I’m absolutely thrilled to welcome Janet MacLeod Trotter to Linda’s Book Bag on The Sapphire Child publication day. Janet stayed in with me a couple of years ago when The Far Pashmina Mountains was published in a post you can see here. On that occasion, I had recently been to India, but just in the centre of the country to tiger reserves. The reason I’m so delighted to find out more about Janet’s Five Senses of India today is because the dreaded pandemic put paid to my trip to India this year when I was due to tour the country. Instead, Janet is taking me on a virtual tour through her The Sapphire Child guest post today and I’m immensely grateful to her. I’m thrilled to have The Sapphire Child on my TBR too.

The Sapphire Child is published today, 8th December 2020 and is available for purchase here.

The Sapphire Child

In the dying days of the Raj, can paths divided by time and circumstance ever find each other again?

In 1930s Northern India, childhood friends Stella and Andrew have grown up together in the orbit of the majestic Raj Hotel. Spirited Stella has always had a soft spot for boisterous Andrew, though she dreams of meeting a soulmate from outside the close-knit community. But life is turned on its head when one scandal shatters their friendship and another sees her abandoned by the man she thought she loved.

As the Second World War looms, Andrew joins the army to fight for freedom. Meanwhile in India, Stella, reeling from her terrible betrayal, also throws herself into the war effort, volunteering for the Women’s Auxiliary Corps, resigned to living a lonelier life than the one she dreamed of as a child.

When Andrew returns to the East on the eve of battle with Japan, the two former friends are reunited, though bitter experience has changed them. Can they rekindle what they once had or will war demand of their friendship the ultimate sacrifice?

MY FIVE SENSES OF INDIA!

A Guest Post by Janet MacLeod Trotter

To celebrate the launch of my latest historical novel, which is largely set in the India of the 1930s and 40s, I wanted to share some of the sensual moments that evoke India for me.

TOUCH

The feel of my grandmother’s Kashmir shawl. One of the reasons I am so passionate about setting my recent novels in India, is my family connection with the country.

My Granny Sydney on her wedding day in Lahore

My grandparents lived and worked in Northern India from the early 1920s until well after Independence – my grandfather was a forester. Granny would go into camp with him until the snows of winter came and I can imagine how she would have needed the warmth of this soft embroidered shawl.

My Grandmother’s Kashmir Shawl

The Sapphire Child is partly set in Kashmir too – a place I was lucky enough to visit as a teenager on an overland bus trip – and so I know how cold it can be in November. I wish I’d had Granny’s shawl then!

SIGHT

Sunrise Over Kanchenjunga

It might sound like a cliché but the sight of the sun rising over the Himalayan peaks is something that will stay in my mind’s eye all my days. These were the mountains into which my grandparents trekked – with my mother as a baby hoisted in a pram on poles and carried along with the baggage! I first saw the dawn on the Himalayas from Namche Bazaar in Nepal at the end of my bus trip, scrambling up a slope in the dark to catch the first rays striking faraway Everest. In more recent times, near Darjeeling, I’ve seen the peak of Kanchenjunga emerging out of the mist and floating on a bed of cloud.

The Raj-in-the-Hills Hotel in Kashmir – where some of the pivotal moments in the new novel take place – has a stunning view of Nanga Parbat in the western Himalayas. But no spoilers!

TASTE

This, for me, has to be Darjeeling tea! Since I first began researching my India novels – in particular, The India Tea Series – I have developed a passion for the light, musky, amber-coloured teas of the Himalayan foothills. I start each day with a refreshing cup (or teapotful!) of Darjeeling – First Flush being my favourite. Imbibing its almost fruity taste transports me back to the times I’ve visited Darjeeling and the surrounding area, walking through its tea gardens in the mellow sunlight.

Visiting a Darjeeling tea garden

Darjeeling would definitely have been served to the residents of The Raj Hotels in my novels, with a theatrical flourish from enthusiastic hotelier, Charlie Dubois!

A very happy author, tea-tasting in Darjeeling

SMELL

Preparing corn chapattis for lunch

Smell is one of the most evocative of senses and memory prompts. The buttery, smoky, spicy smells of wayside cooking conjure up India vividly. Street food: vats of steaming lentil dahl and rice, curried vegetables, the sharp tang of mustard oil and the hot fiery aroma of chapattis sizzling on a skillet.

Chapattis cooked on an open fire

Once when my husband Graeme and I were trekking in the Himalayan foothills around Manali, we came across a wayside café – a couple of benches and a table under the trees – where they cooked up one of the freshest and tastiest meals we had all holiday. Best of all were the chapatis – a local speciality made with homegrown corn – that were golden, rich, straight from the fire and utterly delicious!

When the characters in my novel return from Scotland to India, it is the smells as much as the sights which remind them of what they have missed.

SOUND

The noisy, bustling spice quarter quarter of Old Delhi

The noise of the bazaars. In some ways, nothing evokes the vibrancy, richness and frenetic side of India more than the sounds concentrated into the busy streets of their old quarters. When I first went to India in the 1970s, the traffic sounds that dominated were the bells of cycle rickshaws, the buzz of motor rickshaws and occasional hooting taxis. Competing against them to be heard were the cries of vendors and shouts of porters negotiating their way around wandering cows and shoppers in the narrow thoroughfares.

Visiting in more recent times, the growth in traffic – of motorbikes and cars instead of bicycles and tongas – is very noticeable. The toot of car horns is ubiquitous; not the aggressive, get-out-of-the-way hooting, but rather a friendly warning that ‘I’m behind you and I’m about to overtake you!’ Yet, despite the growth in traffic noise, it’s still possible to hear a flock of sheep come bleating along a grand street in Calcutta and sharing the pavement with tourists.

In The Sapphire Child, the sounds that my characters would have heard when the stepped out of the Raj Hotel onto the streets of Rawalpindi, would have been the cry of a peacock on the lawn, the clatter of horse-drawn tongas, the rumble of military vehicles and – yes – the tring of bicycle bells.

*

Oh Janet, that’s just wonderful. Thank you. You’ve really evoked India for me and brought back so many memories of the country too. I can’t wait to immerse myself in The Sapphire Child. Let’s hope when I read it I’ll actually be in India!

About Janet MacLeod Trotter

Janet MacLeod Trotter is the author of numerous bestselling and acclaimed novels, including The Hungry Hills, which was nominated for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, and The Tea Planter’s Daughter, which was nominated for the Romantic Novelists’ Association Novel of the Year Award. Much informed by her own experiences, MacLeod Trotter was raised in the north-east of England by Scottish parents and travelled in India as a young woman. She recently discovered diaries and letters belonging to her grandparents, who married in Lahore and lived and worked in the Punjab for nearly thirty years, which served as her inspiration for the India Tea Series. She now divides her time between Northumberland and the Isle of Skye.

You can find out more about Janet and her novels on her website and by following her on Twitter @MacLeodTrotter. You can also find her on Facebook.

My enormous thanks to Susi Holliday for an advanced reader copy of The Last Resort in return for an honest review. I was delighted to receive it as I love Susi’s writing. You’ll find my review of Willow Walk here, an interview with Susi to celebrate The Damsel Fly here and my review of her excellent Violet here. I’m thrilled to be part of The Last Resort blog tour and would like to thank Sophie Goodfellow for inviting me to participate.

The Last Resort will be published by Thomas and Mercer on 1st December 2020 and is available for purchase here.

The Last Resort

Seven strangers. Seven secrets. One perfect crime.

When Amelia is invited to an all-expenses-paid retreat on a private island, the mysterious offer is too good to refuse. Along with six other strangers, she’s told they’re here to test a brand-new product for Timeo Technologies. But the guests’ excitement soon turns to terror when the real reason for their summons becomes clear.

Each guest has a guilty secret. And when they’re all forced to wear a memory-tracking device that reveals their dark and shameful deeds to their fellow guests, there’s no hiding from the past. This is no luxury retreat—it’s a trap they can’t get out of.

As the clock counts down to the lavish end-of-day party they’ve been promised, injuries and in-fighting split the group. But with no escape from the island—or the other guests’ most shocking secrets—Amelia begins to suspect that her only hope for survival is to be the last one standing. Can she confront her own dark past to uncover the truth—before it’s too late to get out?

My Review of The Last Resort

This is not the trip everyone was expecting!

Before you begin reading The Last Resort, leave your preconceptions behind, willingly suspend your disbelief and immerse yourself into an exciting, slightly unhinged and surreal narrative that has echoes of Agatha Christie, Enid Blyton, Lord of the Flies, Brave New World and a Gatiss inspired episode of Dr Who or The League of Gentlemen. The Last Resort is quite mad. That might sound critical, but it isn’t at all. I absolutely loved this book. Susi Holliday has produced a narrative that is brilliantly entertaining and quite unnerving because she takes the familiar, like the concept of reality television, and presents it in completely innovative and distorted ways that are absolutely gripping.

I thought the plot was breathtakingly fast paced in a twisting manner that fits the overarching reason for the action perfectly. Indeed, The Last Resort is a convincing example of a traditional narrative with its unities of time – a single day, place – an island, and action – although I can’t tell you much about that action for fear of spoiling a corker of a read. All the elements needed in a thriller are there with a dystopian use of technology that is frighteningly close to today’s reality, a terrifyingly familiar exploration of the survival of the fittest, and a scarily clever exploitation of people’s fears and memories all blended with a psychological element that glues the action together.

The style of the narrative made me feel as if I were part of the action, seeing the projections and experiencing the memories alongside the characters. I loved Susi Holliday’s descriptions too. She has a deft touch in supplying just the right amount of detail to bring her settings alive without the pace of the narrative missing a beat.

The characters are an unsettling example of how we never really know the innermost thoughts and fears of those around us and The Last Resort illustrates with complete clarity that leaving our past behind might be more challenging than we hope. It was Amelia with whom I felt the greatest affinity, but each of these guests has a personality hook that illustrates the underlying vulnerability that many of us have behind our public personas. I think it says something about me too that I rather enjoyed what happened to one or two of them!

If you were to ask me if The Last Resort is realistic and believable I’d say, ‘No’. If you were to ask if The Last Resort is brilliantly entertaining, completely absorbing and a wonderful opportunity to escape into a different world for a few hours I would say ‘Absolutely’. I thought it was totally crackers, somewhat disturbing and quite fabulous. I loved it.

About Susi Holliday

Susi (S.J.I.) Holliday grew up in East Lothian, Scotland. A life-long fan of crime and horror, her short stories have been published in various places, and she was shortlisted for the inaugural CWA Margery Allingham prize. She lives in London (except when she’s in Edinburgh) and she loves to travel the world.

Her serial killer thriller The Deaths of December, featuring Detective Sergeant Eddie Carmine and Detective Constable Becky Greene was a festive hit in 2017.

Her next two releases, The Last Resort and Substitute are due out from Thomas & Mercer late 2020 and summer 2021 – both of these books are suspense thrillers with a technological element (a blend of Black Mirror, Tales of the Unexpected and The Twilight Zone).

Writing as SJI Holliday, she also has three crime novels set in the fictional Scottish town of Banktoun, which are a mix of police procedural and psychological thriller. They are: Black Wood, Willow Walk and The Damselfly – all featuring the much loved character, Sergeant Davie Gray.

Also as SJI Holliday, her spooky mystery The Lingering was released in September 2018, followed by Violet – a psychological thriller set on the Trans-Siberian Express – in September 2019. Violet has been optioned for film.

You can find out more about Susi Holliday on her website and on Facebook and by following her on Twitter @SJIHolliday.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

My enormous thanks to Ben McClusky at Midas PR for inviting me to participate in this blog tour for James Bailey’s The Flip Side and for sending me a copy of the book in return for an honest review. I’m delighted to share that review today.

Published in paperback by Penguin on 26th November 2020, The Flip Side is available for purchase through the publisher links here.

The Flip Side

It’s New Year’s Eve and Josh has a high-flying proposal planned. An exclusive pod on the London Eye, with champagne, truffles and the ring. It’s perfect.

Until she says no. And they have to spend the next 29 excruciating minutes alone together.

By the time Josh is back on the ground, his whole life is up in the air. He’s managed to lose his girlfriend, his job and his flat.

Realising he can’t trust his own judgement, Josh puts his faith in fate. From now on he will make every choice by flipping a coin. It’s reckless and scary, but Josh has tried the right way and look where he ended up.

And what if the girl of his dreams is just one flip of a coin away?

My Review of The Flip Side

Josh’s proposal doesn’t quite go according to plan!

My word I loved this book. The Flip Side is unashamedly romantic, funny and totally relatable so that I felt transported from all the doom and gloom of 2020 into a wonderfully entertaining world for a few hours. I truly thought James Bailey’s The Flip Side is the perfect antidote to 2020.

The plot is fast paced and totally engaging. The Flip Side allows the reader to travel, to fall in love with Josh themselves, and to laugh aloud at the Josh’s italicised asides and the scrapes he finds himself in. It’s ever so slightly bonkers too which I loved because it lifted my spirit and brought me joy as well as a surreptitious tear on occasion too. James Bailey has a deft touch at injecting humour at the perfect moment and I thought his direct speech was completely natural and realistic so that I felt I was eaves dropping Josh and all the Js rather than reading about them. There are some comedic moments that are reminiscent of the best of any humorous writing either in books or on television I have encountered.

This isn’t to say that The Flip Side is lightweight whilst being light hearted. James Bailey weaves in considerable depth too as he explores relationships, chance, family, employment, love and friendship. There’s happiness and loss, grief and joy between the pages of The Flip Side that means there’s something for all readers. What struck me was the insightful level of human understanding as a foundation for the narrative that made me love it all the more. Considerable research has gone in to the art theme too so that I felt I was reading something of quality as well as something escapist and entertaining.

Although Josh was undoubtedly my favourite character and his voice absolutely leaps from the page, I found all those I encountered in The Flip Side were warm, vivid people. I had my suspicions that Jessie and Josh might find love together but you’ll have to read The Flip Side to see if I was right! Normally a book where so many characters’ names begin with J would annoy me and I’d find it totally confusing but here they are so distinct that even two Jakes works perfectly.

I loved The Flip Side. It was absolutely the right book at the right moment, filling me with warmth and happiness in a world that has felt quite bleak on occasion this year. I finished James Bailey’s writing feeling positive and with a smile on my face. What could be better than that?

About James Bailey

Born in Bristol, James Bailey began to dream of a writing career following a top mark in a Year 8 English exam, and he soon pursued journalism, starting a student newspaper and a sports website, interviewing athletes including Usain Bolt and Rafa Nadal. This burgeoning career was halted however, when he was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a cardiac arrhythmia. Following two operations, James supported the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young, carrying the Olympic Torch, running the London Marathon, speaking in the House of Commons, and appearing in BBC1’s Lifeline appeal, alongside pop star Pixie Lott.

Upon moving to London for university, during which time he avoided high rent by living in a Travelodge, James juggled studying Spanish with working as a red carpet reporter, interviewing stars such as George Clooney, Emma Stone and David Beckham.

Following his graduation, he travelled the world, journeying through twenty one countries looking for himself, and hopefully love. Having found neither, he returned home to Bristol, where he founded a walking tour company of the city and began working on his debut novel, having been selected for Curtis Brown Creative’s Six Month Novel Writing Course.

The Flip Side is his debut novel.

You can find James on Instagram, or visit his website for more information. You can follow him on Twitter @JBaileyWrites too.

There’s more with these other bloggers:

It’s such a shame that it’s unethical to enter my own giveaway as I’d love to win this five ebook Calculated Series from K. T. Lee in a hugely generous gesture from K. T. to celebrate the fifth book in the series, Calculated Entrapment, being released.

K. T. Lee has featured here on Linda’s Book Bag a couple of times in the past: firstly when we chatted together all about her book Calculated Deception in a post you can see here. More recently we celebrated Calculated Reaction when K. T. provided a cracking guest post about writing strong females that you can read here. In that post you’ll also find details of the first four books in the series.

This time I’m delighted to be able to offer one lucky reader an ebook box set of the entire Calculated Series. Details of how to enter are below, but let’s look at the details for Calculated Entrapment, the latest book, first.

Calculated Entrapment is available for purchase through the links here.

Calculated Entrapment

Stefanie Ryland is a marine biologist whose life is going exactly to plan. She’s worked her way up the corporate ladder to land her dream job at the Oceanic Exploration Group and has a fulfilling personal life. Not to mention, her older sister, Ree, is soon going to make her the world’s greatest aunt. However, a surprise phone call from Ree forces Stefanie to re-evaluate everything she thought she knew. Not only has her sister been secretly moonlighting for the FBI and CIA, but Ree has also helped thwart several dangerous attacks. And her team believes that Dmitri, the man behind the attacks, has made the OEG his next target.

For CIA Operations Officer Joey Pacelli, putting Dmitri out of play isn’t just his job, it’s unfinished business. When the CIA and the FBI ask Stefanie Ryland to help them take Dmitri down, Joey travels to San Francisco to protect her. Teaming up with Stefanie is the perfect chance for Joey to beat his old nemesis at his own game. There’s just one problem – Dmitri is playing by an entirely new set of rules.

Giveaway – A Five E-Book Box Set of The Calculated Series

For your chance to win an ebook box set of all five of K.T. Lee’s Calculated Series, click here.

The Calculated Series box set will be accessed through a one off code via Book Funnel and is open internationally.

The giveaway closes at UK midnight on Thursday 10th December 2020.

About K.T.Lee

K.T. Lee is a writer, mom and engineer who grew up on a steady diet of books from a wide variety of genres. When K.T. began to write the kind of books she wanted to read, she mixed clever women and the sciences with elements from thrillers (and a dash of romance) to create The Calculated Series.

Find out more about K.T.’s books at her website or find her talking about writing, science, and cute animals on Instagram and Facebook. You can follow K.T.Lee on Twitter @KTLeeWrites.

 

When Samantha Clark got in touch to tell me about her memoir The Clearing, I was stunned by the beauty of the book’s cover and intrigued by the link between Samantha’s writing and art to the extent that I simply had to feature The Clearing here on Linda’s Book Bag. I’m thrilled that Sam has provided an extract from her book along with a fabulous piece of her artwork for me to share today. My enormous thanks to Sam for a copy of The Clearing in return for an honest review too. I am delighted to share my review of The Clearing alongside Sam’s pieces.

Published by Little Brown, The Clearing is available for purchase in ebook and hardback, with paperback pre-order through the links here. The Clearing will be released in paperback on 4th March 2021.

The Clearing

This house has been a regular presence in my life for as long as I can remember. My heart has sunk a little every time I walk in . . .

Samantha Clark enjoyed a busy career as an artist before returning home to Glasgow to take care of the house that her parents had left behind. Moving from room to room, sifting through the clutter of belongings, reflecting on her mother’s long, sedated years of mental illness and her father’s retreat to the world of amateur radio and model planes, Samantha began to contemplate her inheritance.

A need for creativity and a desire for solitude had sprung up from a childhood shaped by anxiety and confusion. Weaving in the works and lives of others, including celebrated painter Agnes Martin and scientist of dark matter Vera Rubin, The Clearing is a powerful account of what we must do with the things we cannot know.

An Extract from The Clearing by Samantha Clark

There is one room here that I have not entered for a long time. When he retired from his forty-five years as an engineer with the BBC, this room became my father’s retreat and I did not intrude. I take a deep breath and pause, my hand on the doorknob, remembering my recurring dreams of this moment, dreams in which I open the door to find Poppy, the much-loved dog of my teenage years, waiting patiently, starving and forgotten for decades, staggering to her feet to greet me lovingly, dreams from which I waken with a guilty, tender grief that sits upon me all day. Softly, I push, and go in. The chilled air smells of rubber cement and 3-in-1 oil. I tread carefully, sliding over magazines, envelopes and discarded shoes. Nearest the door lie bits of old tents, coils of rope, canoe paddles, oilskins, a canvas rucksack now stiff with mildew. Next to it, propped against the wall, are several cumbersome and mysterious structures of copper pipe, wire and dowelling, over six feet long and half as broad.

Working my way further in I reach my father’s workbenches by the window. As I look around me, the clutter covering every surface begins to differentiate into recognisable objects: a radio transceiver, a Morse key screwed to the benchtop, Bakelite headphones, an ancient, yellowed BBC Micro computer, dog-eared copies of Practical Wireless magazine, padded envelopes spilling electronic components that look like beetles or sweets, enormous valves retrieved from decommissioned TV transmitters, crocodile clips and voltmeters, oscilloscopes and signal generators, batteries of every conceivable shape and size. The carpet by my feet is littered with tiny slivers of balsa wood, drops of solder, bits of plastic insulation stripped from electrical wire. My father’s amateur radio licence is pinned to the wall, showing his call-sign: GM3 DIN. There are two sets of plastic walkie-talkies, the packaging still unopened. Face down on a 70s brown vinyl office chair lies a loudhailer, half-dismembered, spewing wires.

Stacked on the bookshelf are manuals on UHF/VHF radio and building home-made antennae. The titles read Out of Thin Air, Devoted to Low Power Communication. Just so. Everything in this room is devoted to communication. But only at a distance. Only with strangers. While I was busy making my own adult way in the world, and while my mother, folded unreachably inside her illness and drowsy with medication, slept in her chair through decades of television, my father must have sat in here for hours with his headphones on, listening for voices riding carrier signals bounced off the troposphere, ghost voices sizzling through the static, transmitting little himself save a few pips of Morse to distant strangers known only by their call-signs.

The objects propped by the door, constructed from copper pipe, broomsticks and spirals of thick copper wire are, I now realise, home-made antennae. These ramshackle assemblages are, it seems, capable of picking up radio signals from the other side of the world, if conditions are right. With these antennae my father listened to the ether, for messages it might bring him.

I pick up a handheld transceiver from my father’s workbench, black and heavy, with a stubby rubber aerial like one of those early mobile phones, and switch it on. Unexpectedly, its battery still holds some power. The tinny speaker crackles to life then gives off a steady fizz of white noise – cosmic microwave background radiation, a signal emitted uniformly across the universe at the same wavelength, the sound of photons from the Big Bang still cooling after fifteen billion years. I listen for a while, hoping that the soothing and miraculous sound of the beginning of the universe will steady me for the task ahead, but I find myself thinking about electronic voice phenomenon, when the dead are said to be heard speaking to us through the interference, and, spooked, I switch it off again. But I can’t resist a mawkish ‘Bye Dad. Ten four. Over and out,’ as I do. Just in case.

*

I love this image Sam has shared too. She made it to convey her father’s passion for amateur radio, and it has so much relevance and resonance if you’ve read The Clearing:

 The Listener

Samantha Clark, 2019, gesso, graphite and gouache on pine board.

Having read The Clearing, I keep returning to this image and looking for the qualities of grey, the light between them and the swirl of emotion I have discovered in the book. Each time I do so, there is more to discover.

My Review of The Clearing

I hardly know where to begin to review The Clearing. It is, quite simply, fabulous. The strapline to The Clearing claims it is ‘A memoir of art, family and mental health’ and whilst that is true, Samantha Clark’s writing is so very much more. The Clearing is science and self-discovery. It’s nature in all meanings, alongside nurture and spirituality. It is philosophy and entertainment. It is art, history and travel. In under 200 pages, Samantha Clark has written as multi-layered and beautiful a text as I have ever encountered. I feel privileged to have read it.

It’s difficult to review plot in a memoir, although one would usually expect quite a linear approach. As the title suggests, this is a book predicated on the author clearing out her parents’ home after their death. A literal clearing. And yet it isn’t. As Samantha Clark describes this physical clearing she spellbindingly weaves in her memories, both real and imagined, as well the subjects I’ve mentioned above, blending them with the clearing of her guilt at her relationship with her parents, her mother especially, and she shows just how there is a clearing, a space, in the most unexpected places where both she and her reader can find meaning and peace. Reading The Clearing is just glorious. It’s a kind of literary Japanese kintsugi that transports the reader into a realm of possibility even where there is grief and bleakness.

I found the visual quality of Samantha Clarks descriptions simply thrumming with meaning and emotion. Her attention to detail, her ability to unite the abstract and concrete together into something that is simultaneously ethereal and tangible, I found completely stunning. In The Clearing the invisible souls of the author’s parents, of herself and of humanity at large, fill the pages until the reader feels almost as close to the events she describes as the author herself. Many, many times I found Samantha Clark’s intensely personal writing created passages in The Clearing that expressed what I had indistinctly felt but had never been able to articulate for myself, so that reading this book was a kind of catharsis or clearing for me too.

It is impossible to define The Clearing. It is beautiful, literary and cerebral and yet it is accessible, personal and moving.  I found it educational, hypnotic, mesmerising and emotional. I thought The Clearing was sublime and one of the best books I have read this year. Don’t miss it.

About Samantha Clark

Samantha Clark has been a practising visual artist for many years, working across a range of media, including video, installation, drawing, photography and text, and her writing has emerged from this long creative evolution. Sam originally studied Fine Art at Edinburgh College of Art, Belgrade Academy of Fine Art and the Slade School of Fine Art (UCL), and has taught at Edinburgh College of Art, Tasmanian School of Art, and the University of the West of Scotland. She has an MA in Values and Environment from the University of Central Lancashire and has published in several academic journals on environmental philosophy and eco-art. She currently teaches at the University of the Highlands and Islands and online, and lives on Orkney.

You can follow Sam on Twitter @sam_clark_art or visit her website for further information. You’ll also find Sam on Instagram and Facebook.

Here on Linda’s Book Bag I feature all manner of books from all kinds of publishers, but in almost six years of blogging I’ve rarely featured one from a Mills and Boon author. I decided it was high time I rectified that omission and with a brand new series under way, I invited Sarah Mallory to stay in with me to chat about it. Luckily Sarah agreed to join me.

Staying in with Sarah Mallory

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

Thanks for asking me – always a pleasure to meet up and natter 😊. And since I have only recently moved into my current home, I thought I’d share with you one of the things that persuaded me this was the house for me… this little area of bookshelves hidden away under the stairs – it’s where I keep old and much-loved books that I like to return to again and again.

Oh my goodness. That is just fabulous. I’m very jealous.

And I hope you like dogs, because I have brought my faithful companion, Willow.  He is a whippet, and although he loves to run he is sooo lazy, and lies in my office for hours while I write.

Willow is very welcome too Sarah. I hope he won’t be fazed by all the cat ornaments and pictures here!  So, tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

This is Forbidden to the Highland Laird. It is my first ever Scottish Highland romance and has just been published by Harlequin/Mills & Boon. I chose this book because writing it was a project very close to my heart. You see, I moved to the Scottish Highlands a couple of years ago, and immediately found myself inspired by the landscape and the culture. I have been itching to write something set here ever since. And this is only the first….

Oo. I like the sound of this. We’ve just bought a motorhome and the Scottish Highlands are on our list of places to visit. What can we expect from an evening in with Forbidden to the Highland Laird?

Ooh, romance, adventure, hopefully a few smiles! I have been writing Regency and Georgian romantic adventures for years, both as Sarah Mallory and Melinda Hammond (my alter ego and original pen name. All my Melinda Hammond books and short stories are self published) but this is my first novel set in the Scottish Highlands, and it has been a whole new learning curve!

It must be quite confusing having two names Sarah! Tell me more about Forbidden to the Highland Laird.

First and foremost it is a romance, but with a rich historical background. The Scottish Highlands in the early 18^th century were a world away from Georgian Edinburgh or London, where the Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, was bringing new ideas about science, education and all aspects of life. Life in the Highlands was still very much dependent upon the clan system. Family and kinship were very important

There was a rich culture of music and story-telling that continues to this day. It was listening to a traditional Scottish harpist that was the first inspiration for my story and for Ailsa, my heroine.

Here is the moment Logan first sees Ailsa:

They had left Ardvarrick land and were travelling through thick woods when he heard it, a bright tinkling sound that at first he thought was water in the burn, but as they moved on the sounds grew louder. He recognised a melody. Someone was playing a harp, the sweet, clear notes carrying to him on the slight breeze. The path continued through the woods, but to one side the pines thinned out and the ground fell away to the edge of a loch whose waters reflected the clear blue of the sky. And sitting on the rocks at the side of the loch was a young woman. Logan silently waved to his men to stop. From the shelter of the trees he watched her playing the harp, the sun glinting off the silver strings as they moved beneath her fingers. It was a very agreeable picture and her appearance was much in keeping with the surroundings. Her kirtle and cape echoed the varied greens of the lush grass while her long hair was reddish brown and gold, like the autumn moors and the bracken that covered the hill slopes on the far side of the loch

Right. That’s it. I’m packing up the motorhome and am on my way! Wonderful description Sarah!

The harp, or clàrsach, was one of the earliest musical instruments and there is a fine example of an early Harp belonging to Mary Queen of Scots in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh and I based Ailsa’s harp on this one.

Another moment of inspiration came when I visited Strome Castle, although there is very little left of it now. I know there are many much more impressive castles around Scotland and I have visited lots of them, but when I stood within the remaining walls of Strome Castle and looked out over Loch Carron I immediately pictured someone imprisoned here. The book was little more than a vague idea at that stage, but scenes were beginning to emerge, and it was turning into a cracking adventure!

That scene made it into the book, and here is a small snippet from it:

When Ailsa woke again the moon was rising and relieving the darkness with a grey-blue light. The scratchy plaid that acted as her blanket was pulled up around her face and smelled even more malodorous. Her nose wrinkled. These plaids were worn by men for days on end. During the day, half of it was fastened with a belt around the waist as a kilt and the rest thrown over the shoulder, to be used as a cape in bad weather. At night it could be wrapped around its owner if they were obliged to sleep in the open. No wonder, then, that it smelt so bad.

She sat up suddenly, her mind racing. Dragging the makeshift blanket from the bed, she pulled the edge of it through her fingers, counting the lengths. It was what, four, five yards long? She tugged at the woven material. Could she trust it?

Ailsa dragged the plaid across to the window, where she took one of the ends and forced it several times over the spike where she had tied her petticoat. Then she bundled up the rest and threw it out of the window. The paid dangled down, shifting slightly in the breeze. It stopped several feet short of the narrow grassy verge. It was impossible in the gloom to work out just how far from the ground it ended. She would have to let go and hope she did not break a bone when she landed.

A sudden laugh shook her. What was she thinking? It was most likely she would lose her grip while climbing down and tumble to her death. She should worry about the final drop if and when she reached it. And even if she did survive the fall, she could not swim. She would have to make her way over the jagged rocks and hope the water was not too deep for her to wade through it and reach land. Another problem that must wait until it arose.

Hitching up her skirts, she scrambled on to the window ledge.

You can’t just stop there Sarah. I need to know what happens next. Thank goodness I have a copy of Forbidden to the Highland Laird waiting to be read.

What else have you brought along and why?

I thought I’d treat you to some of the food my characters might have eaten. First there is Caboc, reputed to be Scotland’s oldest form of cheese. It is a rich cream cheese, formed into a log shape and rolled in oatmeal. I’ve also brought oatmeal bannocks to eat with it. Afterwards there is a favourite of mine, Cranachan – Scottish raspberries gently folded into whipped cream and honey, along with toasted oatmeal that has been steeped in, what else, whisky.

And to wash it down? Well for those who aren’t driving I have brought Uisge Beatha, which is the Gaelic for whisky. Slàinte mhath!

I’m not a big drinker of spirits Sarah but I am VERY fond of cheese and Cranachan. You get the plates and serve up some of the food and I’ll tell everyone a bit more about Forbidden to the Highland Laird. Thanks so much for staying in with me tonight to chat all about it.

Thanks for having me Linda.

Forbidden to the Highland Laird

A Scottish beauty…

Lures the Laird to sin!

Exchanging elegant Society balls for clan wars, Logan Rathmore has returned to Scotland as the new Laird of Ardvarrick. Peace is within grasp when he meets musician Ailsa McInnis from a rival clan. Her stubborn pride and innocence fascinate him – but with her now under his protection, he must do nothing to abuse her trust. The fragile peace is dependent on his being able to resist the forbidden temptation she presents…

Published in ebook by Mills and Boon on 26th November 2020, Forbidden to the Highland Laird is available for purchase through these links.

About Sarah Mallory

Sarah Mallory writes Historical romantic adventures. She lives high on the moors in West Yorkshire, England, where she finds inspiration in the spectacular scenery. She has written over 20 books for Harlequin and won the Romantic Novelist Association’s RoNA Rose award in 2012 and 2013 for her Sarah Mallory novels.

Sarah is also the award-winning author Melinda Hammond.

You can follow Sarah on Twitter @SarahMRomance. You can also visit her excellent website and find her on Facebook.

My grateful thanks to Hannah Svensson at Madeleine Editions for sending me a copy of the children’s book Monster Dance in return for an honest review. I was intrigued by a book for children that indirectly references Covid 19, some of the profits from which go towards purchasing PPE for health workers around the world, and that has a range of interactive resources to accompany it.

Monster Dance is published by Madeleine Editions. There’s an interactive app to accompany Monster Dance here too.

Monster Dance

Meet Maurice, an endearingly melodramatic dog, and Charlie, an artistic little girl, as they take on a world that’s suddenly gone topsy-turvy.

This picture books app for kids with read-aloud, music and moving pictures is available on Apple and Android.

English, Mandarin (and other languages on the way).

For every book sold through July 20, 2021, Madeleine Editions will donate 3 PPE masks to be purchased and distributed by DonatePPE.org to arm healthcare heroes around the world. Madeleine Editions has also donated copies of the book to children’s hospitals around the world.

My Review of Monster Dance

Maurice the dog is finding life has changed.

Initially I was uncertain of the concept of a monster lurking in the background, wondering if children might find it too scary a concept, but actually, Monster Dance is a positive and helpful story that both reassures and teaches children how to cope in these difficult times. This concept is enhanced by the delightful illustrations from Guy Gilchrist (of Muppet illustration fame) that have a style accessible for young children. You’ll find sample Monster Dance pages here. The physical book is beautifully presented with a perfect balance of text to illustration and a very robust cover that will endure much handling and use.

With Maurice scared and frustrated by a monster that has left him more confined to home, it is Charlie who helps him realise this is a small monster that can be fought and controlled by some simple steps like proper hand washing and keeping your distance. Charlie explains how taking such precautions isn’t being scared but is brave instead.

The beauty of Monster Dance is the range of alternative activities children might try instead of being in large groups in the park. There are foreign languages to explore, dressing up to do and artistic activities to carry out for example.

However, even better with Monster Dance is the interactive support material that goes with it. I really recommend heading to the Madeleine Editions Monster Dance website to find out more for yourself. It might be just what you and your child need to cope in these uncertain times.

My grateful thanks to Emma at Damppebbles Blog Tours for inviting me to participate in the launch celebrations for In the Sweep of the Bay by Cath Barton. I’m delighted to share my review today.

Published by Louise Walters Books on 23rd November 2020, In the Sweep of the Bay is available for purchase directly from the publisher, Amazon UK, Amazon US, Kobo, Foyles and the Book Depository.

In the Sweep of the Bay

This warm-hearted tale explores marriage, love, and longing, set against the majestic backdrop of Morecambe Bay, the Lakeland Fells, and the faded splendour of the Midland Hotel.

Ted Marshall meets Rene in the dance halls of Morecambe and they marry during the frail optimism of the 1950s. They adopt the roles expected of man and wife at the time: he the breadwinner at the family ceramics firm, and she the loyal housewife. But as the years go by, they find themselves wishing for more…

After Ted survives a heart attack, both see it as a new beginning… but can a faded love like theirs ever be rekindled?

“A tender and moving study of a marriage” Alison Moore, author of the Booker short listed The Lighthouse.

My Review of In the Sweep of the Bay

About Cath Barton

Cath Barton lives in Abergavenny. She won the New Welsh Writing AmeriCymru Prize for the Novella in 2017 for The Plankton Collector, which was published in September 2018 by New Welsh Review under their Rarebyte imprint. She also writes short stories and flash fiction and, with her critical writing, is a regular contributor to Wales Arts Review. In the Sweep of the Bay is her second novella.

For more information, visit Cath’s website and follow her on Twitter @CathBarton1.

It’s over two years since I read and reviewed children’s book Sarah’s Shadow by Nick Jones in a post you can find here, so I was delighted when Nick sent me his latest children’s book One Night In Beartown in return for an honest review. Now, I’m not really accepting new books for review at the moment, but there’s such a lovely background story to One Night In Beartown that I had to feature the book here on Linda’s Book Bag. You can find out more here.

Published by Full Media today, 30th November 2020, there are several places where you can buy One Night In Beartown, including from the publisher, the author, via Kickstarter and on Amazon UK and Amazon US.

One Night in Beartown

From the award-winning duo that brought you Sarah’s Shadow comes another magical adventure…

When bear-mad schoolgirl Sandy Lane has her beloved teddy bear Berisford confiscated at school, she dreads the thought of going a whole night without his cuddles.

Little does she know that a bear-rilliant night awaits her, involving Berisford, a bear statue and many other wonderful friends!

Published by Full Media on 30th November 2020, One Night in Beartown is available for purchase here.

My Review of One Night in Beartown

Sandy’s bear, Berisford, has been confiscated at school!

One Night In Beartown is a glorious book that deserves to be snapped up by a production company and turned into a Christmas tradition along with those well known animations of books by Raymond Briggs or Julia Donaldson. It has everything from bullying to peril, adventure to joy as Sarah prepares to spend her first night without Berisford. Children and adults alike will love the themes, the storytelling and the wonderful illustrations by Si Clark.

I must dwell on the illustrations for a moment as they bring the text alive, and provide so many opportunities to use the book with individual or groups of children. With a style that will appeal to children of all ages, the pictures have a richness and depth. I loved the diversity of the bears, with some being multi-coloured and unusually patterned, because their inclusion will help convey acceptance of difference and understanding of those who don’t always look like us. The small attention to detail affords a lovely opportunity to develop numeracy, perhaps counting the number of bears in Sandy’s bedroom for example, and I could envisage children designing their own bear, so that creativity can be encouraged too.

I thought the language in One Night In Beartown was pitch perfect. Much of the vocabulary is familiar but there is also a smattering of unfamiliar words that are completely understandable in their context, allowing children to expand their vocabulary.

However, educational opportunities aside, what is so lovely about One Night In Beartown is that Nick Jones knows exactly how much children become attached to a particular toy and how they can be devastated by being parted from them. Indeed, I can see One Night In Beartown being a brilliant way for parents to broach a similar loss with their own children, providing comfort if need be as they discover all is not lost when Berisford is away from Sandy. There really is a lovely story here, based around friendship and love with gentle comeuppance for a bully and a happy ending for Sandy and Berisford.

I really enjoyed One Night In Beartown. It’s a delightful tale that children and adults alike will love. I recommend One Night In Beartown most highly.

About Nick Jones

Nick Jones is an author based in Congleton, Cheshire, but originally from Bristol. He has written a series of joke books and an illustrated children’s book.

His first joke book, Gagged and Bound, was written during the summer of 2014 and was published by Full Media Ltd later in the year to much critical acclaim, garnering positive reviews from numerous book review websites such as Reader’s Favorite and The Bookbag.

A follow-up, Gagged and Bound 2, was released a year later and received a similarly positive response, and in 2017 Nick returned with the third instalment. Described by one reviewer as a ‘master gagsmith’, Nick’s joke style is heavily pun-based and has been compared to Tim Vine, Milton Jones and Stewart Francis.

Nick has also written an illustrated children’s book called Sarah’s Shadow, which was published in December 2017.

You can follow Nick on Twitter: @nickjonesauthor and find out more on his website.

My enormous thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for children’s book Hector’s Perfect Cake, written and illustrated by Lily Clarke. I’m delighted to share my review today.

Hector’s Perfect Cake is available for purchase on Hector’s website, Etsy and Amazon.

Hector’s Perfect Cake

Hector is baking a cake for his Granny and he’s determined that it’s going to be perfect.

But when he discovers that the peanut butter jar is empty, Hector decides that he must head out to find some more, or else his perfect cake will be ruined.

​As time begins to run out, Hector’s luck begins to run out too. He may have to accept that sometimes perfection just isn’t possible…

My Review of Hector’s Perfect Cake

Hector’s cake is missing a vital ingredient.

What a simply lovely children’s book. Hector’s Perfect Cake is just the right length to retain a child’s interest and has fabulous illustrations that enhance the story perfectly. I thought it was wonderful. I like to comment on text, illustration and layout in children’s books, and Hector’s Perfect Cake has the balance beautifully. The illustrations are completely charming and it’s lovely to have a badger as the main character rather than the dog or cat of so many children’s books. The font style and use of ‘white space’ for text means that there is clarity for reading that will support independent readers as well as adults reading the book with or to children. Similarly, the linguistic devices such as the way direct speech is set out, the variety of sentence length and the use of ellipsis and repetition, for example, all contribute to enhancing not just the pleasure in reading the story, but they model great writing for children too, so that children can employ them in their own emergent writing.

Despite the fact that this is a children’s story of under thirty pages, it’s jammed with content making it a story that can be read and enjoyed time and again. In Hector’s Perfect Cake Lily Clarke explores friendship through characters like Artie and Lola who try to help Hector in his quest to find peanut butter, affording the opportunity to discuss with children how they might help and support their friends. The author looks at emotions, from excitement through disappointment to love, with the ultimate message that perfection doesn’t have to be achieved for us to be happy that I think is a fabulous concept for children to learn.

I loved Hector’s Perfect Cake. It is everything a children’s story should be and I recommend it unreservedly.

About Lily Clarke

Lily Clarke is the author and illustrator of Hector’s Perfect Cake.

Lily studied Physics at the University of York and now works as an innovation consultant in Cambridge. When she doesn’t have her nose in a book, she runs a small business called Lily in Space Designs, where she sells a range of illustrated products inspired by books and nature. Her favourite animals are badgers, birds and bats, (although she also loves animals that don’t begin with the letter B!).

Hector’s Perfect Cake is Lily’s first book, inspired by her own experiences of dealing with perfectionism.

You can follow Lily on Twitter @LilyClarkex, or find her on Instagram and Facebook.

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