I was lucky enough to win A Song For Issy Bradley in a competition on The Book Club on Facebook #TBConFB run by Tracy Fenton  @Tr4cyF3nt0n.

A Song for Issy Bradley is available for purchase in all formats here.

A Song For Issy Bradley

Meet the Bradleys.

In lots of ways, they’re a normal family: Zippy is sixteen and in love for the first time; Al is thirteen and dreams of playing for Liverpool.

And in some ways, they’re a bit different: Seven-year-old Jacob believes in miracles. So does his dad.

But these days their mum doesn’t believe in anything, not even getting out of bed.

How does life go on, now that Issy is gone?

My Review of A Song for Issy Bradley

A Song For Issy Bradley concerns the Mormon faith Bradley family who are coming to terms with tragedy in their lives when Issy dies from meningitis.

I didn’t think a book with religion as a central premise would be particularly engaging for me, but I read the first page and just kept reading. I could not tear myself away from the pages of this beautifully written story.

Carys Bray tells the story through the eyes of each of the characters, the mother Claire, father Ian, and children Zipporah (Zippy), Alma and Jacob in turn. What she does so brilliantly is make the reader believe totally in each of the perspectives to weave a tapestry of family life, belief and grief. It doesn’t matter if the reader has, like me, no faith at all, because what ‘A Song for Issy Bradley’ has is true life with all its imperfections, foibles and challenges.

Whilst there are serious themes underlying the story, those of religion, family, sex, death and truth, this is not a morbid or self-righteous book. It is a multi-layered, beautiful story that makes the reader laugh and cry. There is great humour, especially in the behaviours of Alma and Jacob as well as intense sadness. The end of the novel is so satisfying that I’m desperate to know what happens to these characters who have become real people to me.

I found the writing exquisite. There didn’t seem to be a word out of place. Thoughts and dialogue were natural and engaging. I loved the use of past and present tense to convey memory and immediacy. However, what I loved most about A Song for Issy Bradley was Carys Bray’s ability to convey humanity in all its layers, its imperfections and truths.

I can honestly say A Song for Issy Bradley has touched me as a reader because of its warmth, humour and emotion and I would recommend anyone to read it.

About Carys Bray

Carys Bray was brought up in a devout Mormon family. In her early thirties she left the church and replaced religion with writing. She was awarded the Scott prize for her début short story collection Sweet Home. A Song for Issy Bradley was her first novel. She lives in Southport with her husband and four children.

You can follow Carys on Twitter @CarysBray, visit her website and find her on Facebook.

An Interview with Fredrik Backman

I was so excited  when I was asked by Nikki Barrow at Sceptre Books if, I would like to meet Fredrik Backman, author of ‘A Man Called Ove’ and ‘My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises’. Both books are amongst the best I’ve ever read.

It’s slightly disconcerting when you are about to meet a writing hero. Will they be as wonderful as their writing suggests? fortunately yes – and more. It turns out Fredrik Backman is not only a highly talented writer whose books are some of my most favourite ever, but he’s also charming, witty and a fabulous raconteur in real life too.

Here are some of the things he told me:

Fredrik began writing seriously in about 2007 when he was working in a fruit and vegetable warehouse in a friend’s business  and driving a forklift truck. He knew he loved writing and wanted to do it more and more so he even offered to write for free for publications. Bit by bit he began to be paid for his efforts and became quite proficient in writing about tanning salons!

It took him about a year each to write both ‘A Man Called Ove’ and ‘My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises’ and at one time he was working 14 hours a day at weekends to fund his time to write during the week.

It was whilst attending a book fair in Sweden, that Fredrik got a call telling him a German publisher wanted to publish his book and give him an advance on the next. This meant he could write full time.

It wasn’t long before Fredrik Backman had gone from offering to write for free to having books published in at least 32 countries with a film of ‘Ove’ being made and a third novel ‘Britt-Marie Was Here’ (to be published in the UK in 2016) on its way.

What I found so delightful about Fredrik Backman is that he doesn’t see himself as an intellectual craftsman. He just likes to tell stories. He begins with character and loves to have a joke or some humour to start. If you find yourself in the same space as Fredrik watch out – he may be observing your traits for a new book. The opening of ‘A Man Called Ove’ was suggested by overhearing a conversation in a store.

I asked Fredrik if there was an autobiographical element to his work. He said there definitely is. He’s rather like Ove in lots of ways as he can respond in a disproportionate way to problems and he feels Ove would regard him rather as he regards Patrick in the book. In’ My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises’, Elsa is very much the seven-year-old going on eight child Fredrik was too. It was interesting to hear that Fredrik is completely involved with his characters, laughing and crying with them as he writes. Fredrik also told me that there are other members of his family represented in the story. His wife had a similar experience to Parvaneh when learning to drive and the character of Parvaneh might just have a bit of his own wife and her aunts in her! Ove’s reaction to Parvaneh’s inability to derive echoed Fredrik’s own when he found his own wife couldn’t drive. It was beyond comprehension.

I loved the notion that Ove’s is a love story with one half of the couple absent. When I asked if it was difficult to write a story from two such different perspectives in his books  – a young girl and a middle aged man – Fredrik said that they are people, not genders, and  he finds these age groups interesting as they are less likely to conform to social norms through embarrassment and he believes that accepting reality is not your only choice. Fredrik Backman cares about his characters as people so that we care about them too.

What struck me as typical of this self effacing and generous man was his comment about the books when they are completed. He said ‘The book doesn’t belong to me once it’s left the printing house. It’s yours.’

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and talking with this warm, lovely man who has his feet firmly on the ground but his imagination flying freely. I can’t wait for his next book to be released in the UK. In the mean time, as he wrote in my copy of ‘A Man Called Ove’, along with Ove and Fredrik Backman, we should ‘remember to always read the signs!’

My grateful thanks to Bookbridgr, and Frances Gough at Headline for providing a review copy of ‘The Last Honeytrap.’

Private Investigator Florence Love is the debut creation of Louise Lee in the first of a series of books and is published on 4th June 2015.

Florence is witty, attractive and devious and spends her time trapping unfaithful men in compromising situations for their suspicious partners. She works alongside her brother Michael who is somewhere on the autistic spectrum. The two of them contrive to obtain video and photographic evidence of their targets. Florence has one golden entrapment rule; ‘one kiss, with tongues, five seconds’ and no more. However, when she is asked by Alice to ensnare the gorgeous Scot ‘Scat’ Delaney, Florence finds she gets more than she bargained for – including some surprises about her own past.

Initially I did not enjoy this book. I thought Florence was acerbic rather than sassy and I didn’t warm to her. However, the more I read, the more intrigued I became – and I actually realised I was rather jealous of Florence. I realised that waspish attitude was part of the act. The more I read, the more I came to love this book and to understand what a talented writer Louise Lee is.

There is a great plot that twists and turns so that the reader is jolted by revelations along the way. The characters are brilliant. Michael may need Florence to look after him, but she certainly needs him too. There are some real villains here, but we don’t always know who the villain is!

The writing is creative, very intelligent and incredibly well researched. I found there were so many small details dropped in to the text I wanted to follow them up (and I now know about Ayurveda!). Florence educates as well as entertains.

It’s difficult not to reveal the plot, so all I’ll say is that my initial reaction to the first 20 pages was entirely MY mistake. ‘The Last Honeytrap’ is a hugely entertaining read and I shall definitely be buying the next in the series – ‘The Last Bigamist’.

I was lucky to receive a copy of ‘The Island Escape’, published on 21st May 2015, through @AvonBooksUK on Twitter.

Octavia and Roberta have been unlikely friends since their school days, when Octavia was the rebel that conservative Roberta would have liked to be. Now grown up, married and with children of their own, life is about to show them that we can’t always take our situation for granted and that happiness may not be where we’re looking.

I absolutely adored ‘The Island Escape’ and having tried hard to be objective and find fault, the only aspect that disappointed was the fact I couldn’t be in Corsica to read it! I read it in a day because it appealed so much.

Kerry Fisher understands and conveys perfectly what it is to be a woman. As the first person narrative switches between Roberta and Octavia in each chapter, the reader feels as if they are simply catching up with old friends because they are so realistic. One of the elements that contributed to this realism was the ease and naturalness of direct speech. I could hear Scott’s temper and Roberta’s haughtiness.

Some aspects of the narrative made me wonder if Kerry Fisher had been reading my mind as she laid out what often felt like my own thoughts. I found myself cheering out loud, laughing, shouting ‘Oh no!’ and even shedding a tear as I read. There is true emotional warmth in both characters and narrative.

The style is witty, thoroughly engaging and uplifting without being sugary or contrived. Indeed, there are some serious issues underlying the romantic prose, with loyalty, adultery, underage sex and grief subtly explored so that there is a richness to the writing that I found hugely satisfying.

Kerry Fisher’s ‘The Island Escape’ is undoubtedly the perfect summer read.