Having met Blackbird Books founder Stephanie and loved her approach to publishing I’m just delighted to be supporting them in celebrating the publication of The Spell of the Horse by Pam Billinge today. Pam has written a fantastic guest piece to mark the occasion of The Spell of the Horse being published that it is my privilege to share with you alongside my review.

The Spell of the Horse is published today, 18th September 2017 and is available for purchase here.

The Spell of the Horse

‘The ability of the horse to sense emotion, energy and spirit is way beyond what most of the human world realises.’

When Pam’s mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she began to notice the way her horse responded to her emotional turmoil. Thus began an exploration into the spiritual relationship between horses and humans and their infinite capacity to help us heal. Building on her remarkable discoveries, Pam began her pioneering work as a horse-led coach and therapist. By sharing her own path to redemption through personal tragedy, and other stories of healing inspired by the incredible interactions she has observed between horse and human, Pam puts forward her uplifting insights about the true nature of the horse, setting out some simple principles to help the reader transcend life’s challenges.

Discover the lessons which horse behaviour have taught the author about

* managing anxiety
* surviving bereavement
* letting go of fear and finding courage to live with joy and purpose
* listening to inner wisdom without overthinking dilemmas, allowing the right things to happen in life without force

A must-read for those wishing to understand the spiritual connection between horses and humans.

The Fear of Success

A Guest Post by Pam Billinge

Today my first book is published, The Spell of the Horse. Thank you to Linda for the opportunity to write a guest blog to mark this special occasion.

Writing a book, never mind publishing one, was beyond my wildest dreams a few years ago. When someone suggested that I should do so, to tell the story of how I came to do what I do for a living, I laughed with a self deprecating tone. ‘Yeah, sure!’ Owning a horse, too, was once a longing I thought would never be met. I still remember vividly the moment that my first horse Delilah was mine, after parting with way more money than I should have done. I was 28 years old and gazed at her over the top of her stable door with the adoration and wonder of a 6 year old.

My passion and respect for horses has only grown stronger over the intervening years and those I have known have helped me to be who I am.  Now I work as a horse-led therapist and coach – a vocation which I wasn’t even aware could exist until many years into my career. The Spell of the Horse reveals how this path emerged for me and what horses have taught me, and others, about living a life with purpose and joy.

Writing The Spell, as I call her, took me on an emotional rollercoaster which I had not bargained for at the outset. Fear of failure and of being judged paralysed me at times, and almost stopped me signing my publishing deal. Yet continue I did and today The Spell is set free in the world to do her work. I hope that if you read her you will enjoy the stories and be captivated by the wonderful horses and people you encounter.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of all for me, in this writing journey, is that receiving praise for my book, and owning it, is a lot harder than hearing criticism (although I should like to add that if you do like my book please do tell me via the review pages!) This has led me to reflect on how it isn’t fear of failing which holds many of us back, it is the fear of being as great as we can possibly be. Because if you embrace your greatness fully,  who knows what might happen?!

So today, do something to reach for your dream. That thing that you long for but feels out of reach. Why should you not have it? Be open to the path which is unfolding before you and trust where it is taking you, you are probably not even aware of your likely destination yet. Open your heart to receive and offer praise. Step into your own potential, and help those around you to do the same. And if a horse is still an unfulfilled childhood dream, remember…it is never too late!

(What a wonderful post Pam. Congratulations on The Spell of the Horse and good luck!)

My Review of The Spell of the Horse

Horses have the ability to understand out emotions and help us in ways we can’t possibly imagine.

I confess, I thought The Spell of the Horse would be a twee book of sickly entries from a horse fanatic. My abject apologies Pam. There is nothing twee or sickly about the depth of emotion portrayed in this wonderful book. in fact, I found much of The Spell of the Horse so powerful I had to read it in chunks as I couldn’t deal with the emotions portrayed in big sessions.

I think The Spell of the Horse is actually a very brave book. Pam Billinge lays herself bare for all to see. She shares her hopes and fears, her happiness and sadness, joy and grief, so that it is impossible not to be moved by several of the entries. Pam knows when she has made mistakes and is not afraid to share those times so that others may benefit. The events in Pam’s life are those where all readers can find something to relate to. I loved, for example, Pam’s description of herself as three different women who could hold hands and support one another as I know I’ve used different personas in different situations in my own life. I think the concept of ‘integrating the splinters of yourself’ will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Pam also writes beautifully. There’s a poetic quality to her descriptions and she has a real eye for detail, especially colour, so that her words really come alive on the page. Pam is a true storyteller as well as someone writing self help style material.

The Spell of the Horse is a very special book. In the same way many of those in its pages needed to learn to approach the horses appropriately in order to appreciate them and their power fully, I think some readers will need to approach this book with an open mind if they are to benefit from it fully. I shall be revisiting the pages of The Spell of the Horse many times and if you’re feeling lost in your life I urge you to read it too.

About Pam Billinge

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

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

You can follow Pam on Twitter and there’s more with these other bloggers:

I really miss my days of reading KS3 fiction and writing resources for it for a big publishing house so it’s always lovely when I can return to books aimed at children. Prisoner of Ice and Snow by Ruth Lauren is a middle grade book and I would like to thank Faye Rogers for asking me to be part of the launch celebrations.

Prisoner of Ice and Snow was published by Bloomsbury Children’s Fiction on 7th September 2017 and is available for purchase here and on Amazon.

Prisoner of Ice and Snow

Valor is under arrest for the attempted murder of the crown prince. Her parents are outcasts from the royal court, her sister is banished for theft of a national treasure, and now Valor has been sentenced to life imprisonment at Demidova, a prison built from stone and ice.

But that’s exactly where she wants to be. For her sister was sent there too, and Valor embarks on an epic plan to break her out from the inside.

No one has escaped from Demidova in over three hundred years, and if Valor is to succeed she will need all of her strength, courage and love. If the plan fails, she faces a chilling fate worse than any prison …

An unforgettable story of sisterhood, valour and rebellion, Prisoner of Ice and Snow will fire you up and melt your heart all at once. Perfect for fans of Katherine Rundell, Piers Torday and Cathryn Constable.

My Review of Prisoner of Ice and Snow

With a peacekeeping musical box stolen from the palace, Valor wants to prove her sister Sacha is innocent of the crime.

Prisoner of Ice and Snow is a fantastic book for children aged around 8-11. Firstly, it is well written so that it models good writing for children. I loved the settings and the way in which Ruth Lauren portrays the cold and bleakness of the prison so magnificently,  to the extent that it almost made me shiver. However, it is the exciting plot, great characterisation and the meaningful themes that make Prisoner of Ice and Snow such a good read.

The story is fast paced and thrilling with plenty of peril facing Valor and the friends she makes along the way. Every time I thought there might be a resolution another really exciting event took place. Even the end of the book isn’t entirely resolved with the potential for further adventures and I’d love to read any follow up story.

The characters are wonderful, especially Valor. She is a fantastic role model for girls, even when she behaves somewhat recklessly because her motives for doing so are admirable. She’s brave, strong, loyal and an excellent shot with a bow and arrow. Prisoner of Ice and Snow has no simpering girl as its protagonist, but a skilled dynamic being in whom all children would find something to emulate.

I highly recommend Prisoner of Ice and Snow – to all readers, not just children!

About Ruth Lauren

Ruth Lauren lives in a Victorian house in the West Midlands in England with her partner and a lot of children and cats. She likes chocolate, walking in the woods, cheese, orchids, going to the movies, and reading as many books as she can. She’s been a teacher and worked in lots of different offices, but she likes writing best. Prisoner of Ice and Snow is her debut novel.

You can follow Ruth on Twitter, visit her website and find her on Instagram.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

My enormous thanks to Karen Bultiauw for a copy of House of Lies by E.V. Seymour in return for an honest review.

House of Lies is a Harper Collins Killer Reads book and is available for purchase here.

House of Lies

Somewhere in Vixenhead, I’m certain the truth lies…

A sudden disappearance…

When Roz Outlaw’s partner Tom mysteriously vanishes, she knows his life is in danger. Tom has been distracted lately, afraid, as though he is being hunted…

A desperate search…

With the police showing little interest Roz knows it falls to her to find Tom. But as Tom’s secrets are uncovered nothing can prepare Roz for the dark lies and twisted truths she finds. She thought she loved Tom, but quickly realises she has been living with a stranger – a man with murder in his past.

A house of evil.

The key to unlocking Tom’s past lies in his childhood home – Vixenhead. A house of wickedness that keeps its secrets well hidden. Can Roz find Tom before it’s too late or will the evil within Vixenhead claim her too…

My Review of House of Lies

When boyfriend Tom seems to over-react to having his photo taken, Roz will find this is only the start of a catalogue of terrifying events.

House of Lies is a breathtaking roller coaster of a read. The plot gallops along with so many exciting events I sometimes wondered what on earth could happen next. I found it a highly entertaining and exciting read.

E.V. Seymour has a smashing style that adapts sentence length to situation so that she can convey terror and emotion with searing accuracy. I found Roz’s first person account particularly effective, so much so that I almost felt affronted when there was a switch to the third person and Tom’s perspective in the story. The attention to detail and the creation of setting is brilliant. I loved the metaphors that truly brought the places alive. I know the places in North Wales where much of the story takes place and could easily imagine myself there too from E.V. Seymour’s words. The house, Vixenhead, is superbly created so that it felt as if I was in there too. Vixenhead is almost sentient with a malevolence that is tangible.

There were elements that I didn’t enjoy quite as much and I preferred the first half of the novel to the second, partly because there seemed to be a shift of genre from psychological thriller to crime thriller so that it felt a little as if the book had lost its identity. I also had to suspend my disbelief at some of Roz’s actions. However, I decided to accept events and actions as they were presented and soon found myself sucked back into the story and thoroughly enjoying what I read.

Of particular interest to me was E.V Seymour’s examination of identity, of family and how we are shaped by our early experiences. I believed in Tom completely as a character even though his is the most unreliable identity of them all. House of Lies has quite a cast of villains, but even the most innocuous people have their own secrets and lies so that reading the book made me wonder just how much we really know those around us.

Alongside the concept of identity, there’s also an interesting theme of crime and retribution. Reading House of Lies led me to consider what I might have done in Roz’s place, especially towards the end of the novel when it seems no-one is entirely innocent.

House of Lies is an exciting, fast paced read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

About E.V. Seymour

Eve Seymour is the author of nine novels and has had a number of short stories broadcast on BBC Radio Devon. Educated in Malvern at an girls’ boarding school, which she detested, she spectacularly underachieved. Sixth form in Cheltenham proved a lot more interesting, enjoyable and productive.

After a short and successful career in PR in London and Birmingham, she married and disappeared to Devon. Five children later, she returned and began to write seriously. In a bid to make her work as authentic as possible, she has bent the ears of numerous police officers, firearms officers, scenes of crime, the odd lawyer and United Nations personnel. She also works by day as a freelance editorial consultant, specialising in crime fiction.

Eve lives with her second husband and often has a houseful of offspring, sons-in-law, partners, and a growing tribe of little ones. Nomadic by nature, she is planning another move very soon.

You can follow Eve on Twitter @EveSeymour and visit her website. Eve also has a blog and you can find her on Facebook.

I’ve been featuring quite a few children’s books on Linda’s Book Bag of late and was delighted to be asked to review Serina Adham’s Lulu’s Ballalam-Bam-Bam Grooves by E G Book Publicity.

Lulu’s Ballalam-Bam-Bam Grooves was published by Create Space on 1st July 2017 and is available for purchase on Amazon US.

Lulu’s Ballalam-Bam-Bam Grooves

Bing-boom, zing-zoom-ting-ding-click!

When Lulu the gorilla hears the opening notes to her favorite songs in her jungle home, she cannot help but get up and dance!

While making up some new dance moves, Lulu does not realize that her actions are causing a huge hullabaloo for her friends, Squin Squirrel, Lilly the owl, and Miss Skunk Fleur.

“Who is disturbing my slumbeRRR!?” roars the fierce lion Jhawfors when awakened from his deep sleep. What will happen when he confronts the young gorilla? Are Lulu’s dancing days over for good?

This charming new children’s poem follows one enthusiastic gorilla as she finds the balance between having fun and being mindful of others. Your little adventurers will not just learn an important lesson about thoughtfulness, they will pick up some amusing new dance moves to try out at home too!

My Review of Lulu’s Ballalam-Bam-Bam Grooves

Lulu loves to try out new dance moves but they aren’t always welcome!

One quick negative to get out of the way first. I found the font style used quite difficult to read and think it would be tricky for emergent readers too.

This is a lively and jolly book to share with under fives with smashing, bright illustrations. I really liked the fact that the gorilla Lulu is blue and the owl Lilly Loo is pink as I think it undermines stereotypes and allows children to accept that being different is acceptable.

There’s a lively rhyme scheme that is underpinned by an equally good rhythm so that reading the words aloud flows easily and I can imagine children creating some dances of their own to the music of the poem, or emulating Lulu’s moves. Both alliteration and assonance bring life to the words and I think there are good literacy lessons to help promote children’s vocabulary.

I also liked the message behind the poem that even when we are simply having fun and not intending to hurt anyone else, it’s a good idea to think about others and how they might feel and respond to our actions. The animals have to learn to live together harmoniously.

Lulu’s Ballalam-Bam-Bam Grooves is bright, lively and fun with a serious message. I think young children would really enjoy it.

About Serina Adham

Serina Adham drew on her experience as a dancer and dance instructor to give you this fun new adventure with her first edition of Lulu and all her animal friends. She hopes that Lulu will teach children to enthusiastically follow their dreams but also consider the effects they have on others.

Serina Adham lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. In addition to teaching dance, she has also worked as a jewellery, clothing designer and an interior designer. She has one fearless, singing and dancing daughter of her own.

You can find out more about Serina on her website.

I’m so pleased to be part of the celebrations for The Missing Girls by Carol Wyer, even if it hasn’t quite made it to the top of my TBR yet.

I was fortunate to interview Carol previously when the first in the Detective Robyn Carter series, Little Girl Lost, was published and am pleased to share that interview again here.

The Missing Girls is the third in the Detective Robyn Carter crime thriller series and was published yesterday, 14th September 2017, by Bookouture and is available for purchase in e-book here.

The Missing Girls

One girl found dead. Another girl gone…

Long shadows danced on the tin walls. Inside the trunk lay Carrie Miller, wrapped in plastic, arms folded across her ribcage, lips sealed tight forever…

When a girl’s body is found at a Midlands storage unit, it is too decomposed for Detective Robyn Carter to read the signs left by the killer.

No one knows the woman in blue who rented the unit; her hire van can’t be traced. But as the leads run dry another body is uncovered. This time the killer’s distinctive mark is plain to see, and matching scratches on the first victim’s skeleton make Robyn suspect she’s searching for a serial-killer.

As Robyn closes in on the killer’s shocking hunting ground, another girl goes missing, and this time it’s someone close to her own heart.

Robyn can’t lose another loved one. Can she find the sickest individual she has ever faced, before it’s too late?

An utterly gripping and darkly compelling detective thriller that will have fans of Robert Dugoni, Angela Marsons and James Patterson hooked from the very start. You will not guess the ending!

An Interview with Carol Wyer

Just click here to read Carol’s interview.

About Carol Wyer

As a child Carol Wyer was always moving, and relied on humour to fit in at new schools. A funny short story won her popularity, planting the seed of becoming a writer. Her career spans dry cleaning, running a language teaching company, and boxercise coaching. Now writing full-time, Carol has several books published by Safkhet and journalism in many magazines.

Carol won The People’s Book Prize Award for non-fiction (2015), and can sometimes be found performing her stand-up comedy routine Laugh While You Still Have Teeth.

Little Girl Lost, the first book in the Detective Robyn Carter crime thriller series came out in January 2017.

All of Carol’s books are here. You can follow Carol on Twitter, visit her website and find her on Facebook and Instagram.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

Lovely Sheryl Browne, author of After She’s Gone, the first in the DI Matthew Adams books, is a regular visitor to Linda’s Book Bag and an author I love spending time with in person so I’m delighted to welcome her back today to talk about the questions that run through her head whilst writing psychological thrillers.

Published by Death by Choc Lit, Sheryl’s latest book, After She’s Gone, is the first in the DI Matthew Adams thrillers and is available for purchase here. There’s a smashing short video trailer for the series you might like to watch here.

Blog readers might also be interested in book two, Sins of the Father, available here and book three, Deadly Intent, available here.

After She’s Gone

He’s killed your child and kidnapped your wife. What would YOU do?

There’s evil and then there’s Patrick Sullivan. A drug dealer, pimp and murderer, there are no depths to which Patrick would not sink, and Detective Inspector Matthew Adams has found this out in the most devastating way imaginable.

When Patrick’s brother is shot dead in a drug bust gone wrong, the bitter battle between the two men intensifies, and Matthew finds it increasingly difficult to hold the moral high ground. All he wants is to make the pimping scum suffer the way he did … the way Lily did.

But being at war with such a depraved individual means that it’s not just Matthew who’s in danger. Patrick has taken a lot from Matthew, but he hasn’t taken everything – and now he wants everything.

The Method behind the Murders

A Guest Post by Sheryl Browne

Hi Linda! Thank you for featuring me on Linda’s Book Bag to share a little bit about After She’s Gone – Book 1 in the DI Matthew Adams thrillers.

I’m often asked whether I prefer writing psychological thriller to contemporary romance. The answer is, I write the story according to where the characters lead me. I’ve always been fascinated by what shapes people and whatever genre I write in I like to strip away the layers and, hopefully, share with readers a little of what lies beneath the surface. A writer’s mind thrives on exploration. Every scenario, every face, every place tells a story. A glimpsed situation, an argument between a couple, for instance, a verbal ‘slanging match’ in the street, and you have your stimulus for a story.

There are many facets to the human character; no one can be truly good or irretrievably bad. Or can they? The driving force linked to most murders, I’m reliably informed by a former DCI, is humiliation. How many of us haven’t felt humiliated at some point in our lives? Who hasn’t wished for revenge? That’s where the ‘what if’ scenario clicks in. What if the ‘good guy/girl’ isn’t all good? What if he’s fundamentally flawed in some way that might make him unwillingly/unwittingly hurt other people? If he admits his flaws, does this make him good? Is he good if he actively tries to fix his flaws? If his motives at heart are good, say, the protection of his family, would that justify him taking a life? Then there’s the ‘bad guy’? How deep does his humiliation run? Is it nature or nurture that makes him evil?

In his encounters with his nemesis in After She’s Gone and Sins of the Father, DI Matthew Adams had pondered this question. In Deadly Intent, the third book in the series, his mindset is thus: “He’d long ago stopped wondering how perverted individuals like Sullivan came into existence. As far as Matthew could see it wasn’t nature or nurture. It was a lethal cocktail of genes, brain function and childhood experience that created monsters like Patrick Sullivan.”

Would the reader see any redemption in Patrick Sullivan I wondered? Well, according to some reviewers (Amazon review snippets below), apparently, I created a monster people love to hate. A truly evil ‘tour de force’ according to one reviewer.

“I loved hating Patrick Sullivan.

I hated Patrick Sullivan I wanted to reach into the book and throttle him…but in a love hate kind of way.

In the case of Patrick, you find out he has a daughter that he worships above all others, I found this compelling considering his attitude towards women in general.

Patrick is a really wonderfully awful creation. I believed in him totally. I hated him but was also mesmerised by him, and just couldn’t tear my eyes away.”

It seems I’ve certainly created someone who incites powerful emotion. If you do read the book, I would love to know what you think.

Thanks so much for having me, Linda. While I’m here, can I take the opportunity to thank all bloggers and readers for their absolutely fantastic support? It really is tremendously appreciated. Those reviews mean the world to an author and, together with posts and extracts, will help a book find its wings. THANK YOU!

(You’re always welcome Sheryl. I love featuring authors I’ve met in real life and one of the joys of blogging is helping authors a little on their way!)

About Sheryl Browne

Sheryl Browne brings you edgy, sexy contemporary fiction and psychological thrillers.

A member of the Crime Writers’ Association, Romantic Novelists’ Association and awarded a Red Ribbon by The Wishing Shelf Book Awards, Sheryl has several books published and two short stories in Birmingham City University anthologies, where she completed her MA in Creative Writing.

Recommended to the publisher by the WH Smith Travel fiction buyer, Sheryl’s contemporary fiction comes to you from multi-award winning Choc Lit.

You can find more about and from Sheryl using these links:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Buy | Buy US | Pinterest

Loveahappyending Lifestyle

Choc Lit | Romantic Novelists’ Association

My grateful thanks to the publishers The O’Brien Press for providing a copy of The Woodcutter and His Family by Frank McGuinness in return for an honest review.

The Woodcutter and His Family is published by O’Brien on 18th September 2017 and is available for pre-order here.

The Woodcutter and His Family

My son betrayed me. It is a family tradition.
Didn’t I do the same to my father?

The World War intensifies in Europe. In Zurich a writer breathes his last imagining his life till now from his childhood in Dublin.

The voices of his family circling him – wife, son, daughter – carry him to his end as he hears each separate chapter chronicling the power of their passion for their famous father, their love, their hate, their need, their sorrows and joys, their strangeness.

And James Joyce has saved for them one last story to delight and defy them: The Woodcutter And His Children …

My Review of The Woodcutter and His Family

James Joyce lies dying and his family relive their memories of him.

What an intricate and fascinating read The Woodcutter and His Family is. I found myself horrified, entertained, amused and sometimes bewildered as I read.

The story is divided into five sections and each has its own distinct voice. Because of the intricate sentence structure and the lack of speech marks, the narrative is often a stream of consciousness that confused and bewildered me which is exactly what I felt it was meant to do. Not only does it echo Joyce’s own writing, this carefully crafted looseness makes the reader think, makes them go back over sentences to check meaning and makes them realise that words do not always convey true meaning and intention, but can deceive and manipulate. I thought the style was inspirational. There’s frequent expletives and sexual reference but they all add to the colourful tapestry of the prose.

Grief, regret, love, memories and hatred all blend when we consider death and The Woodcutter and his Son provides a frequently beautiful and equally disturbing depiction of a man’s passing. I especially enjoyed Bertha’s story which made me laugh aloud on several occasions as she articulates just what anyone else might think but be afraid to say.  Reading the daughter Beatrice’s section made me very uncomfortable. Her desperate need for the mother she purports to hate is so affecting. So too is Archie’s grief at his father’s passing. The result of these different sections is an emotional and disturbing insight into a man who is only too aware of his own faults.

The section told by Himself and the allegorical story of the woodcutter made me truly reflect on death, on how we live our lives and on our ability to affect others’ lives.

I feel I haven’t quite done justice to The Woodcutter and His Family as a reader. I think I have missed many references that would add even more layers to my understanding and believe the book deserves several close readings to appreciate fully just how intelligently and movingly written it is. It has left me entertained, certainly, but also moved, perplexed and feeling slightly unworthy as a reader. I highly recommend it.

About Frank McGuinness

Frank McGuinness is Professor of Creative Writing in University College Dublin. A world-renowned playwright, his first great stage hit was the highly acclaimed Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme. He is also a highly skilled adapter of plays by writers such as Ibsen, Sophocles, Brecht, and writer of several film scripts, including Dancing at Lughnasa, and he has published several anthologies of poetry.

Having enjoyed the first of Vivian Conroy’s Cornish Castle Mystery books, Death Plays a Part, my review of which you can read here, I’m pleased to be taking part in the launch celebrations of the second in Vivian’s series, Rubies in the Roses.

Published by HQ Digital on 30th August 2017, Rubies in the Roses is available for purchase here.

Rubies in the Roses

Guinevere Evans has a dream summer job: cataloguing books at a castle on a tidal island off the coast of Cornwall. With her perky dachshund Dolly by her side she explores the island’s colourful history, tries fabulous local food and sees the gorgeous sunsets.

But when an old friend of her employer drops in, claiming a rare bejewelled wedding goblet is hidden in the castle gardens, strange events start to take place: several people turn up claiming they have a right to the elusive goblet, and a dead body is found on the beach.

An unfortunate accident, or does this death relate to the struggle for ownership of the goblet? Is there even a goblet?

Guinevere and Dolly dig in and discover plenty of motives to lie, steal and yes, maybe even kill. Can they prove what really happened to the victim and what became of the precious rubies that are at the heart of the mystery?

An Extract from Rubies in the Roses

Guinevere leafed through the yellowing pages to find the number indicated in the index. A scent of dust and dampness rose into her nose. Maybe this book hadn’t been touched for decades. Excitement rushed through her at the idea there might be something interesting hidden between its fading covers. A revelation about an artefact actually here on Cornisea Island.

‘Here it is. The goblet of Rose and Stars. A bejewelled wedding goblet.’

She scanned the explanation to paraphrase for Oliver. ‘These goblets were made from silver and decorated with precious stones if the buyer could afford it. The buyer could be a land owner or a dignitary in a community.’

‘Or the lord of a castle,’ Oliver supplied, gesturing around him with the cheese rasp.

Guinevere nodded. ‘Probably. The goblets were used at wedding ceremonies where both the groom and the bride drank from the goblet to symbolize their new life together. The goblet was kept in the family, passed on from generation to generation. This particular one got the designation of Rose and Stars because it was decorated with both rubies and diamonds.’

Oliver whistled.

Dolly pricked her ears up as if she couldn’t wait to learn more about something so rare.

Guinevere read and paraphrased quickly, ‘It also had an engraved scene on a round emblem like part of the goblet depicting a couple drinking from a goblet. Its exact origins and age are unknown, but it’s taken to be medieval because of the clothing of the couple in the little scene. Oh, here – this is interesting.’

Oliver turned to her and leaned against the sink.

‘What?’

Guinevere ran her finger along the lines, taking in the detailed explanation before her. ‘The goblet is believed to have been stolen by a Lady Anne when she ran away from home to be with a man her parents didn’t approve of. They married, drank from the goblet, and then hid it somewhere in their keep.’

Oliver looked at her. ‘And that particular goblet is supposed to be hidden here? Why Cornisea? It could have been any keep. And Cornwall has a few.’

‘I know.’ Guinevere studied the piece in front of her. ‘It doesn’t give any specific details as to who the parties involved were or what keep was meant. It’s more like a fairy-tale story: once upon a time there was a priceless goblet and a lady ran away with it.’

‘Right. I don’t believe for one moment that the goblet of Rose and Stars ever existed. Let alone that it can be found here.’ Oliver slammed some sandwiches together and stacked them on a plate.

Guinevere stared down at the book, pursing her lips. ‘Wadencourt seems to believe that there is a connection between the goblet and Cornisea Island, or he wouldn’t be here.’

‘Or he’s trying to make himself interesting again.’ Oliver poured the hot water into the teapot. ‘Almost done. We’d better go up and see that Father and dear Gregory haven’t killed each other yet.’

Guinevere cringed at the word choice. ‘I thought they were friends.’

‘They were, but Wadencourt left here after a terrible row. I was just a kid so I have no idea what it was about. Later on it seemed they were on speaking terms again, but I have never found out what they fought about. My father has a great memory for injury.’

Guinevere nodded. ‘Let me take the sandwiches; you take the tea.’

She put the book on the tray beside the plate with sandwiches and left the kitchens.

Dolly came after her, salivating at the idea of treats.

About Vivian Conroy

Vivian Conroy discovered Agatha Christie at 13 and quickly devoured all Poirot and Miss Marple stories. Over time Lord Peter Wimsey and Brother Cadfael joined her favorite sleuths. Even more fun than reading was thinking up her own fog-filled alleys, missing heirs and priceless artefacts and so he own writing career began.

You can follow Vivian on Twitter @VivWrites.

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Regular visitors to Linda’s Book Bag will know that I adore travel as much as books. As well as visiting Uganda and India next year, I’m off to Indonesia in the hope of seeing Komodo dragons. When I heard that Diego Zapatero had not only devoted considerable time to the area but was producing a limited edition book and e-book of photographs, The Last Breath of the Prince – A Dying Art, with prints and other merchandise funded through Kickstarter, I had to ask him onto the blog to tell me more.

You can join in the Kickstarter campaign here and find out more about the book here.

The Last Breath of the Prince – A Dying Art

Why And How I Made The Last Breath of the Prince – A Dying Art

A Guest Post by Diego Zapatero

Nowadays, I think we are in a “decisive moment” as modernity, technology is reaching everywhere, often a process associated with loss of identity and traditions. In South Asia we are in a crucial moment where this loss is happening, unfortunately forcing the last opportunity to see something that will not be present any longer in the coming 10 or 20 years.

My passion for the masks started a long time ago, when I was I kid I was used to see all the material from my father’s expeditions into the Amazon, amongst them a big collection of the Yanomami tribe artefacts, blowpipes, arches and also including masks. First time I saw a “wayang topeng” (masked dance) performance was already 3 years ago, I took one of the most representative photos of my work. At that time I didn’t realize how complex this Javanese art really was.

With time I started a survey on the topic until I found a large collection of Dutch journals, ranging from the late 19th century to the early part of the 20th century. I came upon photos taken during the colonial period; in old studios with a technique modern photographers don not use anymore. That truly woke an inner feeling within, I had never come across such a thing in those days, and it convinced me that maybe it could be the right moment to start a project out of it. Concerning the topengs, I had already seen exhibitions of masks before, as a material thing, as a souvenir, but I thought why not pay tribute to those who are behind them? It is a universal issue, a performer loses his previous identity and assumes a new one, letting go of his own will, which now becomes subservient to that of the personage of the mask. Each time it is precisely then that something important occurs on stage.

On this occasion, the whole thing was closer to a movie shooting than a photographic one, from the design of theatre backgrounds based in old motifs, carpets, and the fact that I had to build a large tent structure with the villagers for the shooting. That was an amazing experience, sharing with them the real Javanese life, and feeling their inherent sense of hospitality. They were really enthusiastic and they highly appreciated the fact that a foreigner wanted to make such a big thing out of an almost extinct art. They understood very well and they were very collaborative at every crucial moment.

Masked dances in Malaysian Borneo had already disappeared, and it required a timely deep research from old books, as well as from museum materials. I was really lucky to find some of these dancers, from the Iban tribe in Sarawak, and the Bahau tribe in the Indonesian Borneo. This topeng project is more related to fine arts than previous ones, more personal, focusing on portraits, more than ever before. The reason behind it is that to get the feeling of old photos, I made a research, using the same techniques as the old photographers, and discovering how they managed the light was one of the keys. To create that specific feeling, most of the otherwise moving models were made to pose as required by the slow shutter speed.

The “Wayang Topeng” is a masked dance performance which lives on in Java, with roots and elements originating from an ancient, pre-Hindu creation myth, and retold in the 21st century in ever fewer rural villages in East and Central Java.

Sadly, the syncretism, once so characteristic of Javanese mysticism, is fading away rapidly in a modernizing Indonesia. The Panji mask dance is today still performed by small groups in the island.

When the master of a craft or the keeper of the knowledge is gone, there is nothing but material traces and vague memories left behind, crumbling away with time; there is no way to recreate their deepest intangible history and state of existence.

It is already too late for hundreds, or more likely thousands, of such cultural manifestations around the world. For the few surviving traditions, the time is now to safeguard continuous evolution and interpretation of their ancient spiritual cultural heritage.

About Diego Zapatero

Diego Zapatero (1982) lives in the city of Yogyakarta, the cultural cradle of Indonesia. In his work he travels Southeast Asia to seek out the deepest and most genuine stories to substantiate his photo documentary projects.

While still in Spain, at the age of 25, he migrated into photographic work from a background as a pianist and composer after a career in marketing and business administration. He was led progressively towards his passion for cultural exploration; something inherited in his veins, at the same time pushed by a keen interest in Indonesian culture.

In 2010 he was sent from Spain on a two month mission to cover the eruption of the 9.600 feet tall Merapi Volcano on the island Java in Indonesia, one of the world s most active volcanoes. Zapatero has since taken an interest in the intangible about cultures in Asia.

Whether, through his projects, capturing a tattoo on a tribal body in remote parts of Borneo or a traditional dance character in full paraphernalia in densely populated Java, there is more to his photos than meets the eye at first glimpse.

Many manifestations of cultural heritage needs to be put and seen in the light of sometimes thousands of years of continuous evolution, interpretation and reinterpretation, as to even remotely fathom the depth of the characters and their current appearance.

You can find out more about Diego on his website, by following him on Instagram and on Twitter and finding him on Facebook.

I adore historical fiction so when I was offered the chance to read Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar I jumped at the chance. I can’t thank Jimena Gorraez-Connolly at Aardvark Bureau/Gallic Books enough for my copy of Salt Creek in return for an honest review.

Salt Creek was published in the UK by Aardvark Bureau on 4th September 2017 and is available for purchase on Amazon and directly from the publisher.

Salt Creek

A story of love, duty, hardship and intolerance told by a strong woman in 1850s colonial Australia.

A part of me will always live at Salt Creek though it is on the far side of the world…

Hester Finch’s comfortable life in Chichester, England, could not be further from the hardship her family endured on leaving Adelaide for Salt Creek in 1855. Yet she finds her thoughts drawn to that beautiful, inhospitable outcrop of South Australia and the connections she and her siblings forged there: encounters with passing travellers and the local indigenous people – in particular a boy, Tully, whom Hester’s father seeks to educate almost as his own son – would change the fates of the Finches, and of the area’s first people, for ever.

My Review of Salt Creek

Making a new life in the wilds of Australia will have repercussions for Hester that echo down the years.

What a wonderful, wonderful book. I adored this read. I thought the authorial tone of Hester’s voice was perfect for the era so that it was less that I was reading about her and more that I was residing in her head and experiencing everything in tune with her. The style of the book so well underpinned the era of its setting. I felt completely transported to a world, when the white man held sway over women and non-whites, so that at times I could hardly contain my horror and rage at Hester’s father’s actions and blind, delusional plans. I wanted to wrench Hester away and save her and Addie with every fibre of my being. I don’t often make comparisons between books and authors, but Lucy Treloar made me think of the very best of Tracy Chevalier’s writing. Salt Creek is authentic in every way.

Each character was fantastically well defined. I think it’s no coincidence that they are called the Finch family in a time when Darwin was exploring the evolution of finches and Fred was echoing this interest in nature. Mama’s spiral into depression, Addie’s flirtations, Tully’s division between native and non native lifestyles, Stanton’s barely suppressed rage and aggression and so on all serve to weave a brilliant tapestry of family life. I went through a whole range of emotions reading about the Finch family, from dismay to horror and fear to joy. Of all the characters it was, of course, Hester whom I loved the most.

Lucy Treloar examined family life in its desperate minutiae alongside big emotions of love and hate so that I was held enthralled throughout. She balanced every word, every syllable, to add depth and quality to the book. I almost wish I hadn’t read Salt Creek yet as I would love the delight of discovering its qualities for the first time. In fact, I didn’t so much read Salt Creek as experience everything Hester experienced in her life.  The filmic and poetic quality of some of the description placed me in Australia with her.

I want to shout from the rooftops about Salt Creek. It was, for me, a perfect book that I can’t stop thinking about.

About Lucy Treloar

Lucy Treloar was born in Malaysia and educated in Melbourne, England and Sweden. A graduate of the University of Melbourne and RMIT’s Professional Writing and Editing program, Lucy is a writer, editor, mentor and creative writing teacher and has plied her trades both in Australia and in Cambodia, where she lived for several years.

She was awarded an Asialink Writer’s Residency to Cambodia (2011) to undertake research and to work on her first adult novel, then titled Some Times in Life. Lucy is the winner of the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize (Pacific), the 2012 Writing Australia Unpublished Manuscript Award and a 2013 Varuna Publisher Fellowship. Her short fiction has appeared in Sleepers, Overland, Seizure, and Best Australian Stories 2013, and her non-fiction in a range of publications.

Lucy’s debut novel, Salt Creek was published to critical acclaim. It has won the Dobbie Award, the Matt Richell Award for New Writer, and the Indie Award for Best Debut, and has been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the Readings Prize for New Australian Writer.

You can follow Lucy on Twitter @LucyTreloar and visit her website. You’ll also find her on Facebook.

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