With a trip to India coming up soon, I’m delighted to have the chance to visit slightly earlier by interviewing Sonia Bahl whose novel The Spectacular Miss begins in Calcutta.

I also need to apologise to Sonia as this interview has been sitting in my inbox for three months – but actually, I think it was worth waiting for as I loved hearing about The Spectacular Miss.

The Spectacular Miss is available for purchase here.

The Spectacular Miss

I learned that I am, despite my early years spent as a swaggering boy, at heart just a middle-class,hard-working, risk-averse, un-creative, strait-laced, routine-obsessed 
conformist. In case I forgot to mention it, I’m also prudish to the point of being puritanical.

But at eight, Nira had only one over-powering wish—to pee standing up like a boy. In fact, to be a boy.

Join Nira as she steps into her brother’s clothes and becomes the self-appointed Al Caponesque gang leader of the neighbourhood boys. Her oddball yet madly loving family shapes her personality, and a poignant relationship with her brother’s best friend shapes her life.

She uses uninhibited candour to detail her coming-of-age journey from Calcutta to London, from tomboy to reluctant woman-in-progress . . . always trying to fit in, but always failing. She’s a laugh a minute, and yet she breaks your heart with her subconscious, percussive yearning for the one person who is always too old, too far, too married to be hers.

An Interview with Sonia Bahl

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag, Sonia. Thank you so much for agreeing to answer some questions on my blog about your writing and The Spectacular Miss in particular. Firstly, please could you tell me a little about yourself?

I was born and raised in Calcutta, and I’ve lived and worked in Jakarta, Miami, Johannesburg, Brussels and Singapore, making ads for everything from candy to condoms, while dreaming of changing them from 30-second spots to full length feature films. I threw caution and my full time job as Executive Creative Director, McCann-Erickson to the winds and embarked on the riveting, rejection-filled screenwriting journey in the US. Happily, my day job now entails writing movies and getting paid for them!

I live, write and rewrite in Singapore and the three loves of my life remain my daughter’s light-up-the-world smile , my dog’s hunky good looks and my husband’s ceaseless patience and incredible friendship.

(Crikey – that’s quite a leap you took! How exciting.)

Why do you write?

To be honest, it’s pretty much the only skill I have!

(I’m sure that’s not true!)

When did you realise you were going to be a writer?

There was no light bulb moment. I started as an advertising copywriter – loved every minute of it. Moved to screenwriting – thought I had died and gone to heaven. The book – well, that felt like I got lucky, like a first-time winner at a casino! If ever there was an early indication of having some sort of predilection towards writing it came from an entirely biased audience of one, my grandmother. As a child I wrote her letters detailing all sorts of mundane events with dangerous degrees of exaggeration. She’d laugh till she was ready to collapse and couldn’t wait for the next one. So if that is anything to go by, I knew I was going to be a writer before I was even ten years old.

Which aspects of your writing do you find easiest and most difficult?

Easiest: working in isolation.

Most difficult: working in isolation.

What are your writing routines and where do you do most of your writing?

Since I write screenplays, they tend to have a life of their own and deadlines imposed by third parties – studios, directors, producers who are sitting in a different country…sometimes you do end up writing at all odd hours or having discussions at even odder hours. When I’m writing for myself it’s a lot more regular – wake up, work out, get ready and write. And write. Break for lunch / errands /meetings. Go back to writing till the evening. Of course, being a Virgo helps. I’m told we are crashing bores. I am a self-confessed disciplined bore. I write from my study at home – it has a cinematic view of a tropical rainforest – in the middle of the city. Only in Singapore!

(I’m very envious. I loved Singapore when I visited.)

You write ads and screenplays. How do these disciplines impact on your novel writing?

All writing helps. But I’m certain it’s the many years spent as a copywriter that deserve a high five. The devotion to brevity, seduction through simplicity, and avoiding boredom at all cost, are all tattooed into my DNA  for posterity. I suppose writing screenplays makes one see things in scenes – even before they’re out of your head and on the paper!

The Spectacular Miss is described as a ‘coming of age’ book. What were you hoping to achieve through your narrative?

It’s a shout-out to the square pegs, the misfits, the late bloomers: “You have no idea how lucky you are – don’t try to fit in!”

The Spectacular Miss has humour. How easy or difficult is it to balance humour when you’re writing?

I feel that self-deprecating humour is a handy default setting for me. It comes to my rescue when I’m overwhelmed or underwhelmed. It’s essentially acknowledging the awkward, the elephant in the room, the gauche parts of yourself – and putting it out there.

The Spectacular Miss Nira is very much shaped by her family. To what extent do you feel we are all a product of our upbringing?

Family is my resting pulse. It was for me when I was growing up. Still is. Alan de Bottom said this wonderful thing: most of our childhood is stored not in photos but in certain biscuits, lights of day, smells, textures of carpet. Childhoods, and therefore, families are inescapable. Speaking for myself, the family I grew up in and the one that I acquired along the way, have a knack of seeping into everything I do.

When you’re not writing, what do you like to read?

I have extremely schizophrenic reading tastes – Mohsin Hamid, Nick Hornby, Shel Silverstein, John Green, Fitzgerald (always Fitzgerald), Jumpa Lahiri, Elizabeth Gilbert, Bill Bryson, Ann Tyler, Salman Rushdie, the latest bestseller, Rolling Stones magazine, The New Yorker movie reviews, The New York Times every day.

(I love the idea of having schizophrenic reading tastes Sonia.)

The Spectacular Miss has a cover that suggests a conflict between masculinity and femininity to me. How did that image come about and what were you hoping to convey (without spoiling the plot please!)?

The key protagonist is a diehard Tomboy – entirely influenced by her two brothers, one who she hates (he’s closer to her age) and the other  who she worships (he’s ten years older and supremely indulgent of her ridiculous ways).  The cover tries to capture the spectacularly uninhibited Tomboy who, like most Tomboys, must transition through the awkwardness of feeling feminine feelings before she can find the comfortable balance of being who she is. And then becoming brave enough to go after what she wants.

As you also write screenplays, if The Spectacular Miss became a film, who would you like to play Nira and why would you choose them?  

Actually, the book has been optioned by a leading Bollywood studio and I’m lucky enough to be writing the screenplay for the big screen. If it were Hollywood, a young Anne Hathaway would do great as Nira! In Bollywood it would be Alia Bhatt, a brilliant young Indian actress. She’s the right age, is fearless about shedding the usual trappings of vanity, has the perfect mix of vulnerability, bravado and chutzpah, and of course, she has the acting chops.

(Wow – how exciting.)

If you had 15 words to persuade a reader that The Spectacular Miss should be their next read, what would you say?

Awkward square peg, vulnerable, brave. Ultimately, an enduring love story – madcap energy, hilarious and poignant.

Thank you so much for your time in answering my questions, Sonia.

About Sonia Bahl

Born and raised in Calcutta, Sonia has lived and worked in Jakarta, Miami, Johannesburg, Brussels and Singapore, making ads for everything from candy to condoms, while dreaming of changing them from 30-second spots to full length feature films. She threw caution and her full time job as Executive Creative Director, McCann-Erickson (Indonesia) to the winds and embarked on her riveting, rejection-filled screenwriting journey in the US. Finally her day job entails writing movies!

Sonia lives, writes and rewrites in Singapore and the three loves of her life remain her daughter’s scorching tennis backhand, her dog’s hunky good looks and her husband’s incredible friendship.

You can follow Sonia on Twitter @soniabahl and find her on Goodreads.

It’s another new to me author to stay in with on Linda’s Book Bag today. I’m so enjoying meeting so many new books and their authors and R.L. Bartram is no exception, especially as I’m rather fond of historical novels.

If you’re an author who’d also like to stay in with me and tell me about one of your books, please click here for more details.

Staying in with R.L. Bartram

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Robert. 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?

Hello Linda. It’s a great pleasure to be here with you this evening. Tonight, I’ve brought my new novel Whippoorwill. This is my second novel. It’s an Historical Romance set against the background of the American Civil War. It’s been published by Troubador on Nov 28^th, 2017 and is available in both paperback and Kindle editions. There’s an undeniable romance that surrounds the old south, which still exists today, to some extent. It fascinates me. I’ve used it to add atmosphere to my novel and I’d like to share it with your readers.

(Sounds great.) 

What can we expect from an evening in with Whippoorwill?

Quite a lot. A passionate, spicy love affair. Life changing events. Broken hearts, intrigue, betrayal, adventure, espionage. And much more. Let me tell you a little bit about it.

(Oh, please do.)

Barely fourteen, Ceci Prejean is a tomboy running wild in the hot Louisiana summer. After breaking the nose of a local boy, her father decides to enlist the aid of Hecubah, a beautiful creole woman, with a secret past, who takes Ceci in hand and turns her into a lady.

Now eighteen, Ceci meets and fall passionately in love with handsome young northerner, Trent Sinclaire. Trent is a cadet at the West Point military academy. They begin a torrid affair, even as the southern states begin to secede from the Union.

Only weeks before their wedding, the civil war begins. Trent is called to active service in the north, leaving Ceci heartbroken in the south.

Swearing vengeance on the Union, after the untimely death of her family at the fall of New Orleans, Ceci meets with infamous spy master, Henry Doucet. He initiates her into the shadowy world of espionage.

Infiltrating the White House, Ceci comes face to face with Abraham Lincoln, a man she’s sworn to kill. Forming a reckless alliance with the actor John Wilkes Booth, she is drawn deeper into the plot to assassinate the President of the United States. A Confederate spy in love with a Union officer, her next decision will determine whether she lives or dies.

I’m pleased to say that Whippoorwill recently received its first five-star review.

“I absolutely loved this book. Enthralling, engaging and really enjoyable. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre of reading.”

Hopefully there’ll be more to come.

(I notice there already are! Deservedly so as Whippoorwill sounds such a good read Robert. Congratulations.)

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

I’ve brought the photo of myself that’s associated with the book promotion. My sister took it with her new camera. It’s merely to remind me never to have a picture taken in a hurry.

(I think you look quite distinguished actually!)

Moving rapidly along, I’ve also brought a nice bottle of Shiraz and a big box of vanilla fudge. I also have a song. “I’m a good old rebel” by Hoyt Axton. Every time I listen to this it always reminds me of my heroine, Cecile Prejean. It really encapsulates her character. She’s a rebel in every way.

Now, with fudge on the agenda you’re welcome back ANY time to Linda’s Book Bag Robert! Thanks so much for staying in with me and telling me about Whippoorwill. 

It’s been good chatting to you. I hope you like the book. I’ll leave what’s left of the wine and fudge with you. Enjoy.

I will!

Whippoorwill

Barely fourteen, Ceci Prejean is a tomboy running wild in the hot Louisiana summer. After breaking the nose of a local boy, her father decides to enlist the aid of Hecubah, a beautiful Creole woman, with a secret past, who takes Ceci in hand and turns her into a lady.

Now, eighteen-year-old Ceci meets and falls passionately in love with a handsome young northerner, Trent Sinclaire. Trent is a cadet at the West Point military academy. He acts as if he knows Ceci. They begin a torrid affair, even as the southern states begin to secede from the Union.

Only weeks before their wedding, the Confederate army attacks Fort Sumter and the civil war begins. Trent is called to active service in the north, leaving Ceci heartbroken in the south.

Swearing vengeance on the union, after the untimely death of her family at the fall of New Orleans, Ceci meets with infamous spy master, Henry Doucet. He initiates her into the shadowy world of espionage.

After her failure to avert the catastrophe at Gettysburg, Ceci infiltrates the White House. There, she comes face to face with Abraham Lincoln, a man she’s sworn to kill. Forming a reckless alliance with the actor, John Wilkes Booth, she is drawn deeper into the plot to assassinate the President of the United States. A Confederate spy in love with a Union officer, her next decision will determine whether she lives or dies…

Whippoorwill is published by Matador and available for purchase through the publisher links here.

About Robert Bartram

With Historical Romance as his preferred genre, Robert has continued to write for several years. Many of his short stories have appeared in various national periodicals and magazines.

His debut novel Dance the Moon Down, a story of love against adversity during the First World War, gained him considerable critical praise, being voted book of the month by Wall to Wall Books.

His second novel Whippoorwill tells of a passionate affair between a young southern woman and a northern man at the beginning of the American Civil War.

He is single and lives and works in Hertfordshire.

You can find Robert on Facebook and Goodreads.

It’s a very welcome return to Linda’s Book Bag for Phillipa Ashley whose Summer at the Cornish Cafe I featured here. Today I’m thrilled to be part of the launch celebrations for Phillipa’s latest novel, Spring on the Little Cornish Isles. I have a super extract for you to read.

Spring on the Little Cornish Isles was published yesterday 19th February 2018 by Avon books, an imprint of Harper Collins, and is available for purchase here.

Spring on the Little Cornish Isles

Jess has lived at the idyllic flower farm on the Isles of Scilly her whole life, but when her boyfriend Adam leaves without explanation, Jess discovers that even her little slice of Cornish heaven can be lonely.

For the first time in Will’s life, he’s met someone he can’t stop thinking about. But nothing is simple when the woman of your dreams is working for you.

Gaby is running away from painful memories, and where could be more perfect than a remote island off the Cornish coast? But to put the past behind her, she must keep moving … however much she might want to stay.

Nothing is simple, even on paradise. Will love bloom for the residents of the little Cornish Isles?

An Extract from Spring on the Little Cornish Isles

Jess Godrevy’s heart sank as she spotted the girl standing guard over a wheelie suitcase in the arrivals hall at St Mary’s airport terminal. She was all of five feet tall and looked as if she’d blow away in the first Atlantic gust. Was this really Dr Gabriella Carter? Her head-and-shoulders photo had given no indication of how tiny she was – more like a sixth-former than a twenty-seven-year-old with a PhD. Just wait until Will saw her …

Jess smiled to herself as Gabriella pulled her case even closer, though no one was likely to run off with it on Scilly and they certainly wouldn’t get away with the crime if they did. Jess had already nodded or exchanged hellos with most of the staff and locals in the terminal, all of whom she knew by sight. None of them was a criminal mastermind, although some people would say Hugo Scorrier came closest. His unruly black Labrador, Basil, was sniffing around people’s luggage while Hugo was deep in conversation with a good-looking, dark-haired man who Jess didn’t recognise. Judging by the stranger’s sharp suit and laptop bag, he and Hugo were probably discussing some big business deal relating to Hugo’s luxury resort on Petroc.

Jess worked her way through the holidaymakers towards Gabriella, hoping the friendly smile on her face would reassure her new recruit.

‘Hi there. It’s Gabriella, isn’t it? I’m Jess Godrevy from the flower farm. Welcome to Scilly.’

‘Oh, thank goodness. I’m so happy to see you.’ Gabriella’s voice was beautiful but so quiet Jess had to strain to hear it over the plane engines and boarding announcements. She was very pretty in an English rose sort of way, with creamy cheeks sprinkled with freckles and a mane of strawberry blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. She’d have to be super careful with the sunscreen while she was working outside, thought Jess, ever practical but also aware of her own scruffy jeans, Flower Farm sweatshirt and wild hair. There was never any point in styling it: the wind and the sea spray would dismember any blow-dry in minutes.

‘Someone’s waiting in the car park to give us a lift down to the quay so we can get the island boat across to St Saviour’s,’ said Jess cheerfully. ‘My brother, Will, is busy at the farm. If he’s remembered that you’re coming, that is, and hasn’t decided to go rowing instead. Brothers, what are they like?

About Phillipa Ashley

Phillipa Ashley studied English at Oxford before working as a copywriter and journalist. Her first novel, Decent Exposure won the Romantic Novelists Association New Writers Award and in 2009, it was filmed as a US TV movie called 12 Men of Christmas starring Kristin Chenoweth and Josh Hopkins. Miranda’s Mount won Best Ebook at the Festival of Romance Reader Awards 2012 and It Happened One Night was shortlisted in 2013.

As Pippa Croft, Phillipa also writes as the Oxford Blue series which is published by Penguin Books.

She lives in a Staffordshire village with her husband and has a grown-up daughter. When she’s not writing, she loves falling off surf boards and following Poldark around in a camper van.

You’ll find more about Phillipa on her website and on Facebook. You can also follow her on Twitter.

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I’ve just returned from a trip to Uganda where I saw incredible poverty as refugees from surrounding countries arrive and so I am thrilled to welcome Denis Dragovic to Linda’s Book Bag today to stay in with me and tell me a little about a book that touches on a very similar subject.

If you’re an author who’d also like to stay in with me to tell me about one of your books, please click here for more details.

Staying in with Denis Dragovic

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Denis. Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.

The pleasure is mine. It’s great to chat with a fellow bibliophile.  

Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

I have with me No Dancing, No Dancing: Inside the Global Humanitarian Crisis. When we turn on our televisions, surf the web or travel we are confronted by wars and natural disasters. To help, we send money, we like a Facebook post or we Tweet in support of a cause. But our minds quickly turn back to what preoccupied us before we saw an image of a sick child or a battered city, comforted in knowing that there are people who are doing their best to respond to the needs of others.

With a growing global humanitarian crisis it’s important that we don’t get distracted so easily.

I brought No Dancing with me as it brings the reader into my former life as an aid worker by following a journey I took back to some of the places where I had worked to see what happened to the people and projects spanning across a decade of humanitarian assistance.

(This is fascinating Denis and I understand No Dancing is out today. I look forward to hearing more.)

So what can we expect from an evening in with No Dancing, No Dancing: Inside the Global Humanitarian Crisis?

You will be regaled with stories of slave traders plying their trade and angry Ayatollahs arguing against American imperialism. The voices of resistance fighters and refugees are heard along with an account of negotiating the release of a kidnapped colleague.

When woven together these stories introduce the challenges of providing humanitarian assistance in war torn countries along with touching on other debates such as Western intervention in the Middle East and the impact of cultural imperialism.

The book tells the story but leaves the discussion of how each and every one of us should respond to the global humanitarian crisis to evenings such as this one where a bottle of wine and good friends can agree on how to contribute in their own way.

I’ll read a piece from the book:

One October evening together with Firas and his long-time friend and IRC colleague Haider, I got into a car and headed downtown to meet with the Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Bashir. The Ayatollah’s offices can be found in the old quarter of Najaf, a stone’s throw (or a rifle shot) away from other competing clerics vying to remain within hearing distance of the muezzin’s call to the faithful, exhorting them to prayer from a minaret high above the Shrine of Imam Ali. That evening the drive to the old town took us through narrow thoroughfares faintly lit by street lamps striking the sand still in the air from a late summer sandstorm. Dilapidated two- and three-storey houses shakily crowded over the streets in a show of either godly humility or human neglect. Men sauntered home from mosques in their dishdasha, while the women in their head to toe black abayas scurried out of sight.

We came to a road block, one more reminder of the pre-eminence of the affairs of man in this avowedly holy city. A few men, scattered amongst the shadows, pointed their Kalashnikovs at us while another stood in the headlights with arm raised, challenging our arrival. After introducing ourselves as staff members of the IRC we were led by a guard to a metal door, which he entered to check our appointment. Verified as scheduled guests we were welcomed inside, searched for weapons, shown where we could leave our shoes and then led into a small windowless room with a worn brown carpet. The interior of the Ayatollah’s residence was surprising and impressively modest for a leader of such status. Furniture was sparse, limited to a small wooden cabinet serving as a bookcase that would be lucky to have raised a few dollars at a junk yard sale. We waited, accompanied by the office manager and, a little while later Ayatollah Bashir’s son.

For several minutes we engaged in standard small talk—they asked my first impressions of Iraq, I asked them their thoughts on the war, we each answered with what we assumed the other wanted to hear. Then the Ayatollah entered. He was, in appearance, carved from the same stone as leaders of a bygone era, from a time when great men exuded an intoxicating aura of authority and wisdom. But in today’s world of slick haircuts and Hollywood smiles the close-up matters—and in this case it wasn’t pretty. With a long unkempt salt and pepper beard, rolls of fat, and skin the texture of a worn prayer rug, the Ayatollah was a study in the rejection of modernism. He wore a white turban suggesting that his ancestors were not from the Prophet’s blood line. A black robe covered his white dishdasha with a pair of thick, black rimmed glasses firmly planted on his nose.

We sat on the cushions and carpet. With some Ayatollahs I would kneel and kiss their hands, inches above the ground, as a sign of respect. For some reason it didn’t seem appropriate that I would make the gesture, nor did he reach out expecting it. Was this a reflection of his disposition? I wasn’t sure, so I prepared for the standard introduction.

Instead, the Ayatollah began by telling Firas, who subsequently translated for me, that he could not speak English. I understood this and cut in to Firas’ translation, ‘But as I am visiting Iraq it is I who should apologise that I cannot speak Arabic.’

His expression remained impassive, impenetrable, and continuing to talk in Arabic with Firas he countered ‘But English is an important language, the most important for all people in the world. I would like to have learned it, but in my role as the leader of all Shia people I must study many other things.’

I continued with flattery, ‘Those things that you study, to help you as a leader, are more important than English.’ I hoped that this exchange would win him over. This was unlike other meetings with religious leaders, during which we discussed Western academic accounts of the schism between Shia and Sunni Islam in the seventh century or the finer points of Imam Ali’s betrayal. The Ayatollah asked if he could speak frankly to me, to which I replied that I would welcome such a conversation.

‘What are your ties to the CIA?’ he demanded, explaining that all Western organisations have links to the CIA.

(Wow – what an evocative piece. I’m sure most of us as readers are totally oblivious to this kind of experience.)

What else have you brought along and why?

The evening wouldn’t be complete without some photos to share.

This is me during my return visit with Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Bashir who in our first meeting accused me of being a CIA spy assessing the layout of his compound for an assassination attempt.

US Marines landing alongside my car in a reconnaissance visit in advance of their effort to lend a helping hand by transporting shelter materials to this inaccessible mountain village in East Timor.

Here I’m with Iraqi friends waiting to meet the Governor of Najaf. Standing in the background is Nawal, a female politician struggling against cultural norms to represent her constituency.

Thank you so much for such a fascinating time Denis. I’ve learnt so much from staying in with you. Good luck with today’s publication of No Dancing, No Dancing: Inside the Global Humanitarian Crisis.

No Dancing, No Dancing: Inside the Global Humanitarian Crisis

What happens to aid projects after the money is spent? Or the people and communities once the media spotlight has left?

No Dancing, No Dancing follows the return journey of a former aid worker back to the site of three major humanitarian crises—South Sudan, Iraq and East Timor—in search of what happened to the people and projects. Along the way, he looks for answers to how we can better respond to the emerging global humanitarian crisis.

Meeting young entrepreneurs striving to build their businesses, listening to tribal leaders give unvarnished views of foreign aid or negotiating the release of a kidnapped colleague, this riveting work brings the reader into the global humanitarian crisis while engaging with questions of cultural imperialism, Western aid models and foreign interventions.

No Dancing, No Dancing: Inside the Global Humanitarian Crisis is available for purchase here.

About Denis Dragovic

Dr Denis Dragovic is an author of literary and scholarly works on humanitarian aid and rebuilding countries after war.

For over a decade he was at the forefront of international aid efforts responding to major humanitarian crises in Darfur, South Sudan, East Timor, Indonesia and Iraq where he led one of the world’s largest aid programs. Seeing slave traders ply their trade, leading efforts to negotiate a kidnapped aid worker or helping to support the establishment of local community groups gives him a unique insight into the humanitarian challenges of the twenty-first century. Denis’ on the ground experiences are backed by specialist knowledge as an expert on religion and rebuilding countries after wars.

He is currently a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne and a Senior Member on Australia’s Administrative Appeals Tribunal hearing appeals from asylum seekers denied protection.

You can visit Denis’s website for more information.

Having been privileged to interview Wendy Holden when her previous novel, Laura Lake and the Hipster Weddings was published, in a post you can read here, I’m thrilled to be part of the launch celebrations for her latest novel, Last of the Summer Moët.

Last of the Summer Moët is published by Head of Zeus and is available for purchase here.

Last of the Summer Moet

Top reporter Laura Lake has struck journalistic gold.

She’s discovered a super-exclusive English village where the rich and famous own weekend retreats. Where film stars, Turner-prize winners and Cabinet ministers park their helicopters outside the gastropub and buy £100 sourdough loaves from the deli.

Outsiders are strictly forbidden. But luckily Laura’s best friend Lulu, a logo-obsessed socialite with a heart as huge as her sunglasses, suddenly fancies a quiet life in the country. The door to this enchanted rural idyll opens for Laura. Revealing a great professional opportunity.

Can Laura write an exposé before the snobbish villagers suss her true identity? And before the world’s poshest pub quiz triggers a political scandal not seen since Profumo?

Staying in with Wendy Holden

Welcome back to Linda’s Book Bag Wendy. Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.

Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share with us and why have you chosen it?

I’ve brought along my latest novel Last of the Summer Moët, it’s the second in a series of comedies about glossy magazine editor Laura Lake.

What can we expect from an evening in with Last of the Summer Moët?

Lots of laughs, and an insight into how glossy magazines work, as well as upscale country life because Laura’s challenge is to find Britain’s Poshest Village. It’s a comedy about one of those villages where vast numbers of celebrities live.  I’ve called it Great Hording and it has a gastropub complete with helipad and a deli where sourdough costs £100 a loaf. Locals include a Hollywood director, a Cabinet minister, a Russian oligarch, a Turner prizewinning artist and so on. I have them taking part in the ultimate posh pub quiz (it’s a scandal when somebody cheats!)s and acting in Britain’s ultimate power pantomime.

I grew up in a village but it was nothing like this one! We only had a telephone box and a seedy pub!

What else have you brought along and why?

A picture of the Queen. There’s a great scene at the beginning when Laura has to interview a very famous film star. To make it more interesting, the star wants the interview to take place while she’s doing something else. So Laura ends up trying to talk to her as she tours Buckingham Palace. It ends with the appearance of an even greater female celebrity, bet you can’t guess who?! It’s an incredibly silly scene, but like all my craziest scenarios, it’s just about possible.

Sounds brilliant. I can’t wait to read Last of the Summer Moët. Good luck with it Wendy and thank you for staying in to tell me about it.

About Wendy Holden

Number-one bestselling author Wendy Holden was a journalist on Tatler, The Sunday Times, and the Mail on Sunday before becoming an author. She has since written ten consecutive Sunday Times Top Ten bestsellers. She is married, has two children and lives in Derbyshire.

You can follow Wendy on Twitter, visit her website and find her on Facebook.

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I’m delighted to be part of the launch celebrations for Comfort Food by Julia Bettelheim as I’m rather fond of my food!

Comfort Food is published by Clink Street and available for purchase here.

Comfort Food

There’s nothing quite like Comfort Food to put a smile on your face and a feeling of contentment in your stomach.

Chef Julia Bettelheim is passionate about feeding people; from the students in her university kitchen to guests and family at home.

From recipes that are as simple as a sandwich to as technical as a fruit cake, she knows the importance of creating delicious meals that are full of flavour and which always have budget in mind. Her recipes include easy to make classics and mouth-watering family favourites, using easy to find products that are fresh and economical.

Fun, fast, indulgent and nurturing, there’s a time and a place for Comfort Food in every kitchen.

My Review of Comfort Food

Comfort Food is an indulgent book of easy to make culinary treats.

I really liked this book. Anyone can make any of the recipes as they are easy to follow and require little skill. I suppose ardent and seasoned (forgive the pun) chefs would find them too easy, but I think comfort food should be accessible, quick and tasty and these recipes certainly are. I’m not sure all of the recipes in Comfort Food like Deep Fried Mars Bars are the healthiest, but this is a book of treats, not a regime for life.

I thought the illustrations, especially the drawings, added real interest and I thoroughly enjoyed the little historical, geographical or personal anecdotes from the author at the start of the recipes as they gave a feel for the importance of such comfort food in ordinary lives.

Although this isn’t a book aimed at youngsters, I think it would be a brilliant way to get children cooking and it certainly would help inept cooks achieve some tasty dishes such as Irish Stew or Mushroom Stroganoff whilst building their confidence.

I heartily recommend Comfort Food as a brilliant starter cook book and am off to bake some chocolate chip cookies!

About Julia Bettelheim

Growing up in Wellington, New Zealand, British born Julia Bettelheim enjoyed an early start in the catering industry and as a teenager took lessons from a private chef. Her family then moved to Melbourne, Australia where she lived for the next twenty-two years and worked as a tupperware sales representative travelling the city providing cookery demonstrations and sharing recipes that were suitable for storing. After her divorce in 2008, Julia moved back to England where she now lives in Chatham, Kent and works as a chef in the kitchen of the cafe at UCL in London.

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When a couple of copies of You, Me, Everything by Catherine Isaac arrived as surprise book post I was thrilled. One was for me and one to pass on so I have given that copy away to fellow blogger Sarah at Sarah’s Vignettes and I hope she enjoys it too. Now I’ve read You, Me, Everything, I’m even more thrilled to have received such a surprise through my letterbox.

You, Me, Everything will be published by Simon and Schuster on 19th April 2018 and is available for pre-order through these links.

You, Me, Everything

You and me, we have history.
We have a child together.
We have kept secrets from each other for far too long.
This summer, in the beautiful hills of the Dordogne, it is time for everything to change.

My Review of You, Me, Everything

A summer in France will bring more than a suntan for Jess, William and Adam.

Pass me the thesaurus. I simply do not have adequate vocabulary to express how much I love You, Me, Everything. Let me be honest, it isn’t the most literary work of fiction I’ve ever read, it doesn’t have a heart thumping plot with visceral murder and psychologically challenged protagonists, but I absolutely adored every moment of being submersed in the lives of those in France. I truly believe it will be hard to beat You, Me, Everything for my book of the year in 2018.

What appeals to me so much is the natural style Catherine Isaac writes with. The direct speech is perfect so that it’s like listening in on real conversations. The descriptions of the area are so evocative that they appeal to all the senses and enable the reader to place themselves alongside the characters and experience exactly what they are experiencing. The general flow of the novel is seamless with the perfect blend of present and past events that gradually reveal all kinds of information. The plot too is wonderful. There are twists and revelations arising so genuinely that I found myself enraged, uplifted, devastated and touched in a rollercoaster of emotion. Underpinning it all is considerable humour too so that I found myself laughing aloud at times and smiling through tears at others.

The themes too are utterly sublime. I can’t say anything about the major one as it will spoil the story for others, but let’s just say that Catherine Isaac has done her research meticulously and woven this strand into the plot with consummate skill. The exploration of love, relationships, parenthood, grief, friendship and identity make reading You, Me, Everything feel like sharing an experience in humanity and life. Not a single word is extraneous; every syllable contributes to the joy – and it is joy – of reading You, Me, Everything.

The way the characters are presented is genius. I absolutely loathed Adam at the start and could quite happily have got in the car, driven to France and punched him. He evoked such strong feelings of hatred and indignation. However, Catherine Isaac ensures the reader has to adapt and adjust their feelings and I won’t say more than that! I really don’t like children and usually find their representation in books twee or unnatural but William was a triumph. Not only did I feel I could tolerate him – I actually wanted to meet him! But it is Jess who holds my heart. She is so vividly human that it is hard to accept she’s a character in a book and not a real person. Having finished the book, thinking about her can still reduce me to tears – and indeed I sobbed on the train reading You, Me, Everything.

I didn’t read You, Me, Everything. I lived it. I loved it. I will never, ever forget it. I want to shout it from the rooftops that EVERYONE should read You, Me, Everything. It is, for me, quite perfect.

About Catherine Isaac

Catherine Isaac was born in Liverpool, England. She studied History at the University of Liverpool, then Journalism at Glasgow Caledonian University, before beginning her career as trainee reporter at the Liverpool Echo.

She rose to the position of Editor of the Liverpool Daily Post and wrote her first book, Bridesmaids, while on maternity leave, under the pseudonym Jane Costello. Her nine subsequent novels were all Sunday Times best-sellers in the UK.

You Me Everything is her first book writing as Catherine Isaac.

She lives in Liverpool with her husband Mark and three sons. In her spare time she likes to run, walk up mountains in the Lake District and win at pub quizzes, though the latter rarely happens.

You can visit Catherine’s website for more information and follow her on Twitter @CatherineIsaac_. You’ll also find Catherine on Facebook.

Having recently returned from a trip to Africa, discovered half my emails have vanished and I’m in the middle of playing catch up trying to work out what needs blogging when, it seems fitting to welcome an author whose book was inspired by a similar event. Today Val Portelli, otherwise known as Voinks, stays in with me to discuss what happened to her.

If you’re an author who’d also like to stay in with me and tell me about one of your books, please click here for more details.

Staying in with Val Portelli

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Val. Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me. 

Which of your books have you brought along to share with me and why have you chosen it?

I was dithering whether to bring my first published book Changes. Although it will always have a special place in my heart, it seemed more appropriate to bring my latest novel Spirit of Technology.  This book came about when my first publisher told me something her secretary had sent me ‘must have got lost in the ether.’ The thought stuck in my mind, I made it into a short story, and eventually extended and self-published it.

(I love hearing how narratives come about.)

What can we expect from an evening in with Spirit of Technology?

Something old, something new, (no, it’s not predominately a romance), a bit of humour, and a suggestion of what could happen when modern social media meets the equivalent of Beau Brummel. Has that piqued your interest?

(It certainly has Val!)

What else have you brought along and why?

Strong, aromatic coffee, without which most authors couldn’t function, but we might need it once we’ve finished off these two bottles of ‘bolly’. Purely for lubrication once we start chatting, of course.  If we get hungry there are some savoury nibbles and dips, and some Belgian liqueur chocolates just because. If we’re staying in, we might as well be decadent.

I’ve brought along some CDs for background music while we chat. There’s a range of styles as I wasn’t sure of your tastes, and finally, some flowers as a thank you for inviting me over.  

Oh! You’re the perfect guest. Flowers and chocolates mean you’re welcome any time – though I don’t drink coffee so if you could bring tea next time that’s be great! I have eclectic musical tastes as long as Bryan Ferry features somewhere there!

Thanks so much for staying in with me Val and telling me about Spirit of Technology. 

Spirit of Technology

A message from a stranger.

A modern day woman responds to an e-mail from an unknown contact. Against her better judgement she continues the correspondence with a man who tells her he was born in the 19th century.

Despite feeling an initial attraction, her concerns grow when he reveals secret details of her personal life.

Undecided whether it’s a friend winding her up, and worried it could be a stalker, the truth is the last thing she expects.

Spirit of Technology is available for purchase here.

About Val Portelli (Voinks)

Val Portelli’s pen name Voinks began many years ago. It started as a joke when a friend bought a holiday home abroad, then gradually spread through the family, so it was an obvious choice when her first book was published.

Despite receiving her first rejection letter aged nine from some lovely people at a well-known Women’s magazine, she continued writing intermittently until a freak accident left her housebound and going stir crazy.

To save her sanity she completed and had published her first full length novel. This was followed by a second traditionally published book before deciding self-publishing was the way to go. In between writing her longest novel to date at over 100,000 words, she publishes weekly stories for her Facebook author page and website.

She writes in various genres, although her short stories normally include her trademark twist of ‘Quirky.’ From having too many hours in the day, she is now actively seeking out a planet with forty-eight-hour days, to have time to fit in all the stories waiting to be told.

She is always delighted to receive reviews, as they help pay for food for the Unicorns she breeds in her spare time.

You can find Val on Facebook and visit her blog.

When Jenny Platt asked if I’d like to be part of the blog tour for The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond I didn’t know quite what I was letting myself in for. This is a tour with a difference as you’ll see below!

Sunday Times best selling The Marriage Pact is published by Penguin and is available for purchase through the links here.

The Marriage Pact

First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes your first big mistake.

How far are you willing to go for the perfect relationship?

Newlyweds Jake and Alice are offered a mysterious wedding gift – membership of a club which promises its couples will never divorce.

Signing The Pact seems the start to a perfect marriage.

Until one of them breaks the rules.

The marriage of their dreams is about to become their worst nightmare.

Because The Pact is for life.

And its members will do anything to make sure no one leaves . . .

10 Rules for a Perfect Relationship

When I agreed to participate in this challenge I thought it would be a doddle as I love my husband completely as we approach our 35th wedding anniversary this year. Hmm. It wasn’t quite as easy as I thought, but I do have some brilliant excuses!

1. Always answer when your partner calls.

Now here’s the thing. When I read this question I thought it meant literally, not on a phone! It just goes to show how old we are and how long we’ve been together. We don’t really need to phone one another and I do answer him literally – when I hear him! But I suffer from tinnitus and am slightly deaf so I don’t always hear (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it). Steve, my  husband, however, is one of those people who rarely has his phone on. I tried to ring him recently when he was food shopping to ask him to bring something I’d forgotten to put on the list and he didn’t answer. When I asked him about it he said ‘Oh. I thought I heard some ambient music!’ His phone is so ancient that it doesn’t even have a ring choice – just some daft chimes.

2. Exchange at least two thoughtful gifts every month.

Er, yes, well… He tends to bring me thoughtful gifts at least twice a month such as flowers or fudge or chocolate and I give him a large smile in return – that counts right?

3. Cook your partner dinner twice a week.

Now, I’m not sure if I can claim this or not. You see I did ALL the cooking for the first 20 years of our marriage apart from a Friday night when Steve heated up fresh pasta, pasta sauce and garlic bread from Tescos! However, when I went off to work all over the country, and especially when I was doing 6 week stints in New York, he had to learn to cook or starve, discovered the delights of cooking and has become a really skilled chef with a passion for cooking. Consequently he does almost all the cooking. But – and here’s my get out clause – I do the 5:2 diet and on the 2 days I assemble the salad we have for dinner twice a week so although I’m not actually cooking, I am getting his meal!

4. Unfollow your ex on social media.

I’ve never followed my exes on social media. I’ve been married so long we only had slates and social media didn’t exist!

5. Never spend more than 2 nights apart.

That’s easy. Now I no longer work we seldom spend more than two hours apart – unless I’m going to a bookish event.

6. Tell your partner all your passwords.

Easy one – we have them written down as we’ve got to the age when we can’t remember them all!

7. Only wear clothes your partner deems appropriate or attractive.

Not on your nelly! I wear what I like! (Though he’s great at clothes shopping and will scour stores to find items he thinks I might like whilst I’m trying things on! Poor chap was waiting for me outside some changing rooms once, standing stock still and another bloke shoved his hand up my husband’s top. He thought Steve was a manikin and liked the look of the top and was feeling the material. I’m not sure who was the most surprised, but I could hear the kerfuffle and laughing from inside the changing rooms.)

8. Enable the ‘find my phone’ feature so your partner always knows where you are.

I think I have, but I don’t quite understand how my phone works. Doesn’t make much difference really as I’m usually about three feet away from my husband!

9. Have no secrets from each other.

This rather depends on the circumstance. We obviously keep surprises as secrets (and he’d better have a few at the minute as it’s not that long until my birthday) but given that we are practically welded at the hip 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there’s not much we don’t know about one another. He does do secrets rather wll though. The first year we were married we agreed we were so poor we wouldn’t ‘do’ Valentine’s day. I didn’t. He bought a card, flowers, chocolates and champagne and is still living off that story nearly 35 years later!

10. Don’t even think about trying to escape.

Ah! Well, you see we BOTH think about trying to escape ALL the time. Just not from each other, but with each other. This year we’ve already escaped to Uganda and we’re off to India soon and Indonesia later.

So, how would you get on with The Marriage Pact?

About Michelle Richmond

Michelle Richmond is the bestselling author of The Year of Fog, No One You Know, Hum: Stories, Golden Stage, Dream of the Blue Room, and the award-winning The Girl in the Fall- Away Dress. She lives with her husband and son in San Francisco.

You can follow Michelle on Twitter @michellerichmon and visit her website. You’ll find Michelle on Facebook too.

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I recently met Clare Swatman and having so loved her previous book Before You Go, my review of which you can read here, I was thrilled to be asked to be part of the launch celebrations for Clare’s latest book The Mother’s Secret. I’m delighted to be sharing my review of The Mother’s Secret as well as staying in with Clare today.

The Mother’s Secret will be published by Pan Macmillan on 22 February 2018 and is available for preorder through the links here.

The Mother’s Secret

The Mother’s Secret is a powerful story about family, secrets and devastating lies

Love keeps us together

Sisters Kate and Georgie have always shared a close bond. While Kate enjoyed the freedoms of youth, Georgie remained at home. But now Georgie is grown up, it’s time she started exploring.

Love can tear us apart

Their mother Jan loves her daughters with all her heart. So what if she kept them out of sight when they were young? She just cared for them so much. She wanted to protect them.

What if your life was based on a lie?

Maybe there was another reason for Jan’s protective behaviour? If they ventured too far afield, it might destroy the facade of their childhood. This family’s about to discover that while lies can cause pain, the truth could destroy them all.

Staying in With Clare Swatman

Hello Clare. It was lovely to be out at a bookish party with you recently and I’m delighted to be staying in with you today. Which of your books have you brought along to share and why?

Hello, lovely to be here! After much deliberation I decided to bring along The Mother’s Secret – because that’s the one that’s out on 22 February and that I’m really excited about!

(I imagine you are!)

It’s quite a different kind of story from my first book, Before You Go. This time, there’s no element of magical realism to carry the story along; instead, it’s all about a family, and how discovering long-buried secrets can tear a family apart.

I loved writing this book, especially the middle section, which is set in the 1970s. I loved immersing myself in the time and the place – it’s set in Cromer, Norfolk – and to research it I visited the town and spent some time in the library looking at photos of the area at the time. I also had a great first-hand source of information in my mum. She grew up in Suffolk in the 1960s and 70s, and was about the same age as Jan. So she was able to provide me with lots of details about where they’d go for nights out, what music people listened to, what they drank, what they wore. It was fun – and chatting to her about it was a bit of an eye-opener too!

(I thought the era was really evocatively presented. Maybe your Mum should write a book too!)

What can we expect from an evening in with The Mother’s Secret?

It’s a difficult story to define as it’s a bit of a cross between a romance and a thriller – at least that’s what I’ve been told! – in that it has a love story, of course, but it also has a big hidden secret that has terrible consequences for the people involved.

Georgie and Kate are sisters and have been brought up by the their mother Jan. They never knew their father, who died before Georgie was born. All their lives they’ve been very protected, but as they got older Kate went out into the world and went travelling and got married, while Georgie stayed at home and helped her mother out. She thought about doing the same things as Kate, but never got round to it, in part thanks to her mother discouraging her. Then one day she makes a discovery that shatters her world – and make her question everything she’s ever known, including her love for and bond with her mother and sister. The trouble is, her mother is suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s so she can’t ask her any of the questions she wants to ask – and so she has to find out the answers by herself.

That’s the present-day story. In the past, we find out exactly what happened to Jan to make her so protective and secretive. And it’s not an easy read, in the end, so make sure you have a packet of tissues handy. Although I would add, it’s not a complete sob-fest and you hopefully won’t close the last page feeling too sad!

(I think you’ve summed up The Mother’s Secret perfectly as readers can see in my review below.)

What else have you brought along and why?

Well, I thought I’d keep the evening in the theme of the 1970s, so I’ve brought along a bottle of Babycham and a mix tape of songs mentioned in the book which include gems like So Tired of Being Alone by Al Green, Save Your Kisses for Me by Brotherhood of Man, Killing Me Softly by Roberta Flack and Love is Like a Butterfly by Dolly Parton.

I hope you enjoy it – cheers!

I did indeed Clare. Thanks so much for staying in with me and telling me more about The Mother’s Secret.

My Review of The Mother’s Secret

Georgie and Kate are worried about their mother, but little do they know quite what is in her past.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Mother’s Secret because I found so many layers to beguile and entertain me. Alongside the mysterious element of the plot and the love story presented between Jan and Ray, Clare Swatman also explores the nature of relationships in families, mental illness and the devastating effects of grief with a deftness of touch. This makes it sound as if The Mother’s Secret is very dark and depressing, but not a bit of it. Certainly there is deep emotion, particularly in one section, but there is also elevating liveliness through the music, clothing and social picture of the 1960s and 1970s, alongside some humour which all serve to engage the reader in a lovely story.

I really appreciated the way in which The Mother’s Secret is structured. The four sections that gradually uncover the truth of the past feel very satisfying and I thought the variety of sentence structure gave impetus and depth. It might sound odd to say I loved the white spaces in a review of what is written, but Clare Swatman uses them as a kind of entr’acte that gives time for reflection and helps the reader absorb the nuances of the narrative.

The way Jan’s section set in the past is in the first person when now she is suffering from dementia was cleverly done, showing who she once was and reminding us as readers that we never know quite what fate has in store for us. There’s even a direct address to the reader at times so that I felt I could understand her perfectly. I think, however, that it was Ray who actually appealed to me most. He forms a backdrop to much of the action so that I felt sorry for him despite his flaws.

The Mother’s Secret wasn’t quite what I was expecting, as I thought it would be more of a psychologial thriller, but it left me feeling I had encountered real people with tragic lives whom I loved getting to know. It had a little bit of everything to appeal on so many levels, from recent social history to romance and a mystery so that reading The Mother’s Secret has something for everyone.

About Clare Swatman

Clare Swatman is a journalist for a number of weekly women’s magazines. Clare was Features Editor for Bella and has written for Best, Woman’s Ownand Real People. She writes for her local magazine as well as the travel pages for Take a Break. Clare lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and two boys.

Before You Go was her first novel.

You can follow Clare on Twitter and visit her website. Clare also has an author Facebook page here.

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