It’s always a joy to be part of a brand new book’s journey into the world and it gives me enormous pleasure to welcome Michael Coolwood to Linda’s Book Bag Today. Michael’s Not In My Name is published today and Michael kindly agreed to stay in with me to tell me all about it.

Staying in with Michael Coolwood.

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Michael.

Thanks. I haven’t spent this amount of time in a bag for many years now.

I should hope not! Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.

My pleasure. Apart from everything else, it’s really cold outside.

At least we’re cosy in here. Now, I know I know, but which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

I’ve brought along Not in My Name. I’ve chosen it because of the date –the book is set during the start of the 2003 Iraq War and we’ve just had the 18 year anniversary of that particular disaster. We’ve also just had wrapped up the latest Brexit deadline, although I’m sure it won’t be the last. That’s relevant because the book is about Brexit, although not directly.

It’s also publication day for Not In My Name isn’t it? Congratulations! So, what can we expect from an evening in with Not in My Name.

Firstly, and most importantly, it’s a really good mystery. A cosy mystery, specifically. Much like Agatha Christie, Agatha Raisin and Her Royal Spyness it’s designed to give the readers a challenging puzzle to solve with a cosy atmosphere and nice characters. You get extra points for reading it whilst wrapped in a duvet or in front of a wood fire.

That sounds like the perfect kind of book to me Michael!

You can also expect a story where the politics are unapologetically left wing. The characters are a group of anti-war activists who live on a farm on the outskirts of Birmingham. That being said, the politics of the novel shouldn’t be alienating to those who don’t think of themselves as on the left as, in 2021, everyone in the UK seems to have concluded that the Iraq War was an absolute disaster. It’s one of the only things we can truly agree on.

Sounds fascinating. What else have you brought along and why have you brought it?

I’ve brought along the music of Brass Against, particularly the song Take the Power Back. You can hear it here.

Brass Against are a brass band that do covers of Rage Against The Machine songs. In case you’re not familiar with Rage, they were an anti-capitalist rock group that rose to popularity in the late 90s. You may remember them as having an xmas #1 single in 2009 with Killing in the Name. It knocked whatever X-Factor song was aiming for #1 that year into second place. 2009 was a simpler time.

You’re making me feel old Michael. I’ve never heard of them before tonight…

Anyway, anyway, Brass Against take the screaming guitars and pounding bass of Rage and produce brass band arrangements that are quirkier whilst losing none of the fury of the original music.

They certainly do!

I grew up playing in brass bands – marching bands as part of the Boys’ Brigade, jazz bands at school and then ska punk bands once I left. There’s something deeply satisfying to me when someone takes a brass band, something which can be a little stodgy and linked to jingoism, and then uses it as a political tool.

So how would you link this track to Not In My Name?

Not in My Name is all about political resistance and alternate models of patriotism. It’s also caught between two time periods. It’s set in 2003, just as the war in Iraq was kicking off, but it’s not about the Iraq War, it’s about Brexit. The book is using the past to talk about the present. As such, I thought a modern band covering music from the 90s with traditional instruments but covering subjects such as police violence and pro-democracy protest fits the book quite well. Plus, the music slaps and Sophia Urista, who sings on most of the tracks, is a phenomenal rapper.

Not in My Name

Private Eye meets Agatha Christie…

What if the British people had been given a vote about invading Iraq in 2003. And the referendum split the nation with a 52% to 48% yes vote. A young activist is beaten to death after an anti-war demonstration. The police say her murder was random. It wasn’t. More activists will be murdered. The activists only trust each other. Maybe that trust has already been betrayed. Witty, political and provocative, this New Adult mystery is based on real events, and keeps the reader guessing to the very end.

Published by Claret Press, today 20th March 2021, Not in My Name is available for purchase here.

About Michael Coolwood

Michael Coolwood writes feminist cosy mysteries, science fiction and fantasy.  His work is deeply political and his characters are driven by a desire to make the world a better place. This is partly due to a respect for passionate, caring people, and partly because cuts to the health service in the UK have ensured he can barely leave the house due to his swamp of health problems.

For more information, visit Michael’s website or find him on Facebook.

I can’t believe it’s four years since I had the pleasure of hosting a super guest post by Pam Billinge here on Linda’s Book Bag when The Spell of the Horse was published. Today, I’m very pleased to host an extract from Pam’s latest book, The Spirit of the Horse and I’d like to thank Stephanie from Blackbird Books for inviting me to participate in this celebratory blog tour.

Published by Blackbird, The Spirit of the Horse is available for purchase here.

The Spirit of the Horse

When Pam follows her dream to a farmhouse with five acres in northern France, she is able to live alongside her horses for the first time. Here, in the heart of nature, deeper insights are revealed into the healing connection between horse and human and the incredible power of presence to transform. Might it be that learning to honour and communicate with another species helps us to reframe the way we perceive each other, as well as how we might see ourselves?

A pioneer in embodied horse-led therapy and leadership development, Pam’s story is interwoven with those of inspiring individuals and groups she has supported: from people experiencing relationship breakdown to large organisations looking for culture change; from the bereaved or lonely to the confused wishing to explore what next. Steeped in simple wisdom, the stories offer the reader a pragmatic, mindful template for personal transformation.

‘It is with grace that horses lead us gently to a place where forgiveness is possible and self-compassion takes the place of contempt. They draw us into a non-linear dimension where we can sink into the infinity of the moment and know deep peace and harmony.’ – Pam Billinge

An Extract from The Spirit of the Horse

Love

December 2015

Since arriving in Wiltshire I had continued to be single. The romantic disappointments of the previous decade left me with no appetite for building a new relationship. And besides, re-establishing myself and my business took just about all the creative energy available to me. I felt self-contained, independent and cheerful. Exposing myself again to the risk of heartbreak was not on my agenda at all.

Then my dog died. Holly was one of two Jack Russells I bought as pups. With her sister Milo, who had passed away the year before, she was at my side for just on 18 years, longer than any other living thing, bringing me light and comfort through the darkest of times. I had adopted another younger dog already, Maisie, but carrying Holly into my car for the final visit to the vet’s was no less excruciating. In saying goodbye to her, I was also forced to confront in full the loss of her sister, whose essence had lived on with her litter mate.

Sometimes, when people ask me if I have children I reply ‘Yes, but they all have four legs.’ It usually raises a laugh and lightens the moment. My pets are the closest thing to kids I have experienced. Some might pity me, find it sad, emotionally unhealthy or anthropomorphic. Many understand the depth of attachment possible with a domestic pet. My life has been illuminated by the presence of my four-legged family members, canine and equine. The enduring inter-species understanding I have developed with each of them over long periods brings profound dimensions which I hold dear.

When I went home without Holly I felt utterly alone. Other bereavements were rekindled: my brother, parents, friends. Kind gestures and words were offered, but what I most needed was a hug and someone to sit beside me and share my sorrow.

I was no stranger to internet romance. I had previously been on dates (mostly just the one!) with men a foot shorter and a foot taller than me, with farmers and financiers, builders and beekeepers. There was the dinner with the son of a published culinary critic who complained about the perfectly acceptable food and wine and shouted at the chef ‘You do know who I am don’t you?’ before he stormed out, and the meal with a landscape gardener which ended prematurely when I set fire to the tablecloth. He heroically threw the blazing fabric to the floor and stamped on it to quell the flames, melting the soles of his new shoes in the process. He didn’t call me again. Then of course, there were the men for whom ‘separated’ meant still living with their wife but not having sex, and those for whom ‘divorced’ meant the ink was only just dry on the decree nisi and whose bile leeched from every pore.

Thus it was with an open mind and an attitude of curiosity that I sought once again to improve my love-life. My search was surprisingly short. A photograph of a Jack Russell who looked disarmingly like the dogs I had lost led me to John. Ten months after meeting for coffee one Saturday morning, he came to live with me.

*

And now, of course, I really want to read the rest of this!

About Pam Billinge

Pam Billinge is a therapist, coach and author who specialises in embodied horse-led learning. This unique approach relies entirely on the emergent relational process between horse and human. At her bases in the UK and in France, Pam supports people of all nationalities, ages and walks of life with their personal and professional development. Through her workshops and her writing Pam wishes to share the healing wisdom of horses whilst advancing the cause of this sometimes much-misunderstood species. She hopes also through her work to reconnect us with the natural world from which we are too often separated.

You can follow Pam on Twitter @pam_billinge or find her on Facebook and there’s more with these other bloggers:

I made the mistake of declining to take part in the blog tour for The Littlest Library by Poppy Alexander because I was snowed under with tours in March, but lovely Ellen Turner at Orion kindly sent me a copy for review anyway. I’d just finished a book when The Littlest Library arrived and so I picked it up to have a look at the first page. Two hours later I was still reading and not doing what I was supposed to be doing. Then, I had a tour postponed for today so it gives me enormous pleasure to share my review of Poppy Alexander’s book on publication day.

The Littlest Library is published by Orion, today 18th March 2021 and is available to buy through these links.

The Littlest Library

It’s only the beginning of her story…

Jess Metcalf is perfectly happy with her quiet, predictable life – it’s just the way she likes it. But when her beloved grandmother passes away and she loses her job at the local library, her life is turned upside-down.

Packing up her grandmother’s books, she moves to a tiny cottage in a charming country village. To her surprise, Jess finds herself the owner of an old red telephone box, too – and she soon turns it into the littlest library around!

It’s not long before the books are borrowed and begin to work their magic – somehow, they seem to be bringing the villagers together once more…

Maybe it’s finally time for Jess to follow her heart and find a place to call home?

My Review of The Littlest Library

Jess needs a new direction in life.

The Littlest Library is an absolute treat of a book. Poppy Alexander writes with warmth and humanity and some glorious touches of natural imagery that make this story a joy to read.

I loved the characters residing in Middlemas. Jess, of course, takes centre stage, but she is so realistic of the self-fulfilling prophecies that many of us steer our lives by, that I found her instantly likeable and extremely easy to relate to. I so wanted her to find happiness. In creating Middlemas, Poppy Alexander illustrates with absolute clarity, and considerable tenderness, the types of people who live in these communities. There’s the perfect amount of back story for all threaded into Jess’s narrative to bring alive characters like Diana and Rebecca totally realistically. I felt I knew each person thoroughly. I particularly loved the way in which Mimi is the catalyst for so much of the action. Her death, her books and her annotations help bring about relationships, resolutions and happiness for so many in Middlemas and yet she isn’t physically present. I thought this was such skilful writing.

The plot is, of course, typical of its genre with the trials and tribulations of finding love and happiness and I think that is what makes The Littlest Library such a triumph. I read it when I wanted a touching, romantic story that I could rely on to bring me joy. The Littlest Library did that completely.

However, whilst The Littlest Library is a perfect example of romantic women’s fiction, that doesn’t mean to say it is lightweight. Poppy Alexander explores themes of community and belonging, identity and grief, duty and expectation, ambition and suppression with complete accomplishment. There are so many kinds of relationship illustrated in this lovely story. Obviously romance plays its part, but relationships between sisters, friends, husbands and wives, parents and children and so on give depth and colour to the story so that readers can identify with characters and situations beautifully.

I thoroughly enjoyed escaping to Middlemas and being part of the village community for a while. Reading Poppy Alexander’s The Littlest Library was like taking a short, restorative break in a place I love. It’s well written, entertaining and completely uplifting. I really recommend it most highly.

About Poppy Alexander

Poppy Alexander wrote her first book when she was five. There was a long gap in her writing career while she was at school, and after studying classical music at university, she decided the world of music was better off without her and took up public relations, campaigning, political lobbying and a bit of journalism instead. She takes an anthropological interest in family, friends and life in her West Sussex village (think, The Archers crossed with Twin Peaks) where she lives with her husband, children and various other pets.

Poppy Alexander also writes as Rosie Howard and you’ll find my review of The Homecoming here, of  A Vintage Year here and you can find out what happened when we stayed in together here.

For more information about Poppy, visit her website, follow her on Twitter @SarahWaights and find her on Facebook and Instagram.

I’m beside myself with disappointment today because I simply couldn’t fit in reading Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay in time for the blog tour that is currently running. The paperback of Every Last Fear will be out in September so hopefully I can read it then! However, I do have a wonderful hard backed copy of Every Last Fear to give away to a lucky UK reader today and I’m delighted to be staying in with Alex to find out more about the book. My enormous thanks to Lauren Tavella at Head of Zeus for putting us in touch with one another.

Staying in with Alex Finlay

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Alex  and 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?

I’ve brought Every Last Fear, which just released, and I’m excited to share with UK readers.

From what I hear, we readers are very excited to read it! What can we expect from an evening with Every Last Fear?

I hope you can expect twists and turns and, if I did my job right, maybe even a tear, as you trace the fate of the Pine family.  It’s the story of a family made infamous by a true crime documentary who are found dead while on holiday, leaving their surviving son to uncover the truth about their final days.

Every Last Fear sounds brilliant and I love a book that has an emotional connection. What else have you brought along and why have you brought it?

I’ve brought the poster for the fictitious documentary featured in the novel.

That’s fabulous! Now I’m really intrigued.

And I’ve also included a photo of a friendly guy who we met wandering in and out of shops in Tulum, Mexico, a place featured in the opening of the novel.  “Smiley” makes an appearance in the story.

Smiley is most welcome Alex. Thanks so much for introducing Every Last Fear. Let me give Linda’s Book Bag readers a few more details. 

Every Last Fear

Keep your family close, because your enemies are closer.

University student Matt Pine has just received devastating news. Nearly his entire family have been found dead while holidaying in Mexico. The local police claim it was an accident, but the FBI aren’t convinced – and they won’t tell Matt why.

The tragedy thrusts his family into the media spotlight again. Seven years ago, Matt’s older brother, Danny, was sentenced to life in prison for murdering his teenage girlfriend. Danny has always sworn he was innocent, and last year, a true crime documentary that claimed he was wrongfully convicted went viral.

Now his family’s murder is overlapping with Danny’s case, Matt is determined to uncover the truth behind the crime that sent his brother to prison. Even if it means putting his own life in danger, and confronting his every last fear.

Published by Head of Zeus imprint Aria on 2nd March, Every Last Fear is available for purchase through the links here.

Every Last Fear Giveaway

For your chance to win a hardbacked copy of Alex Finlay’s Every Last Fear, click here. Giveaway open to UK readers only. The prize will be sent directly from the publisher and your details will not be retained beyond the closing date. The giveaway ends at UK midnight on Sunday 21st March 2021.

About Alex Finlay

Alex Finlay is the pseudonym of an author who lives in Washington, D.C.  Born in the American South, Alex spent years traversing the globe, from a tropical island in the Pacific to a small village in the UK to a remote region in the Far East.  But it was on a trip to beautiful Tulum, Mexico where he was inspired to write Every Last Fear.  The novel is an Amazon Editors’ Pick, an Indie Next pick, a LibraryReads selection, as well as a Newsweek, Goodreads, BuzzFeed, BookBub, and PopSugar, most anticipated book of the year.

You can find out more on Alex’s website and you’ll find Alex on Instagram and Facebook.

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It feels like I’ve been waiting a very long time for a new book by Claire Fuller because I adore her writing. I’m thrilled to share my review of her latest novel, Unsettled Ground today and I would like to thank Hannah Sawyer for sending me a copy of the book in return for an honest review.

When I first began blogging in 2015, Claire Fuller’s debut Our Endless Numbered Days was one of my books of the year and you can read my review here. When I reviewed Claire’s second book Swimming Lessons here, I was privileged to interview her too. I then reviewed Claire’s wonderful third novel Bitter Orange here.

Published by Penguin Fig Tree, Unsettled Ground is available for purchase through these links. I’m delighted that Unsettled Ground has been longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Unsettled Ground

What if the life you have always known is taken from you in an instant?

What would you do to get it back?

Twins Jeanie and Julius have always been different from other people. At 51 years old, they still live with their mother, Dot, in rural isolation and poverty. Inside the walls of their old cottage they make music, and in the garden they grow (and sometimes kill) everything they need for sustenance.

But when Dot dies suddenly, threats to their livelihood start raining down. Jeanie and Julius would do anything to preserve their small sanctuary against the perils of the outside world, even as their mother’s secrets begin to unravel, putting everything they thought they knew about their lives at stake.

Unsettled Ground is a heart-stopping novel of betrayal and resilience, love and survival. It is a portrait of life on the fringes of society that explores with dazzling emotional power how we can build our lives on broken foundations, and spin light from darkness.

My Review of Unsettled Ground

Dot’s death uncovers an unsettling chain of events.

When you’ve loved everything an author has ever written and they have a new novel it’s always an anxious moment. Picking up Unsettled Ground I wondered whether the magic of Claire Fuller’s writing would be present. It was. But more than the exquisite luminosity of her prose that I have come to expect, Unsettled Ground has an even deeper and more emotional resonance than ever. I thought it was superb.

In essence, the narrative is simple. A middle aged set of twins, Jeanie and Julius, find themselves in financial difficulties after the sudden death of their mother, Dot. However, Unsettled Ground took me a long while to read. Its intensity, its profound exploration of relationships, grief, deceit, pride and love meant that I needed to savour each word and allow myself to absorb and process the nuances and emotions threaded into the story. Unsettled Ground is a rather like an onion that Janie might grow in their garden. Each chapter peels back a layer of humanity that is breath-taking in its comprehension of what makes us who we are. Indeed Dot’s human flaws are the driving force behind the narrative.

It’s no spoiler to say that Dot dies in the first few pages of Unsettled Ground, but her influence is dominant throughout. She is a much a presence as the twins and the catalyst of so much of the action. She’s such a compelling and complex woman that I ended Unsettled Ground not knowing if I loathed or pitied her, if I loved her or despised her. I would say that by the end of the book I was broken by the impact of her on Julius and Jeanie. Dot made me rage and made me weep.

The claustrophobic relationship between Jeanie and Julius is utterly absorbing. Claire Fuller made me want them to get away from one another and live totally separate lives whilst simultaneously hoping they’d never be parted. I thought about them, Jeanie particularly, when I wasn’t reading about them. More minor characters like Bridget are equally compelling. They somehow reflect society perfectly without ever becoming stereotypes or pastiche so that all life is present within the pages of Unsettled Ground.

Alongside the psychological relationships aspect of Unsettled Ground, there is a dark wryness and a tense thriller too. I found my pulse elevated as Jeanie found herself emotionally and physically threatened. I kept pausing in my reading as I wasn’t sure I was going to like what happened next and yet I couldn’t let go of the novel. I thought Claire Fuller’s manipulation of me as a reader was just fabulous.

Perfectly plotted, and beautifully written with brilliant characterisation, Unsettled Ground is Claire Fuller crafting the narrative at her most sublime. I thought it was a wonderful book.

About Claire Fuller

Claire Fuller was born in Oxfordshire, England, in 1967. She gained a degree in sculpture from Winchester School of Art, but went on to have a long career in marketing and didn’t start writing until she was forty. Her first novel, Our Endless Numbered Days, won the Desmond Elliott Prize. She has an MA in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Winchester and lives in Hampshire with her husband and two children.

You can follow Claire on Twitter @ClaireFuller2 and visit her blog. You’ll also find Claire on Facebook and Instagram.

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Back in December I ‘attended’ a fantastic evening from @TeamBATC showcasing the books coming in 2021. You can read about that event here. A Family Reunion by Patricia Scanlan was one of those books and I’m delighted to participate in the blog tour for it today by sharing my review. My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me.

A Family Reunion was published in paperback by Simon and Schuster on 4th March 2021 and is available for purchase through the links here.

A Family Reunion

One explosive family reunion. A lifetime of secrets revealed.

When four feisty women from the same family, get together at a family reunion, anything can happen…

Marie-Claire, betrayed by her partner Marc plans her revenge to teach him a lesson he will never forget. She travels from Toronto, home to Ireland, to the house of the Four Winds, for her great aunt Reverend Mother Brigid’s eightieth birthday celebrations. It will be a long-awaited reunion for three generations of family, bringing together her mother, Keelin and grandmother, Imelda – who have never quite got along

And then all hell breaks loose.

Bitter, jealous Imelda makes a shocking revelation that forces them all to confront their pasts, admit mistakes, and face the truths that have shaped their lives. With four fierce, opinionated women in one family, will they ever be able to forgive the past and share a future?

And what of Marc?

It’s never too late to make amends…or is it?

Spanning generations and covering seismic shifts in the lives of women, A Family Reunion is a compelling, thought-provoking, important and highly emotional novel from a trailblazing author in women’s fiction.

My Review of A Family Reunion

Secrets of the past won’t remain buried.

A Family Reunion is what I’d call a ‘proper’ story. All the elements I like are present, with strong characters, a compelling plot and a real sense of place. I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt it was one of those books that would lend itself beautifully to a television series because there are secrets, twists and turns that make for a really immersive narrative.

Patricia Scanlan is a consummate story teller. Whilst A Family Reunion is a compelling story of family and relationships, the author weaves geography, history, religion and sociology into it so that her reader is moved, outraged and ensnared in equal measure. I found the presentation of Ireland’s female sexual and religious emancipation as a backdrop to the narratives of Imogen, Brigid, Keelin and Marie-Claire absolutely fascinating and I was quite surprised by some of the vehemence expressed not only by the characters but also through the authorial voice too. Whilst I agreed wholeheartedly with them, I do, however, think some readers might find themselves at odds with some of the views expressed. A Family Reunion caused me to scurry off and research some of its factual references so that my reading experience was enriched and my awareness raised. This is a book that satisfies beyond the confines of its pages.

I absolutely loved having three generations of women because it felt like a natural and recognisable scenario. Brigid and Imogen have a maturity and experience that gives depth. Although I liked her least because of her bitterness and vindictiveness, I found Imogen the most fascinating. She illustrates so brilliantly how perception and imagined wrongs can fester and affect us. Indeed, Patricia Scanlan shows her readers considerable humanity as she presents four flawed and vivid women who all embody an element any reader could relate to. I thoroughly enjoyed the way layers of the past became the bedrock of the present for these four women.

I found the settings in A Family Reunion highly effective. I loved being in Africa with Brigid and now have a hankering to visit Iona. It was smashing to feel I’d been on a road trip after so many months in lockdown.

I think there are elements of A Family Reunion that will divide opinion depending on the religious beliefs and backgrounds of the reader. However, I found it an immersive and entertaining book and am glad I have finally discovered Patricia Scanlan’s writing. I thoroughly enjoyed reading A Family Reunion.

About Patricia Scanlan

Patricia Scanlan lives in Dublin. Her books, all number one bestsellers, have sold worldwide and been translated
into many languages.

You can follow Patricia on Twitter @patriciascanl18. You’ll also find her on Instagram and Facebook.

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My enormous thanks to Poppy Stimpson for sending me a surprise copy of Peter Carnavas’ children’s book, The Elephant, in return for an honest review. I’m delighted to share that review today.

Published by Puskin Press on 28th January 2021, The Elephant is available for purchase through the links here.

The Elephant

‘A beautiful book – not just heartwarming but heart healing’ Chris Riddell

A big grey elephant is following Olive’s father around. It leaves with him for work and trails behind him when he comes home, keeping him heavy and sad. Every day, Olive wishes it would disappear.

When she is asked to bring something old and wonderful to show her class, Olive immediately wants to bring her old bike – but she will need her father’s help to fix it. Teaming up with her cheery grandad and best friend Arthur, she sets out to chase the elephant away.

My Review of The Elephant

There’s an elephant in the room with Dad.

Oh my word. The Elephant is a wonderful, wonderful book. Imbued with love and hope it explores grief and family relationships with total sensitivity so that I sobbed through much of the story and ended the book feeling as if I’d been given a gift of real joy. It is fabulous.

As this is a children’s book I must comment on its suitability for its target audience first. Beautifully illustrated with black and white drawings alongside a perfect balance of white space to text, The Elephant is just right for independent readers to manage alone with a font that is easy to read and vocabulary that is accessible but mature enough to appeal to more mature children. This is a story I can imagine a whole family sharing together and it would be perfect for classroom use too because it tackles mental health, grief and depression in a sensitive manner that guides, but doesn’t exacerbate, any possible emotions in the readership. I thought the themes were brilliantly handled and the metaphor of a grey elephant for Olive’s Dad’s depression is a concrete example any child could understand. I loved too, the friendship between Olive and Arthur, illustrating that boys and girls can be friends quite easily. It is also so encouraging to find a warm intergenerational relationship as Olive enjoys adventures with her Grandad.

But leaving aside this is a children’s book, it is also absolutely compelling for adults too. The exploration of Dad’s elephantine grief and Grandad’s tortoise sadness touched me completely. There is a moment between Olive and her dog Freddie towards the end of The Elephant that quite undid me. There is a depth of emotion between the pages of The Elephant that manages to be exactly the right level of feeling for the reader. Add in the rediscovery of childlike joy and The Elephant is a book that breaks down the emotional defences so many of us put in place, teaches us how to communicate with those we love and to articulate our feelings and leaves us feeling uplifted and complete.

Whatever you do, don’t dismiss Peter Carnavas’s The Elephant as a book for children only. It is a beautiful book – in presentation, in message and by being a book of hope for all, and I adored it.

About Peter Carnavas

Peter Carnavas’s career as a primary school teacher inspired him to embrace his passion for children’s literature. He is the author of several award-winning picture books. The Elephant is his first novel. Peter lives on Australia’s Sunshine Coast with his family, a dog called Florence and a cat named Harry.

You can follow Peter on Twitter @PCarnavas for further information, or visit his website.

When Simon Van der Velde got in touch about his new collection Backstories I was so intrigued that I broke my self imposed rule NOT to take any further books for review and accepted a copy, not least because 30% of all profits from the sale of Backstories will be shared between Stop Hate UK, The North East Autism Society and Friends of the Earth. My thanks to Simon for providing a copy of Backstories in return for an honest review. I’m delighted to share that review today.

Backstories is published by Smoke & Mirrors Press on 25th March 2021 and is available for purchase here.

Backstories

Dreamers, singers, talkers and killers; they can dazzle with their beauty or their talent or their unmitigated evil, but inside themselves they are as frail and desperate as the rest of us. But can you see them? Can you unravel the truth? These are people you know, but not as you know them. Peel back the mask and see.

Backstories is a unique collection of stories each told from the point of view of a famous (or notorious) person at a pivotal moment in their lives. The writing is literary but accessible and the voices vividly real. The settings are mostly 60 ‘s and 70 ‘s UK and USA, and the driving themes are inclusion, social justice and of course, nostalgia – but the real key to these stories is that the protagonists ‘ identities are withheld. This means that your job is to find them, leading to that Eureka moment when you realise whose mind you’ve been inhabiting for the last twenty minutes.

My Review of Backstories

A collection of fourteen short stories.

Backstories is a little cracker of a book. It is a quirky and fascinating concept which, as the title obviously implies, provides the possible back stories of well known people. One of the joys of Simon Van der Velde’s writing for the reader is building the picture from the layered information and clues to try to work out exactly who he’s writing about before any reveal.

I can’t say too much about the characters as I don’t want to spoil the intrinsic enjoyment of Backstories by revealing who is between its covers, but there are, amongst others, musicians and murderers, political activists and artists, whose tales illustrate the depth of research Simon Van der Velde must have gone to in order to tell their back stories with his compelling blend of fact and fiction. Small, intimate details really bring them alive. I thought Backstories was a work of genius.

That said, every story here is a small jewel in its own right and can be enjoyed and appreciated individually because of the gorgeous quality of the writing in Backstories. With both first and third person perspectives there is variety of voice that is so compelling. It wouldn’t matter whether the reader had full knowledge of the person behind each story to bring to their reading, or whether they had no idea at all because every story is a work of art that can be appreciated as a stand alone narrative.

In Backstories, Simon Van der Velde doesn’t shy away from racism, violence, bullying and all manner of social elements that make the characters in these stories come alive on the page. But there’s a tenderness behind them that helps uncover human frailty, and makes the reader understand why a mass murderer might turn to such brutality for example. Through Simon Van der Velde’s surprising moral compass the reader considers the homeless, the abused, the downtrodden and those on the edge of society because of their background, sexuality, race or experiences. I found this element very moving and affecting.

Backstories is a slim volume that belies its interest and depth. It genuinely packs a punch  – literally in some of the stories. Written in an elegant and frequently raw style, it thrums with life and meaning. Well crafted, accessible and entertaining, I thought Backstories really was fabulous.

About Simon Van der Velde

Simon Van der Velde has worked variously as a barman, labourer, teacher, caterer and lawyer, as well as travelling throughout Europe and South America collecting characters and insights for his award-winning stories. Since completing a creative writing M.A. (with distinction) in 2010, Simon’s work has won and been shortlisted for numerous awards including; The Yeovil Literary Prize, (twice), The Wasafiri New Writing Prize, The Luke Bitmead Bursary, The Frome Shortstory Prize, The Harry Bowling Prize, The Henshaw Press Short Story Competition and The National Association of Writers’ Groups Open Competition – establishing him as one of the UK’s foremost short-story writers.

Simon now lives in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with his wife, Nicola, their labradoodle, Barney and two tyrannical children.

You can follow Simon on Twitter @SimonVdVwriter or visit his website for more information. You’ll also find Simon on Instagram and Facebook.

Yet again another brilliant sounding book crosses my path and I simply don’t have time to fit in reading it. However, that doesn’t stop me hearing more about it and today I’m delighted that John Fullerton is staying in with me to chat about his brand new thriller.

Staying in with John Fullerton

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

I’ve brought my new novel Spy Game as it’s published today by independent publisher Burning Chair.

Congratulations John and Happy Publication Day. What can we expect from an evening in with Spy Game?

It’s a thriller about a rather naive young man – someone who unquestioningly believes in Queen and Country and wants to do his bit in the Cold War – who volunteers as a ‘head agent’ for the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) on the Afghan-Pakistan frontier shortly after the Soviet invasion. But Richard Brodick soon discovers that the Great Game has a dark side. Ordered to kill his best friend who’s suspected of being a Soviet asset, he faces a grim dilemma.

Crikey! that sounds dramatic. How is Spy Game being received by readers?

I’m delighted that veteran crime novelist Russell James was the first to review Spy Game for Shots Crime and Thriller Ezine and he has this to say:

‘Fullerton is unmatchable at the details of the frontline spy game, the very believable characters engaged in it, and the cold-eyed, cold-hearted decisions that those who intend to win the game have to take. It is not a game for the faint-hearted.’

That’s quite some praise. You must be delighted with it. How did you come to write Spy Game?

Spy Game is based on my failure as a spook. I did work as an SIS ‘contract labourer’ in Pakistan and Afghanistan. I too was somewhat naïve and wanted to become a full-time intelligence officer but was turned down, rightly so, as I wasn’t entirely comfortable with authority of any kind and had a tendency, as they said, of rushing off and doing stuff I thought needed doing without authorisation. ‘John, we think you’d chafe at the bureaucratic restrictions of a peacetime service,’ I was told. Fortunately, I turned out to be a better journalist than spy, eventually living or working in 40 countries and covering a dozen wars, most of them for Reuters. I now live in Scotland.

That sounds like an exciting lifestyle though. So, what else have you brought along?

I’ve brought along an old snapshot of me in my Afghan rig from my spying days taken by a friend of mine, photographer and former Royal Marine Ken Guest, on the outskirts of Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second city and former royal capital, in 1982.

Oo. Very mysterious. Thanks so much for staying in with me to chat about Spy Game John. It sounds brilliant. Are there any more books planned? 

I’m thrilled that Burning Chair will publish the second novel, Spy Dragon, in which Brodick – older, wiser and far more self-interested – heads off to war-torn Beirut to help locate a kidnapped CIA officer. I’m pretty sure that it has more twists than your average corkscrew. Now I’m working on the third in the series.

I think they all sound fantastic. Good luck with the series. Let me tell blog readers more about Spy Game:

Spy Game

February 1981. The Cold War is in full swing. Richard Brodick decides to follow in his father’s footsteps and seeks an exciting role in what used to be called the Great Game, only to find that it turns out to be less of an adventure and more brutal betrayal.

As a contract ‘head agent’ for Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service based in Pakistan, Brodick’s job is to train Afghans to capture video of the war against the Soviets. He is expected to follow orders, toe the line, keep Mrs T happy back in London. However, what he finds on the ground-in both Pakistan and Afghanistan-is a murky world of blurred lines and conflicting stories. He quickly realises he cannot trust anything he has been told, by anyone.

What he had thought would be an adventure spying on the Soviets and their Afghan communist allies turns sour when he’s ordered to kill his best friend.

Will he betray his country or his friend? What side will he choose?

Published by Burning Chair, today, 8th March 2021, Spy Game is available for purchase here.

About John Fullerton

During the Cold War John Fullerton was, for a time, a “contract labourer” for the British Secret Intelligence Service, in the role of head agent on the Afghan-Pakistan frontier. This experience forms the basis of his latest novel, provisionally entitled Spy Game, to be published in March 2021 by Burning Chair.

All told, he’s lived or worked in 40 countries as a journalist and covered a dozen wars. For 20 years he was employed by Reuters as a correspondent and editor with postings in Hong Kong, Delhi, Beirut, Nicosia, Cairo, and London.

His home is in Scotland.

For more information, follow John on Twitter @fictionarrative or visit his website. You’ll also find John on Facebook.