It’s far too long since I last read a Sarah Hilary book and I’m delighted to rectify that by sharing my review of Sarah’s first stand alone novel, Fragile on publication day. My enormous thanks to Hannah Corbett at Macmillan for sending me a copy of Fragile in return for an honest review and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for Fragile.

Fragile is published today, 10th June 2021, by Pan Macmillan and is available for purchase through the links here.

Fragile

Everything she touches breaks . . .

Nell Ballard is a runaway. A former foster child with a dark secret she is desperate to keep, all Nell wants is to find a place she can belong.

So when a job comes up at Starling Villas, home to the enigmatic Robin Wilder, she seizes the opportunity with both hands.

But her new lodgings may not be the safe haven that she was hoping for. Her employer lives by a set of rigid rules and she soon sees that he is hiding secrets of his own.

But is Nell’s arrival at the Villas really the coincidence it seems? After all, she knows more than most how fragile people can be – and how easy they can be to break . . .

My Review of Fragile

Nell is looking for Joe.

When I first began reading Fragile it took me a moment to tune in to a different genre from Sarah Hilary, but within a very few pages I was utterly mesmerised, drawn into a narrative that is, at times, achingly beautifully written, so that reading it is almost as unbearable and affecting as the emotions Nell feels. I thought Fragile was superb because it’s multi-layered, creepy, intense and so compelling that I found myself thinking about it and trying to predict what might happen at times when I wasn’t actually reading it.

The prose in Fragile is intense, gorgeously written and such a swirling maelstrom of psychological insight that I felt almost physically affected by its impact. Sarah Hilary places her reader into the very bloodstream of her characters making them experience the same events and emotions as do Nell and Meagan, in particular, with razor sharp clarity. The intensity of the relationship between Nell and Joe could not be more perfectly conveyed. Very often, this effect is achieved through the senses of taste and smell in a thoroughly unusual and captivating manner.

Sarah Hilary’s plot seduces her reader completely because reality and self-deception are so closely aligned it is impossible to know quite whom to trust. Nell, for example, is simultaneously unreliable, and yet totally truthful, so that her first person narrative had my brain reeling. I found myself as lost and trapped in Fragile as any of the characters. In essence the plot is relatively simple – Nell becomes a housekeeper – but my goodness to say that is to belie a fascinating narrative of truly manipulative, controlling and scarily realistic people. Each character deserves the contempt and horror of any rational reader and yet each one is so fragile, so human and so believable that I found myself empathising and supporting them even in their most dubious or heinous actions.

It’s the themes of hatred and love, obsession and control, loyalty and deception that add such a spellbinding dimension. Sarah Hilary takes the dark human potential that resides in us all in Fragile and shows us not just what her characters can do, but holds up a mirror like the one in Robin’s room, to illustrate to us just how evil a potential we may have. I have no idea if the resonances were deliberate, but I also found myself reminded of Macbeth, of Tess of the D’Urbervilles, of The Lotus Eaters all of which added to my enjoyment too. This makes Fragile unsettling, compulsive and affecting.

I’m conscious that I haven’t really said much about the plot as I don’t want to spoil the story for others, but Fragile is a book that almost inveigles itself into the reader’s psyche. Sarah Hilary has a spellbinding ability to create an almost dreamlike atmosphere that leaves her reader feeling as drugged as Joe might be.

I thought Fragile was truly excellent. It enveloped me so that I was spellbound throughout. Just brilliant.

About Sarah Hilary

Sarah Hilary’s debut Someone Else’s Skin won the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year, was a Richard & Judy Book Club pick and The Observer’s Book of the Month. In the US, it was a Silver Falchion and Macavity Award finalist. No Other Darkness, the second in the series, was shortlisted for a Barry Award. The sixth in her DI Marnie Rome series Never Be Broken is out now. Her short stories have won the Cheshire Prize for Literature, the Fish Criminally Short Histories Prize, and the SENSE prize. Fragile is her first standalone novel.

Sarah is one of the Killer Women, a crime writing collective supporting diversity, innovation and inclusion in their industry.

For more information, follow Sarah on Twitter @Sarah_Hilary, find her on Facebook and Instagram or visit her website.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

My enormous thanks to Tim Walker for sending me a copy of his latest book Guardians at the Wall in return for an honest review. I’m really looking forward to reading it as soon as I can. Today, however, I’m delighted to be able to share an extract from Guardians at the Wall with you.

Tim Walker has featured frequently on Linda’s Book Bag; and most recently we stayed in together to chat all about his book, Arthur Rex Brittonum, in a post you can read here.

Tim also introduced PERVERSE – a collection of short prose and verse, sharing a poem with us in a post you can see here.

It was my pleasure to share an extract from Arthur Dux Bellorum here and Tim has introduced his book Uther’s Destiny in a post you can see here, as well as previously writing a fabulous guest post about fiction and fear when the second book in his A Light in the Dark Ages series, Ambrosius: Last of the Romans, was published, and you can read that post here.

Guardians at the Wall

A group of archaeology students in northern England scrape at the soil near Hadrian’s Wall, once a barrier that divided Roman Britannia from wild Caledonian tribes.

Twenty-year-old Noah makes an intriguing find, but hasn’t anticipated becoming the object of desire in a developing love triangle in the isolated academic community at Vindolanda. He is living his best life, but must learn to prioritise in a race against time to solve an astounding ancient riddle, and an artefact theft, as he comes to realise his future career prospects depend on it.

In the same place, 1,800 years earlier, Commander of the Watch, Centurion Gaius Atticianus, hungover and unaware of the bloody conflicts that will soon challenge him, is rattled by the hoot of an owl, a bad omen.

These are the protagonists whose lives brush together in the alternating strands of this dual timeline historical novel, one trying to get himself noticed and the other trying to stay intact as he approaches retirement.

How will the breathless battles fought by a Roman officer influence the fortunes of a twenty-first century archaeology dirt rat? Can naive Noah, distracted by his gaming mates and the attentions of two very different women, work out who to trust?

Find out in Tim Walker’s thrilling historical dual timeline novel, Guardians at the Wall.

An extract from Guardians at the Wall

Student and Tutor Meeting

[archaeology student, Noah, visits the Head of Archaeology for her opinion on his find]

I skirted around the two-storey sandstone building and ducked through a doorway into a well-lit reception area and stood before Mavis, the marketing assistant.

“Hi Mavis, is Maggie in?” I chirped, picking up the latest issue of Archaeology Magazine. Professor Maggie Wilde was pictured on the cover, standing on the battlements of the reconstructed section of wall, gazing northwards towards the unconquered barbarians. She was already a celebrity archaeologist and would have made the perfect foil for Harrison Ford’s movie character, Indiana Jones, with her wild, windswept strawberry blonde hair framing a striking face with cute freckles across her nose, and twinkling pale blue eyes. Her glossy lips suggested she knew the value of a warm smile or pout in a room full of men. ‘It’s like fancying your mum’s friend’, Dave had once remarked.

“She’s on a conference call to the States. Wait if you like, she’ll be finished soon,” Mavis replied, in a cultured Edinburgh accent. Posh Scottish.

“She’s the pin-up girl of British archaeology,” I quipped, flashing the magazine cover.

“I don’t know what she uses to keep her skin so flawless,” Mavis sighed.

“Perhaps she discovered an ancient potion?” I offered, flicking through the pages to the article. I had been hovering around when the photographer had taken her photos that day – maybe I was in the background of one of the pictures? I sat and read. ‘Hadrian’s Wall Gives Up Its Secrets’, the headline declared. The Vindolanda reading tablets were described as, ‘the find of the century.’ My broad idea for my dissertation was for it to be based on translations from some of the tablets – those that related to the lives and living conditions of the soldiers garrisoned at Vindolanda and other forts in the early years of Hadrian’s Wall. I had been cropped out of the photos.

“They couldn’t have been more excited if they’d discovered Moses’s tablets,” I quipped.

“You can go in now,” Mavis said, her voice dragging me away from the article. I had read half of it, and resolved to return to it when I came out.

Professor Maggie Wilde’s room was bigger than the reception area, with two walls given over to floor-to-ceiling book shelves – one with books and the other with boxes of academic reports and maps. No doubt Mavis had labelled and sorted them, as Maggie gave the air of being disorganised. She was an anomaly – a successful career academic who reputedly hated being tied down to boring tasks, like report-writing, collating documents, copying and filing; a creative free-thinker who was skilled at persuading others to unburden her of boring or repetitive tasks. She held two positions – Head of Archaeology at the Trust, and part-time Archaeology Professor at Newcastle University.

“Ah, Noah, come in. Just move those over there and sit,” she said, pointing to a couch piled high with maps and printouts. I moved the items and sat, twiddling my thumbs, watching the crown of her ginger head, waiting until she looked up. I had literally bumped into her at the student placement reception a few days earlier, and she had welcomed me with a firm handshake. I had blurted that I’d seen her Hadrian’s Wall documentary on television, feeling like a needy fan as soon as I’d said it. She had smiled and asked me what I hoped to achieve during my placement and listened intently, planting her stylish heels as if she had nowhere else to go, a strange thing in a room where people were mingling in groups. I was grateful for her full attention and pleased when she invited me to call on her expertise any time.

“If it’s a bad time I can come back?” I offered.

“There never seems to be a good time, so now will do,” she said, removing her reading glasses and fixing me with a warm and welcoming smile. “I’ve just had a two-hour conference call with members of the US Archaeological Society, so I could do with a distraction.” She leaned forward and picked up the marble figure Mike had brought to her hours earlier. He must have thoroughly cleaned and polished it before presenting it to her.

“I just wanted to hear what your thoughts are on that little lady,” I said. “Do you think she’s a female deity?”

She turned it over in her slender fingers and her shoulders twitched. “Ooh, I felt a slight shock, like static on a jumper,” she said, placing it gently on her blotter. “Yes, most likely female, judging by the full-length robe. The slight tummy bump suggests she might be pregnant, so perhaps a fertility symbol. I’ll send it to the curator at the Hancock Museum for her opinion. She’ll give me a better idea of where it fits into the Brigantes’ belief system. Some of their gods were twinned with Roman deities as the polytheistic Romans were keen to encourage local worship in their temples. Once we know roughly how old it is, we can look for other carvings or figures from that period and make a guess as to which deity it is. I agree with Mike; it could be a goddess whom the household would supplicate for good fortune, fertility or protection from evil spirits. Come and sit in the chair.”

*****

[At the same location in the year 180 CE, Roman centurion, Gaius Atticianus returns home after a fractious meeting to be confronted by his wife, Aria]

He entered his courtyard in a state of shock to be met by Aria, legs apart in her combative stance, holding the Brigantia effigy in one hand, a look of anger in her eyes.

“What do you mean by sending Paulinus to give me this carving of the local goddess, Brigantia? You know full well that we have a shrine to the water goddess of my people, Sulis, who is twinned with your goddess Minerva, and is the deity who watches over this house and our family! Have you forgotten the time our prayers and the healing waters of Sulis restored our little Brutus when he had the sweating fever?”

“Sulis be praised. But my love, it was a gift from the wife of my scout whom we saved from despoilment and murder,” Gaius replied in his well-practised conciliatory tone. She had resurrected the unhappy memory of his fears that his little son would succumb to the same fever that had robbed him of his first family.

“Then you have kept your promise and delivered it to me. But it cannot remain here, or our own goddess will desert us. You shall not see it again and do not ask me about it.” Gaius knew not to argue further when her temper was raised. She looked both magnificent and terrifying when her red mane was raised and her crystal eyes turned icy with rage. But like the storms of Britannia, it would soon blow out and she would be his sweet Aria again.

“You are wise, as always, my love,” he whispered, now more eager than ever to soak his weary bones and clear his troubled mind. He would withhold his bad news from her and mull it over. Gaius skirted around her and went to the kitchen to seek out Longinus to make preparations for his bath. He would be up at dawn to prepare once again for battle with the Caledonii, or to lead a guard to Coria with their wives, cohort valuables, and the report blaming him for the attack. But that was tomorrow. Tonight, he would eat with his family and sleep in the arms of his beloved Aria.

****

Now doesn’t that sound perfect for lovers of historical fiction and dual time lines?

About Tim Walker

Tim Walker is an independent author living near Windsor in the UK. He grew up in Liverpool where he began his working life as a trainee reporter on a local newspaper. After attaining a degree in Communication Studies he moved to London where he worked in the newspaper publishing industry for ten years before relocating to Zambia where, following a period of voluntary work with VSO, he set up his own marketing and publishing business. He returned to the UK in 2009.

His creative writing journey began in earnest in 2013, as a therapeutic activity whilst recovering from cancer treatment. He began writing an historical fiction series, A Light in the Dark Ages, in 2014, inspired by a visit to the part-excavated site of a former Roman town. The series connects the end of Roman Britain to elements of the Arthurian legend and is inspired by historical source material, presenting an imagined history of Britain in the fifth and early sixth centuries.

The last book in the series, Arthur, Rex Brittonum, was published in June 2020. This is a re-imagining of the story of King Arthur and follows on from 2019’s Arthur Dux Bellorum. Both titles are Coffee Pot Book Club recommended reads. The series starts with Abandoned (second edition, 2018); followed by Ambrosius: Last of the Romans (2017); and book three, Uther’s Destiny (2018). Series book covers are designed by Canadian graphic artist, Cathy Walker.

Tim has also written three books of short stories, Thames Valley Tales (2015), Postcards from London (2017) and Perverse (2020); a dystopian thriller, Devil Gate Dawn (2016); and three children’s books, co-authored with his daughter, Cathy – The Adventures of Charly Holmes (2017), Charly & the Superheroes (2018) and Charly in Space (2020).

To find out more you can visit Tim’s website.  You can follow Tim on Twitter @timwalker1666 and you’ll find him on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon and Facebook.

My enormous thanks to Alison Menzies for sending me a copy of The Heeding by Rob Cowen with illustrations by Nick Hayes in return for an honest review. I’m thrilled to share that review today.

The Heeding will be published on 17th June by Elliott and Thompson and is available for pre-order here.

The Heeding

The world changed in 2020. Gradually at first, then quickly and irreversibly, the patterns by which we once lived altered completely.

The Heeding paints a picture of a year caught in the grip of history, yet filled with revelatory perspectives close at hand: a sparrowhawk hunting in a back street; the moon over a town with a loved-one’s hand held tight; butterflies massing in a high-summer yard – the everyday wonders and memories that shape a life and help us recall our own.

Across four seasons and thirty-five luminous poems and illustrations, Rob Cowen and Nick Hayes lead us on a journey that takes its markers and signs from nature and a world filled with fear and pain but beauty and wonder too. Collecting birds, animals, trees and people together, The Heeding is a profound meditation to a time no-one will forget.

At its heart, this is a book that helps us look again, to heed: to be attentive to this world we share and this history we’re living through, to be aware of how valuable and fragile we are, to grieve what’s lost and to hope for a better and brighter tomorrow.

My Review of The Heeding

A collection of thirty-five poems with illustrations.

I’m slightly at a loss to know how to review The Heeding. I found it such an affecting book that I’m unsure any review I might attempt can do it justice.

Redolent of great literary traditions, Rob Cowen’s poems made me think of such luminaries as Gerard Manley Hopkins (especially The Windhover) of Thomas Hardy’s The Darkling Thrush, of Seamus Heaney, and of John Donne’s For Whom the Bell Tolls because the quality of the writing is so superb. And yet Rob Cowen builds on those literary traditions, techniques and allusions, and makes them fresh, modern and absolutely perfect for the year 2020 he is describing, through a richness of language that is breath-taking. There is nothing derivative here, but rather an absolutely personal, and simultaneously universal, exploration of our modern world. There’s no shying away from the events of 2020 with references, for example, to the Black Lives Matter movement, through social distancing and the national interest in gardening, to the impact of the pandemic on South Asian people. I thought The Heeding was exceptional because reading it helped me make sense of the year we’ve lived through.

There are so many images and motifs of death whether they occur through Covid, war, nature or accident that The Heeding ought to be a depressing collection but it is far from it. Rob Cowen explores death’s effect by ultimately uplifting the reader, reminding them of human connection, of nature’s fortitude and of how we can endure even in the most difficult of times. His poetry illustrates how we can heed the world around us in the three ways outlined at the beginning of the collection; by observation, by taking care and by protecting. The Heeding isn’t simply a collection of wonderfully evocative poems, but it is a guide to readers on how to reconnect with the natural world, with our emotions and to be more mindful and observant. I felt that in reading The Heeding I’d been given the gift of relearning simply how to be, that I had lost over 2020.

A whole gamut of emotion underpins every single syllable so that each poem in The Heeding is an affecting reading experience. Rob Cowen presents rage, anger, relief, grief, despair, joy and hope in a beautifully written maelstrom I found mesmerising. For example, the last line of The Lovers made me chuckle aloud and the final line of Last Breaths made me weep but I was totally undone by Pharmacy Cake. Ironically, because each of those poems has humans at its heart, it was the iterative motif of nature in so many of the other poems that I found so effective. I loved the innovative compound adjectives such as those in Starling. I loved the sometimes tricky punctuation that exemplified the poet’s problematic feelings. I loved the italicised speech that made me hear the voices. The Heeding rewards rereading time after time because so much thought has gone in to the selection of each beautifully crafted phrase that there is new meaning to be found each time. Quite frankly I am astounded by Rob Cowen’s writing.

Aside from the incredible quality of Rob Cowen’s writing, Nick Hayes’ stark impactful black and white illustrations bring the whole collection in The Heeding into sharp focus. The images enhance the reader’s understanding and deepen the enjoyment in, and appreciation of, the poems. Because the pictures have a traditional woodcut appearance they also deepen the sense of value in this collection, giving the impression that life and skill can persist even in the darkest of times. The pictures manage to be both brooding and dramatic whilst also feeling sensitive and tender.

Searing, profound and visceral, The Heeding is an important, raw and moving collection I won’t forget or be parted from. I absolutely adored it. It’s one of my books of the year.

****

Alison Menzies at Elliott and Thompson kindly gave me one of the fabulous illustrations to share too:

About Rob Cowen

Rob Cowen is an award-winning writer, hailed as one of the UK’s most original voices on nature and place. His book, Common Ground (PRH; 2015) was shortlisted for the Portico, Richard Jefferies Society and Wainwright Prizes and voted one of the nation’s favourite nature books on BBC Winterwatch. His poems have featured on Caught By The River and in Letters to the Earth (Harper Collins). He lives in North Yorkshire.

You can follow Rob on Twitter @robbiecowen and find out more on his website. You’ll also find Rob on Instagram.

About Nick Hayes

Nick Hayes is a writer, illustrator and print-maker. He is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller, The Book of Trespass (Bloomsbury; 2020). He has published graphic novels with Jonathan Cape and worked for many renowned titles. He has exhibited across the country, including at the Hayward Gallery. He lives on the Kennet and Avon canal.

You can follow Nick on Twitter @nickhayesillus1 and find him on Instagram. You’ll find examples of his illustrations in his online shop.

I have loved everything I’ve ever read by Katie Marsh so when Emma Knight at Hodder sent me a copy of Unbreak Your Heart I was thrilled. I chose Unbreak Your Heart as a ‘hot book’ at a recent online discussion with fellow bloggers Tracy Fenton, Jo Robertson and Anne Cater and have been saving it up to read as a treat. Having recently been away with no phone signal or wi-fi, affording me some extra reading time, finally I have my review to share.

It is far too long since I’ve featured Katie here on Linda’s Book Bag. Last time I was reviewing The Rest of Me in a post you’ll find here. I reviewed My Everything here when I first began blogging (and how the blog has changed since then!). I have a review of A Life Without You here and of This Beautiful Life here which was also one of my books of the year in 2017.

In addition, I was thrilled to host a guest post here by Katie all about the playlists of her life when This Beautiful Life was published and honoured to attend the book’s launch.

Unbreak Your Heart was published by Hodder on 27th May 2021 and is available for purchase through these links.

Unbreak Your Heart

Seven-year-old Jake’s heart is failing and he doesn’t want to leave his dad, Simon, alone. So he makes a decision: to find Simon someone to love before he goes.

Beth is determined to forget the past. But even when she leaves New York to start afresh in a Lake District village, she can’t shake the secrets that haunt her.

Single dad Simon still holds a candle for the woman who left him years ago. Every day is a struggle to earn a living while caring for his beloved son. He has no time for finding someone new.

But Jake is determined his plan will succeed – and what unfolds will change all three of them forever.

My Review of Unbreak Your Heart

Beth needs a new start.

It’s going to be tricky to convey just how much I loved Unbreak Your Heart. I know Katie Marsh is a fantastic author but here she has surpassed herself, creating a wonderful narrative that I not only adored, but feel privileged to have read.

Let me be honest. Generally I do not like children and I’m not remotely interested in them. Consequently, it is indicative of Katie Marsh’s glorious, mesmerising, writing that I could not have cared more about Jake, finding him endearing, moving and captivating. I desperately wanted him to thrive, to have his physical heart unbroken and to be successful in finding his Dad, Simon, a new girlfriend. Jake felt so real to me that I might even have to alter my anti-children attitude!

The relatively small cast of characters creates a real intimacy in this narrative, making Unbreak Your Heart all the more intense and emotional. Beth’s story is gradually uncovered so that the reader gets to know it at the same time as others in the narrative. She needs her emotional heart, and indeed her spirit, unbreaking. This careful unfolding had the effect of making me feel part of the action and I loved the book all the more for it. I wanted Beth to be the woman Jake is so hoping for for Simon, but you’ll need to read Unbreak Your Heart to see if she is. I also loved the development of Simon in the text. What Katie Marsh does so skilfully is to illustrate how initial impressions may not always give us the real person, and their behaviours might be masking underlying pain.

Such a theme of inner reality is just one of the aspects of Unbreak Your Heart that makes it so wonderful. Certainly Katie Marsh writes about love and relationships, friendship and family, but this book is predicated on a life-threatening medical condition that is so well researched that I found it almost unbearably convincing and authentic. Jake’s story broke my heart every bit as much as it did the others in the book. That said, there’s real humour here as well as exquisite pain so that Unbreak Your Heart is perfectly balanced and entertaining, as well as captivating and moving. What is so brilliant is that this could actually be the story of any one of us. Much of the plot is based in fairly ordinary, everyday events, so that any reader can identify with what happens to the characters, making for a truly immersive read.

I adored Unbreak Your Heart. It made me laugh and it made me cry. I had had high hopes of Unbreak Your Heart and Katie Marsh fulfilled and surpassed every single one. This is a book I won’t forget in a hurry. I absolutely loved it.

About Katie Marsh

Katie Marsh had a ten-year NHS career before leaving to write full-time. She lives in the countryside with her family, and is the author of four novels, including the 2018 World Book Night pick My Everything and the e-book bestseller A Life Without You. She loves strong coffee, the promise of a blank page and stealing her husband’s toast.

You can follow Katie on Twitter @marshisms, visit her website and find her on Instagram and Facebook.

It’s always a real pleasure to discover new to me authors and books and so I am delighted to welcome Peter Scholes to Linda’s Book Bag today to stay in with me and tell me about his second novel.

Staying in with Peter Scholes

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Peter and thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.

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

I have brought along my second novel, Once Upon A Time There Was A Man.

We have had a year of upheaval, sadness and uncertainty. I wanted to share something to help bring that feel-good factor back. Something that will make you collapse in the chair with a smile on your face and a tear of happiness trickling down your cheek afterwards and just think, “Wow!”

That sounds EXACTLY what we need. I love that cover too Peter – makes the man seem universal. What can we expect from an evening in with Once Upon A Time There Was A Man?

The book blurb is brief on purpose. I suppose the mystery starts with the blurb. The plot follows the antics of a rather self-centred but arrogant young private investigator who records his case findings in his trusted diary. His routine cases fill his days and his bank account and then, one day, he receives a letter asking him to find a man.

What follows is the pursuit of quite an extraordinary individual. The book is about love, relationships, friendships and sheer determination. I have been quite overwhelmed by the reviews so far. To know the book has had such an effect on so many people has been quite humbling.

I certainly love the concept and what you’ve told me so far Peter. How does it make you feel?

To know your book is being read and enjoyed is worth far more than royalties. In fact, I have given away more than I have sold via email to anyone who requested a copy. An example of one such review was:

“I don’t know where to start, firstly I need to clear away the tears streaming down my cheeks, never have I read such a moving and inspirational story as this. If only there were more Ernie Grimshaws in this world, it would certainly be a wonderful place. I will recommend this book to all my friends as it is a heart-wrenching tale of heartache and sheer determination but so heart-warming. A definite 5 out of 5.”

How wonderful. That’s really made me want to get Once Upon A Time There Was A Man onto my TBR as soon as I can.

As well as that glowing review, what else have you brought along and why have you brought it?

I have brought along Paul Brunskill’s diaries, a comfy armchair to place in front of a log fire, a strong cup of coffee and a box of tissues. I would also bring along a photo album of every person who has ‘starred’ in the book – alive or alas not. If possible, I would like to invite Ernie along too just to shake the man by the hand and offer him a huge ‘thank you’.

Well thank you, Peter, for staying in with me and telling me about Once Upon A Time There Was A Man as I think it sounds fabulous. I’ll just give blog readers a few more details:

Once Upon A Time There Was A Man

Private investigating should be an exciting, interesting career, but for Paul Brunskill it was pretty mundane work. When a letter arrived seeking his expertise to help find a man it looked like more of the same. But this was no ordinary man. The job was to take him on a mission like none he had ever embarked on before…

Published by Bruntonwood on 11th December 2020, Once Upon A Time There Was A Man is available for purchase here.

About Peter Scholes

As a primary school teacher by day and a single parent the rest of the time, it is a wonder Peter manages to find any writing time at all, but he does, and when he does he gets lost in his own little world and that is a lovely place to be. Peter’s first novel, Conscience was completed about ten years ago and sat in a box under the bed waiting for him to share it with the world. He eventually got around to it and discovered Amazon’s self publishing. From that point, there was no stopping him. Peter has also managed to upload his series of children’s books (the Beyond The Hill series), write educational resources for schools and also complete poems, plays and screenplays which are all ready to be snapped up by an agent or publisher should he or she ever feel inclined. They wouldn’t regret it.

For more information, follow Peter on Twitter @scholes_peter. You’ll also find him on Facebook.

If, like me, you follow Claire Dyer, you may have seen some teasers on social media over the last couple of weeks for an exciting new book. Today, I’m thrilled to give you the full cover and details.

I can’t believe it’s three years since I interviewed Claire Dyer about her novel The Last Day and reviewed it here on Linda’s Book Bag. More recently, I read and adored Claire Dyer’s poetry collection Yield that I reviewed here, and so it gives me enormous pleasure to help launch Claire’s latest writing The Significant Others of Odie May. The Significant Others of Odie May is Claire’s first crime fiction with a touch of magical realism and I simply cannot wait to read it.

The Significant Others of Odie May will be published by Matador on 28th July 2021 and is available for pre-order here.

The Significant Others of Odie May

Any one of them could have murdered her… but who did?

On the night Odie May and her married lover are due to celebrate him leaving his wife, Odie goes out to buy a bottle of his favourite wine and, on her way home, is murdered by a woman in a lime green coat.

The next thing Odie knows is that she’s in a waiting room and there’s a man called Carl Draper saying he’s her Initial Contact. He is carrying a clipboard and invites her into an interview room.

Over the course of her interview, Carl and Odie track back to the significant others in her life to date to try and work out where she’s gone wrong, who might have killed her, and why.

In the meantime, Carl also shows Odie what’s happening in the life she’s left behind as her mother and her lover, Michael, learn of her death and manage the tricky days that follow it.

But nothing is as simple as it seems. Although Carl has it in his power to return Odie to the moment before she was killed, this comes at a price she may not be able to pay.

***

Now, doesn’t that sound just brilliant?

About Claire Dyer

Claire Dyer’s novels The Moment and The Perfect Affair, and her short story, Falling For Gatsby, are published by Quercus. The Last Day is published by The Dome Press.

Her poetry collections, Interference Effects, Eleven Rooms and Yield are published by Two Rivers Press. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London and teaches creative writing.

She also runs Fresh Eyes, an editorial and critiquing service.

You can follow Claire on Twitter @ClaireDyer1 and visit her website. You’ll also find Claire on Facebook and Instagram.

The world was a very different place when I met Roz Morris for afternoon tea at a book launch in London almost two years ago. Today I am delighted to share my review of Roz’s latest book, Ever Rest. My enormous thanks to Roz for sending me a copy of Ever Rest in return for an honest review.

Published yesterday, 3rd June 2021, Ever Rest is available for purchase in all the usual places including here.

Ever Rest

Twenty years ago, Hugo and Ash were on top of the world. As the acclaimed rock band Ashbirds they were poised for superstardom. Then Ash went missing, lost in a mountaineering accident, and the lives of Hugo and everyone around him were changed forever. Irrepressible, infuriating, mesmerizing Ash left a hole they could never hope to fill.

Two decades on, Ash’s fiancée Elza is still struggling to move on, her private grief outshone by the glare of publicity. The loss of such a rock icon is a worldwide tragedy. Hugo is now a recluse in Nepal, shunning his old life. Robert, an ambitious session player, feels himself both blessed and cursed by his brief time with Ashbirds, unable to achieve recognition in his own right.

While the Ashbirds legend burns brighter than ever, Elza, Hugo and Robert are as stranded as if they were the ones lost in the ice. How far must they go to come back to life?

My Review of Ever Rest

The repercussions of Ash’s disappearance 20 years ago continue.

I had absolutely no idea what kind of book I was about to read when I picked up Ever Rest, but I hadn’t expected such an intense, beautifully crafted work of literary fiction. There’s a smooth sophistication to Roz Morris writing that makes for a really pleasurable read, especially when it’s coupled with natural dialogue and a variety of sentences where exposition and description are perfectly balanced. Ever Rest feels like a book of real quality. There’s a quietness somehow, that belies the intensity of emotion presented that I found quite mesmerising. Similarly, the description is frequently poetic but never self-conscious so that I had a truly striking image in my mind’s eye as I read.

About Roz Morris

Roz Morris writes fiction and essays about unusual ways we can be haunted and how we seek people and places we belong with. Her work has been profiled by The Guardian, Literature Works, the Potomac Review, Rain Taxi and BBC Radio. Her novel Lifeform Three was longlisted for the World Fantasy Award.

Her fiction has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide, although you won’t have seen her name on the covers – she began her career in secret, ghostwriting fiction for big-name authors.

Her own novels have been described as ‘profound tales and compelling page-turners’, with fine-honed language, unforgettable characters, and gripping, unusual storylines. Plaudits include a top-ranked title in the American Library Journal programme, a longlisting for an international award alongside Neil Gaiman and a finalist position in the People’s Book Prize 2017.

She is a writer, journalist, fiction editor and the author of the Nail Your Novel series for writers. She teaches creative writing masterclasses for The Guardian newspaper in London and is also the author of a series for writers – Nail Your Novel.

For more information, visit Roz’s website, follow her on Twitter @Roz_Morris and find her on Facebook and Instagram.

Regular Linda’s Book Bag readers will know just how much I enjoy M.W. Craven’s writing. Consequently, I was thrilled to receive a copy of Dead Ground, the fourth book in the Washington Poe series from lovely Beth Wright at Little Brown in return for an honest review.

When I say that the first two of M. W. Craven’s books in the series were on my books of the year list (here) in 2019 and the third a book of the year in 2020, you’ll understand how delighted I am to share my review of Dead Ground today.  You can read my review of The Puppet Show here, of Black Summer here and of The Curator here.

Published by Little Brown imprint Constable on 3rd June 2021, Dead Ground is available for purchase through these links.

Dead Ground

Detective Sergeant Washington Poe is in court, fighting eviction from his beloved and isolated croft, when he is summoned to a backstreet brothel in Carlisle where a man has been beaten to death with a baseball bat. Poe is confused – he hunts serial killers and this appears to be a straightforward murder-by-pimp – but his attendance was requested personally, by the kind of people who prefer to remain in the shadows.

As Poe and the socially awkward programmer Tilly Bradshaw delve deeper into the case, they are faced with seemingly unanswerable questions: despite being heavily vetted for a high-profile job, why does nothing in the victim’s background check out? Why was a small ornament left at the murder scene – and why did someone on the investigation team steal it? And what is the connection to a flawlessly executed bank heist three years earlier, a heist where nothing was taken . . .

My Review of Dead Ground

Poe’s in trouble again.

Now, I rarely read a book series because I have so many books awaiting my attention that I don’t want to be tied in to one author. However, not only do I make an exception for M.W. Craven, I think I’d probably walk over hot coals to get my hands on his latest book. This time, Dead Ground, the latest in the Washington Poe series, convinces me that Craven is one of the most brilliant story tellers around. Dead Ground is an absolute corker.

Dead Ground opens with a dramatic, if seemingly unconnected scene to the ensuing narrative, that ensnares the reader from the very first moment. As Tilly and Poe find themselves involved in an unconventional murder, the threads of the story interweave in a thrilling and dynamic manner that makes me wonder just how devious this author’s own mind really is. I found Dead Ground plunged me into a world of conspiracies, drama and events that I found convincing, disturbing and utterly mesmerising. As usual with M.W. Craven, short, fast paced chapters with tantalising cliff hangers imbued with humour, drama and some deliberate obfuscation mean that it is impossible not to read on. Obviously I can’t say too much about the plot for fear of spoiling the read for others, but it is breakneck and exciting.

The relationship between Poe and Tilly is pitch perfect for those who’ve read the whole series, settling into familiar patterns, but M.W. Craven ensures anyone coming to the series afresh can understand and appreciate it easily because of the throw away asides to new or returning characters. This is such skilled writing. What I always find unsettling is the world Tilly inhabits. She makes me question my own online habits so that whilst reading Dead Ground is glorious entertainment, it does raise questions for the reader about their own behaviour too, making it educational as well as thrilling.

Beware if you pick up a book by M.W. Craven. Your life will no longer belong to you. He will hold you spellbound until you’ve read every brilliantly crafted word. He is, without question, one of the most captivating crime writers around and Dead Ground is a fantastic addition to the Washington Poe Tilly Bradshaw series. I thought it was fabulous.

About M.W. Craven

M. W. Craven was born in Carlisle but grew up in Newcastle, returning after 31 years to take up a probation officer position in Whitehaven, eventually working his way up to chief officer grade. Sixteen years later he took the plunge, accepted redundancy and became a full-time author. He now has entirely different motivations for trying to get inside the minds of criminals. His first novel featuring Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw, The Puppet Show, was published by Constable to huge acclaim, and won the 2019 CWA Gold Dagger Award.

M. W. Craven lives in Carlisle with his wife, Joanne. When he isn’t out with his springer spaniel, or talking nonsense in the pub, he can usually be found at punk gigs and writing festivals up and down the country.

You can follow M.W. Craven on Twitter @MWCravenUK and visit his website for more information or find him on Facebook and Instagram.

My enormous thanks to the lovely Isabelle Broom for sending me a much desired proof of her latest novel The Getaway in return for an honest review. Regular Linda’s Book Bag readers know just how much I adore Isabelle’s writing and I’m thrilled to share my review of The Getaway today. I was thrilled to interview Isabelle for the Deepings Literary Festival Easter offer back in April too.

Isabelle Broom has featured here on the blog so many times and you can find the following posts:

I ‘stayed in’ with Isabelle here to celebrate Hello, Again and I reviewed the book here

I have interviewed Isabelle more fully here.

I’ve also reviewed Isabelle’s book One Winter Morning here, My Map of You here, A Year and a Day here and The Place We Met here. One Thousand Stars and You is still looking at me from the shelf above my head!

Published by Hodder and Stoughton on 10th June 2021, The Getaway is available for purchase through the links here.

The Getaway

Most people travel to Croatia for its endless sunshine, pebbly beaches and crystal clear sea.

Kate goes there to disappear.

She needs to escape from a life that has fallen apart in spectacular and public fashion, and no one on the beautiful island of Hvar knows who she is or what she’s running away from.

Until she meets another lonely soul.

Alex is different to any man Kate has ever known, yet the connection between them is undeniable. She soon begins to open up in ways she never has before – not even to herself. But Kate is not the only person in Hvar hiding secrets. And, as she is about to discover, it is always only a matter of time before the truth catches up with you . . .

My Review of The Getaway

Kate’s life is a mess.

It’s no exaggeration to say I inhaled The Getaway greedily, putting life on hold until I had savoured every word. I adored it and could simply not tear myself away. The Getaway has everything for the most wonderful immersive, escapist read. Certainly it fits its genre to perfection and I was expecting romance and a positive resolution, but Isabelle Broom writes with such grace and beauty that there is an added dimension of enjoyment that is so satisfying. Her descriptions of places are perfect. Having been to Hvar I recognised some of the settings because they are so vividly and accurately described. Reading The Getaway is a true feast for the senses with everything from the sound of cicadas, to the sight of salt crystals on eyelashes, so that it feels like being plunged into the most idyllic world.

Aside from the accurate and evocative descriptions, however, there are wonderful, rounded characters who garner strong reactions in the reader. With a relatively small cast, I felt I got to know the people of The Getaway intimately, especially Kate and Alex, to the extent that their experiences, emotions and actions felt as convincing to me as if they were my own. I can’t imagine any reader not recognising at least one of Kate’s traits, desires or hurts and empathising with them. As an aside, I loved too the fact that she wears glasses. So few heroines are presented this way so that she felt all the more tangible to me.

As might be expected, from Isabelle Broom, relationships form the backbone of the plot, with familial, romantic and business partnerships presented fully. I adored watching the relationship between Kate and Alex unfold because not only was it romantic, it felt utterly believable. At one point I thought I was going to have to climb into The Getaway and perform a somewhat unpleasant physical action upon James!

However, wonderful settings, fabulous, entertaining, romantic plot and vivid characters aside, The Getaway is so much more. It’s difficult to say much about themes without spoiling the story, but The Getaway illustrates how we are affected by others, how our lives are what we make of them, how we cannot expect others to define us and how we shouldn’t just accept it when they do. Isabelle Broom explores identity, secrets, self-confidence and mental health in a subtle, clever and sensitively constructed manner so that not only did I want to hold and comfort her characters, I felt the need to give the author a hug too. The Getaway thrums with humanity and understanding in a manner I found extremely affecting.

I’ve thought hard about how to sum up The Getaway but it is, quite simply, gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. I loved The Getaway unreservedly and it’s one of my favourite reads this year. Don’t miss it.

About Isabelle Broom

Isabelle Broom was born in Cambridge nine days before the 1980s began and studied Media Arts in London before a 12-year stint at Heat magazine. Always happiest when she is off on an adventure, Isabelle now travels all over the world seeking out settings for her escapist fiction novels, as well as making the annual pilgrimage to her second home – the Greek island of Zakynthos. Currently based in Suffolk, where she shares a cottage with her dogs, Max and Julius, and approximately 467 spiders, Isabelle fits her writing around a busy freelance career and tries her best not to be crushed to oblivion under her ever-growing pile of to-be-read books.

For more information, visit Isabelle’s website. You can also follow her on Twitter @Isabelle_Broom or Instagram and find her on Facebook.

Sometimes I wish there were more hours in the day so that I could read all the books that I’m offered. Sadly that isn’t possible, but at least today I can stay in with Bentley Turner to chat about one of his books. Let’s find out more:

Staying in with Bentley Turner

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Bentley. Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

I’ve brought The File on Thomas Marks.  The reason I’ve chosen it is because it is the first mystery I’ve written that has been accepted for publications.  It will be published in June by the Global Publishing Group.

How exciting. Congratulations. So, what can we expect from an evening in with The File on Thomas Marks?

The File on Thomas Marks is a mystery about a young, intelligent man who is somewhat naïve about those who work in law enforcement or simply has too much confidence in the legal system, or both, because he becomes the leading suspect in the murders of two women, even though he claims he’s innocent.  The question is, is he guilty?

That sounds like a very intriguing question indeed!

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

Sometimes readers are interested in how a writer came up with the idea for the story or novel they’ve read.  At least, this has been my experience.  So, I thought I’d say something about how the idea for The File on Thomas Marks came to me.

Great idea. What happened?

Actually, several years ago I had tried writing a lengthy short story that featured two detectives who investigated two murders.  This was my first story about detectives.  Yet, over the years I had read numerous mysteries―short stories and novels―that featured detectives, but I had never tried writing a story about detectives.  At the time, primarily because I enjoyed the characters in the story so much, I wondered why I had not tried writing about detectives sooner.  Although the short story was entirely different from The File on Thomas Marks, it caused me to try writing a full-length mystery about two detectives investigating at least two or three murders.  I should mention that I enjoyed writing a plot filled with twists and turns, too, which I found out was not necessarily that easy to do―at least, not initially.  Eventually, the process came easier as more “What if . . .?” questions came to me.  Hopefully, readers who buy the mystery will enjoy it.

I think they will Bentley! Thanks so much for staying in with me to chat about The File on Thomas Marks. 

The File on Thomas Marks

In this suspenseful thriller, Thomas Marks, a young, intelligent man, admits to being with two women just before they were murdered.  Though detectives don’t believe him, he claims to be innocent.

The only problem is none of the evidence corroborates his story nor confirms the guilt of anyone else.

When another suspect surfaces, Thomas thinks he’s in the clear, but appearances can’t always be trusted.

Will an arrest stick?

Find out in this mystery mayhem of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the very end.

The File on Thomas Marks is available from Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Apple, Kobo and Nook.

About Bentley Turner

Bentley Turner, a pseudonym, has written several short stories and numerous poems that have been published in literary journals and anthologies. Under his legal name he has written several articles for academic journals, numerous chapters for scholarly books, numerous entries for encyclopedias and other reference books, and several books of nonfiction published by academic and reference publishers.