#Blogtour The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu.

About the Author

Originally from Shanghai, China, Wenyan Lu is the winner of the SI Leeds Literary Prize 2020. Wenyan holds a Master of Studies in Creative Writing as well as a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. Her unpublished historical novel The Martyr's Hymn was also longlisted for SI Leeds Literary Prize 2018 and Bridport First Novel Prize 2019. She lives in Cambridge with her family. Follow @wenyan_lu on Twitter or Instagram: @wenyanwrites

About the book

An Yu's Braised Pork meets Flaubert's Madame Bovary in this unforgettable, tragi-comic tale of one woman's mid-life re-awakening in contemporary rural China.

The Funeral Cryer long ago accepted the mundane realities of her life: avoided by fellow villagers because of the stigma attached to her job as a professional mourner and under-appreciated by The Husband, whose fecklessness has pushed the couple close to the brink of break-up. But just when things couldn't be bleaker, The Funeral Cryer takes a leap of faith - and in so doing things start to take a surprising turn for the better . . .

Dark, moving, and wry, The Funeral Cryer is both an illuminating depiction of a 'left behind' society - and proof that it's never too late to change your life.

Review

I could cry, happy tears mind you, about the simplicity of it all, which is a statement in itself - not the crying, the simplicity. At one point I was convinced the daughter was either hiding in a shed eating sausages or someone was texting the Cryer pretending to be the daughter. At the end I realised the genius is in the anonymity and simplicity.

In fact this is the kind of material that makes an prizeworthy film. A story that tells the tale of a woman isolated by her choice of job, ignored by her husband, and considered a second class citizen because she is a woman. She is at stage in her life when society no longer considers her attractive or worthy of consideration. A mid-life occurrence for many women when invisibility kicks in. Good enough to be the servant, the cook, the one making money and putting food on the table, and of course good enough to be the substitute in bed.

Simultaneously the story speaks to the rural economic desperation, the separation of town and country, they way the young move to the cities and are often left with no other option to finance themselves than selling themselves. The huge discrepancy between the haves and have-nots is very evident.

I think the Cryer is the epitome of the way a woman is perceived in society and also the way women endure silently, battle on with a drive that threatens to come to an instant halt at any time.

I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

Buy The Funeral Cryer at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Allen and Unwin; Hardback & eBook | pub date 4 May 2023 | £14.99. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour The Cookbook of Common Prayer by Francesca Haig

It's my turn on the BlogTour The Cookbook of Common Prayer by Francesca Haig.

About the Author

Francesca Haig grew up in Tasmania and is an academic and writer, whose poetry and YA/crossover fantasy have been widely published. She lives in London with her husband and son. This is her first novel for adults. Follow @FrancescaHaig on Twitter, Visit francescahaig.com

About the book

A heart-rending tale of a family in turmoil after the death of a child is kept secret from one of his siblings.

When Gill and Gabe's eldest son drowns overseas, they decide they must hide the truth from their desperately unwell teenaged daughter. But as Gill begins to send letters from her dead son to his sister, the increasingly elaborate lie threatens to prove more dangerous than the truth.

Told through alternating perspectives, and moving between Tasmania and London, this is a novel about family, food, grief and hope.

For readers of Celeste Ng, Delia Owens, and Anne Tyler, this dramatic, poetic novel explores the many ways that a family can break down - and the unexpected ways that it can be put back together.

Review

I will be counting this as one of my top reads for 2021. It's an evocative story about a family dealing with the death of their loved one by concealing his death from one of his siblings in an attempt to save another of their children.

With this first venture out of the YA sub-genre, the author shows incredible depth and maturity in her storytelling and character development. The element of grief is viewed from the perspective of each character, all of whom react differently to the tragedy that threatens to make their world implode. 

There is no statistically proven adhering to stages of grief in order to cope, because the truth is grief doesn't read the same books or listen to the same experts we do. It has it's own agenda and can be very different for each person, especially when it comes the position in the family hierarchy or dynamics - and this very important nuance is exactly what Haig captures.

As if the above wasn't enough to capture the attention of the reader and hold it with an equal measure of sympathy and empathy, indeed there were moments that tugged at the heart and opened the doors for silent weeping. It's beautiful. I loved it. It's the kind of book I would (and will) buy for others and just say - read this.

Buy The Cookbook of Common Prayer at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Published by Allen and Unwin - Hardback & eBook | 3 June 2021 | £14.99. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at Waterstones.

#BlogTour Victoria Park by Gemma Reeves

Today it's a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Victoria Park by Gemma Reeves.

About the Author

Gemma Reeves is a writer and teacher who lives and works in London.

Follow @g_c_reeves on Twitter, on Amazon, on Goodreads, Buy Victoria Park

About the book

Mona and Wolfie have lived on Victoria Park for over fifty years. Now, on the eve of their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary, they must decide how to navigate Mona's declining health. Bookended by the touching exploration of their love, Victoria Park follows the disparate lives of twelve people over the course of a single year. 

Told from their multiple perspectives in episodes which capture feelings of alienation and connection, the lingering memory of an acid attack in the park sends ripples of unease through the community. By the end of the novel, their carefully interwoven tales create a rich tapestry of resilience, love and loss.

Review

The read begins with Mona and Wolfie, both bound by a tragic past and a lifetime of love. Now everything is slowly slipping away from Mona, but her husband is unwilling to let her forget by herself. From those two the reader is taken in a hop skip jump narrative from character to character and month to month - all of them share the fact that they live in the same area.

In the midst of it all a crime, the tragic repercussions of it and the inability to find the perpetrator, wanders through the narrative. As a reader you almost forget it is trailing along with the rest of the characters and story. In a way I thought this was indicative of the way we react in reality. We are shocked, appalled and for a moment worry about becoming a victim, and then our lives and thoughts dismiss the crime and victim. Care and interest are but a fleeting moment in time.

This is a bit like a hyperlink film with interwoven storylines between multiple characters, who are connected to each other in this case via their surroundings. Their lives intersect at moments which seem to be trivial day-to-day events and conversations. Moments that can mean the world to one person and nothing to another. This is very much at of the essence of the story.

It's a Kodak moment of life in Victoria Park, which gives the reader a glimpse behind the twitching curtains of neighbours, family and friends. They are us and we are them - this in itself is at the core of the story. Being able to recognise and relate to emotions, humanity and each other.

Reeves draws the links between the characters like invisible threads - a bumper car ride of connections, which parallels the way we live our own lives. It's a riveting read, and yet I am convinced Reeves is capable of far more.

Buy Victoria Park at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Published by Allen and Unwin Hardback & eBook | 7 January 2021 | £14.99. Buy at Amazon com. Hive. Bookshop org. Waterstones. 

#BlogTour The Secrets of Strangers by Charity Norman

It is an absolute pleasure to take part in the BlogTour The Secrets of Strangers by Charity Norman.

About the Author
Charity Norman was born in Uganda and brought up in successive draughty vicarages in Yorkshire and Birmingham. After several years' travel she became a barrister, specialising in crime and family law. In 2002, realising that her three children had barely met her, she took a break from the law and moved with her family to New Zealand. The Secrets of Strangers is her sixth novel.

Follow @charitynorman1 on Twitter, on Amazon, on Goodreads, Buy The Secrets of Strangers

About the book
A regular weekday morning veers drastically off-course for five strangers whose paths cross in a London café - their lives never to be the same again when an apparently crazed gunman holds them hostage.

But there is more to the situation than first meets the eye and as the captives grapple with their own inner demons, the line between right and wrong starts to blur. Will the secrets they keep stop them from escaping with their lives?

Review
Wrong place, wrong time. I bet that's what the majority of the people who end up in the middle of  hostage a situation think. Luck of the draw. Sam doesn't seem to mind whether he frightens children, pregnant women or about crossing the line between threat and death.

The way Norman has woven the threads of coercive abuse, violence and desperation together to create an emotionally charged read is quite remarkable. There is no black or white, but rather a pyramid of greyish areas.

There is a scene between Mutesi and Neil that I found incredibly poignant. In the cafe we have the new norm and status quo of the nurse or carer and the homeless man. She thinks nothing of reaching out to help him and he is grateful for those stolen moments in his bleak life.

When Mutesi speaks of her turbulent past - a life filled with horrors we will never be able to comprehend or imagine, the status quo shifts. As she speaks and he tries to wave away the images her memories conjure up, in an attempt to protect himself and others and diminish her experiences, he reverts to the white man of privilege. She in turn is expected to acknowledge her status as the black woman expected to bear the systemic oppression of her race, and in this case also her tribe, and be silenced by him. So subtly done - point made.

Then the comparison of abuse and blame when it comes to Sam and his stepfather, and Sam and his girlfriend. The assumption that being a victim automatically means you could not possibly be a perpetrator too.

I think what I will take away from this book is that everyone has a story and none of us know what each individual has dealt with or is dealing with at any given time. It's important to keep that in mind when we interact and communicate - no matter how briefly that may be. It doesn't excuse Sam's actions, but it does put them into perspective.

It's an excellent read - absolutely food for thought.

Buy The Secrets of Strangers at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Published by Allen and Unwin; pub date Paperback Original | 7th May 2020 | £8.99.