It’s an absolute joy to feature friend and author Ross Greenwood on Linda’s Book Bag with the cover reveal for his brand new thriller, The Snow Killer. Last time Ross was here he was writing all about seizing the day when his book Shadows of Regret was published in a post you can see here.

You can read also read a post in which Ross introduces his protagonist for Abel’s Revenge here. You can read my Lazy Blood interview with Ross here, a guest post and my review of The Boy Inside here and my review of Ross’s Fifty Years of Fear here.

Published by Boldwood Books on 12th November 2019, Ross’s latest book The Snow Killer is available for pre-order through the links here. Let’s find out about the book:

The Snow Killer

‘FEAR THE NORTH WIND. BECAUSE NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU SCREAM…’

A family is gunned down in the snow but one of the children survives. Three years on, that child takes revenge and the Snow Killer is born. But then, nothing – no further crimes are committed, and the case goes cold.

Fifty years later, has the urge to kill been reawakened? As murder follows murder, the detective team tasked with solving the crimes struggle with the lack of leads. It’s a race against time and the weather – each time it snows another person dies.

As an exhausted and grizzled DI Barton and his team scrabble to put the pieces of the puzzle together, the killer is hiding in plain sight. Meanwhile, the murders continue…

The first in a new series, Ross Greenwood has written a cracking, crackling crime story with a twist in its tale which will surprise even the most hardened thriller readers. Perfect for fans of Mark Billingham and Stuart MacBride.

Now doesn’t that sound a cracker of a read? I’ll definitely be adding The Snow Killer to my TBR.

About Ross Greenwood

Ross Greenwood was born in 1973 in Peterborough and lived there until he was 20, attending The King’s School in the city. He then began a rather nomadic existence, living and working all over the country and various parts of the world.

Ross found himself returning to Peterborough many times over the years, usually, so he says “when things had gone wrong.” It was on one of these occasions that he met his partner about 100 metres from his back door whilst walking a dog. Two children swiftly followed. And, according to Ross, he is “still a little stunned by the pace of it now.”

Lazy Blood book was started a long time ago but parenthood and then four years as a prison officer got in the way. Ironically it was the four a.m. feed which gave the author the opportunity to finish the book as unable to get back to sleep he completed it in the early morning hours.

Ross Greenwood’s second book, The Boy Inside, was picked up by Bloodhound Books, and in September 2017, Fifty Years of Fear was published. The year 2018 saw the publication of his next psychological thriller, Abel’s Revenge. All his books are thought provoking, and told with a sense of humour.

Ross Greenwood hopes you enjoy reading them.

You can find out more about Ross on his web site. You can also follow Ross on Twitter @greenwoodross and find him on Facebook.

With friends and family suffering their own mental health problems, it feels absolutely right to be part of the Audible launch celebrations for the audio book Psycho-Logical by Dean Burnett on world Mental Health Day 2019. I’m delighted Dean is staying in with me today to tell me more about his work and would like to thank Anna Zanetti at Midas PR for inviting me to start off this blog tour.

Psycho-Logical is available for purchase here.

Psycho-Logical

Countless charities and awareness campaigns work tirelessly to show people that mental health problems are common and serious issues. But when it comes to mental health matters, one question that’s rarely asked is…why?

Why are conditions like depression and anxiety so common?

Why is our mental health so vulnerable to the stresses and events of modern life?

Why do so many mental health problems have pronounced physical symptoms?

Why, if mental health problems are so commonplace, does anyone need to be made ‘aware’ of them in the first place?

And why is there still so much confusion and stigma about mental health matters?

Drawing from nearly 20 years working in the areas of neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry, international best-selling author Dr Dean Burnett (The Happy Brain, Why Your Parents Are Driving You Up the Wall and What To Do About It) hopes to answer these questions and more in his new audiobook Psycho-Logical (exclusive to Audible). Combining in-depth research with genuine testimonials from those who deal with their own issues on a daily basis, Psycho-Logical aims to uncover just what we think is going on with our brains when serious mental health problems occur, how and why the available therapies work (when they do), and just how flexible and uncertain much of the scientific understanding of mental health is.

Psycho-Logical combines in-depth research with genuine testimonials from those who deal with their own issues on a daily basis. Contributors are: comedians Bethany Black, Dan Mitchell and Guy Kelly; sex blogger Girl on the Net; writer and actor Amelia Stubberfield; journalist Rachel England; HR officer Lowri Williams; and social media manager Martha Mills. Each contributor has narrated their own section.

Expertly narrated by Matt Addis, and written in an engaging and straight-forward style, Psycho-Logical is must for anyone who’s ever dealt with mental health issues of their own, knows someone who has, or is interested in the ever-more-important subject matter of mental health, for whatever reason.

Staying in with Dean Burnett

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Dean. Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me. Although I have a pretty good idea, tell me, which of your books/audiobooks have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it? 

Hi. I’ve brought along my new book Psycho-Logical, a dedicated audiobook currently exclusive to Audible. While I’ve covered the subject in various ways and from various angles in my previous books and articles, this is my first book entirely about mental health. I’ve chosen it as it’s being released today, October 10^th, which is World Mental Health Day 2019, which is very appropriate. It’s all about the science of mental health, about why it goes wrong, why therapies work or not, what’s going on in the brain, and more.

It sounds utterly fascinating Dean. Tell me more about what we can expect from an evening in with Psycho-Logical.

An evening with Psycho-Logical may be not what you expect if you’ve read other books about mental health, as Psycho-Logical is a bit different to most mental health books currently on the market. Most of the others are written by, or from the point of view of, someone who deals or has dealt with their own mental health problems, the journey they went on, what they learned etc. I take a different approach, as I don’t have mental health problems of my own (so far), but I have spent nearly two decades in the fields of neuroscience and psychiatry, and mental health matters have played a big part in both my earlier and current life.

Therefore, this book is more objective, and instead of just making people ‘aware’ of mental health, I’ve tried to do what I can to show why mental health goes wrong so often, and how. It explores the current understanding of mental health from the clinical or psychiatric perspective, and why this always been changed and updated. It explores the mechanisms and benefits as well as the problems and issues with contemporary therapies, explaining why antidepressants or CBT work, or don’t. It looks at the underlying processes happening in the brain (as far as we know) that cause us to become depressed, or anxious, or addicted, and so on.

Overall, it’s a book about the hows and whys of mental health, how far we’ve come, and how far we have to go. It’s basically me trying to put mental health in more tangible, concrete terms, in order to enhance understanding, reduce uncertainty, and ideally remove some of the suspicion and stigma it still regularly attracts.

I can’t wait to listen to Pyscho-Logical as I have friends and family who struggle with their mental health and it would be perfect to be able to understand more.

What else have you brought along and why? 

It may seem a weird choice, but I’ve brought along an old pint glass. It’s one of those old-school glass-tankards you used to get in the 80s, the squat ones with a handle, that are basically a big transparent mug. This is from the Royal Hotel, which is the pub I grew up in, back in the Garw Valley, South Wales. The pub is derelict now, which is sad, but when we moved out we kept some souvenirs, and over the intervening years I’ve ended up with some of the old glasses in storage in my garage. I have one or two I use as pen and pencil holders in my office, which is an odd but perhaps ironic fate for something intended to help people get drunk; to assist a neuroscientist writing about mental health matters.

It does seem a bit incongruous to me. Can you explain more?

I brought this because Psycho-Logical covers matters such as alcoholism and addiction. Statistics show that those with mental health problems are at a greatly increased risk of addiction or substance abuse, and while it’s tempting to attribute that to compromised logical thinking and restraint due to the mental health issue, it’s arguably a lot more to do with self-medicating, with people trying to achieve some respite from the constant negative effects of a disorder, when little or no official help or resources are available.

It must be devastating for those who cannot access appropriate help Dean.

But I also bring this glass as it signifies where my journey, my interest in mental health, and my life in general, really began. I grew up in a pub, in a remote, isolated, economically-depressed community (the coal mine the village was built around was shut down around the time of my birth). When you have a village full of burly no-nonsense working-class miners suddenly unemployed, this has consequences. I saw a lot of mental health problems, being a child in a pub in such a context. I saw a lot of tragedy. If I knew then what I know now (and was an adult they’d take seriously) maybe I could have done something. It’s what motivates me still.

And, I keep these pint glasses around to remind me of who I am, where I’m from. I was the first person in my immediate family to even do A-levels, let alone more. The fact that I’ve ended up where I am is ridiculous, in hindsight. And when so many other academics and writers are from more privileged, more entitled origins, I think it’s vital to be conscious of my own ore rough-and-ready roots.

Well said. And you have my complete respect. I think Psycho-Logical sounds fabulous and would like to thank you for staying in with me to tell me more about it.

About Dean Burnett

Dean Burnett is a working-class Welsh science writer.

Having grown up in a pub in the former mining village of Pontycmer, in the Garw Valley, South Wales, Dean is now a doctor of neuroscience, an honorary research associate at Cardiff University Psychology School, and a Visiting Fellow at Birmingham City University. He is the author of four books and counting, which have been translated into over 20 languages, as well as countless articles and blog posts across a wide range of media platforms, including the BBC, Guardian, Telegraph, LA Times, New York Magazine, and more.

Dean is much in demand as a speaker, pundit, talking head and all-round contributor for TV and radio whenever a complex brain-related subject requires explaining in the mainstream.

Part of his outlook and relatable style comes from the fact that Dean has also spent close to two decades performing stand-up comedy, having performed on stages as large as the Hammersmith Apollo.

Dean currently lives in Cardiff with his wife and two children, and their cat Pickle who, even by cat standards, is something of a psychopath.

To find out more about Dean, visit his website, follow him on Twitter @garwboy. There’s more with these other bloggers too:

When I began blogging four and a half years ago, lovely Louise Jensen was one of the first authors I met in real life. Since then we have encountered one another on several occasions, including at my local Deepings Literary Festival, and I am delighted to be part of the paperback launch celebrations for Louise’s latest book, The Family and would like to thank Jessica Lee for inviting me to participate. However, I’m also taking part with a sense of shame and guilt too as I realised this is the first time I’ve reviewed one of Louise’s books. It won’t be the last time!

The Family is published by Harper Collins imprint HQ and is available for purchase through the links here.

The Family

ONCE YOU’RE IN, THEY’LL NEVER LET YOU LEAVE.

Laura is grieving after the sudden death of her husband. Struggling to cope emotionally and financially, Laura is grateful when a local community, Oak Leaf Organics, offer her and her 17-year-old daughter Tilly a home.

But as Laura and Tilly settle into life with their new ‘family’, sinister things begin to happen. When one of the community dies in suspicious circumstances Laura wants to leave but Tilly, enthralled by the charismatic leader, Alex, refuses to go.

Desperately searching for a way to save her daughter, Laura uncovers a horrifying secret but Alex and his family aren’t the only ones with something to hide. Just as Laura has been digging into their past, they’ve been digging into hers and she discovers the terrifying reason they invited her and Tilly in, and why they’ll never let them leave…

My Review of The Family

Laura’s life is in meltdown and she needs a place to stay.

I’m so annoyed with myself that The Family is the first book I’ve read by Louise Jensen as it is a stunning narrative that held me captivated from the first word to the last. She has such writing skill in employing a variety of sentence length that controls the reader’s heart rate and compels them to read on, especially at the end of chapters. I loved too, the balance of inner and external dialogue so that the reader gets an insight that the characters may not, making the reader almost complicit in the action. Add in the excellent descriptive passages, the carefully structured plotting and the other perfectly blended cultural references such as omens, The Wizard of Oz and fairy tales and The Family really is a fabulous book because Louise Jensen creates an underlying sense of dread that is totally gripping.

The different perceptions of events from Laura and Tilly’s perspectives were fascinating, because the author explores with sensitive skill the way actions can mean very different things to those participating or observing. This felt like a wonderful insight into the human psyche. I found the ease with which invidious situations can be rationalised and accepted, especially by Laura, illustrated perfectly how the vulnerable can be controlled and manipulated. It was this psychological element that made The Family so disturbing for me. I wanted to enter the world of Oak Leaf Organics and rescue Laura and Tilly before they came to harm. I can’t say too much more about characters as they are integral to the plot’s success and I don’t want to spoil the read for others.

The plot simply canters along with a breathless pace that is exhilarating. The Family twists and turns and wrong-foots so that there are surprises as well as satisfying resolutions. I genuinely felt I had been fabulously entertained and at the same time I found the themes of trust, threat, bullying, mental health, society and family gave me much to ponder too. The Family is absolutely a book perfect for the point we are at in modern civilisation. Louise Jensen holds up a mirror to society and presents it with all its flaws and perfections in a riveting story.

I loved The Family. I appreciated the tautness of the plot, the narrative resolutions, twists and reveals, and the wonderful overall quality of the writing. I think I may have found a new favourite psychological thriller writer in Louise Jensen. Brilliant stuff. I cannot recommend The Family highly enough.

About Louise Jensen

Louise Jensen has sold over a million English language copies of her International No. 1 psychological thrillers The Sister, The Gift, The Surrogate and The Date. Her novels have also been translated into twenty-five languages, as well as featuring on the USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestseller’s List. Louise’s fifth thriller, The Family, is published by Harper Collins.

The Sister was nominated for the Goodreads Debut of 2016 Award. The Date was nominated for The Guardian’s ‘Not The Booker’ Prize 2018. The Surrogate has been nominated for the best Polish thriller of 2018. The Gift has been optioned for a TV film.

Louise lives with her husband, children, madcap dog and a rather naughty cat in Northamptonshire. She loves to hear from readers and writers.

You can find out more by visiting Louise’s website, finding her on Facebook and following her on Twitter @Fab_fiction.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

Some few years ago I recall having a conversation with Jessica Norrie about English teaching and education and when she got in touch to tell me all about her latest book The Magic Carpet, I was so sorry I just couldn’t add it to my TBR to be read any time soon. However, I decided to set Jessica a challenge because we’d spoken about a writer’s audience both in person and over email so I asked if she would kindly write a guest post for Linda’s Book Bag and luckily she agreed.

The Magic Carpet is available for purchase here.

The Magic Carpet

Outer London, September 2016 and neighbouring eight-year-olds have homework: prepare a traditional story to perform with their families at a school festival. But Nathan’s father thinks his son would be better off doing sums; Sky’s mother’s enthusiasm is as fleeting as her bank balance, and there’s a threatening shadow hanging over poor Alka’s family. Only Mandeep’s fragile grandmother and new girl Xoriyo really understand the magical powers of storytelling.

As national events and individual challenges jostle for the adults’ attention, can these two bring everyone together to ensure the show will go on?

Visualising my readers

I was cheeky to ask Linda to review The Magic Carpet, as I knew her TBR pile was taller than the Shard. I asked because she taught English, and I’d welcome the half million UK teachers as readers. I hoped Linda could help me contact them. Instead she gave me homework – write a guest post imagining my readers. It was a fair cop.

If you’re sitting comfortably, here’s the back story. I retired from teaching after thirty odd years (some very odd). I’d started my career believing education should be creative and child centred. After seeing too many pupils struggle with dull worksheets, I still hoped for a world where families and schools fretted less about test scores. I wrote The Magic Carpet to make sure that happened, in fiction if not the real world. I hope parents will be as keen as teachers on my story of five families wobbling, succeeding, and wobbling again when the school asks them to work on performing a traditional story. Some struggle, some run with the project, meeting each other as they work. Their deeper worries come to the fore, and their own life stories blend with those their children have brought home.

I set The Magic Carpet in the children’s homes, with a few key scenes in their diverse London primary school. I hope both parents and teachers will appreciate being represented. It can be cathartic when a book holds up a mirror – one reviewer certainly thinks so: “The characters were beautifully drawn and real. I’ve taught children like this. I’ve spoken to parents like this at the school door. I’ve seen how communities like this can unite and give hope.”

My five fictional pupils have single mothers, a widowed father, grandparents covering for working parents, and a childminder. Vignettes from my own children’s after-school life came back as I wrote, and at least one parent found echoes after she commented: Loved this book. Fabulous story telling and wonderful believable characters. Brought back happy memories of (NE London) School. There are 4.14 million 6-10 year-olds in the UK. I may have started writing the book as post retirement therapy, but now it’s published I’m thinking: if one carer of each read it along with those teachers, my UK readership would near 5 million.

Whether parents or not, we’ve all been children. My daughter’s friend, in her 20s and childfree, said “There were so many intersecting plots! It was like where I grew up!” That’s 8.71 million interested readers aged 20-30 for my potential audience. I won’t labour the point – they could be any age! Actually, I will labour it. The Magic Carpet includes rounded (though one is very thin), believable grandparents of different ages, abilities and outlooks. I hope the 14 million real grandparents in the UK may relate to them, so I’m pleased the website Books for ‘Older’ Readers is to feature the book.

My invented families are diverse – Somali, Gujarati and Punjabi speaking, Hong Kong born and “White British”. I could have included others; the children I taught had families with roots all over the world and all London schools are multicultural in different ways. I researched everything the best I could, but readers from those backgrounds are welcome to contact me if they find any glaring errors. The beauty of self publishing is details can quickly be changed – but please remember my characters are fictional, flawed, quirky individuals, never intended to speak for a whole race or religion. I hope many readers will find parts of their realities, reflected and discover others.

Perhaps you’re thinking it sounds a bit worthy? Please don’t worry – I set out to tell a story, and a story there is, with several others within and a cast of engaging characters reviewers say they cared about long after the end – (happy or sad? Read to find out). My characters resemble us: human beings who hear and tell stories to make sense of life, whether in traditional book form, water cooler gossip, memes or articles, blockbuster films or the epitaphs on gravestones. So I think the audience for my story about storytelling is actually limitless. When my agent submitted The Magic Carpet to publishers, several loved it but turned it down because they couldn’t define the market for it. I like to think they missed a trick. The readership is, potentially, pretty much everyone in the English speaking world (then there’s translation but that’s another story).

Jessica Norrie

(Argh! You’ve made me really want to read The Magic Carpet Jessica. Having taught in a school that some 30 years ago had 76 different home languages I think it could be just my kind of read. Maybe my TBR needs to be as high as the Shard plus one more book!)

Jessica Norrie was born in London and studied French Literature and Education at Sussex and Sheffield. She taught English, French and Spanish abroad and in the UK in settings ranging from nursery to university. She has two adult children and divides her time between London and Malvern, Worcestershire.

She has also worked as a freelance translator, published occasional journalism and a French textbook, and blogs here.

Jessica sings soprano with any choir that will have her, and has been trying to master the piano since childhood but it’s not her forte.

She left teaching in 2016. The Infinity Pool (available here) was her first novel, drawing on encounters while travelling. Her second novel The Magic Carpet is inspired by working with families and their children. The third is bubbling away nicely and should emerge from her cauldron next year.

For more information, do visit Jessica’s blog or find her on Facebook and Twitter @jessica_norrie.

Having been banging on about wanting to write fiction for about four decades (and I have actually just completed my first ever novel) I simply couldn’t resist taking part in this blog blitz organised by Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for Lexi Rees’s new book Creative Writing Skills: Over 70 fun activities for children.

As well as sharing my review today, there’s also the chance for you to win a copy of the book. Details are at the bottom of this blog post.

Creative Writing Skills: Over 70 fun activities for children is available for purchase on Amazon US and Amazon UK.

Creative Writing Skills: Over 70 fun activities for children

Discover the secrets to becoming an amazing author

• Find your creative spark
• Grow your skills and confidence
• Have more fun with your writing

Packed with top tips, this awesome workbook has everything you need to know about creating colourful characters, perfect plots, dynamite dialogue, and lots more …

My Review

of

Creative Writing Skills

Over 70 fun activities for children

A workbook to develop creative writing in children.

Although Creative Writing Skills: Over 70 fun activities for children: Over 70 fun activities for children is ostensibly aimed at children in the 7-11 age range, it is a fabulous resource for aspiring writers of all ages from 5 -105! As soon as I saw the alliterative chapter titles I knew this was going to be a brilliant book.

I do have one niggle (and I usually do with children’s books) as I would prefer ordinary sentences not to be written entirely in upper case letters because I’d rather model how we expect sentences normally to be written. I completely forgive Lexi Rees this time though, because when she does use sentences entirely in upper case, they are usually pointing budding young writers to a really helpful or important piece of advice and I know children will love the format and variety of font and style.

Indeed, the advice in Creative Writing Skills is superb for all writers. Everything from show, don’t tell, for example, through development of character to the W arc for plotting, are covered through hints and tips that don’t patronise, but rather encourage young writers to improve and develop so that this book is a fabulously helpful resource. There’s space to write and draw, wonderful appealing illustrations and the opportunity to go beyond the realms of the book with website suggestions to visit for further ideas and stimulus.

I think Creative Writing Skills: Over 70 fun activities for children is absolutely brilliant. I adored it. There’s so much to occupy and entertain that I think it would make a wonderful gift for any child – especially one who loves writing, is perhaps housebound or in hospital and unable to do something physical or who simply needs some help in their writing. As for me, I’ve rolled my dice for character, setting and problem and am off to write a story about a monster getting lost in a forest… I suggest you go and buy this fantastic book!

About Lexi Rees

Lexi Rees writes action packed adventures for children. As well as the Creative Writing Skills workbook, the first book in The Relic Hunters Series, Eternal Seas, was awarded a “loved by” badge from LoveReading4Kids and is currently longlisted for a Chanticleer award. The sequel, Wild Sky, will be published in November.

When not writing, she’s usually covered in straw or glitter, and frequently both.

She also runs a free club for kids designed to encourage a love of reading and writing which you can check out here.

For more information visit Lexi’s website, find her on Facebook and Instagram or follow her on Twitter @lexi_rees.

Giveaway

Lexi is offering the chance to win a copy of Creative Writing Skills: Over 70 fun activities for children here, with a choice of paperback or pdf for UK winners and pdf for international winners.

Please note this giveaway is being run independently of Linda’s Book Bag.

One of the less positive aspects of blogging is FOMO – the fear of missing out. When I agreed to host an extract from This Little Dark Place by A. S. Hatch for today’s blog tour stop because I didn’t have time to review, I had no idea what a fabulous book I was missing out on. Now I have that piece from This Little Dark Place to share with you today I really wish I’d managed to fit in a review too. When you read it you’ll know what I mean! My enormous thanks to Rachel Nobilo for inviting me to participate in theis blog tour.

Published by Serpent’s Tail on 10th October, This Little Dark Place is available for pre-order in all the usual places, including directly from the publisher here.

This Little Dark Place

How well do you know your girlfriend?

How well do you know your lover?

How well do you know yourself?

Daniel and Victoria are together. They’re trying for a baby. Ruby is in prison, convicted of assault on an abusive partner.

But when Daniel joins a pen pal program for prisoners, he and Ruby make contact. At first the messages are polite, neutral – but soon they find themselves revealing more and more about themselves. Their deepest fears, their darkest desires.

And then, one day, Ruby comes to find Daniel. And now he must decide who to choose – and who to trust.

An Extract from This Little Dark Place

6 June 2016

Dear Dan

I’ve been lying to you.

The version of me that you’ve been reading in these letters hasn’t been entirely true. When we started writing six months ago, I was in a terrible place. I don’t cope with life in here as well as I make out. Friendship doesn’t exist here, love doesn’t exist. No one makes eye contact. Everyone is so guarded. I hoped every morning that I would wake to some calamity, a riot, a suicide, a fire, anything that would break the pattern of petty cruelties, of loneliness. New Year’s Eve was particularly hard on me. Jade was meant to visit but couldn’t come because of some delay on the motorway. I woke up on the first of January feeling nothing of the renewal of a new year. I felt only a renewed hopelessness. So when I got your angry little letter it jolted me, made me realise that there was still a world out there. Made me realise how I’d slid into despair. So I engaged. I told you stories about my past, about the reason I’m in here. They weren’t lies. Where I have been less honest is in my feelings. I feel we’ve become so close over these past months. You’ve told me your darkest secrets. I have told you mine. Without your letters I don’t know how I would have survived. In my head we are the only two people in this world who are awake, just like Winston and Julia! I feel I can call you my true friend.

I have been surprised though, to find myself thinking of you even when I’m not looking at your letters or writing to you. Though I have only your description of yourself to go on, still I find myself thinking of you. When I’m walking in the yard, I think of you and how nice it would be to walk beside you. When I’m eating in the canteen, I think of you and I picture us talking and laughing over a meal. When I’m lying in my bunk and looking at my painting of you, I think of how I want to touch you, and be touched by you.

I never used to think of the future. It only made things harder. But since we found each other I think of the future now with excitement. I know now that happiness is as simple as loving someone and being loved back for no other reason than that you deserve. That is the future I envisage for myself. I’m sorry if this comes as a shock to you. And I’m sorry if I have misjudged the situation, but I don’t think I have. I know how hard it has been for you too, out there, alone. We both deserve so much better. I won’t be in here forever, Dan. Do you think, one day, I could come to visit you? I would ask no more than friendship from you. If I love you without receiving anything in return it would be a better life than to have never known you at all.

You must think I’m crazy. I nearly deleted this whole thing just now, my finger was hovering over the key. But I have denied my feelings for too long. And I feel you’re about to make a terrible mistake. If I don’t tell you how I feel now, it will be too late. Please don’t hate me.

Ruby

(See what I mean? And now I feel as if I’ve missed out even more! This is going straight to the top of my TBR!)

About A. S. Hatch

A. S. Hatch grew up in Lancashire in the 90s and has lived in Taipei and Melbourne. Now he lives in London and writes fiction in the early hours of the morning before going to work in political communications.

You can follow A. S. Hatch on Twitter @andrewshatch and there’s more with these other bloggers too:

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.

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