Author: thelotusreaders

Hello, I am Hayley and I run Lotus Writing Therapy and The Lotus Readers blog. I am a counsellor, workshop facilitator and avid reader.
Posted in Personal Purchase

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

Posted on by thelotusreaders

“When the house was complete, in February of 1870, Eleanor Starling took up residence and stayed there until her death in 1886. There is substantial evidence that she devoted the remaining years of her life to the study of the place she later called “Underland.” She believed, according to the notes and journals found by her successors, that there was another world beneath, or maybe beside, our own—a terrible, vicious world, populated by monstrous beings. She believed that there were cracks between that world and our own, places where things might leak through, and that one of these rifts lay underneath Eden, Kentucky.”

Starling House sits on Starling land and can’t be fully seen from the roadside, except for a pair of iron gates that are so intricate and sinuous it wouldn’t be a surprise if they started to move and become a living, writhing being. Opal passes the house daily as she takes a short cut from one of her jobs to another and she’s intrigued by the house, especially the one amber lit window, high up in the attic room. There she imagines Eleanor Starling, living the solitary life of an author trying to follow up their first extraordinary book. Opal loved Eleanor’s children’s book Underland described as a much darker Alice in Wonderland where a girl called Nell is under the ground with a weird array of beasts (all of which look like a member of the animal kingdom, but at the same time not at all). Opal’s life is a gruelling slog from the motel room she shares with brother Jasper, to her cleaning jobs then back to supervise homework and share their measly evening meal. It only takes one small difference in their routine to shake everything up and bring huge change to their lives. Opal pauses her route home and stops at the iron gates of Starling House. She holds on to the iron, but immediately finds her hand is slick with blood. More disturbingly, she feels the gates give, almost as if her blood is the key. She looks up to see that a tall, thin and rather bedraggled man has appeared in front of her. He looks her in the eye and says one word. Run!

[The town] “liked the Starlings even less. They’re considered eccentrics and misanthropes, a family of dubious origin that has refused for generations to participate in the most basic elements of Eden’s civil society (church, public school, bake sales for the volunteer fire department), choosing instead to stay holed up in that grand house. […] It’s generally hoped that both they and their house will fall into a sinkhole and rot at the bottom, neither mourned nor remembered, and—perhaps—release the town from its century-long curse.”

Arthur, the bedraggled man, is the current Starling living in the house and it isn’t long before Opal is drawn back into his presence. Arthur seems to be torn. He’s drawn to Opal, but so is the house. It seems unfair to strike up a friendship with her knowing that the house wants her and what that will mean for her life. Yet he asks her if she will clean for him and offers enough money that Opal can’t refuse. He is concerned about this flame haired waif that is now in his midst and he can’t help but offer her a winter coat, then his old truck. Are these genuine gifts, or is Arthur trying to assuage his guilt for doing the house’s bidding? The house almost seems to sigh and settle as Opal cares for it, like a cat stretching with pleasure when stroked. She does wonder about the crude symbols scratched into the wooden doors, that match Arthur’s tattoos. Every conceivable symbol to ward off evil is either scratched, painted or hung around the house. How do you ward off something that strikes from within? Opal is then approached by a woman in a suit, who seems to know a lot about Opal and the Starling House. She wants Opal to take photographs and pass on information from the inside of the house. Firstly she seems like any old local official, but becomes more sinister when Opal is reluctant to help, finally making threats against Jasper. Now she has no choice, but she’s surprised by her own emotions; it’s harder to betray Arthur Starling than she expected. Is it really the house she’s drawn to, or is it Arthur?

“Eleanor Starling left no record of why she built such a vast and strange house, but the oldest and best-loved book in her collection was a copy of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It has been suggested by subsequent Starlings that she was not building a house but a labyrinth, for much the same reason the King of Crete once did: to protect the world from the thing that lived inside it.”

Opal isn’t easily afraid and I knew, just from that opening, she wasn’t done with Starling House. More to the point, the house isn’t done with her. I admired this plucky girl who is only just getting by in life and does everything for her brother Jasper. She desperately wants him to get away from Eden, Kentucky, because he has so much talent but also because nobody with any sense stays in Eden. She is saving for the fees of a private school she has seen, somewhere that would give him prospects and he would meet the right sort of people. She’s so set on this plan, she hasn’t bothered to ask what Jasper wants. Her heart is in the right place though. She doesn’t love many things, but when she does Opal loves like she does everything else – fiercely. Her existence is all work, striving just to survive but Opal is so intelligent, in fact one of the only places in town she visits religiously is the library. The librarian Charlotte is perhaps the closest thing to a friend she has. The truth is that Opal feels enormous guilt over the terrible car accident that killed their mother and what she sees as the decision she made to survive:

“ I’m fifteen and cold water is pouring through the windshield. The glove box is open, spewing pill bottles and plastic utensils. Mom is beside me, her limbs drifting gently, her hair tangling with the tacky dream catcher she pinned to the car roof. I’m reaching for her hand and her fingers are slick and limp as minnows and I might be screaming—Mom, come on, Mom—but the words can’t make it past the river? Then it goes very quiet and very dark. I don’t remember letting go of her hand, but I must have done it. I must have crossed her name off the list in my head and swum for the surface, abandoning her to the river bottom.”

I loved the psychological aspects of the story. The house has an identity and it knows who has the right stuff to live there and keep up the fight. I wondered whether the monsters were real or a manifestation of the occupant’s mental state. The thought of the monsters in our heads being able to run free in the world is definitely a terrifying one. The author builds the two worlds within the novel with contrasting techniques: short, blunt descriptions create Eden with it’s power plant and functional buildings, whereas Starling House and it’s labyrinthine tunnels are given long, descriptive passages that bring it to life. If something in Opal or Eleanor’s world is inexplicable she allows it to be unfinished or confused. Some of the monsters are beautifully described as ‘like a cat, but not quite’ or other strange combination that leaves gaps in the image for the reader to fill with their own imagination. This is an author that knows, the things we can’t see or comprehend are the most frightening.

When we finally get to Eleanor’s life story it is disturbing and sad, showing how unresolved trauma can project outwards into something monstrous. There’s a feminist thread here too in the truth about Eleanor’s life with the Gravely men and Opal recognition that her mother was shunned by the town, not just for liking sex but for not being sorry about it. In a reversal of the usual damsel in distress story, Opal is the architect of her own life and is determined to rid Starling House of it’s monsters and save Arthur. I was biting my nails in the final chapters, desperately wanting her to succeed! I’ve never doubted Alix E. Harrow’s talent or imagination. I’ve been a fan since her first novel, but this is her best yet. I’ve been reading that it’s a reimagining of Beauty and the Beast, and I can see that. However, Underland felt like the very darkest Alice in Wonderland to me. In both cases, all the ‘Disney-fied’ prettiness has been swept away. In it’s place are monsters that defy all description and a love story that’s more swords and thorns than hearts and flowers. It’s an absolute feast for the imagination and the perfect dark fantasy read for October.

Posted in Publisher Proof

Bone Rites by Natalie Bailey

Posted on by thelotusreaders

“I collected the first bone when I was twelve… Such a tiny little bone, more like a tooth. I only kept it to keep him safe.” Kathryn Darkling, imprisoned in Holloway, is facing death by hanging for her vengeance killing. Haunted by a spirit, she still hopes to perform the ancient black magic that will free her soul, or her struggle to punish the mighty will have been in vain. Will the love of her life come to her aid? Or can she find a way to escape her fate?

Bone Rites is a dual timeline story, split between the early 1900s and 1925 when Kathryn Darkling is in Holloway, the women’s prison, where she awaits the date of her own execution, by hanging. While waiting Kathryn starts to tell her story to a priest, assigned to hear her final words and offer solace as she awaits death. She begins with the first time she found a bone and performed a rite, then works her way through to her training as a doctor in Edinburgh. All the while she is developing her practice of performing bone rites, a black magic focused on freeing her soul. As she tells the stories of her bones, I started to wonder about her version of events. Clearly she’s an incredibly intelligent and determined woman and I admired that, but should I be taking the owned of a convicted murderer? Is she a reliable narrator? She seems to be slipping into madness as the tale goes, but does that mean everything she’s telling us is a lie? The thing I most enjoyed was getting inside Kathryn’s head and trying to work out what makes her tick, rather like holding a counselling session with this imaginary character. As we drifted back into her early childhood, I became won over by this obstinate little girl who won’t be deterred from her purpose. We learn about how tough her upbringing was, alongside her little brother Freddie. I love a dark story with a sense of foreboding and I thought this was perfectly pitched for a Halloween read. It’s not a traditional ghost story but Kathryn is certainly haunted, like many of us are by our pasts. I thought the book perfectly fitted it’s timelines, one before and one after WW1 considering how much change and trauma happened in-between. I also enjoyed the LGBTQ+ representation in the novel, it’s fascinating when authors ‘write back’ to a time where minority groups are under represented. All in all this was a well- written piece of historical fiction with a rather macabre edge and an admirable heroine.

Out on Nov 1st from Aurora Metro Books

Meet the Author

Natalie Bayley is author of ‘Bone Rites’, ‘Lolita’s Daughter’, ‘The Secret Life of Grandmothers’, ‘The Witch Who Saved Paris’ and ‘The Lady Lyttle Murder Mystery’ series. Her dark thriller ‘Bone Rites’ was selected for the 2019 Blue Pencil long list, went on to be shortlisted for the 2021 Blue Pencil First Novel Award and was long listed for the 2021 Caledonia prize before becoming the Winner of the Virginia Prize for Fiction. Natalie lives in NSW, Australia and enjoys ocean swimming and whispering to cats. Born in the UK, she’s been in sunny Australia since 2000. Her books are always about justice and how a seemingly powerless underdog can always find a way to fight back. My spooky historical fiction novel, BONE RITES, won the prestigious Virginia Prize for Fiction and is being published by Aurora Metro books October 2023. Enjoy!

Posted in Random Things Tours

Mr Hammond and the Poetic Apprentice

Posted on by thelotusreaders

What were our great poets before they were great? Long-time NHS doctor Mellany Ambrose has penned a historical novel about the time John Keats spent training in medicine before he chose to follow poetry. She discovered Keats had been apprenticed to an apothecary surgeon a few miles away from where she was working as a GP and it sparked her curiosity.


“Why hadn’t he become a doctor? How would such a supposedly sensitive individual react to the horrors of medicine in an era with no anaesthesia, antibiotics or antisepsis?” Mellany asks, explaining, “I’d struggled in our modern era; his was far worse. In my first week as a nineteen-year-old medical student, I had to dissect a body. I felt unable to process the shock and enormity of it and wrote a poem to help me cope. Did he write poems to express his emotions as I had? And what would it have been like to have the young Keats as your apprentice?”


The story is set in 1814. Thomas Hammond is an apothecary surgeon whose apprentice is eighteen-year-old local orphan, John Keats. Thomas sees John as a daydreamer who wastes time reading. Thomas failed to save John’s mother four years earlier, and when John criticises Thomas’s methods tempers flare on both sides. Despite their differences, Thomas and John begin to develop a grudging respect for each other with Thomas seeing a humanity in the way John relates to patients. Their relationship deepens into one more resembling father and son while Thomas’s true son, Edward, disappoints his father. Thomas realises John is gifted and would make a skilled surgeon, but to help John succeed Thomas must confront his own past mistakes. On the verge of qualifying as a surgeon, John unexpectedly abandons medicine for poetry, ending all Thomas’s hopes. Thomas is devastated and struggles to find meaning in his life and work. As he faces one final challenge, can the master learn some valuable lessons about life from his poetic apprentice before it’s too late?

Out now from Troubadour Publishing

Meet the Author

I worked as a hospital doctor and general practitioner in the NHS for nearly 30 years. My interest in Keats’s medical career arose when I discovered he’d trained as an apprentice close to where I was working as a GP. I spent many happy hours researching in the British and Wellcome Libraries and visiting sites related to Keats’s life and Georgian era medicine.

 

See my website mellanyambrose.com for more on Keats and the history of medicine

Instagram @mellanyambrose

Twitter @mellanyambrose

Posted in Netgalley

The Hidden Years by Rachel Hore

Posted on by thelotusreaders

The Hidden Years is a tender-hearted and bitter sweet tale about how life can take unexpected turns. In fact John Lennon was right, life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. She also explores how patterns emerge in life: we might find ourselves unconsciously choosing a path that repeats a pattern or takes us to somewhere that has a hidden importance in our lives. Belle has done something very impulsive. From the moment she met Gray they had a connection and now he’s invited her to Silverwood, a mansion next to the Helford River, where a group of his friends are living a different life. They are a creative collective, living as self-sufficiently as possible but dependent on the kindness of the house’s owner. Luckily he’s very fond of his nephew Arlo, one of the residents at Silverwood. As she leaves university and misses her exams for this uncertain life she has no idea that Silverwood holds secrets and some of them are quite close to home.

The author tells her story through a dual timeline; Belle’s story set in the 1960’s and then Imogen’s story, a young woman who visits Cornwall in the 1940’s. Imogen has been working for an agency that secures placements for young women who work with children. It’s mid- WW2 and Imogen is tasked with taking two young brothers down to Silverwood, a boy’s boarding school in beautiful and relatively safe surroundings. She soon finds out that life can change in an instant when she’s asked to temporarily for the school’s Matron who has fallen ill. Imogen takes the booking and finds she loves working with the young boys in the sick bay, feeling unwell and far from home. So, when she’s offered the chance to stay on she decides to take a chance and loves her work. She also makes friends with one of the teachers, Ned. They explore Cornwall on their days off and as the war comes ever closer Imogen makes the huge choice to serve her country, by training in nursing at a hospital in Truro. A bomb narrowly missing the school pushes her to use the skills she’s gained for the war effort. Meanwhile in the 1960’s Belle settles into life at Silverwood with Gray’s friends, trying to help out where she can and joining in with meditation sessions where the incense is more than a bit potent. She’s drawn naturally to Mrs Kitto, a lady of her parent’s generation who lives in a cottage on the estate. She’s slightly taken aback by Belle, because she reminds her of someone she once knew. Their afternoon visits become story sessions as Mrs Kitto tells Belle about a woman she used to know, back in the war.

I enjoyed both sections of this lovely story. Often with dual timelines the novel suffers because one narrative is much stronger than the other. Here I thought the author got the balance just about right. Since Imogen’s story is set during WW2 there’s obviously heightened drama and the decisions made can be life and death. However, I think the differences in the timelines complimented each other. The difference in moral expectations and behaviour is huge. There’s also a difference in how people make choices, creating a huge generation gap like the one between Belle and her parents. The fact that she leaves uni with her lover and is clearly living with him at Silverwood is difficult for her parents to understand and would have been unthinkable in the 1940’s when they were Belle’s age. It would be understandable to think that the 1960’s characters have it so much easier compared with their parents. Yet I could empathise with Belle, in fact without WW2 her generation wouldn’t have the freedom to make choices in the same way. Her father has high expectations for her and he wants her to buckle down and make life choices. After all, his generation had to lay their lives and their hearts on the line with often very little understanding of the person they were making promises to. Belle’s not quite ready to make a choice. Should Belle follow duty, when she could be an idealist and follow her heart? Singing with Gray’s folk band The Witchers comes very naturally to her when she’s got over her nerves. There are so many opportunities, how do you know which is the right path?

Imogen is doing her duty in her working life, but her heart is torn. She has a best friend in Ned. They love the same things, they’re comfortable together and have a similar outlook in life. She knows he’s starting to feel more for her than friendship, but also teaching at Silverwood is the rather enigmatic Oliver Dalton and there’s an immediate frisson between them. Although they don’t spend any time together, the pull towards him is hard to resist. When they finally do get a chance to spend time together during her work in Truro, could their spark develop into something more lasting? I found myself rooting for Ned, because he’s so kind and supportive. I thought they’d make a great team. There’s no denying her attraction to Oliver, but he’s more of a closed book and I felt life with him might be more turbulent. Which way would she choose?

I know this area of Cornwall well and it was very easy to imagine myself there as the author explores the scenery. The area was a Mecca for artists in the 1960’s and I loved the ideas that the Silverwood residents had for the place. It’s ripe to be an artistic retreat, offering creative and self- care workshops such as meditation. It’s such a now idea that I wanted to do it myself. I thought it was interesting how Belle reacted to these ideas, making decisions about which parts she’s supports and which isn’t for her. She’s intervened with one resident’s treatment of her son and calls an ambulance rather than watching her continue with homeopathic medicines and see the boy suffer, or perhaps die. That takes bravery and faith in her own convictions. When her family turn up in Cornwall will she get the space she needs to work out what’s best for her. As to Mrs Kitto, how does her story connect to Belle and what impact will this wartime story have on her choice? The historical detail shone through and seeing through Imogen’s eyes the arrival of the American soldiers, the preparations along the Cornish coastline for the D-Day landings and the bombing of Truro really does bring it alive. There’s a realisation that we’re all the product of our experiences and trauma can take a long time to heal, even several generations. I thought this was such such a bittersweet ending and it left me feeling a bit autumnal, sort of melancholy but glad for the experiences of love both women had known.

Out now in hardback from Simon and Schuster U.K.

Meet the Author

I came to writing quite late, after a career editing fiction at HarperCollins in London. My husband and I had moved out to Norwich with our three young sons and I’d had to give up my job and writing was something that I’d always wanted to try. I originally studied history, so it was wonderful finally to put my knowledge to good use and to write The Dream House, which is partly set in the 1920s in Suffolk and London.

Most of my novels are dual narrative, often called ‘time slip’, with a story in the present alternating with one set in the past. I love the freedom that they give me to escape into the past, but also the dramatic ways in which the stories interact. My characters are often trying to solve some mystery about the past and by doing so to resolve some difficulty or puzzle in their own lives.

The books often involve a lot of research and this takes me down all sorts of interesting paths. For The Glass Painter’s Daughter I took an evening class in working with coloured glass. My creations were not very amazing, but making them gave me insight into the processes so that my characters’ activities would feel authentic. For A Week in Paris I had to research Paris in World War II and the early 1960s through films and books and by visiting the city – that was a great deal of work for one novel. Last Letter Home involved me touring a lot of country houses with old walled kitchen gardens in search of atmosphere and to explore the different kinds of plants grown there.

Places often inspire my stories. The Memory Garden, my second novel, is set in one of my favourite places in the world – Lamorna Cove in Cornwall – which is accessed through a lovely hidden valley. A Place of Secrets is set in a remote part of North Norfolk near Holt, where past and present seem to meet. Southwold in Suffolk, a characterful old-fashioned seaside resort with a harbour and a lighthouse, has been a much loved destination for our family holidays and has made an appearance in fictional guise in several of my novels, including The Silent Tide and The Love Child.

Until recently I taught Publishing and Creative Writing part-time at the University of East Anglia, but now I’m a full-time writer, which felt like a bit step. My boys are all grown up now and finding their way in the world, but we still see a lot of them. My husband David is a writer, too (he writes as D.J. Taylor), so we understand each other’s working lives.

I find I have to have a regular routine with my writing, not least to keep the book in my head. My aim is to sit down at 9am every morning and write till lunchtime, then again the afternoon, but there is often something ready to interrupt this, not least our Labrador girl Zelda, so I go with the flow.

I hope that you are able to find my books easily and enjoy them – I am always happy to hear from readers!

Taken from Rachel’s Amazon author page on 18th Oct 23.

Posted in Netgalley

The Haunting in the Arctic by C.J.Cooke

Posted on by thelotusreaders

All I could say after reading the final sentence of the book was WOW! I couldn’t stop reading, the housework is completely neglected and I even forgot to eat lunch! Yes, I read this in 24 hours. This is the absolute best of her novels and I’ve enjoyed them all.

Dominique is making her way through Iceland to an old whaling ship called the Ormen. Stranded in a bay, the ship is going to be sunk out at sea and Dom wants to document it before it disappears from view together. Ormen was an unusual whaling ship being a sail and steam hybrid that became beached in the early days of the 20th Century near the small village of turf houses called Skúmaskot. When she reaches the ship she sets about turning the cabin into a base to explore from and puts up her tent. There’s one door in the ship that she wonders about, it’s made of carved oak and when she touched the handle it emitted such a feeling of evil she was taken aback. As she settles, she hears someone walking about on deck and she realises she’s not alone. Three more explorers join her – Jens, Samara and Leo. They have more up to date equipment and soon the four are documenting the ship and their discoveries as well as Leo’s parkour sessions. The questions start to mount though, is she wrong or are the other three suspicious or even slightly scared of her? What are the strange noises she can hear – banging could be gunfire or chains banging against the ship? There’s also a strange mix of footsteps and dragging something heavy in a steady rhythm. Who is the woman in the dress that she’s seen standing in the shallows? This is a strange place where light is limited, the village is deserted and there is a strange stone throne by the beach, said to be a Mermaid’s Throne. These are not Disney mermaids though, these mermaids have teeth and a song that will lure a man to his death.

There are different types of haunting in this tale. I could see examples of my own theory of hauntings in the woman seen by the edge of the sea. She feels like an imprint on the landscape. A place where heightened emotion and terrible events have left such a strong imprint that defies time. The sounds also seem to come from another place, a repetitive echo from time past. This is what I call a proper ghost story. It isn’t gory or a slasher’s tale, it’s old-fashioned creepy and blended beautifully with local folklore. The ship is from Scotland and this is where the folklore of selkies comes from, a race of seal women who have a dual nature. They can be nurturing and helpful, such as saving a child who’s in trouble in the sea. They can communicate with other aquatic creatures and assume a human form when on land. However, selkies can also be seductive luring men to her and often having hybrid children. At their worst Selkies can be violent and vengeful, but their need for revenge gives us a clue about why; people seeking revenge have usually been wronged in some way. Mermaids are also depicted as sirens, luring ships and men with their singing and often thought to lure ships onto the rocks. However, there is also a terrible element of coercion in their mythology, stories where a man steals an item from the mermaid and while he has that item in his possession she belongs to him and lives as his wife. If she finds the object the spell is broken and she can return to the sea. Of course in the fairy tale we have a mermaid who has to choose between her land and sea lives, she can have love but to have legs she must suffer excruciating pain and she can never use her voice. It’s a hard price to pay. Icelandic mermaids have all these qualities, but use their seductive charms to lure sailors to their deaths – a nice reversal of their capture by human men. The author describes Icelandic mermaids as having rows of pointed teeth too. There’s a sense of devouring their enemies, particularly those who have wronged them. Is this Nicky’s end?

I loved the tension between the group of four on the Ormen. Samara seems fine with Dom, but then she overhears a conversation with Leo where Samara seems terrified of her. She talks about ‘this time’ being different, but Dom can’t remember meeting them before. I loved this mix of psychological tension, the real dangers of the landscape around them and then the truth of what has happened to the previous crew of the ship and previous explorers who’ve also left their echoes here. I sensed a possible kinship between Jens and Dom, almost as if he already knew her. I was scared of Leo. There’s so much nervous energy in him, a rage running just under the surface that I feared might ignite at any point. Yet they’re also dependent on each other for their survival creating what feels like a truce between them, but how can a truce exist if they’ve never met? There are so many strange happenings, such as Dom’s dream of ponies running off a cliff followed by finding the skeletons of Icelandic ponies in a deep cave. I loved the bits of magic realism, such as Nicky’s leg. Everything about the voyage from Scotland is historically accurate and gives us such an incredible sense of place I can see it. However, Nicky’s broken ankle and wound start to heal in an usual way. She notices the grey colour of her newly healing skin and thinks she has an infection. The sensation is altered too, feeling rubbery and a little cold. As time goes on this patch of skin grows and she’s aware that the gap between her legs is becoming webbed. Could her legs be joining together? This could be a magical sort of protection against the assaults she suffers on a daily basis. It could also be a transformation. As the past starts to inform Dominique’s present I couldn’t leave the story and I was left with the worst kind of book hangover where I was stuck in the world and the feeling of the ending. It’s taken me two days to start another book but I can’t stop thinking about this one. In fact I’m already thinking about reading it again, a bit like watching The Sixth Sense again once you know the twist. This is a dark, disturbing ghost story of hauntings but also about the worst things human beings can do to one another, particularly men against women and the extraordinary ways they exact their revenge.

Out in Hardback now from Harper Collins

C J Cooke (Carolyn Jess-Cooke) lives in Glasgow with her husband and four children. C J Cooke’s works have been published in 23 languages and have won many awards. She holds a PhD in Literature from the Queen’s University of Belfast and is currently Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow, where she researches creative writing interventions for mental health. Two of her books are currently optioned for film. Visit http://www.cjcookeauthor.com

Posted in Netgalley

The Little Venice Bookshop by Rebecca Raisin

Posted on by thelotusreaders

A bundle of mysterious letters, a trip to Venice, and a journey that will leave a lasting impression.

When Luna loses her beloved mother, it feels as if she’s lost her identity She’s rootless and can’t ground herself. Once she has these doubts, she’s begins to question everything around her. They have enjoyed a rather nomadic way of living up till now, probably because home has been where her mother was, but as she tries to cope with grief, the lack of roots is a struggle.The discovery of a collection of letters in her mother’s possessions seems to signal the way forward and she embarks on a most unexpected adventure. Taking clues from the letters, Luna travels to Venice, in the hope of unraveling her mother’s mysterious past. Maybe if she finds the answers, she might find her own place in the world.

I love Venice. I’ve been lucky enough to spend two weeks there, once in the spring and then a couple of years later in the winter when it actually snowed. I actually travelled with my mum the first time and it was wonderful to see this place we’d always dreamt about come to life in front of our eyes. Venice is obviously a place of wonder, but it’s also got a spooky edge that’s been explored in literature many times. This is more of a ‘cozy’ Venice and I think the cute cover really sets the tone for that. It focuses on the quaint and romantic side of the city, so it’s an easy read, but enjoyable nevertheless. The bookshop is a lovely setting for the story and the rather grumpy owner is clearly crying out for something new, perhaps an antidote to loneliness? As Luna begins to work at the shop mentioned in her mother’s letters she tries to work out how her bohemian mother and the owner, Giancarlo, were connected. She also persuades him to let her develop the shop, improving its visibility through use of social media – to make it a destination place for bookish travellers.

There’s nothing better for an avid reader than a book about books. Luna is definitely a lover of stories and she appreciates what books mean to their readers and collectors. I love that this celebrated second hand books too, something I love too, especially ones that have dedications or messages inside them. Often they tell a story that’s all their own, separate from the printed pages. It’s an interesting thought that these books have been through so many different hands, each with their stories to tell. It was a joy to spend time with a character who’s so passionate about books and Luna’s bookish initiatives are great fun. The family of cats named after authors are particularly whimsical. The idea that her bereavement has made her think about her own life is such a relatable one and the realisation she wants her own family is understandable. The urge to set down roots comes from wanting to make connections, permanent ones that are entirely opposite to the traveller’s existence she’s grown up with. I enjoyed the romance between Luna and Oscar and wondered if perhaps she’d found her forever home?

Although I normally enjoy books that go a little deeper, I did come away from this with a smile on my face. This was a relaxing and soothing read for me. It had a magical feel and I guess it does read like a book lover’s fairytale. I have often daydreamed of a life far different to my own and Italy, books and handsome men are an irresistible combination for this reader. Yes there’s the sadness of loss, but the emphasis is on healing and the result is hopeful and uplifting.

Published on 30th March by HQ

Meet the Author

Rebecca Raisin writes heartwarming romance from her home in sunny Perth, Australia. Her heroines tend to be on the quirky side and her books are usually set in exotic locations so her readers can armchair travel any day of the week. The only downfall about writing about gorgeous heroes who have brains as well as brawn, is falling in love with them – just as well they’re fictional. Rebecca aims to write characters you can see yourself being friends with. People with big hearts who care about relationships and believe in true, once in a lifetime love. Her bestselling novel Rosie’s Travelling Tea Shop has been optioned for film with MRC studios and Frolic Media.

Come say hello to Rebecca on her Facebook page : https://facebook.com/RebeccaRaisinAuthor

Posted in Netgalley

A Quiet Contagion by Jane Jesmond

Posted on by thelotusreaders

I was introduced to Jane Jesmond’s writing by a blog tour and I thoroughly enjoyed her series, the most recent of which was Cut Adrift – a novel I reviewed earlier this year. A Quiet Contagion is an inventive stand-alone thriller that brings together dark history and medical ethics for a fast paced and well-researched mystery. Phiney’s grandfather Wilf, committed suicide after an incident at the pharmaceutical company where he worked. Using a dual timeline narrative and six different narrators we jump between 1957 and 2017 to uncover the truth around work to find a vaccine during the polio epidemic. The author combines the tension of a thriller with extensive historical research to unearth the secrets of the past and ask questions about healthcare ethics in public health emergencies, never forgetting the human cost of the choices made.

There are obviously parallels to the the COVID pandemic here, including many lessons that still haven’t been learned. In contrast to the modern parallels, the author has grounded her narrative very successfully in the historic sections, creating a great balance. Having had oxygen therapy for MS, I’m very aware of the use of hyperbaric chambers and the antiquated ‘iron lungs’ that were used to treat polio patients in the 1950s. I thought the descriptions of the epidemic were outstanding, really bringing home to the reader the terrible truth of a disease most people younger than me have ever seen. I’ve met people with post-polio syndrome and there’s no denying the life-long disabling effects of this awful disease. The author’s medical knowledge brings the realities of the epidemic to life, but also brings an authenticity to the characters whether they’re affected by this disease or treating it.

I thought the challenges created by a real medical crisis were well-presented and illuminating. There’s a range of voices to represent the medical/scientific outlook and these resonated particularly with contemporary issues around the COVID pandemic, such as the race against time to produce a vaccine and get as many vulnerable people vaccinated as soon as possible. We can see the origins of ‘big pharma’ with profit becoming the main goal, rather than public health. I don’t know if the author used the recent pandemic to inform her character’s thoughts and feelings, but the anxiety and panic felt very real and timely. The novel’s characters were well-developed and at home in their world, but I connected particularly to Phiney and her determination to unravel the mystery of happened to her beloved grandfather. I admired her. but worried that she was taking too many risks in her search for the truth and this kept me hooked. I enjoyed the moral dilemmas faced by her friends and family too. The struggles of each character added so much depth to the novel and their individual perspectives, created some thought provoking contrasts. I love it when I find myself thinking about a book days later and I this one has stayed with me. Sometimes, thrillers are full of action and tension but feel empty because they stick to one perspective or the characters just aren’t developed enough. This story still had tension, but it was also intelligent and full of emotion. This combination made the book hard to put down and equally hard to forget once it was back on the shelf.

Out 7th November 2023 from Verve Books



Meet the Author

Jane Jesmond writes psychological suspense, thrillers and mysteries

Her debut novel, On The Edge, the first in a series featuring dynamic, daredevil protagonist Jen Shaw was a Sunday Times Crime Fiction best book. The second in the series, Cut Adrift, was The Times Thriller Book of the Month and The Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month. Her latest novel, Her, a psychological thriller will be published in May 2023.

Although she loves writing (and reading) thrillers and mysteries, her real life is very quiet and unexciting. Dead bodies and danger are not a feature! She lives by the sea in the northwest tip of France with a husband and a cat and enjoys coastal walks and village life.

Stay connected to Jane and receive news about her books and giveaways by signing up for her newsletter – https://jane-jesmond.com/contact/

You can find Jane:

On Twitter – @AuthorJJesmond

On Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/JaneJesmondAuthor

On Instagram – http://www.Instagram.com/authorjanejesmond

Posted in Publisher Proof

One Friday in Napa by Jennifer Hamm

Posted on by thelotusreaders

The word Vene would have used to describe her mother was ‘cold’ because they’ve always been at odds, even in childhood. So when news of her terminal illness comes, Vene wonders what to do. Is a reconciliation out of the question? She returns to Napa only to find that Olivia is as harsh as she always was. Yet, when Vene finds a cookbook belonging to her mother, it’s like a window on a different woman. Upstairs her dying mother is judgemental and snappy, but between the pages of the cookbook she’s a young woman full of romance and longing, but also duty and a terrible heartache. This is the mum she’s never met and she wants to go on an emotional journey, to connect with the ‘real’ Olivia before it’s too late.

Using a dual timeline, half a century apart Vene tries to unearth the secrets and sacrifice of two different women. I loved the use of food as a medium to communicate emotion and nostalgia. We all have these tastes that rocket us back to childhood in one mouthful. In fact one of my favourite memoirs is Nigel Slater’s Taste which conjures up so many memories of his mother. We don’t always see our parents as people in their own right, especially when there are secrets and we don’t know the truth of everything they’ve endured. Mothers don’t always fully see their daughters, often because they’re so busy trying to protect them from a similar harm to the one they suffered when they were a young woman. In trying not to repeat our youthful mistakes and create a pattern, we make new ones. I thought there was so much insight into women’s emotional history here. There was a running theme of service and sacrifice that reminded me of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. Are women now able to make life choices completely for themselves or do they sacrifice this freedom to look after the needs of others? As an artist can we ever be fulfilled if we don’t write, paint or create? I thought the setting really emphasised the idea of food and nostalgia too, because just reading it I could imagine myself on holiday there. The place was beautifully described and the recipes with their accompanying wines between the chapters conjured up so many tastes and smells. Don’t read this when hungry! I love Italian food so it was wonderful to read those colours and tastes brought to life.

Emotionally and psychologically the author presents heartbreak in such a raw and honest way. Olivia’s past is full of loss and the pain of that has informed the way she brings up her daughter. The hurt of the past always affects our future relationships in some way, but is it possible to acknowledge that hurt and stop it shaping our future and that of our children? If not, a destructive pattern emerges and there is definitely trauma between these two generations. As our trips into Olivia’s past start to explain more about her present, I was hoping that Vene’s newly found knowledge of her mother’s motivations would open up a space for them to communicate honestly and truly know each other as women. I felt more involved in the past timeline, which often happens to me in dual timeline stories, and found the young Olivia a more engaging character. However, it was the dynamic between the two of them I loved and the sense that women have a lot to learn from each other when they communicate honestly. I wondered about how we value the older women in our families and whether we’ve lost that ability to prize them? Is there a collective wisdom we’re missing out on when we stop seeing our older relatives as people. Every so often it’s good to remind ourselves that these people who happen to be our parents, had lives long before they had us and I wondered whether there were incredible stories buried within the past generations of my own family.

Meet the Author

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Jennifer Hamm graduated with a BA in English at UCLA and began her writing career developing screenplays for movies and television. As a travel writer, she has covered the globe on assignment for various magazines and brands. She also writes It’s Only for A Year, a long-running blog chronicling her adventures raising her four boys in two countries. Hamm currently splits her time between London and Los Angeles. One Friday in Napa is her first novel.

Posted in Squad Pod

Still Life by Val McDermid. Karen Pirie Series

Posted on by thelotusreaders

As you all know I’m quite happy to admit so called ‘guilty pleasures’ and glaring omissions from my library. You also know I like nothing better than discovering someone I haven’t read before, who has along back catalogue to enjoy. I am absolutely thrilled that the Squad Pod chose Val McDermid for our October book club. This is probably sacrilegious in crime reading circles, but I haven’t read a single book by the Queen of Tartan Noir. She is definitely deserving of the title and after reading Still Life I’ve purchased all the Karen Pirie series so I can read from the beginning and start my Val McDermid journey. Next month we have her new novel in the series Past Lying so my October is going to be pretty much dedicated to her.

Our story is a complicated combination of current and historic case that Pirie is set to investigate from the Historic Cases Unit. A trawler pulls a body from the Firth, eventually identified as a man called James Auld. His brother, Iain Auld, worked in the Scottish Office in Westminster and also disappeared, ten years ago. Even more odd, James had been living as Paul Allard and working in a jazz band in Paris. Two other events come up when researching the two men. Firstly, the paintings chosen from the National Collection for the Scottish Office, were found to be barely passable fakes when the government changed. Secondly, when a fire that destroyed an art gallery in Brighton appears in the press, a photograph seemed to show Iain Auld. An old school friend swears it was Iain, but he was already declared dead by this point. DCI Pirie’s starting point will have to be Iain’s widow Mary, who lives alone and has stayed in touch with brother-in-law James ever since Iain disappeared. Their second case seems less urgent and regards historic remains found in the camper van in the garage of an empty house. The van might have belonged to a young silversmith called Dani, a free spirited and bohemian girl in a relationship with a slightly older accountant called Andrea. Could this body be one of those women?

Both cases were intriguing and grabbed the attention. The story that emerges from their investigation into the camper van skeleton is one of opposites attracting. Opposites can attract, but can they co-exist over time? Dani was clearly the more bohemian of the pair and a bit younger too. She wanted to travel, design her jewellery and perhaps gain inspiration from staying at an artist’s commune. Andrea was more conservative, happy to stay in the same home and go to the same job. Andrea’s parents are abroad, could she have killed her partner and left the country? However, when they visit Dani’s father his first reaction is to ask what his daughter has done this time? So the weight of suspicion falls on her. Then they find a lead, a possible art collective where Dani is mentioned, over near Manchester. Karen sends her sergeant Jason to check things out, putting him in terrible danger. The visit quickly goes from being slightly comical (an elderly person’s painting class) to absolutely filled with tension and deadly. The case of the Auld brothers had so many facets to it and opened up the characters for me. It covered the issue of finding yourself in love with someone of the same sex after years of being heterosexual. The art and political elements were so interesting too. The criticism of the old Lib/Con coalition and the way Westminster works in general was something that chimed with my own views. The musing on Scottish independence and the way Scottish people feel about England really did interest me, but it also firmly sets a character in their place and time.

These subjects showed the reader how forthright and decisive Karen is, something we see in her professional life too – sometimes to her detriment. She had so many sneaky ways around her boss, known as the ‘Dog Biscuit’ thanks to her surname being the same as a brand of dog treats. It might not always be appreciated by her superiors but she does it to get results, out of a desire to help those affected by the crime and also because she has a disgust for unwanted bureaucracy and procedures. When she needs a European arrest warrant she goes direct to a contact who can organise it immediately, not through the boss. Often though, these short cuts do get the job done. She knows it pisses the boss off, but she’s willing to take the flak and smooth it over later. She’s a maverick whose not afraid to take a risk or spend money if it brings results for the victims of crime. I found her intelligent, determined, rebellious and competitive. She would probably drive me crazy in reality, but as a character I loved her. I also loved the way she’s trying to cope with ongoing grief for her partner Phil, while starting a new relationship with Hamish. I’ve been there so I understand the conflicting emotions, the guilt and the desire to move forward. This was so well written. She’s asserting her boundaries and trying not to jump in with both feet? There’s something she’s uncomfortable with about the relationship, but she talks herself round to the positives. Hamish’s business and the Croft in the Highlands keeps him busy and sometimes absent which I think suits her. It gives a distance to the relationship that she needs for now.

Her dogged determination and that of her team can lead to taking risks, but they don’t hesitate. Karen gives Jason his own tasks showing trust and confidence in him. She keeps her borrowed recruit Daisy close to her, they’re very different but there’s definitely an attention to detail in Daisy that echoes Karen’s. She instils in both of them her philosophy that just because it’s a cold case doesn’t mean they do half a job, or a slow one. She holds these mispers and victims of crime in high regard and expects the same from her team. As the COVID pandemic starts to move across the world there’s a further sense of urgency to their work. While the case of the body in the camper van starts to resolve, the Auld brothers case takes many unexpected turns. As the trail moves over to Ireland, using the art world to unravel some clues, it was great to see that Karen is happy to get her hands dirty and isn’t the sort of boss who hands that stuff to her juniors. Here she’s sitting in vegetation, watching a house for suspects and deftly deploying a tracker. She’s just as deft when walking into a small gallery and questioning an art dealer. Whatever it takes to uncover the next steps. When talking about her cold cases, Karen articulates something that crime readers often feel. She knows there’s an explanation that solves all these clues and exposes a pattern, but she just can’t see it yet. You have to let it wash over you, read more and hope that all will become clear. The difficulties solving this one kept me reading and kept me thinking about the case when I was doing other things. As COVID worsens and starts to lock down the country, decisions have to be made about how the team work and live. Karen makes a choice I didn’t see coming and I would be interested to read how it works out moving forward. This was one of the best crime novels I’ve ever read, with a fascinating central character that I can’t wait to read more about.

Meet the Author

Val McDermid is a number one bestseller whose novels have been translated into more than forty languages, and have sold over eighteen million copies. She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009, was the recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2010 and received the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award in 2011. In 2016, Val received the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award at the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival and in 2017 received the DIVA Literary Prize for Crime, and was elected a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Val has served as a judge for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Man Booker Prize, and was Chair of the Wellcome Book Prize in 2017. She is the recipient of six honorary doctorates and is an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda’s College, Oxford. She writes full-time and divides her time between Edinburgh and East Neuk of Fife.

Posted in Personal Purchase

The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith

Posted on by thelotusreaders

I wouldn’t have imagined back at the beginning, that we would get this many books down the line with private investigators Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott. In fact after the last book I thought the author had hit a wall with ideas or was trying to hard to be up to the minute with technology and new trends. I was pleased to find that this was a much better investigation. Full of tension and very dark in tone, this book delves into a church that’s really a cult, every bit as huge and secretive as Scientology. This is a tale of abuse: financial, physical, sexual and spiritual. In parts it is hard to read but compelling and fascinating to see how it’s teaching affect the people who follow it, but also our investigative duo. Sir Colin Edensor approaches Strike to try and bring his son home from the United Humanitarian Church’s compound in Norfolk. Chapman Farm claims to be self-sufficient, growing fields of vegetables and keeping animals, as well as undertaking evangelical work on the streets of Norwich. Sir Colin’s son Will has been part of the UHC for several years and would seem completely indoctrinated. He’s failed to get him out before, but desperately wants him home to see his mother who is dying of cancer. How will Strike and Robin go about their task?

The best way to discredit the church and get close to Will would be for someone to go in undercover. It would be better if that was a woman and Robin volunteers. Strike is reluctant to agree, but can’t come up with a sensible reason for that instinct, knowing his reluctance is probably down to his growing feelings for his partner. However, their other female investigator Midge is covering a famous actress who has a father and son stalker team who want to kidnap her. Robin is adamant it should be her and creates a persona called Rowena, who visits their London base for a ‘service’ with just the right clothes to suggest she has money, borrowed from Strike’s half-sister Prudence. It’s agreed that Robin will go to Chapman Farm for an induction period but they pick a place on the perimeter fence to leave a fake rock. Every Thursday Strike will leave a letter under the rock for Robin to find and she will leave a reply, if she wants to come out she can let them know and they will use blot cutters on the fence and bring her out.

As regular readers will know, Strike and Robin are one of my favourite literary couples, but I’ve been wondering during the last two novels how long she can keep them apart? There’s also a trend for putting Robin in danger to evoke feelings in her partner. Here I was genuinely worried for Robin before she even went into the farm. I could understand her wanting to assert her ability to go undercover and her authority as partner to make the choice – it shouldn’t have to be okayed by Strike. Yet as a person Robin has certain life experiences that a church like this could see as weaknesses to exploit: the rape she suffered at university, the knife attack on her first case that left her with PTSD, there’s also the fall out from her marriage to Matthew and her undisclosed feelings for Strike. These chinks in her armour will be seen by people used to exploiting others. I think there are times when asserting your authority and taking a feminist stance are admirable, but not at the expense of your own safety. ‘Rowena’ is noticed straight away by recruiters at the London temple and after a few attendances, Rowena is taken to Chapman Farm and starts at the bottom of the pile, working in the fields and mucking out the animals. In between there are services or talks about the church’s purpose, bombarding new recruits with images of everything that’s wrong in the world until their current place seems like one of safety. Then a process of breaking recruits down begins – lack of sleep, restricted food or fasting, manual labour and strange interventions and group therapy where the individual is broken down mentally. All of this starts to have a detrimental effect on Robin, but the most disturbing practices are around familial relationships. Children are taken to a dormitory and school so they are no longer a family unit but belong to everyone. Family groupings outside the UHC are rubbished as false attachments that should be broken immediately. Then there’s the spirit bonding. On the farm there are pods called ‘retreat rooms’ there expressly for the purpose of when someone approaches you and asks for sex. Emotional bonding is not the norm, sex is just another form of service, given freely with no ties. What will Robin do if approached?

There were times when I found myself a bit lost on who was who because the cult has so many members and their relationships are complex. There are also complications about the names they have for themselves. I think the author could have achieved the same effects and build up of tension within the farm with less characters and a shorter process of indoctrination. I also felt that Robin would have struggled to come out more than she did. The PTSD seemed mild considering what she’s seen and heard. The experience of looking after a disabled child who isn’t receiving the medical care he should was horrifying and was the main experience she struggled to shake off. The neglect was terrible and Robin desperate wanted him found by the police. However, she was cornered in the retreat room by a naked Will Edensor and was sexually assaulted by the church leader, but once she’s out it’s never mentioned and she doesn’t even tell Strike or Detective Murphy, her boyfriend. I wondered if this might be revisited in the future but it did seem odd to leave it hanging. I also started to be confused by the ex members that Strike was interviewing and where they’d fit into the hierarchy. There was so much detail surrounding the doctrine of the cult and it’s different prophets that I felt the other cases disappeared into the background. In fact one case seemed to be there only to serve as a distraction for Strike at a strategic point. Nevertheless, the tension built as Strike started to unravel the truth and Robin was still inside.

All that being said this was a much better novel than the last in the series. I was totally engrossed in it by half way through and barely surfaced till the end. Of course there is the question of Robin and Strike’s relationship. Ex-girlfriend Charlotte comes to the fore again, trying to lure him back in with an unforgivable lie. I was hoping he would see the manipulation, especially since he’s on his own and can’t run anything past his best friend. He’s wrestling with risking all that he’s built in terms of his business and their friendship if he tells Robin that Charlotte has been right all along, he does love her. Can he find the courage to tell her?

Meet the Author

Robert Galbraith’s Cormoran Strike series is classic contemporary crime fiction from a master story-teller, rich in plot, characterisation and detail. Galbraith’s debut into crime fiction garnered acclaim amongst critics and crime fans alike. The first three novels The Cuckoo’s Calling (2013), The Silkworm (2014) and Career of Evil (2015) all topped the national and international bestseller lists and have been adapted for television, produced by Brontë Film and Television. The fourth in the series, Lethal White (2018), is out now.

Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym of J.K. Rowling, bestselling author of the Harry Potter series and The Casual Vacancy, a novel for adults. After Harry Potter, the author chose crime fiction for her next books, a genre she has always loved as a reader. She wanted to write a contemporary whodunit, with a credible back story.

J.K. Rowling’s original intention for writing as Robert Galbraith was for the books to be judged on their own merit, and to establish Galbraith as a well-regarded name in crime in its own right.

Now Robert Galbraith’s true identity is widely known, J.K. Rowling continues to write the crime series under the Galbraith pseudonym to keep the distinction from her other writing and so people will know what to expect from a Cormoran Strike novel.