Lovely Apple Gidley always seems to have a new book out just when I’m in the middle of some personal crisis and can’t manage to fit in reading and reviewing for her. So it is with Finding Serenissma! However, I’m delighted to welcome Apple to Linda’s Book Bag with a guest post to celebrate today’s publication of Finding Serenissima.

Apple has previously featured here on the blog and I’m delighted to welcome her back with a super post considering those of us not in the first flush of youth. Before that, though, let’s find out about Finding Serenissima.

Published today 11th March 2025 by Vine Leaves Press, Finding Serenissima is available for purchase in all the usual places including directly from the publisher here.

Finding Serenissima

With the help of a feisty hotel owner, an attractive water-taxi driver, and a gondola full of Italians who call Venice home, Amelia, a widowed Australian, begins her search for serenity. As the island city works its magic, she comes to realize her life has been overshadowed by her famous American husband, Leo, well before his decline into Alzheimer’s.

As Amelia navigates Venice’s winding canals and its language, she gracefully confronts the joys and challenges of aging, discovering that love and laughter can come at any stage of life. Balancing long-distance parenting and familial obligations, she redefines what it means to live fully as an older woman, all while the magical city slowly helps her reclaim her identity.

Finding Serenissima is a heartwarming tale of second chances, exploring the complexities of long marriage, independence, and rediscovering love in the most unexpected places.

Fiction for Over Fifty

A Guest Post by Apple Gidley

Who cares about fiction representing more mature women as the leading lady? Perhaps a good proportion of the eleven or so million women aged over 55 might, and that’s just in the UK. Too often older women feel invisible, sidetracked, bypassed and, based on a survey by BookBrowse, that would appear to be a mistake. Of more than 3,600 people questioned, the average age of women in book clubs is over 45, that’s a lot of readers who shouldn’t be dismissed or forgotten.

No wonder, then, the huge success of novelists like Elizabeth Strout and her 2008 book, Olive Kitteridge; or Rachel Joyce’s Miss Benson’s Beetle. Both depict strong mature women. Women want books that speak to the real universal issues they might face, like in Kate Morton’s The Secret Keeper; or Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir, Eat, Pray, Love.

Conflict resolution is something many have learned from childhood. Watch a little girl telling teddy not to lord it over rabbit. Or a teenager giving comfort to a friend’s heartbreak. The trials become greater at university—perhaps a lecherous tutor, or amorous jock—then workplace inequities as men are promoted over female colleagues, and sometimes above their abilities.

As we ladies-of-a-certain-age continue to age, we want to read of others who have overcome whatever has tried to stop us in our tracks. Not just those who have made it to the top of their chosen tree, but about strong women leading ordinary lives who don’t always get the recognition they deserve. How satisfying lives can be led without children; or how each stage of children’s lives are juggled and navigated. Perhaps how any, or all, of the three ‘d’s—divorce, dementia, death—are managed, and how clambering out of the hole that sense of abandonment has opened can lead not only to survival but adjustment and, as the pain eases, gives access to maybe a different, yet still fulfilling life. 

Amelia Paignton, in Finding Serenissima, is such a woman.…

 Exhaustion prickled Amelia like scalding water as she stood under the shower and washed off the travel grime. Wrapping a towel around her chest, she stepped over to the window and looked out at the people sauntering along the canal. Snatches of Italian drifted up, adding to her disorientation, her sense of displacement. Untethered.

         “Well, that’s what you wanted.” Her words jarred loud in the calm of the room. “But Italy? You don’t speak the language. You don’t know anyone.” She could almost hear the words coming from Leo’s mouth, see the petulant tilt of his lips.

         She shook her head, and clutching the towel, replied. “No, Leo, I don’t, but I can learn. And Leo, who was it that had to make a life for us while you painted? I can do this.” The threat of tears dispersed as anger replaced rootlessness. Swapping the towel for a sarong, she lay down on the bed. Sleep. That would help. But not too long.

         The ping of the phone alarm woke Amelia and, prizing her eyes open, it took her a moment to remember her surroundings.

         “Oh, my God, I’m in Italy!” Laughter followed her pronouncement. Shadows playing a different dance to earlier in the day told her hours had passed. And the grumble in her tummy. She had to go out. Take the plunge. And her dictionary.

         Pulling on a pair of jeans,she tucked a green shirt into the waistband, then stuck her feet into ankle boots. A slash of eyeliner and mascara, a jacket and scarf, and she felt ready.

         “I can do this.” She repeated her new mantra.

 This desire for strong female protagonists, of any age, can extend to non fiction. We want to learn of women who have led remarkable lives. Women like, Elżbieta Zawacka, the Polish WWII resistance fighter whose life is documented in Clare Mulley’s latest book, Agent Zo. Or Bloody Brilliant Women by Cathy Newman, described as “a fresh, opinionated history of all the brilliant women you should have learned about in school but didn’t.”

As a teenager, the travels of Mary Kingsley and Dervla Murphy enthralled me. I was lucky, I was already seeing the world, but their words made me want to see more and, sometimes, I’d wish I had been born into an earlier time, so I could join them in their adventures. Although I doubt I’d have had the courage to pack my bags and go, certainly not solo, as did Gertrude Bell who mapped, physically and metaphysically, the Middle East. She was far better described as the Queen of the Desert rather than, as some suggested, the female equivalent of Lawrence of Arabia.

When I read, I want characters, real and imagined, to inspire me. Characters like Janet Pimm, the seventy-year old, in Helen Paris’s The Invisible Women’s Club to remind me that 50, 60, 70, 80 are all just a numbers—particularly on the days when I glance in a mirror and wonder who is that older woman looking out at me.               

When I write, strong women slip onto the pages. Not consciously created. They just appear. Perhaps, somewhere in my subconscious, I want my granddaughters, when they are old enough to read my books, to recognise their own potential, their strength, even when things don’t go according to plan. Or my grandson to respect the line of strong women on both sides of his family.

And sometimes it is a reminder that women need women. Rather as Amelia, in Finding Serenissima, comes to rely, both for friendship and guidance, on the older determined hotelier, whose words will not be brooked and who says with regal bearing, “I am Bria Valentina Scutari”.

We want to read about them. Those friendships that transcend age, distance, and occasionally, the men in their lives! Who would argue that eleven million women are wrong?

****

Certainly not me Apple! Thanks so much for this fabulous guest post – and for representing those of us who still feel we have a place in the world!

About Apple Gidley

Apple Gidley has lived all over the world. Her roles have been varied – editor, intercultural trainer for multinational corporations, British Honorary Consul to Equatorial Guinea, amongst others. She started writing in 2010. 

You can find out more about Apple on her website and by finding her on Facebook or following her on Instagram and  Twitter/X @ExpatApple.

It’s my absolute pleasure to welcome Kim Smejkal to the blog today to stay in with me and to tell me all about her latest young adult novel. My huge thanks to Vicki Berwick at Pushkin Press for putting us in touch with one another.

Let’s see what Kim had to say:

Staying in with Kim Smejkal

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag, Kim 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?

The Dandelion Riots is my latest young adult fantasy and I brought it because it holds a special place in my heart. I’ve always loved classic fairy tales—full of curses, evil sorceresses, and the magic of true love’s kiss—but I wanted The Dandelion Riots to be fresh, exciting, and unexpected. I had a lot of funflipping familiar tropes upside-down!

That sounds great. What can we expect from an evening in with The Dandelion Riots?

The Dandelion Riots is about forming community and fighting back against injustice and hate. 

That sounds like something we could do with in the real world Kim, never mind fantasy fiction!

In this world, some girls are cursed at birth by powerful witches as preemptive punishment for future misdeeds. These cursed girls are the dregs of society: shunned, feared, and often hunted.

That doesn’t sound fair at all. Do they deserve the curse?

They are frightening and dangerous, it’s true! But they’re born innocent, and then they’re vilified. They become the scapegoat so everyone spends time fighting against them instead of the true villains…

Interesting. Tell me more about the curses.

As an aside, crafting the various “flavours” of curses was one of my favourite parts about writing this book! The curses can take many forms, and some examples include transforming food into dust, ruling armies of cockroaches, bringing plague and pestilence, and, in some cases, unintentional murder.

And what about your protagonist?

The main character, Drinn, is a naïve and kind-hearted girl who’s been hidden away her entire life for a very good reason: her curse is the most powerful of them all. When Drinn discovers the nature of her curse, she is stunned: “The destruction I was destined to cause was unfathomable.”

So her life seems inevitable – is that how it pans out for her?

Despite what everyone tells her, Drinn refuses to accept this fate. Instead, she rallies other cursed girls to her side and vows to fight back against both the witches who cursed them, and the world that hates them.

These girls sound like great role models.

The Dandelion Riots celebrates the strength of girls, friendship, compassion, and community. These girls show us that there is power in the riot, there is hope in the fight.

I think The Dandelion Riots sounds very pertinent to today’s society. How is the book being received?

We’ve gotten some encouraging feedback from early readers that the messages in The Dandelion Riots are resonating. One bookseller had this to say: “This story rockets along and is full of amazing characters that all make an impression, bringing surprises at every turn. An empowering story of people sticking together no matter the odds, even when everything appears broken. I loved every word.”

That’s brilliant. You must be thrilled.  And what else have you brought along and why have you brought it?

I brought along a bouquet of fresh, spring dandelions for you! (I bet you’ve never received weeds before…)

Er… I’m not so sure about that! But why dandelions?

Dandelions are important in the book for a number of reasons. First of all, our main character, Drinn, lives with an unfortunate side-effect from her curse: dandelions sprout out of her neck when she’s anxious. They tangle in her hair, scar the nape of her neck, and make it quite difficult to hide the fact that she’s cursed.

That explains the cover image – it fits perfectly.

The cursed girls adopt the dandelion as their symbol. It’s a persistent weed, able to grow and thrive in neglected soil and abandoned spaces. Many people hate them and spend a lot of time and effort trying to get rid of them.

I confess I have tried to eliminate them from my lawn. Maybe I need a rethink…

But the dandelion is also one of the first flowers to bloom in spring: a beautiful sunshine-yellow. You can eat the greens, make wine or tea or jelly (dandelion jelly doesn’t just look like sunshine, it tastes like sunshine too!) And when the blooms are spent, we blow on the seed heads and make wishes, sending them off on new adventures.

I’m definitely seeing them differently now.

I really hope you like your dandelion bouquet, and hopefully you’ll look at the yellow flowers and serrated green leaves and see beauty instead of nuisance!

I will indeed Kin. Thank you so much for staying in with me to chat about The Dandelion Riots. I’m delighted to have a copy waiting for me on my TBR. I think you should make us a dandelion tea and I‘ll give readers a few more details about the book.

The Dandelion Riots

A breathtaking queer fantasy in which girls are cursed at birth with terrible powers.

She believed I was meek and unassuming, because for sixteen years, that was all I’d ever been…

Cursed at birth, 16-year-old Drinn has been kept away from everyone – moved from house to house to ensure that she never finds love. But this year, she has decided to break free.  

Fleeing, Drinn finds herself in Oblison, surrounded by others just like her – cursed girls whose lives are dangerous and wild. They vow to free themselves once and for all. But rebellion is dangerous, and if Drinn finds love before the curse can be broken, a terrible fate could befall them all…

The Dandelion Riots is out in the UK on March 13, 2025 from Pushkin Press, and in Canada and the US on September 30, 2025. You can pre-order The Dandelion Riots through the Pushkin website, from Bookshop.org, Waterstones and Amazon.

About Kim Smejkal

Kim Smejkal writes fantasy for young adults and not-so-young adults, always with a touch of magic. Her books include The Dandelion Riots, Ink in the Blood, and Curse of the Divine. When she’s not writing, she’s often lost in the woods, wandering a beach, or puttering around in her garden, and she currently lives on Vancouver Island in Canada with her family and anxious dog, Pigeon.

 For further information about Kim, visit her website or find her on Instagram and Threads. 

I always find it exciting to be in at the start of a book’s life and so it gives me enormous pleasure to help reveal the details for The Woman in Ward 9 by Naomi Williams, especially as this is a book in one of my favourite genres – psychological thrillers. 

Let’s find out more:

The Woman In Ward 9 will be published by Headline on 17th July 2025 and is available for pre-order through the publisher links here.

The Woman in Ward 9

Victim. Witness. Killer?

Laura is found covered in blood that is not her own. With no memory of what happened, she is admitted to a high security psychiatric facility.

With no body and no other witnesses, it is down to psychologist Emma to gain Laura’s trust and understand her disturbed mind.

Beneath Laura’s stories of an idyllic life and a boyfriend almost too good to be true, Emma begins to unravel a darker truth. But as she listens to Laura’s story, she begins to draw chilling parallels between her patient’s life and her own. The man Laura describes sounds uncannily similar to Emma’s own husband…

Is she entering the mind of a victim, a witness – or a killer?

With tension you could cut with a knife and twists that will have your head spinning, The Woman In Ward 9 is sure to keep you reading late into the night.

****

Doesn’t that sound fabulous? I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

About Naomi Williams

Naomi Williams started her career teaching English and Drama, and when she had a family, combined all three to write novels about family drama. Originally from Yorkshire, she now lives in a London suburb with her husband and two teenage daughters, so expects there’s plenty more drama to come.

Also writing as Lisa Timoney and Kate Storey, you can find out more by visiting Naomi’s website, finding her on Facebook and Instagram or following her on Bluesky and Twitter/X @LTimoneyWrites.

My grateful thanks to Annie West for sending me a copy of her graphic novel The Late Night Writers Club. I don’t think I’ve reviewed a graphic novel for adults on Linda’s Book Bag before and it’s my pleasure to share my review today. 

The Late Night Writers Club is available for purchase in all the usual places as well as directly from the publisher, New Island, here. 

The Late Night Writers Club

In rich and abundant illustrations, Annie West tells a rowdy story of artistic struggle, ego and unexpected kindness. You will never look at the Irish Literary Canon in the same way again.

A talented but annoying Debut Author, suffering from writer’s block and mysterious headaches, ghosted by his girlfriend and on his last chance with his bartender job, takes refuge in the National Library of Ireland, hoping for some last-minute inspiration within those hallowed walls.

Tortured by literary inadequacy and disappointed love, can he somehow absorb the famous modesty of Yeats, the wit of Edgeworth, the charm of Binchy, the wisdom of Heaney? But a weird twist of fate or perhaps a guiding hand reveals all is not what it seems in the library after dark, and The Author soon discovers: be careful what you wish for.

My Review of The Late Night Writers Club

An aspiring debut writer is suffering writer’s block and his girlfriend (amongst others!) is ghosting him.

The Late Night Writers Club is, if I’m totally honest, completely insane and I absolutely loved it! I read it through rapidly, simply enjoying the surface story. There are jokes, puns and quotations that are incredibly funny and the speech between the various author members of the Late Night Writers Club in the library is packed with witticism. I found myself snorting aloud on occasion. I loved the concept that the protagonist is highly irritating and really not the protagonist at all as he is outshone and out talked by the famous ghosts.

However, it was the second reading that made me realise just what a fabulous book this is. Of course, some of the literary greats like Shakespeare, James Joyce and Oscar Wilde are instantly recognisable, but other references such as those folk from Greek myths are less familiar so that not only is The Late Night Writers Club thoroughly entertaining, it’s educational and so intelligently constructed. 

But best of all is the absolute, scalpel sharp, insight into writing and the publishing industry, from (quite literally here) ghost writing, through social media spats to professional rivalry. There’s writer’s block and procrastination. There’s consideration of who might be the best writer, eponymous branding and author book signings. What makes the book so engaging is the fact that every aspect is recognisable and relatable to anyone who has ever considered writing as a profession. 

My third reading of The Late Night Writers Club was to peruse the fantastic illustrations in more detail. I can’t begin to imagine the time and effort this book must have taken. I thought the colour palette of rich browns, greens and reds gave a traditional feel in keeping with the historical characters we encounter. But beyond that there is so much more to uncover. Take a look at the library curator’s name badge, for example, or the person advertising get togethers for shy people in one of the newspapers or the political jokes… I could continue, but you’ll need to read the book to discover them for yourself and I’m sure there’s even more for me to find on subsequent readings. 

Utterly bonkers, witty and fabulously illustrated, The Late Night Writers Club is a universally appealing book that every reader and every established or aspiring writer will relate to wholeheartedly. I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it. 

About Annie West

Annie West is an award-winning illustrator and writer who has had two authored books published and illustrated dozens more. Annie has exhibited her Yeats in Love series to much acclaim and her work has been acquired by admirers such as President Michael D. Higgins, Neil Jordan, Seamus Heaney and the United States Embassy. 

Born in 1961, Annie graduated from Dun Laoghaire College of Art & Design (IADT) in 1979 with a Diploma in Design for Communications. She began working in the Design Department at RTÉ  and Tyne Tees Television and various independent TV productions for Channel Four. This was followed by a decade working in the Art Department on feature films in Ireland, Britain and America. Around 1991 Annie left the Film & TV industry to concentrate on illustrating and cartooning full time. 

She specialises in highly detailed pen and ink drawings with the emphasis on detail. She is particular and punctual, and can work to extremely tight deadlines.

Annie has won a number of Awards: The Alfred Beit Award in 1993 & 1994, The NCEA Patent Practicioners’ Award 1994, and the Illustrators’ Guild Best Book Illustration Award 2003 & 2004.

A selection of Annie’s work was recently added to the National Library of Ireland’s permanent Cartoon & Illustration Archive.

For further information, visit Annie’s website and follow her on Twitter/X @anniewestdotcom . You’ll also find Annie on Bluesky and Instagram.

My huge thanks to A.P. Durston for sending me a copy of his children’s book The Land Of No Food in return for an honest review. Married to a Welshman, how could I resist that cover! I’m delighted to share my review today.

The Land Of No Food was published by Austin Macauley on 13th September 2024 and is available for purchase here. 

The Land Of No Food

Prince Durst, the leader of his tribe in Wales, is a troubled man. The Welsh dragons, the food of his nation, are becoming extinct. He can’t let his people starve, but what will he do? He will need to travel to far off shores to find a land of food.

Setting sail in his ship he voyages far, far away and discovers the land of Zitan, ruled by a Queen tormented by dragons!

Helping the Queen with her troublesome pests she rewards the Prince for his help and bravery.

The Prince can now return home to his people with the answer to all his worries and problems!

My Review of The Land Of No Food

A tale of dragons and bravery!

Before my review proper, and in the interests of complete honesty, I’m going to mention a couple of small elements that I’d have liked done differently in this story so that it models perfection for emergent writers: the use of ‘fewer and fewer’ instead of ‘less and less’, and fewer upper case letters in ordinary sentences, albeit that they are used for emphasis. That said, this is my former literacy consultant head speaking and both aspects could be fabulous teaching points in school settings. Young readers are not going to notice!

The Land Of No Food is actually a smashing story and it’s so good to read something with Wales at its heart. Here we have a sense of tradition that draws on the myth of dragons, of bravery and of quest. It’s also thought-provoking for children to consider where their food comes from making The Land Of No Food informative as well as entertaining. There’s a real sense of community and family at its heart too.

I thought the direct references and asides to the children reading the story were inspired because they enhance engagement. The question about the number of dragon illustrations on the page, for example, is super for increasing early numeracy too as well as for drawing children into the narrative. 

Speaking of illustrations, those in The Land Of No Food are wonderful, with vibrant colours. They are well balanced to the white space and text, and featuring a style just perfect for the target audience. As well as strengthening young children’s observational skills, there’s real fun to be had in spotting what Prince Durst’s dog is doing too! 

There’s a wide range of vocabulary in The Land Of No Food so that the story would be a useful tool for literacy work in school settings. Unfamiliar vocabulary is embedded in context ensuring that emergent and independent young readers can understand meaning well and is best suited to children aged 6+. 

These positive educational aspects aside, at its heart The Land Of No Food is an interesting, entertaining and exciting tale for young readers. It provides a story packed with adventure, action and peril; features that draw children into a love of reading and that’s the most important thing of all. Children will thoroughly enjoy it.

About A.P. Durston

Alan Paul Durston lives with his wife Erica and son Jack in the shadow of the 13th Century castle in Caerphilly in South Wales, near his daughter Lucy and grandchildren Jacob and Scarlet.

He lived and worked in Hamburg, Germany for 10 years where the idea for The Land of No Food was conceived.

Not only an author, Alan plays guitar and is also a songwriter being influenced by life, events and history.

I can’t remember when I last wrote a review of a book that is from my book group. Partly, that’s because I haven’t enjoyed a few and I don’t write negative reviews, and partly because life has got the better of me and like last month, not only did I not finish the book, but I didn’t even start it. 

Having reviewed Matt Haig’s Reasons to Stay Alive here, when I realised our March book group read was his famous The Midnight Library I simply had to read it straight away before time runs away from me again. 

The Midnight Library was published by Canongate Books on 13th August 2020 and is available for purchase here.

The Midnight Library

Between life and death there is a library.

When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren’t always what she imagined they’d be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.

Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?

My Review of The Midnight Library 

Nora Seed has decided it is time to die.

The Midnight Library is a book that might require some readers willingly to suspend their disbelief, and that might perhaps be triggering for some suffering from poor mental health, but I found it completely engaging, moving and absorbing. In addition, I felt that the narrative could simply be enjoyed as a diverting story without the need to engage with the deeper meanings of the book. The various lives Nora lives are entertaining in their own right and the people she meets along the way are interesting and varied. As The Midnight Library is written in an accessible style it works well as a story for young adults and older readers alike. 

However, those more profound elements are what makes The Midnight Library so affecting. It’s filled with the delicate balance between regret and potential, between life and death, and between living for ourselves or living for others – or for what we perceive to be their expectations for us. The range of emotion is so wide that any, and every, reader can find an aspect that resonates with them. Ultimately, having taken both Nora and the reader through the full gamut of emotions from fear to despair, joy to contentment, Matt Haig provides a sense of hope that is authentic and uplifting. Indeed, there are real moments of humour to be found in a story about someone who wants to die which enhance and balance the darker elements.

I loved meeting Nora in all her manifestations in this kind of literary string theory. She really is the personification of a seed of doubt. Through Nora’s experiences Matt Haig is completely convincing in portraying the potential of ‘what if?’ in our lives. In The Midnight Library Nora is given the opportunity to see who, and what, she has the potential to be in other situations. She’s equivocal and flawed and that’s what makes her so fascinating. She’s a real Everywoman.

Whilst I very much enjoyed The Midnight Library as a simple narrative, I appreciated it all the more for its humanity, its helpfulness to, and appreciation of, others in real life feeling like Nora does, and for Matt Haig’s wise and sensitive understanding of who we are as people. I think The Midnight Library might be just the book to save someone in severe difficulty – and what could be better than that?

About Matt Haig

Matt Haig is the internationally bestselling author of the novels The Midnight Library, How to Stop Time, The Humans, The Radleys, children’s novel A Boy Called Christmas, and memoir Reasons to Stay Alive. His The Life Impossible, was published in summer 2024. His work has been translated into over fifty languages.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @matthaig1. Visit his website for further information and find him on Facebook and Instagram.

I am absolutely thrilled to help reveal the cover of Georgina Moore’s brand new novel River of Stars. I adored Georgina’s first book, The Garnett Girls which I reviewed here, so I’m delighted to have River of Stars waiting for me on my 2025 TBR.

Let’s find out more about River of Stars:

River of Stars

Steeped in bohemia and music legend, Walnut Tree Island is home to a thriving community of artists and musicians. It is where teenager Mary Star once caught the eye of a rock star about to hit the big time, only to be left with a new baby and a broken heart.

Years later, Mary lives on the houseboat where she raised her daughter and her granddaughter, Jo. But now one of the island’s prodigal sons has returned. Oliver Greenwood has inherited Walnut Tree and changes are coming.

Jo hasn’t seen Oliver since that glorious, life-changing summer when their idyllic island paradise was shattered. And while the islanders are thrown into a frenzy of speculation over their futures, Oliver’s return has opened the wounds of a love she had thought was lost for ever…

Beautifully written, featuring a cast of magnetic characters, River of Stars is the captivating new novel from Sunday Times bestselling author, Georgina Moore.

****

Doesn’t that sound completely wonderful? Just my kind of read!

River of Stars will be published by HQ on 3rd July 2025 and is available for pre-order here.

About Georgina Moore

Georgina Moore grew up in London and lives on a houseboat on the River Thames with her partner, two children and Bomber, the Border Terrier.   The Garnett Girls is her debut novel and is set on the Isle of Wight, where Georgina and her family have a holiday houseboat called Sturdy. Georgina’s new novel River of Stars is inspired by the legendary Eel Pie Island and its colourful history as a rock and roll haven in the 1960s.

For further information, visit Georgina’s website or follow Georgina on Twitter/X @PublicityBooks or find her on Bluesky and Instagram.

With thanks to Ben Cameron at Cameron Publicity for putting us in touch with one another, it’s my pleasure to welcome Anika Pavel to stay in with me today to tell me all about her fascinating memoir. 

Let’s Find out more:

Staying in with Anika Pavel

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

I brought in my autobiography entitled Encounter with the Future.

What can we expect from an evening in with Encounter with the Future?

The book is a collection of autobiographical essays some of which have been published online, in print and nominated for Pushcart Prize.

How exciting. Tell me more. 

“Travel is the university of life” is a quote that rings through the book. With a dictionary in hand, the learning begins at the London airport. After the Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia and a lonely night at Victoria railway station, life goes on and has to be conquered by hard work and eternal optimism. After all London was at the height of its fabulousness, and being sad was not an option.

How did you counteract that sadness?

Waiting tables whether in a small restaurant or at the London Playboy Club can be hard work or fun, depending on the point of view. Graduating into TV with Two Ronnies, Frankie Howerd, Benny Hill, and movies, with Dick Emery, Confections of the Window, Golden Lady, and even a James Bond movie is a rich reward for all the hard work.

That sounds so exciting.

None the less, there were tense even tragic moments, death of a father, broken heart, and unsavoury and scary chases.

I imagine so.

But, travel did prove to be an education. The joy of the new generation continues in learning, traveling, and loving. As one of the readers put it: “A touching tale of a woman who makes it through the tornados of life and still comes out centred.”

What a brilliant definition Anika. 

What else have you brought along and why have you brought it?

Music; The Beatles mostly although not exclusively. I write while I listen to the music. Many songs are as relevant today as they were when they were written; Give Peace a Chance… is the case in point.

Oh absolutely – more important now than ever I think!

I am an optimist, so I like to be in the company of books that lift my spirits. It saves my energy for the times when I have to swim up the hill, which in the past was quite often. Also, books set in history are a must, learning from past mistakes is all important!

I couldn’t agree more Anika. Thank you so much for staying in with me to chat about Encounter with the Future. It sounds an exciting and intriguing book. Let me give readers a few more details.

Encounter with the Future

Imagine if an 18-year-old girl landed across the iron curtain for the first time…alone.

What if that girl went from being a nanny, to a fashion model, to a playboy bunny, to an actress, and from London to Hong Kong, to the USA in a full and wonderful life encompassing rock n roll, new business ventures, a family and everything in between?

It is not a movie script; this is a real story

Anika Pavel was born Jarmila Kocvarova in communist Czechoslovakia. She bravely ventured across the iron curtain to England for what was intended to be a one-year stay.

As her life transpires, she goes from sleeping in phone booths to a Bond girl in the swinging London of the 1960s and 70s.

These are the stories of her life and the people she has shared it with. People stories. Heartwarming, tender, meaningful and captivating.

In a series of essays, some intimate and small, some touching upon the major historical moments of the twentieth century, Pavel takes us on an unforgettable journey.

Published by Castle on 15th February 2025, Encounter with the Future is available for purchase in all the usual places including here.

About Anika Pavel

Actress, model, essayist and writer, Anika Pavel was born in Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia and currently resides in the United States. After the brutal Soviet invasion of her homeland, rending her emigrant and homeless, she was discovered and became successful model and actress during the swinging 70th London. She managed a seamless transition from James Bond to motherhood. She moved across three continents challenging geopolitical divides. Encounter with the Future reflects this life still in motion.

For further information, visit Anika’s website, or find her on Instagram and Facebook.

I am incredibly grateful to Philip D. Rye for sending me a copy of his poetry anthology All Shapes and Sizes with no expectation of a review, but because he hoped it might provide a distraction at a difficult time. To thank him for his kindness, the least I can do is provide an honest review.

Published on 5th November 2024, All Shapes and Sizes is available for purchase here.

All Shapes and Sizes

Unpretentious, contemporary verse, sometimes profound, often explosively funny, it will take you on a roller coaster of emotions, laughing, crying, and transforming the way you see and feel about life and everyday events. With over 80 individual poems this entertaining and thought-provoking collection is ridiculously good value and deserves your attention.

My Review of All Shapes and Sizes

An anthology of poetry presented in alphabetical order.

What an eclectic collection! I really enjoyed All Shapes and Sizes because it speaks to such a wide audience as there is a poem that will resonate with any reader. 

I’m usually more of a fan of free verse and here the majority of the poems rhyme but the more regular rhyme scheme works because it is often hit with a sting in the tail or with wry humour at the human condition. Philip D. Rye writes about the ordinary like a hang over, the familiar, like our obsession with love, and the inevitable, like death, with a sharp wit that feels highly amusing at times and equally moving and emotional at other times. For example. I swear I’ve been on the same plane as the author has in Frequent Flyer! 

The anthology feels so accessible because many of the entries are relatively short so that it’s easy to dip in and read a poem when you have a few spare moments. That said, I did read the verses in the alphabetical order in which they are presented. I especially loved the form and structure of Parallel Uni-Verse and the veracity of Politicians and Prostitutes. 

There’s a surprisingly wide range of themes interwoven here, with subtle reference to both natural and social science, mental and physical health, communication and the world around us. There’s history, popular literature and politics, and there’s also a frequent humour that makes some entries feel as if the reader is listening to a quick-witted friend. 

What I found so intriguing in All Shapes and Sizes was trying to get behind the mere words on the page and to discover more about the poet. There are many references to love or insecurity (as in Just One Kiss) with human frailty a key topic so that I felt I was discovering a little bit about Philip D. Rye through reading his poems. I found When I Lay Down especially touching, coming as it does after the humour of Wedding Night and it made me wonder just what the poet has learnt about love and loss in his life. indeed, the very final poem Xposure leads me to believe the more I read these poems, the more I’ll discover…

Fresh, quirky, accessible and entertaining, these poems represent who we are as humans. Whilst they would reward a deeper study of syntax, rhyme and structure, I don’t think literary investigation is the purpose and joy of this anthology. Rather, the pleasure comes in recognising yourself in some of the situations described and feeling a human connection. Ostensibly not to be taken too seriously, All Shapes and Sizes is actually a collection that feels warm, honest and, in a curious way, caring. I really enjoyed it.

About Philip D. Rye

Philip D. Rye is a UK expat living in Norway, who was schooled mainly in London and who followed a scientific career. He loves reading and exploring the nuance of language and putting some of it to rhyme.

My enormous gratitude to Louise Swanson for ensuring I received a copy of her thriller Lights Out and to Kim Nyamhondera for sending it to me. It’s my pleasure to share my review of Lights Out today.

I’m a huge fan of Louise Swanson’s writing under her other persona of Louise Beech, and you’ll find my reviews of those books here. 

Already available in other formats, Lights Out is released in paperback by Hodder and Stoughton on 27th February 2025 and is available for pre-order or purchase through the publisher links here. 

Lights Out

When darkness is everywhere, nowhere is safe…

A state of emergency has been declared in the UK. From now on, at 8pm every night, all electricity cuts out.

The Government promises it’s a temporary measure. They promise they are always thinking of your safety.

But for Grace, the darkness is anything but safe.

Someone is coming into her house under its cover every night while she lies in bed upstairs, too terrified to sleep. Someone who knows her past, who knows why she has more reason to fear the dark than most…

And every morning she wakes to a new message from the intruder:

I have you in my sights. Love, The Night

But how can Grace escape, when there’s nowhere safe left to hide?

My Review of Lights Out

Grace is terrified of the dark and a Government energy saving edict that stops all power from 8pm to 7am, plunging her world into darkness, is her worst nightmare.

Lights Out is a cracking story. It is imbued with a sense of menace from the very first page so that whilst you might not want to read on, you simply can’t help yourself. Louise Swanson delves into our darkest fears through Grace’s nyctophobia, doing so with sensitivity and understanding. The narrative is absolutely convincing, and the psychological aspect is particularly unnerving. It’s actually quite difficult to define the genre of Lights Out because it is certainly a thriller, with an intimidating Feather Man terrorising lone women, and the mysterious addition of items into Grace’s home alongside handwritten messages from The Night, but there’s so much more to uncover here too.

Initially Grace irritated me slightly as I wanted her to get a grip on her irrational fear and simply add a bolt to her back door, but as Lights Out continued and the layers of her personality were peeled back, explaining why she is afraid of the dark, illustrating how her past has affected her and showing just how believable and human she is, I not only found Grace realistic, but I grew to care what happened to her. I loved the development of her personality and the changes she undergoes as the story progresses. There’s real skill in writing a character a reader doesn’t much like at the start of a narrative and changing that opinion to one of admiration by the end of it. Her relationship with Riley was a huge factor in shaping my response, as was her attitude towards Tom and her father.

But whilst Lights Out is a slightly futuristic, slightly dystopian thriller with vivid characters that entertains really well, other aspects are the ones I found most affecting and prescient – this could be a story just waiting to happen at any time to any one of us. Elements like social responsibility and justice, a real understanding from the author about mental health, her exploration of the variety of relationships we have, of poverty and privilege, and what it’s like to be an outsider or to struggle with life, ripple throughout so that Lights Out has depth and sensitive social awareness. Not only does this understanding add texture to the plot, but it gives Lights Out a universal importance. 

I found Lights Out surprisingly disturbing. Not just for the creepier thriller aspects that take place in the night, but also because of the representation of the kind of world that could be just around the corner if we don’t do something about the environment and if we don’t face our fears… I really recommend it and believe it is a prompt for us to write our own narrative of the future rather than allow others to control it for us. I suggest that you read Lights Out to see what I mean! Don’t miss it.

About Louise Swanson

Louise Swanson’s debut, End of Story, was written during the final lockdown of 2020 – also following a family tragedy, it offered refuge in the fiction she created. The themes of the book – grief, isolation, love of the arts, the power of storytelling – came from a very real place. 

Louise Swanson is a mother of two who lives in East Yorkshire with her husband, regularly blogs, talks at events, and is a huge advocate of openly discussing mental health and suicide.

She also writes as Louise Beech. Louise’s books have won the Best magazine Book of the Year 2019, have been shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year, longlisted for the Polari Prize, and been a Clare Mackintosh Book Club Pick. Her memoir, Daffodils, was released in audiobook in 2022, and the paperback version, Eighteen Seconds, in April 2023.

You can follow Louise on Twitter/X @LouiseWriter, find her on Facebook and Instagram and visit her website for further information.