I am a complete ignoramus when it comes to any kind of fantasy fiction, but even I have heard of Nancy Springer and I am thrilled that she has agreed to stay in with me to tell me about one of her books today.

If you’re an author who’d also like to stay in with me to tell me about one of your books, please click here for more details.

Staying in with Nancy Springer

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

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

I’ve brought The Oddling Prince because I am so glad it has finally found a home. I wrote it with all my heart, but then it struggled for years to find publication.  I was told “that kind of fantasy” wasn’t popular anymore.  Ouch, because “That kind of fantasy” was a return to my roots, the first fantasy novel I wrote, The Silver Sun, in which two warrior comrades love each other with all loyalty and eventually discover they are brothers. The Oddling Prince is like the captured essence of much of my previous mythic fantasy to me.  It had to be published.  And now, finally, it is, by Tachyon.

(Ouch indeed Nancy. I think it’s interesting that so many writers struggle to find a home for their books because they don’t fit a prescribed genre or perceived niche in the market. We readers want a range of books otherwise it’s like eating the same meal every day!)

What can we expect from an evening in with The Oddling Prince?

Let me read you a  brief excerpt:

In the benighted courtyard, the rider and his horse stood like a great alabaster statue surrounded by a multitude of pale ovals, the frightened faces of guards and soldiers with their swords out, or their pikes raised, or their bows with arrows nocked to the drawn strings.  Yet he, the horseback rider, sat at ease among them as if on a coracle floating amid water lilies.

A slim youth.  Perhaps no older than I.

He drew no weapon.

His hands stirred not from the reins.

He gazed straight ahead of him as if in a dream.

He and his milk-white steed, both horse and rider far too beautiful to belong to this mortal world, shone in the night.  They glimmered head to foot as if they carried moonlight within them.

My neck hairs prickled at the sight.  My heart halted like my feet, like my staring face, and for a moment I felt as if it might stop entirely.  But I could not weaken; a king’s son is not permitted to weaken, ever.

(This is a great hook for the reader Nancy.)

The narrator is only seventeen years old, but he must take charge. He orders the men to lower their weapons, and he welcomes the eerie stranger, and that is how Prince Aric of Calidon meets the oddling prince.

So The Oddling Prince is a book about two princes.  The Brian Giberson cover symbolizes its theme perfectly:  two swords for two heroes, and a heart joining them in troth.

(It’s a really attractive cover too.)

I’ve written so many other fantasy novels with paired heroes that I have to wonder why.  In my early novels, I see in hindsight, the yin-yang heroes were me trying to accept and love me, trying to get my messed up-self together.  (I’d had an incredibly repressed childhood.)  But in The Oddling Prince , the two heroes are no longer dark and light, moody and sunny, night and day to each other,  Instead, they are like two sides of the same golden coin.  I’m not sure why they mean so very much to me.  Perhaps I am envisioning another sort of wholeness?

(Perhaps so. And I think that is what makes writers and their books so intriguing. I love finding out why writers write as much as how and what they write.)

What else have you brought along and why?  

May I introduce the ghost of my Aunt Nancy, after whom I was named?

(Erm, I’m having trouble getting a fix on her.)

You can’t see her?

(Sadly not, but do tell me more.)

I met her only a few times, because she lived in Ireland, but let me describe her: short, thin, elderly, and I’ve never met anyone who looks more like a benevolent witch.  Her nose and chin very nearly meet to embrace her dried-up apple face. In her high-necked long-sleeved starchy white blouse, brown woollen skirt nearly touching her sensible brogues, and with  a scarf on her head, tied under her jutting chin, she dresses like the strict headmistress of a girl’s boarding school, which is exactly who she is.  According to my father, she is a scholar who speaks seven languages and never married.  Older than him, she was born around 1900 and written down by the parish priest as Anna Hadassah O’Connor.  Nancy was her nickname. Despite her fearsome features, she is smiling at me, her niece and namesake.

(She sounds quite a lady! Why did you invite her along?)

Why is she here?  Because I need to give her credit.  I had no godparents or grandparents, but I had Aunt Nancy.  Every Christmas and birthday she sent me a present, always a book, often one about the Little Good People or folk tales or National Velvet, something British.   Moreover, once I reached school age, several times a year she sent me letters, written very correctly and in exquisite detail, about commonplaces: seasonal changes, holidays, lambing, harvesting. Because she shared her thoughts without condescension, I would try to write back to her the same way, so I grew up loving eloquent prose and everyday beauties.  She did something amazing:  while I was raised as an American kid, she gave me roots as a British writer.  The prose, the mythos.

If Aunt Nancy hadn’t stuck her long nose into my childhood, I might have had a very different outcome.  I think I ought to give her at least partial thanks for The Oddling Prince and all my Celtic fantasy novels.

(What a fabulous guest to bring along. I’m so glad she inspired you to write Nancy.)

Thank you so much, Nancy, for staying in with me to introduce The Oddling Prince. I know some Linda’s Book Bag readers in particular will love it and I wish you every success.

The Oddling Prince

In the ancient moors of Scotland, the king of Calidon lies on his deathbed, cursed by a ring that cannot be removed from his finger. When a mysterious fey stranger appears to save the king, he also carries a secret that could tear the royal family apart.

The kingdom’s only hope will lie with two young men raised worlds apart. Aric is the beloved heir to the throne of Calidon; Albaric is clearly of noble origin yet strangely out of place.

The Oddling Prince is a tale of brothers whose love and loyalty to each other is such that it defies impending warfare, sundering seas, fated hatred, and the very course of time itself. In her long-awaited new fantasy novel, Nancy Springer (the Books of Isle series) explores the darkness of the human heart as well as its unceasing capacity for love.

The Oddling Prince is published by Tachyon and is available for purchase here.

About Nancy Springer

Nancy Springer is the award-winning author of more than fifty novels, including the Books of Isle fantasy series, the Enola Holmes mystery series and a plethora of magical realism, women’s fiction, contemporary young adult and other titles. She received the James Tiptree Jr. Award for Larque on the Wing, the Edgar Allan Poe Award for her juvenile mysteries Toughing It and Looking for Jamie Bridger, and has been a frequent nominee for the Nebula and World Fantasy awards.

Forthcoming from Tachyon Publishing, The Oddling Prince is a heartfelt return to her beginnings, forty years ago, in the fantasy genre. She currently lives in the Florida Panhandle, where she rescues feral cats and enjoys the vibrant wildlife of the wetlands.

You can follow Nancy on Twitter @NancySpringer, and visit her website.

My enormous thanks to Liz Shand at Wisdom House Books for a copy of Emma’s Book of Courage by Emma Lindberg and illustrated by Krystal Smith in return for an honest review. I’ve reviewed several children’s books on Linda’s Book Bag in the past but never one written by a six year old before and I’m delighted to feature it, especially as it is the USA National Children’s Book Week this week.

Emma’s Book of Courage is available for purchase here.

Emma’s Book of Courage

Six-year-old Emma knows that it can be hard to be courageous – but thinks you should try! Courageous means having courage, which is when you’re really, really afraid to try something, but you do it anyway.

Emma shares moments when she’s needed courage, like when she did a backflip for the first time! It was scary, but she’s SO glad she did it. Now, she can’t wait to try new things and wants to help you be more courageous, too! What might take some courage for you to try?

My Review of Emma’s Book of Courage

Emma can be scared, but she has learnt to overcome her fears and have courage.

Before I write my review proper, I had one miniscule concern. When Emma says she’d be willing to go out into the scary woods at night again, it must be made absolutely clear that this will be with an adult!

Emma’s Book of Courage is a lovely children’s book.  Krystal Smith’s illustrations are exquisitely beautiful and thoroughly enhance the writing, making this a visual pleasure as well as a super children’s book.

The writing itself is, unsurprisingly given the age of the author, perfect for the 3-6 age group of children, with a perfect balance of text to illustration so that children can feel a real sense of satisfaction in reading the book independently as well as sharing it with an adult for bedtime reading. I thought the direct question to readers about what scares them could be a fabulous way for discussions to begin so that a scared child wasn’t made to feel inadequate if they had concerns.

I love the range of experiences that Emma’s Book of Courage explores. Emma is willing to try different activities such as rock climbing that children might find challenging, as well as eat new and different healthy foods – a subject that can be tricky for young children so that the book models excellent behaviours. However, what I found most effective was the lovely way in which emotions are explored. Emma’s Book of Courage shows that it isn’t just activities where we need courage, but in our emotions too, being prepared to say sorry, to ask for help, to be nice to others and to respect what our parents tell us.

Emma’s Book of Courage is a smashing children’s book that instills positivity without preachiness in an engaging and entertaining way. I think children and adults alike will be captivated by it.

About Emma Lindberg

Emma Lindberg is six years old and lives in North Carolina. She likes to play tennis and
play with her dogs. Her favorite food is mussels. She has an older brother and older sister. When she grows up, Emma wants to be a dentist.

Having had a bit of a break, it’s so good to be blogging again and today’s guest to stay in with me on Linda’s Book Bag is Barbara L. Baer who is helping me get back into the swing of things.

If you’re an author who’d also like to stay in with me to tell me about one of your books, please click here for more details.

Staying in with Barbara L. Baer

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

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

I am choosing my most recent novel The Ballet Lover and would love to sit down with a cup of tea and this small book coming to life with the excitement, beauty, cruelty of ballet at its most dramatic level.

(Now don’t laugh Barbara, and I know you’d never guess to look at me, but I used to have ballet lessons when I was a little girl. The cruelty for me was that my parents couldn’t afford the shoes so I couldn’t progress to the next level.)

What can we expect from an evening in with The Ballet Lover?

Like myself, my narrating character isn’t a dancer herself but is in love with ballet and the great dancers who she follows as a reviewer. To her dismay and growing anguish, she watches as Rudolf Nureyev mistreats his ballerina, the Russian Natalia Makarova who has just defected to the west.

Geneva, the narrator, finds herself drawn too close to the flame of these fiery stars.

(Sounds intriguing. I think the world of ballet has the potential to lead to all kinds of stories.)

What else have you brought along and why?

May your readers enjoy the warm soothing tea as they follow the mercurial stars of the ballet.

(Tea is ALWAYS on the go in this house Barbara.)

I will bring along a recording of Swan Lake and fast forward to the Black Act when the malign Swan seduces the clueless Prince and the heavens send down thunder. In this scene in The Ballet Lover as it happened on the stage, Nureyev lets Makarova fall, so it’s high drama.

Maybe a glass of sherry to calm the nerves?

(I’ll stick to the tea thanks, Barbara, but you help yourself to the sherry. I prefer mine in a trifle!)

Thanks so much, Barbara, for staying in with me to tell me about The Ballet Lover. Our evening together has rekindled all manner of memories for me.

The Ballet Lover

The Ballet Lover exposes the beauty and cruelty of ballet, the performances, the back stage moments, and the personal dramas of the famous ballet dancers Rudolf Nureyev and Natalia Makarova as seen through the eyes of an American female journalist.

Paris, 1970s: the orchestra plays the first ominous note of Swan Lake. In the audience sits Geneva, an American journalist and ballet lover, waiting for the heart-stopping beauty and seduction of the romantic duet to start, but instead she witnesses Rudolf Nureyev failing to catch his Russian partner Natalia Makarova, allowing her to fall with a crash upon the stage.

Geneva interprets the fall as an act of cruelty, a man with all the fame and power in the world brutally letting fall his delicate, wraith-like artistic partner. When other critics defend Nureyev and accuse Makarova of causing her own tumble, Geneva vows revenge on the page, creating havoc in her own career and discovering surprising parallels between herself and the fallen ballerina.

The Ballet Lover is a refined, mesmerizing, fictional account of two of the most celebrated dancers in the dance world, how one compromised the other, and how the drama on the stage often mirrors those played out in real life.

Published by Open Books, The Ballet Lover is available for purchase through the publisher links and on Amazon.

About Barbara L. Baer

Barbara grew up in California, got her BA and MA at Stanford University before going to South India to teach, study dance, and have experiences unlike anything in her American life. She taught in Madras (now Chennai) and Tashkent, Uzbekistan, then part of the USSR, which gave her the inspiration and voice for her novella, Grisha the Scrivener. After a decade of encounters and adventures, she returned to the US, taught at Dennison University in Granville, Ohio, worked for newspapers, and wrote fiction and travel pieces.

Barbara has lived many years in Sonoma County, California, where she writes, edits and teaches through the county jail program, tends a garden and an orchard of pomegranates and olives, and is active in environmental and political causes. She lives with her husband, Michael Morey, also a writer and bricoleur, jack of all trades, who keeps things going.

You can find Barbara on Twitter @pomegranatebarb and visit her website.

Five Years From Now

My Review of Five Years From Now

After a short break whilst I was on my travels to India in the hope of seeing tigers in the wild, I’m delighted to return to blogging today by spending an evening in with K.S.R Burns who has joined me on Linda’s Book Bag to tell me about one of her novels.

If you’re an author who’d also like to stay in with me to tell me about one of your books, please click here for more details.

Staying in with K.S.R. Burns

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

Hello Linda! Thanks for the wonderful invitation. I’m happy to be here.

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

Today I’ve brought along my brand new novel, Paris Ever After. It’s just released today, May 1, 2018, and is the continuing story and adventures of Amy Brodie, a young woman whose “secret” trip to Paris (the city of her dreams) unexpectedly turned into a life in Paris.

(How exciting. Happy publication day.)

Paris Ever After is actually the follow-on book to my first novel, The Paris Effect, but you don’t have to have read the first book to enjoy the second—it’s “standalone”.

(Actually, I’d like to read them both. Paris has a very special place in my heart. My husband and I had our honeymoon there after a whirlwind romance and marrying within 10 months of meeting. We were poor students and did everything on a shoestring so we celebrated our silver wedding anniversary by returning and doing it all in style. I think both The Paris Effect and Paris Ever After could transport me back again after another 10 years of marriage!)

What can we expect from an evening in with Paris Ever After?

On page one, we find Amy living in Paris. She’s estranged from her husband, living in France illegally, and also—yikes—pregnant. But, amazingly, she’s making it all work. She’s found wonderful friends. She’s found a home. She’s celebrating her thirtieth birthday in the most fabulous fashion possible (in Paris!). But then two unexpected visitors show up. Boom. Before she knows it, Amy is faced with the disappointing prospect of saying au revoir to the new life she’s worked so hard to build. She wants to do the “right thing” (for herself and for her unborn child, Catherine). She just doesn’t know what that “right thing” is.

(This sounds great.)

Kirkus Reviews says Paris Ever After is “an entertaining read for Francophiles, foodies, and romantics.”

Midwest Book Review calls it “touching and engaging.”

Janice MacLeod, NYT-bestselling author of Paris Letters, says that, “Once you begin, it’s difficult to stop.”

(What wonderful endorsements. You must be so proud of Paris Ever After, Karen.)

What else have you brought along and why?

In The Paris Effect, Amy is introduced to French macarons, those adorable, pastel-colored little cakes that have become so popular. Here’s a whole plate of them:

(Gorgeous. You’re my kind of guest. You can come back any time!)

In Paris Ever After, Amy gets seriously into madeleines. This is a not-too-sweet French cake that is great with a cup of tea. Madeleines are quite easy to make and my publishers have even included a recipe for them in the back of the book.

(Am I allowed both? We are celebrating today’s publication of Paris Ever After so I think that’s a good reason to eat French inspired food don’t you?)

Either one of these French treats (or both!) would be perfect to nibble on while reading my Paris books. Or listening to – I should also say that the first book The Paris Effect is now available here in audio format.

(What a wonderful image to go with it too.)

Finally, I know this book will put many readers in the mood to go to Paris and I can’t resist saying, Just go! There is so much beauty there. So much culture. Some of it is well known (the Eiffel Tower). Some of it is more obscure. Here’s a couple photos of me during our last trip. That little street lined with macaron-colored houses is the rue Cremieux. It’s quite unknown and hidden—not even my French friends knew about it. The market photo is from the wonderful Marché d’Aligre.

(That looks so tempting and for those of us who can’t travel to Paris in real life at the moment at least we can get there through your books.)

Thanks so much for staying in with me, Karen, to tell me all about Paris Ever After. I’ve loved revisiting one of my favourite cities and look forward to reading both your books.

Paris Ever After

When Amy loses her best friend, Kat, to cancer, she knows their dream of a secret trip to Paris will never come true. Yet Kat’s words haunt her, urging her to embark on the Paris trip alone and shed the dissatisfaction of her life in Phoenix.

Little by little, Amy, grappling with a failing marriage and struggling with painful childhood memories, lets herself be swayed. Guided by Kat’s bold voice, Amy sneaks off to Paris while her husband is away on a business trip. Once there, however, she finds that her problems have come right along with her.

Through her adventures, laced with luscious descriptions of food and Paris, Amy learns that often in life, love, and friendship, nothing is exactly as it seems. Will Amy choose the life she’s discovered in Paris or decide to revive the one she left behind?

Paris Ever After is published today, 1st May 2018 and is available for purchase through the publisher links here.

About K.S.R. Burns

K. S. R. Burns is the author of Amazon best-seller The Paris Effect (optioned for film and TV by Papazian-Hirsch Entertainment), its standalone sequel Paris Ever After, and The Amazing Adventures Of Working Girl: Real-life Career Advice You Can Actually Use.

K.S.R. Burns has lived and worked in four countries and 22 cities, including Paris. No longer a wanderer, she now resides in the Pacific Northwest, where in addition to novels she writes a weekly career advice column for The Seattle Times.

To find out more you can follow K.S.R. Burns on Twitter @WorkingGirl, and visit her website. You will also find her on Facebook.

As I love gardening (I lead a gardening group and have an allotment) as much as books and travel, I jumped at the chance when Clara Diaz at Little Brown asked me if I would like a copy of The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman in return for an honest review. I had every intention of reading and reviewing this book months ago, but life got the better of me. However, good things come to those who wait and I have finally got round to reading this lovely book.

The Garden of Small Beginnings was published by Sphere, an imprint of Little Brown, on 22nd February 2018 and is available for purchase here.

The Garden of Small Beginnings

Life is about to blossom for Lili

In the three years since her husband died in a car accident, Lili has just about managed to resume her day-to-day life as a single mother and successful illustrator. She can now get her two girls to school, show up to work and watch TV like a pro. But there’s still the small problem of the aching loss she feels inside.

When she’s commissioned to illustrate a series of horticultural books, and signs up to a weekly gardening class, finally her life starts to bloom again.

The class provides Lili with a new network of unexpected friends – friends with their own heartaches and problems – and, maybe, another chance at love . . .

My Review of The Garden of Small Beginnings

Young widow Lili has lost the ability to live for herself as she struggles to come to terms with her grief, juggling work and small children.

What a wonderful book The Garden of Small Beginnings is. I don’t know whether it’s because it is set four years after Dan, Lili’s husband, is killed in a car crash and she is still coming to terms with her loss that is so resonated with me because, in the last four years, my own husband has had two life threatening illnesses of cancer and a mini-stroke, my father has died and our family lost a full term still born child, but I found every word resonated with me on a very personal level.

Although this is a book about coming to terms with grief and the different ways people deal with grief, be it grief after a death, a marriage break up or the loss of a job, The Garden of Small Beginnings is by no means a depressing book. Instead, I found it joyous to read, witty and enormous fun. I found myself laughing aloud and yes, I did shed a small tear occasionally. Abbi Waxman has a fabulous, chatty style so that rather than reading a book I felt Lili’s first person narration was more like catching up with a friend on the phone with each chapter akin to a new conversation.

I loved the illustrations and the growing instructions for the plants. I’d never thought of fruit and veg in anthropomorphic terms, but the aside-like comments made me smile. I certainly will be careful when I move my strawberry bed at my allotment this year as I’d hate to freak them out! I’ve always known that gardening is good for the soul but The Garden of Small Beginnings reinforces that concept perfectly.

Initially I thought I’d find the number of characters confusing, but Abbi Waxman makes them such vibrant and distinctive individuals that I felt I knew each one intimately. I thought the way she uncovered their different aspects, especially with regard to Mike, was so well done. There’s definitely an underlying theme that we never really know others as well as we might think and that we shouldn’t judge other people on first appearances.

With a plot that revolves around a community garden and it gardeners, I really enjoyed reading The Garden of Small Beginnings as it is a touching, funny and uplifting story that made my heart sing. I thoroughly recommend it to brighten your life.

About Abbi Waxman

Abbi Waxman is a chocolate-loving, dog-loving woman, who lives in Los Angeles and lies down as much as possible. She worked in advertising for many years, which is how she learned to write fiction. She has three daughters, three dogs, three cats, and one very patient husband.

You can follow Abbi on Twitter @amplecat. There’s more information on Abbi’s website.

When I blogged about running this ‘Staying in with…’ feature on 31st December 2017 I didn’t know if anyone would want to take part. Since then almost 80 authors have participated with almost 60 waiting in the wings. I’m just about to take a little blogging break and head off to India looking for tigers, but before I do I’m thrilled to welcome Angelle Petta to Linda’s Book Bag to stay in with me and tell me about one of her books.

If you’re an author who’d also like to stay in with me to tell me about one of your books, please click here for more details.

Staying in with Angelle Petta

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag, Angelle. 

Hi Linda! Thank you so much for inviting me to participate in “Staying in with Linda.”

A pleasure and thank you for agreeing to stay in with me. Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it? 

Today I have my debut novel, The Artist and the Soldier with me.  I am so excited about this book. I started writing novels 15 years ago, and four novels later I was offered a publishing contract with a small press. The journey has taught me to persevere. I am thrilled to be starting my author career with this historical fiction novel.

(Huge congratulations. The cover of The Artist and the Soldier is wonderful. It makes me want to dive right in!)

The concept for this book is based around two true stories I heard while on a trip to Rome in 2015. The first story was about a film that was made in a Vatican controlled basilica, which saved hundreds of Italian Jews from the Nazis during the occupation. The second story was about summer camps that were run for youth in the 1930’s throughout American that taught the ideals of Hitler. Both stories fascinated me and stayed with me throughout my trip. Thus Max and Bastian, my main characters, were born. I did not see their entire narrative from the start, but I saw them. I wrote their character profiles and part of the outline on the plane ride home from Rome, a few days later. I spent about a year on research and formed the characters and parts of the storyline during the process.  Though the main characters are fictional, most of what happens on the novel is based on historical events.

(I love historical fiction and I think The Artist and the Soldier sounds exactly my kind of read.)

What can we expect from an evening in with The Artist and the Soldier?

The Artist and the Solider tells the story of two young men who come of age and fall in love, set against the backdrop of true events during World War II.

It’s 1938. Bastian Fisher and Max Amsel meet at an American-Nazi camp, Siegfried. Neither have any idea what to do with their blooming, confusing feelings for one another. Before they can begin to understand, the pair is yanked apart and forced in opposite directions.

Five years later, during the heart of World War II, Bastian’s American army platoon lands in Salerno, Italy. Max is in Nazi-occupied Rome where he has negotiated a plan to hire Jews on as ‘extras’ in a movie—an elaborate ruse to escape the Nazis. Brought together by circumstance and war, Bastian and Max find one another again in Rome.

Exploring the true stories of Camp Siegfried and the making of the film, La Porta del Cielo, The Artist and the Soldier is intense, fast moving, and sheds light on largely untouched stories in American and Italian history.

(Sounds fabulous Angelle.)

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

I’ve brought four things with me today.  The first is a photo I took in Rome of the Papal Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls, where the movie that the book is based on was filmed.

I also have one of the original movie posters advertising La Porta del Cielo or The Gates of Heaven.

(How interesting. I’d never heard of this film before today.)

Next is a link to the article featured on NPR that inspired the summer camp where the boys meet titled “Nazi Summer Camps In 1930s America?” You can find the article here.

(I’ve visited your link Angelle and found the information fascinating.)

Finally I’ve included one of my favorite quotes from the book:

(What a wonderful sentiment Angelle.)

Thanks so much for staying in with me Angelle, to introduce The Artist and the Soldier. It sounds a wonderful story and I very much look forward to reading it.

The Artist and the Soldier

It’s 1938. Bastian Fisher and Max Amsel meet at a Nazi-American summer camp, Siegfried. Neither boy has any idea what to do with their blooming, confusing feelings for one another. Before they can begin to understand, the pair is yanked back into reality and forced in opposite directions.

Five years later, during the heart of World War II, Bastian’s American army platoon has landed in Salerno, Italy. Max is in Nazi-occupied Rome where he has negotiated a plan to hire Jews as ‘extras’ in a movie—an elaborate ruse to escape the Nazis. Brought together by circumstance and war Bastian and Max find one another again in Rome.

Exploring the true stories of Camp Siegfried, a Nazi-American summer camp in New York and the making of the film, La Porta del Cielo, which saved hundreds of lives, The Artist and the Soldier is intense, fast moving, and sheds light on largely untouched stories in American and Italian history.

Out on 1st May 2018, The Artist and the Soldier is available for pre-order here.

About Angelle Petta

Angelle Petta holds an MA in Theater Education from Emerson College, and a master’s equivalency in Drama Therapy through the NADTA. Angelle is a registered drama therapist and a PhD student at Lesley University.  She works as a Drama Therapist at an Expressive Arts Center in Virginia called A Place To Be.

She lives, works, and writes in Northern Virginia along with her husband, two delightful dogs, and one fat cat.

You can find out more by visiting Angelle’s website, finding her on Instagram, Facebook and Goodreads or by following her on Twitter @AngellePetta.

I have had the pleasure of ‘meeting’ so many smashing authors through this Staying in with… feature on Linda’s Book Bag and I’m delighted to meet another author today as Stephen Ainley has agreed to tell me all about one of his books.

If you’re an author who’d also like to stay in with me to tell me about one of your books, please click here for more details.

Staying in with Stephen Ainley

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

Thanks for the invite, Linda.

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

I’ve bought along my first novel, The Dennis Bisskit Adventures.  Being the comic adventures of young, Dennis Bisskit. It describes his rocky journey, from Dudley in the 1950’s. To Uganda, serving in the British Army in the 1960’s. And all the colourful characters he meets along the way.

(Oh! I’ve just come back from a trip to Uganda so it would be great to return through fiction too!)

What can we expect from an evening in with The Dennis Bisskit Adventures?

I recently had my favourite ever review. It just said “This book made me happy” and that is really what I’d hope you would get from an evening with, Dennis.

(Sounds like a book I could do with at the moment Stephen as life has been what you might call challenging!)

He is short, ginger-haired, and very accident prone. He always means well, but most things he tries, seem to end in disaster.

(Actually, this description makes me smile as we used to have a cat called Dennis who had a pretty ‘accident’ prone life as he was diabetic and got taken short quite often. Funnily enough he was ginger too!)

It’s a book full of fun, family, friends and catastrophes.. Some sad bits, but mainly lots of laughs.

Readers are calling it, “hilarious”  “brilliantly funny” and “an amusing and heart warming read”.

(It sounds smashing Stephen.)

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

I have bought a DVD of SpongeBob Squarepants. I’m a huge fan, and have a SpongeBob tattoo.

(Am I allowed to confess I’ve never seen a single second of SpongeBob before? This will be quite an education!)

Also a CD of The Who. I’m a huge fan, and have a, The Who, tattoo.

(I can feel a pattern coming on here…)

Also a huge bowl of trifle. If it were socially acceptable and not dangerous to your health, I would be quite happy to live on trifle. I know what you’re thinking. No, I don’t have a trifle tattoo, but it’s only a matter of time.

(That’s a relief. I’m so pleased you brought the trifle. I love it. I make it all the time so if we run out I’ll whip up another.)

Thank you so much, for staying in with me to introduce The Dennis Bisskit Adventures Stephen. I think your book sounds enormous fun. All the very best with it.

The Dennis Bisskit Adventures

THE HILARIOUS STORY OF A YOUNG BOY’S GROWING UP YEARS

Meet Dennis Bisskit, short; ginger-haired; kind-hearted; game for anything. Born in 1945 on the day the war ended; it should have been a good omen. Instead it’s been one disaster after another. Luckily fate normally steps in to save the day.

Gasp at the great holiday camp knobbly-knees scandal of 1955!

Be amazed as Dennis attempts to win back the world mile record for queen and country!

Discover Fosdyke’s department store and the all-powerful Mrs Ricketts!

Shed a tear as Dennis visits the battlefields of France with his granddad.

And meet the memorable Colour Sergeant Plunkett who teaches Dennis everything he needs to know about the army and finally makes a young man of him.

Published by Austin Macauley, The Dennis Bisskit Adventures is available for purchase through these links.

About Stephen Ainley

Stephen Ainley was born in Birmingham U.K. in 1952. He served in the British Airborne in the 1970’s before emigrating to Australia. He has written short stories and articles for many years but this is his first novel. He resides in Western Australia with wife Jane and Irish terrier O’Malley.

A sequel, Dennis Bisskit and the Man From Paris, with the Very Large Head, is due to be published later in 2018.

You can follow Stephen on Twitter @stephen_ainley and visit his website. Stephen is also on Facebook.

I’m so grateful to the lovely folk at Simon and Schuster and TeamBATC for providing an advanced reader copy of The Sunday Lunch Club by Juliet Ashton in return for an honest review.

I recently met Juliet Ashton again at the latest Spring Blogger Event that you can read about here. I’ve also read, loved and reviewed here another of Juliet’s books, The Woman at Number 24.

The Sunday Lunch Club by Juliet Ashton will be published on 19th April and is available for pre-order through the links here.

The Sunday Lunch Club

The first rule of Sunday Lunch Club is … don’t make any afternoon plans.

Every few Sundays, Anna and her extended family and friends get together for lunch. They talk, they laugh, they bicker, they eat too much. Sometimes the important stuff is left unsaid, other times it’s said in the wrong way.

Sitting between her ex-husband and her new lover, Anna is coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy at the age of forty. Also at the table are her ageing grandmother, her promiscuous sister, her flamboyantly gay brother and a memory too terrible to contemplate.

Until, that is, a letter arrives from the person Anna scarred all those years ago. Can Anna reconcile her painful past with her uncertain future?

My Review of The Sunday Lunch Club

Anna’s family meet regularly for Sunday lunch and know everything about one another. Or do they…

Well, well, well. Juliet Ashton has done it again. I absolutely adored The Sunday Lunch Club.

Firstly, I so appreciated the quality of the prose. I must admit the book’s title made me think this might be a very superficial read but I was completely wrong. As I read, a quotation from Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina that ‘Happy families and all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’ kept going through my head because all the members of Anna’s family have their secrets, their hopes and their fears so beautifully presented that I felt I knew each one intimately. Anna makes the perfect conduit to present them all so that we learn as much about her as we do all the others. I fell in love with them all and wanted them all to have a happy resolution, but you’ll have to read the book for yourself to find out if that happens.

The plot is so engaging, revolving around Anna’s pregnancy and drawing in each of the other members through the anchor of the family Sunday lunches. I found reading The Sunday Lunch Club a bit like watching the ocean. It was mesmerising; ebbing and flowing so that the reader occasionally feels complicit in the action, is often surprised and is always so wonderfully entertained. There’s such an intimate sense of family whilst at the same time they all represent a real microcosm of society so that there really is a character, an action or an event for any and every reader to identify with. This is such clever writing. It’s not overstating my emotional response to The Sunday Lunch Club to say it made me feel back in touch with humanity.

I think The Sunday Lunch Club is perfect escapist reading but with a depth and warmth that surprised me. I didn’t want it to end and feel lost now that I’m no longer heading over for Sunday lunch with these warm, witty and loveable people. I absolutely loved it.

About Juliet Ashton

Juliet Ashton is just one of the nom de plumes of writer Bernadette Strachan who also co-writes musicals with her composer husband Matthew Strachan. Juliet has a daughter and dogs!

You can follow Juliet Ashton on Twitter and visit her website.

I’m thrilled to welcome back Morton S. Grey to Linda’s Book Bag. Previously Morton wrote a fabulous guest blog (here) all about writing through emotions when she and I had had a particularly difficult year. I’m so glad she has agreed to return to stay in with me today.

If you’re an author who’d also like to stay in with me to tell me about one of your books, please click here for more details.

Staying in with Morton S. Grey

Welcome back to Linda’s Book Bag, Morton. It seems ages since I saw you in real life. Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.

Hi Linda, thanks for inviting me over!

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

I’ve brought along The Girl on the Beach. It’s just come out in paperback, my first ever, as this novel was my debut with Choc Lit after winning their Search for a Star competition. Even though I’ve been e-published for over a year there was something so special about being able to hold my novel in my hands and to run my fingers over the embossing on the front cover. I don’t often get excited, but I definitely did when my author copies arrived (you may have seen the video I posted online – blushes!) A copy of my novel now takes its place on my keeper book shelf.

(How wonderful to have a physical copy with your name on the cover. You must be so excited.)

What can we expect from an evening in with The Girl on the Beach?

The action in the novel takes place in my fictional seaside town of Borteen, as do the other novels from my Borteen Secrets Series (watch out for Book Two The Truth Lies Buried published on 1 May 2018).

(Congratulations on your new book, The Truth Lies Buried, too. Blog readers might like to know that it is available through the links here.)

The story of The Girl on the Beach follows Ellie Golden and her shock when she believes she recognizes her son’s new headmaster, Harry Dixon from her past. If Harry is who she thinks he is, he doesn’t appear to recognize her, he’s using a different name and she thought he was dead.

Ellie moved to Borteen to escape her troubled past and keep her son, Tom safe, but that past is about to catch up with her big time.

(This sounds so good.)

I’ve had some lovely reviews for the book and people seem to like the fact I’ve included teenage secondary characters, art and a youth mentoring scheme in the book. My favourite image from the novel is Harry Dixon on his daily run along the beach.

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

I’ve bought my heart shaped pink bucket (watch out for this in some of my stories), a spade and a beach mat. I’ve bought these along so that we can go for a walk on some of my favourite beaches, maybe Woolacombe, Llandanawg, or Bamburgh, to indulge in some beachcombing and a little paddle in the sea. I love to look out for seaglass and interesting pebbles for my collection.

Living in Worcestershire, UK I couldn’t be further from the coast if I tried, so going to the seaside is a real treat. Being on the beach is so good for the soul.

(I agree Morton. South Lincolnshire places me a good way from the sea too and I love a walk on the beach!)

Thank you so much, Morton, for staying in with me to introduce The Girl on the Beach. I think it sounds wonderful and will be sure to add it to my TBR along with The Truth Lies Buried. Good luck with both titles!

The Girl on the Beach

Who is Harry Dixon?

When Ellie Golden meets Harry Dixon, she can’t help but feel she recognises him from somewhere. But when she finally realises who he is, she can’t believe it – because the man she met on the beach all those years before wasn’t called Harry Dixon. And, what’s more, that man is dead.

For a woman trying to outrun her troubled past and protect her son, Harry’s presence is deeply unsettling – and even more disconcerting than coming face to face with a dead man, is the fact that Harry seems to have no recollection of ever having met Ellie before. At least that’s what he says …

But perhaps Harry isn’t the person Ellie should be worried about. Because there’s a far more dangerous figure from the past lurking just outside of the new life she has built for herself, biding his time, just waiting to strike.

The Girl on the Beach is available for purchase through these links.

The Truth Lies Buried

Two children in a police waiting room, two distressed mothers, a memory only half remembered…

When Jenny Simpson returns to the seaside town of Borteen, her childhood home, it’s for a less than happy reason. But it’s also a chance for her to start again.
A new job leads to her working for Carver Rodgers, a man who lives alone in a house that looks like it comes from the pages of a fairy tale – until you see the disaster zone inside …

As Jenny gets to know Carver she begins to unravel the sadness that has led to his chaotic existence. Gradually they realise they have something in common that is impossible to ignore – and it all links back to a meeting at a police station many years before.

Could the truth lie just beneath their feet?

Published by Choc Lit on 1st May 2018, The Truth Lies Buried can be pre-ordered through these links.

About Morton S. Gray

Morton lives with her husband, two sons and Lily, the tiny white dog, in Worcestershire, U.K. She has been reading and writing fiction for as long as she can remember, penning her first attempt at a novel aged fourteen. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and The Society of Authors.

Her debut novel The Girl on the Beach was e-published in January 2017, after she won Choc Lit Publishing Search for a Star competition. The story follows a woman with a troubled past as she tries to unravel the mystery surrounding her son’s headteacher, Harry Dixon. This book is available as a paperback from 10 April 2018.

Morton’s second book for Choc Lit The Truth Lies Buried is published as an e-book on 1 May 2018. Another romantic suspense novel, the book tells the story of Jenny Simpson and Carver Rodgers as they uncover secrets from their past.

Morton previously worked in the electricity industry in committee services, staff development and training. She has a Business Studies degree and is a fully qualified clinical hypnotherapist and Reiki Master. She also has diplomas in Tuina acupressure massage and energy field therapy. She enjoys crafts, history and loves tracing family trees. Having a hunger for learning new things is a bonus for the research behind her books.

You can follow Morton on Twitter @MortonSGray, find her author page on Facebook and visit her website.