💔 Jaffa, 2007 - 2021 💔

Last photo 
31 May 2021

💔

On Wednesday, after a swift and sudden illness, we had to say goodbye to our beloved cat of glory.

Our hearts are broken into a million pieces.

💔

Jaffa, Cat of Glory

Once, so golden in the gleaming sun,

now gone, with a rainbow of lights to guide his way.

No more the patter of quiet paws, which touched soft earth

to feel the crisp of green, or the snuggling caress of yellow.

No more gentle touches from vibrant orange

or the soft, sweet companionship of quiet love.

Just a whisper of pristine white, as he moves, with silent grace,

towards the glorious morning only he can see.

🌠

Jaffa 

2007 - 2021

💔

🌠 Always our shining star 🌠

📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ Ever Rest by Roz Morris

Happy Publication Day

📖 

Spark Furnace Books
3 June 2021

My thanks to the author my my copy of this book

Twenty years ago, Hugo and Ash were on top of the world. As the acclaimed rock band Ashbirds they were poised for superstardom. Then Ash went missing, lost in a mountaineering accident, and the lives of Hugo and everyone around him were changed forever. Irrepressible, infuriating, mesmerizing Ash left a hole they could never hope to fill.

Two decades on, Ash’s fiancée Elza is still struggling to move on, her private grief outshone by the glare of publicity. The loss of such a rock icon is a worldwide tragedy. Hugo is now a recluse in Nepal, shunning his old life. Robert, an ambitious session player, feels himself both blessed and cursed by his brief time with Ashbirds, unable to achieve recognition in his own right.

While the Ashbirds legend burns brighter than ever, Elza, Hugo and Robert are as stranded as if they were the ones lost in the ice. How far must they go to come back to life.

My thoughts..

Twenty years after hearing the devastating news that her fiancée, Ashten Geddard had been lost whilst climbing Mount Everest, Elza is still mourning his loss, caught up in the limbo of never having full closure. At the time, Ash's disappearance sent shock waves around the musical world as he was the frontman of a phenomenally successful rock duo whose music is forever locked in time. Ash's partner in the duo is Hugo who, twenty years on, remains in Nepal, as much caught up in the tragedy as if happened yesterday. With a resurgence of interest in the Ashbirds, Robert once a session musician, finds himself caught with questions of what might have been if Ash had not disappeared.

Ever Rest opens up to scrutiny all the minutiae of what is left behind when someone leaves us, and shows that even after a number of years have elapsed, closure can be just as ethereal and out of reach as it was at the start. Each of the main characters in Ever Rest are beautifully described and the question of unresolved grief comes up time and time again. There is so much to be explored in all the relationships especially that between Ash and Hugo but also in the indecision which still surrounds, Robert and the way in which Elza finds it difficult to leave behind her memories of the charismatic, but somewhat mercurial, Ashten Geddard. 

The author writes well and with an empathic way with words she describes the minutia of living life under the spotlight with a keen eye for detail and an interesting look at the shaping of lives as each of the main characters have their own particular memories and are all carrying their own burdens of loss and that age old questions of what might have been. Ever Rest is an interesting look at the vagaries of the music industry, the grief of those who are left behind, and of those who want to manipulate and exploit that loss.

About the Author

Roz Morris writes fiction and essays about unconventional ways we can be haunted and how we seek people and places we belong with. Her work has been profiled by The Guardian, Literature Works, the Potomac Review, Foreword Reviews, Rain Taxi and BBC Radio.

Her fiction has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide, although you won't have seen her name on the covers - she began her career in secret, ghostwriting fiction for big-name authors.

Now she's coming out of the shadows. Her own novels have been described as 'profound tales and compelling page-turners', with fine-honed language, unforgettable characters, and gripping, unusual storylines. Plaudits include a top-ranked title in the American Library Journal programme, a longlisting for an international award alongside Neil Gaiman and a finalist position in the People's Book Prize 2017.

She is also a fiction editor and writing coach. She teaches creative writing masterclasses for The Guardian newspaper in London, based on her series for writers, Nail Your Novel.

If you want to get to know her a little better, drop in at www.rozmorris.wordpress.com and her blog www.nailyournovel.com - or sign up for her newsletter about creative life . Her latest novel, Ever Rest, releases on 3 June 2021.

Twitter: @Roz_Morris 

Facebook page

Blog 

website

🌠

📖 Blog Tour ~ Sword of Bone by Anthony Rhodes

 

I'm delighted to be the concluding stop on this Blog Tour

📖

IWM
#WartimeClassics
20 May 2021

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

IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUMS TO PUBLISH ANOTHER FORGOTTEN MASTERPIECE IN THEIR WARTIME CLASSICS SERIES Published to coincide with the 81st Anniversary of the evacuation of Dunkirk.

In May 2021, IWM will publish two more novels in their Wartime Classics Series which was launched in September 2019 to great acclaim, bringing the total number of novels in the series to ten. Each has been brought back into print to enable a new generation of readers to hear stories of those who experienced conflict first hand.

First published in 1942, Sword of Bone is a lightly fictionalised memoir based on Anthony Rhodes’ own experiences during the Second World War – firstly during the so-called ‘Phoney War’ from 1939 – 40, followed by the terror of the evacuation of Dunkirk. Shortly after war was declared, he was sent to France serving with the British Army where his days were filled with billeting, friendships and administration – the minutiae of Army life. Apart from a visit to the Maginot Line, the conflict seems a distant prospect. It is only in the Spring of 1940 that the true situation becomes clear – the Belgian, British armies and some French divisions are ‘now crowded into a small pocket in the North of France’. The men are ordered to retreat to the coast and the beaches of Dunkirk where they face a desperate and frightening wait for evacuation. The ‘miracle’ of Dunkirk was a brilliantly improvised naval operation that extracted more than 338,000 men from the Dunkirk beaches and brought them safely back to England. Some 850 vessels, including channel steamers and fishing boats, took part in this, Operation ‘Dynamo’. The final pages of the novel outline Rhodes’ experiences of the chaos of the evacuation where the scenes are depicted in vivid and terrifying detail.

IWM Senior Curator, Alan Jeffreys, has written an introduction to each book that provides context and the wider historical background. He says, ‘researching the Wartime Classics has been one of the most enjoyable projects I’ve worked on in my years at IWM. It’s been very exciting rediscovering these fantastic novels and helping to bring them to the wider readership they so deserve’.

My thoughts...

Anyone who once served with the British Army during the early years of WW2 will be familiar with the way in which the events of the 'Phoney War' in 1939 blended into what happened during the retreat of our troops, and the evacuation at Dunkirk in the spring of 1940. For those of us who weren't alive at the time, reading fictionalised accounts such as this one help to put the situation into context. The author, and narrator, Anthony Rhodes, served with the British Army, and writes with a strong sense of authenticity about what happened in the lead up to the German invasion of France in the early part of the war. 

Sword of Bone, written in 1942, gives a fascinating insight into how the general housekeeping of the war was organised. The author was tasked with finding billets for soldiers, often commandeering village accommodation wherever he could, which was achieved with a stoicism and, sometimes, a sense of stalwart resignation. The French and Belgium people were remarkably accommodating and it would seem that hospitality, and friendship, were ever present.

The story moves along well, the author writes with a lightness of touch which belies the seriousness of the situation in which the British forces were placed in during the latter part of 1939. I read with interest some of the more mundane things that happened to our narrator but where the book really starts to excel is in the latter stages of the book when, between  the 27th May and 4th June, the British exodus from Dunkirk starts to occur.  Operation Dynamo, or the Miracle of Dunkirk, as it was called, saw the safe evacuation of over 338,000 Allied troops by a hastily organised fleet of over 800 vessels of all shapes and sizes. The vivid descriptions at the conclusion of the book emphasises the sheer scale of the evacuation and as the author so succinctly writes...'The noise, my dear! And the people'.

This IWM Wartime Classics series gives a fascinating insight into the Second World War, I especially enjoyed reading the introduction by Alan Jeffries, senior curator at the Imperial War Museum.

About the Author

Anthony Rhodes (1916 – 2004) served with the British Army in France during the so-called ‘Phoney War’ and was evacuated from Dunkirk in May 1940. In the latter part of the war he was sent to Canada as a camouflage officer and was invalided out of the Army in 1947 having served for 12 years. After the conflict he enjoyed a long academic and literary career and wrote on various subjects, including the 1956 Hungarian Revolution for the Daily Telegraph and well-regarded histories of the Vatican.

Sword of Bone by Anthony Rhodes is published by IWM and can be ordered here at the online IWM shop.

Twitter @I_W_M #WartimeClassics

@angelamarymor

@RandomTTours

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📖 Publication Day Review ~ My Love Life and Other Disasters by Josa Keyes

 

 📖 Happy Publication Day 📖

Keyes Content Ltd

1 June 2021

My thanks to the author for the copy of this book

My Love Life & Other Disasters is a collection of recent poems by Josa Keyes (formerly known as Josa Young). Written before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, the poems explore the strangeness of isolation, complex variations of grief, the idiosyncrasies of modern dating and other snapshots of life both funny and sad. Josa Keyes performs her poetry regularly in London and elsewhere.

To celebrate its Publication Day

I'm delighted to able to share an exclusive poem today

Bird of Paradise

In their dating profiles

Human males afflict us
With selfies featuring urinals
Off-kilter up-nose poses

The tragic cliche that exposes
A lack of interest in giving joy.
Never has the divide between
The sexes seemed so wide.
The bird of paradise in contrast
Goes all out to catch the female's eye
Not for this gorgeous fellow
Greying T-shirts, cycling lycra
Ill-fitting wedding gear, something
With a stain. No, these chaps go
To endless pains to please their
Prospects. Elaborate plumage,
Bobs and swoops and pirouettes.
Stamping, if you can call an action
By that tiny foot such a forceful word.
The drab and cryptic girls just watch
And choose, based on his vigour
And the health of gorgeous feathers

That amplify his tiny nethers.
Men on dating apps could learn a lotia
From riflebird, sicklebill and parotia.

My thoughts..

Poetry is personal. If you merely scribble down a few words for your own personal reflection, or if, like Josa Keyes, you produce a comprehensive body of work, you still leave a little bit of your soul in the words you use to reflect your mood at the time of writing. 

My Love Life and Other Disasters is a well thought out bunch of poems, some of which were written during the COVID-19 pandemic whilst others were written before but collectively they all create a mood and a subtle ambiance which reflects life, and love, in all of its many guises.

The sixty poems which make up this collection range in length and intensity, some are made up of  just a few lines, whilst others are longer, some made me smile, like the nod towards Thomas Wyatt and Dylan Thomas, others made me nod my head in wry acknowledgement, and some, like A First Son, broke my heart into a million pieces. 

As I mentioned at the start, poetry is personal and I think in My Love Life and Other Disasters the author has poured her heart and soul into eloquently expressing her thoughts and emotions which sometimes feel raw and exposed. She writes very well, I've read her  novels, so I know how good a wordsmith she is, but in this collection I see a vulnerability and a letting down of defences,  and all credit to the author for letting us, the reader, glimpse a little bit of her soul in this thought-provoking poetry collection.

In this time of pandemic I think we are all searching for something to make sense of what has happened and, in fact, what is still happening in our world, and, I think, that  having a conduit for our emotions is therapeutic and in some instances can be life affirming.

My Love Life and Other Disasters is published and available from today.

About the Author

Josa Keyes (formerly Young) is a journalist, novelist, poet and content designer living in London. She has held senior editorial positions at Vogue and the Times, and other glossies and broadsheets. Her first novel, One Apple Tasted, was published by Elliot & Thompson in 2009. Her second, Sail Upon the Land, was long-listed for the Historical Novel Society Award in 2015. My Love Life & Other Disasters is her first poetry collection. With a BA from Cambridge, she took her Master's in Creative Writing at Brunel in 2019, supervised by Bernardine Evaristo. She achieved distinction and won the Arts & Humanities Faculty dissertation prize. She has been performing her poetry regularly in London since 2016.

Twitter @JosaKeyes

Website

Instagram @Josa.Keyes

Amazon UK

📖 Book Review ~ The Sewing Room Girl by Susanna Bavin

Allison & Busby
2018

My thanks to the author for my copy of this book

1892. When her beloved father dies, Juliet and her mother, the difficult but vulnerable Agnes, are left to fend for themselves. When Agnes lands a job as a seamstress for a titled family, things appear to be looking up. But just as the pair begin to find their feet, Juliet finds herself defenceless and alone.

Without her mother to protect her, Juliet becomes the victim of a traumatic incident and is left to face an impossible dilemma. She flees to Manchester seeking support from her estranged family but comes up against her formidable grandmother, who is determined to bend Juliet to her will. It will take all Juliet’s ingenuity to escape the clutches of her ruthless grandmother and make her own way in life.

📖 My thoughts...

Juliet Harper's life changes forever when her beloved father dies and she and her mother are made to leave the cottage which has been their home for years. Finding work as a seamstress in the home of the local gentry offers both Juliet, and her mother, some element of security but fate has a fickle way of interfering and Juliet finds, to her cost, that not everyone wants to see her succeed. Juliet's life is far from easy but with resilience of spirit and a willingness to learn she is determined to make the best of herself despite the many setbacks which seem to come her way.

The author writes with a real sense of purpose and brings the north of England to life in such a readable way that it is easy to become immersed in the life of all her characters some, it must be said, are more likeable than others. The late Victorian era comes alive particularly in describing Juliet's fascinating career as a seamstress, and shows in detail the social and moral restrictions which were placed upon unmarried women. Location is a real focus point of the novel and the intuitive way in which the author writes about the rich heritage of the North of England is what makes this such a fascinating story and a real page turner.

The Sewing Room Girl is a wonderfully evocative historical saga. Rich in detail and alive with tragedy, heartbreak and happiness, it is a story which is every bit as good as I knew it would be from this talented writer of historical fiction.

About the Author

Susanna Bavin has variously been an librarian, an infant school teacher, a carer and a cook. She  lives in Llandudno in North Wales but her writing is inspired by her Manchester roots.

Twitter @SusannaBavin

@AllisonandBusby

🍴 Sunday Brunch with Jaffareadstoo ~ Pam Billinge

 

On this quiet Sunday morning why don't you put the kettle on, make your favourite breakfast and settle down for Sunday Brunch with Jaffareadstoo

🍴I'm delighted to welcome Pam Billinge to our Sunday Brunch today🍴

🍴Welcome, Pam. What favourite food are you bringing to Sunday brunch?

In the summer time I will bring fresh strawberries and possibly early raspberries from my garden, and some of my friends’ amazing free range eggs.

 

🍴Would you like a pot of English breakfast tea, a strong Americano, or a glass of Bucks Fizz?

As this is a special occasion I will have a glass of bucks fizz please followed by a cappuccino with soya milk after brunch.

 

🍴Where shall we eat brunch – around the kitchen table, in the formal dining room, or outside on the patio? Definitely outside on the patio, assuming that it is a warm day!

Shall we have music playing in the background? And if so will you share with us a favourite song or piece of music that makes you happy?

 

If we are outside I would prefer to hear the birds singing and the bees buzzing, rather than have music.

🍴Which of your literary heroes (dead or alive) are joining us for Sunday Brunch today?

I have recently read Madeline Millers’ Circe, I would love to have her join us and bring with her the mystery and magic of the mythology she recreates.

 

🍴Which favourite book will you bring to Sunday Brunch?

Given my passion for horses it would have to be The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans.

 

🍴When you are writing do you still find time to read for pleasure? And is there a book you would like to read but haven’t had time for …yet!

Oh yes, I always have at least one or three books on the go! I read at bedtime, sometimes in the evening or when I first wake up. I find that it helps me stay in flow to read other peoples’ work.

 

🍴What’s the oldest book on your book shelf?

The oldest book on my shelf is actually an old family Bible. My mothers’ side of the family were from Wales - it is in Welsh and was first owned by my great great grandfather in the 1840s then handed down the generations. Needless to say I haven’t read it!

 

🍴Where do you find the inspiration for your novels?

My books are mostly memoir and I also include stories of the people who come to work with me and my wonderful herd - the inspiration comes from nature, in particular horses, the people I meet and what I have learned along the way during my own life. They are books which are really about helping the reader to find a way through the challenges they are facing, and to find comfort and inspiration.

 

🍴Have you a favourite place to settle down to write and do you find it easier to write in winter or summer?

I find it very easy to write when I am sitting on my patio, surrounded by birds singing, my horses grazing in the paddock nearby and probably my terriers and cat snoozing beside me. Of course the sun is not always shining, even where I live in France, so sometimes I also write in my office. Summer tends to be a season when my inspiration comes, I do a lot of reflection and journalling during this time. Winter, when it is cold and dark, is when I sit at my keyboard and do the really hard work of writing the words and the editing.

 

🍴When writing to a deadline are you easily distracted and if so how do you bring back focus on your writing?

No, I am able to stay focussed. I actually find it quite easy because I love writing so much and being in that quiet and calm place where it takes me. The important thing for me is to be clear from the moment that I get out of bed that I will write that day - all day.

 

🍴Give us four essential items that a writer absolutely needs?

A journal, a pen, a chair and a table. The journal must go everywhere with you, so you write at least something every day.

 

🍴What can you tell us about your latest novel or your current work in progress?

My books seem to ‘write themselves’. That is, what I start out intending to write doesn’t usually get written - it morphs into something which does want to be created. So it is difficult to give you a clear idea other than whatever it is will almost certainly be inspired by my life here in France.

 

Pam, where can we follow you on social media?

Twitter Pam Billinge @pam_billinge

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/spellofthehorse

Website https://www.pambillinge.com/blog-and-events/

More about Pam

Brought up in suburban Liverpool, the first horses Pam fell in love with were ridden by the mounted policemen she would see passing her house on the way to supervise football matches at Anfield. Little did she know, then, how these magnificent creatures would influence her adult life, leading not only to support her through a number of personal tragedies, but also to her pioneering work in horse-led psychotherapy and coaching and then as a writer and author.

The incredible power of horses as healers and teachers

When Pam became disillusioned with her stressful career in industry she set up as an independent coach and leadership consultant and trained as a body psychotherapist. It was during this time that her mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and Pam began to notice the way her horse responded to her emotional turmoil. Thus began an exploration into the true nature of the horse and their infinite capacity to help humans heal and deepen their sense of themselves.

Horses reveal our emotions

It was Pam’s desire to tell that tale which inspired her first book The Spell of the Horse. Through sharing her memoir and other stories inspired by the incredible interactions she has observed between horse and human, Pam reveals the true nature of the horse whilst delivering some simple principles to help the reader transcend life’s challenges to live with purpose, self-belief and joy.

During the process Pam discovered a passion and talent for writing and her second book The Spirit of the Horse was published in March 2021. Pam is now working on a third book.

Pam lives in North-west France where she runs her business Equest Limited www.equestlimited.co.uk providing horse-led learning programmes to a wide range of corporate clients, and a small private horse-led psychotherapy practise.

The Spell Of The Horse: Stories of Healing and Personal Transformation with Nature’s Finest Teachers

Paperback B Format ISBN 9780995473553.

The Spirit of the Horse: More Stories of Life, Love and Leadership

Paperback B Format ISBN 9781838278625

Thank you, Pam for taking part in Sunday Brunch with Jaffareadstoo.

Follow us on Twitter @jaffareadstoo #SundayBrunchwithJaffareadstoo

📖 Book Review ~ Rachel's Story by Leigh Russell

Bloodhound Books
April 2021

My thanks to the author for my copy of this book

In a world where food is scarce, the government rules, and ordinary people only exist to serve, can there ever be happiness?

As a child, living in a post-apocalyptic world, the only person Rachel can rely on is her mother. But when her mother is killed, Rachel is initiated into The Programme where selected young girls are medicated to make them fertile.

Fearing for her future, Rachel escapes. But freedom comes at a price and Rachel must navigate through a terrifying landscape of persecution to survive.

What is on the other side of the city wall? Will the repressive government hunt her down? One thing is certain. Rachel’s world will never be the same again..

My thoughts..

After a World Famine, Rachel's Story takes us into a post-apocalyptic world, where Guardians roam the streets and to be found without your food card is tantamount to a death sentence, for food is scarce in this new world and the pills, which maintain a healthy weight, are only given if you can show you have the right credentials. Being part of a mass underclass, Rachel and her mother eke out a meagre existence, but life is never safe, and when tragedy strikes, Rachel is moved into a facility known as The Programme, a sinister place where young females are medically reared to be fertile, in a world where fertility is compromised.

What then follows is a well written dystopian story which cleverly weaves two worlds together, that of the sinister world of The Guardians, and that of the shadowy exiles who follow a more clandestine existence. Rachel finds herself going from one world, to another, and it is this transition which the author explores in interesting detail. Creating a dystopian world isn't easy but I think the author has succeeded in bringing this strange place to life, and with Rachel as her lead protagonist we can travel alongside her as she strives to survive in a cruel world.

Dystopian fiction is a real change of direction for this talented author, who we are more used to seeing as the author of crime fiction, however, I think she has succeeded in creating a believable post-apocalyptic world,  and over time, as the series continues, I am sure we will see it go from strength to strength.

About the Author

Leigh Russell has written twenty-four novels so far, and her Geraldine Steel crime series has sold over a million copies. In addition to her crime series featuring detective Geraldine Steel, Leigh has written two trilogies and two stand alone psychological thrillers. Rachel’s Story is her first dystopian novel. Leigh chairs the judging panel for the Crime Writers Association’s prestigious Debut Dagger Award, and is a Consultant Fellow for the Royal Literary Fund.

Click here to read an interview with Leigh Russell as she talks about Rachel's story.

Twitter @LeighRussell

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