There’s a real pleasure in opening up an email and seeing an invitation from one of your favourite publishers to a bookish evening. My enormous thanks to Katya Ellis at Quercus for inviting me to their latest Word-of-Mouth Bestsellers Evening last Wednesday. I’d like to apologise too for the tardiness of this blog post but a U3A garden group meeting on Thursday morning followed by a Deepings Literary Festival 2021 planning meeting in the afternoon and a theatre visit in the evening with a funeral on Friday didn’t afford me much time!

 

As ever with Quercus book events, there were fabulous displays, drinks and nibbles, as well as wonderful views over London from the beautiful rooftop with an encouragement to be interactive too!

 

I was excited that the evening would see Candice Brathwaite as the star guest. Candice is the founder of the Make Motherhood Diverse initiative and author of the forthcoming book I Am Not Your Baby Mother, an insightful guide to navigating black British motherhood, and it was a delight to meet her and hear her speak so passionately about I Am Not Your Baby Mother. I came away with a sampler of this book which will be published on 28th May 2020 and let me tell you, Candice Brathwaite doesn’t mince her words!

It’s about time we made motherhood more diverse…

When Candice fell pregnant and stepped into the motherhood playing field, she found her experience bore little resemblance to the glossy magazine photos of women in horizontal stripe tops and the pinned discussions on mumsnet about what pushchair to buy. Leafing through the piles of prenatal paraphernalia, she found herself wondering: “Where are all the black mothers?”.

Candice started blogging about motherhood in 2016 after making the simple but powerful observation that the way motherhood is portrayed in the British media is wholly unrepresentative of our society at large.

The result is this thought-provoking, urgent and inspirational guide to life as a black mother. It explores the various stages in between pregnancy and waving your child off at the gates of primary school, while facing hurdles such as white privilege, racial micro-aggression and unconscious bias at every point. Candice does so with her trademark sense of humour and refreshing straight-talking, and the result is a call-to-arms that will allow mums like her to take control, scrapping the parenting rulebook to mother their own way.

You can find out more about Candice by visiting her website or finding her on Youtube and Instagram, or following her onTwitter @CandiceAboderin. I Am Not Your Baby Mother is available for pre-order here.

Alongside I Am Not Your Baby Mother I was thrilled to see some of the other books coming next year from Quercus. What I found so impressive was the passion with which they were spoken about by the publicists. The ones that have made it onto my TBR from this wonderful event include:

Last Christmas by Greg Wise and Emma Thompson

The perfect gift book, featuring the writing of Meryl Streep, Bill Bailey, Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, Caitlin Moran, Richard Ayoade, Emily Watson and others, to coincide with the upcoming movie Last Christmas, starring Emma Thompson, Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding.

When you think back to Christmases past, what (if anything) made it magical? Looking towards the future, what would your perfect Christmas be? What would you change? What should we all change?

This is a beautiful, funny and soulful collection of personal essays about the meaning of Christmas, written by a unique plethora of voices from the boulevards of Hollywood to the soup kitchens of Covent Garden.

Away from the John Lewis advert, the high street decorations and the candied orange in Heston Blumenthal’s Christmas pudding, this gem of a book introduced and curated by Emma Thompson and Greg Wise celebrates the importance of kindness and generosity, acceptance and tolerance – and shows us that these values are not just for Christmas.

Last Christmas will be published on 31st October and is available for pre-order here.

Six Wicked Reasons by Jo Spain

It’s June 2008 and twenty-one-year-old Adam Lattimer vanishes, presumed dead. The strain of his disappearance breaks his already fragile family.

Ten years later, with his mother deceased and siblings scattered across the globe, Adam turns up unannounced at the family home. His siblings return reluctantly to Spanish Cove, but Adam’s reappearance poses more questions than answers. The past is a tangled web of deceit.

And, as tension builds, it’s apparent somebody has planned murderous revenge for the events of ten years ago.

Released on 30th January 2020, Six Wicked Reasons is available for pre-order here.

The Slaughterman’s Daughter by Yaniv Iczkovits

The townsfolk of Motal, an isolated, godforsaken town in the Pale of Settlement, are shocked when Fanny Keismann – devoted wife, mother of five, and celebrated cheese-maker – leaves her home at two hours past midnight and vanishes into the night.

True, the husbands of Motal have been vanishing for years, but a wife and mother? Whoever heard of such a thing. What on earth possessed her?

Could it have anything to do with Fanny’s missing brother-in-law, who left her sister almost a year ago and ran away to Minsk, abandoning his family to destitution and despair?

Or could Fanny have been lured away by Zizek Breshov, the mysterious ferryman on the Yaselda river, who, in a strange twist of events, seems to have disappeared on the same night?

Surely there can be no link between Fanny and the peculiar roadside murder on the way to Telekhany, which has left Colonel Piotr Novak, head of the Russian secret police, scratching his head. Surely a crime like that could have nothing to do with Fanny Keismann, however the people of Motal might mutter about her reputation as a wilde chayeh, a wild animal . . .

Surely not.

Out on 20th February 2020 from imprint MacLehose, The Slaughterman’s Daughter is available for pre-order here.

Three by D. A. Mishani

Three tells the stories of three women: Orna, a divorced single-mother looking for a new relationship; Emilia, a Latvian immigrant on a spiritual search; and Ella, married and mother of three, returning to University to write her thesis. All of them will meet the same man. His name is Gil. He won’t tell them the whole truth about himself – but they don’t tell him everything either.

Out from imprint Riverrun on 30th April 2020, Three is available for pre-order here.

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

Perfect for fans of Me Before You and One Day, this heart-breaking story of love, loss and life will have you questioning everything you thought you knew about destiny…

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…

In Five Years is a love story, brimming with joy and heartbreak. But it is definitely not the love story you’re expecting.

Out on 3rd March 2020, In Five Years is available for pre-order here.

The Bell in the Lake by Lars Mytting

The first in a rich historical trilogy that draws on legend, by the author of Norwegian Wood and The Sixteen Trees of the Somme.

Norway, 1880. In the secluded village of Butangen at the end of the valley, headstrong Astrid dreams of a life beyond marriage, hard work and children. And then Pastor Kai Schweigaard comes into her life, taking over the 700-year-old stave church with its carvings of pagan deities. The two church bells were forged by her forefather in the sixteenth century, in memory of conjoined sisters Halfrid and Gunhild Hekne, and are said to have supernatural powers. But now the pastor wants to tear it down, to replace it with a modern, larger church. Though Astrid is drawn to him, this may be a provocation too far.

Talented architecture student Gerhard Schönauer arrives from Dresden to oversee the removal of the church and its reconstruction in the German city. Everything about elegant Schönauer is so different, so cosmopolitan. Astrid must make a choice: for her homeland and the pastor, or for a daunting and uncertain future in Germany.

Then the bells begin to toll . . .

The Bell in the Lake will be published by MacLehose on 19th March 2020 and is available for pre-order here.

Dear Child  by Romy Hausman

Gone Girl meets Room in this page-turning thriller from one of Germany’s hottest new talents

A windowless shack in the woods. Lena’s life and that of her two children follows the rules set by their captor, the father: Meals, bathroom visits, study time are strictly scheduled and meticulously observed. He protects his family from the dangers lurking in the outside world and makes sure that his children will always have a mother to look after them.

One day Lena manages to flee – but the nightmare continues. It seems as if her tormentor wants to get back what belongs to him. And then there is the question whether she really is the woman called ‘Lena’, who disappeared without a trace 14 years ago. The police and Lena’s family are all desperately trying to piece together a puzzle which doesn’t quite seem to fit.

Dear Child will be published on 14th May 2020 and is available for pre-order here.

True Story by Kate Reed Petty

Inventive, electrifying and daring, True Story is a novel like nothing you’ve ever read before.

After a college party, two boys drive a girl home: drunk and passed out in the back seat. Rumours spread about what they did to her, but later they’ll tell the police a different version of events. Alice will never remember what truly happened. Her fracture runs deep, hidden beneath cleverness and wry humour. Nick – a sensitive, misguided boy who stood by – will never forget.

That’s just the beginning of this extraordinary journey into memory, fear and self-portrayal. Through university applications, a terrifying abusive relationship, a fateful reckoning with addiction and a final mind-bending twist, Alice and Nick will take on different roles to each other – some real, some invented – until finally, brought face to face once again, the secret of that night is revealed.

Startlingly relevant and enthralling in its brilliance, True Story is by turns a campus novel, psychological thriller, horror story and crime noir, each narrative frame stripping away the fictions we tell about women, men and the very nature of truth. It introduces Kate Reed Petty as a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction.

Out on 11th June from Riverrun, True Story is available for pre-order here.

I have a feeling that 2020 is going to be a magnificent year for Quercus and its imprints. These books look amazing. Look out for reviews of them all on Linda’s Book Bag nearer to their publication dates!

Once again, I’d like to say a huge than you to all involved in making Quercus’ Word-of-Mouth Bestsellers Evening so enjoyable and exciting. I think I’m going to enjoy every one of these books. I wonder which appeal most to Linda’s book Bag readers?

A short while ago, Elise got in touch from Pushkin Press to tell me all about an author she thought I may never have heard of; Margaret Millar. She was right. I hadn’t!

Elise went on to say that ‘Pushkin Press’ imprint Pushkin Vertigo, is the proud publisher of one of America’s most influential crime writers –Margaret Millar who was hugely popular in her day but has now largely fallen out of popular consumption. Elise explained how Millar’s psychologically complex thrillers have some of the best realised characters and most emotionally brilliant writing of all twentieth century crime, earning her a stream of praise from fellow writers. However, the world seems to have forgotten her.

Until now.’

Elise told me ‘Pushkin Press are determined to revive Millar. And not only that, they want to shine a spotlight on the forgotten female crime writers of the past two centuries, where strides in both the genre and in women’s writing have taken place.’

Now, with that kind of information I couldn’t resist seeing what all the fuss was about! I would like to thank Elise for sending me copies of three of Margaret Millar’s books: A Stranger In My Grave, Vanish In An Instant and The Listening Walls. What could be better in attending the recent Capital Crime in London than reading a crime thriller on the train? I’m delighted to share my review of The Listening Walls today.

Pushkin are re-releasing The Listening Walls today, 3rd October 2019, and you can find buy links for all three books here.

The Listening Walls

Amy Kellogg is not having a pleasant vacation in Mexico. She’s been arguing nonstop with her friend and traveling companion, Wilma, and she wants nothing more than to go home to California. But their holiday takes a nightmarish turn when Wilma is found dead on the street below their room-an apparent suicide.

Rupert Kellogg has just returned from seeing his wife Amy through the difficulties surrounding the apparent suicide of her friend in Mexico. But Rupert is returning alone-which worries Amy’s brother. Amy was traumatized by the suicide, Rupert explains, and has taken a holiday in New York City to settle her nerves. But as gone girl Amy’s absence drags on for weeks and then months, the sense of unease among her family changes to suspicion and eventual allegations.

A Stranger In My Grave

A nightmare is haunting Daisy Harker. Night after night she walks a strange cemetery in her dreams, until she comes to a grave that stops her in her tracks. It’s Daisy’s own, and according to the dates on the gravestone she’s been dead for four years.

What can this nightmare mean, and why is Daisy’s husband so insistent that she forget it? Driven to desperation, she hires a private investigator to reconstruct the day of her dream death. But as she pieces her past together, her present begins to fall apart…

Vanish In An Instant

Virginia Barkeley is a nice, well brought-up girl. So what is she doing wandering through a snow storm in the middle of the night, blind drunk and covered in someone else’s blood?

When Claude Margolis’ body is found a quarter of a mile away with half-a-dozen stab wounds to the neck, suddenly Virginia doesn’t seem such a nice girl after all. Her only hope is Meecham, the cynical small-town lawyer hired as her defence. But how can he believe in Virginia’s innocence when even she can’t be sure what happened that night? And when the answer seems to fall into his lap, why won’t he just walk away?

My Review of The Listening Walls

When Wilma dies in a fall from a balcony a chain of events is set off.

In today’s age of crime writing twists, psychological thrillers and domestic noir, it is absolutely fascinating to discover a book originally published sixty years ago in 1959 that has all those elements in the brilliantly written The Listening Walls.

Margaret Millar has created a perfect plot that writhes along, wrong footing the reader and adding surprise after surprise along the way. I genuinely didn’t guess all the outcomes for all the characters so that I finished The Listening Walls feeling I had been brilliantly entertained. Whist there is murder, the skill of the writer comes in her ability to convey her meaning without recourse to overblown visceral descriptions. I loved the style.

The characters initially seem quite simple, but as the narrative progresses, the reader discovers that they have secrets, emotions and motives that are complex and fascinating. There’s an interesting exploration of the difference between public and private personas that any modern reader can appreciate. I found private investigator Elmer Dodd equally as compelling as Christie’s Poirot for example.

And despite the era of the book, where men are frequently socially in control, the writing, characterisation and plot in The Listening Walls all feel incredibly fresh and modern. There is no gender stereotyping here in which person is duplicitous or manipulative and I found more layers to this story than I anticipated so that I thoroughly enjoyed the read.

In The Listening Walls Margaret Millar blends elements of the Golden Age of crime fiction with those to be found in the most popular crime fiction today. I thought it was excellent and am ashamed that I have only just discovered this talented writer. I’ll definitely be reading more of her work as soon as I can.

About Margaret Millar

Margaret Millar (1915-1994) was the author of 27 books and a masterful pioneer of psychological mysteries and thrillers. Born in Kitchener, Ontario, she spent most of her life in Santa Barbara, California, with her husband Ken Millar, who is better known by his nom de plume of Ross Macdonald. Her 1956 novel Beast in View won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel. In 1965 Millar was the recipient of the Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year Award and in 1983 the Mystery Writers of America awarded her the Grand Master Award for Lifetime Achievement. Millar’s cutting wit and superb plotting have left her an enduring legacy as one of the most important crime writers of both her own and subsequent generations.

I was delighted when a surprise copy of A Gift in December by Jenny Gladwell arrived recently and couldn’t wait to start reading it. My enormous thanks to Jasmine Marsh at Hodder for sending me a copy in return for an honest review.

A Gift in December will be published in paperback on 17th October 2019 and is available for pre-order through the publisher links here.

A Gift in December

Jane thought she would be alone this Christmas, but will a luxury trip to Norway mend her broken heart? A heart-warming, feel-good festive treat to curl up with this winter.

Jane Brook has given up on love.She might have uncovered the news scandal of the year, but she’s also been dumped by boyfriend Simon (and has spent the last month avoiding him at the office). With Christmas fast-approaching, Jane’s heart is no closer to mending.

But Jane’s boss has other plans for her. She needs someone to go on a luxurious press trip to Norway to cover the story of the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree, and despite her protests, she’s selected Jane to go.

Jane would much rather wallow at home than spend a week in the fjords with some ditzy bloggers, a snippy publicist, ever-cheerful colleague Ben and handsome-but-arrogant TV presenter Philip Donnelly.

But as Jane throws herself into the trip and starts to enjoy herself, it seems that love hasn’t quite given up on her just yet. Amid all the snow, could a gift be awaiting her underneath the mistletoe?

My Review of A Gift in December

Journalist Jane Brook might find more than a story during her next assignment.

A Gift in December couldn’t be more aptly named as it is an absolute treat of a book. All the ingredients for a wonderful wintry read are wrapped up between the pages of Jenny Gladwell’s writing.

The narrative fizzes with intrigue and romance so that there’s more to A Gift in December than just a lovely story. Jenny Gladwell weaves geography, history and tradition into the tale so that there is a depth and fascination to enjoy as well. I learnt more about Norway during WW2 than I had realised before and if I’m honest, felt somewhat ignorant that I didn’t already know about the underpinning catalyst for this story. I love the way Norwegian and British customs are included and explored. When I’d finished reading A Gift in December I felt as if I’d had a thoroughly entertaining and absorbing trip with people I had enjoyed meeting very much indeed.

The characters are huge fun. Jenny Gladwell manages to include all the personality types one might expect from this kind of novel without them being stereotyped or stale. There’s a lively freshness to them whilst they manage to represent a real microcosm of society. I think I might have been slightly in love with Thomas despite the age gap! I thought the balance of Thomas’s past against the Instagram world of Lucy, Freddie and Lena was delicately wrought. However, it is Jane who takes centre stage and she is completely believable, warm and human. I was on her side from the very first moment and was desperate for her to have a happy outcome. Once or twice I was ready to climb into the pages of the book and give her a frank talking to make sure that she didn’t scupper her own life.

I thoroughly appreciated the comedic aspects of A Gift in December because Jenny Gladwell includes them in an understated way so that they feel a natural part of the narrative rather than shoehorned in as I sometimes find in this genre of fiction. Along with the brilliantly described Norwegian setting for the book, the glamorous luxury of the trip, and the captivating plot this balance of romance, history, intrigue and humour makes A Gift in December the perfect winter read. It’s a smashing book and I really recommend it.

About Jenny Gladwell

Jenny Gladwell is a pen name for Genevieve Herr. Genevieve was born and grew up in London and began working in publishing after university. She studied for a Creative Writing MA alongside her job as a children’s book editor at Scholastic, and her dissertation was awarded the Sophie Warne Memorial essay prize for outstanding emerging writer. Genevieve lives in Scotland with her family.

You can follow her on Twitter @genherr.

It’s such a pleasure to be part of the blog tour for Escape to Giddywell Grange by the lovely Kim Nash and I’d like to thank Rachel, of Rachel’s Random Resources, for inviting me to take part.

I loved Kim’s debut novel Amazing Grace and you can read my review of that book here.

Escape to Giddywell Grange was published on 18th September 2019 and is available for purchase on Amazon, Kobo and ibooks.

Escape to Giddywell Grange

Maddy Young thought she had it all.

Swanky city apartment? – yep. Fancy car? sorted. High-flying career? – tick.

Even if she’s lost most of her friends because of spending all her time at work, and can’t remember when she last had fun, it’s worth it.

Until she’s suddenly made redundant. Now she’s 37, jobless, and after the breakup with the former love of her life, unhappily single.

Enter Maddy’s childhood friend, Beth, the owner of Growlers, the doggy daycare centre at Giddywell Grange, on a mission to make Maddy see there’s more to life than work.

Soon, Maddy is swapping spreadsheets for volunteer duty at the library, daily Starbucks for cups of tea with elderly neighbours, and her Prada handbag for doggy poo bags… And with Beth’s gorgeous brother, Alex, back from the States, Maddy starts to think that Giddywell Grange might just be her happy place.

But when her old life – and her old boyfriend – comes calling, will Maddy go back to the job she loved so much? Or will she discover that the key to happiness lies in making others happy?

An uplifting romantic comedy that will warm your heart – perfect for fans of Cathy Bramley, Milly Johnson and Katie Fforde.

My Review of Escape to Giddywell Grange

Maddie Young’s promotion isn’t quite what she expected.

I think everyone needs an opportunity to visit Giddywell Grange at some point, because Kim Nash has written a charming and heartwarming story that illustrates, through Maddy, what is important in life.

I found Maddy very relatable. Her obsession with work, her presentation of a public persona that is groomed, competent and confident whilst hiding a more diffident personality gave her a reality that I very much appreciated. I think every one of us has felt as she does at some point. At times she frustrated me too, especially when she was making decisions about her romantic relationships, which only made her all the more appealing because her actions added a flawed depth to her character.

The other characters felt rich and warm and it was a real pleasure to re-encounter some of those from Kim Nash’s Amazing Grace as they brought back the enjoyment I’d had in reading that book too. I think I might be ever so slightly in love with Alex! I’m really hoping Escape to Giddywell Grange isn’t the last we see of Beth as I’d love to know more about what happens to her after the end of this story.

Whilst there’s an entertaining plot that romps along in Escape to Giddywell Grange, with much humour to make the reader smile and considerable emotion, the thoroughly enjoyable story almost felt secondary to me as I found the themes in Escape to Giddywell Grange the biggest draw for me as a reader. Kim Nash understands completely the aspects of life that are important and worthwhile, and she manages to weave fantastic advice for happiness into her narrative. Being selfless, not worrying too much about physical appearance, the positive power of spending time with loved ones, with animals and in nature, as opposed to just spending money, are all messages that would enhance the life of any reader if they were to try out Maddy’s activities. I genuinely think reading Escape to Giddywell Grange could help improve the mental health of those suffering if they were to emulate just a few of the things Madison experiences through Beth’s interference.

Escape to Giddywell Grange is an entertaining, pleasurable read written with Kim Nash’s distinctive pragmatic, human and warm style, but more importantly, I feel, it is a wonderful, affirmative message about the true values in life. I finished Escape to Giddywell Grange with a feeling of huge positivity and renewed optimism for life.

About Kim Nash

Kim Nash lives in Staffordshire with son Ollie and English Setter Roni, is PR & Social Media Manager for Bookouture and is a book blogger at Kim The Bookworm.

Kim won the Romantic Novelists Association’s Media Star of the Year in 2016, which she still can’t quite believe. She is now quite delighted to be a member of the RNA.

When she’s not working or writing, Kim can be found walking her dog, reading, standing on the sidelines of a football pitch cheering on Ollie and binge watching box sets on the TV. She’s also quite partial to a spa day and a gin and tonic (not at the same time!) Kim also runs a book club in Cannock, Staffs.

Amazing Grace was her debut novel with Hera Books and came out in April 2019.

You can find out more by finding Kim on Facebook, Instagram and following her on Twitter @KimTheBookworm.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

When I was given a press pass to the inaugural Capital Crime festival this year I couldn’t believe my luck. I cannot thank the lovely folk at Midas PR enough.

I’ve already blogged about how Capital Crime, the brainchild of Adam Hamdy and David Headley, came about in a post you can read here, so today I’d like to say an enormous thank you to everyone who planned, participated in and helped run a fantastic couple of days. My only complaint is that I really needed to be cloned and in two places at once because the choice of panels was so stunning. For those who were not able to attend I thought I’d just illustrate the panels I attended and link to some of the authors who have appeared on the blog before by way of a small thank you.

Friday 27th September

Other commitments meant I wasn’t able to attend the launch night on Thursday where Ashley Harrison won the DHH Literary Agency New Voices Award, but 5.45 on Friday morning saw me leaping out of bed in order to get an early train to London. I certainly needed a cup of tea provided by Capital Crime partner Pan Macmillan when I arrived at The Grand Connaught Rooms. In fact I needed several cups all day!

Having picked up my badge and goody bag, my first task was to decide how to spend Friday at Capital Crime. You’ll see from the programme, it was difficult to decide:

One of the delights of the day was catching up with, and meeting new, bloggers and authors, but it was the panels that were so entertaining.

I first chose to go to The Influence of Agatha Christie, partly because Sophie Hannah attended my own local Deepings Literary Festival but I couldn’t attend that session because I was interviewing Elly Griffiths at the time!

I began making notes for this panel, fully intending to write them up for each session I attended, but I got so engrossed in the discussions I decided simply to enjoy the panels. You’ll just have to take my word for it that they were entertaining, interesting, enlightening and, very often, revealing!

You’ll find my review of Sophie’s Agatha Christie book The Monogram Murders here. One of Christopher Fowler’s stories appears in Invisible Blood, a short story collection I reviewed here. There’s also a review of one of Ruth Ware’s book, In a Dark, Dark Wood here.

Panel two for me was Crime on a Global Scale. Having met Vaseem Khan on a previous occasion and knowing he’d be brilliant I was not at all surprised when he introduced himself as Justin Troudeau! I still have Vaseem’s The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra on my TBR (I will get to is soon I promise!).

Despite the gravity of the title for this panel, it was extremely funny and the audience had a real treat. It was an enormous pleasure to me to meet Abir Mukherjee afterwards too as my U3A reading group so enjoyed his A Rising Man and you’ll find my review here.

You can also read an interview I did with David Hewson when Juliet and Romeo was published here, along with my review.

After that I hotfooted it to find out if we really are living in a spy thriller, partly because I haven’t read any of the authors yet, although I was delighted to come away from Capital Crime with a copy of Adam Hamdy’s Black 13 in my goody bag. Black 13 will be released on 23rd January 2020 and is available through Pan Macmillan’s links here.

This was a fascinating panel and it really does seem as if truth is stranger than fiction in the world of espionage!

The next session found me hearing about The Truth in Pieces because every one of the authors is on my TBR awaiting reading.

This panel members were witty, honest and entertaining. If I tell you that Belinda Bauer heard the news about her publishing deal as she was collecting pony manure from the field you’ll get an idea of the human and honest comments from the panel!

With a quick stop for lunch it was off to see Adam Hamdy interview the amazing Anthony Horowitz. In another life and many moons ago I had the privilege of writing teacher resources for Hodder for Anthony’s children’s book Raven’s Gate so it was a thrill to meet him and to suggest he might like to attend the Deepings Literary Festival in 2021!

More recently, I reviewed Anthony’s Sherlock Holmes story The House of Silk in a post you can read here. Anthony was so interesting, especially when illustrating how his Mr Robinson story went from idea to completion for the London Underground vending machine earlier this year. Hearing him read us that story too was a delight.

I have a confession here – which seems appropriate for a crime festival – I’ve never read Martina Cole. I have several of her books on my shelves, but hearing her speak with such passion and wit I have decided I need to rectify that matter immediately. Her determination to support other writers and those less fortunate in society was incredibly uplifting.

Similar themes were discussed in the next panel called The Human Cost of Crime.

Perfectly interviewed by Chi Chi Izundu, both Ian Rankin and Don Winslow were fantastic guests who spoke with enthusiasm and intelligence about their writing and society. I thought this session was sensational.

I so wanted to listen to Lynda La Plante, but as I’ve read so many of my next panel I simply had to hear them speak. Their books are fantastic and this was a lively and entertaining look at feminism as they asked the question Is Crime Fiction A Problem For Feminists?

Although Julie’s Her Husband’s Lover is still awaiting reading, you’ll find my review of Sarah Hilary’s No Other Darkness was one of the first ever posts on Linda’s Book Bag here. I was also delighted to host a fascinating guest post from Sarah about The Secret Life of a Crime Writer here.

You’ll find an extract from Colette McBeth’s An Act of Silence here and my review here as it was one of my books of the year for 2017. You can see those books here.

One of the books that will be appearing on my 2019 books of the year is Amanda Jennings’ The Cliff House and you can find my review here.

Next up was Torn From History. I’m a huge fan of Anna Mazola and you’ll find my review of her book The Story Keeper here. Anna presided over a truly spellbinding panel and I was amazed to hear the background to Simon Mayo’s latest book Mad Blood Stirring.

The final panel I was able to attend before dashing off to get my train back to Lincolnshire saw two of my favourite authors in conversation with Adam Hamdy. I haven’t yet watched Paula Daly’s Deep Water television series (although it is recorded) but I do have a review of Paula’s The Mistake I Made here and Clear My Name here.

My review of SJ Watson’s Before I Go To Sleep is here. You’ll have to forgive the quality of this review. It was my third ever blog post!

I found the insight into how a book becomes a film hugely enlightening and really loved this session.

Saturday 29th September

Saturday saw me up and back on the train for another packed day at Capital Crime.

My first event on Saturday morning was When Women Make Murderers which gave an interesting perspective on whether women write crime differently to men. With this devious panel I was quite relieved to escape the session alive!

Sadly, thus far I’ve only read CJ Tudor but having listened to these women speak I will be adding all their books to my TBR! You’ll find my review of CJ Tudor’s The Chalk Man here and The Taking of Annie Thorne here.

Knowing the brilliant Orenda Books’ Karen Sullivan well, I simply had to attend her session on Chilled to the Bone, although this meant I couldn’t go to the session with RC Brigstock who’ve featured on Linda’s Book Bag here. I did get to meet up with them briefly in the bar later!

Although perhaps not the intended outcome of this session, there was considerable talk about puffins which was entertaining and surprising! Again, I have each of the featured authors on my TBR and following this session, I can’t wait to read them.

The next panel, Beneath The Surface was with a selection of authors whose books I adore or am desperate to read.

I have spoken frequently about Elly Grifiths on Linda’s Book Bag having been delighted to interview her at the Deepings Literary Festival and meet her on several occasions and you’ll find the link to when she has appeared on the blog here, with reviews of The Crossing Places here, The Janus Stone here, Smoke and Mirrors here and more recently The Stone Circle here.

Fiona Barton’s The Widow is a fabulous book that I have reviewed here and I’m devastated I haven’t read had chance to read any more from her since my blog took off.

Although I have only had chance to read and review here a short story, The Scrapbook, by Erin Kelly I have her books on my TBR and loved her Broadchurch television series.

Louise Candlish’s Those People is currently looking at me from the pile next to my bed. When I went to the launch for that Those People I suggested to Louise that she attends our next Deepings Literary Festival so watch this space! I reviewed her simply fabulous Our House here.

With MW Craven’s The Puppet Show one of the best crime books I’ve read this year (see my review here) I had to attend the next session where every one of the speakers spoke with humour, passion and realism. For those who don’t know, Steph Marland is also Steph Broadribb.

I found their comments about a sense of place in their writing a real inspiration and was delighted to have a quick chat with Dreda Say Mitchell afterwards.

It seems to me that I only manage to catch up with the fabulous Ayo Onatade about once every 12 months at a bookish event so I was delighted to attend the panel she led discussing The Wrong Side Of The Law.

It’s far too long since I featured any of these authors on the blog, although you can read an guest post from Steve Cavanagh about a sense of place and character here from when The Defense was released and my review of Hariet Tyce’s Blood Orange here. Given all the panelists have worked in the law professions in some way, their insights were incisive but also incredibly funny. I particularly loved the anecdotes from their ‘other’ lives. What struck me most, however, was their level of compassion for the perpetrators of crime, providing a whole aspect to consider.

I next decided to hear about what it’s like In The Mind Of A Criminal.

It was disappointing that Rachel Abbott was unable to attend, but at least I’ve had the opportunity to ‘stay in’ with Rachel to discuss Come A Little Closer in a post you can read here. I’ve my review of Jenny Blackhurst’s Before I Let You in here, and of Mel Sharratt’s The Girls Next Door here. What struck me most about this session was Winnie M Li’s ability to speak about the rape she endured that led to her to write Dark Chapter.

I chose to attend High Octane Thrillers for the next session because it’s a genre I don’t often read and I thought it might be quite interesting. It wasn’t. It was completely compelling. The balance of human emotion to fast paced action that all the panelists spoke about left me desperate to read every word they’ve ever written. It’s time to broaden my reading habits I think!

The final panel I could attend before having to leave for my train was Changing Times.

Paul Burston’s The Closer I Get is, ironically given the title, edging to the top of my TBR. He’s now next to the bed! I’ve reviewed Mari Hannah’s The Insider here.

Coming from the white middle England spoken about so eloquently by this panel, I hadn’t fully appreciated the constraints of sexuality and race within publishing and found this session very enlightening.

It was with a rather heavy heart that I couldn’t stay for the rest of the Capital Crime festival but had to head off to get my train. It really was a stunning event, brilliantly and professionally organised, with excellent, well thought out and balanced panels. I really enjoyed every moment and cannot wait to attend the next one.

Again, I’d like to thank everyone involved for making this such a super couple of days.

In the mean time, I have a meeting on Thursday to plan the next Deepings Literary Festival for 2021. I wonder how many of these fabulous crime authors will be at that event too?

It’s a bitter sweet moment for me today as I help LoveBooksGroup reveal The Vagabond Mother by Tracey Scott-Townsend because I still have Tracey’s previous book, Sea Babies on my TBR awaiting reading and I know first had what a wonderful writer Tracey is so I wish I’d had time to read it before today. You can find out about Sea Babies here.

It’s two and a half years since I first met Tracey Scott-Townsend at an event called Oceans of Words, at which she was speaking and you can see my write up here. Since then I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Tracey properly and she’s so lovely that I had to invite her onto Linda’s Book Bag to tell me about one of her books, Another Rebecca, in a post you can read here. I have also had the pleasure of reviewing some of Tracey’s poetry in her anthology So Fast and you can read that review here.

Today, however, is all about The Vagabond Mother so let’s see what Tracey has in store for us this time.

The Vagabond Mother will be released by Wild Pressed books on 22nd January 2020 and is available for pre-order here.

The Vagabond Mother

Not every Vagabond is a Castaway…

Maya Galen’s oldest son, Jamie, left home eight years ago after a massive row with his parents and now Joe, her youngest child and apple of her eye, has cut off all contact with them too.

Called to Australia to identify the body of a young man, Mayais given her son’s journal. After a sleepless night she decides that the only thing she can do is follow in Joe’s footsteps and try to discover her most basic human self.Eschewing a monetary lifestyle, from now on she must rely on her physical and emotional strength to survive.

Following Joe’s hand-drawn maps and journal entries,she travels from Australia to Denmark and beyond, meeting many other travellers along the way and learning valuable lessons.

Eventually a crisis forces her to return home and confront the end of her marriage, but also a new understanding of what family, in the widest sense, really means.

Exploring the big questions at the heart of human existence, The Vagabond Mother shares territory with books and films such as Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, The Way, starring Martin Sheen, Wild:A Journey from Lost to Found by Cheryl Strayed and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Now doesn’t that sound wonderful?

About Tracey Scott-Townsend

Tracey is the author of The Last Time We Saw Marion, Of His Bones, The Eliza Doll and Another Rebecca. Her fifth novel, Sea Babies was released on 1^st May 2019. Her novels have been described as both poetic and painterly. Her first poetry collection, So Fast was published in January 2018.

Tracey is also a visual artist. All her work is inspired by the emotions of her own experiences and perceptions.

Tracey is the mother of four grown-up children and now spends a lot of time travelling in a small camper van with husband Phil and their rescue dogs, Pixie and Luna, gathering her thoughts and writing them down.

You can find out more about Tracey by visiting her website, finding her on Facebook and following her on Twitter @authortrace.

Life got the better of me earlier in the year and I wasn’t able to take on a review of Sue Moorcroft’s summer book A Summer to Remember, so it is with extra delight that I am participating in the blog tour for Sue’s latest release, Let it Snow. My thanks to Sabah Khan at Avon books for inviting me to take part.

Sue is a regular here on the blog and you can see other Linda’s Book Bag posts with her in the following links:

Discussing One Summer in Italy

An interview with Sue Moorcroft

A guest post from Sue on over-sharing and my review of The Christmas Promise

A guest post from Sue on her fantasy holiday companions

My review of Just For The Holidays

A guest post from Sue on loving a village book

My review of The Little Village Christmas

My review of A Christmas Gift

Published by Harper Collins’ imprint Avon, Let it Snow is available for purchase through the links here.

Let it Snow

This Christmas, the villagers of Middledip are off on a very Swiss adventure…

Family means everything to Lily Cortez and her sister Zinnia, and growing up in their non-conventional family unit, they and their two mums couldn’t have been closer.

So it’s a bolt out of the blue when Lily finds her father wasn’t the anonymous one-night stand she’d always believed – and is in fact the result of her mum’s reckless affair with a married man.

Confused, but determined to discover her true roots, Lily sets out to find the family she’s never known; an adventure that takes her from the frosted, thatched cottages of Middledip to the snow-capped mountains of Switzerland, via a memorable romantic encounter along the way…

My Review of Let It Snow

With her marriage over, Lily is back in Middledip.

It’s such a joy to pick up a Sue Moorcroft book and know that you’re in for a treat as a reader. Let It Snow is the latest in a delightful series of books set in Middledip (with a wander off to Switzerland too) that is just perfect for a wintry afternoon, curled up in front of the fire.

Let It Snow has all the elements I’ve come to expect from this author. There’s a smashing storyline, this time with quite a dark aspect to it too, that is very satisfying. The settings are vividly drawn and transport the reader through brilliant use of the senses, so that reading Let It Snow is a surprisingly immersive experience. Music, food, scenery and so on create a landscape that is visual and multi dimensional. I especially enjoyed the aspects of the story set in Switzerland.

I love Sue Moorcroft’s skill in featuring many characters without them becoming extraneous or insubstantial. Each person in this story, Lily and Isaac especially, is a rounded and real person which makes Let It Snow feel as if the reader is observing and involved in the action and not just reading about it. With prejudice still so rife in our society, it was wonderful to have a lesbian relationship between Roma and Patsie that felt normal and natural, without being idealised or preachy. Their life is presented with its flaws and insecurities exactly like any heterosexual partnership which I found refreshing and appealing.

I thoroughly enjoyed the blossoming romance – and it’s frustrations – between Isaac and Lily. Sue Moorcroft has a deft touch at writing romantic scenes that is so realistic that the reader enjoys every moment. Through their developing relationship Sue Moorcroft provides so much more for a reader to enjoy, to ponder and to reflect upon. Our sense of identity, of loyalty, of independence are all thoroughly explored so that I wasn’t always certain quite how the narrative might resolve itself. And whilst Let It Snow is a perfect example of what might be called women’s fiction or uplit, it offers much more besides and I enjoyed it all the more because of its themes of family, work and relationships.

In Let It Snow, Sue Moorcroft has proven once again that she is a force to be reckoned with in writing this kind of fiction. I’m not normally keen on author endorsements for one another, but the quotation on the cover of Let It Snow really does sum up the book. Debbie Johnson is quite right. ‘Sue Moorcroft’s books really do have it all’ and Let It Snow is no exception.

About Sue Moorcroft

Award winning author Sue Moorcroft writes contemporary women’s fiction with occasionally unexpected themes. The Wedding Proposal, Dream a Little Dream and Is This Love? were all nominated for Readers’ Best Romantic Read Awards. Love & Freedom won the Best Romantic Read Award 2011 and Dream a Little Dream was nominated for a RoNA in 2013. Sue’s a Katie Fforde Bursary Award winner, a past vice chair of the RNA and editor of its two anthologies.

The Christmas Promise was a Kindle No.1 Best Seller and held the No.1 slot at Christmas!

Sue also writes short stories, serials, articles, writing ‘how to’ and is a creative writing tutor.

You can follow Sue on Twitter @SueMoorcroft, find her on Facebook and visit her website.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

After a manic year in 2018 I haven’t been staying in with authors in 2019, but I couldn’t resist asking Zoë Folbigg to stay in with me to celebrate the paperback publication of her book The Postcard. My thanks to Vanessa Aboagye at Midas PR for inviting me to be part of the blog tour.

Published by Aria, The Postcard is available for purchase here.

The Postcard

The Postcard is the sequel to the bestselling novel The Note, based on the unbelievable true story of Zoë Folbigg and her Train Man. Zoe spent a whole year secretly admiring a handsome stranger on her daily commute. Deciding to do something frivolous on her birthday, Zoë made the first the move and boldly left him a note – only to discover he had a girlfriend. But months later, the man on the train got back in touch with Zoë to tell her he was single. From Train Man to beautiful Mark, the pair fell in love and the rest is history!

Adapting her heart-warming love story to page-turning fiction, The Note was Amazon Prime’s most downloaded book of 2018 and to date has sold over 230,000 copies across all formats. Her characters Maya and James inspired a whole phenomenon of women around the world giving notes to their secret admirers on their daily commute.

Now, in this hotly anticipated follow-up, Maya and James are embarking on another journey – this time travelling around the world. The trip starts promisingly with their friend’s opulent and romantic Indian wedding in Udaipur. But as their travels continue, Maya fears that ‘love at first sight’ might not survive trains, planes and tuk tuks, especially when she realises that what she really wants is a baby. And the trouble is, James doesn’t feel the same.

Back home, Maya’s best friend Nena is struggling with the reality of being a new parent. Little does Nena know that Maya risks losing the love of her life over her dreams of motherhood. Can Maya and James navigate their different hopes and dreams to stay together? Or is love at first sight just a myth after all…

Perfect for fans of Josie Silver and Marian Keyes, The Postcard continues the once-in-a-lifetime love story that readers so took to their hearts.

Staying in with Zoë Folbigg

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Zoë. Thanks for staying in with me.

Thanks for having me round Linda, it’s a total honour to be staying in and hanging out with you!

I rather think I might know the answer to this, but which of your books have you brought to tell us about and why?

I’ve brought The Postcard – it’s my third book and was published this summer. It’s the sequel to my debut The Note, which came out in 2017 and was based on the true story of how I met my husband. I fell for him on our daily commute, but it took a year for me to pluck up the courage to give him a note, asking him out for a drink. When we (eventually!) got together, so many people said that our story sounded like a novel, that I decided to write it as one. And it went down so well and became a bestseller, my publisher asked for a sequel.

What a romantic tale. I love the way you met. So, tell me, what can we expect from an evening in with The Postcard?

Well The Postcard picks up a year after The Note ends, and Maya and James are off on a round-the-world adventure. Again it’s based on a my own true-life story and the year-long trip my then-boyfriend (now husband) and I took in 2008. Expect a lot of colour and drama: Maya and James start in India at a big Bollywood-esque wedding, then travel to Thailand, Vietnam and Laos… The plan is to carry on to Australia, but they hit some serious bumps in the road. Both in terms of their relationship and some curveballs thrown at them along the way.

I MUST read The Postcard as soon as I can. I’ve been to India, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Australia so I think I could be the perfect reader!

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

I have a very sweet tooth, so I always take sweet treats when I’m visiting a friend, and tonight is no different.

I’m delighted to hear this as I have exactly the same taste!

The Postcard needs some appropriately exotic sweet treats, so I’ve brought gulab jamun, my favourite food from India. They’re made from milk solids and then condensed into a dough, which is deep fried and drizzled in a sweet syrup. They’re little balls of deliciousness – I’d say not a health food!

No, but they are so good to eat!

I’ve also brought a bottle of Seedlip, a botanical non-alcoholic drink, in my favourite variant, Spice 94. I’m not a big drinker: since becoming a mother my tolerance to alcohol is weak, but I’m sick of sugary fizzy drinks. Non-drinkers get a bit of a bad deal on a night out (or in!). But a measure of this mixed with a flavoured Fever Tree tonic (and a slice of dried orange peel) in a blousy balloon glass feels like a special treat – and the bonus is I can drive home too.

I’m not much of a drinker either and I’ve never heard of Seedlip Spice 94 so I shall be interested to share this with you in a bit.

I’ve also brought some Green & Black’s (did I mention I have a sweet tooth?!). I’ve brought Sea Salt and Maya Gold variants, mainly because I was fuelled by Green & Black’s while writing The Postcard. Sea Salt replenishes me after a run (I know I know, I should eat avocados on toast or something). I go running in the morning after dropping my boys at school, so I can think about what I’m going to write that day, so naughtily I refuel on chocolate. And Maya Gold is a spiced chocolate with orange notes, that’s the perfect accompaniment to the Seedlip botanical drink.

I think you may just be the perfect guest Zoë. Non-alcoholic drinks, chocolate, sweet treats and books. What could be better? Thanks so much for staying in with me and telling me all about The Postcard. I can’t wait to read it!

Thanks for having me Linda.

About Zoë Folbigg

Zoë Folbigg is a magazine journalist and digital editor. Starting at Cosmopolitan in 2001 she has worked on number of other titles including Glamour, Daily Mail, Top Santé, ELLE, and Sunday Times Style.  Her debut novel, The Note was based on Zoë’s life story.

The Postcard is based on a very popular column in Fabulous magazine documenting Zoë’s year-long round-the-world trip with ‘Train Man’ – a man she had met on her daily commute.  They have since married, and Zoë lives in Hertfordshire with him and their two young sons.

You can follow Zoë on Twitter @zoefolbigg and visit her website for more information. You’ll also find her on Facebook and there’s more with these other bloggers:

It’s a real privilege being a book blogger as I get to attend some wonderful events, meet authors, publishers and fellow bloggers and read the most amazing books that I can share here on Linda’s Book Bag.

Last evening I was delighted to attend a brilliant event celebrating Penguin‘s books for 2020 which was held in Sofa.com‘s lovely Bankside showroom in London. My enormous thanks to Georgia Taylor for inviting me.

I was delighted to return home with a copy of Tana French’s The Wych Elm in a special goody bag as this book has been in my sights for a while!

The Wych Elm was published by Penguin in paperback on 5th September and is available for purchase in all formats through the links here.

WHAT DO WE HIDE INSIDE OURSELVES?

One night changes everything for Toby. He’s always led a charmed life – until a brutal attack leaves him damaged and traumatised, unsure even of the person he used to be. He seeks refuge at his family’s ancestral home, the Ivy House, filled with memories of wild-strawberry summers and teenage parties with his cousins.

But not long after Toby’s arrival, a discovery is made: a skull, tucked neatly inside the old wych elm in the garden.

As detectives begin to close in, Toby is forced to examine everything he thought he knew about his family, his past, and himself.

A spellbinding book from a novelist who takes crime writing and turns it inside out, The Wych Elmasks what we become, and what we’re capable of, if we no longer know who we are.

Other novels were placed around the room so that bloggers could add copies to their goody bags and the lovely Penguin publicists told us a bit about recent and forthcoming 2020 releases, brimming with enthusiasm for the books. We were treated to wine and nibbles as we lounged on the glorious furniture, chatting all things bookish.

As well as Tana French’s The Wych Elm I was thrilled to receive copies of the following books:

Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton

Three hours is 180 minutes or 10,800 seconds.

It is a morning’s lessons, a dress rehearsal of Macbeth, a snowy trek through the woods.

It is an eternity waiting for news. Or a countdown to something terrible.

It is 180 minutes to discover who you will die for and what men will kill for.

In rural Somerset in the middle of a blizzard, the unthinkable happens: a school is under siege. Told from the point of view of the people at the heart of it, from the wounded headmaster in the library, unable to help his trapped pupils and staff, to teenage Hannah in love for the first time, to the parents gathering desperate for news, to the 16 year old Syrian refugee trying to rescue his little brother, to the police psychologist who must identify the gunmen, to the students taking refuge in the school theatre, all experience the most intense hours of their lives, where evil and terror are met by courage, love and redemption.

Published on 9th January 202 Three Hours is available for pre-order through the links here.

All the Rage by Cara Hunter

History doesn’t repeat itself. Does it?

A distressed teenage girl is found on the outskirts of Oxford. The story she tells is terrifying: grabbed off the street, a plastic bag forced over her head, then driven somewhere remote and subjected to an assault.

DI Adam Fawley is doing the best he can to investigate, but the teenager refuses to press charges. All he can do is try to ignore the sickening feeling he’s seen something like this before…

But when another girl goes missing, Fawley knows his time is running out.

Because if he ignores the past any longer, this girl may not be coming back.

Out on 23rd January 2020, All the Rage is available for pre-order here.

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

Olive, Again follows the blunt, contradictory yet deeply loveable Olive Kitteridge as she grows older, navigating the second half of her life as she comes to terms with the changes – sometimes welcome, sometimes not – in her own existence and in those around her.

Olive adjusts to her new life with her second husband, challenges her estranged son and his family to accept him, experiences loss and loneliness, witnesses the triumphs and heartbreaks of her friends and neighbours in the small coastal town of Crosby, Maine – and, finally, opens herself to new lessons about life.

You can get your hands on Olive, Again on 31st October through the pre-order links here.

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

One summer morning, a flight takes off from New York to Los Angeles. There are 216 passengers aboard: among them a young woman taking a pregnancy test in the airplane toilet; a Wall Street millionaire flirting with the air hostess; an injured soldier returning from Afghanistan; and two beleaguered parents moving across the country with their adolescent sons, bickering over who gets the window seat. When the plane suddenly crashes in a field in Colorado, the younger of these boys, 12-year-old Edward Adler, is the sole survivor.

Dear Edward depicts Edward’s life in the crash’s aftermath as he struggles to make sense of the meaning of his survival, the strangeness of his sudden fame, and find his place in the world without his family. In his new home with his aunt and uncle, the only solace comes from his friendship with the girl next door, Shay. Together Edward and Shay make a startling discovery: hidden in his uncle’s garage are sacks of letters from the relatives of the other passengers, addressed to Edward.

As Edward comes of age against the backdrop of sudden tragedy, he must confront some of life’s most profound questions: how do we make the most of the time we are given? And what does it mean not just to survive, but to truly live?

Dear Edward will be published on 27th February 2020 and is available for pre-order here.

Keeper by Jessica Moor

He’s been looking in the windows again. Messing with cameras. Leaving notes.
Supposed to be a refuge. But death got inside.

When Katie Straw’s body is pulled from the waters of the local suicide spot, the police decide it’s an open-and-shut case. A standard-issue female suicide.

But the residents of Widringham women’s refuge where Katie worked don’t agree. They say it’s murder.

Will you listen to them?

Published on 19th March 2020, Keeper is available for pre-order here.

 

Now doesn’t that sound like a brilliant selection from Penguin coming up? I can’t wait to read them all.

I also came away with a couple of treats in my goody bag but there are no photos of them as I ate the sweets on the train home. The other was a PF 79 kiwi sheet face mask but I think an image of me wearing that might just be too much information. I suggest you stick with the books!

My enormous thanks to all the Penguin team for making me so welcome, for being so enthusiastic about the books and for a lovely evening. Happy reading!

I’ve tried so hard to be strong and not accept books this year as I am still inundated, but occasionally I’m offered a book for review that I know is my kind of read and I can’t resist. Once such book was The Light in the Dark: A winter journal by Horatio Clare and I would like to thank Alison Menzies at Elliott & Thompson for sending me a copy in return for an honest review.

The Light in the Dark: A Winter Journal is available for purchase here.

The Light in the Dark: A Winter Journal

As November stubs out the glow of autumn and the days tighten into shorter hours, winter’s occupation begins. Preparing for winter has its own rhythms, as old as our exchanges with the land. Of all the seasons, it draws us together. But winter can be tough.

It is a time of introspection, of looking inwards. Seasonal sadness; winter blues; depression – such feelings are widespread in the darker months. But by looking outwards, by being in and observing nature, we can appreciate its rhythms. Mountains make sense in any weather. The voices of a wood always speak consolation. A brush of frost; subtle colours; days as bright as a magpie’s cackle. We can learn to see and celebrate winter in all its shadows and lights.

In this moving and lyrical evocation of a British winter and the feelings it inspires, Horatio Clare raises a torch against the darkness, illuminating the blackest corners of the season, and delving into memory and myth to explore the powerful hold that winter has on us. By learning to see, we can find the magic, the light that burns bright at the heart of winter: spring will come again.

My Review of The Light in the Dark: A Winter Journal

A personal view of the winter months.

My goodness. I think I may have just discovered a new to me favourite author. The Light in the Dark is a glorious read.

Horatio Clare’s attempt to find the positives in his winter induced depression, through keeping a winter journal, is a touching, honest and beautiful account that celebrates life even in the depths of despair. I think anyone who suffers seasonal winter blues through to full blown depression can dip into The Light in the Dark and find a passage that will lift their spirits and help them feel they are not alone in their suffering. Even though the author is honest in the editing he has done to remove the worst of his experiences from The Light in the Dark, I found this a compellingly truthful book that really touched me.

Horatio Clare’s writing is utterly, utterly, wonderful – ethereal at times. I think he might be the most poetic prose writer I’ve ever read. His descriptions of nature, especially birds and the weather, filled me with absolute joy. It truly lifted my heart to read his perfectly crafted language, especially when he created new compound descriptors or used vivid imaginative metaphors that painted images in my mind. This author has a skill beyond compare and I feel privileged to have read him.

I’ve finished reading The Light in the Dark feeling I have had a rich and stimulating experience. The Light in the Dark isn’t a just a beautifully written book. It is manna for the soul and an absolute joy to read. I loved it.

About Horatio Clare

Travel writer, memoirist and children’s author Horatio Clare was born in London in 1973. He read English at the University of York and later worked as a BBC radio producer on cultural programmes Front Row, Nightwaves and The Verb. As a freelance journalist he has contributed numerous travel pieces to newspapers and magazines, as well as to From Our Own Correspondent on BBC Radio Four.

Running for the Hills (2006), a memoir of his childhood on a sheep farm in West Wales, was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award, and received a Somerset Maugham award. Its autobiographical sequel, Truant: Notes from the Slippery Slope (2007), detailed his descent into and recovery from drug addictions and mental problems. He was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award in 2007.

Having lived in Palermo, he edited the anthology Sicily: Through Writers’ Eyes (2006), collecting works by D.H. Lawrence, Giuseppe de Lampedusa, Norman Lewis and others, with his own lyrical observations on the island’s rich culture and history.

His travel book A Single Swallow (2009) follows the migration of swallows from South Africa to South Wales, recording encounters with people along the way. In 2010 he won the Foreign Press Association Award for his feature Rock of Ages – Ethiopian Highlands. His novella The Prince’s Pen (2011) is a contemporary re-working of the tale of ‘Lludd and Lefellys’ from the Mabinogion.

He was awarded the 2015 Stanford Dolman Book of the Year for Down to the Sea in Ships (2014), an account of two voyages on container ships. His first book for children, Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot, published in 2015, was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award. While continuing to travel the world, he divides his time between London, Wales and West Yorkshire.

You can follow Horatio Clare on Twitter @HoratioClare and visit his website for more information.