Little Egypt by Lesley Glaister

Little Egypt

by

Lesley Glaister

Twins Isis and Osiris are now in their 90s, living together in Little Egypt, the English manor house where they were born and brought up. Their names are a clue to their parents' near fetish for everything Egyptian. In fact this near fetish leads their parents to Egypt itself, in search of a big discovery back in the 1920s, demonstrating more enthusiasm than savvy. Having left the twins in the care of the housekeeper, they never return. Isis and Osiris are now bound to the house, tied not by love or memories but dark secrets that won't let go.


Another triumph for the supremely talented Lesley Glaister. I've read all her books, and a new one is a treat to look forward to. Little Egypt was well worth the wait, as original and atmospheric as her previous books, with brilliantly developed characters dealing with obsession, neglect and madness. I loved the descriptions of Egyptology, of which I knew nothing before, and the 1920s setting - described in flashbacks by the main character, Isis, now an old woman - was brought vividly to life. It's a deeply sinister tale in parts, and darkly humorous in others.

Hard to sum up in a way that will do the book justice, I can only recommend that you read it.

The Accident by C L Taylor

The Accident                                                         by C L Taylor                                                                                        

A gripping debut about the deadly secrets your children can keep …

Sue Jackson has the perfect family but when her teenage daughter Charlotte deliberately steps in front of a bus and ends up in a coma she is forced to face a very dark reality.

Retracing her daughter’s steps she finds a horrifying entry in Charlotte’s diary and is forced to head deep into Charlotte’s private world. In her hunt for evidence, Sue begins to mistrust everyone close to her daughter and she’s forced to look further, into the depths of her own past.

Sue will do anything to protect her daughter. But what if she is the reason that Charlotte is in danger?

I love psychological thrillers and couldn't wait to read this debut novel by C L Taylor - it didn't disappoint! I was drawn in from the first page and could barely put it down after that, desperate to find out why Sue's daughter, Charlotte, was in a coma - and to discover Sue's history too. Partly told in sometimes shocking flashbacks, the truth was gradually and cleverly revealed, building to a twist I didn't see coming - and I nearly always guess the twist. It's a gripping story, well-written and full of intrigue and suspense, and I was rooting for Sue - and Charlotte - all the way. 

I loved it. 

Thanks to Avon/HarperCollins for the preview copy.

Nearest Thing to Crazy by Elizabeth Forbes

The Nearest Thing to Crazy
Elizabeth Forbes

Dan and a group of his friends enjoy a Sunday lunch together on a perfect summer's day. They're pleased to welcome their glamorous new neighbour and novelist, Ellie, who has rented a house in the village to work on her book. She likes to place herself in the centre of her plots, she says, although it's hard to see what she'll find to write about in this quiet country backwater. As Ellie slots effortlessly into the village social scene, Dan's wife begins to feel increasingly alienated from her friends and isolated from her family, but, for the life of her, she can't fathom why..

I saw a recommendation for this novel on Facebook and I'm so glad I ordered a copy as it turned out to be one of the best things I've read this year. An all too believable situation, brilliantly played out. I was setting my alarm early every morning, which I only do when I've a book I don't want to put down! Gripping and twisty, at times I thought I knew what was going on and then I wasn't so sure. Fantastically well-written and cleverly put together, the story stayed with me long after I'd finished reading - always a good sign.

Can't wait to read more from this author.

The White Cuckoo by Annie Ireson

The White Cuckoo

Annie Ireson


When twenty-seven year old Tamasyn Hargreaves travels to the heart of Northamptonshire to fulfill a deathbed promise to her mother, she soon begins to sense that something surreal and supernatural has drawn her there.

Who are the strange children she keeps bumping into? What secrets are concealed within the contents of a box of memorabilia she is given? Why does she look uncannily like a photograph of Jessie Smith, who gave birth prematurely in 1910 after being raped by a nobleman?

As Tammy reveals shocking secrets about her own family, she soon realises she must resolve the mysteries of the past before she can keep her promise to her mother.

The White Cuckoo is a story of two women whose lives connect through time. Is destiny just the past, rewritten?


From the opening chapter I was hooked into this beautifully written novel. I was right there with adolescent Harry and young Jess in the woods, as she goes into labour, rooting for them to find a way to survive.

The story starts and finishes in 1910 and the period detail brings the era vividly to life, but the modern day setting that makes up the bulk of the story is just as evocative. I liked the intriguing - and rather chilling - supernatural element, and all the characters are well-drawn - especially Tammy. I was absorbed into her life to the point where I didn't want the book to end. Some wonderful lines too ... Her lovely, gentle, wooden Dad, captured in his dark icy orbit of grief and loneliness. She flinched with the weight of knowing that she was his sun. Fantastic.

I really enjoy novels that cover big themes of family secrets, lies and divided loyalties and destiny, and how the past affects the present, and the author has handled them skillfully, pulling all the strands together in a deeply satisfying way.

The September Garden by Catherine Law

Nell got up and walked away from the unmarked grave, glancing back just once over her shoulder. I will be home soon. Cousins Sylvie and Nell have always been rivals. But when the Nazi occupation of France maroons Sylvie with Nell 's family, the girls grow up quickly in the early days of rationing, black-outs and the arrival of RAF planes in the skies overhead. Circumstances throw both girls into the path of the same man, and the machinations of war change the course of all their lives, with devasating consequences.






The September Garden
by Catherine Law

I love being transported to another era, and particularly like stories set during wartime. I was drawn to this novel as it's partly based in the area where I live, which for me added an extra layer of enjoyment. Apart from that, The September Garden is a beautifully written romance set against a well-researched backdrop of German occupation, collaboration, rationing and family rivalry.  It's a well-crafted, atmospheric and entertaining read and I'll be looking out for more novels from Catherine in the future - wherever they're set.

Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma by Kerry Hudson

Tony Hogan tells the story of a Scottish childhood of filthy council flats and B&Bs, screeching women, feckless men, fags and booze and drugs, the dole queue and bread and marge sandwiches. It is also the story of an irresistible, irrepressible heroine, a dysfunctional family you can't help but adore, the absurdities of the eighties and the fierce bonds that tie people together no matter what. Told in an arrestingly original -- and cry-out-loud funny -- voice, it launches itself headlong into the middle of one of life's great fights, between the pull of the past and the freedom of the future. And Janie Ryan, born and bred for combat, is ready to win.

Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-cream Float Before He Stole my Ma

by

Kerry Hudson

I loved this beautifully written, sharply observed novel.  Despite the mostly grim circumstances of the feisty heroine, Janie Ryan, there was plenty of humour throughout.  Janie is an original and engaging voice, easy to warm to, and it was interesting (and horrifying in parts) to read a story about people on the outskirts of society - the sort of people we perhaps turn away from in real life, and feel uncomfortable being around. 

The Yarmouth setting is well-observed and the relationships, though flawed, are warm and believable, especially between daughter and mum.  You'll be rooting for Janie from the word go.

Tony Hogan is gritty and gripping, funny and moving, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for something a little bit different.

Some great references to 80s music too!

.

Florence & Giles by John Harding

1891. In a crumbling New England mansion, 12 year-old orphan Florence and her young brother Giles are neglected by their guardian uncle. Banned from reading, Florence devours books in secret, and twists words and phrases into a language uniquely her own. After the violent death of the children’s first governess, a second arrives. Florence becomes convinced she is a vengeful and malevolent spirit who means to do Giles harm. against a powerful enemy, with no adult to turn to for help, Florence will need all her intelligence and ingenuity to save Giles and preserve her private world.

Florence & Giles
by
John Harding

I've just finished listening the the audio version of Florence and Giles in the car, and it took me a moment to come back down to earth (how I managed to listen and concentrate on driving at the same time I don't know!)

I've been listening to novels for a couple of years now, and so much depends on the narrator I've occasionally given up, but Laurence Bouvard so perfectly captured the essence of Florence - and even the male characters, including her brother Giles and friend, Theo - that I was immediately pulled into the story and didn't want to leave - cue lots of extra driving!

The suspense was perfectly pitched, and the house and the people in it brought wonderfully to life. I felt like I was there with Florence, running down corridors and finding my way to the library or her 'secret' tower overlooking the drive, where she read her books and waited for Theo to visit. 

Florence's original style of talking and thinking wasn't at all overdone and was totally inkeeping with her character, adding to the novel's wonderful, dark and gothic uniqueness - though there are some lovely touches of humour throughout the book.

The sense of mystery concerning her background, and the disappearance of their first governess, soon had me wondering if things weren't quite as they seemed, and without giving too much away I have to say that the ending shivered me quite.

I've actually read a previous book by John Harding called What We Did on Our Holiday, which I loved, but this couldn't be more different, and I'm now eagerly awaiting something else from this author.

Home for Christmas by Cally Taylor

Home for Christmas
by Cally Taylor

Beth Prince has always loved fairytales and now, aged twenty-four, she feels like she’s finally on the verge of her own happily ever after. She lives by the seaside, works in the Picturebox – a charming but rundown independent cinema – and has a boyfriend who’s so debonair and charming she can’t believe her luck! There’s just one problem – none of her boyfriends have ever told her they love her and it doesn’t look like Aiden’s going to say it any time soon. Desperate to hear ‘I love you’ for the first time Beth takes matters into her own hands – and instantly wishes she hadn’t. Just when it seems like her luck can’t get any worse, bad news arrives in the devilishly handsome shape of Matt Jones. Matt is the regional director of a multiplex cinema and he’s determined to get his hands on the Picturebox by Christmas. Can Beth keep her job, her man and her home or is her romantic-comedy life about to turn into a disaster movie?


I finished reading Home for Christmas last night, and am still feeling the nice warm glow that it left. Beth and Matt are so lovely and believable it was a pleasure spending time with them, and by the end of the book I felt like they were my friends.

The story is written from both points of view, which I really like as I enjoy getting into the character's heads, and Cally Taylor's done a great job of being a 'bloke'!

I'm a fan of independent cinemas - there's a beautiful art-deco one near where I live - and I particularly loved the plot about the Picturebox where Beth works, which is due to be sold to a big chain company, and found myself hoping it wasn't going to happen.

The story is set in Brighton and the wonderful descriptions really brought it to life - it's clear the author has a genuine love for the place.

Home for Christmas is a fantastic, heart-warming read with a wonderful cast of characters, plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and some that made me cry, and despite the title it can - and SHOULD - be read any time, anywhere.

Highly recommended.

This review appears on Amazon

Then by Julie Myerson

Then
by Julie Myerson

It was 9.22, the moment when everything stopped. First there was the burning air, then came the darkness, the fire, and finally the frost. Now, in a frozen, wasted London, a woman – uncertain even of her own name – is fighting to stay alive. Along with a small group of fellow survivors, she takes refuge in an abandoned skyscraper in what was once the financial centre. But spectres stalk the empty offices and endless corridors, and soon visions of a forgotten world emerge, a world of broken love and betrayal, and horrific, shocking mercies – a world more traumatic even than the desolate present.

It's a tribute to the power of Julie Myserson's atmospheric writing that this book scared the bejaysus out of me. Not in a creepy/horror/ghosty/blood and guts kind of way, but in the sense of I can totally imagine this has happened. And I really don't want to.

At times it's hard to work out what's actually happened and what's imaginary as the story flashes between past and present, and I was compelled to keep reading, drawn completely into Izzy's life. It's a bleak and devastating read at times, but there are flashes of humour here and there and the ending packs an emotional punch that stayed with me for days afterwards.

HIGHLY recommended.

Far to Go by Alison Pick

Far to Go
by Alison Pick

From the jacket:

Czechoslovakia, 1939

Pavel and Anneliese Bauer, much like any other affluent Czech family, dote on the six-year-old son, Pepik, and enjoy a life of domestic comfort. Their nanny, Marta could not adore Pepik more. But as rumours of the Nazi threat, and then German troops, reach their corner of Sudetenland, this charmed existence is turned on its head: for all that the Bauers barely consider themselves Jewish, their lives are now in danger.

I enjoy stories set during this period, and Far to Go is one of those that stays with you long after you've finished reading it.

It's all the more interesting for being based on Alison's own grandparents, who fled their native Czechoslovakia for Canada during the Second World War.

The story's primarily told through the eyes of Pepik's nanny, Marta, and a present-day Holocaust archivist, and it highlighted a role I knew nothing about before: that of the Kindertransport, and the role it played in taking Jewish children (almost 10,000 of them) away from areas occupied by Nazis to the safety of British households. I read later that most of them survived, and a few were even reunited with their parents.

There's a feeling of sadness throughout the book that makes it hard to read at times - it's a dark time in history and you sense there's not going to be a happy ending - but it's part-thriller too and keeps you turning the pages.

Ultimately Far To Go is a story of love, family and loyalty and the characters, though flawed, are well-drawn and realistic and the writing is beautiful.

Alison is also a successful poet, and it shows!