#Review The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

Absolutely fantastic new novel by Katherine Arden. The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a #MustRead for 2024!

About the Author

Born in Austin, Texas, Katherine Arden has always had a taste for wandering. She spent her junior year of high school in Rennes, France.

Following her acceptance to Middlebury College in Vermont, she deferred enrolment for a year in order to live and study in Russia. At Middlebury, she specialized in French and Russian literature, and her studies included sojourns at the Sorbonne in Paris and the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow.

After receiving her BA, she moved to Maui, Hawaii and worked every kind of odd job imaginable, from grant writing and guiding horse tours to serving as a personal tour guide. During this time she wrote what became her debut novel, The Bear and the Nightingale. After a year on the island, she moved to Briançon, France, and spent nine months teaching. She then returned to Maui, where she began writing The Girl in the Tower, the sequel to her debut, and officially launched her career as an author. Currently she lives in Vermont.

She is the author of the Winternight Trilogy for adults and the Small Spaces Quartet for children. The Warm Hands of Ghosts is her eighth novel. 

Follow @arden_katherine on X, Visit katherineardenbooks.com

About the book

World War One, and as shells fall in Flanders, a Canadian nurse searches for her brother believed dead in the trenches despite eerie signs that suggest otherwise in this gripping and powerful historical novel from the bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale.

January 1918. Laura Iven has been discharged from her duties as a nurse and sent back to Halifax, Canada, leaving behind a brother still fighting in the trenches of the First World War. Now home, she receives word of Freddie's death in action along with his uniform -but something doesn't quite make sense. Determined to find out more, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital. Soon after arriving, she hears whispers about ghosts moving among those still living and a strange inn-keeper whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could this have happened to Freddie - but if so, where is he?

November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped under an overturned pillbox with an enemy soldier, a German, each of them badly wounded. Against all odds, the two men form a bond and succeed in clawing their way out. But once in No Man's Land, where can either of them turn where they won't be shot as enemy soldiers or deserters? As the killing continues, they meet a man - a fiddler - who seems to have the power to make the hellscape that surrounds them disappear. But at what price?

A novel of breath-taking scope and drama, of compulsive readability, of stunning historical research lightly worn, and of brilliantly drawn characters who will make you laugh and break your heart in a single line, The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a book that will speak to readers directly about the trauma of war and the power of those involved to love, endure and transcend it.

Review

This book is definitely going on my best of the year list. Arden is an author I would always recommend, her Winternight trilogy solidified what an amazing writer and talented storyteller she is. I was only thinking a few months ago that I hadn't seen a new book and hey presto this popped up.

I have been telling everyone about this book, it's absolutely remarkable. It has the trademark wandering into the elements of life that cross the lines of preconceived norms and delve into things that lurk in the shadows. Simultaneously it also has such an accurate connection to not only that period in history, but also the emotional and physical wounds caused by the destruction and devastation of the Great War.

Capturing the conflict from a variety of views and people gives a better perspective of the tragedy, the losses and the terrible impact. The allies, the enemy, the medical staff, the volunteers, the civilians, the lost souls and the ghosts. In the end everyone is the same. This is especially evident in the relationship between Freddie and Winter. When push comes to shove, and survival or death are the only choices, is there really any room for two sides? 

The scenes with Winter and Freddie, especially when they first meet, they are extraordinary. The reader feels the darkness, the damp, the mud and the fear. Fear is the same regardless of which country you are fighting for.

Laura is on a quest to find her brother, despite the odds of him being dead being very high. Her own trauma makes her vulnerable to Faland, as indeed are many on the fields of battle. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book - it becomes a metaphor, a way to survive, a mindset and a conjured mass hallucination shared by destroyed and frightened souls. Or is it?

I loved this story, wouldn't hesitate to recommend it and think it is indicative of the power of word, storytelling and suggestion. It is a haunting experience - it is a haunting.

Buy The Warm Hands of Ghosts at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎Century, pub date 7 Mar. 2024. Buy at Amazon com. At Bookshop org.

#Blogtour The Water Child by Mathew West

It's an absolute pleasure to take part in the Blogtour The Water Child by Mathew West.

About the Author

Mathew West grew up in Aberdeenshire (and very briefly New Zealand). After a spell as a music journalist he now lives and works in Edinburgh as a civil servant. A keen horror film buff, his novels are born out of love of classic gothic fiction seen through modern eyes. Follow @mathewoneT on Twitter

About the book

What the sea takes for its own can never return… - Portugal, 1750s. Cecilia Lamb knew being a sea captain’s wife would mean a life of waiting and watching the horizon for her husband’s ship. But John has been gone longer than any voyage should last. Everyone else has given up hope of his return. But she knows in her bones that he is not lost. Gone, but not lost.

Barely able to tear her eyes from the shimmering sea, she feels drawn to the sun-baked shoreline, and amid the bustle of the docks she feels certain that her husband will come back to her. Though along with that feeling is another sense – that something darker is coming. As she sickens, she doesn’t know what the next tide will bring – but she begins to fear as well as crave her husband’s homecoming.

Soon, even on dry land, Cecilia can feel the pull of the ocean at her feet, the movement of the tides within her. Warning, seduction or promise, she cannot tell, but one thing is certain – the sea holds many secrets, and some of them are too powerful to ever be drowned.

Review

Cecilia Lamb is finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the absence of her husband John. Tales of seafarers seem to forget the women and children they leave behind for months often even years in one go. It's like being a widow with a husband who is very much still alive, at least Cecilia is absolutely convinced that that he is alive even if those around her think he has long settled in the murky depths of the deep seas.

As more time passes Cecilia finds herself drawn to the seas, sometimes it feels as if the water talks to her and has made a connection to her soul. It is merely a question of how far into the depths she wants to let herself be pulled in order to satisfy her need for answers. Society frowns upon her lack of restraint and after a while there is a question of her lack of stability.

Cecilia remains fast in her belief that her husband will return to her, despite the odds being neither in her favour nor the fate of her husband and his crew. Simultaneously she can also feel something wicked this way coming. Not what or whom, just a sense of impending darkness.

One of the many aspects I enjoyed about the story was the sub-story of what certain actions or choices can do to the character, personality and disposition of a person. When their choice creates such a hole in their moral fabric that they are no longer the person they used to be.

Loved it! I do enjoy a nice piece of magical realism, especially when it is well done. The author knows exactly how to balance the reality in the fiction, combine it with historical facts here and there, then weave the magical realism in and out of the story like a potter's hands moulding and shaping the object of their creativity. The result is a captivating reading experience.

Buy The Water Child at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: HarperNorth; pub date 25 May 2023. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour The Goldhanger Dog by Wanda Whiteley

It's a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour The Goldhanger Dog by Wanda Whiteley.

About the Author

Wanda Whiteley is co-author of the memoir, Streetkid, which spent three months in the top 10 of the Sunday Times non-fiction bestsellers list. The Goldhanger Dog is her debut novel.

In addition to her role as founder and Editor-in-Chief of Manuscript Doctor, she is an independent consultant for Writers and Artists, and previously worked as a Publishing Director at HarperCollins for over a decade. This year, she will be running her first life-writing workshop at the Atelier de Scriitori retreat in Transylvania. Follow @wanda_whiteley on Twitter

About the book

In 1553, Tudor England is on the precipice of change, with young King Edward in ill health and the religious fate of the country hanging in the balance. But far from power, in the wilds of the Essex Marches, fifteen-year-old Dela meets Turnspit, a scruffy and morose dog sentenced to a life of drudgery turning a kitchen spit.

After Dela frees Turnspit, the pair of misfits flee from persecution, seeking sanctuary with Princess Mary Tudor. Little do the two friends realise that the princess is facing the greatest trial of her life, and they soon find themselves in grave danger, with only friendship to protect them.  

The incredible story of a turnspit dog, a mainstay of Tudor kitchens which has since gone extinct, The Goldhanger Dog is a magical story which explores the power of friendship and family in the face of adversity and misfortune.

Review

When young Dela loses her mother she starts to comprehend there might be something more within her, something powerful that she as yet is unable to control or see the where and why for. It's an unusual power that helps her makes connections those around can't, and to right the wrongs of steadfast and barbaric rituals.

Being different means attracting the attention of people, and the presumption is of ill will, as opposed to lending a helping hand. Accusations of witchcraft send her running, along with a newly found friend, straight into the arms of the next heir to the very sought after throne of England.

This is a book that can be enjoyed by older and younger readers alike. The author always stays within certain boundaries, and yet equally doesn't hide from the more difficult aspects of the era, whether they be political or societal. It's under the historical fiction heading, however I think it deserves a sub-genre of its own - how about historical magical realism. History, magical powers, friendship and above all seeing the humanity in all living beings.

In that sense the book also contains an important message about the way we treat others and animals of course. The way we look the other way when others suffer, especially when they are considered second class living beings, such as a food source or pet. The turnspit dog was bred for the sole purpose of being a kitchen worker, an animal bound to a wheel and tortured for the appetite and sustenance of mankind.

Leaving the more serious ponderings aside, this is a lovely read. Also, I cannot tell I lie, I especially enjoyed the last chapter, an ending that was earnt for sure.

Buy The Goldhanger Dog at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at Waterstones.