I’ve long been a fan of Urbane Publications as they have such an eclectic and rich mix of authors. Today I’m thrilled to welcome one of these authors to stay in with me, Cherry Radford.

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 Cherry Radford

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

Hi Linda, where shall I sit?

(Sit wherever you like. Now we no longer have four cats to shove out of the way there’s plenty of room! Fancy a cuppa?)

Aha. Yes, half a sugar in an Earl Grey please.

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 Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter, because it’s new. Lighthouse keepers drank a lot of tea.

(In that case lighthouse keepers would be my kind of people. I drink copious amounts of tea!)

What can we expect from an evening in with The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter?

Beachy Head lighthouse (photo: Juan del Pozo), and the Metropolis, Madrid

Well, lighthouses obviously – you get to go inside three. You’re also going to have romance, but I like to think of it as People Fiction rather than Women’s Fiction, as it has plenty of male viewpoint.

(I love the idea of People Fiction. I’m adopting that genre for my reviews. Thanks Cherry.)

After the breakup of her marriage, Imogen escapes to Beachy Head to be alone and to find out more about her lighthouse keeper father who mysteriously drowned there back in 1982. She starts to see similarities in their lives – especially in the way he was intensely corresponding with a female penfriend, just like she’s Tweeting with Santi, a Spanish actor-musician in Madrid…

(Ooo. I like the sound of that VERY much – and I have a copy of The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter on my TBR so I’m going to have to bump it up the pile…)

What else have you brought along and why? 

Imogen gave me some home-made fudge to bring along from the Beachy Head Countryside Centre where she works (and where I volunteered when doing my research!). Mm… have some!

(What do you mean have ‘some‘ fudge? I think you meant to say, ‘Have it all!’ I genuinely think I might kill for fudge – or at least put up a good fight for it!)

Santi has a gig tonight and couldn’t make it, so I’ve brought flamenco guitarist Josemi Carmona with me. My unexpected friendship with him – that all started with me Tweeting to find out where I could buy his new album – was one of the inspirations for the story. I did ask him to show off some of the English I’ve taught him, but he’s in one of his no-no-no, no Engleesh moods. Ah, but he’s picking up his guitar and going to play along with his track on the novel’s Spotify list…

(Here‘s the Spotify link if readers would like to have a listen too.)

Thanks so much for staying in with me Cherry, to introduce The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter. I’ve loved hearing about it (and eating the fudge) and look forward to reading it very soon. 

The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter

After the break-up of her marriage, Imogen escapes to her aunt’s converted lighthouse on Beachy Head. Writing for a tedious online magazine but hoping to starting a novel, she wants to be alone – until she finds an entrancing flamenco CD in her borrowed car and contacts the artist via Twitter. It turns out that actor-musician Santiago needs help with English, and is soon calling her profesora.

Through her window, the other lighthouse winks at her across the sea. The one where her father was a keeper, until he mysteriously drowned there in 1982. Her aunt is sending extracts from his diary, and Imogen is intrigued to learn that, like her and Santi, her father had a penfriend.

Meanwhile, despite their differences – Imogen is surrounded by emotional and geographical barriers, Santi surrounded by family and land-locked Madrid – their friendship develops. So, she reads, did her father’s – but shocking revelations cause Imogen to question whether she ever really knew him.

Two stories of communication: the hilarious mistakes, the painful misunderstandings, and the miracle – or tragedy – of finding someone out there with whom you have an unforeseen, irresistible connection.

‘A fresh new voice telling a charming and moving story of love, loss, loneliness, Twitter and Spanish lessons. An absolute delight.’ Bestselling author Louise Douglas

‘A story so full of music it sings. If you love lighthouses, music and all things Spanish this is the book for you. It even has a Spotify playlist at the beginning – a great touch. Radford creates rich and believable characters (I especially love Santi). This is a classy romance, dealing in communication and miscommunication, where the past is deftly woven into to the present. Where there are twists, turns and surprises to keep you guessing and hanging on until the last – and all beautifully produced by Urbane Publications.’ Avril Joy, author of Sometimes A River Song, and Costa Short Story award winner

Published by Urbane Publications, The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter is available for purchase here.

About Cherry Radford

Cherry Radford was a keyboard player in a band, a piano teacher at the Royal Ballet School and an optometrist/post-doctoral researcher at Moorfields Eye Hospital before suddenly starting her first novel in the middle of a scientific conference in 2009. Following the publication of Men Dancing (2011) and Flamenco Baby (2013) by a small Brighton-based independent, The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter is her first novel with Urbane Publications. Cherry lives in Eastbourne and Almería (Spain).

She chats about writing and other passions on her BLA BLA LAND blog and can be followed on Twitter @CherryRad, Instagram and Facebook and there’s more on her website.

It’s a slightly different post on Linda’s Book Bag today as I welcome a kind of BOGOF author in S.T. Young, because S.T. is not one, but two writers and a sister and brother to boot! Add in a psychological thriller in their first joint book, Girl in the Mist, and you can see why I invited them along!

Out now from Entangled Publishing, Girl in the Mist is available for purchase from all the usual places by following the publisher links.

Girl in the Mist

Infamous for infiltration and becoming her undercover identities, Nina Hernandez disappeared without a trace. Three years later, Naval Intelligence agent Rory O’Donnell finds her in a tortuous mental hospital. He’s unsure if it’s really Nina, or if she’s undercover and faking it. Either way, he’s pretty sure something sinister is going on…

Rory springs Nina, and together they elude their determined pursuers. He needs to get her to safety…all while keeping his hands off the beautiful, mysterious young woman. As he works to convince her to trust him and share her darkest secrets, he wonders if he can trust her not to betray his…

Between her mercurial changes, sexy come-ons, and her exasperating independence, a protection assignment has never been so hard. On a dangerous trek across the country as they tumble from one danger into the next, Rory finds that resisting Nina might just be his toughest task yet.

The plot

A Guest Post by S.T. Young

Most times the plot is a mean son of a gun. It’ll take you places you never wanted to go, throw you on your bum when you least expect it, and send you careening into that rock-face called plot-bogged if you’re not careful. Seriously, there are times you just want to grab that thing and exorcise it from your psyche to never be seen again…

But you can’t. It’s your demon plot after all, and somehow, some way it has to be written.

For us the average plot will start, quite predictably, with two points. A beginning—an idea that started to fester and tug at some point and needed to come out. And an ending—that goal you have to achieve to get the final scene for your characters that will satisfy each and everyone involved, writer, character and reader alike.

What happens in-between…well, at times, it is up for grabs. Frustrating, right? There will be points, plot beats if you will, to be reached, thought of ahead of time, but they don’t always work out the way you planned them.

Perfect example: A hero and a heroine are supposed to meet in chapter one.

We planned it all out, set the scene just the way we wanted it, and then while writing…it. Just. Wouldn’t. Happen! First a friend arrived and interrupted. Grrr.  Friend dealt with, hero turns to the heroine, is about to speak, and a customer comes in. Darn it! Not the plan! And yet it somehow worked.

Truth is, some things just won’t be forced.

How it turned out: hero and heroine actually didn’t speak a word until chapter two, when finally, all the hassle was dealt with and they came face to face. The rest, as they say, is history.

The point of this example? You can plot everything to the minor details, and sometimes you do, but there still is a certain flow, a character driven, natural arc of events that you just didn’t, and can’t see coming…and shouldn’t. Usually, what for you, the writer, comes as a complete, sometimes funny, sometimes scary surprise, will be just that for the reader as well.

To us this is the most fascinating bit of writing, especially in such a plot-driven story like Girl in the Mist. Those little surprises that you didn’t see coming. The heroine starting to strip, just to get the hero’s hackles up, only to end up freezing cold…You can plan those things, sure, but if they just “happen” they’re usually amazingly genuine, and that is the thing that will make your manuscript one-of-a-kind.

Lastly there is the problem of plot holes and plot beats that just won’t work in the bigger scheme of things. Those are amazingly frustrating, especially if you’re particularly fond of said beat. Usually this requires severe brainstorming between the two of us, and those sessions can become mighty noisy in the heat of the discussion. Most times we end up compromising, or one of us backing down (for the time being anyway) until either one of us will come up with something…usually something particularly convoluting, to solve the problem at hand.

What it comes down to: For us the plot is a basic line from A to B that will get stretched and torqued along the way until it becomes a working whole and gives us the end result we’re striving for.

Whether that ending will surprise us in the end, or be exactly as we planned it, doesn’t really matter: It’s the thrilling ride that gets you there that counts.

(And I think Girl in the Mist sounds a thrilling ride. Thanks both!)

About S.T. Young

Siblings Samaya and Taffin grew up in a somewhat unorthodox family. Born in the Netherlands, their early childhood was a relatively normal one, but their teens were spent traveling through Europe with their mother and siblings before they settled down in Southern Spain to build their home from scratch. In 2015 they returned to their country of birth.

Though different in character, brother and sister shared a love for strong, character driven stories with one recurring element they both needed in all their reading—romance. Though Samaya can get side-tracked by horror, and Taffin can get lost in sci-fi from time to time, they always return to the genre that never fails to draw them into any plot—romantic fiction.

In 2008 they started working together, first on Samaya’s earlier manuscripts, but other, newer stories, too, to see if they could find an audience for the work they’d put their hearts and souls into.. In the process of learning to work together, many fierce discussions followed as they argued grammar, plot, and even something as simple as comma placement (doesn’t everyone?). Girl in the Mist, a taut psychological thriller, was their first joint effort, but there are many more on the way.

You can find out more by following Samaya on Twitter @samayayoung, finding them both on Facebook and visiting Samaya’s website.

If you pop by Linda’s Book Bag on a regular basis you’ll know how much I am enjoying staying in with authors who ‘bring’ food along as they stay in to tell me about their books. Today, lovely Harriet Steel has brought some smashing food to share as she introduces one of her books!

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 Harriet Steel

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

I’ve brought along Trouble in Nuala, the first book in my Inspector de Silva Mysteries series. I’ve chosen it because the series has received the most enthusiastic response of all my books so far. It’s set in Ceylon in the 1930s. (As I expect you know, Ceylon was still a British colony at the time but after independence, changed its name to Sri Lanka.) The tone of the book is essentially light- hearted, but I do touch on issues raised by colonialism and differences in culture, so I hope we’ll find plenty to talk about.

(How brilliant. I’ve just come back from India, love to travel and Sri Lanka is on my wish list. With Trouble in Nuala I can travel vicariously until I get chance to go there.)

What can we expect from an evening in with Trouble in Nuala?

The 1930s were part of the period now recognised as a golden age of British crime fiction. Writers like Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers made the detective story, up until then rather looked down upon, into a respectable and popular form of literature. In Trouble in Nuala and the rest of the series, I’ve aimed to create absorbing stories in that style: stories that don’t rely on a lot of violence for their impact. These days, the news is so full of horrors, I don’t want that when I escape into the world of literature, and I think many readers feel the same way.

(I certainly do. I have to confess to avoiding the news at all costs these days because it’s so depressing so Trouble in Nuala sounds exactly my kind of book.)

What really makes or breaks a book for me is the characters and the setting, so I’ve tried to create characters that readers will find engaging. Inspector Shanti de Silva, my Sinhalese detective, doesn’t have a messy private life or an alcohol problem. He’s a happily married man who loves gardening and reading when he’s not solving crimes. His personal life isn’t entirely straightforward though. He and his British wife, Jane, have had to learn to deal with the problems of a mixed marriage. In his working life, de Silva’s principled but pragmatic and occasionally a rebel when exasperated by having to deal with his British superiors.

As far as the location is concerned, when I visited Sri Lanka a couple of years ago, I was captivated by the country straight away and realised that it’s an absolute gift to a writer looking for a fascinating and exotic setting. I couldn’t wait to begin writing the mystery series that had been in the back of my mind for some time.

It’s for readers to judge whether I’ve succeeded in my aim of creating entertaining, relaxing and colourful reads, so I’ve been delighted to find that the series has received many appreciative reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.

This is one of my favourites:

A Paradise Visited – 5*

A most satisfying read. Inspector Silva and his Jane are a lovely couple, in a well-written, interesting tale that held my attention until the end. An exotic setting just adds to the story. I’m looking forward to reading future books about this attractive duo and their friends.

(What a lovely review. You must be delighted Harriet.)

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

Curry of course! Sri Lankan meals tend to be banquets, so I’ve brought a selection. I hope you’ll enjoy Shanti de Silva’s favourite pea and cashew nut, then there’s brinjal which is a special dish of spiced aubergines; curried cauliflower, and lamb in a rich tomato sauce. I’m serving them with string hoppers (noodles), fluffy rice, crisp rounds of roti bread, and some creamy yoghurt to cool us off. (Sri Lankan food is hot.)

(Now you’re talking. This is just the kind of food I love. You can come again if you’re going to bring such gorgeous provisions.)

To wash our meal down, I have local beer, but if you don’t feel like drinking anything alcoholic, the cutely named Elephant ginger beer is excellent. Sri Lankan puddings are too sweet for many people, but there’s lots of gorgeous fruit available. I’ve brought pineapples, pomegranates and mangoes. The latter are often served with a little lime juice and chilli, but you may have had enough of chilli by then!

(So tasty and I love that Elephant ginger beer! Thanks Harriet.)

I’ve also brought along a few photographs of sights that inspired me.

(Wonderful photos. They make me want to pack my bag and head off straight away.)

Some soothing background music might be nice too. As Inspector de Silva has started to explore Western music, I thought I’d chose something quintessentially English, so I’ve brought along The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams.

(I love that piece of music, Harriet.)

It’s been an absolute pleasure to stay in with you and hear all about Trouble in Nuala. It’s a book I definitely need to add to my TBR. Thanks so much for telling me all about it Harriet.

Trouble in Nuala

When Inspector Shanti de Silva moves with his English wife, Jane, to his new post in the sleepy hill town of Nuala he anticipates a more restful life than police work in the big city entails.

However, an arrogant plantation owner with a lonely wife, a crusading lawyer, and a death in suspicious circumstances present him with a riddle that he will need all his experience to solve.

Set on the exotic island of Ceylon in the 1930s, Trouble in Nuala is an entertaining and relaxing mystery spiced with humour and a colourful cast of characters.

Trouble in Nuala is available for purchase here.

About Harriet Steel

Harriet Steel grew up in London and Wiltshire but now lives in Surrey. Married with two daughters, she has worked in fields from law to libraries. Her interests are travel, history and art, all of which have inspired the four historical novels she wrote before turning to crime with The Inspector de Silva Mysteries. She reads widely, but in the mystery genre is particularly fond of vintage mysteries. She would love to go back in time for a day and have lunch with Hercule Poirot, tea with Miss Marple, and dinner at the Ritz with Lord Peter Wimsey.

You can find Harriet on Facebook, follow her on Twitter @harrietsteel1 and visit her blog.

It’s publication day for The Cornish Dressmaker by Nicola Pryce and I arrived home from my trip to India earlier this week to find a lovely copy had arrived whilst I’d been away. Consequently I haven’t had chance to read it yet but I have been lucky enough to stay in with one of the characters from the book, Gwen, to find out more about it!

The Cornish Dressmaker is published today, 3rd May 2018, by Corvus Books and is available for purchase here.

Staying in with Gwen

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Gwen. It’s a first for me to stay in with a character from a book and not an author.

Thank you, it’s a pleasure to be here. I’m Gwen, by the way. I’m married to Elowyn’s brother. I’m her best friend.

Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.

Oh, I’d much rather be here. Far safer to be here with you than out on the quayside – there’s no moon outside and it’s very dark.

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

I’ve brought you The Cornish Dressmaker by Nicola Pryce. It’s her third book and it’s about my friend Elowyn Liddicot who runs the dressmaker’s shop above Pengelly’s Yard. You might have met her in Pengelly’s Daughter or The Captain’s Girl.

(These look wonderful books for your friend Elowyn to feature in Gwen.)

Time’s passing, it’s now 1796 and Sir James is thrilled his clay mines are beginning to show profit. The new sea lock’s working well and his clay’s getting shipped faster than ever – but are we alone, Linda? May I talk freely?

(Of course you may Gwen. What’s the problem?)

Only, I’m that concerned about Elowyn. Two men are vying for her attention and she doesn’t know who to choose. She says, why marry at all? Her dressmaking business is doing well and she’s got savings under the floor boards. Between you and me, I think she’s making a big mistake.

(Hmm. I’ll have to read The Cornish Dressmaker and then get back to you Gwen to see if I agree.)

What can we expect from an evening in with The Cornish Dressmaker?

Well, there’ll be Mrs Munroe’s pies for a start!

(Ah – I might have started on Mrs Munroe’s pie without you…)

And there’ll be Mr Pitt licking his paws in his basket. We’ll sit round the kitchen table in Mrs Pengelly’s beautiful house and we’ll watch Billy mend the spit. She’ll pour us a glass of Madeira and we’ll sit sewing and laughing. We can talk about the opening of the new lock, the beautiful pier houses – the way that man swept her up in his arms. Bold as brass he was, just swept her up and kissed her like … well, never you mind what like. But if Billy gets his way, we’ll talk of nothing but waterwheels and water courses and how the lock stays full.

(Now, you can’t just tell me that about the kiss. I need to know more!)

What else have you brought along and why?

I’ve brought you tickets, Linda. You’re to put on your sailing gear and join me on a tall ship. Sir James says I’m to show you his lock and how it works. We’re to go to Charlestown and board The Phoenix. The men will haul us out to the outer lock then the wind will catch our sails. Wrap up, mind, those sea frets come in thick and fast; soon as you look round, there’s nothing but mist and dark alleys. But if the weather’s kind, we’ll sail from the harbour so you can see how the lock gates open and shut. Then we’ll walk round the harbour and I can show you the pier houses that Nathan built. Now there’s a man – Nathan Cardew – and me, a married woman!

(That sounds a real adventure. And I’d like to meet Nathan too whilst we’re out if possible.)

After our sail, we’re to go to work – not sewing this time, but scraping the sand and grit off the dried blocks of clay. Be warned, though, it’s hard work and your fingertips will crack. You’ll get dust in your eyes and down your throat. We’ll be under the thatch but exposed to the wind. Here, I’ve brought you a picture. It’s a hundred years from now, but they look just the same. See those pretty bonnets? They’re the ones Elowyn designed. Once we’ve scraped off all the impurities, they’ll pack them in the carts and take them to the harbour. Then off up to the potteries – did I tell you, Mr Sellick won the Wedgewood contract? Sir James is that chuffed.

(I’m not so sure I like the sound of that task Gwen.)

We’ll be tired after that, I can tell you – so we’ll put our feet up by the hearth, but I’ve brought you something else. Here, shut the door, I shouldn’t really have this. Look, a love token. See how he’s rubbed it free of all markings before he engraved it? Mind you, coins are hard to come by, the shortage is getting worse. Still, she loves this token. Quick, put it away, I hear my Tom coming.

Oo. How romantic. Thanks so much for staying in with me Gwen to tell me all about Elowyn and Nicola Pryce’s books. I’ve really enjoyed it. If you see Nicola, wish her a happy publication day from me please.

I will Linda and thank you for having me.

The Cornish Dressmaker

Cornwall, 1796.
Seamstress Elowyn Liddicot’s family believe they’ve secured the perfect future for her, in the arms of Nathan Cardew. But then one evening, Elowyn helps to rescue a dying man from the sea, and everything changes. William Cotterell, wild and self-assured, refuses to leave her thoughts or her side – but surely she can’t love someone so unlike herself?

With Elowyn’s dressmaking business suddenly under threat, her family’s pressure to marry Nathan increasing, and her heart decidedly at odds with her head, Elowyn doesn’t know who to trust any more. And when William uncovers a sinister conspiracy that affects her whole world, can Elowyn find the courage to support the people she loves in the face of all opposition?

Out today you can buy The Cornish Dressmaker here.

About Nicola Pryce

Nicola Pryce trained as a nurse at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. She has always loved literature and completed an Open University degree in Humanities. She is a qualified adult literacy support volunteer and lives with her husband in the Blackdown Hills in Somerset. She and her husband love sailing and together they sail the south coast of Cornwall in search of adventure.

Pengelly’s Daughter was the first novel in her new Cornish saga. Her second novel, The Captain’s Girl was published last July and The Cornish Dressmaker in May 2018.

Nicola is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and The Historical Writers Association.

You can follow Nicola on Twitter @NPryce_Author and visit her website. You’ll also find her on Facebook.

I am a complete ignoramus when it comes to any kind of fantasy fiction, but even I have heard of Nancy Springer and I am thrilled that she has agreed to stay in with me to tell me about one of her books today.

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 Nancy Springer

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag, Nancy. 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 The Oddling Prince because I am so glad it has finally found a home. I wrote it with all my heart, but then it struggled for years to find publication.  I was told “that kind of fantasy” wasn’t popular anymore.  Ouch, because “That kind of fantasy” was a return to my roots, the first fantasy novel I wrote, The Silver Sun, in which two warrior comrades love each other with all loyalty and eventually discover they are brothers. The Oddling Prince is like the captured essence of much of my previous mythic fantasy to me.  It had to be published.  And now, finally, it is, by Tachyon.

(Ouch indeed Nancy. I think it’s interesting that so many writers struggle to find a home for their books because they don’t fit a prescribed genre or perceived niche in the market. We readers want a range of books otherwise it’s like eating the same meal every day!)

What can we expect from an evening in with The Oddling Prince?

Let me read you a  brief excerpt:

In the benighted courtyard, the rider and his horse stood like a great alabaster statue surrounded by a multitude of pale ovals, the frightened faces of guards and soldiers with their swords out, or their pikes raised, or their bows with arrows nocked to the drawn strings.  Yet he, the horseback rider, sat at ease among them as if on a coracle floating amid water lilies.

A slim youth.  Perhaps no older than I.

He drew no weapon.

His hands stirred not from the reins.

He gazed straight ahead of him as if in a dream.

He and his milk-white steed, both horse and rider far too beautiful to belong to this mortal world, shone in the night.  They glimmered head to foot as if they carried moonlight within them.

My neck hairs prickled at the sight.  My heart halted like my feet, like my staring face, and for a moment I felt as if it might stop entirely.  But I could not weaken; a king’s son is not permitted to weaken, ever.

(This is a great hook for the reader Nancy.)

The narrator is only seventeen years old, but he must take charge. He orders the men to lower their weapons, and he welcomes the eerie stranger, and that is how Prince Aric of Calidon meets the oddling prince.

So The Oddling Prince is a book about two princes.  The Brian Giberson cover symbolizes its theme perfectly:  two swords for two heroes, and a heart joining them in troth.

(It’s a really attractive cover too.)

I’ve written so many other fantasy novels with paired heroes that I have to wonder why.  In my early novels, I see in hindsight, the yin-yang heroes were me trying to accept and love me, trying to get my messed up-self together.  (I’d had an incredibly repressed childhood.)  But in The Oddling Prince , the two heroes are no longer dark and light, moody and sunny, night and day to each other,  Instead, they are like two sides of the same golden coin.  I’m not sure why they mean so very much to me.  Perhaps I am envisioning another sort of wholeness?

(Perhaps so. And I think that is what makes writers and their books so intriguing. I love finding out why writers write as much as how and what they write.)

What else have you brought along and why?  

May I introduce the ghost of my Aunt Nancy, after whom I was named?

(Erm, I’m having trouble getting a fix on her.)

You can’t see her?

(Sadly not, but do tell me more.)

I met her only a few times, because she lived in Ireland, but let me describe her: short, thin, elderly, and I’ve never met anyone who looks more like a benevolent witch.  Her nose and chin very nearly meet to embrace her dried-up apple face. In her high-necked long-sleeved starchy white blouse, brown woollen skirt nearly touching her sensible brogues, and with  a scarf on her head, tied under her jutting chin, she dresses like the strict headmistress of a girl’s boarding school, which is exactly who she is.  According to my father, she is a scholar who speaks seven languages and never married.  Older than him, she was born around 1900 and written down by the parish priest as Anna Hadassah O’Connor.  Nancy was her nickname. Despite her fearsome features, she is smiling at me, her niece and namesake.

(She sounds quite a lady! Why did you invite her along?)

Why is she here?  Because I need to give her credit.  I had no godparents or grandparents, but I had Aunt Nancy.  Every Christmas and birthday she sent me a present, always a book, often one about the Little Good People or folk tales or National Velvet, something British.   Moreover, once I reached school age, several times a year she sent me letters, written very correctly and in exquisite detail, about commonplaces: seasonal changes, holidays, lambing, harvesting. Because she shared her thoughts without condescension, I would try to write back to her the same way, so I grew up loving eloquent prose and everyday beauties.  She did something amazing:  while I was raised as an American kid, she gave me roots as a British writer.  The prose, the mythos.

If Aunt Nancy hadn’t stuck her long nose into my childhood, I might have had a very different outcome.  I think I ought to give her at least partial thanks for The Oddling Prince and all my Celtic fantasy novels.

(What a fabulous guest to bring along. I’m so glad she inspired you to write Nancy.)

Thank you so much, Nancy, for staying in with me to introduce The Oddling Prince. I know some Linda’s Book Bag readers in particular will love it and I wish you every success.

The Oddling Prince

In the ancient moors of Scotland, the king of Calidon lies on his deathbed, cursed by a ring that cannot be removed from his finger. When a mysterious fey stranger appears to save the king, he also carries a secret that could tear the royal family apart.

The kingdom’s only hope will lie with two young men raised worlds apart. Aric is the beloved heir to the throne of Calidon; Albaric is clearly of noble origin yet strangely out of place.

The Oddling Prince is a tale of brothers whose love and loyalty to each other is such that it defies impending warfare, sundering seas, fated hatred, and the very course of time itself. In her long-awaited new fantasy novel, Nancy Springer (the Books of Isle series) explores the darkness of the human heart as well as its unceasing capacity for love.

The Oddling Prince is published by Tachyon and is available for purchase here.

About Nancy Springer

Nancy Springer is the award-winning author of more than fifty novels, including the Books of Isle fantasy series, the Enola Holmes mystery series and a plethora of magical realism, women’s fiction, contemporary young adult and other titles. She received the James Tiptree Jr. Award for Larque on the Wing, the Edgar Allan Poe Award for her juvenile mysteries Toughing It and Looking for Jamie Bridger, and has been a frequent nominee for the Nebula and World Fantasy awards.

Forthcoming from Tachyon Publishing, The Oddling Prince is a heartfelt return to her beginnings, forty years ago, in the fantasy genre. She currently lives in the Florida Panhandle, where she rescues feral cats and enjoys the vibrant wildlife of the wetlands.

You can follow Nancy on Twitter @NancySpringer, and visit her website.

My enormous thanks to Liz Shand at Wisdom House Books for a copy of Emma’s Book of Courage by Emma Lindberg and illustrated by Krystal Smith in return for an honest review. I’ve reviewed several children’s books on Linda’s Book Bag in the past but never one written by a six year old before and I’m delighted to feature it, especially as it is the USA National Children’s Book Week this week.

Emma’s Book of Courage is available for purchase here.

Emma’s Book of Courage

Six-year-old Emma knows that it can be hard to be courageous – but thinks you should try! Courageous means having courage, which is when you’re really, really afraid to try something, but you do it anyway.

Emma shares moments when she’s needed courage, like when she did a backflip for the first time! It was scary, but she’s SO glad she did it. Now, she can’t wait to try new things and wants to help you be more courageous, too! What might take some courage for you to try?

My Review of Emma’s Book of Courage

Emma can be scared, but she has learnt to overcome her fears and have courage.

Before I write my review proper, I had one miniscule concern. When Emma says she’d be willing to go out into the scary woods at night again, it must be made absolutely clear that this will be with an adult!

Emma’s Book of Courage is a lovely children’s book.  Krystal Smith’s illustrations are exquisitely beautiful and thoroughly enhance the writing, making this a visual pleasure as well as a super children’s book.

The writing itself is, unsurprisingly given the age of the author, perfect for the 3-6 age group of children, with a perfect balance of text to illustration so that children can feel a real sense of satisfaction in reading the book independently as well as sharing it with an adult for bedtime reading. I thought the direct question to readers about what scares them could be a fabulous way for discussions to begin so that a scared child wasn’t made to feel inadequate if they had concerns.

I love the range of experiences that Emma’s Book of Courage explores. Emma is willing to try different activities such as rock climbing that children might find challenging, as well as eat new and different healthy foods – a subject that can be tricky for young children so that the book models excellent behaviours. However, what I found most effective was the lovely way in which emotions are explored. Emma’s Book of Courage shows that it isn’t just activities where we need courage, but in our emotions too, being prepared to say sorry, to ask for help, to be nice to others and to respect what our parents tell us.

Emma’s Book of Courage is a smashing children’s book that instills positivity without preachiness in an engaging and entertaining way. I think children and adults alike will be captivated by it.

About Emma Lindberg

Emma Lindberg is six years old and lives in North Carolina. She likes to play tennis and
play with her dogs. Her favorite food is mussels. She has an older brother and older sister. When she grows up, Emma wants to be a dentist.

Having had a bit of a break, it’s so good to be blogging again and today’s guest to stay in with me on Linda’s Book Bag is Barbara L. Baer who is helping me get back into the swing of things.

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 Barbara L. Baer

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag, Barbara. 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 am choosing my most recent novel The Ballet Lover and would love to sit down with a cup of tea and this small book coming to life with the excitement, beauty, cruelty of ballet at its most dramatic level.

(Now don’t laugh Barbara, and I know you’d never guess to look at me, but I used to have ballet lessons when I was a little girl. The cruelty for me was that my parents couldn’t afford the shoes so I couldn’t progress to the next level.)

What can we expect from an evening in with The Ballet Lover?

Like myself, my narrating character isn’t a dancer herself but is in love with ballet and the great dancers who she follows as a reviewer. To her dismay and growing anguish, she watches as Rudolf Nureyev mistreats his ballerina, the Russian Natalia Makarova who has just defected to the west.

Geneva, the narrator, finds herself drawn too close to the flame of these fiery stars.

(Sounds intriguing. I think the world of ballet has the potential to lead to all kinds of stories.)

What else have you brought along and why?

May your readers enjoy the warm soothing tea as they follow the mercurial stars of the ballet.

(Tea is ALWAYS on the go in this house Barbara.)

I will bring along a recording of Swan Lake and fast forward to the Black Act when the malign Swan seduces the clueless Prince and the heavens send down thunder. In this scene in The Ballet Lover as it happened on the stage, Nureyev lets Makarova fall, so it’s high drama.

Maybe a glass of sherry to calm the nerves?

(I’ll stick to the tea thanks, Barbara, but you help yourself to the sherry. I prefer mine in a trifle!)

Thanks so much, Barbara, for staying in with me to tell me about The Ballet Lover. Our evening together has rekindled all manner of memories for me.

The Ballet Lover

The Ballet Lover exposes the beauty and cruelty of ballet, the performances, the back stage moments, and the personal dramas of the famous ballet dancers Rudolf Nureyev and Natalia Makarova as seen through the eyes of an American female journalist.

Paris, 1970s: the orchestra plays the first ominous note of Swan Lake. In the audience sits Geneva, an American journalist and ballet lover, waiting for the heart-stopping beauty and seduction of the romantic duet to start, but instead she witnesses Rudolf Nureyev failing to catch his Russian partner Natalia Makarova, allowing her to fall with a crash upon the stage.

Geneva interprets the fall as an act of cruelty, a man with all the fame and power in the world brutally letting fall his delicate, wraith-like artistic partner. When other critics defend Nureyev and accuse Makarova of causing her own tumble, Geneva vows revenge on the page, creating havoc in her own career and discovering surprising parallels between herself and the fallen ballerina.

The Ballet Lover is a refined, mesmerizing, fictional account of two of the most celebrated dancers in the dance world, how one compromised the other, and how the drama on the stage often mirrors those played out in real life.

Published by Open Books, The Ballet Lover is available for purchase through the publisher links and on Amazon.

About Barbara L. Baer

Barbara grew up in California, got her BA and MA at Stanford University before going to South India to teach, study dance, and have experiences unlike anything in her American life. She taught in Madras (now Chennai) and Tashkent, Uzbekistan, then part of the USSR, which gave her the inspiration and voice for her novella, Grisha the Scrivener. After a decade of encounters and adventures, she returned to the US, taught at Dennison University in Granville, Ohio, worked for newspapers, and wrote fiction and travel pieces.

Barbara has lived many years in Sonoma County, California, where she writes, edits and teaches through the county jail program, tends a garden and an orchard of pomegranates and olives, and is active in environmental and political causes. She lives with her husband, Michael Morey, also a writer and bricoleur, jack of all trades, who keeps things going.

You can find Barbara on Twitter @pomegranatebarb and visit her website.

Five Years From Now

My Review of Five Years From Now

After a short break whilst I was on my travels to India in the hope of seeing tigers in the wild, I’m delighted to return to blogging today by spending an evening in with K.S.R Burns who has joined me on Linda’s Book Bag to tell me about one of her novels.

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 K.S.R. Burns

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

Hello Linda! Thanks for the wonderful invitation. I’m happy to be here.

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 brand new novel, Paris Ever After. It’s just released today, May 1, 2018, and is the continuing story and adventures of Amy Brodie, a young woman whose “secret” trip to Paris (the city of her dreams) unexpectedly turned into a life in Paris.

(How exciting. Happy publication day.)

Paris Ever After is actually the follow-on book to my first novel, The Paris Effect, but you don’t have to have read the first book to enjoy the second—it’s “standalone”.

(Actually, I’d like to read them both. Paris has a very special place in my heart. My husband and I had our honeymoon there after a whirlwind romance and marrying within 10 months of meeting. We were poor students and did everything on a shoestring so we celebrated our silver wedding anniversary by returning and doing it all in style. I think both The Paris Effect and Paris Ever After could transport me back again after another 10 years of marriage!)

What can we expect from an evening in with Paris Ever After?

On page one, we find Amy living in Paris. She’s estranged from her husband, living in France illegally, and also—yikes—pregnant. But, amazingly, she’s making it all work. She’s found wonderful friends. She’s found a home. She’s celebrating her thirtieth birthday in the most fabulous fashion possible (in Paris!). But then two unexpected visitors show up. Boom. Before she knows it, Amy is faced with the disappointing prospect of saying au revoir to the new life she’s worked so hard to build. She wants to do the “right thing” (for herself and for her unborn child, Catherine). She just doesn’t know what that “right thing” is.

(This sounds great.)

Kirkus Reviews says Paris Ever After is “an entertaining read for Francophiles, foodies, and romantics.”

Midwest Book Review calls it “touching and engaging.”

Janice MacLeod, NYT-bestselling author of Paris Letters, says that, “Once you begin, it’s difficult to stop.”

(What wonderful endorsements. You must be so proud of Paris Ever After, Karen.)

What else have you brought along and why?

In The Paris Effect, Amy is introduced to French macarons, those adorable, pastel-colored little cakes that have become so popular. Here’s a whole plate of them:

(Gorgeous. You’re my kind of guest. You can come back any time!)

In Paris Ever After, Amy gets seriously into madeleines. This is a not-too-sweet French cake that is great with a cup of tea. Madeleines are quite easy to make and my publishers have even included a recipe for them in the back of the book.

(Am I allowed both? We are celebrating today’s publication of Paris Ever After so I think that’s a good reason to eat French inspired food don’t you?)

Either one of these French treats (or both!) would be perfect to nibble on while reading my Paris books. Or listening to – I should also say that the first book The Paris Effect is now available here in audio format.

(What a wonderful image to go with it too.)

Finally, I know this book will put many readers in the mood to go to Paris and I can’t resist saying, Just go! There is so much beauty there. So much culture. Some of it is well known (the Eiffel Tower). Some of it is more obscure. Here’s a couple photos of me during our last trip. That little street lined with macaron-colored houses is the rue Cremieux. It’s quite unknown and hidden—not even my French friends knew about it. The market photo is from the wonderful Marché d’Aligre.

(That looks so tempting and for those of us who can’t travel to Paris in real life at the moment at least we can get there through your books.)

Thanks so much for staying in with me, Karen, to tell me all about Paris Ever After. I’ve loved revisiting one of my favourite cities and look forward to reading both your books.

Paris Ever After

When Amy loses her best friend, Kat, to cancer, she knows their dream of a secret trip to Paris will never come true. Yet Kat’s words haunt her, urging her to embark on the Paris trip alone and shed the dissatisfaction of her life in Phoenix.

Little by little, Amy, grappling with a failing marriage and struggling with painful childhood memories, lets herself be swayed. Guided by Kat’s bold voice, Amy sneaks off to Paris while her husband is away on a business trip. Once there, however, she finds that her problems have come right along with her.

Through her adventures, laced with luscious descriptions of food and Paris, Amy learns that often in life, love, and friendship, nothing is exactly as it seems. Will Amy choose the life she’s discovered in Paris or decide to revive the one she left behind?

Paris Ever After is published today, 1st May 2018 and is available for purchase through the publisher links here.

About K.S.R. Burns

K. S. R. Burns is the author of Amazon best-seller The Paris Effect (optioned for film and TV by Papazian-Hirsch Entertainment), its standalone sequel Paris Ever After, and The Amazing Adventures Of Working Girl: Real-life Career Advice You Can Actually Use.

K.S.R. Burns has lived and worked in four countries and 22 cities, including Paris. No longer a wanderer, she now resides in the Pacific Northwest, where in addition to novels she writes a weekly career advice column for The Seattle Times.

To find out more you can follow K.S.R. Burns on Twitter @WorkingGirl, and visit her website. You will also find her on Facebook.

As I love gardening (I lead a gardening group and have an allotment) as much as books and travel, I jumped at the chance when Clara Diaz at Little Brown asked me if I would like a copy of The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman in return for an honest review. I had every intention of reading and reviewing this book months ago, but life got the better of me. However, good things come to those who wait and I have finally got round to reading this lovely book.

The Garden of Small Beginnings was published by Sphere, an imprint of Little Brown, on 22nd February 2018 and is available for purchase here.

The Garden of Small Beginnings

Life is about to blossom for Lili

In the three years since her husband died in a car accident, Lili has just about managed to resume her day-to-day life as a single mother and successful illustrator. She can now get her two girls to school, show up to work and watch TV like a pro. But there’s still the small problem of the aching loss she feels inside.

When she’s commissioned to illustrate a series of horticultural books, and signs up to a weekly gardening class, finally her life starts to bloom again.

The class provides Lili with a new network of unexpected friends – friends with their own heartaches and problems – and, maybe, another chance at love . . .

My Review of The Garden of Small Beginnings

Young widow Lili has lost the ability to live for herself as she struggles to come to terms with her grief, juggling work and small children.

What a wonderful book The Garden of Small Beginnings is. I don’t know whether it’s because it is set four years after Dan, Lili’s husband, is killed in a car crash and she is still coming to terms with her loss that is so resonated with me because, in the last four years, my own husband has had two life threatening illnesses of cancer and a mini-stroke, my father has died and our family lost a full term still born child, but I found every word resonated with me on a very personal level.

Although this is a book about coming to terms with grief and the different ways people deal with grief, be it grief after a death, a marriage break up or the loss of a job, The Garden of Small Beginnings is by no means a depressing book. Instead, I found it joyous to read, witty and enormous fun. I found myself laughing aloud and yes, I did shed a small tear occasionally. Abbi Waxman has a fabulous, chatty style so that rather than reading a book I felt Lili’s first person narration was more like catching up with a friend on the phone with each chapter akin to a new conversation.

I loved the illustrations and the growing instructions for the plants. I’d never thought of fruit and veg in anthropomorphic terms, but the aside-like comments made me smile. I certainly will be careful when I move my strawberry bed at my allotment this year as I’d hate to freak them out! I’ve always known that gardening is good for the soul but The Garden of Small Beginnings reinforces that concept perfectly.

Initially I thought I’d find the number of characters confusing, but Abbi Waxman makes them such vibrant and distinctive individuals that I felt I knew each one intimately. I thought the way she uncovered their different aspects, especially with regard to Mike, was so well done. There’s definitely an underlying theme that we never really know others as well as we might think and that we shouldn’t judge other people on first appearances.

With a plot that revolves around a community garden and it gardeners, I really enjoyed reading The Garden of Small Beginnings as it is a touching, funny and uplifting story that made my heart sing. I thoroughly recommend it to brighten your life.

About Abbi Waxman

Abbi Waxman is a chocolate-loving, dog-loving woman, who lives in Los Angeles and lies down as much as possible. She worked in advertising for many years, which is how she learned to write fiction. She has three daughters, three dogs, three cats, and one very patient husband.

You can follow Abbi on Twitter @amplecat. There’s more information on Abbi’s website.