With the world in such a turbulent state at the moment, I was intrigued when Mustafa Marwan got in touch about his debut novel Guns and Almond Milk. Sadly, I simply don’t have time to read it at the moment but instead I have asked Mustafa to stay in with me to tell me a bit about it.

Let’s find out more:

Staying in with Mustafa Marwan

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

Thanks for having me, Linda.

 I’m sure I know, but which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it? 

I brought my debut literary thriller, Guns and Almond Milk, because it includes facts from history, observations from reality, and imagination from the pen.

I understand Guns and Almond Milk is out today so happy publication day. I find the cover fascinating as it looks like a flower until you look closely at it! Tell me, what can we expect from an evening in with Guns and Almond Milk?

You can expect a literary thriller that deals with identity, diversity and old coins of arguable value.

Interesting. Tell me more.

You can also expect a discussion on modern societies and their polarities through a timeline based in the UK where a British Egyptian doctor tries to be from two worlds at the same time. In the second timeline, there’s an experience-based window to aid work, war, and lifestyles where extremes become the routine.

I have a feeling that is an experience many are going through right now Mustafa.

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

I’ve brought some early quotations and comments about Guns and Almond Milk because I’m so pleased at how it is being received.

Those are fabulous endorsements for a debut writer. Congratulations. And, thank you so much for staying in with me to chat about Guns and Almond Milk. I hope it’s a huge success for you.

Thanks Linda! There’s a trailer here for the book too if readers would like to take a look.

I’m sure they will! Let me give them a few more details too:

Guns and Almond Milk

An adrenaline-fueled journey into war-torn Yemen, this novel is the perfect read for fans of passionate, fast-paced fiction.

Luke Larson, a British Egyptian doctor, runs from his problematic past in the UK and becomes a war surgeon. When he is taken hostage by Western security contractors in a besieged hospital in Yemen, he realizes that after spending years saving the lives of others, he needs to face the demons of his past in order to save his own.

Guns and Almond Milk is a study of identity, war and redemption. It is The Sympathizer mixed with M.A.S.H by the way of Ramy.

Born to Egyptian parents and raised as a first-generation British Muslim, Luke Larson struggles to be from two worlds at the same time. He is working in a humanitarian mission in Aden, at the height of the Yemeni conflict. Max Gorsky, Luke’s new patient, is a security contractor working for the government forces. Rebel forces have taken over the city, and Max’s team is now taking refuge in the city’s hospital, in preparation for their final stand. Luke and his team find themselves caught in a deadly clash between the ruthless rebel group and the desperate security contractors. At the same time, Max and Luke need to settle debts from their shared past in the UK where they joined forces in fencing a multi-million-dollar stolen artifact operation that went wrong.

Guns and Almond Milk is a fast-paced story of love, murder, and thrill that provides readers with a fresh perspective on humanitarian work, religion, assimilation, and Middle Eastern politics.

Published by Simon and Schuster Interlink in the UK today 20th February, Guns and Almond Milk is available for purchase here and in the US through the publisher links here.

About Mustafa Marwan

Mustafa Marwan is an Egyptian writer, aid worker, and trainer with over a decade of experience in more than a dozen conflict zones in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. His debut novel, Guns and Almond Milk, a 2021 Page Turner Awards Finalist, is set in Yemen and the United Kingdom, where he has lived and worked. Mustafa has a Bachelor’s in Pharmacy and a Master’s in Public Health and has lectured and consulted in the UK on topics such as management and leadership, health and social care. He has also facilitated intercultural dialogue programs in several countries. Mustafa currently resides in Bangkok, Thailand.

For further information, visit Mustafa’s website or follow him on Twitter/X @MustafaMarwan. You can also find Mustafa on Facebook.

My enormous thanks to Susanna Pedan at Harper Collins for sending me a copy of The Girl from Donegal by Carmel Harrington in return for an honest review. I was delighted to receive it as I love Carmel Harrington’s writing. It’s my total pleasure to share my review of The Girl From Donegal today.

I last reviewed one of Carmel’s books – A Mother’s Heart – for My Weekly in a post you’ll find here.

I also reviewed Carmel’s The Moon Over Kilmore Quay here. I reviewed The Woman at 72 Derry Lane in a post you’ll find here. It was my also privilege to host a guest post from Carmel and to review The Things I Should Have Told you here.

Published in paperback in the UK by Harper Collins on 29th February 2024, The Girl From Donegal is available for pre-order through the links here.

The Girl from Donegal

Donegal, Ireland, 1939

As the world teeters on the brink of WWII, Eliza Lavery is alone in the world after her fiancé, Davey, was lost following the Irish War of Independence. But a fateful meeting on the wild beauty of Ballymastocker Bay could change everything.

Hamilton, Bermuda, 2022

Eight decades later, troubled by her future, Saoirse O’Donnell walks on the pink sands of Bermuda’s Horseshoe Bay. When she uncovers a connection to Eliza, all those years before, she hears a story that promises to influence her own heart – but that also reveals a long-buried secret.

Two women must each make a choice between their past and their present in this sweeping, epic love story spanning two continents, three generations, and joy and tragedy over nearly a century.

My Review of The Girl from Donegal

Saoirse is staying with her aunts.

Oh my goodness yes! I adored The Girl from Donegal. It’s what might be termed a ‘proper’ story and I loved every moment of being immersed in Carmel Harrington’s story.

What is so fabulous is the complete plausibility and realism of the warm characters so that it is as if you’re reading about old friends whom you’ve cared for and missed and now they are back in your life. I truly felt I knew every one of them personally. With a couple of small exceptions there are no true villains, but rather real folk doing their best with the circumstances they find themselves in, making them achingly relatable. I was completely invested in the outcomes for Saoirse, Eliza and Kate in particular. Meeting them all was a complete delight. Of all the characters I think Matthew might be the one my heart went out to most. He is a catalyst for action and an example of how warmth and kindness is attractive and appealing. 

That said, this is no ordinary story, even if the characters are identifiable. Oh no. Carmel Harrington’s The Girl from Donegal is sweeping, dramatic, absorbing and surprising. The story is filled with twists and turns and I was completely taken aback on more than one occasion. The 1939 sections are especially exciting and filled with historical detail and accuracy which makes the story all the more pleasurable. I’m not usually a great lover of dual time line narratives but I was absolutely riveted by this one.

The settings are amazing. Ireland, aboard the Athenia, and Bermuda vibrate with exceptional detail that appeals to each of the senses. From the temperature and colour of the sea, to the touch of a horse’s nose, through the sound of birds and the taste of rum punch, every aspect adds depth and texture, making The Girl from Donegal an alluring, captivating and glorious read. 

I thought the themes explored by Carmel Harrington were quite simply wonderful. Grief, love, fate, responsibility, family and relationships are all aspects that hook in the reader, but even more fascinating is the way human fallibility and making the most of what life throws at us underpin the story. We can’t always choose what happens, but the author displays the fact that we can choose how to respond. The Girl from Donegal illustrates how being brave and taking a chance with our lives can both challenge and reward, but you’ll need to read the story to find out more.

I’m conscious that I may have been slightly vague as to the wonderful plot and people here, but I don’t want inadvertently to reveal anything that will spoil the sheer joy in reading The Girl from Donegal. Whatever you might think when you’ve read The Girl from Donegal, and read it you must, I hope you adore the story as  much as I did. Oh, and I hope you have the opportunity to find your last love too. 

About Carmel Harrington

USA Today bestseller Carmel Harrington lives in Wexford with her family and rescue dog, George Bailey. Her ninth novel, The Moon Over Kilmore Quay became an instant bestseller in Ireland and USA. Other bestselling novels include My Pear-Shaped Life, A Thousand Roads Home, The Woman at 72 Derry Lane and the ITV commissioned novel, Cold Feet The Lost Years.

Carmel’s trademark is to write warm, uplifting stories with humour, heart and hope. She loves to write about family, friendships, love and life within complex, twisting plots. Carmel’s novels have been shortlisted twice for an Irish Book Award and her debut Beyond Grace’s Rainbow won Kindle Book of the Year and Romantic eBook of the Year in 2013. Carmel is also a regular on Irish TV screens, and is co founder of The Inspiration Project, a coaching and writing retreat.

For further information you can follow Carmel on Twitter/X @HappyMrsH, find her on Facebook or Instagram and visit her website.

You have no idea how delighted I am to blog my review of The Vintage Shop by Libby Page today.

There’s a very long story attached to my review as originally I wrote it for use elsewhere. Sadly it got forgotten in some changes and so I thought I’d blog it instead. Until I couldn’t find it. I had deleted it from every place I could think of whilst I was ‘tidying up’ my ancient laptop in the hope it might actually work better.

However, I suddenly had a brainwave and searched my downloads as I use Google Docs and download my reviews to send off, and there it was! Hurrah. So, with apologies for being exactly a year late, and with a title change to the book in the interim, I am finally sharing my review.

Published by Orion on 16th February 2023, The Vintage Shop is available for purchase through the links here.

The Vintage Shop

One dress. Three women. A lifetime of secrets.

Among the cobbled streets of Frome in Somerset, Lou is about to start something new. After losing her mother, she knows it’s time to take a chance and open her own vintage clothes shop.

In upstate New York, Donna receives some news about her family which throws everything she thought she knew into question. The only clue she has to unlock her past is a picture of a yellow dress.

Maggy is in her seventies, newly divorced and all alone in an empty house. Visiting the little vintage shop in Frome, with its rows of beautiful dresses, brings back cherished memories she’d long put aside.

For these three women, only by uncovering the secrets of the yellow dress can they unlock their next chapter…

My Review of The Vintage Shop

Two very different worlds are about to collide.

Brimming with community, friendship, family and belonging The Vintage Shop is absolutely charming, heart-breaking and life-affirming in equal measure. It’s such a lovely book written by an author who understands loneliness, grief, healing and friendship completely. I felt completely immersed in the story as I read.

The perfectly plotted narrative sweeps the reader along as they accompany Lou, Donna and Maggy on their journeys of discovery. With the tantalising sections from the past interspersed with present day action, the story is so entertaining and absorbing that it’s impossible to set it aside. Indeed, The Vintage Shop is one of those stories where you’re desperate to find out what happens but equally terrified that the outcomes might not be those you want for Lou, Maggy and Donna.

The three main characters are sensitively drawn, and perfectly balanced in the story, as the threads of their lives become intertwined. Lou’s vivacious dress sense, Maggy’s caring persona and Donna’s prickliness make each one a distinct individual that it’s impossible not to care about.

I loved the allusions to nature, autumn and fresh starts in the writing and the way Libby Page shows that what we’ve always done, how we’ve always acted, and what we’ve always believed, isn’t immutable, but can evolve and shape us positively so that The Vintage Shop educates even as it entertains. It feels as if Libby Page is giving her readers permission to be themselves. As a result, The Vintage Shop is a lovely, heart-warming illustration that it’s never too late to begin again, to make new friends and to live your life in full in your own second chance. It’s beautifully written and filled with wise life lessons that are uncovered gently and convincingly so that the reader feels moved, inspired and fulfilled by Libby Page’s sensitive and entertaining guidance.

The Vintage Shop makes you want to dig out your brightest, most ebullient clothes, and stride out into whatever the future may hold. It may be filled with pain and regret, and you’ll definitely need a tissue or two, but ultimately it’s a truly uplifting, hopeful, story that gladdens the heart and makes the world that little bit brighter. I loved it.

About Libby Page

Libby Page is the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lido, The 24-Hour Café and The Island Home. The Vintage Shop is her fourth novel and her latest The Lifeline will be released in April. Before becoming an author, she worked in journalism and marketing. She is a keen outdoor swimmer and lives in Somerset with her husband and young son.

For further information, follow Libby on Twitter @LibbyPageWrites, Instagram and Facebook, or visit Libby’s website.

It’s time for another of my My Weekly magazine online reviews today. This time I’m delighted to review Every Smile You Fake by Dorothy Koomson.

Published by Headline today, 15th February 2024, Every Smile You Fake is available for purchase in all the usual places including here.

Every Smile You Fake

Please take care of my baby. But don’t try to find me. You’ll put him in danger. x

Profiler and therapist Kez Lanyon is shocked when she finds a baby on the backseat of her car, with an unsigned note asking her to take care of him.

Kez has a pretty good idea who the mother is – Brandee, a popular social media star with a troubled background, who once lived in Kez’s house.

Brandee recently dropped out of the limelight and if the internet rumours are true, Kez knows Brandee’s life is in danger.

Kez is torn. Should she simply take care of the baby as she’s been asked, or should she risk her whole family by using contacts from her previous job to save this young woman?

Time is running out for Brandee. Can Kez find her before it’s too late?

This is the heart-stopping new novel from The Queen Of The Big Reveal.

My Review of Every Smile You Fake

My full review of Every Smile You Fake can be found on the My Weekly website here.

However, here I can say that Every Smile You Fake is fantastic. It’s terrifyingly authentic, twisty and compelling. I loved it!

Do visit My Weekly to read my full review here.

About Dorothy Koomson

Dorothy Koomson is the award-winning author of numerous novels and has been making up stories since she was 13 when she used to share her stories with her convent school friends. Her published titles include: Tell Me Your Secret, The Brighton Mermaid, The Friend, When I Was Invisible, That Girl From Nowhere, The Flavours of Love, The Woman He Loved Before, Goodnight, Beautiful and The Chocolate Run.

Dorothy’s first novel, The Cupid Effect, was published in 2003 (when she was quite a bit older than 13). Her third book, My Best Friend’s Girl, was selected for the Richard & Judy Summer Reads of 2006 and went on to sell over 500,000 copies. While her fourth novel, Marshmallows For Breakfast, has sold in excess of 250,000 copies. Dorothy’s books, The Ice Cream Girls and The Rose Petal Beach were both shortlisted for the popular fiction category of the British Book Awards in 2010 and 2013, respectively.

Dorothy’s novels have been translated into over 30 languages, and a TV adaptation loosely based on The Ice Cream Girls was shown on ITV1 in 2013. After briefly living in Australia, Dorothy now lives in Brighton.

In 2019 Dorothy was awarded the Image Award by The Black British Business Awards to celebrate and honour her achievements.

For further information visit Dorothy’s website. You can also find Dorothy on Instagram and Facebook and follow her on Twitter/X @DorothyKoomson.

I so enjoy reviewing for My Weekly magazine online, but when it’s a book from a favourite author, the pleasure is enhanced all the more! Today I’m sharing details of my review of The Happiest Ever After by Milly Johnson.

The Happiest Ever After is published by Simon and Schuster on 15th February 2024 and is available for purchase through the links here.

The Happiest Ever After

Polly Potter is surviving, not thriving. She used to love her job – until her mentor died and her new boss decided to make her life hell. She used to love her partner Chris – until he cheated on her, and now she can’t forget. The only place where her life is working is on the pages of the novel she is writing – there she can create a feistier, bolder, more successful version of herself – as the ­fictional Sabrina Anderson.

But what if it was possible to start over again? To leave everything behind, forget all that went before, and live the life you’d always dreamed of?

After a set of unforeseen circumstances, Polly ends up believing she really IS Sabrina, living at the heart of a noisy Italian family restaurant by the sea. Run by Teddy, the son of her new landlady Marielle, it’s a much-loved place, facing threat of closure as a rival restaurant moves in next door. Sabrina can’t remember her life as Polly, but she knows she is living a different life from the one she used to have.

But what if this new life could belong to her after all?

My Review of The Happiest Ever After

My full review of The Happiest Ever After can be found on the My Weekly website here.

However, here I can say that The Happiest Ever After is wonderful.

Imagine you’ve had a really hard, trying day. You’ve now enjoyed a long soak in a fragrant bath and have just slipped into bed in fresh linen and nightwear.  That sense of pleasure, comfort and relief is the way The Happiest Ever After made me feel. Gorgeous stuff from Milly writing at her most authentic best. I just loved The Happiest Ever After.

Do visit My Weekly to read my full review here.

About Milly Johnson

Milly Johnson was born, raised and still lives in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

A Sunday Times bestseller, she is one of the Top 10 Female Fiction authors in the UK with millions of copies of her books sold across the world. In 2020, she was honoured with the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Outstanding Achievement Award and was a featured author in the Reading Agency’s Quick Reads and World Book Night campaigns.

A writer who champions women and highlights the importance of friendship and community, Milly’s characters are celebrations of the strength of the human spirit.

You can follow Milly on Twitter @millyjohnson and Facebook, or you can visit her website for more information. You’ll also find Milly on Instagram.

My enormous thanks to Sara-Jade Virtue of Books and the City for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for Token by Beverley Kendall. I’m delighted to share my review of Token today.

Published by Simon and Schuster tomorrow, 15th February 2024, Token is available for purchase through the publisher links here.

Token

Kennedy Mitchell is brilliant, beautiful and tired of being the only Black woman in the room.

Two years ago, she was plucked from reception for a seat at the boardroom table in the name of “representation”. Rather than play along, she and her best friend founded Token, a boutique PR agency that helps diversity-challenged companies and celebrities. With famous people getting into reputation-damaging controversies, Token is in high demand and business is booming, but when her ex shows up needing help repairing his reputation, things get even more complicated and soon Kennedy finds herself drawn into a PR scandal of her own.

My Review of Token

Kennedy’s job is about to change.

What a fresh, engaging and brilliant read. I loved Token. I sometimes think that US based stories are not to my British taste, but in Token Beverley Kendall has absolutely proved me wrong. This is a narrative with sharp wit, incisive social comment and an underlying sexiness that makes it a fabulous read.

The plot is so clever because anyone wanting a romance finds it here. Anyone wanting affecting and enhanced sexual tension will find it in spades between Kennedy and Nate. Anyone wanting a strong and appealing female protagonist able to take care of herself need look no further than Kennedy and on top of all this are modern themes that hit right to the heart of who we are in today’s world. Combine all these aspects and Token is intelligent, entertaining and, for me, quite brilliant. 

I loved Kennedy. Indeed I’m ever so slightly in love with Kennedy. She’s beautiful, quick witted and hard working but there’s also a vulnerability that comes through in her relationship with Nate that adds depth to her character. Throughout Token she develops in a highly credible and engaging manner, making her a heroine for the modern era. 

There’s a wide enough cast of minor characters to add texture to the story, but at the heart is Kennedy, Nate and to a lesser extent Sahara and Aurora. This provides intimacy and ensures the reader is completely invested in the outcomes for them all. I wanted them all to have a positive outcome but I’m not saying whether that happens! You’ll need to read Token for yourself.

Aside from the brilliantly depicted, glamorous world of the rich and famous, Token has a riveting uncovering of the murky world of big business, with both unintentional – and completely overt – bias, including sexism and racism so that Token packs a punch even as it entertains. There’s jealousy and corruption right at the heart of Kennedy’s life that is utterly fascinating. What works so well is that Beverley Kendall makes readers consider the impact of doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, and the wrong thing for the right reasons, and she shows how morality can become blurred and obfuscated. She puts all of society under the microscope but without preaching so that Token feels considered and thought-provoking. 

I thought Token was excellent. Beverley Kendall held my attention completely because she gave me a vivid and compelling insight into a world I know little about, entertaining me thoroughly along the way and making me believe in, and care about, her characters too. I loved this book and if you think you don’t need Kennedy Mitchell and Token in your life, you’re wrong. You really, really do. Don’t miss this one! 

About Beverley Kendall

Beverley discovered her love of books while growing up in, the then, small city of Barrie, Ontario Canada. With her love of books and romance, she always wished that everyone would find their happily ever after. She currently writes sexy historical, new adult and contemporary romances.  As the mother of one too bright and mischievous young boy, she pulls full-time duty on all fronts. When she’s not writing full-time, running The Season review website or mothering, she’s probably reading or sleeping and dreaming of a time when she’ll have time for her favorite hobbies: knitting, crocheting and sewing.  Beverley has lived on two continents, in three countries, two provinces, and four states. She stopped her nomadic existence and settled in the southeast. All things artistic feed her creative passion, but none more than writing.

For further information, visit Beverley’s website, or find her on Facebook and Instagram.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

It’s far, far too long since I read Dani Atkins. Last time it was While I Was Sleeping which I reviewed here. Consequently, I’m thrilled to rectify that as Dani’s latest book The Memory of Us is my latest online review for My Weekly magazine.

Published by Head of Zeus (Aria) on 15th February 2024, The Memory of Us is available for purchase in all the usual places including here.

The Memory of Us

If you can’t trust your head, can you trust your heart?

If she had been found moments later, Amelia’s heart would have stopped and never recovered. Instead she was taken from the desolate beach to the nearest hospital just in time to save her life. When her sister Lexi arrives from New York, Amelia’s heart is beating, but the accident has implanted a series of false memories. These memories revolve around a man named Sam, and a perfect love story that never existed.

Determined to help her sister, Lexi enlists the help of Nick, a local vet who bears a striking resemblance to Sam. Together, Lexi and Nick recreate and photograph Amelia’s dream dates in the hopes of triggering her true memories.

But as love starts to stir between Lexi and Nick, they must navigate a complex web of emotions. How can Lexi fall for Amelia’s dream man without hurting her sister?

Filled with breathtaking romance, heart-wrenching emotion, the magic of destiny and the power of sisterhood, The Memory of Us is a must-read for fans of Holly Miller and Colleen Hoover.

My Review of The Memory of Us

My full review of The Memory of Us can be found on the My Weekly website here.

However, here I can say that The Memory of Us is not just wonderful, but it is possibly one of the best books I’ve ever read, being heart-breakingly emotional and utterly captivating. I adored it.

Do visit My Weekly to read my full review here.

About Dani Atkins

Dani Atkins is an award-winning novelist. Her 2013 debut Fractured (published as Then and Always in North America) has been translated into over twenty languages and has sold more than half a million copies since first publication in the UK.

Dani is the author of eight other bestselling novels (The Story of Us, Our Song, This Love, While I Was Sleeping, A Million Dreams, A Sky Full of Stars, The Wedding Dress, Six Days) and Perfect Strangers, a standalone eBook novella. In 2018 This Love won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award at the RNA awards in London and in 2022 A Sky Full of Stars won the Contemporary Romantic Novel of the Year at the RNA awards.

Dani lives in a small village in Hertfordshire with her husband, a Siamese cat and a very soppy Border Collie.

For further information, you can find Dani on Instagram and Facebook and follow her on Twitter/X @AtkinsDani.

If you’re a regular visitor to Linda’s Book Bag, you’ll know how impressed I am by EK Books for children and so it’s my pleasure to review another of their books, Two Rabbits by Larissa Ferenchuk and Prue Pittock

Two Rabbits is published today, 13th February 2024 by EK Books and is available for purchase here.

Two Rabbits

In Two Rabbits, Little Brown Rabbit and Little Grey Rabbit have had an argument. As they go their separate ways into the night, the wind whispers around them to remind them of their sharp words. Will they be able to come back together and find a way to save their friendship?

The story portrays the physical and emotional journey of two best friends as they experience feelings of anger, sadness and loneliness. Young readers will learn that friendship can overcome differences and disagreements.

My Review of Two Rabbits

Two rabbit friends have fallen out.

This is an utterly charming story of two rabbit friends who fall out that is perfect for young children. It’s deceptively simple so that vocabulary and meaning are easily grasped, but at the same time it presents an emotional depth that will help children understand their own responses from a familiar scenario of falling out. Whilst the rabbits are angry with one another, what Two Rabbits does is to show how we can be affected by our own actions just as much as the words and actions of others. Sometimes we lash out, albeit here at an apple and a dandelion, because we are sad and lonely just as much as angry. This gives parents, teachers and carers the opportunity to discuss emotional intelligence, and the positivity of being kind, in an accessible manner as they share the story of Two Rabbits. And because the two rabbits resolve their differences, there’s an opportunity for children who have fallen out to copy their positive behaviour.

In addition, there are lots of other educational uses for Two Rabbits. Using the map in the end papers, children can practice reading new words, for example, or perhaps they can increase numeracy through counting the cats and possums the two rabbits see, or the dots on Little Grey Rabbit’s dress or the flowers on that of Little Brown Rabbit. I can envisage active responses such as stomping in physical education or simple drama as children act out the story.

The illustrations in Two Rabbits are quite wonderful. I loved the way the dark and light in the pictures reflect the emotions. There’s a naïve style that is perfect for the target audience and the facial expressions on the rabbits mirror the text brilliantly. Indeed, in common with all EK children’s books I’ve encountered, this one has superb physical attributes with high quality pages and covers.

Two Rabbits is a lovely book that I highly recommend, especially if you have a child in your life who struggles with friendship and emotions. It’s also a strong reminder to adults that being kind makes us feel far happier than throwing hurtful phrases at others! Not to be missed.

About Larissa Ferenchuk

Larissa Ferenchuk is a writer who loves all things magical and whimsical. She lives in Adelaide, Australia with her husband, three children and one very lovely Little Grey Rabbit. Two Rabbits is her debut picture book.

Larissa also works in a Preschool and loves spending her days with the very imaginative 4 and 5-year-old children there.

For further information, visit Larissa’s website. You’ll also find Larissa on Facebook.

About Prue Pittock

Prue Pittock started in advertising and illustrated and designed album covers. Since then she has illustrated 8 picture books. In 2020 she was shortlisted for the CBCA Eve Pownall Award.

For further information, visit Prue’s website or find her on Instagram and Facebook.

With thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources I’m delighted to have a very special guest post for you today from Terea Dovalpage, author of Last Seen in Havana as part of the blog tour.

In addition, if you live in the US, there is a giveaway further down this blog post to win a hardbacked copy of Last Seen in Havana.

Published by Soho Crime, Last Seen in Havana is available for purchase from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

Last Seen in Havana

A Cuban American woman searches for her long-lost mother and fights to restore a beautiful but crumbling Art Deco home in the heart of Havana in this moving, immersive new mystery, perfect for fans of Of Women and Salt.

In 2019, newly widowed baker Mercedes Spivey flies from Miami to her native Cuba to care for her ailing paternal grandmother. Mercedes’s life has been shaped by loss, beginning with the mysterious unsolved disappearance of her mother when Mercedes was a little girl. Returning to Cuba revives Mercedes’s hopes of finding her mother as she attempts to piece together the few scraps of information she has. Could her mother still be alive?

33 years earlier, an American college student with endless political optimism falls deliriously in love with a handsome Cuban soldier while on a spontaneous visit to the island. She decides to stay permanently, but soon discovers that nothing is as it seems in Havana.

The two women’s stories proceed in parallel as Mercedes gets closer to discovering the truth about her mother, uncovering shocking family secrets in the process . . .

A Brick-and-Mortar Character

A Guest Post by Terea Dovalpage

When I lived in Cuba, the Art Deco-style houses built in the mid-twentieth century never failed to intrigue me. I found the elegance and functionality of these constructions fascinating, particularly their stylized appearance and sense of fluidity so different from the colonial-style houses with skylights, heavy oak doors and high ceilings that are prevalent in Havana.

In my novels Death under the Perseids and Last Seen in Havana, the protagonist, Mercedes, grows up in an Art Deco house located in Miramar. (Miramar was, and still is, an elegant neighborhood dotted with embassies and foreign companies’ headquarters.) Mercedes’s father, who had fought alongside Fidel Castro in the mountains, got the house as a reward for his political loyalty in the early 1980s. He lives there with his American wife, Sarah, who vanishes in 1989. And that’s where his daughter Mercedes is raised.

In Death under the Perseids, Mercedes describes her childhood home:

The house, despite its many problems, was an Art Deco villa with geometric mosaics in the kitchen and bathrooms, carved doors and a marble staircase like those you saw in old Hollywood movies. It even had a name, Villa Santa Marta, written in elegant wrought-iron letters over the gate. And it was huge. There was a living room, a formal dining room, an ample kitchen, six more bedrooms and the former servants’ quarters.

Originally, Villa Santa Marta belonged to a family that had left Cuba during the Mariel Boatlift. The circumstances surrounding the identity of its first owner are gradually revealed in Last Seen in Havana as the role of the house becomes more prominent in the story:

It was during a conversation over tea and finger sandwiches that Elena revealed the identity of Villa Santa Marta’s former owners.

“The house was built by a witch named María Estela Sotolongo, who, by the way, is buried on the property,” she whispered, looking around as if the spirit of the aforementioned bruja hovered above them.

Maybe due to the influence of the “witch”—I played a bit with magical realism—the house isn’t a happy place. In Last Seen in Havana, Villa Santa Marta has already developed its own personality, with an evil streak. Mercedes has noticed it:

The house had always had a malevolent aura. It could have been the porthole window above the main entrance, like an evil eye glaring at those who approached, or the dirty gray stucco that had peeled off in many areas, or the ungroomed lawn with weeds as tall as a ten-year old child.

The anthropomorphism of the house takes a tangible form in the portraits of its former owner, spread over in several rooms. Mercedes’s mother, Sarah, watches them with suspicion:

After taking a cold shower (the boiler didn’t work), Sarah continued exploring the house. This time, she spent a whole hour in the library. The room was presided over by the portrait of a fiery-eyed lady in a black pillbox hat. She looked like the woman with the pearl necklace whose picture was over the piano. Only here she seemed sterner, almost threatening, as if she didn’t like to have people around. Sarah shuddered, then laughed. Her imagination was getting the best of her.

The stories of the house and the “witch” intertwine, creating an atmosphere that plays with gothic elements until the end. The end, I have to admit, was determined by the fate of the house. It was not what I had originally planned, but this book taught me that it isn’t only flesh-and-bone characters that slip away from the writer’s grasp. The brick-and-mortar ones do too!

****

I absolutely agree Teresa. Bricks and mortar truly add character and depth to a narrative!

Giveaway

A Hardbacked copy of Last Seen in Havana

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About Teresa Dovalpage

Writer, translator and college professor, Teresa Dovalpage is a Cuban transplant firmly rooted in New Mexico. She is the author of twelve novels, among them the Havana Mystery series, three short story collections and four theater plays. She lives with her husband, one dog and too many barn cats.

For further information, visit Teresa’s English blog or Spanish blog.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

My grateful thanks to Grace Pilkington for arranging for me to stay in with Sorrel Pitts today to chat about her recent release.

Let’s find out more:

Staying in with Sorrel Pitts

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

Thank you for having me Linda.

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

I’ve brought Broken Shadows because it has just been published.

Belated happy publication day! What can we expect from an evening in with Broken Shadows?

The seeds of Broken Shadows were sown when I was 14 years old and discovered some mysterious stones called The Devil’s Den (renamed as The Shadowing Stones in the novel). I went riding in the dawn with a friend over the Marlborough Down in Wiltshire and we came across these eerie stones in the mist. The experience never left me and I decided I would write about it one day. My central protagonist, Tom, is also 14 when he visits the stones in the dawn and finds his younger brother’s remains in a nearby barn.

That sounds fabulous Sorrel. How is Broken Shadows being received by early readers?

It took me eight years to write the novel, and, despite having a top literary agent, almost as long to publish it. I passionately believe in it and this seems to borne out by the pre-publication reviews coming through – which I confess made me cry when I first read them because they felt like such a vindication after so many years of work.

Broken Shadows is a book that manages to seamlessly fuse a crime, a mystery and a moving love story into one. A book about the pain of exile and the changing face of rural communities. A ‘beautiful, heart-breaking’ (Goodreads) book which evokes the wild and mysterious landscape of ancient Wiltshire as a backdrop to a modern story of loss, regret, and ‘unanswered questions and suspense that will keep you reading to the end.’ (Amazon review)

Those words must feel wonderful. And I know you’ve been called ‘A very promising writer’ by Sir Michael Parkinson too. How exciting.

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

I have brought my favourite album ‘This is the Sea’, by The Waterboys. It’s very old now but I still think that no nothing has ever beaten the incredible way it conjures up the anthems and forces around and within us. It also explores joy and passion with a depth that perhaps only classical music has matched. But most of all, it is earthy. I am definitely a child of the land, which is reflected in my novel, and in my adolescence was deeply influenced by Mike Scott (leader of the Waterboys) and his incredible music. I’ve been to see The Waterboys play more times than it’s possible to count. I last saw them in October 2023. They still sell out. I’ve asked for the final song on the album ‘This is the sea’ to be played at my funeral. It is so full of joy and hope, and that’s the way I try to live my life.

I love the way music can touch us. And I understand you are a musician too?

That’s right, I am also a musician and some of my songs have done very well in the UK Songwriting Contest. You can find my music here on Soundcloud.

How brilliant. Thank you so much for staying in with me to chat about Broken Shadows Sorrel. I think it sounds wonderful. Whilst you find your music on Soundcloud for us to listen to, I’ll just give readers a few more details about Broken Shadows:

Broken Shadows

In 1994, eleven-year-old Callum was abducted from his Wiltshire village. His body was found six months later by his older brother, Tom, near a Neolithic henge called the Shadowing Stones. It was the first in a series of events that would destroy Tom’s family; the boys’ father was a suspect but never charged, and their mother committed suicide a year later. Convinced his father was responsible for his brother’s death, Tom fled to Australia to start a new life.

Now, almost three decades later, Tom learns that his father is dying of cancer. Knowing this may be his last chance to uncover the truth, Tom returns to England. But when childhood acquaintance, Anna, forms a bond with Tom, old feelings are stirred. As he’s reluctantly drawn closer to both Anna and his father, Tom is confronted with a series of shocking twists and revelations that will change his life forever.

Published by Bloodhound, Broken Shadows is available for purchase here.

About Sorrel Pitts

Sorrel Pitts grew up in the ancient English landscape of Wiltshire, which is a strong presence in her writing. She worked as a magazine editor before moving overseas to teach English in Turkey and Spain. On her return to the UK she became Commissioning Editor for Macmillan Publishers and Editorial Manager for Oxford University Press. She is now living back in Wiltshire and is a freelance editor and writer. Her current key role is Series Editor for PRH’s Penguin and Ladybird Readers series.

Sorrel has written numerous educational adaptations for Harper Collins, Oxford University Press and PRH including Ian McEwan’s The Children’s Act – which was nominated for a major educational award – and John Le Carre’s The Night Manager (both PRH) as well original stories Nuala and Champion (Stand For Publishers) and The Scissor Man Caves (PRH). Many of Sorrel’s educational titles are published under her pen name of Anna Trewin.

Sorrel’s debut novel The River Woman was published in September 2011 by Indigo Dreams Press. Sir Michael Parkinson described it as ‘a fascinating story written by a very promising writer’.

For further information, follow Sorrel on Twitter/X @pittssorrel and find Sorrel on Facebook and Instagram.