I’m absolutely thrilled to be starting off the blog tour celebrations for the paperback of Messy Wonderful Us by Catherine Isaac because this novel was my book of the year last year. You can read my review of Messy, Wonderful Us here, but today I have an extract to share with you so that you can see for yourself what a lovely book it is.

As well as loving Messy, Wonderful Us, I adored Catherine Isaac’s You, Me, Everything which I reviewed here and was delighted to chat with her about that book on Linda’s Book Bag in a post you can read here.

Messy, Wonderful Us

One morning in early summer, a man and woman wait to board a flight to Italy.

Allie has lived a careful, focused existence. But now she has unexpectedly taken leave from her job as an academic research scientist to fly to a place she only recently heard about in a letter. Her father, Joe, doesn’t know the reason for her trip, and Allie can’t bring herself to tell him that she’s flying to Italy to unpick the truth about what her mother did all those years ago.

Beside her is her best friend since schooldays, Ed. He has just shocked everyone with a sudden separation from his wife, Julia. Allie hopes that a break will help him open up.

But the secrets that emerge as the sun beats down on Lake Garda and Liguria don’t merely concern her family’s tangled past. And the two friends are forced to confront questions about their own life-long relationship that are impossible to resolve.

The dazzling new novel from Richard & Judy book club author Catherine Isaac, Messy, Wonderful Us is a story about the transforming power of love, as one woman journeys to uncover the past and reshape her future.

An Extract from Messy, Wonderful Us

There were certain scents that could whisk her back to that sultry night at any moment. It would happen for months afterwards. She’d be getting on with her life, trying to keep her head down, when she’d breathe in and a rush of memories would follow. Of hot skin and the spike of perfume. The fug of cigarette smoke and hairspray. The musky aroma that had clung faintly to his neck, as he’d slipped his hand around her waist and whispered to her. And the pollen- rich grass that infused the darkness as she’d followed him, until the boom of music grew faint and they were out of sight, heading towards a tangle of woodland.

She hadn’t set out to be reckless that night. But then, she hadn’t set out to tell all those lies so she could be with a boy – no, a man – she shouldn’t have been with. In the preceding weeks, she’d found herself floating towards this point, unable to stop herself. Unable to think about her betrayal and the pain she had the capacity to inflict on theone man who really loved her.

From the moment this stranger had swept into her life, everything about him had bewitched her. The lilting way he spoke, in an accent that captured the intrinsic beauty of words. The muss of hair around the nape of his neck. The way he looked at her, as if every other girl was invisible. She’d glanced up at the shadows on his face as the moon glowed behind him, trying to pretend she was more experienced than she was. But he can’t have failed to notice that she was trembling.

His features were unusual, striking rather than handsome. But this wasn’t about his looks.It was about what she saw behind his eyes, the antidote to every humdrum thing in her life, a world of adventure, a foreign land. He was leading her to a new place inside herself, away from the person everyone thought she was.

They followed a secluded path beyond the trees and found a spot where the air had stilled. Nobody could see them or hear them. She knew what was about to happen and it made her chest burn. His lips felt like velvet as his mouth travelled along her jaw, her temple,the stretch of her collarbone. Bark scratched through her dress into the damp flesh on her spine and her hem rose to the top of her thighs.All she could do was abandon herself to the exquisite ache in her belly. The weightlessness of the moment. The sky-high feeling of being a woman.

I love this scene setting extract and hope you do too!

About Catherine Isaac

Catherine Isaac was born in Liverpool and was a journalist for many years before she wrote her first book, Bridesmaids, under the pseudonym Jane Costello. She wrote nine novels under that name – all bestsellers – before You Me Everything was published under the name Catherine Isaac in 2018. It was selected by the Richard & Judy Book Club,
has been translated into 24 languages and a movie is in development by Lionsgate and Temple Hill. In 2019 she won the Romantic Novelists’ Association award for Popular Romantic Fiction. She lives in Liverpool with her husband and three sons.

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

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

Back in October 2019 I went to a wonderful Quercus books Word of Mouth Best Seller blogger event that you can read all about here. At that event I was lucky enough to get a copy of Rebecca Serle’s In Five Years. Now I’m thrilled to be invited to participate in the launch celebrations for In Five Years and would like to thank Milly Reid for asking me.

Published by Quercus on 10th March 2020, In Five Years is available for pre-order here.

In Five Years

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Kohan has been in possession of her meticulously crafted answer since she understood the question. On the day that she nails the most important job interview of her career and gets engaged to the perfect man, she’s well on her way to fulfilling her life goals.

That night Dannie falls asleep only to wake up in a different apartment with a different ring on her finger, and in the company of a very different man. The TV is on in the background, and she can just make out the date. It’s the same night – December 15th – but 2025, five years in the future.

It was just a dream, she tells herself when she wakes, but it felt so real… Determined to ignore the odd experience, she files it away in the back of her mind.

That is, until four and a half years later, when Dannie turns down a street and there, standing on the corner, is the man from her dream…

My Review of In Five Years

Dannie finds life isn’t all about numbers.

Having heard so much about In Five Years I was sceptical about its emotional impact, stubbornly deciding I wasn’t going to be affected by Rebecca Serle’s writing. How wrong could I be? I resisted as long as possible before finding myself sobbing uncontrollably as the narrative unfolded and by the time I’d finished the book I was in pieces.

I thought the setting was magnificently displayed. It’s not just Rebecca Serle’s knowledge of New York but her ability to convey its impact on her characters that makes it so effective. The delis and restaurants, the lofts and apartments form an ideal back drop to the events. At times the setting is quite prosaic and yet enhances the emotions that her characters, and readers, are feeling.

There’s a heart rending story here. It might be set in corporate New York, but In Five Years explores universal themes of love, ambition, expectation and friendship that resonate for any reader in any location. It’s difficult to explore the plot without spoiling the read for others but I will say that I was so caught up in events that I read this book in one sitting because I was so captivated. I absolutely loved it.

What I think works so well in In Five Years is that there is a reduced number of main characters so that we get to know them intimately; even more deeply perhaps than they know themselves. Dannie’s first person narrative is honest and raw making her vivid and realistic so that I was completely attuned to her emotions, decisions and life. Her relationship with Bella is simultaneously harrowing and beautiful so that I was incredibly touched by it.

I’ve finished In Five Years not able to distance myself from Rebecca Serle’s wonderful writing. In spite of my intentions, she drew me in, mangled my heart and replaced it irrevocably and irretrievably altered. I loved this book unequivocally and cannot recommend it highly enough.

About Rebecca Serle

Rebecca Serle is an author and television writer who lives between NYC and LA. She most recently co-developed the television adaptation of her YA series Famous In Love for Freeform and Warner Brothers Television. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California.

Her bestselling US debut adult novel Dinner List was a Book of the Month club pick, Costco bookclub pick, and Bustle Bookclub selection.

You can visit Rebecca’s website for more information, find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @RebeccaASerle.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

I have a particular fondness for Elisabeth Gifford because she was one of the authors I was lucky to read in the early days of Linda’s Book Bag. Hopefully the blog has developed since then so that I feature books and authors more effectively, but you can read a fabulous guest piece from Elisabeth about the Harris setting for her book Secrets of the Sea House, alongside my review here. I’ve also reviewed Elisabeth’s wonderful The Good Doctor of Warsaw here.

Consequently, when to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours invited me to participate in this blog tour for The Lost Lights of St Kilda I jumped at the chance because I had been desperate to get to the book for some time. My enormous thanks to Elisabeth for an early copy and to the Corvus team for a finished hardback.

The Lost Lights of St Kilda will be published on 5th March by Corvus and is available for pre-order here.

The Lost Lights of St Kilda

A sweeping novel set on the Scottish island of St Kilda, following the last community to live there before it was evacuated in 1930.

When Fred Lawson takes a summer job on St Kilda in 1927, little does he realise that he has joined the last community to ever live on that desolate, isolated island. Only three years later, St Kilda will be evacuated, the islanders near-dead from starvation. But for Fred, that summer is the bedrock of his whole life…

Chrissie Gillies is just nineteen when the researchers come to St Kilda. Hired as their cook, she can’t believe they would ever notice her, sophisticated and educated as they are. But she soon develops a cautious friendship with Fred, a friendship that cannot be allowed to develop into anything more…

My Review of The Lost Lights of St Kilda

A summer trip to St Kilda will have far reaching impact for Fred.

Having read Elisabeth Gifford before, I knew I would be in for a treat with The Lost Lights of St Kilda but I wasn’t prepared for how far this book would exceed my expectations. I absolutely loved it and have closed the pages feeling a little bit broken and then repaired by this affecting, dramatic and mesmerising story that is steeped in nature, romance and the past.

Firstly, there’s an historical depth, both in the St Kilda passages and the war episodes, that is absolutely flawless. I had no previous knowledge of St Kilda but I now feel as if I’ve been there, met the people and experienced a way of life that might otherwise have been forgotten. The meticulous research that must have gone in to the writing of this narrative makes for a smooth and convincing sense of the era. I’m not sure how to articulate what I mean except to say that this author engenders a confidence in the reader so that they are reassured about the realism of the story and can relax into the sheer pleasure of reading it. The Lost Lights of St Kilda feels intimate even when set against world events.

And what a story it is too. I felt as if events ebbed and flowed like the seas around St Kilda, equally as stormy and bleak as the winter gales at times and calm and serene at others so that this is a perfectly balanced narrative. As I neared the end of the book the tension was almost unbearable. I knew how I wanted The Lost Lights of St Kilda to end but I couldn’t be certain my wishes would be fulfilled.

Elisabeth Gifford’s writing is tangibly atmospheric and so beautifully written. The sense of place, the appeal to the senses, the total immersion in St Kilda especially, all combine into a vivid picture. I could see the birds on the crags, smell the fulmar oil, feel the texture of the tweed in my fingers, hear the gales and the crashing waves and taste the whisky and oatmeal so that reading The Lost Lights of St Kilda was an almost physical experience. in fact, I’d go so far as to say that the descriptions in The Lost Lights of St Kilda are amongst the best I’ve read by any author.

I loved the characterisation and the way the distinct voices of Fred and Chrissie form the weft and weave of the narrative every bit as tightly as the tweed is woven by the villagers. Chrissie’s blend of strength and vulnerability, the hardship of her life and her natural intelligence make her a true heroine. I thought Elisabeth Gifford was hugely skilful in making me loathe Archie and yet bringing me to tears over him too. She shows so sensitively the faults, flaws, passions, love, betrayals and loyalties that make us human. I felt there was a real sense of redemption here too that gave wonderful depth to the story.

I found The Lost Lights of St Kilda moving, enthralling, and oh so beautifully crafted. It is one of my books of the year and I’m only sorry to have finished it. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

About Elisabeth Gifford

Elisabeth Gifford grew up in a vicarage in the industrial Midlands. She studied French literature and world religions at Leeds University. Her bestselling novel, Secrets of the Sea House, was shortlisted for the Historical Writers’ Association’s Debut Crown for Best First Historical Novel in 2014. She is married with three children, and lives in Kingston upon Thames.

For more information, you can find Elisabeth on Facebook, visit her website and follow her on Twitter @elisabeth04Liz.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

I can’t believe how long it is since I last featured one of my favourite writers, Sheila O’Flanagan, here on Linda’s Book Bag. Then I  helped reveal the cover of her novel, Christmas With You. Also on the blog Sheila previously told me all about her inspiration for another of her books My Mother’s Secret in a guest post that you can read here. I reviewed My Mother’s Secret here. With Sheila’s latest book Her Husband’s Mistake out in paperback on 5th March, I’m delighted to have a copy on my TBR waiting to be read.

I’m absolutely thrilled to be staying in with Sheila today to hear all about Her Husband’s Mistake and I’d like to thank Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to participate in these launch celebrations.

Staying in  with Sheila O’Flanagan

Welcome back to Linda’s Book Bag, Sheila. Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me. I’m sure I know, but tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

Her Husband’s Mistake. It’s my latest book and I’m still very close to the characters so they come everywhere with me.

I can imagine it’s hard to shake off characters when you’ve been writing about them for so long. What can we expect from an evening in with Her Husband’s Mistake?

You’ll travel around Ireland with Roxy who has taken over her late father’s business as a chauffeur. She meets lots of different people in her job and all of them impact in her life in some way. She also has plenty of time to think , which she needs to do as her marriage is crumbling, she has two kids to consider and she’s worried about her recently widowed mum who’s acting strangely.

Now I’m intrigued. I’m so pleased to have a copy of Her Husband’s Mistake waiting to be read.

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

I’ve brought my iPad so that I can update my Insta feed with pix of our night in! Because Roxy has learned to use Insta in her job, I’ve started to use it too. It’s a much cheerier place than a lot of social media and I’ve really got into taking photos even though I’ve never been much of a snapper in the past. My own feed seems to be dominated by shoes and cocktails!!! Presumably we’re going to have some of the latter, so they’ll be a perfect fit.

That sounds like a plan to me! I’m rather fond of a Mai Tai. If I open up my Insta account maybe you can show me how to use it as I haven’t a clue! Thanks so much for staying in with me Sheila. Let me pass you a Margarita whilst I tell everyone a bit more about Her Husband’s Mistake.

Her Husband’s Mistake

Dave’s made a BIG mistake. What’s Roxy going to do about it? The riveting new novel from No. 1 bestselling author Sheila O’Flanagan. Perfect for readers of Marian Keyes and Amanda Prowse.

Roxy’s marriage has always been rock solid.

After twenty years, and with two carefree kids, she and Dave are still the perfect couple.

Until the day she comes home unexpectedly, and finds Dave in bed with their attractive, single neighbour.

Suddenly Roxy isn’t sure about anything – her past, the business she’s taken over from her dad, or what her family’s future might be. She’s spent so long caring about everyone else that she’s forgotten what she actually wants. But something has changed. And Roxy has a decision to make.

Whether it’s with Dave, or without him, it’s time for Roxy to start living for herself…

Her Husband’s Mistake that is available for purchase through the publisher links here.

About Sheila O’Flanagan

Sheila O’Flanagan is the award-winning author of over twenty titles, including the Sunday Times bestsellers The Missing Wife, My Mother’s Secret and If You Were Me, and the winner of the Irish Independent Popular Fiction Book of the Year Award, All For You.

Sheila has always loved telling stories, and after working in banking and finance for a number of years, she decided it was time to fulfil a dream and give writing her own book a go. So she sat down, stuck ‘Chapter One’ at the top of a page, and got started. Sheila is now a full-time writer and lives in Dublin with her husband.

You can follow Sheila on Twitter @sheilaoflanagan, or find her on Facebook and visit her website for more details.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

As regular Linda’s Book Bag readers know, before I decided to ‘retire’ I used to work in education, with a particular focus on English, reading and literacy. I’m involved in my local Deepings Literary Festival which will be celebrating its third full festival in 2021 with a Read Dating event to come at the Deepings Library on May 2nd this year. There will be news to come about those events soon.

With this focus on books and words, and festivals away from London, when Steph from Words Weekend got in touch to see if I’d be interested in telling blog readers about the forthcoming event at the Lowry in Salford I knew it was something I had to support. The festival takes place the weekend of 27th-29th March 2020 and includes over sixty different events from poetry to television.

This is what Steph told me about Words Weekend:

Words Weekend is a brand-new festival series celebrating the power of words. Our central aim is to unite communities through the power of words and stories, speaking and giving a voice to demographics usually under-served by traditional literary festivals. 

Following the success of our first Words Weekend at Sage Gateshead in early December (where 12,000 people attended!), next up we’re heading to the Lowry from 27-29 March for what will no doubt be an equally exciting and engaging weekend. 

At least 25% of the programme is free and all events will be accessible, as well as BSL interpreted. We’re also committed to being a festival that works with and is driven by local voices and local concerns – we’re here to go beyond Londoncentricity! 

To give you a sense of our programme, we will be exploring issues such as the importance of access to education and the incredibly damaging personal and societal impact when such access is restricted, be that due economic reasons, religious or political motives, or on the grounds of prejudice.

Another strand is social activism and participation. The third core strand is mental health and how sense of place and identity tie in with self-expression and emotional literacy. 

We’re so excited to hold the second edition of our festival at the unquestionably iconic Lowry, and to embrace Salfordian narratives and culture. We want to showcase the confident voices of the North West, particularly in this current climate where so much important work never reaches the region. We intend to draw national focus back the North West, through platforming both local and international speakers. 

Now doesn’t that sound a fantastic rationale and basis for a festival? I’m so disappointed that I won’t be able to attend as I’ll be in India but I hope some of you might be able to visit Words Weekend.

You’ll find the full line up of speakers and events here. With everything from children’s events like The Wimpy Kid Show, through celebrities like Sir Bob Geldoff to Amrou Al-Kadhi’s Memoir of a Muslim Drag Queen there is something for everyone at this festival.

For more information, visit the Words Weekend website, or follow Words Weekend on Twitter @wordsweekend, Facebook and Instagram.

I’m a huge fan of historical fiction and it’s always a pleasure to discover new to me authors and books, so it gives me very great pleasure to support friend and tour organiser Kelly of Love Books Group in helping reveal the cover to The Gossip’s Choice by Sara Read today.

Published by Wildpressed on 6th May 2020, The Gossip’s Choice is available for pre-order here.

Let’s find out more:

The Gossip’s Choice

“Call The Midwife for the 17th Century”

Lucie Smith is a respected midwife who is married to Jacob, the town apothecary. They live happily together at the shop with the sign of the Three Doves. But sixteen-sixty-five proves a troublesome year for the couple. Lucie is called to a birth at the local Manor House and Jacob objects to her involvement with their former opponents in the English Civil Wars. Their only-surviving son Simon flees plague-ridden London for his country hometown, only to argue with his father. Lucie also has to manage her husband’s fury at the news of their loyal housemaid’s unplanned pregnancy and its repercussions.

The year draws to a close with the first-ever accusation of malpractice against Lucie, which could see her lose her midwifery licence, or even face ex-communication.

I don’t know about you, but I’m intrigued! 

About Sara Read

Dr Sara Read is a lecturer in English at Loughborough University. Her research is in the cultural representations of women, bodies and health in the early modern era.

She has published widely in this area with her first book Menstruation and the Female Body in Early Modern England being published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2013.

She is a member of the organising committee of the Women’s Studies Group, 1558-1837 and recently co-edited a special collection produced to celebrate the group’s 30th anniversary.

She is also the co-editor of the popular Early Modern Medicine blog. With founding editor Dr Jennifer Evans, Sara wrote a book about health and disease in this era Maladies and Medicine: Exploring Health and Healing, 1540-1740 (Pen and Sword 2017).

Sara regularly writes for history magazines such as Discover Your Ancestors and History Today. In 2017 she published an article ‘My Ancestor was a Midwife‘ tracing the history of the midwifery profession for Who Do You Think You Are? magazine in 2017. She has appeared on BBC Radio 3’s Freethinking programme and is often to be heard on BBC Radio Leicester and BBC Radio WM.

You can follow Sara on Twitter @saralread and visit her website for more information.

My enormous thanks to Holly Duhig at Exisle Publishing for sending me a copy of children’s book Tabitha and the Raincloud by Devon Sillett and Melissa Johns in return for an honest review.

Tabitha and the Raincloud by Devon Sillett and Melissa Johns is out in the UK on 10th March 2020 and is available for purchase in all the usual places including directly from the publisher here where you’ll also find teacher notes to accompany the book.

Tabitha and the Raincloud

When Tabitha wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, she finds a big raincloud next to her. She tells it to go away, but it won’t budge. At school, she tries to draw a giraffe, but the raincloud distracts her and her art teacher compliments her on her dinosaur! By lunchtime Tabitha is so stormy none of her friends want to sit next to her. Tabitha realises she needs to change her attitude.

An empowering story of resilience and the importance of optimism.

My Review of Tabitha and the Raincloud

Tabitha wakes up in a bad mood.

Tabitha and the Raincloud is a beautifully presented children’s story. The quality of the book is impressive. It has a strong and robust cover that will survive many readings and much handling. The illustrations are engaging and appropriate with a calming and muted palette that suits the story perfectly. They also have a charm and simple style that children can easily relate to. Indeed, I can envisage children emulating the artwork and attempting the painting of a giraffe like Tabitha’s at the end of the story so that if Tabitha and the Raincloud were used in a school setting it could link with art or nature projects too.

The language in the story is accessible so that stronger independent readers could enjoy the story alone, but I think that Tabitha and the Raincloud would work best when read with a child by a parent, or with a class by a teacher, because it because it affords all manner of opportunities for discussion and exploration of emotional intelligence. There’s the consideration of other people’s feelings when Tabitha rejects her breakfast or when her behaviour leaves her isolated from her friends. There’s the way in which negative experiences can be turned into positive ones. There’s the concept of sharing with others. More subtle aspects such as exercise and action to ward off poor moods and unhappiness are also implied so that there really is a great deal to find and consider at the same time as entertaining children.

Tabitha and the Raincloud would make a super addition to any child’s reading. It really does show that every cloud has a silver lining!

About Devon Sillett

Devon Sillett is a former radio producer, turned writer and reviewer. Born in the US, Devon now calls Australia home. She has loved books as long as she can remember — so much so that she even married her husband Matthew in a library! Currently, she is researching Australian’s children’s picture books for her PhD at the University of Canberra. She is the author of The Leaky Story, Scaredy Book and Saying Goodbye to Barkley (EK Books).

You can find Devon on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @ladyliterology for more information.

About Melissa Johns

Melissa Johns is an artist, illustrator, an avid upcycler and a closet poet. She produces artworks predominantly made of recycled materials that lend her work a uniquely whimsical quality. Melissa is passionate about her family, her artistic creations and stimulating young minds through art and literature.

I love ‘staying in’ with different authors here on Linda’s Book Bag and when it happens to be a publication day for their brand new novel, it’s very exciting. Today I’m thrilled to welcome Nicola White to tell me all about her latest release and I’d like to thank Rachel Nobilo of Serpent’s Tail books for inviting me to be part of the blog tour.

Staying in with Nicola White

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

I rather think I know, but tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

I’ve brought along my new novel, A Famished Heart. It’s just published so I’m eager to share the story.

I know A Famished Heart is out today so happy publication day Nicola. What’s A Famished Heart about?

It’s a crime novel based on a true story, but it is about the afterlife of a tragedy – the ripples that follow. It is told through three voices – the detective obsessed with uncovering what really happened, the sister of the dead women who escaped their fate and the priest who discovered their bodies.

It sounds fabulous. I’m so excited to have a copy waiting to be read on my TBR pile. How is A Famished Heart being received so far?

Although I live in Scotland, I’m originally from Dublin, and I’m thrilled to have received the support of Irish writers I really admire, like Liz Nugent (Unravelling Oliver), who called it  “intriguing, compelling and highly entertaining” and Jo Spain (The Confession) – who described it as ‘Fabulous… very much in the vein of Tana French’, Crime fiction from Ireland is really soaring at the moment, so it is great to feel a part of that.

Those endorsements are wonderful. You must be absolutely delighted that authors Like Liz Nugent and Jo Spain love your writing. How exciting.

What can we expect from an evening in with A Famished Heart?

It’s a crime story with depth and character, and a certain gothic influence. The book has just been chosen as a ‘star pick’ by The Sunday Times Crime Club, who described it as a ‘terrific new gem of Irish noir’.  Their review also included the line ‘The scene where the priest visits a massage parlour is worth the cover price alone.’ – not many writers can boast that! They also praised its ‘light touch’, so don’t fear that we will be too bogged in darkness.

I think A Famished Heart sounds exactly my mind of read. 

What else have you brought along and why?

I think we should draw the curtains and stoke up the fire before we start, and maybe put on some music, something old and haunting, like uileann pipe music from the west of Ireland.

That’s a really atmospheric sound Nicola!

I’ve got a bottle of Redbreast Whisky, distilled in Dublin, to strengthen our nerves, and we can have some toast and honey when we get peckish. There’s a reason for the honey, but I can’t tell you – you’ll have to read the book to find out…

I’m not much of a drinker Nicola but I’m quite partial to toast and honey and of course, I’m utterly intrigued as to why we’re eating it. I cannot wait to sink my teeth into that toast and into A Famished Heart. Thank you so much for staying in with me to tell me more about it. 

A Famished Heart

The Macnamara sisters hadn’t been seen for months before anyone noticed. It was Father Timoney who finally broke down the door, who saw what had become of them. Berenice was sitting in her armchair, surrounded by religious tracts. Rosaleen had crawled under her own bed, her face frozen in terror. Both had starved themselves to death.

Francesca Macnamara returns to Dublin after decades in the US, to find her family in ruins. Meanwhile, Detectives Vincent Swan and Gina Considine are convinced that there is more to the deaths than suicide. Because what little evidence there is, shows that someone was watching the sisters die…

Published today, 27th February 2020 by Serpent’s Tail, A Famished Heart is available for purchase here.

About Nicola White

Nicola White won the Scottish Book Trust New Writer Award in 2008 and in 2012 was Leverhulme Writer in Residence at Edinburgh University. Her novel The Rosary Garden won the Dundee International Book Prize, was shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize, and selected as one of the four best debuts by Val McDermid at Harrogate. She grew up in Dublin and New York, and now lives in the Scottish Highlands.

You can follow Nicola on Twitter @whiteheadednic and there’s more with these other bloggers too:

I almost never feature fantasy, science fiction, post apocalyptic, dystopian or steam punk fiction. However, until recently I rarely read short stories either and I have grown to love them so when Amber at Midas PR got in touch to see if I would like to feature The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu, I thought it was about time to broaden my reading horizons, especially as the descriptions of the writing sounded just my kind of read.

Although I didn’t have time to read the entire collection, I do have a mini-review and an extract to share with you today.

Published yesterday 25th February 2020 by Head of Zeus, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories is available for purchase here.

The Hidden Girl and Other Stories

From a Tang Dynasty legend of a young girl trained as an assassin with the ability to skip between dimensions on a secluded mountain sanctuary to a space colony called Nova Pacifica that reflects on a post-apocalyptic world of the American Empire and ‘Moonwalker’ Neil Armstrong, award-winning author Ken Liu’s writings are laced with  depictions of silkpunk fantasy, Sci-Fi and old Chinese folklore, wrapped up in a mesmerising genre-bending collection of short stories.

Ken Liu is one of the most lauded short story writers of our time. This much anticipated collection includes a selection of his latest science fiction and fantasy stories over the last five years – sixteen of his best – plus a new novelette. In addition to these seventeen selections, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories also features an excerpt from book three in the Dandelion Dynasty series, The Veiled Throne.

An Extract from The Hidden Girl and Other Stories

The Hidden Girl

Beginning in the eighth century,the Imperial court of Tang Dynasty China increasingly relied on military governors—the jiedushi—whose responsibilities began with border defense but gradually encompassed taxation, civil administration, and other aspects of political power. They were, infact, independent feudal warlords whose accountability to Imperial authority was nominal.

Rivalry among the governors was often violent and bloody. 

•

On the morning after my tenth birthday, spring sunlight dapples the stone slabs of the road in front of our house through the blooming branches of the pagoda tree. I climb out onto the thick bough pointing west like an immortal’s arm and reach for a strand of yellow flowers,anticipating the sweet taste tinged with a touch of  bitterness.

“Alms, young mistress?”

I look down and see a bhikkhuni. I can’t tell how old she is—her face is unlined but there is a fortitude in her dark eyes that reminds me of my grandmother. The light fuzz over her shaved head glows in the warm sun like a halo, and her grey kasaya is clean but tattered at the hem. She holds up a wooden bowl in her left hand, gazing up at me expectantly.

“Would you like some pagoda tree flowers?” I ask.

She smiles.“I haven’t had any since I was a young girl. It would be a delight.”

“If you stand below me, I’ll drop some into your bowl,” I say, reaching for the silk pouch on my back.

She shakes her head. “I can’t eat flowers that have been touched by another hand—too infected with the mundane concerns of this dusty world.”

“Then climb up yourself,” I say. Immediately I feel ashamed at my annoyance.

“If I get them myself,they wouldn’t be alms now would they?” There’s a hint of laughter in her voice.

“All right,” I say. Father has always taught me to be polite to the monks and nuns. We may not follow the Buddhist teachings, but it doesn’t make sense to antagonize the spirits, whether they are Daoist, Buddhist, or wild spirits who rely on no learned masters at all. “Tell me which flowers you want; I’ll try to get them for you without touching them.”

She points to some flowers at the end of a slim branch below my bough. They are paler in color than the flowers from the rest of the tree, which means they are sweeter. But the branch they dangle from is much too thin for me to climb.

I hook my knees around the thick bough I’m on and lean back until I’m dangling upside down like a bat.It’s fun to see the world this way, and I don’t care that the hem of my dress is flapping around my face. Father always yells at me when he sees me like this, but he never stays angry at me for too long, on account of my losing my mother when I was just a baby.

Wrapping my hands in the loose folds of my sleeves, I try to grab for the flowers. But I’m still too far from the branch she wants, those white flowers tantalizingly just out of reach.

“If it’s too much trouble,” the nun calls out, “don’t worry about it. I don’t want you to tear your dress.”

I bite my bottom lip, determined to ignore her. By tightening and flexing the muscles in my belly and thighs, I begin to swing back and forth. When I’ve reached the apex of an upswing I judge to be high enough, I let go with my knees.

As I plunge through the leafy canopy, the flowers she wants brush by my face and I snap my teeth around a strand. My fingers grab the lower branch, which sinks under my weight and slows my momentum as my body swings back upright. For a moment, it seems as if the branch would hold, but then I hear a crisp snap and feel suddenly weightless.

I tuck my knees under me and manage to land in the shade of the pagoda tree, unharmed. Immediately, I roll out of the way, and the flower-laden branch crashes to the spot on the ground I just vacated a moment later.

I walk nonchalantly up to the nun and open my jaw to drop the strand of flowers into her alms bowl. “No dust. And you only said no hands.”

•

In the shade of the pagoda tree, we sit with our legs crossed in the lotus position like the buddhas in the temple. She picks the flowers off the stem: one for her, one for me. The sweetness is lighter and less cloying than the sugar dough figurines Father sometimes buys me.

“You have a talent,” she says. “You’d make a good thief.”

I look at her,indignant. “I’m a general’s daughter.”

“Are you?” she says. “Then you’re already a thief.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I have walked many miles,” she says. I look at her bare feet: the bottoms are callused and leathery. “I see peasants starving in fields while the great lords plot and scheme for bigger armies. I see ministers and generals drink wine from ivory cups and conduct calligraphy with their piss on silk scrolls while orphans and widows must make one cup of rice last five days.”

“Just because we are not poor doesn’t make us thieves. My father serves his lord, the Jiedushi of Weibo, with honor and carries out his duties faithfully.”

“We’re all thieves in this world of suffering,” the nun says.“Honor and faith are not virtues, only excuses for stealing more.”

“Then you’re a thief as well,” I say, anger making my face glow with heat. “You accept alms and do no work to earn it.”

She nods. “I am indeed. The Buddha teaches us that the world is an illusion, and suffering is inevitable as long as we do not see through it. If we’re all fated to be thieves, it’s better to be a thief who adheres to a code that transcends the mundane.”

“What is your code then?”

“To disdain the moral pronouncements of hypocrites; to be true to my word; to always do what I promise, no more and no less. To hone my talent and wield it like a beacon in a darkening world.”

I laugh. “What is your talent, Mistress Thief?”

“I steal lives.”

…

You’ll have to read the rest of this story for yourselves how it ends!

My Review of The Hidden Girl and Other Stories

Although I’m not providing a full review, I do want to say something here about the physical quality of The Hidden Girl and Other Stories. This is a beautifully presented book. The literal hidden girl on the cover image, the woven place marker, the pages of dots within the text that echo the cover all contribute to a feeling of mystery and luxuriousness.  I loved the Preface, because Ken Liu articulates brilliantly my own long held view that a story is not a single entity provided by a writer, but rather a vehicle for readers to apply their own experiences and tenets, making for a different reading experience for every reader. I loved the way too, that the dots on the cover and within the book seemed to echo thought bubbles, and conceptual explorations of the kind that swirl through the pages.

This mini-review comes with the caveat that I haven’t read all the stories in The Hidden Girl. That said, those I have read I have found skilfully written and thoroughly engaging. Ken Liu writes with an incisive insight into the human condition so that although these stories might be dystopian or futuristic, at their heart is what it is to be human, to need connection and to feel emotion.

Although there is an excellent balance between first and third person narratives, it was the first person stories I read that I enjoyed the most. Stories like The Reborn and Thoughts and Prayers have an intimacy as if the writer is actually speaking directly to the reader so that they almost become part of the narrative too. That said, the third person, final and briefest story, Cutting, I thought was sheer perfection. In less than three pages Ken Liu makes the reader contemplate memory and identity, completely inverting how we believe one creates the other, in a way I found incredibly moving. As text is cut, the structure on the page is altered until it becomes almost poetry. Cutting also brings into question religious texts and beliefs so that the reader understands how layers of time and interpretation affect truth and tenet. I thought this was very powerful

Ken Liu’s The Hidden Girl is political, philosophical and existential in ways that make the reader think, at the same time as entertaining them through vivid and intoxicating writing. I really recommend it. Although this is a genre I’d normally avoid, I’m so glad to have a copy of The Hidden Girl and am off to read the rest of the stories.

About Ken Liu

Ken Liu is an American author and the winner of the Nebula, Hugo, Locus, World Fantasy, Sidewise, and Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards.

He emigrated to the US from China at age of 11 and graduated from Harvard with a degree in English Literature and Computer Science. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Ken worked as a software engineer, corporate lawyer, and litigation consultant.

His work includes the epic fantasy series, The Dandelion Dynasty and his debut collection, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. His short story Good Hunting was adapted for an episode for Netflix’s science fiction web series Love, Death and Robots.

You can follow Ken on Twitter @kyliu99 and visit his website for more information.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

It’s always a pleasure to find new to me authors, especially when they are writing in a genre I really rather like, and I’m delighted to welcome K.T. Findlay to Linda’s Book Bag today to tell me about one of his books.

Staying in with K.T. Findlay

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

Hi Linda, it’s lovely to be here.

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

I’ve brought along my time travel story In Two Minds because it gives us so many things we could talk about over dinner. It’s one of those books where you can just get swept along by the story, or you can slow down a bit to enjoy all the little underpinnings that bring its Anglo Saxon world to life.

Oo. I like a book that can be read on different levels. So, what can we expect from an evening in with In Two Minds?

Well, we might expect a long night by the fire! I got the most wonderful email from a new fan in Sweden who’d selected In Two Minds basically by chance, just to kill time while his girlfriend studied for an exam. He read it right through the night, finishing at 6 AM when he fired off his email to me and a review to Amazon before showering and heading straight to work. If I never sell another copy, it was worth writing the book just to get that email!

What a wonderful reaction to your writing. You must be delighted to hear how much he loved In Two Minds.

While it was the fantasy aspects of the story that first attracted my Swedish fan, the time travel and the idea of two souls sharing the same body, there’s another side to In Two Minds. Look past the fantasy and it’s a thoroughly researched Dark Ages historical novel. Everything’s true to the time and the place. There are real people, real events, real places, and our time traveller’s new ideas really could have worked back then.

But above all you should expect a swashbuckling tale full of fun and adventure as a team of incredible women set out to become the finest blades in the land.

I think that sounds very persuasive. I don’t usually read fantasy but I do like well researched historical fiction. I may just have to fit in In Two Minds to my towering TBR pile!

What else have you brought along and why?

We should of course be drinking Anglo Saxon beer, but as it’s an acquired taste, I’ve brought along a bottle of Fickle Mistress pinot noir from Central Otago to go with the Beef Wellington.

I can fully relate to the name of that wine!

The Anglo Saxon upper crust liked their meat, but a Beef Wellington’s a lot easier to cook than a stuffed goose!

It is the way I cook things. The simpler the better!

To start with though, I’ve got us a bottle of Dom Perignon and the box set of James Burke’s Connections TV series, not to watch, but to toast.

James Burke takes me back, but why him?

I got terribly ill a while back, and as well as helping me to retrain my brain, Connections inspired me with the knowledge that a single new idea could change the world as long as it had the right person behind it, and that was the inspiration for In Two Minds. So once the bubbles die down a little, I’d like you to join me in raising your glass to say “Thank you James!”, and to celebrate the astonishing fact that Connections is still for sale, more than forty years after it was made.

Then after dinner, I thought it might be nice for us to sit by the fire and I can read you the first couple of chapters while we finish our wine. How does that sound?

That sounds perfect. Thanks for staying in with me. You pour another glass of Dom Perignon and I’ll tell everyone a bit more about In Two Minds. 

In Two Minds

Hurled twelve hundred years into the past, into someone else’s body, things could hardly be worse. And then the body’s owner wanted it back…

Museum curator Thomas and ten year old Anglo Saxon Wulfstan have to cope with a fifty year age gap, a huge culture clash and never knowing from one moment to the next who’s going to be in control. They also face almost certain death in a year’s time because Wulfstan’s father King Offa of Mercia has challenged him to find a team of untrained women who can beat his champions in battle.

Out there somewhere are ten amazing women, women with vision, women with courage, women willing to take on the impossible and show the world just what they can do. But where are they, and can Thomas use his knowledge to find some kind of edge within the confines of eighth century Britain with all its colour, violence, ignorance, and a disturbingly cavalier attitude to hygiene?

In Two Minds is available for purchase here.

About K.T. Findlay

K.T. Findlay lives on a small farm where he dovetails his writing with fighting the blackberry, and trying to convince the quadbike that killing its rider isn’t a core part of its job description. He also enjoys travel and has worked in over a dozen different countries around the world

He’s the author of In Two Minds, and A Thoughtful Woman.

You can find out more about K.T on his website, YouTube channel, on Facebook and by following him on Twitter @KTFindlay.