No-one knows just how much the disappointment of opportunities missed still gnaw at him. He craves one last chance, even at his age. When it presents itself, through the appearance of a long-lost distant relative - whose chequered past should set alarm bells ringing - he can’t resist. 

For Tara, living with her grandfather is a way to find her own path and develop her own musical ambitions. She isn’t prepared for the clash between different generations and living in a strange house full of her grandfather’s memories – and vinyl records.

They get off to a shaky start. George takes an instant dislike to the sounds from her bedroom that seem more suited to Guantanamo Bay than anything he would call musical. But as time plays out, they find there are more similarities – neither know how to operate a dishwasher – than differences, and parallels across the generations slowly bring them to recognise their shared strengths. But when Toby inadvertently sets in motion a chain of events, it leaves Tara with the same dilemma her grandfather faced five decades before with the same life-changing choice to make.

What did I think about it..

Old meets young in this delightful story which looks, with a rather wistful eye, on all those idiosyncrasies which comes with great age. Seventy-nine year old, George is recently widowed and misses his wife so much that he can't imagine how he will manage without her, and to be honest, neither does his daughter and son-in-law who seem determined to encourage George to go into the, horrendously named, Last Days care home. However, Last Days is devoid of any sort of joie de vivre so George prefers to stay in his own home where he stores his vast record collection. As a compromise, George's teenage granddaughter, Tara, moves in with him and it soon becomes a case of who is looking after who in this lovely family saga.

Homeward Bound allows a gentle glimpse into the mindset of all George's family, from his complicated relationship with his daughter and son in law, to the love and empathy which shines through from eighteen year old Tara, there is never a moment when the story doesn't pull you into every aspect of George's rather special life.  George is a great protagonist, his slightly off beat character comes through and I found that I was laughing out loud at some of his antics whilst at the same time sympathising with him on the frailty of his impending infirmity and the loss of everything he once held dear. 

Heart warming, life affirming and gently poignant Homeward Bound captured my attention. I found myself singing along to Simon and Garfunkel's song of the same name as I read George's story.

About the Author

Homeward Bound is RICHARD SMITH’s first book, at age 71. While the story is entirely fictional, George’s record collection really is Richard’s. He lives in London.

Before embarking on his new writing career, he was a producer of TV commercials, sponsored documentaries and educational and promotional films. It took him around the world and into places not normally accessible to visitors - up to the top of the Elizabeth Tower to see Big Ben strike twelve, on a speed boat around the Needles and North Sea oil platforms, and to the Niger Delta in Africa . . . to name but a few. Worryingly two of them were featured in a British Library annual exhibition, 'Propoganda'!

Troubador

@CameronPMtweets

Review ~ Beyond the Arch by David Evered

Troubadour Publishing
Matador
January 2018

My thanks to the author for my copy of this book

When we first encounter, Peter Bowman he seems to have a well ordered, middle class life in London. He has a comfortable marriage to his wife, Ann, and an uneventful career as a solicitor. However, when Ann is unexpectedly called back to the North East to be with her father, who is very ill, Peter spends time, away from Ann, exploring the North East on his own. He meets, Sally, an attractive young woman with whom he feels an instant connection, and it is this attraction, along with a personal tragedy, which acts as the much needed catalyst for Peter to take charge of his life.

The story is set in the late 1960s, the age of permissiveness and liberalism, and yet this freedom of thought and action seems to have bypassed Peter who is approaching middle-age with something of a heavy heart. He feels unsatisfied, and in order to discover what he wants from his life, he needs to makes some drastic changes.

The author writes well, with an understanding of time and place, and both the writing and the dialogue, compliment this period in history. However, it took me a little time to feel an affinity with the characters, I wasn't even sure I liked Peter very much at first, but as the story progresses, especially when the action moves to France, I felt like I understood him a little more, and became interested in just how Peter and Sally's story would eventually play out.

In Beyond the Arch there are some interesting, and astute, observations about the vagaries of life, the perils of relationships, and of how fate can, so often, take our lives in an entirely unexpected direction.

About the Author

David Evered’s professional career was in academic medicine and research. He has been a consultant physician in Newcastle Upon Tyne, the Deputy Head of the UK Medical Research Council, a Special Adviser to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO – Lyon) and a Trustee of Macmillan Cancer Support. He has lived in Newcastle, London and France and is now retired. He and his wife live in rural West Berkshire. This is his first work of fiction.

Twitter @david_evered

Amazon UK

Review ~ 1066 What Fates Impose by G K Holloway

Troubadour

A bit of blurb..

England is in crisis. King Edward has no heir and promises never to produce one. There are no obvious successors available to replace him, but quite a few claimants are eager to take the crown. While power struggles break out between the various factions at court, enemies abroad plot to make England their own. There are raids across the borders with Wales and Scotland. Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, is seen by many as the one man who can bring stability to the kingdom. He has powerful friends and two women who love him, but he has enemies who will stop at nothing to gain power. As 1066 begins, England heads for an uncertain future. It seems even the heavens are against Harold. Intelligent and courageous, can Harold forge his own destiny - or does he have to bow to what fates impose

My thoughts about the book..

On this 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hasting, there can be few people who don't recognise the year date of the battle - 1066, but, perhaps, there are less people who know that it took place on the 14th October, or of the finer details behind the lead up to the battle and indeed, of what made the usurper, William, Duke of Normandy into the Conqueror we think we know today. In 1066 What Fates Impose, the author GK Holloway goes a long way into fleshing out the personality of those characters who played a major role in the years leading up to 1066, whilst at the same time highlighting  the political ramifications of that most significant of years.

The novel starts with an ending and King William I's death in 1087, sweat soaked and putrid with fever, the man we know as the conqueror takes stock of his life, a life which has been made ever more complicated in the pursuit of power and glory and of the inevitable haunting which, in his final few hours, racks his fevered mind.

What then follows is a complex and beautifully written story about Anglo-Saxon / European politics. It’s about the minutiae of life at the English court and of the ill-fated marriage between King Edward and Queen Edith. It’s also about the perceptiveness of the Godwinson’s, an ambitious family, who on recognising the feebleness of the King, made momentous decisions which would have dramatic consequences in the years leading up to, and including, 1066.

There is no doubt that the author has done his research well, and by cleverly blending historical fact with fiction, this Dark Age truly comes alive in the imagination. There is a distinct feel of authenticity to the story, so much so, that it really feels like you are immersed in the life and culture of eleventh century England. It becomes impossible to read the novel without the imagery of candle lit sconces flickering in the cold and of the dangers lurking in creeping shadows.

Overall, 1066 What Fates Impose is a multifaceted story, which is both delicately and intricately woven around the events leading up to that momentous autumn day in 1066. It is the story of the historical movers and shakers who were instrumental in the success of the Norman Conquest and who would, without doubt, be influential in the shaping of England for the next millennium.

Best Read With...chunks of roasted meat and a cup of hot wine, rich with the tang of berries..

About the Author

Website

Twitter @GlynnHolloway

Amazon UK

Please return tomorrow on the 950th Anniversary the Battle of Hastings to read an interview with the author and the chance to win your own special signed copy of 1066 What Fates Impose..

My thanks to the author for sharing his novel with me.

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