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.

I love SJI Holliday’s writing with several of her books awaiting reading so I can’t believe it’s been two years since she featured on Linda’s Book Bag in an interview to celebrate Damsel Fly that you can read here. I previously reviewed Willow Walk here too. Today, I’m thrilled to share my review of Susi’s latest novel, Violet, and cannot thank the author enough for sending me a copy in return for an honest review.

Published by Orenda, Violet is available in ebook now and paperback pre-order here.

Violet

When two strangers end up sharing a cabin on the Trans-Siberian Express, an intense friendship develops, one that can only have one ending …

… a nerve-shattering psychological thriller from bestselling author SJI Holliday.

My Review of Violet

Violet and Carrie develop a friendship that has greater consequences than they might imagine.

If I say that I sat down to begin reading Violet and barely looked up until I had devoured every word some hours later you’ll understand how good a book it is. SJI Holliday manages to imbue every word with an intangible, yet palpable, menace so that I was compelled to read on. I honestly had no idea which of the characters I might trust, who was a psychopath and who an innocent. This is brilliant writing.

I have to say something about the cover to Violet because it’s quite perfect for the narrative. Obviously I don’t want to spoil the plot for others, but as I read I wasn’t sure which perspective I could believe, there are several train lines and journeys both actual and metaphorical in the story and always something just out of reach for Violet like the vanishing point in the image.

The plot zips along with a pace that pulls in the reader and leaves them reeling. The story builds incrementally so that each chapter ends with an irresistible uneasiness or revelation that made my eyes widen and did not allow me to put down the book. My own self will deserted me under the spell of SJI Holliday’s writing.

I loved the almost film noir settings that gave an added edginess to the plot, but it was the characterisation that held me spellbound. SJI Holliday gets right under the skin of Violet, simultaneously making her appealing, unnerving and captivating. I felt as mesmerised by her as any of the others in the story do. As her relationship with Carrie developed, I experienced an elevated pulse rate and frequently found myself holding my breath. I was equally appalled and fascinated by Violet and Carrie’s desperate hedonistic use of alcohol and drugs because SJI Holliday made me understand the underlying reasons for their behaviour through her fabulous psychological narrative.

It’s so hard to review Violet without giving away anything that will spoil the read for others, so I’m just going to say that this is a fabulous book, totally captivating and completely unnerving. The writing is skilled, sophisticated and totally realistic so that Violet becomes an all too plausible story that might happen to any of us. I cannot recommend it highly enough as I thought it was fantastic.

About SJI Holliday

S.J.I. (Susi) Holliday grew up in East Lothian, Scotland. A life-long fan of crime and horror, her short stories have been published in various places, and she was shortlisted for the inaugural CWA Margery Allingham prize.

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

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

Her spooky mystery The Lingering was released in September 2018.

Her latest book Violet – a psychological thriller set on the Trans-Siberian Express is out in September 2019.

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

I haven’t been feeling well this week and so when a prize copy of children’s book Daisy Daydream Bus Rhymes and Jokes arrived yesterday from the author Sue Wickstead I thought I’d read it straight away to cheer myself up! My enormous thanks to Sue and to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for sending me a copy.

Daisy Daydream Bus Rhymes and Jokes is available for purchase here.

Daisy Daydream Bus Rhymes and Jokes

A book of poetry and rhymes with a bus twist. Together with a few tickets full of jokes to capture the imagination of young readers and get them to giggle along on the bus journey. Daisy Daydream the nursery Rhyme bus now has a few nursery rhymes of her own.

My Review of Daisy Daydream Bus Rhymes and Jokes

Daisy Daydream Bus Rhymes and Jokes is a little cracker of a children’s book.

I thoroughly enjoyed the rhymes and jokes presented for young children here. There’s a wealth of fun to be had, especially through the jokes presented in the form of bus tickets which is a brilliant way to feature them. Children will love retelling these to their friends and families.

The rhymes, poems and songs are delightful and offer much more than they first appear. They are terrific fun in themselves, but as many are based on well-known songs and nursery rhymes too, they afford the opportunity to explore the heritage of such language and to provide examples of how to play with and enjoy language. I’d love to think of children writing and sharing their own poems and rhymes and making up their own puns and jokes as a result of reading Daisy Daydream Bus Rhymes and Jokes.

The illustrations are just wonderful and complement the words perfectly. Daisy Daydream Bus Rhymes and Jokes is a smasher of a book. I loved it and I know the small person I’m going to be sharing it with will love it too.

About Sue Wickstead

Sue Wickstead is a teacher and an author and writes children’s picture books with a bus theme featuring a playbus.

For over 20 years, alongside her teaching career, Sue worked with the charity, The Bewbush Playbus Association; she painted the bus, worked in the groups, helped raise the profile of the project and its work and was part of the committee involved in raising funds to replace it with a newer vehicle.

This led her to write a photographic history book about it. Sue remembers that it really was a fun journey to be involved in. The bus really got into her blood and became a work of the heart. Having written the history book Sue soon found that many children had never been on a bus before, let alone a ‘Playbus’ and they wanted to know more. She began telling them stories about the bus and then decided to write a fictional tale. The real number plate for the bus was JJK261 and this gave him Jay-Jay the supersonic Bus his name. Jay-Jay the Supersonic Bus, came out in print in 2014. It is the story behind the original project and is his journey from a scrap-yard to being changed into a playbus for children to play in. 

This story has now been followed more picture books about buses. Daisy Daydream is the bus Sue painted. A Spooky Tale and The Christmas Play Rehearsal do indeed have a bus connection as well as links to Sue’s teaching journey. Sue undertakes events and author bookings and loves to share her stories, she is also ‘a patron of reading’.

You can follow Sue on Twitter @JayJayBus for more information, or visit Sue’s website. You’ll also find Sue on Facebook.

When a surprise copy of Postscript by Cecelia Ahern arrived from the lovely folk at Harper Collins, I was completely thrilled. I read Cecelia Ahern’s P.S. I Love You when it was published in 2012 and even though I’ve read literally hundreds of books since I have never forgotten it. Receiving the follow up Postscript was an absolute joy and I would like to express my thanks to Liz Dawson and the team for sending me a copy.

You might like to read my review of Cecelia Ahern’s collection of short stories, Roar, here too.

Published by Harper Collins 19th September 2019, Postscript is available for purchase here.

Postscript

It’s been seven years since Holly Kennedy’s husband died – six since she read his final letter, urging Holly to find the courage to forge a new life.

She’s proud of all the ways in which she has grown and evolved. But when a group inspired by Gerry’s letters, calling themselves the PS, I Love You Club, approaches Holly asking for help, she finds herself drawn back into a world that she worked so hard to leave behind.

Reluctantly, Holly begins a relationship with the club, even as their friendship threatens to destroy the peace she believes she has achieved. As each of these people calls upon Holly to help them leave something meaningful behind for their loved ones, Holly will embark on a remarkable journey – one that will challenge her to ask whether embracing the future means betraying the past, and what it means to love someone forever…

My Review of Postscript

Holly’s life with Gerry isn’t quite finished.

I am utterly broken by Postscript. I have cried until my head throbs and my eyes are red reading this book. Cecelia Ahern has entirely undone me through the intensity of her writing because she has articulated so sensitively, so thoroughly magnificently, and with such humanity, how it feels to have loved someone unequivocally and lost them to a terminal illness. Her depiction of grief, of living with the proximity of death, of friendship, family and relationships pulsates with reality and truth. At the same time, she has created a positive and life enhancing narrative in Postscript that has left me feeling optimistic and somehow soothed.

Although Postscript is a follow up to P.S. I Love You, there is absolutely no need to have read that book to be enthralled by this one. Cecelia Ahern is such a skilled writer that she weaves Holly’s backstory into the narrative in a fluid and organic manner that works beautifully. Holly’s relationship with her deceased husband Gerry, her new life and her possible future are all perfectly balanced and explained. I found Cecelia Ahern’s writing thoroughly enchanting. The plot is glorious and heartbreaking in equal measure so that it is impossible not to feel Holly’s reactions and emotions as she feels them. I love the way the author crafts her writing. She understands the realism needed in direct speech and ensures descriptive sentences are poetic at times and stark and affecting at others so that it is akin to being on a roller coaster of emotion reading Postscript.

Holly is an incredibly realistic character. I didn’t feel as if I were reading about her, but more that I was reading about me through her. I genuinely felt an almost visceral connection as she struggled to be true to the self she had become in the seven years since her husband’s death. Of the others, Ginika was the person who gained my empathy most profoundly. Her feisty nature, despite her youth and educational background, made me want to hold her, support her and simultaneously made me glad to be alive.

Perhaps readers who have not felt the grief I have felt in recent times will have less of a reaction to Postscript, but I adored every word. I devoured the book over twenty-four hours because it felt like a bereavement to be away from it. It’s going to take me a while to recover from reading Cecelia Ahern’s Postscript and if I’m honest, I’m not sure I will get over the intense emotion I felt as I read.  I experienced deep grief and enormous uplifting optimism reading Postscript and cannot recommend it highly enough. What an amazing book and what a fabulous writer!

About Cecelia Ahern

(Image courtesy of Matthew Thompson)

Cecelia Ahern is one of the biggest selling authors to emerge in the past fifteen years. Her novels have been translated into thirty languages and have sold more than twenty-five million copies in over forty countries. Two of her books have been adapted as major films and she has created several TV series in the US and Germany.  She and her books have won numerous awards, including the Irish Book Award for Popular Fiction for The Year I Met You in 2014. PS I Love You was awarded two Platinum Awards at the 2018 Specsavers Bestsellers Awards, for UK and Ireland.

Cecelia lives in Dublin with her family.

You can find out more by following Cecelia on Twitter @Cecelia_Ahern, visiting her website and finding her on Facebook.

My enormous thanks to Flora Willis for sending me a copy of Say Say Say by Lila Savage in return for an honest review.

Published by Serpent’s Tail on 8th August 2019, Say Say Say is available for purchase here and directly from the publisher here.

Say Say Say

Ella is nearing thirty, and not yet living the life she imagined. Her artistic ambitions as a student have given way to an unintended career as a care worker. One spring, Bryn – a retired carpenter – hires her to help him care for Jill, his wife of many years. A car accident caused a brain injury that has left Jill verbally diminished; she moves about the house like a ghost of her former self.

As Ella is drawn ever deeper into the couple’s household, she is profoundly moved by the tenderness Bryn shows toward the wife he still fiercely loves. Ella is startled by the yearning this awakens in her, one that complicates her feelings for her girlfriend, Alix, and causes her to look at relationships of all kinds – between partners, between employer and employee, and above all between men and women – in new ways.

Tightly woven, humane and insightful, tracing the most intimate reaches of a young woman’s heart and mind, Say Say Say is a riveting story about what it means to love, in a world where time is always running out.

My Review of Say Say Say

Ella takes on a new client as she looks after Jill for Bryn.

I found Say Say Say an incredibly difficult book to read despite its brevity because it reignited my grief at my father’s stroke and prolonged death as I read about Jill. When we no longer knew what Dad understood, and before he lost the ability to make any sound at all, he would utter a sibilance so similar to Jill’s repetitive ‘say, say, say’ that at times I found it almost unbearable to read Lila Savage’s writing.

Say Say Say is a beautifully written, searing, intimate and personal portrait of Ella’s personality, of Jill’s suffering and of Bryn’s grief so that it is difficult to articulate my thoughts into a coherent review. The quality of language used is sometimes stark, frequently poetic and always compelling. There is almost as much meaning between the lines – in what isn’t written – as there is in what is on the page. Sometimes the sentence structure is quite difficult to follow and I loved that about the text. I had to reread and think precisely what the meaning was; just like Ella as she tries to understand herself and those around her. I thought this technique was brilliant.

The plot is marginal in Say Say Say. I can imagine those who are looking for fast paced thrilling writing not appreciating it at all, but what happens is far less important than the way Ella reacts as she struggles to understand herself. I can’t say I liked Ella, but my goodness I was given a profound understanding of who she is. I think my reticence to warm to her stems from Lila Savage’s incredible ability to lay bare human imperfection. She presents a portrait so unflinching, so acutely observed and somehow so tender that I felt an almost physical response. There were some uncomfortable echoes for me as a reader. Have I been as lacking in kindness to others as Ella feels she may have been for example?

Say Say Say is an unusual read. It is as if Lila Savage has looked into the soul of humanity and laid it bare on the page. I think Say Say Say will polarise readers. For some it will be the perfect book. Others will find it too uncomfortable a read. Some will want more action. I thought it was a finely crafted, emotional and fierce portrait of grief, loss and character that touched me completely.

About Lila Savage

Lila Savage is originally from Minneapolis. Prior to writing fiction, she spent nearly a decade working as a caregiver. Her work has appeared in The Threepenny Review. She is the recipient of a Wallace Stegner fellowship and graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 2018. She lives in San Francisco.

My enormous thanks to Comma Press for sending me a copy of The BBC National Short Story Award 2019 edited by Nikki Bedi in return for an honest review. This is the 14th National Short Story Award and this time the shortlist is inspired by #metoo, Trump and discrimination.

Supported by Cambridge University, this collection features stories by Lucy Caldwell, Lynda Clark, Jacqueline Crooks, Tamsin Grey and Jo Lloyd.

Published by Comma Press, The BBC National Short Story Award 2019 is available for purchase through the links here.

You can find out more about the anthology and the award, and meet the judges and finalists, here.

The BBC National Short Story Award 2019

A young boy takes delight in his mother’s ability to shapeshift from one animal to another, only realising how odd she is when it comes to parents evening…

The values of a small farming village are challenged by talk of a well-heeled community living on the other side of the lake that only one person can see…

A writer researching the life of a 19th century child custody reformer discovers all too many parallels between that century and ours…

The stories shortlisted for the 2019 BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University variously explore the sanctity of the home and family, and the instinct to defend what’s closest to us. Against a backdrop of danger or division, characters sometimes struggle – like the 15-year-old charged with looking after her siblings whilst her mother works through the night – and sometimes succumb – like the young woman who allows herself to be manipulated by an older, richer man. But in each case, these stories demonstrate what Nikki Bedi argues in her introduction: short stories are not a warm-up act, they’re the main event.

My Review of The BBC National Short Story Award 2019

Five short stories written by women.

The BBC National Short Story Award 2019 collection is a joy. No wonder these are the shortlisted stories for this prestigious award. Each one is a skilled delight to encounter and each one transports the reader to another identity, time or place so convincingly.

Before commenting on the stories, I must say something about the appropriateness of the cover illustration by David Eckersall. The Russian doll motif is particularly fitting because it suggests traditional story telling, layers to uncover and a multiple femininity that echoes the narratives (and an aspect of Lucy Caldwell’s The Children in particular). I also loved the inclusion of Nikki Bedi’s introduction and the information at the end of the book about the authors, the award and its partners, and the list of previous winners as I now have a cornucopia of new-to-me writing to discover.

There’s a distinct authorial or character voice behind each tale so that reading The BBC National Short Story Award 2019 felt a bit like attending a party where I was meeting fascinating new people for the first time. Direct speech is natural and engaging although I did have to concentrate to follow all of the patois in Jacqueline Crooks’ Silver Fish in the Midnight Sea. This is by no means a criticism because that level of concentration meant I got so much from the story and when I read it aloud to myself the beautiful rhythms and meanings made so much more sense. And that’s the thing with this anthology. I read each story at least twice over a couple of days and found they took on a new identity if they were read aloud or read at different times of the day. The BBC National Short Story Award 2019 a less an anthology and more a living, breathing entity.

There’s so much to discover and enjoy in these five stories. I especially appreciated the mysticism and magical realism that runs through quite a lot of the writing. Each author is skilled in developing their tale, providing endings that are completely fitting and yet manage to leave the reader pondering and reflecting on what they have read. It is as if the stories have a life beyond the confines of their written structure. They felt quite mercurial in a sense, so that it is as if they are reluctant to stay between the cover pages of the book. I also felt a kind of wistfulness, what Jo Lloyd perhaps might call hiraeth, as I finished each one.

There is both a sense of history (in Jo Lloyd’s The Invisible) and modernity (especially in Lucy Caldwell’s The Children and Tamsin Grey’s My Beautiful Millennial) as well as the exploration of otherness (in Jacqueline Crooks’ Silver Fish in the Midnight Sea and Lynda Clark’s Ghillie’s Mum) so that all readers with a preference for different eras and genres will find something for them in this little volume to match their reading taste. Great enjoyment came for me too in finding echoes of other books I have enjoyed through reading these stories. Lynda Clark’s Ghillie’s Mum had resonances of Pullman’s daemons from His Dark Materials, for example, but not one of these short stories is derivative or hackneyed. Each one is an individual delight, carefully crafted, affecting and beautifully written.

The characters in each story are alive with vitality and enchantment. Martha in particular appealed to me and I loved Ghillie’s mother, but in each story I found someone to relate to or who captivated me.

However, aside from the pure entertainment of The BBC National Short Story Award 2019, this anthology is a thought provoking reflection of today’s society. The prejudices we hold, the treatment of those who are ‘other’ than we are, the way those with money are so often seen as superior to those who are poor, our relationships and our behaviour towards those with unconventional lives or mental health issues are just a few of the themes explored.

I thoroughly enjoyed The BBC National Short Story Award 2019 and I can see myself returning to it time and again to enjoy the stories and to find new elements each time I read them. I really recommend them as they represent short stories at their very best.

About the Editor

Nikki Bedi is a television and radio broadcaster with a passion for making arts and culture accessible.

She currently curates, writes and presents The Arts Hour on the BBC World Service, their flagship arts and culture programme, which once a month becomes The Arts Hour On Tour, a show that is travelling across the globe, one country at a time, to bring the hottest names, talents and issues to the airwaves and to 75 million listeners.

Nikki has most recently been seen on TV presenting the topical, weekly arts and entertainment programme Front Row, on BBC 2 on Saturday nights. She’s a regular interviewer and presenter on BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends and has presented Front Row and Woman’s Hour on the same station.

Describing herself as ‘glocal’, Nikki’s work is both global and local and her Sunday morning show on BBC Radio London keeps her at the heart of the capital’s radio station.

Born to an Indian father and English mother, Nikki began her career in Mumbai as both a stage and film actress and worked with some of India’s finest directors. Her foray into the world of presenting came when the UK’s Channel 4 gave her a talk show, Bombay Chat and its success prompted Star TV in Asia to give her a primetime chat show called Nikki Tonight, which became Asia’s most widely viewed and most controversial talk show. After spending time living and working in Los Angeles, Nikki returned to the UK to become the face of Universal’s film channel The Studio and also presented the live movie show Worldwide Screen on NOW TV.

You can visit Nikki’s website and follow her on Twitter @nikkibedi for more information.

I have a confession. Despite so many of my blogger friends raving about Linwood Barclay’s writing, I’ve never actually read one of his books before, so when I was given the opportunity to read Elevator Pitch, I thought I’d give it a go. I’m so pleased I did and that I have my review to share today.

Published on 5th September 2019 by Harper Collins imprint HQ, Elevator Pitch is available for purchase through the publisher links here.

Elevator Pitch

It all begins on a Monday, when four people board an elevator in a Manhattan office tower. Each presses a button for their floor, but the elevator proceeds, non-stop, to the top. Once there, it stops for a few seconds, and then plummets.

Right to the bottom of the shaft.

It appears to be a horrific, random tragedy. But then, on Tuesday, it happens again, in a different Manhattan skyscraper. And when Wednesday brings yet another high-rise catastrophe, one of the most vertical cities in the world – and the nation’s capital of media, finance, and entertainment – is plunged into chaos.

Clearly, this is anything but random. This is a cold, calculated bid to terrorize the city. And it’s working. Fearing for their lives, thousands of men and women working in offices across the city refuse leave their homes. Commerce has slowed to a trickle. Emergency calls to the top floors of apartment buildings go unanswered.

Who is behind this? What do these deadly acts of sabotage have to do with the fingerless body found on the High Line? Two seasoned New York detectives and a straight-shooting journalist must race against time to find the answers . . .

Pulsating with tension, Elevator Pitch is a riveting tale of psychological suspense that is all too plausible . . . and will chill readers to the bone.

My Review of Elevator Pitch

An elevator accident may be more than it seems…

Never having read anything by Linwood Barclay before I wasn’t quite prepared for the highly effective Hitchcock-like plotting and delivery in Elevator Pitch. There’s a build up of tension in the story that is actually quite filmic and visual that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Having lived in Manhattan and worked around New York for a short while, I found the setting described perfectly so that I felt there was an authenticity to what I hope will only ever be a fictional situation because it is very unnerving!

The narrative is exciting, with what seems at first to be diverse and separate strands woven together cleverly to create a very satisfying novel. Elevator Pitch is a deceptive book too as Linwood Barclay feeds in diversions that wrong foot the reader providing surprises along the way. I really liked the manner in which I found out details at the same time as Barbara, Jerry and Lois. Linwood Barclay’s style is brisk and pacy so that the reader is swept along in events making for an exciting read.

One of the greatest successes of Elevator Pitch for me was the characterisation. Jerry Bourque’s back story gave him a humanity that elevated him (if you’ll pardon the pun) above the usual maverick, world weary, detectives of so many crime thrillers I have read. Here, instead, is a man with heart and a conscience. I’m hoping there will be more involving him in future books. I found the family dynamics between Richard Headley and his son Glover both enlightening and very sad. The effect of a parent on a child – of whatever age – can be deeper than any might imagine. I thoroughly appreciated the feisty Barbara, especially when I was afforded an insight into her softer and more emotional side.

Thematically, there’s much to mull in Elevator Pitch and once the book has been read as a fast paced thriller, I think it would reward a second perusal to concentrate on the concepts of power, politics, corruption, PTSD, revenge, terrorism, relationships and society. Having said that, I thought the premise for the novel was possibly more than exciting enough for me on its own. I am claustrophobic so avoid lifts as much as I can so that I frequently felt physically uncomfortable whilst I was reading. Elevator Pitch has definitely not left me any more inclined to enjoy the enclosed spaces of lifts!

I really did enjoy Elevator Pitch and it has persuaded me that I’ve left it too long to discover Linwood Barclay as a writer. This won’t be my last reading of his books, but I think it was a very good place to start.

About Linwood Barclay

Linwood Barclay is an international bestselling crime and thriller author with over twenty critically acclaimed novels to his name, including the phenomenal number one bestseller No Time For Goodbye. Every Linwood Barclay book is a masterclass in characterisation, plot and the killer twist, and with sales of over 7 million copies globally, his books have been sold in more than 39 countries around the world and he can count Stephen King, Shari Lapena and Peter James among his many fans.

Many of his books have been optioned for film and TV, and Linwood wrote the screenplay for the film based on his bestselling novel Never Saw It Coming. He is currently working with eOne to turn the Promise Falls trilogy into a series. Born in the US, his parents moved to Canada just as he was turning four, and he’s lived there ever since. He lives in Toronto with his wife, Neetha. They have two grown children.

You can follow Linwood on Twitter @linwood_barclay, visit his website and find him on Facebook for more information.

My enormous thanks to the lovely folk at Harper Collins for allowing me to read Rewrite the Stars by Emma Heatherington through Netgalley. I adored Emma’s The Legacy of Lucy Harte and you’ll find my review of that book here.

Rewrite the Stars was published by Harper Collins in ebook on 6th September 2019 and is also available for pre-order in paperback through the publisher links here.

Rewrite the Stars

From the moment they meet one December day there’s something between Charlotte Taylor and her brother’s best friend, Tom Farley. But Tom’s already taken and Charlie has to let him go…

It’s another five years before their paths cross again only a secret from the past forces Charlie to make a choice. She promises herself she’ll never look back…

The years pass and Charlie moves on with her life but she can never forget Tom. He’s always there whispering ‘What if?’.

Can Charlie leave the life she has built for one last chance with Tom?  Or is the one that got away not really the one at all…?

My Review of Rewrite the Stars

Charlotte’s life is about to be turned upside down.

Oh my word, Rewrite the Stars is a lovely book. It had the same effect on me as slipping into clean bedding, taking off uncomfortable shoes and putting up my feet, or taking the first sip of tea when I’ve been desperate for a cup all day. I found it comforting, uplifting and affecting. I know there will be those who would never dream of picking up Rewrite the Stars, believing it to be too ‘girly’ (or whatever derogatory adjective they might like to apply) for their reading tastes, but they will be so foolish. They will have denied themselves a gorgeous story, smooth and skilled writing and plotting, with characters and themes that feel true and genuine.

I admit that I railed against Charlotte’s actions and choices at times, but I understood her completely through Emma Heatherington’s perfect creation of character. Here is a young woman who strives to find her way in life; exactly as we all do. Charlotte’s first person voice is distinct, making her words feel intimate and allowing the reader to access her innermost thoughts and feelings. She is natural and self-critical so that her fears and desires become those of Emma Heatherington’s readers too. The men in Charlie’s life are all distinctly drawn, making for a cast that feels so vivid and real. Just like Charlotte, I had no idea which of them I had the most genuine feelings for so that I felt her indecision and concerns with her.

As is so often the case for me, what I enjoyed most about Rewrite the Stars, however, was the sensitive exploration of themes. Emma Heatherington seems to understand at an almost primeval level how we need love and affirmation to be able to create our own individual identities. She also conveys flawlessly the human emotions of guilt, love and regret and she convinces the reader that what we may have been in the past may have helped shape who we are today but that it doesn’t need to dominate who we are in the future. I found this message very powerful indeed.

Rewrite the Stars is a brilliant story; very moving, beautifully written and, for me, a completely uplifting read. I thought it was utterly lovely and cannot recommend it highly enough.

About Emma Heatherington

Emma Heatherington has penned more than thirty educational short films, plays and musicals as well as eleven novels, two of which were written under the pseudonym Emma Louise Jordan.

She was ghost-writer to Irish country music legend Philomena Begley and Liverpool born Nathan Carter, whose autobiography Born for the Road was nominated for an Irish Book Award.

Emma’s novel, The Legacy of Lucy Harte, was an eBook bestseller in both the UK and US.

Emma lives in her native Donaghmore, Co Tyrone, with her partner Jim McKee and their children Jordyn, Jade, Dualta, Adam and Sonny James.

For more information you can follow Emma on Twitter @emmalou13 and find her on Facebook.