One of the joys of fiction is its ability to transcend physical boundaries. Today I’m thrilled to be part of the build up to the Dutch #Boekenweek in the UK by featuring Craving by Dutch writer Esther Gerritsen. Not only do I have a wonderful extract to share, but there’s also a link to Esther talking about Craving at the Edinburgh Book Festival.

Published by World Editions and translated by Michele Hutchinson, Craving is available for purchase here.

Craving

The relationship between Coco and her mother is uneasy to say the least. When they run into each other by chance, Elisabeth casually tells Coco that she is terminally ill. As Coco moves in with her mother and takes care of her, aspects of their troubled relationship come to the fore once again. Elizabeth tries her best to conform to the image of a caring mother, but struggles to deal with Coco’s erratic behaviour and unpredictable moods.

You can watch a fabulous clip of Esther talking about the theme of mothers and daughters in Craving at the Edinburgh Book Festival by clicking here.

An extract from Craving

For the first time in her life, Elisabeth unexpectedly runs into her daughter. She comes out of the chemist’s on the Overtoom, is about to cross over to the tram stop when she sees her daughter cycling along the other side of the street. Her daughter sees her too. Elisabeth stops walking. Her daughter stops pedalling, but doesn’t yet brake. The entire expanse of the Overtoom separates them: two bike paths, two lanes of traffic, and a double tramline. Elisabeth realises at once that she has to tell her daughter that she is dying, and smiles like a person about to tell a joke.

She often finds making conversation with her daughter difficult, but now she really does have something to say to her. A split second later it occurs to her that you mustn’t convey news like that with too much enthusiasm and perhaps not here, either. In the meantime, she crosses the Overtoom and thinks about her doctor, how he keeps asking her: ‘Are you telling people?’ and how nice it would be to be able to give the right answer at her next appointment. She crosses between two cars. Her daughter brakes and gets off her bike. Elisabeth clutches the plastic bag from the chemist’s containing morphine plasters and cough mixture. The bag is proof of her illness, as though her words alone wouldn’t be enough. The bag is also her excuse, because she hadn’t really wanted to say it, here, so inappropriately on the street, but the bag has given her away. Hasn’t it? Yes? And now, so abruptly, Elisabeth is crossing the Overtoom, slips behind a tram, because it isn’t right, her child on one side of the street and she on the other. It isn’t right to run into your daughter unexpectedly.

The daughter used to be there all the time, and later, when she wasn’t, Elisabeth would be the one who had dropped her off. Later still there were visiting arrangements and in recent years not much at all. In any case, the birthdays remained. Things had always been clear-cut and she’d got used to not thinking about the daughter when the daughter wasn’t there. She existed at prearranged times. But now there she was on her bike, while they hadn’t planned to meet and it was wrong and had to be resolved, transformed, assimilated, she still has a tramline to cross, just behind a taxi that toots its horn and causes her coat to whip up. Her daughter pulls her bike up onto the pavement. The final lane is empty.

Elisabeth notices at once that her daughter has gained even more weight and blurts out, ‘Have you had your hair cut again?’ because she’s terrified her daughter can read that last thought about her weight. Elisabeth likes to talk about their hair. They have the same hairdresser.

‘No,’ her daughter says.

‘Different colour then?’

‘No.’

‘But you still go to the same hairdresser’s?’

‘Yes.’

‘Me too,’ Elisabeth says.

Her daughter nods. It begins to drizzle.

‘Where are you going?’ is too nosy, so this: ‘I thought you lived on the other side of town.’

‘I have to move out soon, the landlord’s given me notice.’

‘Oh,’ Elisabeth says, ‘I didn’t know.’

‘How could you have known?’

‘I… I don’t know.’

‘I only just found out myself.’

‘No, then I couldn’t have known.’ The rain becomes heavier.

‘We’re getting wet,’ Elisabeth says.

Her daughter immediately goes to get back on her bike and says, ‘We’ll call, OK?’

‘My little monster,’ Elisabeth says. Her father had always called her that. He still did. It sounded funny when he said it. Her daughter gapes at her. Then her lips move. Go away, she says, silently. Elisabeth isn’t supposed to hear and she respects that; her stomach hurts, but she hasn’t heard it. Her daughter’s short hair lies flat and wet against her skull. Elisabeth thinks of towels, she wants to dry her daughter, but her daughter turns away from her, one foot already on the pedal.

So Elisabeth is forced to say, ‘I’ve got some news.’ Done it. Her daughter turns back to her.

‘What is it?’

‘Sorry,’ she says, ‘I’m going about this the wrong way, it’s nothing nice.’

‘What is it?’

‘But I don’t want you to take it badly.’ She slowly lifts up the plastic bag from the chemist’s. She holds the bag aloft using both hands, its logo clearly visible.

‘You might be wondering: why isn’t she at work?’

Her daughter ignores the bag.

‘What?’

‘I’ve just been to the chemist’s.’

‘And?’

‘It’s the doctor. He said it.’ She lets the bag drop.

‘What did the doctor say?’

‘That I need to tell people.’

‘What, Mum?’

‘That I might die. But we don’t know when, you know. It might be months.’

‘Die?’

‘Of cancer.’

‘Cancer?’

‘It’s an umbrella term for a lot of different illnesses actually. It just sounds so horrible.’

‘What have you got then?’

‘Oh, it’s all a bit technical.’

‘Huh?’

‘It started in my kidneys but…’

‘How long?’

‘Must have been years ago.’

‘No. How long have you known?’

Elisabeth thinks of the hairdresser, the first person she told. She goes every other month and her new appointment is for next week, in which case it has to be more than…

‘How long, Mum?’

‘We’ll get drenched if we keep on standing here like this.’

‘How long?’

‘I’m working it out.’

‘Days? Weeks?’

‘I’m counting.’

‘Months?’

‘Well, not months.’

‘Christ.’ Her daughter looks angry.

‘I shouldn’t have told you, should I?’

‘But… are they treating you?’

‘Not at the moment, no.’

‘Are they going to treat you?’

‘If they can think of something.’

‘And can they?’

‘Not at the moment.’

‘… and so?’

‘Sorry,’ Elisabeth says, ‘I shouldn’t have told you like this. We’re getting soaked.’ The bag is now hidden behind her back.

‘So you… might… but not definitely?’

‘You’re not likely to live a long time with something like this.’

‘Not likely?’

‘Probably not.’

‘Christ.’

‘We’ll call each other. Let’s call. Yes? We’ll call?’

About Esther Gerritsen

Esther Gerritsen (1972) is a Dutch novelist, columnist, and playwright. She made her literary début in 2000. She is one of the most established, widely read, and highly praised authors in the Netherlands, and makes regular appearances on radio and at literary festivals. Esther Gerritsen had the honor of writing the Dutch Book Week gift in 2016, which had a print-run of 700,000 copies. In 2014 she was awarded the Frans Kellendonk Prize for her oeuvre.

You can find out more about World Editions, #Boekenweek and Esther with these other bloggers:

I’m thrilled to welcome an author I’ve met in real life to Linda’s Book Bag to stay in with me today. This time it’s lovely Lizzie Lamb.

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 Lizzie Lamb

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

Hi Linda and thanks for the invitation. February is a miserable month, so sitting by the fire with a friend talking about books, maybe sharing a wee dram of uisge beatha, is a good way to spend an evening waiting for spring to arrive.

You might well be right! Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

I’ve brought along my latest contemporary romance, Girl in the Castle to share with you. In this novel I’ve been able to give my imagination free rein and use some of the romantic tropes I’ve jotted down in my Writer’s Notebook. It’s my favourite book to date (mind you, I say that about every novel I finish!) and quite a few readers have told me that they wish they were Henriette, Girl in the Castle. With a sexy, brooding kilted hero living in the same castle, who can blame them?

(Who indeed!)

I’d love to share an extract with you to give a flavour of the novel. Here, the heroine and the castle’s chatelaine are sitting round the fire exchanging the craic, much as we are now.

Alice’s sitting room commanded a fine view of the loch and was the warmest room in the castle, thanks to the fire kept burning twenty-four-seven, at her command . . . The room had two large windows set at right angles, and on the remaining walls tapestry were hung to keep out the draughts. At night, it was easy to imagine the castle was a ship sailing untroubled across a wide ocean, the only light visible the beacon on the jetty at the far side of the loch. This evening, the castle—for all its leaks, creaks and lack of modern day facilities—felt solid and dependable and Henriette relaxed, secure in the knowledge that no one could cross the loch unless Lachlan, the boatman, fetched them.  

This sounds so welcoming Lizzie. So, what can we expect from an evening in with Girl in the Castle?

Linda’s Book Bag readers might like to have a look at this trailer for Girl in the Castle as they will get a real feeling of the Scottish Highlands.

(That’s smashing Lizzie. I love the atmosphere – and the kilts!)

Having set the scene, let me share what some readers have said about Girl in the Castle:

“A witty, entertaining and well researched modern day romance set in the beauty of the Scottish Highlands with a strong, intelligent heroine, brooding love interest and a cast of quirky characters. What’s not to love?!”

“ I am so envious of Henri’s job as an historian researcher, and even more so of her Scotsman in a kilt. I loved the characters, the setting and all of the little bits of Scotland that Lizzie manages to get into her novels.”

“I want to be the Girl in the Castle!”

“Lizzie always delivers great romances and the hottest of heroes.”

(You must be thrilled with those responses.)

What else have you brought along and why? 

Tonight, I’ve brought along a fine bottle of single malt whisky to keep out the winter chills,  two portions of Cranachan, a dessert made with raspberries, oats, whisky and cream, and a tin of homemade Scottish Tablet to nibble on while we look at photographs and a painting of Castle Stalker, Appin, the inspiration behind Girl in the Castle.

(Oo. Hang on a minute whilst I fetch a couple of spoons!)

Two summers ago the laird, complete with kilt, took us across to the castle in his boat. Later, standing on the battlements and looking across the loch, the plot of Girl in the Castle began to take shape in my mind – the rest  of history…

You’ve made me want to read Girl in the Castle (and visit Scotland) so much. Thank you for staying in with me Lizzie. It’s been fun.

Girl in the Castle

Her academic career in tatters, Dr Henriette Bruar needs somewhere to lay low, plan her comeback and restore her tarnished reputation. Fate takes her to a remote Scottish castle to auction the contents of an ancient library to pay the laird’s mounting debts. The family are in deep mourning over a tragedy which happened years before, resulting in a toxic relationship between the laird and his son, Keir MacKenzie.

Cue a phantom piper, a lost Jacobite treasure, and a cast of characters who – with Henri’s help, encourage the MacKenzies to confront the past and move on.

However – will the Girl in the Castle be able to return to university once her task is completed, and leave gorgeous, sexy Keir MacKenzie behind?

Girl in the Castle is available for purchase here.

About Lizzie Lamb

After teaching her 1000th pupil and working as a deputy head teacher in a large primary school, Lizzie decided pursue her first love: writing. Lizzie joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers’ Scheme, wrote Tall, Dark and Kilted (2012), followed a year later by Boot Camp Bride. She published a third novel Scotch on the Rocks in July 2015. It achieved Best Seller status within two weeks of appearing on Amazon and was shortlisted for the prestigious Exeter Novel Prize. In Spring 2017 Lizzie published Girl in the Castle, which reached #3 in the charts. She is currently working on a novel set in Wisconsin – Sweet Little Lies, and has more Scottish-themed romances planned.

Lizzie is a founding member of indie publishing group New Romantics Press and has held Author Events at Waterstones High Street, Kensington, London and Aspinalls, London, and other local venues.

Lizzie lives in Leicestershire, England, with her husband David (aka Bongo Man) and their naughty parrot, Jasper.

You’ll find all Lizzie’s lovely books here. You can follow her on Twitter @lizzie_lamb, find her on Facebook and visit her website.

I’ve really enjoyed getting back into reading poetry since I began blogging and was so pleased to be invited by fellow blogger and organiser Anne Cater of Random Things to take part in the tour for All Her Starry Fates by Lady Grey.

All Her Starry Fates is available for purchase here.

All Her Starry Fates

In all her starry fates, Grey explores how the otherworldly relates to the everyday— with poems about love, loss, memory, inheritance, and belonging.

My Review of All Her Starry Fates

A collection of unusually structured poems with a real sense of looking for identity.

Firstly I have to say how I was drawn in by the title. I immediately wanted to know, ‘What about all her starry fates?’

I really enjoyed this collection. The structure of the poems is interesting with unusual use of punctuation and a lack of upper case letters that reflects the questioning and unformed character of the voice that seemed to be behind so many of the entries. In i wanted poetry for example, I loved the way the lower case I shows the vulnerability of the speaker and conveys a self loathing in 9 short lines.

I loved the imagery, especially the use of simile, the vocabulary related to nature, and the range of syntax so that some poems spill over with enjambement leading the reader from one thought to another like a stream of consciousness, whilst others have single word sentences that pull up the reader and make them slow down and think more clearly and acutely about what they have read. I thought the summative definitions at the ends of some of the poems were inspired.

I confess I hadn’t heard of Charles Bukowski and the poem dedicated to him sent me scurrying off to find out more so that the enjoyment of these poems lies not only within the pages of the anthology, but in things outside them too.

The themes of love, self knowledge and exploration, both physically and emotionally, resonate throughout. There’s so much self-doubt and uncertainty that I felt the emotions quite profoundly. I thought it interesting that in part three of the collection, poems began to have titles so that the poet seemed more confident, even when the self-doubt appeared to remain. There are many, many references to doors and windows as if the poet is always searching for a way out – or in – and is permanently on the threshold of being who they really want to be but never quite making it, and never giving up.

I really enjoyed All Her Starry Fates and feel that I could read and reread this collection many, many times and find new elements to consider and enjoy. This is a moving and interesting series of poems and I highly recommend them.

About lady grey

You can follow lady grey on Twitter @starryfates.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

As I’ve just returned from a trip to Uganda it seems fitting to welcome Mary Smith to the Linda’s Book Bag today to take me on my travels again at the same time as we stay in together, as you’ll see below! It’s a welcome return for Mary as I thoroughly enjoyed her collection of  stories Donkey Boy and have reviewed them here.

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 Mary Smith

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

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

I’ve brought my novel, No More Mulberries, which tells the story of Scottish-born midwife, Miriam living in Afghanistan with her Afghan husband, Dr Iqbal. She knows their relationship is in trouble. Her husband has changed from the loving, easy-going man she married and she fears he regrets taking on a widow with a young son, who seems determined to remain distant from his stepfather.

When Miriam acts as translator at a medical teaching camp she hopes time apart might help her understand the cause of their problems. Instead, she must focus on helping women desperate for medical care and has little time to think about her failing marriage. When an old friend appears, urging her to visit the village where once she and her first husband had been so happy, Miriam finds herself travelling on a journey into her past, searching for answers to why her marriage is going so horribly wrong. Iqbal, too, must deal with issues from his own past – from being shunned by childhood friends when he contracted leprosy to the loss of his first love.

I’ve chosen to share it because I became very fond of my characters – and because I still miss Afghanistan, where I worked for a number of years, and am always delighted to have an opportunity to revive my memories.

(I love travel and a trip to Afghanistan, albeit vicariously, is perfect thanks Mary.)

What can we expect from an evening in with No More Mulberries?

You can expect to be transported to Afghanistan, to one of its most remote areas in the foothills of the Hindu Kush. You can expect to spend time in the villages becoming involved in the lives of the people – and you can expect to be surprised because life in Afghanistan may come across differently from how it’s portrayed in the media. You can also expect to smile sometimes and perhaps shed a tear or two at other times.

(Aha! I love a book where I can have a cry whilst I’m reading!)

One of my favourite reviews on Amazon says:

Excellent. In the same genre as The Kite Runner and a Thousand Splendid Sons but from an entirely different angle, that of an educated Scots woman who lives in Afghanistan with her Afghan husband… it was an easy and interesting story and yet I learned so many different things about the culture of the Afghans … Life in the Afghan village with its traditions and customs were so different and difficult to understand for an outsider, as well as having the complications of her personal life. Read this book, I think everyone who does will have more understanding of both Afghans and Muslims than before as well as being entertained by a darn good story!

I’m proud of that ‘darn good story’.

I bet you are. What a wonderful review. No More Mulberries sounds brilliant. 

What else have you brought along and why?

I see many of your guests have brought along champagne but it wasn’t available in Afghanistan. I could have brought some Uzbek red wine – but it was for the chickens and belongs in a different book – so I brought some Afghan food to share. There has to be mulberries, of course, Miriam’s favourite fruit. I loved them, too, but can only find dried ones here.

(I have a friend with a mulberry tree so I’ll have to put you in touch with one another.)

Afghans make the best kebabs in the world, served hot off the skewer wrapped in a fresh nan which soaks up the juices. We can have kabuli rice topped with raisins and strips of carrots glistening with oil and little leek-filled dumplings which are delicious. Or we can go simpler with ash – pasta – served with quroot, a rock-hard sour cheese made from buttermilk which is re-hydrated into a sauce. It really tastes much better than it sounds. One of my favourite dishes – perhaps because it is easily reproduced at home – is banjan-sia borani. This is egg-plant (aubergine) slices fried and served with cooked tomatoes, topped with a sour cream and yoghurt garlicky sauce and dried mint.

My mouth is watering at the thought. Thanks so much for staying in with me Mary. I’ve had a brilliant time.

No More Mulberries

Scottish-born midwife, Miriam loves her work at a health clinic in rural Afghanistan and the warmth and humour of her women friends in the village, but she can no longer ignore the cracks appearing in her marriage. Her doctor husband has changed from the loving, easy-going man she married and she fears he regrets taking on a widow with a young son, who seems determined to remain distant from his stepfather.

When Miriam acts as translator at a medical teaching camp she hopes time apart might help her understand the cause of their problems. Instead, she must focus on helping women desperate for medical care and has little time to think about her failing marriage.

When an old friend appears, urging her to visit the village where she and her first husband had been so happy. Miriam finds herself travelling on a journey into her past, searching for answers to why her marriage is going so horribly wrong.

Her husband, too, has a past of his own – from being shunned as a child to the loss of his first love.

No More Mulberries is available for purchase here.

About Mary Smith

Mary Smith has always loved writing. As a child she wrote stories in homemade books made from wallpaper trimmings – but she never thought people could grow up and become real writers. She spent a year working in a bank, which she hated – all numbers, very few words – ten years with Oxfam in the UK, followed by ten years working in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She wanted others to share her amazing, life-changing experiences so she wrote about them – fiction, non-fiction, poetry and journalism. And she discovered the little girl who wrote stories had become a real writer after all.

Drunk Chickens and Burnt Macaroni: Real Stories of Afghan Women is an account of her time in Afghanistan and her debut novel No More Mulberries is also set in Afghanistan.

You can find out more about Mary and her writing on her website, on Facebook and by following her on Twitter.

My extremely grateful thanks to Hayley Barnes at Transworld Books for a surprise advanced reader copy of The Intruder by P. S. Hogan.

The Intruder was published in e-book on 1st February 2018 and is available for purchase and paperback pre-order here.

The Intruder

He has the key to hundreds of houses.
Maybe even to yours.

William Heming is an estate agent. He’s kept a copy of every key to every house he’s ever sold. Sometimes he visits them. He lets himself in when the owners are out. But what will happen if he gets caught?

What will he do next?

My Review of The Intruder

William Heming is an estate agent with a difference. Even after a sale the buyer is always on his books!

Ooo The Intruder is clever. Tautly written and plotted it worms its way under the reader’s skin until they are consumed by the need to know what will happen next.

The language is like poetry at times and the superb quality of description places the reader at the scene with William Heming until they almost become part of the story. I loved the way the variety of sentence structure mirrored the natural cadences of thought so that I felt as if I was almost in William’s head. Similarly, I found the direct appeal to the reader through the rhetorical questions and first person address made me experience the narrative so clearly first hand that I felt complicit in William’s actions as if I had carried them out myself. This is what makes The Intruder so compelling. Reading it gave me a very uncomfortable feeling as I found I had a grudging admiration for a highly disturbed and dangerous man.

The plot almost borders the ridiculous as Heming entrenches himself more and more in other people’s lives and yet it is entirely believable and plausible. P. S. Hogan anticipates any disquiet on the part of the reader and addresses it directly making them feel foolish as William explains his actions.

I found The Intruder scarily affecting because of the mundanity of many of William’s actions even though they are so definitely morally wrong at best and downright criminal at other times. I wanted this villain to succeed, even if that meant murder, and reading The Intruder has left me questioning my own morality and that of every person I’ve ever met.

Creepy, compelling and disturbing The Intruder makes the reader think and I for one will never trust an estate agent again. I’m sure there will be those who would prefer more visceral events or more blistering a plot, but I think Heming is the Macbeth of the modern age and The Intruder is just brilliant in conveying the potential for everyday evil in all of us.

About P. S. Hogan

P. S. Hogan was born in Yorkshire. He is married with four children and has been a journalist and columnist on the Observer for over 20 years.

One of the most wonderful things about being a blogger is the chance to meet authors both face to face and vicariously whom I’d never otherwise encounter. Today I’m delighted to be staying in with Andrea Jutson who is another new to me writer.

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 Andrea Jutson

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

It’s an absolute pleasure.

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

Today I’ve brought along my first novel in the James Paxton series, Senseless. I’ve written two books featuring Paxton so far, and it’s always best to start at the beginning. And I’m very excited to say that it’s just been released in the UK, having been published originally in New Zealand, where the books are set. And book two, The Darkness Looking Back, is due out in February…

What can we expect from an evening in with Senseless?

If you’re going to spend the evening with James Paxton, be warned that you may not want to switch the lights off. While the books are very much police procedural thrillers – I was inspired by Mark Billingham and Stuart MacBride – there’s also a tinge of the supernatural. Paxton is quite possibly the world’s most reluctant medium, having left his native UK to escape the whispers of his neighbours, but the other side hasn’t finished with him…

(O-oh! Sounds like I’m going to have nightmares!)

After stumbling across a dead body, and hearing the dead man speak, Paxton is dragged into a murder investigation. And the bodies keep on mounting. You can expect a good number of twists and turns, leavened with dark humour, plus of course the beautiful Auckland landscape. Although a crime thriller loaded with corpses possibly isn’t the best tourism advertisement, I hope some of you will be inspired to visit. There’s a lot more to us than mountains and hobbits. It’s really important to me to give a sense of the city, even if we don’t have nearly this many murders on a regular basis! I must say, I’ve learnt so much more about Aberdeen from Stuart MacBride, Iceland from Yrsa Sigurdardottir or Cape Town from Deon Meyer, than I ever would have done otherwise. Reading crime novels is a great education – almost as good as travel itself, and certainly a lot cheaper.

(Love that idea of travelling through fiction Andrea.)

It amused me to make Paxton’s home town Wellington, Shropshire (where I attended an extremely interesting service at the local Spiritualist Church), as a link between the UK and New Zealand. I picked Shropshire as a location thanks to a teenage fascination with the works of Ellis Peters, and Wellington (now part of Telford) leapt off the map. Some time later, working in London for a year, I ended up getting a job at the Wellington Arch, but that’s a different Wellington again…

(Woo – lots of coincidences then…)

What else have you brought along and why?

Today I’ve brought a bottle of Oyster Inn sauvignon blanc to share with you, Linda. I don’t drink a lot of wine, as it goes straight to my head, but this is some of the most deliciously fruity stuff from Marlborough in New Zealand, which is blended and sold at a restaurant on Waiheke Island in Auckland. So it’s come, in a roundabout way, direct from Auckland to you. Pour a glass while I pull out this book from my bag. Ah, thanks. I’ll just put it over here so I don’t spill it.

So here’s what started this whole business – a book called Ghost Hunting with Derek Acorah, from the old programme Most Haunted. When I was in my teens, I used to watch a bit of it, and it inspired me to try writing a detective series with supernatural elements. It’s a lot trickier than it looks, as of course you can’t have your main character know everything immediately just by chatting to a spirit. Luckily the other side is famously hazy.

A lot of people ask me the question, do I believe in psychics? The truth is, probably not. Until I was in my early twenties I would have answered most definitely yes, but as time has gone on I’ve become considerably more sceptical, especially after reading Christopher Brookmyre’s wonderful Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks and more about the history of the spiritualist movement.

Poor old Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made a complete dick of himself, I’m sorry to say, no matter how much I enjoy Sherlock Holmes. So – at the moment I would say no, just as I don’t believe in God or angelic beings, but I always treat believers with respect, because a) it’s good manners, b) several good friends and family members are passionate believers and c) there should always be room for doubt (which is why blind faith has never appealed). Ghosts are such fascinating things, and bigots or extremists who claim to be certain of everything frighten me a lot more.

(Good point!)

In the meantime, I console myself that fantasy authors don’t have to believe wholeheartedly in elves, werewolves or the fae to write about them, no matter how much they might like to. I’ve tried to ensure that what Paxton senses reflects spiritualist orthodoxy. Research is the key – read up on your subject, whether it’s goblin lore or mediums’ autobiographies, speak to knowledgeable people, and make it as authentic as possible. I’m so pleased that Oscar de Muriel is writing supernaturally-themed crime novels set in Edinburgh now, which gives more authority to the genre as well as being bloody good reads!

I’d like to raise a glass to all the authors I’ve mentioned, and all the other fantastic authors who’ve inspired me to become a better writer over the years. Thanks guys. And thanks Linda, for having me.

Thank you Andrea. I’ve really enjoyed hearing about Senseless. Thanks so much for staying in with me to talk about it and to discuss all the things that make me nervous!

Senseless

A small park in a nice Auckland suburb is the least likely spot to stumble across a body. The discovery of a man recently bludgeoned to death shatters the illusion of midwinter calm.
But unfortunately for James Paxton, death is nothing out of the ordinary. Suspicion falls all too easily on the Englishman who’s hiding a secret. Not only did Paxton find the dead man – he spoke to him, too. Gifts he wished he never had are called into play when Mark Bradley begs him to track down his killer, for the sake of his daughter. Paxton’s carefully constructed new world threatens to crumble as he is sucked into the hunt for a predator, while the police snap close at his heels. And the corpses keep on mounting, one by one …

A darkly gripping mystery with an other-worldly twist.

Published by Williams and Whiting and Senseless is the first in Andrea Jutson’s James Paxton Mysteries and is available for purchase here.

About Andrea Jutson

Andrea Jutson is a writer from Auckland, New Zealand. She has written two crime novels featuring reticent medium James Paxton, Senseless and The Darkness Looking Back, and is at work on a third. In her career, Andrea has been a bookseller, journalist, collections librarian, book buyer and journalist again, and once spent almost a year selling tickets at a heritage site in London. She now works at a public relations agency, and lives in South Auckland.

My enormous thanks to Emilie Chambeyron for an advanced reader copy of How To Fall In Love With A Man Who Lives In A Bush by Emmy Abrahamson, translated by Nichola Smalley, in return for an honest review.

How To Fall In Love With A Man Who Lives In A Bush was published by Borough Press, an imprint of Harper Collins, on 25th January and is available for purchase here.

How To Fall In Love With A Man Who Lives In A Bush

Julia is looking for Mr Right, but Ben is more Mr Right-Now-He-Could-Do-With-a-Bath…

You may think you know what kind of novel this is, but you’d be wrong.

Yes, Julia is a single-girl cliché, living alone with her cat in Vienna and working in a language school. And yes, a series of disastrous dates has left her despairing of ever finding The One – until Ben sits next to her on a bench. He’s tall, dark, handsome…

…and also incredibly hairy, barefoot, a bit ripe-smelling and of no fixed abode.

You guessed it – they fall in love, as couples in novels do. But can Julia overlook the differences between them, abandon logic and choose with her heart?

Funny, filthy (literally) and fizzing with life – and based on a true story! – this is the perfect antidote to all those books promising you that Prince Charming lives in a castle.

My Review of How To Fall In Love With A Man Who Lives In A Bush

Julia’s life is fairly boring, as are the men in her life – until she meets Ben.

I really enjoyed this antedote to saccharine love stories. How To Fall In Love With A Man Who Lives In A Bush has a quirky view of romance, relationships and finding our happy ever after ending and has particular appeal as it is based on a true story. I have to admit I was slightly confused at the beginning as I stupidly misunderstood Austria for Australia but as Vienna is so well described and I recognised many of the settings from my own visit, I was soon engrossed in the narrative.

Julia and Ben are unconventional and so well suited – if only Julia would realise it before it’s too late! I found their dialogues particularly engaging and whilst there are frequent expletives they never felt gratuitous. Indeed, the speech adds considerably to the humour and I laughed aloud many times. There’s a realistic feeling of impudence and mockery that was so appealing. Parts of How To Fall In Love With A Man Who Lives In A Bush are quite explicit and rude but I liked them!

Having taught English I shared many of Julia’s frustrations so that I could really empathise with her character. I loved her intended plots for writing her own books and the way she realised they had been done before, cursing their authors. She felt like a vivid person whom I’d like to meet. What is conveyed so well through Julia is the way we tolerate and befriend those we often don’t really like because of social convention or personal need. I thought this element was the triumph of the book. It might be lighthearted but it has some weighty themes underpinning the humour.

How To Fall In Love With A Man Who Lives In A Bush is fun, witty and engaging. I found it a very enteraining and quick read to cleanse my reading palette in readiness for my next read.

About Emmy Abrahamson

Emmy Abrahamson published her first book in 2011, the young adult novel Min pappa är snäll och min mamma är utlänning (My Dad’s Kind and My Mum’s a Foreigner). She has written three other YA books and was nominated for Sweden’s August Prize in 2012 for Only väg is upp (The Only Way Is Up). How to Fall in Love with a Man Who Lives in a Bush is her adult debut.

Having spent my working life first as a secondary school English teacher and then as a consultant, adviser and inspector for English and Literacy I know just how important reading is to success and enjoyment in life.  When Annabelle Wright asked me if I would like to help promote Quick Reads 2018 – brilliant short books by bestselling authors for busy people and less confident readers – I jumped at the chance,  especially as 1 in 6 adults in the UK struggles with reading, and 1 in 3 doesn’t read for pleasure.

This year’s Quick Reads exciting writers are: Fern Britton, Mark Billingham, Kit de Waal, Dorothy Koomson, Tammy Cohen and Vaseem Khan. You can find out more by following the hashtag #QuickReads on Twitter and by visiting the Reading Agency Website.

Quick Reads will launch on 1^st Feb 2018, and these well-loved authors offer something for everyone, from crime, to women’s fiction and domestic noir, with themes of friendship, secrets and lies in settings spanning the globe. Tickets for the launch are available for purchase here.

I’m delighted to be running a giveaway for two of these books, Fern Britton’s The Great Cornish Getaway and Mark Billingham’s Cut Off, that you can enter at the bottom of this blog post.

The Quick Reads titles for 2018

Cut Off by Mark Billingham (Little, Brown): A punchy, taut urban thriller about that moment we all fear: losing our phone! For Louise, losing hers in a local café takes a sinister turn. Billingham has sold five million copies of his novels and has twice won the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Award for Crime Novel of the Year.

The Great Cornish Getaway by Fern Britton (HarperCollins): As the sun sits high in the sky over Cornwall, and the sea breeze brings a welcome relief to the residents of the seaside village of Trevay, a stranger arrives in need of a safe haven. The former presenter of This Morning, Britton is now a Sunday Times bestselling author and this story is full of her usual warmth and wit.

Clean Break by Tammy Cohen (Transworld): A dark and twisty portrait of a marriage coming to its bitter end, from the mistress of domestic noir. Can Kate rid herself of her jealous husband before it’s too late? Cohen’s acclaimed novels include The Mistress’s Revenge, The War of the Wives and Someone Else’s Wedding.

Inspector Chopra and the Million-Dollar Motor Car by Vaseem Khan (Hodder & Stoughton): An enchanting Baby Ganesh Agency novella from the bestselling Khan set in the bustling back-streets of Mumbai. Inspector Chopra and his elephant sidekick have two days to solve the mystery of a missing – and very costly – car for its gangster owner, or there’ll be a heavy price to pay.

The Beach Wedding by Dorothy Koomson (Arrow): A gripping short read featuring a wedding, family drama, and old secrets. Tessa is thrilled when her daughter arrives in Ghana to get married but memories of the last time she was there haunt her; can she lay the ghosts of the past to rest or will they come back to haunt her daughter’s future? Koomson is the bestselling author of 12 novels including The Ice-Cream Girls, My Best Friends’ Girl and most recently The Friend.

Six Foot Six by Kit de Waal (Viking): A charming novella from Costa First Novel Award shortlisted author de Waal about finding friendship in the most unlikely of places. Everything changes for Timothy, a 21 year old with learning difficulties, when local builder Charlie calls on him for help. De Waal worked in criminal and family law and was a magistrate for many years before her international bestseller, My Name is Leon was published.

Giveaway

The Great Cornish Getaway by Fern Britton and Cut Off by Mark Billingham

The Girl Before by JP Delaney is calling me like a siren from my TBR and I am delighted to be part of the launch celebrations for this thriller. Usually I have no idea which books an author might bring along to stay in with me to chat about on Linda’s Book Bag but this time I knew it would be The Girl Before and I’m so excited to share that conversation with you.

The Girl Before is published Quercus and is available for purchase here.

The Girl Before

Enter the world of One Folgate Street and discover perfection . . . but can you pay the price?

Jane stumbles on the rental opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to live in a beautiful ultra-minimalist house designed by an enigmatic architect, on condition she abides by a long list of exacting rules. After moving in, she discovers that a previous tenant, Emma, met a mysterious death there – and starts to wonder if her own story will be a re-run of the girl before.

As twist after twist catches the reader off guard, Emma’s past and Jane’s present become inexorably entwined in this tense, page-turning portrayal of psychological obsession.

Staying in with JP Delaney

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

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

I’ve brought along The Girl Before. It’s my first psychological thriller, although I have written other books in other genres.

What can we expect from an evening in with The Girl Before?

What drew me to this genre most was the way it’s not really a genre at all, in the sense that there’s no formula and no rules. Characters, too, have the freedom to be dark and twisted as well as likeable and virtuous – sometimes all four at once. The only requirement, really, is a strong idea and a plot that grips you and won’t let go. So that’s what I’ve tried to achieve with this book – to write something that’s hopefully original, unusual, believable, but above all readable.

Sounds just my kind of read. I’m so pleased The Girl Before is firmly on my TBR.

What else have you brought along and why?

Well, I’m going to break your rules a little and bring along absolutely nothing. You see, the book is set in a minimalist house, owned by the architect who built it – he rents it out at an affordable price to people who agree to live in it just as he intended, following over two hundred exacting rules, from ‘no clothes left out of cupboards’ to ‘no ornaments and no pictures on the walls’. Would-be applicants have to fill in a lengthy application form that starts with the words, ‘Please make a list of every possession you consider essential to your life.’

(Wow – what a thought!)

The story follows two women, Emma and Jane, who each rent the house, three years apart. Each starts a relationship with the architect; each discovers that the previous tenant of the house died there in suspicious circumstances; and each starts to wonder if their own story is a re-run of the girl before.

(Right! I’m bumping up The Girl Before to the top of my TBR immediately! This sounds brilliant.)

So, while I’m with you tonight, we’re going to chuck out everything. Those sofas? Edward Monkford doesn’t believe in sofas: they make people slouch. That carpet? He doesn’t allow any patterns in his house. That cat you’ve got curled up on the cushion? No pets allowed. And cushions are a complete no-no. The house is as sleekly sparse and austere as a monk’s cell. You can pour a glass of wine, and make a snack, but make sure the bottle is put back in the cupboard and the empty glass is washed up and put away as soon as you’ve used it.

(I feel quite weak at the thought of this. A house without cats! Impossible.)

Thanks so much for staying in with me JP to tell me about The Girl Before. I’m off to tidy away the washing up – I suppose our wine glasses had better be put away in height order too!

About JP Delaney

JP Delaney is a pseudonym for a writer who has previously written best-selling fiction under other names. The Girl Before is the first novel of psychological suspense from JP Delaney. It is being published in the US and UK in January 2017, with subsequent editions in over 35 countries. It is being published in the US and UK in January 2017, with subsequent editions in over 35 countries. A film version is being brought to the screen by Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

I’ve been thrilled to feature Amanda Prowse, author of Anna: One Love Two Stories, here on Linda’s Book Bag many times (most recently here) and it gives me enormous pleasure to be reviewing her latest book today. I would like to thank the author for sending me a copy of Anna in return for an honest review.

Anna: One Love Two Stories will be released in e-book by Head of Zeus on 8th March 2018 and paperback later in the year and is available for pre-order here.

Anna will be followed by Theo available for pre-order here.

Anna: One LoveTwo Stories

There are two sides to every love story…

Anna Cole grew up in care, and wants to start a family of her own. Theo Montgomery had a loveless childhood, and wants to find his soulmate.

Then, one day, Theo meets Anna, and Anna meets Theo.

Each shows the other how to love. And each shows the other what heartbreak feels like…

This is Anna’s story.

My Review of Anna

Anna’s perfect childhood is about to implode.

I have always adored Amanda Prowse’s books and began to wonder if I was being over generous in my praise of them because I expect to love them. This time, before reading Anna I was determined to be stony hearted and absolutely dispassionate. Huh! That lasted about three pages before I was in tears and subsumed by the overwhelming emotion of the way Amanda Prowse writes. I have no idea how she does it, but she takes a reader’s hand and leads them into the most affecting and emotional world they can possibly imagine. Despite all my attempts to do otherwise, I just loved this book. I didn’t so much read it as live it.

Anna’s world may initially seem unusually tragic, but I have met the Anna’s of the world through my profession and her portrayal is so realistic. She is a true heroine of the modern age. I have no children of my own and don’t especially like children but Anna’s letters to her imagined children of the future left me reeling with emotion – just like all Amanda Prowse’s prose.

Apart from the fact that this is a magnificent story, with a brilliant plot, I think what appeals to me so much about Anna is the social elements. Amanda Prowse explores the way in which our paths can be altered by circumstance and fate and how we can be shaped or destroyed by those events. Through the pages of Anna we meet every echelon of society, realistically portrayed. I love the presentation of the need for identity, to belong and to have family – in whatever guise that may present itself, so that reading Anna feels like looking into the soul of humanity and understanding it better.

The way Anna develops as a person and her utter realism is brilliantly handled. I think it’s the realistic dialogue that really adds to the feeling that you’re not reading a book, but you’re a fly on the wall of real people’s lives. As I finished reading and put down Anna I felt drained, tearful and simultaneously impassioned. I am utterly desperate to know Theo’s side of the story and can’t wait to read about him in more depth.

Rather than feel I have overpraised Amanda Prowse’s writing in the past, reading Anna has left me feeling I have been inadequate in conveying what an emotional and skilful writer she is. Anna has invaded my heart and is lodged there permanently. I think Anna may be one of her best books yet.

About Amanda Prowse

Amanda Prowse is an International Bestselling author who has published sixteen novels in dozens of languages. Her chart topping No.1 titles What Have I Done?, Perfect Daughter and My Husband’s Wife have sold millions of copies around the world.

Other novels by Amanda Prowse include A Mother’s Story which won the coveted Sainsbury’s eBook of the year Award and Perfect Daughter that was selected as a World Book Night title in 2016. Amanda’s book The Food of Love went straight to No.1 in Literary Fiction when it was launched in the USA and she has been described by the Daily Mail as ‘The Queen of Drama’ for her ability to make the reader feel as if they were actually in the story.

You can follow Amanda Prowse on Twitter and visit her web site here. You will also find her on Facebook.

All of Amanda Prowse’s wonderful writing is available here .