I love language and new words so I’m delighted to help begin the launch celebrations for Cauld Blasts and Clishmaclavers by Robin A Crawford today. My grateful thanks to Alizon Menzies for inviting me to participate and for sending me a copy of Cauld Blasts and Clishmaclavers in return for an honest review.

Cauld Blasts and Clishmaclavers is published by Elliot and Thompson on 20th August 2020 and is available for purchase here.

Cauld Blasts and Clishmaclavers

The evocative vocabulary, wit and wisdom of the Scots language – from Robert Burns to Twitter.

Scottish writer and bookseller, Robin Crawford, has gathered 1,000 Scots words– old and new, classical and colloquial, rural and urban – in a joyful celebration of their continuing usage. His amusing, erudite definitions put each of these words in context, revealing their evocative origins and essential character. Delightful line drawings by Scottish printmaker Liz Myhill contribute to this treasury of linguistic gems for language lovers everywhere.

The Scots language is intricately bound up in the nation’s history, identity, land and culture. It is also a living and vital vernacular, used daily.With references to Robert Burns mingling with contemporary examples from Billy Connolly and even Monty Python, Cauld Blasts and Clishmaclavers revels in the richness of one of our oldest languages, and acts as a precious reminder of words that are also beginning to fade away, their meaning and value disappearing.

Clishmaclaver: the passing on of idle gossip, sometimes in a book.

Inkie-pinkie: weak beer.

Sodie-heid: literally, ‘head full of soda bubbles’, airhead.

Smowt: youngster, technically a young trout or salmon but also affectionately applied to a child.

Simmer dim: Shetland term for long summer evenings where due to the northern latitude it never really gets dark.

Dreich: grey, miserable, tedious; usually applied to weather but indicative of the Scots temperament, hence it being voted Scotland’s favourite word in a recent poll (or perhaps indicative of the temperaments of Scots who feel the need to participate in online polls): ‘It’s gey dreich the day.’

My Review of Cauld Blasts and Clishmaclavers

A treasure trove of Scottish words.

Prior to reviewing properly the linguistic content of Cauld Blasts and Clishmaclavers I have to say something about the overall quality of the book. Difficult to see in an image, there is beauty in the gold lettering, and the self-coloured, purple, illustrated end papers pick up the thistle of the cover so that there’s a real feeling of coherence. It made it a real pleasure to open the book before even beginning to read it.

I cannot begin to imagine how much time and effort Robin A. Crawford must have put in to the construction of Cauld Blasts and Clishmaclavers as it is meticulously researched, helpfully cross referenced and provides a useful bibliography with all the sources of quotation too so that readers be confident of the authenticity of the book. Words are often placed within exemplar sentences that give total credibility. It sounds slightly bizarre to say so but I felt I was in safe hands reading Cauld Blasts and Clishmaclavers and this enhanced my enjoyment.

Presented in alphabetical order, each letter page has a superb illustration that reflects one of the words in the section. I derived considerable pleasure in looking at the drawing and then skimming the words to see if I could guess which one was being referenced. I loved the tattie bogle! I think readers could make quite a game of this, sharing the book as a family.

Speaking of games, Cauld Blasts and Clishmaclavers doesn’t need reading all in one go or in the order it is presented. It’s such a pleasure to pick up the book in passing and dip in at random. I must admit, I read the whole of  the sections spelling out my first name first! The book could be used for impromptu games of pictionary, charades and as a diversion perhaps for those with a bout of blabs (you’ll have to read the book to find out…) by making up sentences from the words presented here.

Cauld Blasts and Clishmaclavers is an absolute must for anyone with an interest in language because it takes them on a geographical, literary and historical journey. The author’s introduction distils the history of the Scots language wonderfully in just a few pages so that I had total confidence that what I would find would be entertaining and accurate. It was. I thoroughly enjoyed every page, every illustration, every word.

About Robin A Crawford

Born in Glasgow, writer and Scottish bookseller Robin A. Crawford has a particular interest in the culture and natural heritage of his native land. He is the critically acclaimed author of Into ThePeatlands: A Journey Through the Moorland Year, longlisted for the Highland Book Prize 2019. He lives in Fife, Scotland, with his wife. Robin is available for interview.

You can follow Robin on Twitter @RobinACrawford2, or visit his website for further information.

My thanks to the team at Bookollective for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for Niall Edworthy’s first novel. I’m very partial to history in my fiction so I’m intrigued to see what Naill has to tell me this evening.

Staying in with Niall Edworthy

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Niall. Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

I’ve brought Otto Eckhart’s Ordeal. After 25 years of writing and ghosting 40 non-fiction books, this is my first novel.

It must be very satisfying to publish under your own name Niall! How would you sum up Otto Eckhart’s Ordeal?

I was delighted to see it described in a review as ‘Nazi Germany meets the 39 Steps meets PG Wodehouse.’ Delighted because it means I have succeeded in my hope of creating an adventure story told with humour set in a dark period of history.

Sounds fascinating. So what can we expect from an evening in with Otto Eckhart’s Ordeal?

A wide-eyed innocent tangling with Nazis and their sinister plans inspired by the Occult and the Nordic myths, an impossible task, a manhunt, a picture of pre-war Germany and France, some burgeoning love, a Walther PPK, a boy genius with werewolf syndrome, a spectacular Grail castle, a less well known SS castle, a lot of adrenaline, a vulnerable but entertaining narrator

Crikey! That’s some description. How are readers receiving Otto’s adventures?

There’s an early review here and there are some on Amazon too from genuine readers!

You must be delighted with those responses Niall. Tell us a bit more about the settings and your characters.

Some of my settings include:

Berlin:  Cultural centre of Europe after the Great War, a hub of creative and intellectual energy, a den of decadence, Berlin was quickly cleared and sanitized by the Nazis of all ‘un-German’ influences.

8, Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse – the most dreaded address in Germany, Himmler’s SS & Gestapo HQ, complete with 40 underground torture cells.

Michelstadt Otto’s home town, its picture postcard centre is little changed from Medieval times with its timber framed, gabled buildings, flower boxes, swinging shop signs and friendly inns.

Wewelsburg Castle Himmler’s pseudo-Arthurian SS castle. Rebuilt by slave labour, Wewelsburg ended the war a grotesque folly to his unhinged world view.

Montsegur Village in foothills of Pyrenees famed for its steepling hilltop castle, site of last stronghold and massacre of Cathar ‘heretics’. Legend goes that three knights smuggled out the Holy Grail on the eve of the surrender. Much of the action takes place here

Dachau Himmler’s brainchild, opened in 1933, Dachau was Germany’s first concentration camp and prototype, housing at first mainly political enemies and social undesirables.

It sounds as if readers of Otto Eckhart’s Ordeal can travel vicariously in these uncertain times. How about the characters?

Let me describe a little bit about the main characters Linda:

Otto Eckhart – Our wide-eyed narrator, aimless unsung Medievalist sleepwalking into a Nazi nightmare. Has he got it in him to outwit the SS and one of the most sinister men history will produce? Can he come of age and triumph in love as well as life?

Heinrich Himmler – Fertilizer salesman, occultist, fantasist, armchair genocidal maniac, doting father, brilliant bureaucrat, unfaithful husband, rabbit lover, head of the SS, architect of Holocaust.

Ingrid Behringer – Bright, resourceful, intrepid secretary in SS HQ Berlin, at the dark heart of the young regime, she has no love for Nazis but will she for Otto? Keen amateur photographer, dauntless motorist. Smells of lavender.

Eva Eckhart – Otto’s Mum, loving, overbearing, tireless pillar of Michelstadt community, scared of no one and nothing but the Gestapo, Dachau, her husband’s principles and her son’s innocence and idleness.

Friedrich Eckhart – Otto’s Dad, the mouse that roars in Nazi ears. Quiet strong schoolteacher, Great War hero, scourge of the Nazis. Will his strong principles put his family in jeopardy?

Poilu – Otto’s fearless and faithful sidekick, cleverest boy in Languedoc, fulcrum of Montsegur village life, beekeeper, stand-in priest, washer of the elderly. Poilu, French for hairy, a nickname owing to his werewolf syndrome.

Inspector Muller – Local Gestapo chief, scourge of Michelstadt, nemesis of Otto’s father, but can he thwart Otto’s plan?

Weisthor – The mad mystic, closely inspired by Karl Maria Wiligut, ‘Himmler’s Rasputin’. Off-the-wall occultist, creator of SS death-head ring and interior designer of Wewelsburg Castle – Himmler’s SS Camelot. Drunkard and certified madman.

Karl Wolff – Himmler’s suave Chief of Staff. Saw out war as governor of North Italy. Escaped Nuremburg trials but justice caught up with him. Features as self in story.

Hans Loritz – 6th Commandant of Dachau. Corrupt SS officer & concentration camp careerist. Committed suicide awaiting trial by Soviets in 1946. Features as self.

Berthold and Erma Voight – Jovial & drunk husband & wife landlord team of the ancient The Three Hares Inn, Michelstadt, hub of local gossip. Anti-Nazis and trustworthy friend to Otto.

Raymond & Beatrice Trencavels – Poilu’s parents & amiable owners of Montsegur guesthouse, Otto’s doting French ‘parents.’ Key players in his ploy to foil Himmler.

Fr Pietro – Chain-smoking, defrocked Italian priest of lapsed faith, dissolute habit and gloomy outlook, former curator of Vatican relics, eager barfly and keeper of a great secret.

They sound such vivid people Niall. I imagine there will quite a journey for many of them. Do you have any excerpts to share with us?

I do indeed Linda. Here are some short excerpts:

You don’t forget that day, the one that changes your life forever, when nothing again will be even remotely the same as the life you knew previously, when you end up wholly altered by the experiences that flow from it. Mine was the sixth of May, 1937 and oh God, what a naïve dolt I was.

*

He rose to his feet and leant into me, the brim of his hat touching my forehead. I can still smell the cheap smoke and the beer on his breath, see the old meat stuck in his incisors and the sheaves of bristle hanging from his great nostrils. I cannot say whether it was fear or fury, but I stood where I was, not so much as a blink on my face, my only movement that of my racing heart. I was aware of the din in the bar falling to a murmur and then to a hush.

*

She was wearing a purple beret, with a purple silk scarf tucked into a black silver-buttoned tunic, cigarette curling smoke from her hand, now hanging over the door. A camera hung around her neck. She gave me a shy smile and shook a little wave. I returned both gestures, then did that awkward thing with my face, my eyes going left and right and my lips puckering with compressed air – being unaccustomed to beautiful women in luxury touring cars trying to get my attention.

*

It is one of the curiosities of uniforms and costumes that merely by altering the outward appearance, a slight change in the inward character of the wearer is achieved. To look at that strange figure in the mirror, I am obliged to confess again, was both thrilling and unsettling. I couldn’t help but wonder whether the character of an entire nation might be changed simply by pulling on a uniform. Was it really that easy to become someone else, to become a different country?

*

(Ingrid character speaking) “They take me for cocktails and dinner and tell me how to strip and reassemble a Mauser, how I might kill an attack dog were I to find myself unarmed and on the run – one places one’s fist down in its throat I am advised – how the reoccupation of the Rhineland is just the first step, yawn, yawn – then they are astounded and affronted that I am insufficiently aroused to go to bed with them.”

*

I approached the desk, peeling off my gloves, steel heels cracking the silence, heartbeats pummelling my ribcage. He looked up, eyebrows nudging a fraction higher, pen still floating above the document.

*

A beating, a bullet in the back of the head and a midnight bath in the Landwehr, that’s how it works now… Right, here we go, deep breaths, let’s hope the traffic’s light. And the bennies start kicking in – fast. They closed in on me, looking for a struggle, but I leapt into the rear like an eager gundog. They followed me in, and the door slammed.

I think they give an excellent flavour of the book. So, what else have you brought along and why?

I’ve brought some pictures of Montsegur castle and village in foothills of Pyrenees – where much of the story’s action takes place

It looks a fascinating place. Thanks so much for staying in with me to chat about Otto Eckhart’s Ordeal Nial. I wish you every success with the book.

Otto Eckhart’s Ordeal

Otto Eckhart’s Ordeal is a work of historical fiction, inspired by the true story of SS Ahnenerbe occultist Otto Rahns’s search for the Holy Grail as a trophy to prove Ayran supremacy for Nazi Germany. In this reliving of the story, a naïve young historian, Otto Eckhart, is personally dispatched by SS leader Heinrich Himmler to seek a holy chalice, only to discover the real life Chalice of Tomar. Set over six months in 1937, with the action taking place in Berlin, the Odenwald, Wewelsburg Castle and Languedoc, Otto Eckhart’s Ordeal is an absorbing quest, love and coming of age story.

Published by Unicorn on 1st August 2020, Otto Eckhart’s Ordeal is available for purchase here, or directly from the publisher here.

About Niall Edworthy

Niall Edworthy, a former reporter with international wire agencies AFP and Reuters, has written over 40 books, many of them ghosted. Otto Eckhart’s Ordeal is his exciting fiction debut.  His work has covered a broad range of genres and subjects and include a highly acclaimed account of a British tank regiment at war in Iraq, the comic adventures of an Essex roadworker on the world darts scene, the autobiography of a rugby World Cup winner, and the harrowing story of a young Londoner unjustly jailed in Russia.

You can follow Niall on Twitter @EdworthyNiall and there’s more with these other bloggers:

I’m absolutely thrilled to welcome Cole Moreton to stay in with me today. You see, Cole’s book The Light Keeper was one of my books of the year in 2019 and I reviewed it here, so actually having the opportunity to chat with Cole about the book feels like a real treat.

Cole Moreton will feature on Radio 2’s Good Morning Sunday this week too.

Staying in with Cole Moreton

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Cole and thank you so much for staying in with me. I rather think I know, but which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

I’ve brought The Light Keeper, which as you know is a story of love, hope, faith and longing set in a real life lighthouse on the edge of a four hundred foot cliff, near Beachy Head. The paperback came out in lockdown, so it is brand new. You were kind enough to say nice things about the book, for which many thanks, so I thought it would be rude not to bring it!

I wasn’t kind when I wrote my review Cole, just honest. I was just awestruck by The Light Keeper! So, for those who don’t know, what can we expect from an evening in with The Light Keeper?

Well I’ll hope to take you with me, in your head at least, to the stunning landscape of the South Downs, where the horizon is so wide you can see the curvature of the Earth. The story tackles some hard stuff, but I hope it is ultimately inspiring and uplifting. This is one of those magical places where it’s easy to get a sense of the divine, so anything might be possible.

I can vouch for that in your writing Cole.

Apart from introducing you to the characters of Sarah, Jack and the Keeper, I’ll let you into a few secrets about the history of the place. And as a surprise I’ve brought along a guitar and a friend, David Perry, who plays with me in a band. Together we wrote an album of readings from the book and songs inspired by the characters and stories, which is imaginatively called The Light Keeper by The Light Keepers if you want to look it up on Spotify, Apple Play or one of those places. So we will sing a few songs and invite you to sing along. How’s your singing voice, Linda? I’ve heard it might be pretty good.

I’m not sure who you’ve been speaking with but you’re very much mistaken! I think I’d better just listen unless you want to be responsible for damage to eardrums.

Actually, I’ve loved listening to the album. Tell me, what else have you brought along and why?

I’ve brought this photograph, which my father took when he was up walking on the cliff edge shortly after we moved here 16 years ago. It was the sight of the sunlight sparkling on the water that inspired the opening chapters of the book. “Fingers of light, reaching down through the clouds to stir the waters …”

What an atmospheric image and so in keeping with The Light Keeper.

We had triplets babies and a four year old, that was why we moved to this coastland, for more space and a better, more outdoor life for them.

So I’ve brought a picture of Ruby, Josh and Grace in their Moses basket.

I can quite see why you might need more space! Triplets and a four year old together must have been quite a challenge!

There’s a bottle of Long Blonde beer from the Long Man brewery, because the chalk figure of the Long Man is in the story.

Oh yes, I remember. Though I can imagine raising all those small children must have been thirsty work too…

And a selection of Sussex cheeses and pickles from the brilliant local produce shop at Middle Farm, just a few miles from the lighthouse.

Oo. You can come again Cole. I adore bread, cheese and pickles but rarely eat them because of the excess calories. I’ll make an exception today!

Thank you so much for staying in with me to chat all about The Light Keeper as it was one of the most affecting books I read in 2019. It’s been a pleasure finding out a bit more about it.

Thanks for having me, I really appreciate your support for The Light Keeper and for books in general, long may you thrive!

Thank you. Now, you pour a beer and serve up some cheeses and I’ll give blog readers the details they need about The Light Keeper:

The Light Keeper

Sarah stands on the brink, arms open wide as if to let the wind carry her away.

She’s come to the high cliffs to be alone, to face the truth about her life, to work out what to do.

Her lover Jack is searching, desperate to find her before it is too late. But Sarah doesn’t want to be found. Not yet. Not by him.

And someone else is seeking answers up here where the seabirds soar – a man known only as the Keeper, living in an old lighthouse right on the cusp of a four-hundred-foot drop. He is all too aware that sometimes love takes you to the edge . . .

The Light Keeper is published by SPCK imprint Marylebone House and is available for purchase here.

You can hear Cole being interviewed about The Light Keeper on Good Morning Sunday this week with Rev. Kate Bottley so don’t miss it!

About Cole Moreton

Cole Moreton is a writer and broadcaster exploring who we are and what we believe in. His BBC Radio 4 series The Boy Who Gave His Heart Away won multiple awards including Best Documentary in the BBC Radio Awards, Best Writing at the World’s Best Radio Awards in New York and gold for Audio Moment of the Year at the Arias.

Cole writes for the Mail on Sunday and was named Interviewer of the Year at the Press Awards 2016, then shortlisted again in 2018. His work has appeared in the Financial Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Sunday Times, and many other.

The first of Cole’s non-fiction books was Hungry For Home: A Journey To America From The Edge Of Ireland and published by Viking in 2000. This combination of journalism, travelogue and dramatised true events told the story of the evacuation of the Great Blasket Island in County Kerry and followed the journey taken by the islanders to new lives in the United States. It was shortlisted for the prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for a first book in any genre.

His second book was called My Father Was A Hero (Viking) and told the story of the men and women who returned home to London after WW2 but could not handle peace time. His third book Is God Still An Englishman? How Britain Lost Its Faith (But Found New Soul) was published by Little, Brown. It explores the dramatic changes in British culture and spirituality over the last 30 years and celebrates the possibilities for the future.

His fourth book was a retelling of the story of The Boy Who Gave His Heart Away for HarperCollins. His debut novel The Light Keeper was published in August 2019.

Follow The Light Keeper on Twitter @TheLightKeeper1 or Cole Moreton @colemoreton. There’s more on Cole’s website and you can find him on Instagram and Facebook.

The world was a very different place back in January when Robert Crouch last featured on Linda’s Book Bag. Then he provided a fabulous guest post about daring to be different when the fifth book in his Kent Fisher Mysteries, No Mercy, was published. You can read that post here.

Robert has been a smashing guest here on the blog several times, such as when No More Lies was released, in a post you can see here. I ‘stayed in’ with Rob in a post you can read here, and he’s been kind enough to provide a guest post (here) shortly after his Fisher’s Fables was released and another here to celebrate No Bodies.

Today it gives me enormous pleasure to help reveal the cover for the sixth book in the Kent Fisher Series, No Love Lost, which I will be reviewing on 21st September as part of the blog tour, so do come back then to see what I thought to it.

Let’s find out all about No Love Lost:

No Love Lost

How can a simple job interview end in complete carnage?

When Mandy Paige seeks Kent Fisher’s help to find the mother who abandoned her as a baby, he has no idea of the mayhem his investigation will unleash. With only a photograph of a woman he once knew, he discovers she left her office one Friday afternoon twenty years ago and never returned.

Did Helen Cassidy escape an abusive husband or was she abducted and murdered?

People connected to Helen begin to die in mysterious circumstances. An old foe returns, leaving cryptic messages on the windscreen of Kent’s car. He seems to know Kent’s every move, hounding and taunting the sleuth, attacking those who can help him solve the mystery.

When the main suspect dies, Kent’s investigation lies in tatters – until he realises he’s not the one pursuing the killer. The killer’s pursuing him.

*

Now, doesn’t that sound good? I can’t wait to read No Love Lost.

No Love Lost will be published on 17th September is available for pre-order here.

About Robert Crouch

Robert Crouch is the author of the Kent Fisher murder mystery series. Set in today’s world, the books pay homage to the traditional murder mystery and classic whodunit.

Based on his career as an environmental health officer, Kent Fisher is a different kind of detective, described as ‘unique in crime fiction’ by one reviewer.

Having left environmental health, Robert now writes full time from his home on the East Sussex coast. He loves walking on the South Downs with his wife, Carol, and their Westie, Harvey, reading crime fiction and photography.

You can find out more on Robert’s website, by following him on Twitter @robertcrouchuk or by finding him on Facebook.

The Ravenstone: The Twain

Nadia and Aidan Shaw, 13-year-old twins from Cold Spring, New York found a magical black Celtic stone, the Ravenstone. It pulses with the light of shamanic power and is a vehicle for time travel! Armed with the power of the Ravenstone and their own special gifts, the twins plunged back to the fifth century, where they encountered Native Americans, ancient Celts, warring princes and a shape-shifting raven. Determined to retrieve a now-extinct healing plant, they had to depend on their courage, their faith in their friends, and luck… or was it destiny?

In the much anticipated sequel to The Secret of Ninham Mountain, Aidan and Nadia experience a terrifyingly real vision of a massive earthquake which threatens their mother’s life. The mission to save her grows in scope as they investigate, and their subsequent trips across time and space force them to face unimaginable dangers. They must rely on their growing skills and all the powerful magic of the Ravenstone in their urgent need to stop the disaster facing the earth. Will they succeed? And at what cost?

Although this sequel does stand alone, it provides a richer experience to have read the first book, entitled The Ravenstone: The Secret of Ninham Mountain.

An extract from The Ravenstone: The Twain

Chapter 1

July 25, 2016

Heathrow Airport, London, England

“British Airways Flight BA830 to Dublin will soon be boarding at Gate 16. All passengers for Dublin please proceed to Gate 16.”

The tinny voice boomed from the broadcasting system of Heathrow Airport, near London in England. Nadia was standing behind her parents and sister in the line to check suitcases. She glanced behind her to see Aidan shoving his phone in his pocket and pulling his case closer to the counter.

“It is almost 3/4 of a mile to Gate 48! And we even have to take a tram to get there!” He had to call out over the noise of the passengers and announcements.

“How did you figure that out?”

“There’s an app for that…” he said with a grin.

She shook her head, fighting back a grin of her own. Her twin was proud of his reputation as a geek and kept up with all the latest in tech toys. He loved that he could find out just about anything with his phone. It was his “key to the universe.”

During their week in London, her brother had been an endless font of information. When they rode the London Eye, he described how this largest Ferris Wheel in the world had come to be built on London’s Docks on the River Thames. He explained how “Shandy” came about. Served in English pubs, it consisted of half beer and half ginger ale and was served to kids over here. Yuk, she thought. She preferred good old Coke.

At the Tower of London he read out loud horrific descriptions of the torture that had occurred in medieval dungeons. Through Aidan she learned the history of the amazing Royal Crown Jewels. And with what she called “ghoulish glee” he described the cutting off of Queen Anne Boleyn’s head. Although King Henry the 8th of England had been dead for close to 500 years, Nadia shivered. The whole thing was beyond creepy.

“OK guys, we’re next. Not long now. Be ready with your bags.” Their mom’s voice cut into her thoughts. Nadia pulled her wheelie-bag a little closer and plopped down on it. At least she could sit for a minute while the people in front of them checked their bags.

Her mom said, “I can’t believe I am finally going to see the Book of Kells. It’s not far from where your dad will be speaking. We can go before his lecture, this afternoon, while he is meeting with the people from the college.”

Nadia sighed. “More lines to stand in,” she muttered.

Heather chuckled. “Don’t be grumpy, Nadia, it’ll be fun. It is unique, a masterpiece. There is only one in the whole world and it will be incredibly cool.” She paused and glanced at their mom. “And Mom has wanted to see it forever…” Gen nodded and smiled at her daughter.

“Since I was in college…” Gen said. She put her arm around Nadia and gave her a quick hug. “I know – being a tourist is exhausting. But, who knows, maybe you two will gain an appreciation for ancient Irish artifacts.”

As her mother turned back toward the counter, Nadia shot Aidan a conspiratorial glance. If only her mom knew.

It was less than two weeks since the twins had returned home from 459 A.D. They had realized immediately upon their return that their actions had changed the course of their lives. In fact, they had changed history. But, since they had lived through both histories they retained memories of both. For a while they confused their memories of their “First Life,” as they decided to call it, with memories of this new, altered life. They had just begun to wrap their heads around this new reality when the whole family took off on a trip to London, and now Dublin. In a way the trip was helping them. Being in London was new for everyone so it wasn’t as obvious when Nadia and Aidan misspoke.

Nadia wondered if the fear and shock that followed their near-fatal encounter with Kane would ever leave her. She had terrifying nightmares when they returned to the current time, one of which suggested a different ending to the story. She was falling, falling, torn from Aidan, yet still able to see Kane’s face, as she hurtled into the abyss. One night she cried out so loudly her mom rushed into the room to comfort her. Gen had asked who Kane was. Nadia just clung to her mother and sobbed.

However, with every passing day the memories of their First Life faded and they began to feel more and more that the only life they had ever known was the one they returned to, the one their actions had changed forever.

Nadia was determined their First Life memories should not fade completely away and she took it upon herself to write a journal, with every detail she could recall of their incredible adventure. She and Aidan had hidden this journal in the drawer under the old mirror, with the Ravenstone, for safekeeping. She called it “The Ravenstone: The Secret of Ninham Mountain.”

So much had changed. Their dad was now a rock star in the science community. After toiling for years to find a cure for the rare disease that had taken his mother, Dr. Michael Shaw came into possession of an equally rare plant. The Black Fern had yielded many medicinal compounds and properties. Nadia and Aidan’s dad was now the chairman and CEO of the Black Fern Foundation. He was happy, fulfilled, and in demand.

Watching him now, laughing with her mom about something, Nadia grinned. She realized he was back to the dad she remembered when she was little: fun, joyful, and full of life. The fact that the twins themselves were responsible for the mysterious plant’s appearance on their father’s desk absolutely thrilled Nadia. But of course, they could never tell him.

The trip to London was a blast. Nadia loved it all; they saw cathedrals and museums and the gorgeous Parliament Buildings. Even Mom and Heather got a kick out of visiting Platform 9¾ at King’s Cross Station where Harry Potter was supposed to catch the Hogwarts Express. They trekked along narrow cobblestone streets, wandered along the famous outdoor markets of Portobello Road, ducked into old world shops and pubs and tried to understand what the people were saying. Same language, ha, she thought. English sounded very odd over here.

But now they had been walking and standing all morning and Nadia’s feet hurt. She wanted to get on the plane and veg out for the flight. All morning she had felt out of sorts, a kind of foreboding and darkness overshadowing her every thought. At least I get to sit here and rest for a minute.

“Nadia, honey, can you reach into my bag and find my aspirin, please?” Her mom spoke from just in front of her, and Nadia stood up and popped open the flap on her mom’s handbag, hanging on her shoulder. She rummaged around.

“Wow, Mom, you have a lot of stuff in here!”

“Don’t you start, too. Your father said he doesn’t know why I pack a suitcase when everything I own is already in my purse. He never lets me forget the day he found duct tape and Gummy Bears in my bag.” Gen chuckled. “One never knows what one will need,” she added in her terrible attempt at a Queen of England accent. “Oh, and while you’re in there, pull out that peach-colored envelope. That’s the invitation I told you about… for my class reunion in Dallas. A woman I went to school with, now an artist, made the card. Isn’t it beautiful?”

Nadia handed her mother the little bottle of aspirin, then pulled out the envelope. She found the card inside, a beautiful hand-painted flower in lilac and purple and pink. “Wow, really cool, Mom. That’s gorgeous.” The ornate calligraphy spelled out an invitation to the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Dallas, the following weekend.

She didn’t hear her mom’s reply, for the dark cloud that was stalking her all morning closed in around her. Suddenly she felt incredibly dizzy and practically fell back down on her case.

She could hear Aidan mutter from beside her, “Whoa…”

She glanced over at him and the dizziness got even worse. “Aidan, do you feel that?”

He nodded.

Everything around her began to dissolve. The other passengers, the kiosks, and even the airport walls faded out of focus. Turning forward, hoping to regain her balance, Nadia watched as the baggage counter and then her parents and sister Heather began to slip away, morph, then finally disappear.

In their place there now stood huge buildings, like a busy section of some bustling city. Directly in front of her stood what appeared to be a high-end luxury hotel, with a carved granite facade and towering marble pillars. There were flags flying over the glistening curved glass entrance which was graced with an ornate fountain in front of the doors. Even the sidewalk was made of polished granite. The enormous center tower was faced almost entirely with reflective glass and seemed to touch the clouds. A skyscraper.

And even more bizarre, what began as a vision was now quite real. Nadia and Aidan were standing on the sidewalk in the blazing sun facing the hotel entrance. Behind her she could hear the roar of city traffic and could feel the wilting heat from the sun above and the pavement below.

All this happened in just a few moments. She felt Aidan grab her hand and all of these new sensations surged and intensified.

We are clearly not in London anymore, Nadia thought. But where?

A man with a briefcase walked past Nadia so fast and close she feared he would knock her down. Yet even though he was looking straight at her, it didn’t appear as if he saw her at all. What on earth is going on, is this a vision?

“What’s happening, Aidan? Are we in interstitial time again?” Nadia’s heart was pumping.

“I can’t tell… It feels so real, but I don’t think anyone can see us. I have no idea where we are though, do you? Do you recognize anything?”

She shook her head, hard. She looked around and spotted a street sign on the corner. McKinney Avenue, it read. Where was that? The dizziness was gone now, but she was so alert her skin tingled. What was happening to them?

Before she could say anything further to her brother, a deafening crack rent the air and the earth seemed to shift under her feet. Glancing down, she saw cracks forming in the pavement, but then the noise in front of her yanked her attention back. The enormous hotel tower was swaying and vibrating, and as the building undulated, cracks opened up in the front wall.

For just a moment, she fought another bout of terrible dizziness, then Nadia watched in horror as the huge glass doors shattered as if in an explosion. The enormous sign over the entrance way now read “The Ritz Car” instead of “The Ritz Carlton,” as it broke away from the building and a chunk of the sign fell with a crash to the pavement below. The two uniformed bellhops ran for cover, then disappeared in a cloud of dust and rubble.

But that was just the beginning, now the entire building began to crumble.

She looked over at Aidan who was shouting at her and shaking her arm. She couldn’t hear a word he was saying over the noise of the splitting concrete, glass, and granite.

“Oh my God, Aidan, what’s going on?” she screamed.

Then she stared back at the hotel, which was tumbling down in slow motion right in front of them.

Aidan leaned over to her ear and hollered, “We’ve got to get out of here, it’s an earthquake!”

And they were right in the middle of it.

But where should they go, where could they go? Chaos was all around them. They stood frozen and watched in stunned horror as the beautiful skyscraper in front of them dissolved into enormous piles of stone and glass. In the cacophony, the rubble fell all around them, but nothing touched them. Dust blew up in waves and clouds, blocking their view. Within seconds they couldn’t even see each other. Before she realized what she was doing, Nadia tore her hand from Aidan’s grasp to cover her mouth.

Standing lost and alone in the clouds of dust, Nadia began to sob in terror. Then the noise slowly began to fade, and suddenly, she could begin to make out her mom and dad just ahead of her in the check-in line.

She groped for Aidan’s hand and cried out in relief. As the sights and sounds of Heathrow Airport slowly returned, she reached up to wipe the tears from her cheek. She expected to find stone dust and grime all over her face but it was smooth and dry. Even the tears had been part of the vision. Or whatever it was. She couldn’t stop shaking. She was still clutching tight the invitation from her mom’s handbag.

Aidan’s arm came around her shoulders and he gave her a squeeze. He was breathing hard and was clearly as shocked as she was. But there was no dust or grime on his face, either. They had just been standing in the middle of an earthquake – a big one – but they were not hurt or even touched by the debris.

“Oh, man.” Aidan shook his head.

Nadia said, “Well, was that a dream? You know, one of those waking kind of things?”

“Oh, you mean a lucid dream?” He shook his head. “I don’t think so, unless it was someone else’s dream and we were in it by mistake. That felt way too real.”

“And, hey, just like at American Stonehenge, it seems like no time passed, again. Look, we are no closer to checking in our bags. Time stopped again, Aidan.”

He nodded. “You’re right. But what was that all about?”

“Oh, no!” She was staring down in horror at the invitation in her hand. “Aidan, look.” She held it up for him to see.

Aidan’s face paled.

Nadia felt as though she’d been punched in the gut. She could hardly breathe. That is where Mom is going. OK, you have to pull yourself together and stop shaking. She was grateful time had frozen during their ordeal so she had a moment to collect herself. Her breathing had not yet returned to normal when Gen turned to them.

“Good grief, sweetie, are you all right?” Gen reached out to place the back of her hand on her daughter’s forehead. “Are you sick? You’re as white as a sheet!”

Chapter 2

“So, Aidan, what are we going to do?”

After the brief flight from London to Dublin, they had checked into adjoining rooms in a small hotel in the heart of the city, near Trinity College. Dad was going to be a guest-speaker at an international workshop later that afternoon. They had not found a moment during the flight, or the cab ride to the hotel, where they could talk without being overheard. But Nadia’s mind had been going a mile a minute about the earthquake they had just experienced and she knew Aidan was thinking of little else as well.

Nadia covered her confusion and shock as best she could, after the horrible vision, but her mom kept asking her what was wrong. Oh, how she longed to tell her, to warn her! But what could she say that didn’t involve telling her mother about the Ravenstone? Using the stone might be the only way to save her. Or she and Aidan had to somehow convince her not to go to Dallas. They just had to.

Aidan had come to the room Nadia was sharing with Heather, to grab a private moment to talk. When their older sister headed for the bathroom and turned on the shower, they found their opportunity.

“OK, that gives us plenty of time,” said Aidan, nodding toward the bathroom. “Every time Heather takes a shower the water table drops.” He pulled his iPad out of his backpack and began signing into the hotel’s Wi-fi.

Nadia said, “I can’t believe we were in the middle of an actual earthquake –happening right around us! And oh my God, Mom is going to be there! In that very hotel!” She repeated, “Aidan, what are we going to do?”

“Hang on, hang on, Nadia, we don’t know it is going to happen when Mom is there–”

“Seriously, Aidan? You think this is a coincidence? Give me a break. Why else would we see it? And why would the vision start the instant I touched that invitation?”

“OK, OK, you’re right. Good point.” Aidan chewed on the inside of his cheek. “But let’s try to be calm about it. We aren’t going to help by throwing a fit.”

Nadia knew her twin was as upset as she was, but she also knew he had a different way of dealing with stress than she did. Aidan slowed down and got all analytical. She took a deep breath and focused on being calm.

Aidan said, “What I don’t get… is how is this even happening? We don’t have the Ravenstone and we’re thousands of miles from all of the places of power where we’ve had visions before. You know, the mirror, the chamber–”

“Um, Aidan–”

Aidan carried on, oblivious of Nadia and what she was trying to tell him.

“If only we had the Ravenstone.” He groaned. “We could go back and do something to stop this.”

“Aidan, hang on.”

Nadia hauled her suitcase up onto the bed, zipped it open and hunted around through clothes and shoes.

Aidan muttered on, not paying attention to her. “We could stop Mom from going… or do something!”

Nadia turned to face her brother. “Earth to Aidan!”

He looked at her and his eyes focused on the object in her hands. He blinked and she saw the lights come on in his brain. Nadia was holding the Ravenstone. “How –how did that get here?”

“I brought it, boy genius.”

“But we talked about that! We agreed it wasn’t safe!”

Nadia grimaced and searched around for a reply.

“How on earth did you get it through airport security? Where was it? Was it in your backpack? It must have shown up… it must have looked like a weapon!”

I’m not going to be put on the defensive, now, she thought. I am glad I brought it. There was power, safety, somehow, having it with us. “Well… it wasn’t in my backpack. It was in my suitcase. I rolled it up in pajamas and tucked it between my shoes.”

Aidan stood up so fast his iPad fell to the floor. “Geez, Nadia, what if the airline lost our stuff? What if they sent it to Singapore or something?”

“Now you need to calm down. Mom and Dad are going to hear you.” Nadia motioned to the door joining their rooms.

Aidan glanced at the door as well. “OK, OK.”

Nadia continued, “I know we decided to leave it at home in the mirror. But, at the last minute, I just couldn’t leave it behind. I just couldn’t! I don’t know why. I just had to bring it.”

He stared at her in silent disbelief.

“It gives us options, Aidan. Come on, just a minute ago you said you wished we had it. Well, here it is.” She watched her brother, as the anger slowly drained from his face.

Pressing her advantage, Nadia said, “You know we would never have even seen that vision if we didn’t have the Ravenstone with us!”

Aidan nodded slowly. “OK, you’re right.”

Nadia took a deep breath. “So, how do we stop Mom from being in an earthquake?”

“I don’t know,” her brother replied. “But, don’t worry, we just have to think about this…”

“Well, we can’t just grab the Ravenstone and head off somewhere, we don’t even know where to go, where to start.” Nadia was pacing back and forth in the tiny hotel room.

“Right,” he replied. “But we have to stay calm.”

His sister nodded. She sighed, then flopped down on the other bed, right across from Aidan. “I feel so alone over here. We don’t have Patrick in the mirror… I feel like there is no way we can figure this out.”

Aidan scratched his chin and scowled. “There is a way, there has to be. Look at everything we figured out before. Just don’t panic, Nadia, we have time – Mom isn’t going until next weekend. So we have a few days. Besides, with time travel, maybe that doesn’t matter anyway, we can always go back, after it happens, to before the earthquake.”

“No!” Nadia sat up straight. “I don’t want this to happen. At all. It feels like too big a risk, Aidan. I don’t want to be stuck trying to undo it. I want to stop it before it happens. It’s Mom!” Nadia was near tears.

Aidan swallowed hard and nodded. “And you know, there’s another piece to this.”

She took a deep breath. “I’m listening.”

“Even if we could stop Mom going, we can’t let all those other people die.”

His sister’s eyes opened wide.

Aidan continued. “We can’t just save her. We have to somehow stop the earthquake from happening at all.”

There was silence for a moment. They stared at each other, then Nadia looked down at the stone in her hands. It began to glow with a deep golden-red inner light. Then it pulsed slowly. Is this the way the stone tells us we are on the right track?

About Diane Solomon and Mark Carey

Diane Solomon enjoyed a wonderfully diverse career path that included her own variety show on BBC TV in England and major tours with Glen Campbell and Kenny Rogers. Her highly successful singing career has given way to her lifelong dream of being a writer.

Mark Carey is a retired biologist. As a scientist he was immersed in the probable, in retirement he pursues the possible and considers the improbable. He has dabbled in voice-over work and sculpting and is a lifelong, devoted naturalist.

The Ravenstone: The Twain is their second collaboration as authors. The first was The Ravenstone: The Secret of Ninham Mountain, book one in the Ravenstone series.

They live in New Hampshire, in America, on untouched acres of forest and streams. They spend many hours designing gardens and meadows, playing with their three dogs, and watching wildlife. This involves saving turtles from pups, and plucking the occasional porcupine quills out of a little English Cocker Spaniel’s face.

You can follow Diane on Twitter @dianesolomon and Mark @MarkCareyWriter.  You’ll find them on Facebook and Goodreads and can visit their website for more information.

I was so disappointed I simply couldn’t accept Chaelli Cattlin’s latest book for review as I am utterly snowed under. However, I’m delighted he agreed to stay in with me today to tell me all about it anyway. My thanks to Ben Cameron at Cameron Publicity for putting us in touch with one another.

Staying in with Chaelli Cattlin

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Chaelli.Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me. Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

This is my latest book, The Café with Five Faces, What the Walls Heard, 2018-2019. I chose this one as it’s a continuation of the 2018 book and with some currently relevant content.

It’s a really unusual title. What can we expect from an evening in with The Café with Five Faces, What the Walls Heard, 2018-2019.

The Café with Five Faces, What the Walls Heard, 2018-2019 takes place in a fictional café in the north of England. There are five rooms in the café, each with its own regular clientele and themes (although there is occasionally some crossover of both). The rooms are all named after cities with which I have a particular affinity and have spent a lot of time, ranging from months to several years. Cape Town conversations mainly deal with the development of politics in the period covered by the book and are rather opinionated. Budapest is a space for would-be artists (writers, musicians, TV producer / presenters, et al) while Beirut is more for the romantics, even though most of it fails! Granada is for those interested in travel experiences, and Hebden Bridge is gossipy, but also delves into issues such as surrogacy and mental health. The key point is that (almost) everything is based on my first-hand experience, sometimes understated and sometimes exaggerated, and is recounted by myself as the owner / barista and by the characters in each room.

This sounds so intriguing! What have readers been saying about The Café with Five Faces, What the Walls Heard, 2018-2019?

Reviews have included:

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars: So impactful!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars: Like a Wiki-slash-Lonely-Planet with personal stories behind it; it’s informative and reads like a best friend you don’t really know; a nice gift to those who love but for some reason can’t travel at this time because it feels like a mini world in a book format.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars: Coffee lovers, café sitters, travellers and those who find themselves engrossed in eavesdropping on others’ conversations will enjoy this.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars: The kind of everyday conversations people have when they get together with their friends to catch up to talk about life, politics, football and such topics; it made me feel part voyeur as if I was sitting there in the corner, listening in.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars: Perfect for people who enjoy unobtrusively listening in occasionally to the conversation at the next table; a light-hearted read but bringing in all sort of topics from travel to today’s political situation in a very readable way.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars: This cosy little book was just what I was looking for with amazing cultural aspects and views, world cuisine and coffee culture, casual yet provocative conversations and last but not least a multi-cultural, know-it-all cafe owner with great insights about food and drinks, who also has a level of nonchalance I wish to have in life; a delicious reading experience.

 It sounds as if it’s being received very well.

What else have you brought along and why?

As I am a barista specialising in third-wave / speciality coffee, I have brought along a range of single origin coffees made in a variety of ways, along with some Hungarian desserts and a selection of characters from The Café with Five Faces. I’ve also brought a lot of photographs; these can be seen here.

I enjoyed looking at the photos very much Chaelli, though as a tea drinker who never drinks coffee I haven’t a clue what third-wave coffee means!

I could also bring along a song or two by Jimez, my failed writer, but that might be asking for trouble!

It might indeed! Thanks so much for staying in with me to chat about The Cafe with Five Faces. Tell you what, as I never drink coffee, you make your favourite for me to try whilst I tell blog readers more about The Café with Five Faces.

The Cafe with Five Faces

The Café with Five Faces, hardly surprisingly, is a café with five distinct areas, each named after a city or town with which the author has a special affinity. Although there is some crossover between the rooms, both in terms of characters and storylines, each space has its own central themes.

Beirut is a room for personal stories and aspired or failed romance, usually of the latter variety (and the author is well-versed in the latter). Budapest is a room for aspiring artists, writers and musicians, usually of the thwarted variety (and, again, the author has relevant experience). Cape Town is a room mainly for men and mainly for politics, exclusively of the pro-liberal and anti-Brexit persuasion, with a bit of football thrown in for good measure. Granada is an outdoor space for raconteurs of travel anecdotes for readers suffering from wanderlust. Last, but not least, Hebden Bridge is a Yorkshire-style tearoom frequented by the over-fifties and just a little bit gossipy.

There’s something for everyone – just choose your room with care!

The Cafe with Five Faces is available for purchase here.

About Chaelli Cattlin

Chaelli Cattlin is a traveller, observer and coffee fanatic. His ‘day job’, teaching English, has given him a lifetime of travel and his natural nosiness has helped him to get to know and observe people from all around the world.

These days, he is studying for a Diploma in Coffee Skills and has so far taken courses in Beirut, London, Cape Town, Bogotá and Villa de Leyva (Colombia). He as picked coffee on two different estates in Colombia. His focus is ‘third wave’ / ‘speciality’ brewing methods, such as Chemex, V60, Aeropress and Siphon, although he has been trained in Barista skills working with espresso-based coffees as well.

He has been a writer for a long time, starting with children’s adventure stories written when barely a teen, through to materials and courses for English language teachers, and an as yet unpublished travelogue.

Chaelli Cattlin lives in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.

You’ll find more on Facebook and you can follow The Cafe with Five Faces on Twitter @thecafewith5fa1, or visit the website.

I’m delighted to be helping begin the blog tour for Slow Slicing by Tony J Forder on publication day today. My thanks to Sarah at Book on the Bright Side for inviting me to participate in this blog tour for Slow Slicing, the seventh book in his DI Bliss series.

Being a local author to me Tony is a regular here on Linda’s Book Bag and we have met several times in person. Covid 19 permitting, we’re looking forward to welcoming Tony to The Deepings Literary Festival in 2021.

I ‘stayed in’ with Tony to discuss Scream Blue Murder in a post you can read here and I shared my review of that book here.

Other posts include:

My review of Endless Silent Scream here

A guest piece from Tony about The Cold Winter Sun imperative you will find here,

A  moving post about becoming a writer here when Bad to the Bone was published

Tony also told us about writing outside his comfort zone here

His characters Bliss and Chandler from The Scent of Guilt introduced each other here.

Published today, 10th August 2020, Slow Slicing is available for purchase here.

Slow Slicing

WHEN DEATH BECOMES THE KINDEST CUT OF ALL

When slices of flesh and body parts are discovered in different areas of the country, DI Bliss and his team are tasked with running the operation. After Bliss realises the victims have been subjected to a specific form of torture, it leads him to a cold case involving the brutal and bloody murder of a woman in London twenty-six years earlier.

As the team discover links between their victims, the murdered woman, and gangland crime, they begin a dangerous investigation into both the past and the present. But Bliss is stumped, unable to decide if the current spate of mutilations are acts of revenge or the result of ageing criminals seeking to hide their despicable actions. Following a leak to the media, Bliss’s reaction may have dire consequences.

With the hunt for the victims at fever point, Bliss uncovers evidence steering him in the direction of one particular individual. The only problem being, his prime suspect is the one person it cannot possibly be. When Bliss orders a sting operation, the astonishing truth is revealed. And that’s when things really start to go wrong…

My Review of Slow Slicing

Jimmy Bliss has his work cut out – literally – in this new case!

There’s a real skill in writing the seventh book in a series that doesn’t need readers to have encountered the series before in order to enjoy it completely. Tony J Forder has that skill in spades. Slow Slicing may be book seven in the DI Bliss series but it works equally well as a stand alone book.

I would say that those of a nervous disposition should look away now. I found some of the descriptions in Slow Slicing very gruesome and way beyond my normal comfort zone, but still essential and integral to the plot so that they never felt gratuitous. Indeed, although I had to read some elements through narrowed eyes, I found these passages helped me understand just how such crimes could work.

Insight into the workings of police investigations is threaded carefully throughout so that there’s credibility and status behind the storytelling. The plot is deviously constructed so that it is both credible and surprising. It did make me wonder how on Earth Tony J Forder came up with such a riveting story because it is exciting, entertaining and utterly surprising.

Used to Tony J Forder’s accurate descriptions of the Peterborough area near my home that always bring pleasure, this time I relished the added geographical, cultural and historical details that I wasn’t expecting. I felt this added a richness to the storytelling, making for a very satisfying read.

I really appreciated the manner in which the cold case linked to this investigation gave the feeling, through Bliss’s reactions, that the police do care about victims, even a quarter of a century on – that there is the potential for humanity within an establishment that is sometimes viewed as uncaring and remote from the very people it is supposed to support and protect. Whilst there are still those within Tony J Forder’s police who are less than perfect, the humanity feels like something a reader can really relish.

Bliss’s underlying loneliness comes through so well too. There’s a lesson to be learnt here. Slow Slicing isn’t just a cracking crime story, but a lesson in not making ourselves detached from feelings and humanity. Bliss shows how we all, regardless of what we might believe, need companionship and a sense of belonging. This element balanced the more cruel and violent aspects perfectly I thought.

Although Slow Slicing had the elements of story-telling, policing and character I have come to expect from reading Tony J Forder’s work, this time it felt somehow darker and even more accomplished. I thought Slow Slicing was an excellent read.

About Tony J Forder

Tony J Forder is the author of the bestselling crime thriller series featuring detectives Jimmy Bliss and Penny Chandler. The first four books, Bad to the Bone, The Scent of Guilt, If Fear Wins, and The Reach of Shadows, were joined by The Death of Justice, on 9 September 2019 with book number six, Endless Silent Scream, on 9 March 2020.

Tony’s dark, psychological crime thriller, Degrees of Darkness, featuring ex-detective Frank Rogers, was also published by Bloodhound Books. This is a stand-alone serial-killer novel. Scream Blue Murder, an action-adventure thriller, was published in November 2017, and received praise from many, including fellow authors Mason Cross, Matt Hilton and Anita Waller. The sequel, Cold Winter Sun, was published in November 2018.

Tony lives with his wife in Peterborough, UK, and is now a full-time author.

You can follow Tony on Twitter @TonyJForder, visit his website and find him on Facebook.

You’ll find all Tony’s books here and he’s also on Goodreads and Fantastic Fiction.

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It’s a few years since I was first overawed by meeting Mike Gayle at one of those glorious rooftop book events at Carmelite House, so featuring Mike’s latest book, All the Lonely People, here today, is some compensation as those events can’t go ahead at the moment. I am trying to persuade Mike to be part of the Deepings Literary Festival next year so you never know! My grateful thanks to Jenny Platt for inviting me to participate in the All The Lonely People blog tour and for sending me a copy of the book in return for an honest review.

All the Lonely People is available for purchase here.

All the Lonely People

Hubert Bird is not alone in being alone.

He just needs to realise it

In weekly phone calls to his daughter in Australia, widower Hubert Bird paints a picture of the perfect retirement, packed with fun, friendship and fulfilment.

But Hubert Bird is lying.

The truth is day after day drags by without him seeing a single soul.

Until, that is, he receives some good news – good news that in one way turns out to be the worst news ever, news that will force him out again, into a world he has long since turned his back on.

Now Hubert faces a seemingly impossible task: to make his real life resemble his fake life before the truth comes out.
Along the way Hubert stumbles across a second chance at love, renews a cherished friendship and finds himself roped into an audacious community scheme that seeks to end loneliness once and for all . . .

Life is certainly beginning to happen to Hubert Bird. But with the origin of his earlier isolation always lurking in the shadows will he ever get to live the life he’s pretended to have for so long?

My Review of All the Lonely People

Hubert Bird is living a life of loneliness.

All the Lonely People is a wonderful book that I loved because Mike Gayle gets to the very heart of humanity and finds its potential in spite of adversity and trying times. I finished reading All the Lonely People with joy in my heart and a tear in my eye.

There isn’t the dramatic fast paced plot that writhes with tortuous twists and turns that so many books rely on in All the Lonely People, but instead Mike Gayle presents a simultaneously heart-breaking and uplifting insight into humanity through a completely plausible, and therefore all the more compelling, narrative that hooked me, held me and changed me. I feel a better person for the experience of reading this book. All the Lonely People made me fully appreciate my own life.

I fell in love with Hubert Bird instantly. His direct speech develops his character so convincingly. I think the fact his name was my wonderful, much missed Dad’s middle name, predisposed me to think positively of him, but it’s more than that. Hubert is a true gentleman, an Everyman of the modern era, but he is also realistically flawed, stubborn, proud and doesn’t always help himself. As result I wanted to crawl into the pages of All the Lonely People and hug him tightly. I think he’ll remain with me for a very long time.

However, All the Lonely People is so much more than character and plot. The setting and the people in it could be transported to any area because the themes are so utterly relevant to modern society. It’s difficult to define just how Mike Gayle has done so, but he has shone a light onto the very fabric of modern Britain, found it wanting and offered a possible solution that I genuinely believe could change lives for the better. A sense of community, of belonging, and the means to achieve it, is woven throughout this fabulous book in a way that touches the heart of the reader.

Other themes of love, family, relationships, racism, class, mental health, employment to name but a few, swirl through the writing, especially in Hubert’s early life in Britain, having arrived from Jamaica, so that there is an element to resonate with every reader. Although secondary to the action, I found Hubert’s relationship with David, for example, incredibly affecting. The themes of All the Lonely People are so pertinent and so sensitively handled. It’s heartbreaking to think much of the prejudice Hubert experienced on arrival in London still lurks in our society and so many are experiencing the loneliness he finds in his life.

All the Lonely People is a gorgeous exploration of love, friendship and community that I cannot praise highly enough. I feel privileged to have read it. I thought it was utterly wonderful.

About Mike Gayle

Mike Gayle was born and raised in Birmingham. After graduating from Salford University with a degree in Sociology, he moved to London to pursue a career in journalism and worked as a Features Editor and agony uncle. He has written for a variety of publications including The Sunday Times, the Guardian and Cosmopolitan. Mike became a full time novelist in 1997 following the publication of his Sunday Times top ten bestseller My Legendary Girlfriend, which was hailed by the Independent as ‘full of belly laughs and painfully acute observations,’ and by The Times as ‘a funny, frank account of a hopeless romantic’. Since then he has written thirteen novels including Mr Commitment, Turning Thirty and The Man I Think I Know. His books have been translated into more than thirty languages.

For more information, find Mike on Facebook, visit his website or follow him on Twitter @mikegayle.

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My enormous thanks to Rosie Margesson at Headline for sending me a copy of The Lies You Told by Harriet Tyce in return for an honest review. I was thrilled to receive it as I loved Harriet’s debut Blood Orange and you can see my review of that book here. I was delighted to meet Harriet Tyce at a bookish event that you can read about here, because Blood Orange was one of my Books of the Year in 2019.

Published on 23rd July 2020, The Lies You Told is available for purchase through the links here.

The Lies You Told

Can you tell the truth from the lies?

Sadie loves her daughter and will do anything to keep her safe.

She can’t tell her why they had to leave home so quickly – or why Robin’s father won’t be coming with them to London.

She can’t tell her why she hates being back in her dead mother’s house, with its ivy-covered walls and its poisonous memories.

And she can’t tell her the truth about the school Robin’s set to start at – a school that doesn’t welcome newcomers.

Sadie just wants to get their lives back on track.

But even lies with the best intentions can have deadly consequences…

My Review of The Lies You Told

Coming back to London from America isn’t the panacea Sadie hopes!

What a thoroughly gripping, unpleasant and compelling book The Lies You Told is. I had a horrible feeling of dread throughout so that by the time I’d finished reading it I felt quite wrung out.

I have no idea how Harriet Tyce’s mind works to write like this, but as the plot advances, threads tie up and reveals happen, there’s a sensation of having been taken into a story that begins innocuously enough, before slamming the reader into a twisted and ugly world.

To begin with I wasn’t entirely sure of the pace, but my goodness, having read the book, I understand how that initial slow burn was absolutely essential to the success of the narrative. Indeed, I think The Lies You Told would reward multiple readings fully to appreciate how cleverly it is plotted and written. The structure of the book mirrors the experiences Sadie has, so that the reader is irresistibly involved in the action too.

Characterisation is cracking. Harriet Tyce shines a laser focus on the bitchy, selfish aspirations of the privileged middle classes and the Establishment so that I found myself seething with indignation and anger as I read. Her depiction of motherhood is both entertaining and totally alarming as she illustrates how lives can change as a result of one comment or action and as she blows apart the conventional concept of motherly love. Reading The Lies You Told made me extremely glad that I have never had children of my own. Add in the legal elements, and The Lies You Told becomes a narrative that can be enjoyed on many levels.

The title is so fitting for the book as lies underpin so much of the action. Harriet Tyce manages to get her reader to trust no-one in all aspects of the narrative, making for a dynamic and dramatic story. I can’t say more for fear of spoiling the story, but there’s an awful lot here that resonates with some high profile people and events happening in the world today!

I loved the themes explored in The Lies You Told too. Of course there are relationships considered at many levels, but the professional ones and those between mother and child shine through. With swirling ambition, power, bullying, manipulation, jealousy and deception, The Lies You Told is a book that uncovers the dangers and corruption lurking at the very heart of society.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first began reading The Lies You Told. What I got was a super thriller of a read that kept me gripped. Great stuff.

About Harriet Tyce

Harriet Tyce grew up in Edinburgh and studied English at Corpus Christi College, Oxford University before practising as a criminal barrister for the next decade.  After having children she left the Bar and completed with distinction an MA in Creative Writing – Crime Fiction at the University of East Anglia. Blood Orange was her first novel.

You can follow Harriet on Twitter @harriet_tyce and visit her website for more details. You’ll also find her on Facebook.