Tag: relationships

Posted in Squad Pod Collective

CL Taylor It’s Always The Husband 

Posted on by thelotusreaders

This is one of those thrillers where you’re immediately sucked into this narrator’s life and her new circle of school mums or frenemies. When Jude first arrives in Lowbridge with daughter Betsy it’s a new start and she’s keen to get to know the other mums. However, she soon works out that Victoria is the queen of the school mum scene and everyone wants to be in her clique. Victoria appears to have her shit together – a lovely home with all those aspirational touches like a fire pit table, matching lawn chairs and fluffy blankets for when it gets cool in the evening. She has two kids, heads up the PTA and runs her own business as a personal trainer. Although Jude finds the mums a bit cliquey she does hit it off with one of the dads. Will has a little girl of Betsy’s age and is a widower, there is something very attractive about him and Jude receives the red flag a little too late. When finally invited to a garden get together at Victoria’s she’s warned that not only did Will’s first wife die, but his second wife Robyn went missing and lightning doesn’t strike in the same place twice. It seems that the mums don’t believe in coincidences. When Sorrel, another one of the mums, is targeted by a blackmailer pretending to be Robyn she is stunned that Robyn might still be alive. With a husband struggling with depression, three children and a pottery to run Sorrel has her hands full. Her husband Finnley did go out a few nights ago, he rang her to say he’d hit an animal and the bonnet has a large dent in it. So why is this woman so sure he wasn’t where he claimed to be and that he’s responsible for a hit and run miles away. Victoria’s husband Andy is a detective and they’ve split fairly recently. He was struggling because he couldn’t solve the missing person case and he still doesn’t know where Robyn went. As Sorrel, Victoria and Jude come together to solve this case they know it isn’t going to be easy and that it comes with great risk. There is a killer in Lowbridge and they’re determined to find who it is. 

This perfectly paced thriller is narrated by all three women, with short excerpts from a diary Jude finds under Will’s bed that they assume is Robyn’s. It shows a side to her that’s completely different to the sweetness and light image she projected while with Will. Her dedication to him and the little girl who’s already lost one mum gives her an almost saintly reputation, but someone knows better. If she’s behind the blackmail plot there’s something Machiavellian about her ability to act and manipulate those she wants to fool. These are ballsy women across the board though, with none of them running to men to get this sorted. Victoria pursues one mum called Theresa down to Devon after she leaves unexpectedly and with no goodbye. Stalking her her husband’s open Facebook page Victoria notices an open, but unpacked box. In it she sees an expensive bird ornament that disappeared from her own house, plus some things belonging to other mums. Maybe Theresa is involved somehow? She’s clearly perfectly willing to steal from them. When she finally tracks Theresa down to the local pub for a confrontation, the answers she gets are definitely not the ones she was expecting. Similarly Jude goes her own way, getting hold of the diary and reading through it for clues. She knows it might jeopardise her relationship with Will but she needs to know, the fact that he keeps Robyn’s favourite cheesecake in the fridge just in case she comes back, strikes her as odd. Especially if he killed her. Sorrel surprised me the most as she seemed so calm and a definite ‘earth mother’ type. Jude notices her unstyled hair, the way she dresses and her lack of make-up, compared to the others. She cares so much about her husband Finnley, worried every time she returns home that she might find him dead. His depression has lead to weeks off work so far, so she’s surprised to find him heading out to for an emergency appointment. He’s a dentist with anaesthetic training and they need him to sedate a patient. Why is this patient so special? When she receives the blackmail message she goes to her secret bank account, finding it completely empty. How long has Finnley been blackmailed for? I almost expected her to crack but she doesn’t. Often just going through the motions at work and home, she’s just as determined as Jude and Victoria to nail this person. When the three of them find another dead body, the tension ramps up a gear. 

Once you’ve started to read, this is very hard to put down. I love Lisa Jewell and Louise Candlish and I found this very similar in the way it gripped me. It’s addictive and there are a few red herrings thrown in to keep you off the scent. It certainly didn’t go the way I expected. It’s telling that the author references The Handmaid’s Tale, as the women definitely pull towards each other as a team rather than the men in their lives. These women, although involved with men and wanting a partnership, are good at stepping back and looking for those red flags. In some cases they are instrumental in checking out their stories and even bringing anyone who needs it to justice, no matter how they feel about them. From a psychological point of view Will’s daughter Milly worried me. She’s clearly spent a long time with Robyn and has understandable issues with grief, but her reaction to seeing Jude in the room that was ‘Daddy and Robyn’s’ and the daily uneaten cheesecake were definite indications of trauma. It also seemed strange she didn’t have the same fixation on her actual mother. She may have been young when she died, but I wondered if Robyn hadn’t manipulated Milly into being her little ally. There’s nothing more attractive than a girlfriend your kids fall in love with. I did find myself having to go back after reading the unexpected final pages to see all the clues I missed. This is a great thriller, full of action, danger and unexpected twists. It’s also deliciously catty and full of gossip. A brilliant read for anyone who loves domestic thrillers. 

Meet the Author

C.L. Taylor is an award winning Sunday Times bestselling author of ten gripping psychological thrillers including EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick for autumn 2024, THE GUILTY COUPLE, (Richard and Judy Book Club 2023) and SLEEP (Richard and Judy Book Club 2019).

C.L. Taylor’s books have sold over two million copies in the UK alone, hit number one on Amazon Kindle, Audible, Kobo, iBooks and Google Play, and have been translated into over 30 languages and optioned for TV.

Posted in Random Things Tours

Double Room by Anne Sénès

Posted on by thelotusreaders

London 1990s – An up and coming French composer called Stan is invited to arrange music for a stage production of Dorian Gray. Although the play is never staged, he does meet Liv and she becomes the love of his life. They live together, joined by a daughter called Lisa. Their happiness fuels his senses with vibrant colours and melodious music.

Paris, Present Day – Stan lives in France at the Rabbit Hole, a house left to him by his aunt. He now shares his life with Babette, a lifeguard and mother of a teenage boy of Lisa’s age. They also share their home with Laïvely, a machine built by Stan and given Liv’s voice. As Stan becomes more engrossed in his past Laïvely starts to take on a life of her own. His life is about to implode.

This is, at heart, a love story. Told in flashbacks Stan reminisces over a golden period of his life when he and Liv fall in love. It’s no accident that they meet through a production of Dorian Gray because the author does bring it’s style and it’s moral into her novel. The first thing I noticed was the fact that Stan has synaesthesia, a fascinating neurological condition where colours or images evoke tastes or smells. The opening of Dorian Gray is so heady with scent it could conjure a symphony:

“The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.”

Some of Stan’s descriptions, as colour turns to scent and then turn to melodies, bring the senses alive in a similar way. For Stan, music is simply an extension of his sensory abilities, like a form of ESP. There is also the doubling aspects of both novels, captured in the book’s title. Dorian Gray’s portrait is the sum of his dissolute lifestyle, freeing him to experience more and more without it showing on his face. Stan presents his life in two narratives, the present in France and the past where he was at his most creative, happy and in love. His relationship with Liv is almost idyllic. They seem to be naturally suited, in total harmony and without a cloud in the sky. Anything he relates of his present can only suffer in comparison. We learn that he and Babette are compatible, but there is none of the life and vivid colour that comes from his reminiscence. We are all nostalgic about the past, but no relationship can be perfect especially when cramped into the average London apartment with a small baby. While it is touching and romantic, the cynic in me wondered was this a true picture? As for Liv, she is in technicolour in Stan’s flashbacks with her vivid red hair. However, all that life is now reduced to a communication device and no matter how Stan cuddles Laïvely to him, she is inanimate, merely a machine. In what way is this a fitting representation of the love of his life? It seems like, in the present, neither Stan or Liv is truly alive. When Stan trips one morning the giggle that comes from the device is strange, a laugh he’s not a encountered before. Could it be there is a hint of malice?

The other book mentioned heavily is of course Alice in Wonderland, inspiration for the name of Stan’s home in France. Another book where there are versions of the self and a blurring between what is real and unreal, something the author has carried into this novel successfully. Stan’s past has all the colour that his present is missing, but there’s something equally unreal about his present. It’s not that there isn’t a fulfilling life to be had. It’s just that Stan isn’t fully engaged. I felt as if the rest of his family had a life, but Stan has started to detach from it. The author’s layers of description evoke the 1990s in a nostalgic way, something I’m apt to do from time to time because it was my era. Laïvely is meant to bring Liv into the here and now, but it feels more like a conduit to the past dragging Stan further and further away from reality. He rarely mentions his or Babette’s child, until he and Téo have a row. He tells us Babette organises everything: celebrations, days out and holidays. Is this a natural division of their lives or is it simply that if Babette didn’t do it their life would run aground? Their relationship seems more about companionship and choice rather than love. It’s as if he has found a calm, steady presence who won’t overpower his senses.

The author cleverly fragments things, very slowly. When I turned a page and realised Stan had been injured by a cupboard door, I had to go back and work out how this had happened. The story continues in past and present chapters but the past starts to feel more coherent and real. Loss is a strange thing, even when you’ve moved on in life because the previous one is still there, haunting you. It becomes a parallel existence where you think about what life would be like now if you hadn’t lost that person. Stan can tell us long detailed passages about what Liv was wearing, the colour of her hair barrettes. He can relate details of their friend Henry’s visits, the eccentric musician has a good relationship with Stan’s daughter Lisa and is there to the end of their relationship. At Rabbit Hole Stan is becoming as inanimate as Laīvely. He’s eating and playing music, often in the same room as his family without hearing a word they say. At times he seems almost catatonic, unable to answer Babette when she knocks at his door. Then she tells him she has booked a holiday without him, choosing to take her son. Stan says nothing, the tension rising. I felt we were building towards something with our past timeline catching us up to why he and Liv are no longer together. I could understand him coming apart a little as he relives his story but this is complete disassociation. I was ready to be heartbroken for him and his daughter, but things are not always as they seem.

The author brings the truth to light brilliantly and I feared Stan’s mind was splitting. He has always remembered his and Liv’s relationship as an ideal. Often when we lose someone the tendency is to rewrite history and paint them as a good person who everyone loved, even glossing over addictions, criminality and all manner of bad behaviour. I’ve occasionally been to a funeral and wondered if the speaker and me knew different people. I can’t see the point of remembering something that isn’t real. Stan seems to imagine that he and Liv would have lived in this harmonious way forever, then as the truth emerges Stan’s perception of himself starts to shatter. Babette finds him catatonic and soaking wet, having to place him in a hot bath and slowly bringing him back to himself. It’s the most nurturing, selfless and loving part of the book and it’s all the more sad that he hasn’t before recognised or rewarded her love and loyalty.

“My partner has behaved like a mother, a loving and devoted wife. She had cared for me, comforted me, given me all the tenderness she could muster”.

He also realises that there were times he was too distant and distracted with Liv, that he stopped paying her attention. It was as if he had imagined them always walking towards a common goal but truthfully, he knows they were out of pace with one another. As the ‘tick, tock’ of the clock at the Rabbit Hole reminds us that the end is approaching we fully comprehend this heartbreaking story. This is no ordinary loss and it’s clear that Stan has never faced the truth of their final days until now. This is an emotional end that has one final twist to impart and it is devastating. It seems that Stan has always held on to Liv’s portrait, but is was a ‘painting turned against the wall’, keeping it’s secrets until that final terrible reveal.

Out Now From Orenda Books.

Meet the Author

Anne Sénès is a writer, translator and former journalist. She was born in Paris and studied at the Sorbonne, where she obtained a PhD in English studies. Her passion for Anglo-Saxon literature and culture has taken her all over the world, from London to Miami, via the south of France. She is currently based on the French Mediterranean coast. Chambre Double (Double Room) is her first literary novel.

Posted in Netgalley, Throwback Thursday

Missing Pieces by Laura Pearson

Posted on by thelotusreaders

I’ve read a little bit of Laura Pearson before, so I did come to this expecting a moving and powerful story. It didn’t disappoint. When Bea is born it should have been a healing, new chapter for the family – mum, dad and older sister Esme. However, Bea was born to a family struggling in the aftermath of a tragedy. Esme was only seven years old when her sister Phoebe died suddenly and unexpectedly. It hits Esme hard because she was supposed to be looking after her sister. Their dad Tom feels an immense weight of guilt because he shouldn’t have stayed out later than expected. Esme’s mother is also wrestling with guilt and blame, she’d briefly popped next door to help a neighbour knowing that Tom would be home imminently. This is a story of a family, years later, struggling with unimaginable loss. How can they learn to forgive each other, or themselves?

Laura splits the story into two sections: the first months after Phoebe’s death interspersed with a narrative where Bea is trying to understand what happened to her family a couple of decades later. These feelings are coming to the surface because she herself is pregnant. I really enjoyed the section in the present day as Bea searches for the truth when her parents won’t ever talk about it. It reminded me of something my mum has recently done. Her first sister, Teresa, died on Bonfire Night 1959 and although she doesn’t remember everything she does have a memory of a tiny coffin that my grandad was carrying and putting in a black car. Mum tracked down a community group who were looking for the resting place of their stillborn babies in the same area where she grew up. Back then, if there was no money for a funeral or a grave plot then a baby might have been buried in a coffin with someone else or in a grave for several bodies. Three years ago she was able to take my grandma to a ceremony at the graveyard in Liverpool where a memorial was finally in place for babies lost and buried in a pauper’s grave on the site. It’s easy to underestimate how much the death of a baby affects other children in the house and i think we all underestimated how it still affected my grandma who is now 91. 

Bea feels like she’s lost part of her identity. This loss is part of their joint family history and no one is addressing or memorialising it. Of course this is tough for other family members, all of whom blame themselves. The loss for Bea and her older sister Esme is threefold: they lost a sister, they lost the relationships and life experiences they would have had as three sisters and they lost the happy family life they might have had if their parents hadn’t been carrying the weight of all that grief and guilt. As for the other characters in the book, I did find Linda a bit of a struggle. It’s clear she’s never fully connected with Bea and when we go back in time we can see her conflicting emotions over being heavily pregnant. She is buried by her grief for Phoebe and feels bad for being pregnant again. She doesn’t want to replace Phoebe and sometimes wishes she wasn’t pregnant. A combination of fear, guilt, sadness and anger take over and she really wasn’t there for Esme or Bea, once she’s born. In the past sections there’s an oppressive atmosphere that hasn’t fully lifted, even in the girl’s adulthood. Esme can’t talk with her father so Bea doesn’t stand a chance when wanting to ask questions. It would mean delving back into the pain and communicating honestly, but no one wants to go back into the raw grief and horror of that day. Bea wonders how she can be a good mother when she has no relationship with her own. Will the family be able to rally around her, find a way to talk and become a united family again?

It’s a trademark of Laura’s books that characters are forced to talk about difficult and frightening experiences or situations they find themselves in. I love the openness and honesty these issues need and it is like a counselling process if people can start sharing and healing. I did shed some tears at times. I thought the author’s depiction of the parent’s grief was realistic and raw. We’re let into every aspect of a characters mind, no matter what their thoughts might be. I could genuinely feel these character’s emotions and pain. Yes, this is intense. Somehow through, this isn’t off-putting. We’re given just enough glimpses of hope to lift the story, personified by the new start Bea’s baby brings to the family. I found myself gripped, willing these people to give themselves a break and stop being angry with themselves and each other. This is an emotional but satisfying novel that shows healing is possible, if we’re willing to do the work. Beautifully written, emotional and ultimately hopeful. 

Out now from Boldwood Books

Meet the Author

Laura Pearson is the author of five novels. The Last List of Mabel Beaumont was a Kindle number one bestseller in the UK and a top ten bestseller in the US. Laura lives in Leicestershire, England, with her husband, their two children, and a cat who likes to lie on her keyboard while she tries to write.

Posted in Personal Purchase

Fifty Minutes by Carla Jenkins 

Posted on by thelotusreaders

Therapy was meant to solve her problems, not make them worse…

Smart twenty-year-old Dani is desperate to overcome her eating disorder, leave her dead-end job and return to her hard-won place at university. Using her limited earnings, she decides to start seeing a psychotherapist.

Richard Goode is educated, sophisticated and worldly-everything Dani aspires to be. As he intuitively unpicks her self-loathing, Dani assumes the fantasies she’s developing about him live only in her head. That is, until things take a shocking turn…

Descending into a maelstrom of twisted desire, manipulation and mistrust, the power struggle between Dani and Richard escalates until she’s forced to make a decision that might finally give her the freedom she deserves.

Dani has hit rock bottom. Her eating disorder is out of control and her declining mental health has meant suspending her place at university where she was studying English Literature. She’s now living in a flat with her sister Jo and her boyfriend Stevie, having to share with his daughter Ellie when she’s there for weekends. She’s working as a pot-washer to pay the bills, but longs to go back to university. Despite having very little money, she decides to see a therapist and has a session with Richard. She feels at home in Richard’s room, in the quiet with the smell of books and furniture polish. She feels like he listens and he seems perceptive, noticing her low self-esteem and anxiety. So she takes the decision to continue therapy with him, although he’s expensive. She starts to feel more positive, greatly reducing her bingeing and purging cycle. 

This was a setting I was very familiar with and although Richard has all the right certificates, counselling spiel and does detect Dani’s self-loathing, I kept feeling something wasn’t right. I couldn’t pinpoint anything in detail but I was concerned for Dani. She is so vulnerable. Her attraction to him wasn’t surprising. To have a man listen and understand her might be a first. He also embodies all the things she wants for her own life; qualifications, respect from others, a better standard of living. She has attachment issues so I was sure Richard would have expected some element of transference to creep into the relationship. I was also unsure about Dani’s home life. Her sister’s boyfriend, Stevie, seems like he’s easy going, tv loving, stay at home partner. He’s a good dad to Ellie, but with Dani I wondered if he wasn’t overstepping the mark. He likes things kept neat and tidy, the rent paid on time and Ellie to be safe and happy. There are a couple of occasions when he goes in quite hard on Dani for not being fit for work in the morning or for leaving her room in a state. I wasn’t sure whether this was concern or control? The author cleverly makes the reader unsure and with Dani in such a vulnerable place I was on high alert, like a mum of fledgling baby birds.

The author also keeps us unsure about Dani, not in the sense of believing her narrative, but as to whether she can genuinely break out of the cycle she’s in. As the book begins she’s still bingeing and purging as a means of managing her emotions, in fact this process is like a metaphor for how she manages her whole life. She wants her needs met, to feel emotionally filled or satiated. Then she needs to rid herself of it, to push it away before it gets taken away perhaps? She longs to be loved, but self-sabotages; something that Richard is very aware of and points out. Neither of the sisters have had that feeling of being loved or that they can feel safe within it, sure it won’t be taken away. They have been, at the very least, neglected by both parents. The girls are close, but are not as bonded as sisters can be within a loving family. There are times when Jo acts without realising what effect that behaviour might have on Dani. Thank goodness for Pat from work, who is steadfast in her care of Dani. Even in a complete crisis it is Pat who’s there for her, not her sister who’s busy making her own mistakes. Even when she’s been rebuffed or Dani has lashed out, Pat gives consistent care in a very motherly way and we see that best when Dani is ill. Dani doesn’t know she is beautiful. She knows men are attracted to her red hair and blue eyes, but never knows deep down that she’s worth anything. Besides, it’s always desire rather than love and care. However, she is adamant that she wants more from life. She wants to get better and study again. She knows this will help her get a better future, but she also thinks she’ll gain respect from others. She says that education is the only thing that can’t be taken away from her. I really understood that. 

The attraction to Richard is so complicated, but is bound up in her wanting a better life. There is an initial jolt of chemistry too. It’s something that should be talked about in the room, using the transference to work on Dani’s real needs for affection and worth. There is also counter-transference and both should be easy to recognise by a therapist who has Richard’s level of experience. She loves the way he reinforces her positive behaviours and finds ways forward, but she doesn’t realise she’s doing the work. He’s guiding her, but the achievements are hers. The author places clever little ‘lightbulb’ moments, such as Dani realising the picture she has of Richard in her mind, where he’s sitting in an armchair reading by lamplight, is actually an amalgam of an image she has of her father. It’s also very telling that when she’s sees him in casual rather than professional clothing, she feels let down and that attraction fades. It’s interesting that as boundaries start to break down, the last person she wants to confide in are Pat and Stevie, suggesting that she sees them as parental figures in her life. She knows if she tells them that they’d be angry and she wants to avoid that. She doesn’t like them being angry with her, but also they’d be angry on her behalf and might demand action. I thought it was interesting that she recognises Stevie in a parental role, when talking to her sister. Jo complains that he’s a homebody and they don’t really have fun together any more, but Dani points out that Stevie has always been a homebody. She tells her that this is the type of man she needs, even conceding that when he gets cross she doesn’t mind because at least he cares. 

Of course as counselling boundaries start to be overturned Dani starts to spiral. It’s a really tough part to read, because I was feeling parental towards her. She puts herself in some incredibly dangerous situations, trying to find experiences that fulfil her needs. I was hoping that she’d realise she’d pressed the self-destruct button before it was too late. She has the resources to succeed, but can she utilise them when she feels so unstable? Honestly, my heart ached for this girl and that tells you a lot about my issues with clients! I wished she’d gone to a female counsellor. She needed that female nurturing, a mother’s care and love. When it comes to a need and parents like Dani’s the only answer is to choose our family. There are further behaviours and revelations I won’t go into for fear of ruining the suspense and eventual outcome, but I was genuinely scared that Dani couldn’t pull back from the mess she was in. When someone has listened to your innermost thoughts they are a formidable agent for change and an even more powerful opponent. I had everything crossed that I’d underestimated Dani and that she could find those reserves to get through to the other side. This was a fantastic debut novel, full of suspense and stirring the emotions of the reader with real finesse. 

Out now from Trapeze Books

Posted in Personal Purchase

Eighteen Seconds by Louise Beech

Posted on by thelotusreaders

My mother once said to me, ‘I wish you could feel the way I do for eighteen seconds. Just eighteen seconds, so you’d know how awful it is.’

I was reading this raw and painful memoir to discuss at my local book club Pudding and Pages. Sadly, my health wasn’t great that day and I wasn’t able to go. So I decided to tell all of you about it instead, because I love Louise’s writing and I identified very strongly with some of her experiences. This is such a psychologically astute story, from someone who has done a lot of work on their childhood trauma, even while being traumatised anew with the shock that comes on an ordinary morning. Normally, Louise would take her children to school and then have a walk along the path at the side of the River Humber and underneath the bridge itself. Her husband asks if she will take her walk earlier than normal as he has a package being delivered later and needs her to be home. She agrees, completing her walk earlier than usual, and returning home to a call from one of her sisters. Their mother has thrown herself off the Humber Bridge, it’s only by changing her schedule that Louise didn’t witness it. This call hits the reader like a punch to the gut and I’m sure that’s how she must have felt. If you’ve ever had a similar call you’ll know it hard to communicate the force of that moment. Your mind is still at home holding the phone while your body is grabbing the car keys and scrambling to reach A+E as soon as possible. 

Honestly, the siblings are shocked to find their mother alive when they reach the hospital. She landed, not in the water but on the path, causing multiple broken bones, internal bleeding and head injuries. As they navigate those first few hours Louise contrasts them with inserts that are flashbacks to their childhood. Their mum’s first suicide attempt flashes through her mind. The three girls were placed with grandma for several month, but Baby Colin had to be taken into foster care. Although losing their mum was terrifying for Louise’s younger twin sisters it must have been desperately traumatic for Colin who lost his whole family that day. She describes these months with grandma as the safest and most loved she ever felt. Their return to their mother heralded the worst years of their childhood, the abuse ranged from neglect to prioritising her own needs and emotions over that of her children. New relationships always came first, placing them in grave danger as she plunged headfirst into alcoholism. For Louise, as the eldest, it meant being a second mum to the other three while mum partied. In a way Louise became the identified problem of the family – she’s miserable, no fun and constantly moaning according to her mother and her male friends. It was an immense struggle to keep the younger ones happy, especially the girls who worried every time the door closed that their mother would ever come back. The didn’t know she was choosing to be in the pub. Louise’s attempts to get her mother to see what effect her alcoholism was having on the twins were met with either silence or insults, depending on which friend was drinking with her at the time. She just wants her mum to be responsible for her own children. 

This is such a hard read in parts but it isn’t without humour and hope. Once her mum is recovered enough to talk again, her sense of humour is restored and she is remarkably charming when she wants to be. I loved how the siblings handled her, with a patience and humour she barely deserves at times. I loved the sibling’s family WhatsApp group, including their Uncle Edwin who’s in Australia. Their ability to share gallows humour, even in the worst of circumstances reminded me a little of my family. Their discussions about her underwear and accusing Colin of sneaking it away, descends into uproar when he tells them it looks better on him. ‘Well you haven’t seen it on Edwin’, one of his sister’s hits back. My family and I used gallows humour all the time when my husband was dying. From my own experience I recognised the bulldozing that happens in MDT Discharge meetings, where everyone is agreeing to a plan you haven’t said yes to. Once I was told by an NHS Continuing Care nurse that my opinion didn’t really count because I wasn’t a nurse. No consideration to the fact that the care was happening in my house and I was the only full-time carer. In fact I was carrying out medical tasks such as pump feeding, suction and catheterising, so to all intents and purposes I was nursing him. The horror of realising there was nowhere for my husband to die broke me, because he didn’t have cancer so couldn’t go to a hospice. He wanted to come home but I couldn’t do it alone, Louise writes about similar issues in a very matter of fact way, because that’s the only way to be at times like this – blunt and forthright. Then in between the family uses humour to deal with a hurt that can’t heal and can’t change. 

I read this at a difficult time for my family, because my mum and her two sisters are dealing with care for my 90 year old grandmother, who has been a very difficult woman. My mum has felt completely overlooked by her mother, often left out of decisions or not considered when it comes to family memories or possessions. As the only daughter with any memory of her grandma (always referred to as Mother) she had hoped to be given her engagement ring when the time came, with her sisters receiving the wedding and engagement ring of their own mum. She was really upset to find her middle sister had been given Mother’s ring, with the other two going to her youngest sister. It wasn’t the item as much as the memory, not helped by my grandma saying ‘well the others really wanted them and I knew you wouldn’t make a fuss’. This total lack of consideration opened a Pandora’s box of hurt, including a terrible decision made when the family returned from a spell in Australia in the late 1960s. Having to accept housing away from their home city of Liverpool, they settled in Scunthorpe but both of my grandparents needed to work. My mother was twelve and her two sisters were pre-school age, so my grandma didn’t register my mum for school and left her at home caring for the younger children. This lack of education was devastating for my mum who felt like she was sacrificed for the good of her sisters and also felt ashamed that she had few qualifications. It affected her opportunities but also her confidence, leading to life long mental health issues. Despite this my mum shows incredible intelligence, is well-read and has had a lot of psychotherapy. I think that at the age of 72 she is very in touch with her authentic self and knows that she needs to ration the time spent with her mother, place careful boundaries around herself and us and accept a relationship that’s very one sided. I recognised a lot of my mum in Louise’s personal growth and that motherly relationship with her younger siblings. This book made me realise there are families like ours where intergenerational trauma is a very real part of life. I think the book holds out a lot of hope that with boundaries, solid friendships, somewhere to express the negative emotions and a lot of humour it’s possible to survive narcissistic parenting. Lastly, I admire Louise’s honesty and openness in writing this memoir so beautifully and I hope it has proved both cathartic and healing for her too.

Meet the Author

Louise Beech lives in East Yorkshire and grew up dreaming of being a writer but it took many years and many rejections for her to finally get a book deal in 2015, aged 44. Her debut, How to be Brave, got to No4 on Amazon and was a Guardian Readers’ Pick; Maria in the Moon was described as ‘quirky, darkly comic and heartfelt’ by the Sunday Mirror; The Lion Tamer Who Lost was shortlisted for the Popular Romantic Novel of 2019 at the RNA Awards and longlisted for the Polari Prize 2019; Call Me Star Girl was Best magazine’s Book of the Year 2019; I Am Dust was a Crime MagazineMonthly Pick; and This Is How We Are Human was a Clare Mackintosh Book Club pick. In 2023 her new novel, End of Story, will be published under the pen name Louise Swanson. Louise regularly writes short stories for magazines, blogs, and talks at universities and literary events.

Posted in Netgalley

The Cliff Hanger by Emily Freud

Posted on by thelotusreaders

You think you know how this ends. Think again.

Goodness this was a wild ride, full of unexpected twists, characters that are pathological and a book being written within a book. Married couple Felix and Emma seem to have it all. They are the husband and wife team behind the hugely successful Morgan Savage thrillers. However, their latest novel isn’t coming as easily as their others. Felix is drinking to the point of blacking out and had an affair with a girl called Robin who worked for their publishing house. Emma is angry and popping anxiety pills any chance she gets. Their publisher Max, exiles them to the South of France in the hope that new surroundings for the summer will unlock their creativity. The house is beautiful, on a cliff overlooking the sea, when visiting housekeeper Juliette tells them a story about a painting that hangs in the house an uneasiness hangs in the air. The girl was prone to sleepwalking and one night got out into the garden and walked directly off the cliff edge. Sometimes, her cries can be heard at night. Under the sweltering sun, will the couple heal their differences or will they become trapped in a deadly game that beats the plot of any Morgan Savage bestseller. 

This is a slow burn thriller, but when it does start to speed up it’s like a runaway train. Emma seems quite rigid and tightly controlled, almost as if she’s stifling her true feelings or self. Felix appears to be the more relaxed of the pair, sociable and happy to succumb to the pleasures of France. The couple met in a New York book shop, where Felix was sitting with his well worn copy of The Catcher in the Rye. Emma had a studious air, probably from the extra large glasses she wore. Both had always wanted to write but hadn’t yet succeeded. Years later Emma has become a neutral wearing, elegant and sophisticated woman who doesn’t like to be out of control. As an editor she knows what sells when it comes to fiction and how to jazz up or change the structure of a manuscript to create a bestseller. She writes early in the day, always sending her chapter of the book to Felix by 10am and then relaxing by the pool. Felix receives the chapter alongside little notes with suggestions or directions for Felix to follow. He falls out of bed (or wherever he slept) whenever he wakes, often nearer to lunchtime than breakfast. He has a leisurely start with plenty of coffee and when he’s feeling human again he gets to the book. He accepts that this is the way their joint writing works, but since they’re in France why not take the odd day off? He knows that without Emma starting the novel he would struggle. He had dreams of writing a great literary novel one day, but it’s never happened. His skills lend themselves to being the face of Morgan Savage. He does the festivals and book readings, because his charm and abilities lend themselves to being out front. He even signs their books as Morgan Savage, so it’s usually him people recognise. Emma stays behind the scenes, preferring the work to the publicity. She starts the new book on their first morning and then pushes Felix into his chapter each day to keep the momentum. Even in the quiet it’s clear there are resentments between them, a marriage’s worth of petty differences building towards a crescendo. 

Over the days little snippets of their lives emerge until we finally see the full picture. The pace picks up and the chapters get shorter and I was soon racing through the chapters to see what would happen next. My other half found me sat on a kitchen stool, cooking and reading at the same time. It leaves you desperate to know what happens next. At one point I had to check how close I was to the end on my Kindle but found myself really confused when I still had 15% of the book left. I thought I’d reached the end, that’s how clever the twists and turns are. I loved the book within a book, especially the way they are writing characters that explored their own marriage. Each has their own version though and while Emma would signpost where Felix should go next, she would receive his chapter and find he’d develop a character with entirely the opposite emphasis and behaviour. They’re using their writing like couple’s therapy, working out the kinks and plot holes but also punishing and spiting their spouse at every turn. It gets even more exciting when the tone and quality of the writing start to change at one side of the partnership. There are mistakes in grammar and spelling, but is this a sign of deteriorating mental health, over use of drink or drugs or something more sinister. I found myself wondering whether I trusted either narrator. 

Juliette is the girl who services the property. A carefree and natural young woman who cycles the area doing odds and ends for work. She’s the epitome of the term free spirit and could be a prime opportunity for Felix to continue his philandering ways. However, he’s confused when Emma befriends her, despite them being so different. Emma is also affected by Juliette’s story of the girl falling from the cliff and even has a bout of sleepwalking herself. Felix finds her in a trance in the living room and convinces her to go back to bed. Is this a reaction to Juliette’s story or something else? Emma was starting to remind me of Parker Posey’s character in the latest series of The White Lotus, uptight and reliant on pills to function. Could this be why the quality of the writing deteriorates or is Felix busier in his blackouts than previously thought? Just because he can’t remember doing anything, doesn’t mean he isn’t. This was a great story to get my teeth into and honestly, if they’d come to me as therapist, I might have asked them if they’d considered living apart. It’s a toxic atmosphere from the moment they arrive, but just when you think you’ve worked out why and what’s really going on it will surprise you again. As we go back in time, using flashbacks to important events, we can see how their romantic and professional lives began but these glimpses started to make me question what I thought I knew. I wanted to race back through the chapters to search for the clues that brought us to the unexpected conclusion. This was a thrilling and atmospheric read, with a brilliant portrayal of how a relationship has become toxic. If you love relationship dynamics partnered with a whole amusement park of twists and turns this will be your next completely unputdownable read. 

Out 8th May from Quercus

Meet the Author

Emily Freud is the author of four thrillers: My Best Friend’s Secret, What She Left Behind, Her Last Summer and, coming in 2025, The Cliffhanger. She spent her career working on award-winning television programmes, including Educating Yorkshire, First Dates, and SAS: Who Dares Wins – as well as developing original programming for all the main broadcasters. 

Posted in Publisher Proof

The Burial Place by Stig Abell

Posted on by thelotusreaders

I was so lucky to be sent a copy of this new book in the Jake Jackson series, based on a conversation about my love of Martha – an abrupt but super intelligent analyst and crime writer. I love a no nonsense woman and Martha is one of the best bits of this series. After Jake and his ‘team’ tangled with an international criminal gang in the last book, this is more of a home grown mystery but just as dangerous. There has been an archaeological dig close to Little Sky and a recent hoard of treasure found close by. The ownership of this treasure is in dispute because it’s unclear who owns the land it was found in. Meanwhile, work carries on for the archaeologists, academics and local enthusiasts who have been working on the site, but when a body is found it must shut down. It’s hard for new DCI McAllister to understand the motive and being new to the area he enlists Jake’s help, both for his investigative skills and his local knowledge. The community are aware that several nuisance letters have been sent to the dig office and various people who’ve worked on the site. They’re a strange mix of threats, Bible verses and ancient prophecies signed off by Wulfnoth – an ancient Briton purportedly from the area. The writer promises a terrible end for the dig and whoever benefits from the treasure found. Can Jake find the killer before anyone else is hurt? 

Again it’s mainly the brilliant characters that attract me in this novel. Although it’s also interesting to see Jake working with his team, I noticed that Livia is fully committed this time and has definitely earned a chair at the table with Jake, Martha and Aletheia. They are definitely growing closer, since the finale of the last case ended with Livia driving through the wall of her own front room to save their lives. She and her daughter have relocated to Little Sky while the house is being repaired. I must admit I didn’t fully take on board all the dig characters, but the dig itself and the history behind it was really interesting. I’ve often wondered how digs are run and they’re every bit as complex as I thought, with a real mix of motivations and different pressures. Some people have their jobs and reputations on the line, while others seem to have more personal reasons for taking part. What’s difficult for Jake to understand is the gap between letters written when the first dig started and those that came when the second dig site and treasure were discovered. It’s as if Wulfnoth comes out of retirement for some reason, possibly the treasure or could it be more complex than that?

One of the other interesting aspects of the story is the importance of belonging and the sacredness of land. The fact that the burial place of the title holds both ancient and recent burials shows an interesting continuation of the land’s purpose. Jake hears one of the academics talking about different layers or strata of soil, but it all looks like mud to him. The same can be said of the ancient remains, having newly buried bodies on top, as if years of history is mimicking the layers of soil. We live upon years and years of history, something I think about regularly having never moved far away from the River Trent. I have ancestors who are Dutch and arrived in the area with engineer Vermuyden in the 14th Century, designing and creating a system of drainage that would create much of Lincolnshire’s farmland. The fact that my father has spent more than thirty years of his life working as a land drainage engineer, without knowing this history, feels like an echo but also a sense of belonging to that particular land. If I’m ever feeling a bit lost I go the river, take off my shoes and stand barefoot on the bank. Then I know I’m home and on the bank of the same river where I took my first steps. Jake talks about how human spirituality is linked to water, from sacred springs to floating lanterns and wishing wells. Humans have cast their prayers and wishes on water for generations. Livia brings up belonging in one of their case discussions. She doesn’t understand how anyone could feel so connected to ‘patches of ground’. Aletheia points out that Livia has a rare ability to belong, to fit exactly where she is. Her own family roots are in Ghana, but points out that she is now where she is because her ancestors were uprooted. People who are removed or separated from land that belonged to their ancestors for generations can struggle to belong. It’s Livia’s ability to belong, as another woman of colour that she’s really commenting on, because Aletheia does understand that if someone is cheated out of their birthright it can become an obsession. 

Across the book, new relationships are being built and I love that, in what could have been a very lonely place, Jake’s has a healthy support system around him. I did worry a little for Martha though, even though the author writes her with great affection I did feel her ‘aloneness’ in this novel, something I’m describing carefully because there’s a difference between alone and lonely. I feel he writes about her disability with great understanding. Martha lost both her legs in a shoot out when working as a detective and he describes her as suffering constant pain. I’ve suffered chronic pain for many years, particularly nerve pain so I know how strange and maddening it can be. I have had referred pain, very similar to phantom limb pain, where the site of pain bears no relation to the actual problem. Without my medication I have constant burning sensation outside my body – for those of you who are a certain age I often describe this as my ‘Ready Brek’ feeling. The author refers to Martha’ ability to function on drugs that are prescription and those that aren’t. Her skill is a sad one, known to most pain patients, where she copes with a certain level of pain and can still function but there are also days where functioning is impossible. There’s a real sense of sadness that while she can numb the pain it is ever present. I found this portrayal so authentic and possibly researched through lived experience. 

Jake is already an introspective man but he has a lot to think about in this book. He and Livia have decided to start a family together, much to Diana’s disgust. It almost seems like fate when his ex-wife Faye needs to see him. He’s just starting to have concerns about infertility, because he and Faye split up after a traumatic time trying to have a family. He’s worried that it’s taking a while for him and Livia. What if he’s the problem? It’s immediately obvious when they meet that Faye is pregnant and they have a lovely heart to heart in the park. It’s clear that Faye is in a good place and Jake is so happy for her, but nagging doubts are creeping in. If Faye can get pregnant without him, what does it mean for him and Livia’s chances? I still find many male detectives and investigators who don’t have this complex inner life and I love that Jake does. He might seem like a moody loner at times, someone who keeps his feelings hidden even from himself, but he’s just a deep thinker and so empathic. Even when he finds a body, his response is different. He is appalled by the body of one murdered woman who has been left exposed and was potentially murdered during sex. He feels for her dignity and has an urge to cover her up, even though he knows he can’t and must preserve the crime scene as is. It’s as if he takes on the shame this woman might have felt at being left exposed and perhaps taken for a fool by her lover. He has such a strongly developed feminine side and this helps enormously when dealing with Diana. She is clashing with Livia about potentially having a new baby around. Jake is the one who manages to calm her down and show her the positives. I’m so glad Jake has Little Sky and all it offers to balance out these tumultuous feelings. I think his Uncle Arthur knew him very well. 

Posted in The Book Folks

Body on the Shore by Diane M. Dickson

Posted on by thelotusreaders

I jumped at the chance to read crime fiction set in my favourite city, Liverpool. I’m half Liverpudlian and half Lincolnshire Yellow Belly. It’s my mum’s home city and now it’s where my step-daughter lives while she’s at university. One of the first things I took my husband and step-daughters to see was Antony Gormley’s Another Place on Crosby Beach. 100 Iron Men stare out to sea, some submerge and reappear as the tide turns and I’ve always found them eerie but moving at the same time. Here they’re the backdrop to a body being found by a dog-walker (it’s always dog walkers bless them). The body is wrapped in a bin bag, caught on one of the sculptures, else they might never have found her. The author has really captured the other-worldly feel of the place and it’s bleakness on a cold day, especially as a place to end up discarded like waste. This is DI Jordan Carr’s new case and he’s joined by a new DC, Terry Venn, who just makes it through his first post-mortem without disgracing himself. To be honest I had to swallow a couple of times as the author described peeling the face down! 

The victim is a young woman by the name of Beatrice Sharp, a secretary for a printing company. She comes from Northumberland and moved to Liverpool quite recently so Jordan and his team need to understand why she’d made such a huge life change and how she’s ended up with such a terrible end, killed by blows from a hammer. The characters are slightly different from a lot of detective fiction where the main character is often old, washed up, and exhausted, with marriage or drink problems on the side. Jordan is stretched and he does work late, but his wife Penny is supportive and understanding about the pressures of his job. They have a baby boy called Harry, who Jordan absolutely dotes on. He stops and watches his son’s bedroom routine on FaceTime if he’s stuck at work and can’t be there. In his working life he comes across as thorough and by the book, keeping the over exuberant and frustrated DC Venn in check when he wants to jump the gun. 

As for the setting, I don’t think you can beat Liverpool because it ranges from the tourist trail and glitzy hotels of the city centre, to the industrial Baltic Quarter and the Wirral just a tunnel away, not to mention the poorer areas – I remember Toxteth in the 1980s. The police station itself is beautifully non-descript, serves absolutely shocking coffee and often gets buried under late night takeaway containers. There are no glass boards and panoramic views here. We concentrate mostly on the case and the author sets the scene by starting with the victim. Her final moments will stay with you as the story unfolds, reminding us that this isn’t just about twists and turns and tension. This is about a young woman’s life being taken away. There’s also a narrative from a character called Ben, cleaning his van and  lamenting over the sheer amount of blood. Having watched forensic programmes he’s aware he might have to torch the van because no matter how vigorously he cleans, will it really be spotless? He’d hoped just to scare her off, but it went too far. He’s also blackmailing someone, considering asking for more money and leaving his victim to stress a while. What is his connection to Beatrice and who is he blackmailing? 

The case is relatively speedy, despite it’s complexity and is very tense in parts with police chases, more victims and one very agitated pregnant woman. It was a really quick read for me, because it was such a great story that shows our past can and often does catch up with us. I really did enjoy Terry Venn on his first case. He’s quite the character and could just have easily turned out to be an absolute scally. Luckily, he’s more ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’, slipping into Scouse slang when the conversation demands, great for witnesses who are reluctant to talk. I’d happily read the rest of DI Carr’s cases. I hadn’t realised at first that this is just one of his many adventures, so I’m really going to enjoy seeing his character develop from book one. This reads well as a stand alone novel and I definitely recommend this to other readers who enjoy crime fiction. 

Posted in Sunday Spotlight

Sunday Spotlight: Uplifting and Comforting Recent and Upcoming Reads

Posted on by thelotusreaders

Today I’m talking about the recent reads that I found uplifting or comforting, followed by a reminder of some reads I’m looking forward to this year. These are books I couldn’t put down, not because they were twisty or thrillers but because I loved the characters so much I had to know if they were going to change, to overcome their obstacles or have that breakthrough they needed to make life better.These are books of friendship, life changes, finding ourselves, romance, getting older and communicating with an octopus. I promise you’ll be getting all the feels.

Grace is one of those characters that you fantasise about having cocktails with and you already know you’d have the best time. Grace is stuck in traffic, it’s a boiling hot day and she’s melting. All she wants to do is get to the bakery and pick up the cake for her daughter’s birthday. This is one hell of a birthday cake, not only is it a Love Island cake; it has to say that Grace cares, that she’s sorry, that will show Lotte she loves her and hasn’t given up on their relationship. It’s shaping up to be the day from hell and as Grace sits in a tin can on boiling hot tarmac, something snaps. She decides to get out of the car and walk, leaving her vehicle stranded and pissing off everyone now blocked by a car parked in the middle of a busy road. So, despite the fact her trainers aren’t broken in, she sets off walking towards the bakery and a reunion with Lotte. There are just a few obstacles in the way, but Grace can see the cake and Lotte’s face when she opens the box. As she walks she recounts everything that has happened to bring her to where she is now. 

As Grace closes in on Lotte’s party, sweaty, dirty and brandishing her tiny squashed cake, it doesn’t seem enough to overturn everything that’s happened, but of course it isn’t about the cake. This is about everything Grace has done to be here, including the illegal bits. In a day that’s highlighted to Grace how much she has changed, physically and emotionally, her determination to get to Lotte has shown those who love her best that she is still the same kick-ass woman who threw caution to the wind and waded into the sea to save a man she didn’t know from drowning. That tiny glimpse of how amazing Grace Adams is, might just save everything. 

 

Our heroine is Lou, who moved to a small market town to care for her mother who was terminally ill. Since her death Lou has worked hard, selling the family home and buying a shop with flat above in the town centre. With builder Pete upstairs creating her living space, Lou has opened the shop and is looking at ways to save money and boost business. Pete puts her in touch with Maggie, another lady who has gone through a big change. Maggie’s a grandmother and often looks after her grandchildren in the house that was the family home. Maggie’s husband recently left her for a younger woman and she is rattling round in the big house. So, when Pete suggests that she rents a room to Lou until her flat is ready it turns out to be a lifeline for both of them. Finally, we have Donna, who works at her family’s hotel in the US. When her mother suffers a sudden mini-stroke, her conscience causes her to disclose a family secret – they are not Donna’s birth parents, her mother was a woman from a small market town in England. The thing that links these disparate women is a vintage dress. 1950’s in style and a stunning buttercup yellow this dress has a full circle skirt just made for dancing. Embroidered with meadow flowers, the dress hangs above the counter in Lou’s vintage shop and is the only item that isn’t for sale. It’s flanked by a picture of her mother Dorothy, the owner of the beautiful dress. I love vintage clothes and the descriptions of her shop really did draw me in. This story is about women supporting and inspiring each other and being their best selves. I liked the emphasis on self- care, from the clothing to taking control and finding our passion in life, instead of being the care givers we’re often expected to be. I felt like I’d been given a warm hug and I came away from the story smiling. There were strong female characters, forging friendships and achieving long held dreams. There are deep emotional aspects bringing flavour and depth to her story, but also enough icing and sprinkles to lift the spirits. Here the sprinkles were one of my favourite things, vintage clothing.

Allegra Bird’s arms are scattered with freckles, a gift from her beloved father. But despite her nickname, Freckles has never been able to join all the dots. So when a stranger tells her that everyone is the average of the five people they spend the most time with, it opens up something deep inside. The trouble is, Freckles doesn’t know if she has five people. And if not, what does that say about her? She’s left her unconventional father and her friends behind for a bold new life in Dublin, but she’s still an outsider. Now, in a quest to understand, she must find not one but five people who shape her – and who will determine her future.

Told in Allegra’s unique and vivid voice, this book is so heartwarming and full of humour. It’s about finding your own authentic self and being proud of where you’re from. The author contrasts genuine, warm and accepting people with the false, Instagram brigade who are more interested in how life looks than how it is. I loved the contrast between the city streets of Dublin and the wild Atlantic island Allegra calls home. She has to make a decision about where her home is, which place truly suits the person she is instead of the woman she thought she had to be. All through the novel I found myself smiling and that was exactly what I needed at this moment.

This was one of those books where it only took a couple of pages for me to be ‘in’ the author’s world and completely convinced by her main character. Meredith hasn’t left her house for more than a thousand days, but her inner world is so rich and full. She was absolutely real to me and I could easily imagine having a coffee and a catch up with her. We meet her at a crossroads in life. She’s trying to make changes. Her daily life is quite full, she works from home as a writer and between work she bakes, exercises by running up and down the stairs, reads and fills in jigsaws of amazing places from all over the world. The jigsaws are the key. Meredith doesn’t stay inside from choice, just standing outside her front door gives her a wave of rising panic. Meredith feels a terrible fear, her heart starts hammering out of her chest, her throat begins to close and she feels like she’s going to die. However, as she looks at yet another jigsaw of something she’d love to travel and see in person, she becomes determined to live a fuller life. Meredith has sessions with an online counsellor and a new addition to her weekly calendar is a visit from Tom, who is a volunteer with a befriending society. With this support and that of her long time best friend Sadie, can Meredith overcome her fear and come to terms with the events behind her phobia?

The gradual upsurge of positivity in Meredith’s life is exhilarating to read, but it’s also necessary because I knew that I was also getting closer to finding out what had brought Meredith home one day, close her door and not go out again. Claire Alexander balances this beautifully and where many authors might have gone for the schmaltzy ending, she doesn’t. She keeps it realistic and in doing so made me aware of everything that Meredith has had going for her all along. She’s so self-aware, independent and knows who she is. Above all, even as she starts to overcome her demons she’s determined to do it on her own two feet. She appreciates support, but gives it as well. She doesn’t want to become dependent on an emotional crutch. Meredith is perfectly ok. Alone. 

This book was a joy. That’s going to seem odd when I explain what it’s about, but it is joyful and full of life. Even though at it’s centre there’s a death. Ash and Edi have been friends forever, since childhood in fact. They’ve gone through adolescence together: survived school; other girls; discovering boys and even that awkward phase of starting adult life, when one went to college and the other stayed behind. They’ve both married and been each other’s maids of honour and become mothers. Instead of any of these things pulling them apart they’ve remained platonic partners in life. However, now Edi is unwell and decisions need to be made. After years of struggle with being, treatment, remission and recurrence, Edi now has to decide how she’ll be dying. With all the hospices locally being full, Ash makes an offer – if Edi comes to a hospice near Ash, she can devote time to being with her and Edi’s husband can get on with every day life for her son Dash. There’s a hospice near Ash that’s like a home from home, with everything that’s needed medically, but the informality and personal touch of a family. Now Ash and Edi have to negotiate that strange contradiction; learning how to live, while dying.

This is just the sort of book I enjoy, full of deep emotion but also humour, eccentric characters and situations. It takes us through a process of how someone’s life and death changes those around them, with unexpected behaviours and consequences all round. Before you think this sounds schmaltzy and sentimental I can assure you that these characters are not perfect. The author provides us with this loving picture but then undermines it slightly, so it isn’t perfect. We are imperfect beings and no one knows how they will react in a time like this, until we’re there. Catherine Newman shows this with realism, charm, humour and buckets of compassion.

I bought a second hand copy of this book with absolutely no knowledge of what I was getting, but when the first page is narrated by an octopus I’m there. After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night cleaner shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. Ever since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat over thirty years ago keeping busy has helped her cope. One night she meets Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium who sees everything, but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors – until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova. Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late…

This is a thoroughly charming and unusual story that I happily spent a weekend reading. Our central characters Tova and a man called Cameron are so believable with interesting quirks. There’s a lovely humour to the story and it’s highly original, especially Marcellus who I’ll admit, I did fall in love with. His presence is surreal but adds so much to the story. Backed up by a cast of family and friends who really care for our characters, Cameron and Tova take us through grief, loss and regret towards new opportunities. This is a thoughtful story and Marcellus is worth the read alone.

Upcoming Novels For Your Wishlist

The Women at Ocean’s End by Faith Hogan 5th June 2025 Aria

The Light a Candle Society by Ruth Hogan 26th June 2025 Corvus

The Forest Hideaway by Sharon Gosling 28th August 2025 Simon & Schuster

The View from Lake Como by Adriana Trigiani 17th July 2025 Penguin

Dear Mrs Lake by AJ Pearce 3rd July 2025 Picador

Births Deaths & Marriages Laura Barnett 3rd June 2025 Doubleday

Table for One by Emma Gannon 24th April Harper Collins

One Night at the Chateau by Veronica Henry Out Now Orion

Posted in Sunday Spotlight

Sunday Spotlight: Uplifting and Comforting Reads. Veronica Henry.

Posted on by thelotusreaders

I was totally new to Veronica Henry when I was invited onto a blog tour a couple of years ago. I was desperately in need of an uplifting read after a lot of dystopian and crime fiction. I read The Impulse Purchase and found a series of warm, charming and uplifting reads that are so light but full of strong and capable women trying to change their lives. The settings are gorgeous, romantic and so well described it’s like having a little holiday.

I spent an escapist couple of days reading about this interesting family of women all at a crossroads in life. Julia, great-grandmother and owner of the beautiful Wisteria House in the village of Rushbrook, has died and left behind four generations of women. There’s grandmother Cherry who was a model in the 1960’s; mother Maggie, the redoubtable owner of a food PR company; daughter Rose who is a new mum and volunteers at the local homeless charity; and Gertie, three years old and the apple of everyone’s eye. Aside from great-grandmother Julia’s death and Gertie’s birth, this is a family facing a lot of change. Maggie is still mourning the death of the love of her life, husband Frank. Maggie also faces change at work, as her apprentice has absconded taking some of the business with her. Rose has struggled with grief, but her job is giving her more confidence. Cherry organises a party to celebrate her husband’s retirement, Mike is an artist and photographer, retiring from teaching and looking forward to spending more time travelling with Cherry. They just need to finish the sale of Wisteria House, but Cherry sees something at the party that changes her mind and sets in place a new plan for all the women of the family. The Swan is Rushbrook’s public house and has been a family haunt for as long as they can remember. If Cherry does the unthinkable and use her inheritance to buy The Swan, could the women come together and turn it into something really special. This is uplifting and inspiring, as well as incredibly cozy.

Years ago, Juliet left a little piece of her heart in Paris – and now, separated from her husband and with her children flying the nest, it’s time to get it back! So she puts on her best red lipstick, books a cosy attic apartment near Notre-Dame and takes the next train out of London. Arriving at the Gare du Nord, the memories come flooding back: bustling street cafés, cheap wine in candlelit bars and a handsome boy with glittering eyes. But Juliet has also been keeping a secret for over two decades – and she begins to realise it’s impossible to move forwards without first looking back.

Something tells her that the next thirty days might just change everything…

Juliet is now a middle-aged, ghost-writer who’s at a huge crossroads in life. She and her husband have taken the very brave decision to separate as their last child leaves home for university. Most of their friends think they’re crazy, because the couple still get along, they’re probably the best of friends in fact. However, they feel they’ve drifted into two different paths. As her husband has embraced all things cycling – including the Lycra and the diet – Juliet isn’t enamoured and would rather curl up with a good book or go to the theatre. As the time to sell their large family home has come around, they can’t see the point of trying to meld their differing lifestyles into another joint home. So each will take half of the house sale and do their own thing and Juliet would like to take a trip into her past. Years ago, when she was still a teenager, Juliet went to work as an au pair in Paris, but returned in shame and sadness only a few month later. She has rented an apartment for a month to reacquaint herself with the city and spend some time writing her own story. However, revisiting the past is never easy and Juliet finds there are experiences she still needs to process and come to terms with. 

I found reading this book a little lie watching Sex and the City or perhaps more aptly, Emily in Paris which I binge-watched over the Christmas period. Everything about Juliet’s time in Paris is simply gorgeous from the description of the patisseries near her apartment, to the clothes worn by her friend ….. and the work Juliet starts on her book project. It’s romantic and simply gorgeous.

There are a couple of her novels that I’ve gathered up from charity shops and are on the the throwback pile. In A Night on the Orient Express one group of passengers are settling in to their seats and taking their first sips of champagne, the journey from London to Venice is more than the trip of a lifetime. From a mysterious errand; a promise made to a dying friend; an unexpected proposal; a secret reaching back a lifetime…there are so many reasons to be there… As the train sweeps on, revelations, confessions and assignations unfold against the most romantic and infamous setting in the world.

One night to fall in love.
One summer to change everything…

Over the last few months, Connie’s whole world has fallen apart. Her husband’s run off with an older woman, the magazine she works for has gone bust and she’s having to sell the family home. So when her beloved godmother, Lismay, begs her to help run the beautiful Château Villette, it couldn’t come at a better time…

No one knows the château quite like Connie. She spent a blissful summer there in her twenties, learning to cook delicious French food for the guests, ironing the lavender-scented sheets – and trying to resist the very handsome neighbour, Remy.

As soon as she arrives, it’s clear that the château is close to crumbling and Connie knows she’s going to have her work cut out. Could it be the fresh start she didn’t even know she needed – and will she find a way to save the château, before it’s too late?

Coming June 2025 from Orion

Meet the Author


I’m Veronica – otherwise known as Ronnie – and I’m delighted you’ve found your way here!

I love to take my readers somewhere they might like to be, whether a gorgeous house in the countryside or a seaside clifftop; a trip to Paris or on board the Orient Express. There, my characters go through the trials and tribulations of everyday life, embroiled in situations and dilemmas we can all relate to. And of course at the heart of my writing is love. All kinds of love, not just romantic: the love of friends and family, or a place, or a passion (food, wine and books, in my case . . .)

I also live by the sea and head to the beach every day with my dog Zelda. I love discovering new restaurants, and do a bit of sea swimming to offset the calories. I love a bit of upcycling too – never happier than when painting a set of bookshelves with a tin of Farrow and Ball.

My biggest writing influences are HE Bates, Nancy Mitford, Jilly Cooper and any book that has a big rambling house and an eccentric family.

You can find out more about me and my books by following me on Instagram and Facebook @veronicahenryauthor or on twitter @veronica_henry