My grateful thanks to Alice at Fum D’Estampa Press for sending me a surprise copy of Bel Olid’s Wilder Winds translated by Laura McGloughlin in return for an honest review. I’m delighted to share that review today.

Published by Fum D’Estampa Press on 15th January 2022 Wilder Winds is available for purchase here.

Wilder Winds

In Wilder Winds, writer and translator Bel Olid presents a stunning collection of short stories that draw on notions of individual freedom, abuses of power, ingrained social violence, life on the outskirts of society, and inevitable differences. Alongside these they place small acts of kindness capable of changing the world and making it a better place. Like a flower that stubbornly grows and blooms in the cracks of the pavement. Olid’s work seeks out beauty without renouncing truth, and never avoids conflict or intimacy.

Wilder Winds creates scenes and fragile, yet hardy characters that will stay with the reader for years to come.

My Review of Wilder Winds

A slim volume of short stories.

Wilder Winds is a wonderful collection, flawlessly translated by Laura McGloughlin.

It is an exquisite, almost physically painful read with an iterative image of water, redolent of birth, baptism and cleansing woven into many of the stories so that they almost seem to wash away the reader’s delusions and self-deceptions, giving them an insight into the live of those on the edges of society so sensitively portrayed by Bel Olid.

The author brings to the forefront of the reader’s consciousness those aspects of life they often only half acknowledge – brutality, homelessness, refugees for example – and makes them real and vivid. What Bel Olid does in Wilder Winds is to hold up a mirror to society in exactly the way Baba Luba does, making that character a metaphor for the entire collection. Alongside the challenging aspects of life, such as racism and prejudice, the stories are balanced by tenderness, burgeoning sexuality and a wistful longing so that they draw in the reader completely.

Whilst some of these stories are only a few paragraphs long, Bel Olid imbues them with emotion and true to life, fully rounded characters that the reader cares about making Wilder Winds as important a book as it is an engaging and entertaining one.

Intense and intelligent, interesting and affecting, Wilder Winds resonates with the reader in countless ways. It’s difficult to convey how impressive the writing actually is, but I thoroughly recommend this humane and humanising collection.

About Bel Olid

Bel Olid is a writer and translator living and working in Catalonia. They are president of the Catalan Writers’ Association and in 2017 stood for the Catalan parliament as a representative of the CUP party.

You’ll find Bel on Twitter @BelOlid and Instagram.

About Laura McGloughlin

Laura McGloughlin is an Irish translator living and working in London. Having translated many works by both Catalan and Spanish writers, in 2012 she appeared as a panellist for New Spanish Books.

You’ll find Laura on Twitter @drownedbook and Instagram.

When Don Mayhew got in touch about his middle grade children’s book with Roscoe and Muldoon, The Mayor Is Mad, I thought I’d invite him to stay in with me to chat about it. Little did we realise that The Mayor is Mad stars Roscoe and Muldoon weren’t having that! Instead they took over and I found myself in a full blown interview. Here’s what they had to say:

An Interview with Roscoe and Muldoon, stars of The Mayor Is Mad

This evening I’m with Roscoe and Muldoon, the two dog detectives who star in their recently released first book for middle-grade readers, The Mayor Is Mad. Tell me, did you bring along your book?

Muldoon: But of course.

Roscoe: We don’t go anywhere without it, although it’s kind of a pain to carry around between your canines. But what are you gonna do?

Please tell us a little about your detective work and the book.

Roscoe: We’ve been best buddies for years and just kind of started doing detective work to keep busy. Not many humans realize this, but a dog’s life can be kind of boring. We sit around while they’re busy working, dragging the kids to soccer practice, making dinner. Although dinner usually is the highlight of the day, now that I think about it.

Muldoon: The first case kind of fell into our laps. A pup went missing for almost a week. The parents were so worried. We asked around, then caught a break when the pup was found hiding under a wrecked car in our town’s junk yard. The Cane Corso who patrols the yard actually found him.

Roscoe: From there, things kind of snowballed. The book tells about a series of mysterious burglaries that we had to solve, all while most of the cats and dogs around town were fighting like, well, cats and dogs.

Muldoon: Don’t forget about the fleas.

Roscoe: Yeah, right. There’s also a flea infestation that threatened to become an epidemic. Makes me itch just to think about it.

Hmm. I’m not sure about those fleas! But tell me, will there be more Roscoe & Muldoon adventures?

Muldoon: We definitely have a lot of cases to work up in the next year.

Roscoe: It wouldn’t surprise me if some of them turned up in another book, that’s for sure. But we can’t really say any more than that right now.

Intriguing. Thank you both for agreeing to stay in with me. Did you bring anything else with you?

Muldoon: We brought a photo of our pal Jackson. He’s a Maltipoo pup who helped us crack the burglaries. Cute as a button, that one is.

Roscoe: But so many questions! You’ve never heard anything like it. It never ends.

You can hardly expect him to help solve mysteries if he doesn’t ask questions! So what do you both usually do when you stay in?

Roscoe: Muldoon here holds down the floor quite a bit.

Muldoon: Just wait until you’re my age, bub. We’ll see how much running around you do when your hips are screaming and you could be resting.

I know that feeling Muldoon!

Roscoe: Anyway, I watch a lot of TV with my humans.

Muldoon: Yup, yup, me, too.

What are your favourite TV shows?

Muldoon: Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Scooby-Doo if I’m in the mood for something silly.

Roscoe: There’s nothing wrong with the classics. But for my money, I’ll take Frasier every time. Eddie the Jack Russell terrier could take a funny scene and turn it sublime with just one look. Every time. That guy was incredible.

Lassie and Scooby-Doo take me right back to my childhood and I loved Eddie in Frasier! Do you snack as you watch? I’ve always wondered what dogs prefer: kibble or soft food out of a can?

Roscoe: Gimme that soft stuff.

Muldoon: Canned food is all right. But kibble makes you work for it a bit – and it cleans your teeth while you’re at it.

Do you have a favourite human food: maybe chicken or cheese?

Muldoon: Why choose? Why not mix both together?

Roscoe: Bleeck! Cheese gives me the tummy rumbles. Rotisserie chicken is pretty bomb, though.

Doesn’t too much food make you sleepy. What do you think about naps?

Muldoon: We’re in favor of them.

Roscoe: Daily.

As you mentioned, there’s a lot of animosity between cats and dogs in The Mayor is Mad. Isn’t it only natural that different species are going to dislike each other?

Roscoe: There’s a lot of evidence throughout history that species are a kind of tribe. Creatures who don’t look like us may have posed a threat thousands of years ago. It’s a survival instinct embedded in most animals. But instead of blindly accepting that impulse, we should be aware of it and make conscious choices every day.

Muldoon: Right. Equality and democracy are important concepts to everyone. They shouldn’t rely on what kind of animal you are or who’s in charge or how everyone is feeling that day.

I couldn’t agree more! Now, let’s talk more about that flea infestation. Given that we’re still in the midst of the Covid pandemic, any advice for dealing with disease?

Roscoe: Well, first off, fleas are annoying. But they’re generally not deadly.

Hmm. Not sure I like the ‘generally not deadly’. Reminds me of being in Botswana when I was rescues from a huge spider that our guide said wasn’t ‘very deadly’. I’d prefer not deadly at all!

Muldoon: True, but I think it’s important to listen to science and medicine. Experts know things we don’t, and they’ll be candid even when it’s inconvenient. Even when we don’t want to hear it, we should pay attention.

So when it comes to fleas, you should follow your vets’ advice?

Muldoon: I do.

Roscoe: Some of our feline friends just give fleas the Works.

You’re talking to a Brit here. What on Earth are the Works?

Roscoe: You’ll have to read the book to find out!

I will indeed! On that note, I think I’ll say thank you for being here Roscoe and Muldoon. It’s been interesting hearing about The Mayor Is Mad (and a few other things I might have preferred NOT to discuss!) so thank you both for being here on Linda’s Book Bag. 

Roscoe: You got it.

Muldoon: You’re welcome.

Roscoe & Muldoon: The Mayor Is Mad

Roscoe and Muldoon, two dog detectives, set out to solve a rash of burglaries happening around their small town. Getting to the bottom of these thefts is complicated by reports of a sudden flea infestation, an epidemic being blamed on Siamese cats. The detectives are accompanied at times by their young friend, a Maltipoo puppy named Jackson.

The story’s premise starts on familiar ground (dogs and cats don’t get along? who knew?) then moves in inventive ways. When Jackson gets separated from his friends and wanders off, the pup winds up discovering a world that is exciting, terrifying, confusing, and ultimately enlightening in ways he couldn’t have imagined. As the detectives simultaneously try to solve the crimes and search for their young friend, they are reminded of the importance of friendship, the cruel evils of prejudice, the power of peaceful protest and, most of all, the benefits of judging creatures not by their wealth, appearance, or power but by their actions.

These truths are leavened by humor, wordplay, and simple but sharp political satire. There are characters sure to engage both young animal lovers and parents who might be inclined to read to their children at bedtime, among them a curmudgeonly mole, a blue jay who’s afraid of heights, and more cats than you can shake a stick at.

Roscoe & Muldoon The Mayor Is Mad is available for purchase on Amazon UK, Amazon US, Barnes and Noble, Target and BookBaby.

About Don Mayhew

Don Mayhew is a former journalist from California who’s written about sports, movies, music, television shows, books, toys, fatherhood, education, 9/11, deaf culture, fireworks, and life in the San Joaquin Valley. He’s a big fan of Dr. Seuss, the Boston Red Sox, and Bruce Springsteen. Roscoe & Muldoon: The Mayor Is Mad is his first novel for middle-grade readers.

You can find out more through following @RoscoeMuldoon on Twitter and visiting Facebook.

It’s always a real privilege to be part of a book’s journey into the world and I’m thrilled to have a publication day extract from Betrayal by David Gilman to share with you today. My thanks to Sophie Ransom for arranging this for me.  Betrayal is the second book in the thriller series introducing Dan Raglan, a contemporary knight errant who served in French Foreign Legion. The first book in the series, The Englishman has been optioned for a Hollywood film.

Betrayal is published today, 6th January 2022, by Head of Zeus and is available for purchase in all the usual places, including directly from the publisher here.

Betrayal

Dan Raglan, former Foreign Legion fighter, alias The Englishman, returns. The new high-octane international thriller from David Gilman.

Someone’s trying to start a war. And Raglan’s just walked into the kill zone.

It has been many years since Dan Raglan served in the French Foreign Legion, but the bonds forged in adversity are unbreakable and when one of his comrades calls for help, Raglan is duty-bound to answer.

An ex-legionnaire, now an intelligence officer at the Pentagon, disappears. He leaves only this message: should he ever go missing, contact Raglan. But Raglan’s not the only one looking for the missing man. From the backstreets of Marseilles, Raglan finds himself following a trail of death that will lead him to Florida, to the camaraderie of a Vietnam vet in Washington D.C., and into the heart of a bitter battle in the upper echelons of the US intelligence community.

Pursued by both the CIA and a rogue female FBI agent, Raglan’s search will place him in the cross hairs of an altogether more lethal organisation. Tracking his old comrade, he finds himself in the midst of deadly conspiracy, and on a journey to a fatal confrontation deep in the Honduran rainforest.

An Extract from Betrayal

Chapter 3

The headquarters of the British Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, stands at Vauxhall Cross fronting the River Thames. The Norman Foster-designed building is known as Legoland to those who walk through its doors, and legend has it that when the spooks were invited to watch the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough and saw their HQ being blown up through film wizardry, they cheered. Their response when, in Skyfall, it was completely destroyed is likely to have been ecstatic.

In an office overlooking the bridge and the river, a man in his fifties was reading. He did not need reading glasses: his vision was as sharp as his intellect. Once a commander of special forces, now he was a guardian of state secrets, and the discretion demanded within MI6 was second nature to him. As were the lies. Lean and fit, silver hair trimmed behind his ears, he sat behind a broad mahogany desk, his charcoal suit-jacket on a hanger next to his similarly dark overcoat. There was a snap to the air, particularly on the river. His white shirt was ironed. Crisp. Creased, military fashion. His groomed appearance contrasted sharply with how he’d looked during his days in the field as a soldier. Then he had been as bewhiskered and crumpled as any combatant spending months in a hostile environment. As success rewarded him with higher rank, and diplomacy and politics crept into his arsenal, so too did the understanding that those he briefed needed to be advised by a man who looked the part. Which he did.

He was reading a buff-covered report. On the top and bottom of each page the security clearance was typed in upper case: ‘UK EYES ONLY’, the top-secret classification designating information of particular sensitivity to the UK. The desk was clear save for three different pens neatly laid side by side. The first a fountain pen with red ink for marking queries in reports from field officers, and the other two black, one a 0.7-mm point for writing comments in a small, tight script in margins, the other a broader rollerball, usually 1.0-mm point for a snappy flourish across a sheet to instruct, commend or criticize.

He did not raise his head when a firm double tap on his door told him there was some urgency behind the request to enter his office.

‘Yes,’ he said.

A senior member of his staff entered the room, closed the door quietly and waited.

He finished the paragraph he was studying. Made a mark in the margin. Raised his eyes. He smiled. ‘Jenny. Something of interest?’ He knew damn well that Jennifer Armstrong, senior department coordinator for his division’s SIS–CIA liaison, would not disturb him unless necessary.

‘Mr Maguire, I have Lewis Culver from Langley on line one.’

‘But you want to brief me before I speak to him.’

‘Yes, sir.’ She stepped up to the desk, opened the folder she carried and placed a single sheet of paper in front of him. ‘We had this advisory from the Americans. Their passport control at Florida’s Orlando International airport flagged Dan Raglan’s arrival. He was accompanied by Mrs Reeve- Carter, her son Steven and daughter Melissa. There was no bar on his entry to the States; his visa was up to date. He used his own passport.’

Maguire read the single paragraph. ‘Raglan has gone to Disneyland?’

‘Disney World, sir. Disneyland is in California. He’s in Florida.’

‘Thank you, Jenny, I’m much the wiser for you telling me that. And the CIA wants to know why one of our assets is on their turf?’

‘Yes, sir. And given Raglan’s background, he isn’t the kind of man to go to a Disney theme park’ – she hesitated – ‘without an ulterior motive.’

‘You think he’s going to kill Mickey Mouse?’ said an exasperated Maguire.

Jenny Armstrong raised an eyebrow.

Maguire’s quip had fallen flat. ‘Raglan’s obviously there to have some time with the closest thing he’s got to a family, and no doubt they are still traumatized from Jeremy Carter’s murder. His widow and children will still be grieving. It’s not even been three years, Jenny. You don’t get over something like that quickly. If ever. Is Lewis Culver seriously questioning his presence on American soil?’

Armstrong remained silent.
Maguire sighed. ‘I have to give him something.’
She placed another sheet of paper in front of him. ‘I checked. Amanda Reeve-Carter has a friend, Lisa Mayfield. She and her son live in a gated community an hour from Orlando. The two women are good friends from some time back. Odds are that’s where they’re heading.’

Efficiency was a Jennifer Armstrong blessing. She left the room as Maguire picked up his desk phone and pressed a button on the console. The secure line between the intelligence officers on either side of the Atlantic clicked and then quietened.

‘Maguire,’ said Lewis Culver in a lilting South Carolina accent. Charm personified. His accent was described once as honey being poured over molasses. Lying beneath that southern charm was a man capable of incisive decision- making, unafraid to tell harsh truths to reluctant politicians, when his mellow tones would become as sharp as a stiletto slipped between the ribs.

‘Lewis, good to hear from you. What can I do for you?’ Maguire had no desire to prolong the niceties.

‘Caught you at a bad time?’

‘Head down in a report. I’m sorry, I don’t have much time.’

‘Understood. A quick one. One of your boys came through Orlando. Raglan. Barefaced. Used his legitimate passport. Is there anything I should know?’

‘Lewis, he’s a shared asset. Your people have used him before. No need to be at all concerned. He was involved in the Russian business here a while back.’

‘Jeremy Carter?’

‘Yes. Look, he’s with Carter’s widow and kids. They’re staying with friends.’

‘That’s what I wanted to check. See if what he told passport control gels.’

‘Hang on a moment, Lewis. Let me look something up. See if I can help.’ Maguire tapped some random keys on his desktop keyboard, making sure the receiver picked up the sound. He put the phone back to his ear. ‘I checked our records. Known associates of Amanda Reeve-Carter. I have an address in front of me. Friend’s name is Mayfield, 2012 Cypress Avenue, Sunrise Lakes, Vero Beach. He’s taking Carter’s widow and kids to Disney. That’s all there is to it.’

Lewis Culver grunted. ‘That fits. OK. You’re certain that’s all it is? A family vacation?’

‘Absolutely,’ Maguire lied. Nothing was certain about Raglan. Except for Jennifer Armstrong’s suspicion.

Raglan was not the kind of man to go to a theme park.

****

I love that extract and of course, I’m now desperate to know what will happen next!

About David Gilman

David Gilman has had an impressive variety of jobs – from firefighter to professional photographer, from soldier in the Parachute Regiment’s Reconnaissance Platoon to a Marketing Manager for an international publisher. He has countless radio, television and film credits before turning to novels. From 2000 until 2009 he was a principal writer on A Touch Of Frost and nominated for a BAFTA.

He has lived and travelled the world gathering inspiration for his exotic adventure series along the way. Now, David is based in Devonshire, where he lives with his wife, Suzy Chiazzari.

For further information, follow David on Twitter @davidgilmanuk, or visit his website. You’ll also find David on Facebook.

My enormous thanks to Isabelle Flynn at Gallic Books for sending me a copy of Red Is My Heart by Antoine Laurain, translated by Jane Aitken and illustrated by Le Sonneur in return for an honest review.

Antoine Laurain last appeared on Linda’s Book Bag when I reviewed Vintage 1954 here and I’m very much looking forward to reading The Reader’s Room this year too.

Published by Gallic on 18th January 2022, Red Is My Heart is available for purchase through the links here.

Red Is My Heart

How can you mend a broken heart? Do you write a letter to the woman who left you – and post it to an imaginary address? Buy a new watch, to reset your life? Or get rid of the jacket you wore every time you argued, because it was in some way … responsible?

Combining the wry musings of a rejected lover with playful drawings in just three colours – red, black and white – bestselling author of The Red Notebook, Antoine Laurain, and renowned street artist Le Sonneur have created a striking addition to the literature of unrequited love.

Sharp, yet warm, whimsical and deeply Parisian, this is a must for all Antoine Laurain fans.

My Review of Red Is My Heart

An illustrated exploration of unrequited love.

Red Is My Heart is a deceptively simple book about love. There’s actually very little text, but what there is has been flawlessly translated by Jane Aitken so that there is a smoothly satisfying quality to reading it. The language is quite prosaic with jackets, coffee, airport tannoys, newspapers and magazines, for example, illustrating the impact of love. But that belies the depth of feeling in Antoine Laurain’s writing. Who knew that leaving a pen in a magazine from a waiting room could be such a cathartic moment in love’s journey?

Although the text is minimal, it is so well crafted and brilliantly physically presented that it enhances meaning and makes the reader even more engaged with the writing. The shape of the writing on the page  – such as text about a 4 resembling a 4, or the layout representing stairs at the exit of the metro – provides a wry underpinning of meaning that I loved. The writer occasionally uses larger font as if convincing himself of what is said through emphasis. Some text is upside down or at a right angle so that the reader has to engage actively in reading, thereby experiencing some of the emotions more intensely. It’s as if the writer’s life has been literally turned upside down. Red Is My Heart has both poetic construction and prose, almost as if the writer wants to be a traditional tragic hero consumed by unrequited love but can’t quite hang on to that feeling completely. Towards the end of Red Is My Heart, images of keys and locks increase as if the author is finding out how to get through the locked grief of unrequited love so that there is a wry self-deprecating humour too. Alongside this humour, I loved the in joke of referencing the illustrator within the text.

Speaking of illustrations, they are startling, evocative and enhance the writing perfectly. I adored the sadness and loss represented by the black, the passion of love and a broken heart through the red, balanced by the white, demonstrating the invisibility the author feels in love, the sense of a fresh start and an opportunity for the reader to contemplate the text.

It’s actually difficult to articulate but Red Is My Heart somehow combines a a French passion for love with a typically Parisian nonchalance in a hugely entertaining blend. I think had the book been set anywhere else it would not have had the same impact.

Red Is My Heart is a beautifully written and dramatically illustrated book of lost love and desire. I found it hugely entertaining, witty and engaging. It’s a little cracker.

About Anton Laurain

Antoine Laurain is a novelist, screenwriter, journalist, director and collector of antique keys. A truly born and bred Parisian, after studying film, he began his career directing short films and writing screenplays. His passion for art led him to take a job assisting an antiques dealer in Paris. The experience provided the inspiration for his first novel, The Portrait, winner of the Prix Drouot.

Published on the eve of the French presidential elections of 2012, Antoine’s fairytale-like novel The President’s Hat was acclaimed by critics, readers and booksellers, who awarded it the Prix Landerneau Découvertes. The English translation was a Waterstones Book Club and ABA Indies Introduce pick, and a Kindle Top 5 bestseller. This novel, full of Parisian charm, was the winner of the Prix Relay des Voyageurs, a prize which celebrates the enjoyment of reading. Since then, The President’s Hat has been adapted for television in France.

Antoine’s novels have been translated into over twenty languages, including Arabic and Korean. Sales of his books across all formats in English have surpassed 180,000 copies, and The Red Notebook (2015) has become one of Gallic Books’ bestsellers both in the UK and the USA, and has been selected for HRH the Duchess of Cornwall’s Reading Room.
Also published: French Rhapsody (2016), The Portrait (2017), Smoking Kills (2018) and Vintage 1954 (2019).

Antoine’s novel The Readers’ Room was published September 2020 from Gallic Books and in mass market paperback in June 2021.

About Le Sonneur

Le Sonneur is a contemporary Parisian artist. His work tells the story of Paris and the people who live there. His artwork is often placed in public spaces with an invitation to passers-by to interact with the work, for example by picking up a key or calling a telephone number.

You can follow Le Sonneur on Twitter @le_sonneur, or Instagram for further information.

My enormous thanks to Isabelle Ralphs at Penguin for sending me a copy of Journey to Paradise by Paula Greenlees in return for an honest review. Journey to Paradise was my Twixtmas read and I am delighted to share that review today.

Published by Arrow/Century, an imprint of Penguin, on 30th December 2021, Journey to Paradise is available for purchase through the links here.

Journey to Paradise

Singapore, 1948

When Miranda steps onto the pier with her husband Gerry at Singapore she hopes that this will be a fresh start; a chance to run from her darkest secret, and heal the scars from her past.

Gerry’s new role at the British foreign office affords a certain kind of lifestyle; a beautiful house, servants, and invites the best parties in town. But life in Singapore feels worlds apart from Miranda’s beloved home in England. True friends are hard to find in ex-pat society, and with Gerry spending all his time at work or drinking at the club, she loses hope that Singapore would save their marriage. So when Miranda meets kind-hearted Nick Wythenshaw, when volunteering at the local hospital, she begins to realise the depth of her own unhappiness, and dares to hope for more…

Meanwhile, riots are erupting across the region, and Singapore is becoming an increasingly dangerous place to be British. As the danger draws ever closer to home, Miranda must make the toughest decision she has ever had to face – to choose between duty and happiness, and risk ruin.

My Review of Journey to Paradise

Miranda and Gerry are starting a new life in Singapore.

It’s difficult to believe this is Paula Greenlees’ debut novel because her writing is so assured and beautifully crafted. Her descriptions in Journey to Paradise evoke strong images in the reader’s mind so that the Singapore setting is both photographic and filmic in quality, drawing in her reader completely. I loved how the scents, the heat and the local settings are depicted through such skilled use of the senses that I felt myself transported back to Singapore. Pitch perfect descriptions meant I could see and touch the glorious silks, smell and taste the food and hear the sounds of the markets and birds.

The plot in Journey to Paradise is a skilful blend of Miranda’s personal life with the historical context of 1949 so that there’s a real authenticity to the story that enriches the reader’s experience. Equally convincing is the insight into the social hierarchy of Singapore’s society, both for the local people and the ex-patriot community. I found the social mores, the snobbery and the hypocrisy completely fascinating.

All that said, the real strength in Journey to Paradise comes through the characterisation of Miranda. Her sense of isolation, her grief and her personality are totally convincing. Whilst she may have physically sailed to a paradise island, the real journey comes through her understanding of herself and those in her life. In many ways, Journey to Paradise is a feminist text, exemplifying how women can survive and thrive without men in their lives. By the time I’d finished reading Journey to Paradise I felt I’d had a privileged insight into mind of a complex, realistic woman.

The other people are equally compelling. Paula Greenlees has a real skill in depicting the lives and attitudes of even the most minor characters so that the social and historical elements of the narrative come to life very vividly. I must admit that I loathed Gerry from the very beginning and was fascinated to see how his character played out in the story – but you’ll need to read Journey to Paradise to see what I mean.

Themes of marriage, motherhood, friendship, education, politics, romance and self-discovery mean that Journey to Paradise is a book of depth as well as entertainment. I thought it was a glorious read being captivating, emotionally satisfying and historically fascinating. I loved it.

About Paula Greenlees

Paula Greenlees has an undergraduate degree in English and European Thought and Literature, and a Masters Degree in Creative Writing. She spent three years living in Singapore surrounded by the history and culture that provided the inspiration for her first novel, Journey to Paradise.

For further information follow Paula on Twitter @PGreenlees, find her on Facebook and Instagram of visit her website.

My grateful thanks to Isabelle Kenyon for arranging to have Elisabeth Horan’s poetry collection The Mask sent to me in return for an honest review. I’m delighted to share that review today as my first post of 2022.

The Mask is the follow up collection to collection Horan’s Self-Portrait, is the third chapbook to be published by The Broken Spine and is available for purchase here.

The Mask

The Mask is the second collection of ekphrastic poetry written by poet Elisabeth Horan in response to the artwork of Frida Khalo. It follows the earlier publication Self-Portrait, published by Cephalo. This dual language collection interweaves the life story of Khalo, her art, and the personal response of Horan to it. The Mask is passionate, intense, and demanding and nothing is safe.

Horan has previously stated that she feels a kinship with her muse, and this collection has been written against a backdrop of personal and societal upheaval. It offers us a glimpse into another person’s world. Behind the curtain. Under the mask. There is truth to be found here. Honesty and bravery too! In performance these words are spellbinding, and The Broken Spine is proud to be able to share this work with you.

My Review of The Mask

A chapbook of poetry in celebration of the artist Frida Khalo.

The Mask may be a chapbook of only 21 poems, but my goodness it took me on a journey. Billed as ekphrastic poetry, I think that actually belies the quality of the collection. Certainly the poetic exploration and narrative reimagining of Frida Khalo’s paintings is dramatic and affecting, but this collection is so much more. There’s a universality to the themes of sexuality, paternalism, gender, politics and identity that make The Mask a startling and unsettling read.

I was glad of the Guide at the back of The Mask that led me to the paintings that inspired the writing as I know little of Frida Khalo’s paintings beyond her self-portraits. This meant that the collection lived beyond the confines of its pages, affording me an interest I didn’t know I lacked, but I thoroughly enjoyed thinking about the poems in the context of the images. However, even with as little knowledge as I had as a reader, Elisabeth Horan writes with such ardent passion that The Mask is an affecting and fascinating read in its own right. Although I couldn’t immediately translate the all the Spanish, its use fitted the poems perfectly, alienating me as a reader in the same way both Frida Khalo and Elisabeth Horan have experienced isolation and making the poetry all the more impactful. The language is frequently visceral with iterative images of orgasm, intercourse, blood and sexuality so that it is striking and the ability to shock.

I’m not sure I understood every aspect of Elisabeth Horan’s evocative, powerful writing in The Mask, but I found it perplexing, intriguing and thought-provoking. I’d thoroughly recommend discovering it for yourself.

About Elisabeth Horan

Elisabeth Horan is a poet, mother, and small press publisher living in the wilds of Vermont. She is the author of numerous poetry chapbooks and collections, and the Editor-In-Chief of Animal Heart Press. Elisabeth is passionate about discovering new voices and mentoring emerging poets. She is also a fierce advocate for those impacted by mental illness.

For further information, visit Elisabeth’s website and find her on Twitter @ehoranpoet, Facebook and Instagram.

Brace yourselves. This is going to be a long blog post! It’s time to share the books I enjoyed reading the most in 2021.

Goodreads tells me I have read 155 books this year, but that isn’t quite the full picture as not all the books I’ve read appeared there. I’ve read a few others I haven’t reviewed because I haven’t enjoyed them – who needs to spread negativity in today’s world?

I’ve read some that will be part of my My Weekly online reviews in the spring so I haven’t shared them yet. I was thrilled to be asked to do this, to be interviewed here and even more happy when I was asked to continue for the rest of the financial year! It made up for being asked to appear on the Sky Arts Book Club which I declined as it was recorded just as the dreaded Delta variant of Covid hit London. I was so disappointed not to go.

I’ve read some books for blog tours in 2022 (and yes, I know I’ve said it before but I really am cutting back on those in 2022!) and a few to provide cover quotations for books that have yet to be published. I think that amounts to 180 (ish) books read.

If I’m honest, I found 2021 tough and was quite depressed at times and then cross with myself when I had so much to be thankful for. Yes, my 60th birthday was in lockdown – my second that way, but I was thoroughly spoilt.

I ‘attended’ so many online bookish events that I lost count, and even appeared in some, including giving a somewhat impassioned review of Hannah Gold’s children’s book The Last Bear with Bay Tales that you can see here and completing four online sessions with fellow bloggers Anne, Jo and Tracy starting with this session and ending with this one.

I had a brilliant time with fellow bloggers Anne, Kim and Julie in an interview you can watch here, and loved being interviewed on Instagram (which was a real revelation to me as I have no idea how that platform works) by Fiona Mountain for the RNA.

I also interviewed Jay Blades of The Repair Shop about his memoir Making it in an online event for The Deepings Literary Festival. You’ll find my review of Making It here.

I loved sharing my uplifting and comedic books on Teacher Hug Radio with Rebecca Keen and it was a real thrill to be invited to participate in the BBC Radio 4 Book Club where I got to speak with Rachel Joyce about The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, my review of which you will find here. You can listen again here too!

Back in September I received an email from Team Inspire saying ‘We wanted to ask if you would be willing to write a letter or poem for our book, keeping within the themes detailed above about your own journey, or something that you feel would help inspire others. We know your contribution would be greatly received and valued by our readers, as well as helping us achieve our target of £10,001 for the Princes Trust.’ I duly sent off a letter and was delighted just before Christmas to find that it has been accepted for publication in The Power of Letters and is available for pre-order here.

I also found myself in another publication, Breathe Magazine, with fellow bloggers Anne, Jo, Noelle and Steph.

Towards the end of the year I gave a talk to the local WI about blogging and was featured here on Twinkl with my review of The Christmas Carrolls. The folk at David Nieper also got in touch to say they would like to start up their Linda’s Book Bag column again in late spring/early summer for their customer magazine after a Covid caused hiatus.

So you see, I can’t complain can I? Add in the fact that we managed to get away in Bryan the Motorhome (named after the urbane Mr Ferry) for 31 nights including for our 38th wedding anniversary and, on reflection 2021, wasn’t a bad year at all!

My 2021 Books of the Year

However, it’s time to share those books I have enjoyed the most in 2021. As regular Linda’s Book Bag readers know. I never add star ratings here. They are simply too imprecise for me even though I have to use them on Amazon and Goodreads. When I’ve finished reading a book, and before my judgement is affected by my beginning a new one, I write my review and add an immediate ’emotional reaction’ mark out of 100 to my spreadsheet. When I look back over that spreadsheet any book scoring 95 or above simply becomes a book of the year. I feel bad for any scoring 94 but there has to be a cut off somewhere!

My favourite books in previous years can be found by clicking the dates:

2020   2019   2018   2017   2016

My full reviews and buy links can be found by clicking the titles. The books are presented in the order I read them and I thought they were all absolutely brilliant.

The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean

He is her husband. She is his captive.

Her husband calls her Jane. That is not her name.

She lives in a small farm cottage, surrounded by vast, open fields. Everywhere she looks, there is space. But she is trapped. No one knows how she got to the UK: no one knows she is there. Visitors rarely come to the farm; if they do, she is never seen.

Her husband records her every movement during the day. If he doesn’t like what he sees, she is punished.

For a long time, escape seemed impossible. But now, something has changed. She has a reason to live and a reason to fight. Now, she is watching him, and waiting . . .

Straw Gods by Tom O’Brien

A straw man hung above my door like a ward of protection. Really it was a lure to charm my dead husband back. But it, like my other delusions and lies, drew lightning.

Ten years after the death of her husband, Rosa struggles to move on and takes solace in rituals and superstition. Sol, a young fisherman, braves the sea to prove himself to an absent father. As a storm rips through the small community, disaster lays bare old secrets. Rosa and Sol’s lives tangle in tragic circumstances, forcing them to face the truth about themselves and the ones they loved.

Straw Gods is the debut novella-in-flash from Tom O’Brien, a heart-wrenching drama both moving and exhilarating, perceptively exploring the effects of grief and the lasting bonds of family and friendship.

The Last Bear by Hannah Gold

Imagine making friends with a polar bear… The Last Bear is perfect for readers of 8+, beautifully illustrated throughout by Levi Pinfold – winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal and illustrator of Harry Potter 20th anniversary edition covers.

“This is an important first novel, important for us, for polar bears, for the planet. It is deeply moving, beautifully told, quite unforgettable.” Michael Morpurgo.

There are no polar bears left on Bear Island. At least, that’s what April’s father tells her when his scientific research takes them to this remote Arctic outpost for six months. But one endless summer night, April meets one. He is starving, lonely and a long way from home. Determined to save him, April begins the most important journey of her life…

This moving story will win the hearts of children the world over and show them that no one is too young or insignificant to make a difference. The Last Bear is a celebration of the love between a child and an animal, a battle cry for our world and an irresistible adventure with a heart as big as a bear’s.

You, Me & The Sea by Elizabeth Haynes

Compelling, moving and teeming with feral desire: contemporary story of love and redemption set on a remote, windswept Scottish island from the bestselling author of Into The Darkest Corner and The Murder of Harriet Monckton.

Rachel is at crisis point. A series of disastrous decisions has left her with no job, no home, and no faith in herself. But an unexpected job offer takes her to a remote Scottish island, and it feels like a chance to recover and mend her battered self-esteem.

The island’s other inhabitants are less than welcoming. Fraser Sutherland is a taciturn loner who is not happy about sharing his lighthouse – or his precious coffee beans – and Lefty, his unofficial assistant, is a scrawny, scared lad who isn’t supposed to be there at all.

Homesick and out of her depth, Rachel wonders whether she’s made another mistake. But, as spring turns to summer, the wild beauty of the island captivates her soul. For the first time in years she sees the hope of a better life – if only she can break the deadlock between two men who are at war with one another, and with themselves.

Miss, What Does Incomprehensible Mean? by Fran Hill

A funny, life-affirming memoir, in diary form. Set in the manic world of a busy teacher, and based on real experiences, Fran Hill’s account of one typical year shows it’s not just the pupils who misbehave.

English teacher ‘Miss’ starts the Autumn term beleaguered by self-doubts. She’s mid-menopause, insomniac, and Mirror and Bathroom Scales are blisteringly unsympathetic. Her pupils make her laugh, weep, fume and despair, often in the same lesson. Her unremitting workload blights family time and she feels guilty for missing church events to catch up on marking. After all, God-lady is watching.

Meanwhile, the new Head of Department seems unreachable, an Ofsted inspection looms, her sixth formers (against school policy) insist on sitting in rows, and there’s a school magazine to produce …

When childhood secrets demand attention Miss doesn’t want to give them, life gets complicated.

The Elephant by Peter Carnavas

‘A beautiful book – not just heartwarming but heart healing’ Chris Riddell

A big grey elephant is following Olive’s father around. It leaves with him for work and trails behind him when he comes home, keeping him heavy and sad. Every day, Olive wishes it would disappear.

When she is asked to bring something old and wonderful to show her class, Olive immediately wants to bring her old bike – but she will need her father’s help to fix it. Teaming up with her cheery grandad and best friend Arthur, she sets out to chase the elephant away.

Together by Luke Adam HAwker

A beautiful book to connect us after such a challenging time.

‘Dark clouds were looming in the distance. We watched them gather, and we wondered… When will it come? How long will it last?’

A monumental storm brings huge and sudden change. We follow a man and his dog through the uncertainty that it brings to their lives. Through their eyes, we see the difficulties of being apart, the rollercoaster of emotions that we can all relate to, and the realisation that by pulling together we can move through difficult times with new perspective, hope and an appreciation of what matters most in life.

An Act of Love by Carol Drinkwater

It was an idyllic summer. Until they had to escape.

France, 1943.

Forced to flee war ravaged Poland, Sara and her parents are offered refuge in a beautiful but dilapidated house in the French Alps. It seems the perfect hideaway, despite haunting traces of the previous occupants who left in haste.

But shadows soon fall over Sara’s blissful summer, and her blossoming romance with local villager Alain. As the Nazis close in, the family is forced to make a harrowing choice that could drive them apart forever, while Sara’s own bid for freedom risks several lives.

Will Sara be reunited with those she loves?

And can she ever find her way back to Alain?

By turns poignant and atmospheric, this is the compelling new novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Carol Drinkwater about the power of first love and courage in our darkest hours.

Listening Still by Anne Griffin

Jeanie Masterson has a gift: she can hear the recently dead and give voice to their final wishes and revelations. Inherited from her father, this gift has enabled the family undertakers to flourish in their small Irish town. Yet she has always been uneasy about censoring some of the dead’s last messages to the living. Unsure, too, about the choice she made when she left school seventeen years ago: to stay or leave for a new life in London with her charismatic teenage sweetheart.

So when Jeanie’s parents unexpectedly announce their plan to retire, she is jolted out of her limbo. In this captivating successor to her bestselling debut, Anne Griffin portrays a young woman who is torn between duty, a comfortable marriage and a role she both loves and hates and her last chance to break free, unaware she has not been alone in softening the truth for a long while.

Emmet and Me by Sara Gethin

Summer 1966: When her father comes home with lipstick on his collar, ten-year-old Claire’s life is turned upside down. Her furious mother leaves the family and heads to London, and Claire and her brothers are packed off to Ireland, to their reclusive grandmother at her tiny cottage on the beautifully bleak coast of Connemara. A misfit among her new classmates, Claire finds it hard to make friends until she happens across a boy her own age from the school next door. He lives at the local orphanage, a notoriously harsh place. Amidst half-truths, lies and haunting family secrets, Claire forms a forbidden friendship with Emmet – a bond that will change both their lives forever.

The Getaway by Isabelle Broom

Most people travel to Croatia for its endless sunshine, pebbly beaches and crystal clear sea.

Kate goes there to disappear.

She needs to escape from a life that has fallen apart in spectacular and public fashion, and no one on the beautiful island of Hvar knows who she is or what she’s running away from.

Until she meets another lonely soul.

Alex is different to any man Kate has ever known, yet the connection between them is undeniable. She soon begins to open up in ways she never has before – not even to herself. But Kate is not the only person in Hvar hiding secrets. And, as she is about to discover, it is always only a matter of time before the truth catches up with you . . .

The Beginner’s Guide to Loneliness by Laura Bambrey

The perfect feel-good read from an exciting new voice in women’s fiction, for fans of Heidi Swain, Cathy Bramley and Jenny Colgan.

Tori Williamson is alone. After a tragic event left her isolated from her loved ones, she’s been struggling to find her way back to, well – herself. That’s why she set up her blog, The Beginner’s Guide to Loneliness, as a way of – anonymously – connecting with the outside world and reaching others who just need a little help sometimes.

When she’s offered a free spot on a wellbeing retreat in exchange for a review on her blog, Tori is anxious about opening herself up to new surroundings. But after her three closest friends – who she talks to online but has never actually met – convince her it’ll do her some good, she reluctantly agrees and heads off for three weeks in the wild (well, a farm in Wales).

From the moment she arrives, Tori is sceptical and quickly finds herself drawn to fellow sceptic Than, the retreat’s dark and mysterious latecomer. But as the beauty of The Farm slowly comes to light she realizes that opening herself up might not be the worst thing. And sharing a yurt with fellow retreater Bay definitely isn’t.  Will the retreat be able to fix Tori? Or will she finally learn that being lonely doesn’t mean she’s broken . . .

Always, in December by Emily Stone

Heartbreaking. Life-affirming. Truly unforgettable.  Always, in December is the timeless, stay-up-all-night love story you’ll take straight to your heart.

If you loved One Day, Me Before You and the hit movie Last Christmas, this is the perfect book for you.

Josie Morgan never looks forward to December. It’s always a reminder of the life she lost, twenty years ago. Now, she always switches off the radio when Christmas music comes on. She always wants to tear down the tinsel her flatmate insists on pinning up. And she always posts a letter she knows will never be read.

Max Carter never expected to find himself stranded in London just days before Christmas. He never expected it would be so hard to say goodbye to a woman he hardly knows. Then again, he never expected to fall in love.

But, this December, when Josie’s letter leads her to Max, a chance encounter will change their lives in the most remarkable way. And their story is only just beginning . . .

From London to Manhattan, from Edinburgh to the English countryside, Always, in December is a romantic journey that’s impossible to forget.

Unbreak Your Heart by Katie Marsh

Seven-year-old Jake’s heart is failing and he doesn’t want to leave his dad, Simon, alone. So he makes a decision: to find Simon someone to love before he goes.

Beth is determined to forget the past. But even when she leaves New York to start afresh in a Lake District village, she can’t shake the secrets that haunt her.

Single dad Simon still holds a candle for the woman who left him years ago. Every day is a struggle to earn a living while caring for his beloved son. He has no time for finding someone new.

But Jake is determined his plan will succeed – and what unfolds will change all three of them forever.

The Heeding by Rob Cowen

The world changed in 2020. Gradually at first, then quickly and irreversibly, the patterns by which we once lived altered completely.

The Heeding paints a picture of a year caught in the grip of history, yet filled with revelatory perspectives close at hand: a sparrowhawk hunting in a back street; the moon over a town with a loved-one’s hand held tight; butterflies massing in a high-summer yard – the everyday wonders and memories that shape a life and help us recall our own.

Across four seasons and thirty-five luminous poems and illustrations, Rob Cowen and Nick Hayes lead us on a journey that takes its markers and signs from nature and a world filled with fear and pain but beauty and wonder too. Collecting birds, animals, trees and people together, The Heeding is a profound meditation to a time no-one will forget.

At its heart, this is a book that helps us look again, to heed: to be attentive to this world we share and this history we’re living through, to be aware of how valuable and fragile we are, to grieve what’s lost and to hope for a better and brighter tomorrow.

Croak by Phil Bishop

Croak is a collection of delightful quotes and gorgeous photographs celebrating the underappreciated beauty of frogs. Many of the stunning, colourful images were taken by author Phil Bishop on his travels around the world. They showcase frogs in their natural habitats, paired with quotes from famous faces such as Cameron Diaz and John Steinbeck. Simultaneously amusing and illuminating, this perfect coffee table book is a celebration of one of the most varied and vibrant species on earth.

This Is How We Are Human by Louise Beech

Sebastian James Murphy is twenty years, six months and two days old. He loves swimming, fried eggs and Billy Ocean. Sebastian is autistic. And lonely.

Veronica wants her son Sebastian to be happy … she wants the world to accept him for who he is. She is also thinking about paying a professional to give him what he desperately wants.

Violetta is a high-class escort, who steps out into the night thinking only of money. Of her nursing degree. Paying for her dad’s care. Getting through the dark.

When these three lives collide – intertwine in unexpected ways – everything changes. For everyone.

A topical and moving drama about a mother’s love for her son, about getting it wrong when we think we know what’s best, about the lengths we go to care for family … to survive … This Is How We Are Human is a searching, rich and thought-provoking novel with an emotional core that will warm and break your heart.

The House Beneath the Cliffs by Sharon Gosling

A remote yet beautiful village. A tiny kitchen lunch club. The perfect place to start again.

Anna moves to Crovie, a tiny fishing village on the Moray Firth, for a fresh start. But when she arrives, she realises her new home is really no more than a shed, and the village itself sits beneath a cliff right on the edge of the sea, in constant danger of storms and landslides. Has she made a terrible mistake?

Yet as she begins to learn about the Scottish coast and its people, something she thought she’d lost reawakens in her. She rediscovers her love of cooking, and turns her kitchen into a pop-up lunch club. But not all the locals are delighted about her arrival, and some are keen to see her plans fail.

Will Anna really be able to put down roots in this remote and wild village? Or will her fragile new beginning start to crumble with the cliffs . . . ?

Beautiful, moving and utterly absorbing, The House Beneath the Cliffs is a novel of friendship and food, storms and secrets, and the beauty of second chances.

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

For seventy years, Josef Weber has been hiding in plain sight.

He is a pillar of his local community.

He is also a murderer.

When Josef decides to confess, it is to Sage Singer, a young woman who trusts him as her friend. What she hears shatters everything she thought she knew and believed.

As Sage uncovers the truth from the darkest horrors of war, she must follow a twisting trail between terror and mercy, betrayal and forgiveness, love – and revenge.

A Poet for Every Day of the Year by Allie Esiri

Allie Esiri’s beautiful gift anthology, A Poet for Every Day of the Year, is the perfect introduction to 366 of the world’s greatest ever verse writers.

Perfect for reading aloud and sharing with all the family, it is bursting at the seams with familiar favourites and exciting new discoveries. Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, Christina Rossetti and Emily Bronte sit alongside Roger McGough, Wendy Cope, Imtiaz Dharker, Leonard Cohen, Sylvia Plath and Ocean Vuong.

Each of the 366 poems features a small introduction that gives a sense of who the writer was, and not just the greatness of their work. Some offer insightful biographical details or key historical context, while others may provide quirky, humorous anecdotes.

The day-to-day format of the anthology invites readers to make poetry a part of their daily routine, and makes sure that they discover something inspirational, life affirming, provocative, moving or entertaining each and every day.

Nature’s Treasures by Ben Hoare

The world is filled with curious objects made by plants, animals, and even by the Earth itself. Dive into this collection of more than 100 intriguing items from the natural world and discover the stories behind them.

Learn how bristly mouths help huge whales capture tiny animals, how minute scales make butterflies shine in the sunlight, and how studying a leaf skeleton can tell us how it transports food. A bird egg, a lump of coal, a cacao pod, a mermaid’s purse, a fossil, a pine cone, an owl pellet, and a chrysalis – all tell a story. Arranged into four chapters: Animals; Plants, fungi, and algae; Minerals and rocks, and Made by nature, objects are shown with truly stunning photography and colourful illustrations to help explain the science behind them. The lively descriptions by best-selling nature writer Ben Hoare explore the remarkable tales of each item and all are packed with fascinating information.

Nature’s Treasures takes you on a tour of our planet through commonplace-but-incredible objects made by nature itself. This book is for every inquisitive child who loves to spot things when exploring outside and wants to know more about the wonderful and mysterious natural world.

The Collector’s Daughter by Gill Paul

An unforgettable discovery
In 1922, Lady Evelyn Herbert’s dreams are realised when she is the first to set foot inside the lost tomb of Tutankhamun for over 3,000 years.
A cursed life
But the months after the discovery are marred by tragedy, when Eve’s father dies suddenly and her family is torn in two. Desperate to put the past behind her, Eve retreats into a private life with her new husband.
A deadly choice
But she is harbouring a dark secret about what really happened in Egypt. And when a young woman comes asking questions years later, the happiness Eve has finally found is threatened once more…

Silenced by Jennie Ensor

A teenage girl is murdered on her way home from school, stabbed through the heart. Her North London community is shocked, but no-one has the courage to help the police, not even her mother. DI Callum Waverley, in his first job as senior investigating officer, tries to break through the code of silence that shrouds the case.

This is a world where the notorious Skull Crew rules through fear. Everyone knows you keep your mouth shut or you’ll be silenced – permanently.

This is Luke’s world. Reeling from the loss of his mother to cancer, his step-father distant at best, violent at worst, he slides into the Skull Crew’s grip.

This is Jez’s world too. Her alcoholic mother neither knows nor cares that her 16-year-old daughter is being exploited by V, all-powerful leader of the gang.

Luke and Jez form a bond. Can Callum win their trust, or will his own demons sabotage his investigation? And can anyone stop the Skull Crew ensuring all witnesses are silenced?

Silenced is the compelling and gritty new thriller by British author Jennie Ensor. A gripping story of love, fear and betrayal, it’s Romeo and Juliet for our troubled times.

Anything Could Happen by Lucy Diamond

Your big secret is out. What next?

For Lara and her daughter Eliza, it has always been just the two of them. But when Eliza turns eighteen and wants to connect with her father, Lara is forced to admit a secret that she has been keeping from her daughter her whole life.

Eliza needs answers – and so does Lara. Their journey to the truth will take them on a road trip across England and eventually to New York, where it all began. Dreams might have been broken and opportunities missed, but there are still surprises in store…

Anything Could Happen is a warm, wise, funny and uplifting novel about love, second chances and the unexpected and extraordinary paths life can take us down.

Fall by West Camel

Twins Aaron and Clive have been estranged for forty years. Aaron still lives in the empty, crumbling tower block on the riverside in Deptford where they grew up. Clive is a successful property developer, determined to turn the tower into luxury flats.

But Aaron is blocking the plan and their petty squabble becomes something much greater when two ghosts from the past – twins Annette and Christine – appear in the tower. At once, the desolate estate becomes a stage on which the events of one scorching summer are relived – a summer that shattered their lives, and changed everything forever…

Grim, evocative and exquisitely rendered, Fall is a story of friendship and family – of perception, fear and prejudice, the events that punctuate our journeys into adulthood, and the indelible scars they leave – a triumph of a novel that will affect you long after the final page has been turned.

The Visitors by Caroline Scott

From the highly acclaimed author of The Photographer of the Lost, a BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick, comes a tale of a young war widow and one life-changing, sun-drenched visit to Cornwall in the summer of 1923…

Esme Nicholls is to spend the summer in Cornwall. Her late husband Alec, who died fighting in the war, grew up in Penzance, and she’s hoping to learn more about the man she loved and lost.

While there, she will stay with Gilbert, in his rambling seaside house, where he lives with his former brothers in arms. Esme is fascinated by this community of eccentric artists and former soldiers, and as she gets to know the men and their stories, she begins to feel this summer might be exactly what she needs.

But everything is not as idyllic as it seems – a mysterious new arrival later in the summer will turn Esme’s world upside down, and make her question everything she thought she knew about her life, and the people in it.

Full of light, laughter and larger-than-life characters, The Visitors is a novel of one woman finally finding her voice and choosing her own path forwards.

***

So there you have them. Last year I had a tie for my overall book of the year but this year there is one book that scored top marks for me.

Given the recent controversy over romance books and their perception of them as somehow second class in the book world I cannot be more thrilled than to have a romance book as my winner. Who says romance books don’t exist?

My 2021 Book of the Year

My outright book of the year is Always, in December by Emily Stone. I read Always, in December in July and I don’t think a day has passed where I haven’t thought about it. It’s beautiful, affecting and unexpected.

*

Thank You

I’d just like to end this blog post by thanking all of you who have taken the time to visit Linda’s Book Bag to read my reviews and the other bookish posts I’ve published. My special thanks to my fellow bloggers who share my posts across their social media platforms. This is very much appreciated. I am eternally grateful to the authors, publishers, publicists and media brands who send me the books, even when they know there’s very little chance of a review. And perhaps most importantly, my thanks to the authors who pour their hearts and souls into their writing, so that readers like me can inhabit new worlds, travel to new places and meet new people all from the comfort of our own homes. What would we have done without books these last two years?

Happy New Year everyone. I hope 2022 brings you all you wish for.

What better way to end my 2021 blogging than by sharing the latest in my online reviews with My Weekly? This time it’s of The Little Shop of Hidden Treasures by Holly Hepburn and you’ll find it here. I was delighted to feature the first part in The Little Shop of Hidden Treasures in May last year in a post you’ll find here, and now all four parts of the story have been combined into one novel.

Holly also featured here on Linda’s Book Bag when I was reviewing her Star and Sixpence series.

Published by Simon and Schuster on 6th January 2022, The Little Shop of Hidden Treasures is available for pre-order through the links here.

The Little Shop of Hidden Treasures

The brand new novel from Holly Hepburn, perfect for fans of Cathy Bramley and Katie Fforde. Originally published in four parts this is the full story in one package. 

When Hope loses her husband, she fears her happiest days are behind her. With her only connection to London broken, she moves home to York to be near her family and to begin to build a new life.

Taking a job at the antique shop she has always admired, she finds herself crossing paths with two very different men. Will, who has recently become the guardian to his niece after the tragic death of her parents. And Ciaran, who she enlists to help solve the mystery of an Egyptian antique. Two men who represent two different happy endings.

But can she trust herself to choose the right man? And will that bring her everything she really needs?

The brand new novel from Holly Hepburn, author of Coming Home to Brightwater Bay.

My Review of The Little Shop of Hidden Treasures

My full review of The Little Shop of Hidden Treasures can be found on the My Weekly website here.

However, here I can say that The Little Shop of Hidden Treasures is an utterly charming, romantic read with added mystery and whole lot of uplifting warmth.

Do visit My Weekly to read my full review here.

About Holly Hepburn

Holly Hepburn has wanted to write books for as long she can remember but she was too scared to try. One day she decided to be brave and dipped a toe into the bubble bath of romantic fiction with her first novella, Cupidity, and she’s never looked back. She often tries to be funny to be funny, except for when faced with traffic wardens and border control staff. Her favourite things are making people smile and Aidan Turner.

She’s tried many jobs over the years, from barmaid to market researcher and she even had a brief flirtation with modelling. These days she is mostly found writing.

She lives near London with her grey tabby cat, Portia. They both have an unhealthy obsession with Marmite.

You can follow Holly on Twitter @HollyH_Author and find her on Instagram.