#BlogTour Growing Season by Seni Glaister

Today it's my turn on the BlogTour Growing Season by Seni Glaister.

About the Author

Seni Glaister worked as a bookseller for much of her career before founding WeFiFo, the social dining platform, in 2016. Her first novel, The Museum of Things Left Behind, was published in 2015. Mr Doubler Begins Again was published in 2019. She lives on a farm in West Sussex with her husband and children.

Follow @SeniGlaister @HQStories on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon,  Buy Growing Season

About the book
After a life-saving operation leaves Sam unable to have children, could a rural cottage be the fresh start she needs? Or is she running away from her problems? For her husband Danny, this was never part of the plan. He likes predictability. The countryside is just a bit, well – wild. But he wants Sam to be happy, even if he isn’t.

If only Danny could tell Sam what is going on in his head. If only he knew what was really going on in hers. If only they knew that they’re equally afraid of what happens next. Can the couple find a way to face the future together, or have they already grown too far apart?

Review

Sam and Danny relocate to the country, which is a bit like two fish out of water. At the same time the two of them seem to be disconnected from each other. Living the same life together, but on entirely different paths and wavelengths.

The story of two people who live with their own version of the truth, which doesn't always gel with that of the other person. Blame, guilt and responsibility become burdens carried by both, but not in equal measures. Grief for something lost, but perhaps never wanted. Guilt for their part in the deception and loss. It's complex just like life is and certainly the way relationships are.

For me this was a story about reconnecting, not only with yourself, but also with your surroundings. It's also about the people in a relationship redefining what that relationship means to each of them and how they can relate to each other with more understanding going forward.We live in societies that have a 'work comes first and everything else is secondary' kind of attitude. Everything moves fast and there is no room for any fun, taking a breath, and most importantly no time left to enjoy the world around us. It's normal to treat nature like a body part that is always there and always supposed to be there. To ignore the beauty, peace and tranquility of a rural area.

For me it lacked the emotional spark of Mr Doubler Begins Again, which is an excellent book if you haven't had the chance to read it yet. This is a lot more straightforward, earnest and perhaps even more realistic when it comes to the relationships. Perhaps the honesty and the lack of pandering to the masses, and the idea that love always conjures up a fluffy unicorn, is what makes this read.

Buy Growing Season at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: HQ; pub date 20 Aug. 2020. Buy at Amazon com. 

Read my review of Mr Doubler Begins Again.

#BlogTour The Covenant by Thorne Moore

Today it's my turn on the BlogTour The Covenant: The Life and Death of a Righteous Woman by Thorne Moore.

About the Author
Thorne Moore was born in Luton but has lived in north Pembrokeshire for over 30 years. She has degrees in History and Law, worked in a library and ran a family restaurant. She divides her time between running a miniature furniture craft business and writing psychological crime mysteries.

Follow @ThorneMoore on Twitter, on Amazon, on Goodreads, Visit thornemoore.com, Buy The Covenant

About the book
The Owens are tied to this Pembrokeshire land – no-one will part them from it dead or alive. Leah is tied to home and hearth by debts of love and duty – duty to her father, turned religious zealot after the tragic death of his eldest son, Tom; love for her wastrel younger brother Frank’s two motherless children. One of them will escape, the other will be doomed to follow in their grandfather’s footsteps.

At the close of the 19th century, Cwmderwen’s twenty-four acres, one rood and eight perches are hard won, the holding run down over the years by debt and poor harvest. But they are all the Owens have and their rent is always paid on time. With Tom’s death a crack is opened up and into this chink in the fabric of the family step Jacob John and his wayward son Eli, always on the lookout for an opportunity.

Saving her family, good and bad, saving Cwmderwen, will change Leah forever and steal her dreams, perhaps even her life…

Review
What begins as the story of a family bound by love, blood, loyalty and religion soon takes on a more sinister turn when the demands of religion and faith result in the death of a young boy. It destroys the family from within, bit by bit. The father punishes others for his own transgressions, which in turn determines the path of his wife and children. Hate begets hate, violence begets a soul searching for peace in the bottom of a barrel.

This is the prequel to A Time for Silence, both can absolutely be read as standalone novels and to be completely frank I can't decide which one I would suggest reading first. Probably A Time for Silence though, because it sets the scene in a way, whereas The Covenant delivers it's own very specific brand of historically relevant evil or evil as it is perceived and interpreted through the words of the Lord. I find it's usually more a case of the interpretation suiting the needs of the person using it as a tool to rationalise, soothe or punish.

I have to say I am not one for religion, but this has to be read in the context of the era, culture and community. How religion, the word of God drives each action of Tada, regardless of how detrimental it is to his children and wife. Each member of the community uses it to judge everyone else, which is of course the bane of our existence - the misuse of religion, an institution devised by men to control others.

I digress.
This is actually a really compelling dark family saga with elements of mystery and crime. Historical fiction, and yet also a compelling story of family loyalty and a choice between living the life others expect you to or the life you strive to at least work towards.

Moore has a very specific style and voice, the scripture never overpowers the characters or story. Instead it serves to explain the drive, the decisions and enhance the characters.

Buy The Covenant at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Honno Welsh Women's Press; pub date 20 Aug. 2020. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at Honno Press.

About Honno Press
'Honno Welsh Women's Press was set up in 1986 by a group of women who felt strongly that women in Wales needed wider opportunities to see their writing in print and to become involved in the publishing process. Our aim is to develop the writing talents of women in Wales, give them new and exciting opportunities to see their work published and often to give them their first 'break' as a writer. Honno is registered as a community co-operative. Any profit that Honno makes is invested in the publishing programme. Women from Wales and around the world have expressed their support for Honno. Each supporter has a vote at the Annual General meeting. for more information and to buy our publications, visit our website:  www.honno.co.uk'

#BlogTour Blurred Lines by Hannah Begbie

It's a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Blurred Lines by Hannah Begbie.

About the Author
Hannah Begbie studied Art History at Cambridge University. She went on to become a talent agent, representing BAFTA and Edinburgh Comedy Award-winning writers and comedians for fifteen years. She also enrolled in The Novel Studio course at City University, winning that year’s new writing prize.

The book she developed there became her debut novel, MOTHER, which later went on to win the Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers from the RNA. The TV rights were snapped up by Clerkenwell Films (Lovesick, Misfits) after a heated auction, with screenwriter Tom Edge (The Crown, Judy) attached. She lives in north London with her husband and their two sons.

Follow @hannahbegbie on Twitter, on Amazon, on Goodreads, Visit hannahbegbie.com, Buy Blurred Lines

About the book
A compulsive, literary domestic suspense set to spark debate. When Becky accidentally sees her boss with a woman who isn’t his wife, she’s horrified but keeps her counsel – she owes Matthew so much for all he’s done for her career. But when the same woman accuses him of rape and asks for the witness to come forward, Becky doesn’t know what to do.

Was what she saw rape? Or is this a young actress looking to get ahead? And can Becky separate her own traumatic past from the present? As Becky attempts to untangle these blurred lines, she must risk everything to find the truth…

Review
Becky is a woman trying to get her foot further than the first rung on the ladder of success in the world of film making. To do so she has to have her boss Matthew on side - so when she walks in on him, and a woman who isn't his wife, getting hot and heavy on the floor in his house - she walks straight back out and pretends it all never happened.

Until the unknown woman starts making uncomfortable waves about what Matthew did or didn't do. Then Becky has to make choices, which are muddied by her own past and difficult experiences as a young girl.

Just going to throw this out there too - that Becky's reaction of denial, disbelief and talking herself into the more positive and convenient narrative of what she saw, is a direct result and response due to her own experiences.

It's a dark domestic thriller that couldn't be more timely given the #MeToo movement and the Weinstein scandal in particular. Begbie really captures the rock and the hard place women get caught between. If you go against the system, the systemic sexual abuse and harassment of women by powerful men in this patriarchal society, then chances are you will detonate a grenade right underneath you. If you stay quiet and support the abusive system you become part of the problem and you betray women or victims. Career or clear conscience. Submission or fight?

I would love to go into the finer details of what happened to Becky, but it would give too much of the plot away. Needless to say Begbie delivers the kind of read that will be the subject of discussion and perhaps even controversy. I think that is absolutely a good thing. We need to question the way society, especially women and girls, are taught and groomed to accept a status quo of transgressions against them. To believe them when they have the courage to speak out instead of judging them, disparaging victims and ultimately destroying or almost destroying anyone who speaks out.

How many of us remain silent even now? Would you speak out?

Buy Blurred Lines at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Published by HarperFiction / 20th August /PB £7.99. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at Waterstones.

#BlogTour The Bird in the Bamboo Cage by Hazel Gaynor

Today The Bird in the Bamboo Cage by Hazel Gaynor

About the Author
Hazel Gaynor is an award-winning, New York Times, USA Today, and Irish Times, bestselling author of historical fiction, including her debut The Girl Who Came Home, for which she received the 2015 RNA Historical Novel of the Year award. The Lighthousekeeper's Daughter was shortlisted for the 2019 HWA Gold Crown award. She is published in thirteen languages and nineteen countries. Hazel is co-founder of creative writing events, The Inspiration Project, and currently lives in Ireland with her family, though originally from Yorkshire. Join Hazel's Book Club Newsletter

Follow @HazelGaynor on Twitter, @HazelGaynorBooks on Facebook, @HazelGaynor on Instagram, on Goodreads, on Amazon, Visit hazelgaynor.com, Buy The Bird in the Bamboo Cage

About the book
China, 1941. With Japan’s declaration of war on the Allies, Elspeth Kent’s future changes forever. When soldiers take control of the missionary school where she teaches, comfortable security is replaced by rationing, uncertainty and fear.

Ten-year-old Nancy Plummer has always felt safe at Chefoo School. Now the enemy, separated indefinitely from anxious parents, the children must turn to their teachers – to Miss Kent and her new Girl Guide patrol especially – for help. But worse is to come when the pupils and teachers are sent to a distant internment camp. Unimaginable hardship, impossible choices and danger lie ahead.

Inspired by true events, this is the unforgettable story of the life-changing bonds formed between a young girl and her teacher, in a remote corner of a terrible war.

Review
This story is inspired by true events, one of many stories of survival during wartime. Where survival becomes a question of supporting each other in any way you can. In this case how Elspeth, Minnie and the teachers become more than just people educating the children in their care when their school ends up in the middle of wartime conflict and they are incarcerated in internment camps.

Any children away at school, boarding school, regardless of where that may be, have to adapt to being alone. Sometimes they are lucky and there are adults who function as surrogate parental figures. In the internment camp those adults, the structure they provide and the hope they keep alive - it's what helps everyone survive the horror of their experience. Simultaneously the children give strength to each other and the adults, despite the dire conditions and the fear.

Given the horrendous atrocities of the Holocaust and events taking place in Europe during WW2, other countries and areas involved in that war in particular tend to be overshadowed. The war in the Pacific and the atrocities committed during the Japanese occupation, especially in the internment camps for instance. Unlike other countries the Japanese are still unwilling to take accountability for many of their crimes before, during and after the war - Comfort women are an excellent example of that.

Gaynor is absolutely right when she writes how important it is to share the experiences, eyewitness accounts and memories of survivors and those involved in such a life-changing decade during the 20th century. As we commemorate and ask old and new generations alike to remember key events in history that changed our landscape and thought processes forever, it's equally as important to tell them the stories that are slipping into obscurity for the majority of the world.

Gaynor does an excellent job of recreating the emotional distress, which combined with the endurance of the men, women and children and the historical context results in a tender and heartfelt read.

Buy The Bird in the Bamboo Cage at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.  Publisher: HarperCollins; pub date 20 Aug. 2020 - Hardback | £12.00. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at Waterstones.

#BlogTour The Twins of Auschwitz by Eva Mozes Kor with Lisa Rojany Buccieri

It's a pleasure to take part in the last day of this fantastic BlogTour for The Twins of Auschwitz by Eva Mozes Kor with Lisa Rojany Buccieri.

About the Author
Eva Mozes Kor was a resident of Terre Haute, Indiana. Following her survival of Auschwitz, she became a recognised speaker, both nationally and internationally, on topics related to the Holocaust and social justice. Eva created the CANDLES organisation in 1985 to locate other Mengele twins and found 122 twins across the world. Ten years later, she opened the CANDLES Holocaust Museum to educate the public about the historic event she survived. A community leader, champion of human rights, and tireless educator, Eva has been covered in numerous media outlets and is the subject of a documentary, Forgiving Dr. Mengele. She passed away in 2019.

Find more books by Eva Mozes Kor on Amazon, on Goodreads, Visit The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ushmm.org and candlesholocaustmuseum.org, Buy The Twins of Auschwitz

Follow on Lisa Rojany Buccieri on Amazon, on Goodreads, Visit lisarojany.com

About the book
In the summer of 1944, Eva Mozes Kor and her family arrived at Auschwitz. Within thirty minutes, they were separated. Her parents and two older sisters were taken to the gas chambers, while Eva and her twin, Miriam, were herded into the care of the man who became known as the Angel of Death: Dr. Josef Mengele. They were 10 years old.
The Nazis spared their lives because they were twins.
While twins at Auschwitz were granted the ‘privileges’ of keeping their own clothes and hair, they were also subjected to Mengele’s sadistic medical experiments. They were forced to fight daily for their own survival, and many died as a result of the experiments, or from the disease and hunger rife in the concentration camp.

Publishing for the first time in the UK in the year that marks the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation, The Twins of Auschwitz shares the inspirational story of a child’s endurance and survival in the face of truly extraordinary evil.

Also included is an epilogue on Eva’s incredible recovery and her remarkable decision to publicly forgive the Nazis. Through her museum and her lectures, she dedicated her life to giving testimony on the Holocaust, providing a message of hope for people who have suffered, and worked toward goals of forgiveness, peace, and the elimination of hatred and prejudice in the world.

Review
Eva Mozes Kor is or was a remarkable woman. She dedicated the majority of her life to educating the world on the horrors of The Holocaust, the loss of her family, and the experiences both and her twin sister Miriam were subjected to at the hands of Dr. Josef Mengele. She also made a lot of waves and created discussion because of her choice to forgive her tormentors and the Nazis. She was very vocal, and watching the documentary Forgiving Dr. Mengele will give more insight into this approach to taking back the power for herself and living with some semblance of peace.

Given the level of atrocities, the systematic and well-oiled machinery of murder, which was used to annihilate millions of children, women and men - it's perhaps hard to understand the willingness to forgive. Understandable however if viewed merely from each person and their own perspective. How they live and deal with that burden of pain, torment, memories, nightmares and the survivor's guilt, is not for anyone else to judge. In equal measures neither is the way others deal with the anguish, anger or the way the legacy of trauma has caused epigenetic changes to the genes of Holocaust Survivor's and their children.

Eva Mozes Kor was very clear on it being her personal path, but also one she hoped others could find peace with. I think it is important that survivors share their stories and journeys in an attempt to stop the past from repeating itself, especially given the rise of anti-Semitism in the 21st century. We are seeing fascists, far-right and Nazi parties with politically correct party names sit in governments throughout Europe. Hate crimes against Jews are on the rise, Swastikas and Juden Raus are scrawled on walls, and neo-Nazis march through the streets once again. That's why the eyewitness and survivor accounts are so important.

It's a poignant story that should be shared and retold.

Buy The Twins of Auschwitz at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Monoray: pub date 6 August 2020 | Paperback | £7.99. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour Sins of the Father by J.G. Faherty

Today it's my turn on the BlogTour Sins of the Father by J.G. Faherty.

About the Author
JG Faherty is the author of 6 novels, 9 novellas, and more than 60 short stories. His latest novel is Hellrider. He has been a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award® and the ITW Thriller Award.

Follow @jgfaherty on Twitter, on Amazon, on Goodreads, Visit jgfaherty.com, Buy Sins of a Father

About the book
Henry Gilman has spent years trying to separate himself from his father’s legacy of murder and insanity. Now he has the chance – all he has to do is figure out who’s been killing people in Innsmouth. Then he’ll be a hero and win the heart of the woman he loves, Flora Marsh. But soon he’s caught in a web of danger, with the undead stalking the streets at night, a terrible monster lurking below the city, and a prophecy of destruction about to come true. In the process, his actions cause unwanted consequences and to save Flora he has to do the very thing he’s spent his life trying to avoid: follow his father’s footsteps into madness.

Review
Innsmouth has become a city where the dead are stalking the living. The police are on the hunt for a vicious murderer, but it isn't until Henry stumbles upon a killing in process that he realises there is something more nefarious happening.

Unfortunately it reminds him all too much of the atrocities his father committed, but his inside knowledge also gives him a better idea of what is going on. Simultaneously his love for Flora, and the underlying jealousy he feels because she favours another man, drives him deeper into the evil that lurks in the town.

What he eventually finds or is drawn to makes him question everything he knows about his father and indeed the concept of evil, whether the eyes of the beholder are a true measure and comprehension of what the world understands it to be.

One of the threads of the story I found quite fascinating was the evolution, or is is the devolution of Henry? Is his path a result of nature or nurture, perhaps a combination of both, despite the fact he tries to resist said path. A self-fulfilling prophecy driven by fear of rejection, failure or enhanced by the expectation given his relationship to the man who raised and influenced him. His resistance to the public opinion of himself runs alongside his actions and decisions.

And the question of who judges what is evil, and whether that judgement is more a case of those in charge dictating and choosing the people or groups to be placed under the category of 'evil' depending on the era. Evil now, the norm in the future. Evil in the past and now the norm.

Faherty plays with the perspective and concept of good and what society deems unacceptable. When does science and invention cross boundaries or is it just crossing a boundary because it's not the norm?

It's a horror with a gothic vibe that draws inspiration from Shelley's Frankenstein.

Buy Sins of the Father at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Flame Tree Press; pub date 11 Aug. 2020. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour The Night Lawyer by Alex Churchill

Today it's the last day of the BlogTour The Night Lawyer by Alex Churchill.

About the Author
Alex Churchill was a barrister, specialising in serious crime for over three decades, and a writer.

Follow @_AlexChurchill on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon, Buy The Night Lawyer

About the book
Sophie Angel is the night lawyer. Once a week, she’s the one who decides what the papers can and can’t say. During the day, she’s a barrister. She struggles for justice in a system that’s close to collapse, where she confronts the most dangerous aspects of humanity.

Her life changes when a wealthy Russian offers her the biggest case of her career, a rape trial with a seemingly innocent client. But is someone manipulating Sophie from the shadows? With her marriage under strain and haunted by nightmares from the past, Sophie must find the answer to these questions before it’s too late.

This is a story about betrayal, trust, guilt and innocence, played out from the courtrooms of London to the darkest corners of Soviet era Moscow.

Review
Barrister by day, night lawyer by night. Sounds like a legal superhero, but it's just Sophie Angel going about her business. She has a handsome husband and a great job, until one day things begin to go awry.

She has unwittingly attracted the attention of a dangerous escaped convict. A man obsessed with her. Simultaneously she has to deal with some memories from her past resurfacing and hidden secrets rising up to consume her daily life. Luckily she has a supportive husband to help her overcome any problems, right?

Churchill makes some really valid points, which are incorporated into Eva's story, about the legal system failing too many people. Cases are judged in the court of social media, news media and the public in general. There is no way it doesn't influence the decisions of those involved. There also seems to be an emphasis on protecting the rights of the accused and perpetrators, as opposed to those of the victim. Sexual crimes and violence towards women appear to be heavily slanted on the scales of justice, and not in favour of the victims.

There are multiple threads that run throughout the story, which can sometimes end up becoming a vying for attention kind of issue. Too many cooks in the kitchen sort of thing. Churchill doesn't let that happen though and because of that it becomes a smooth riveting legal read.

Buy The Night Lawyer at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher Red Door Press; pub date 11 June 2020 - £8.99 PB. Buy at Amazon com.