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Blog tour: Dark Clouds Bring Waters

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Welcome to the blog tour for Dark Clouds Bring Waters by I R Ridley! More about the book… We all have questions for the dead… Comedy writer Luke Jessop’s life is in stasis. He hasn’t written a word since his wife, Billie, died almost three years ago and on finding a pile of old letters from her ex, Adam, he has begun to wonder how well he really knew her. Embarking on a pilgrimage to Italy, Luke determines to piece together the full story about his wild and sometimes secretive love. But with Adam refusing to answer his questions and a flame-haired hotel guest threatening his fragile calm, can Luke finally face the truths of the past and learn to live again? More about the author… Ian Ridley is a writer and journalist who spent 35 years on national newspapers, including 18 on The Guardian and The Observer. Dark Clouds Bring Waters is his third novel, and a move into literary fiction after his two crime thrillers, Outer Circle and Don’t Talk , in the ‘Jan Mason investigative journali

Blog tour: A Bookshop of One's Own

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Welcome to the blog tour for A Bookshop of One's Own  by Jane Cholmeley! More about the book… What was it like to start a feminist bookshop, in an industry dominated by men? How could a lesbian thrive in Thatcher’s Britain, with the government legislating to restrict her rights? How do you run a business when your real aim is to change the world? The captivating true story of an underdog business and a woman at the very heart of the women‘s liberation movement. Silver Moon was the dream of three women – a bookshop with the mission to promote the work of female writers and create a much-needed safe space for any woman. Founded in 1980s London against a backdrop of homophobia and misogyny, it was a testament to the power of community, growing into Europe’s biggest women’s bookshop and hosting a constellation of literary stars from Margaret Atwood and Maya Angelou to Angela Carter. While contending with day-to-day struggles common to other booksellers, plus the additional burdens of m

Book review: Animals Brag About Their Bottoms

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Animals Brag About Their Bottoms by Maki Saito If you have or know children, by gifting them this book you will make their day, month or, possibly, year! My children were all over it as soon as they laid eyes on it. A book about bottoms? Wonderful! The fascination is constant, and giggles are guaranteed, regardless of how many times you have already inspected these animals’ derrieres! With elegant illustrations and a simple text, translated from the Japanese by Brian Bergstrom, this is a great tool for parents to teach their children that we are all equal and beautiful, each in our own individual way. The little ones think we’re just having fun, while, in reality, we’re imparting an important lesson. Sneaky. I love it! More about the book…  All bottoms are wonderful! Don’t you agree? Each animal in this adorable book has a different reason for loving their behind—from cute and round to fashionable and striped. Maki Saito makes readers laugh out loud with playful illustrations of the ba

Blog tour: The Wartime Book Club

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Welcome to the blog tour for The Wartime Book Club  by Kate Thompson! More about the book… Jersey, 1943. Once a warm and neighbourly community, now German soldiers patrol the cobbled streets, imposing a harsh rule on the people of the island. Grace La MottĆ©e, the island's only librarian, is ordered to destroy books which threaten the new regime. Instead, she hides the stories away in secret. Along with her headstrong best friend, postwoman Bea Rose, she wants to fight back. So she forms the wartime book club: a lifeline, offering fearful islanders the joy and escapism of reading. But as the occupation drags on, the women's quiet acts of bravery become more perilous - and more important - than ever before. And, when tensions turn to violence, they are forced to face the true, terrible cost of resistance… More about the author… Kate Thompson was born in London and worked as a journalist for twenty years on women's magazines and national newspapers. She now lives in Sunbury wi

Blog tour: The Sleeping Beauties

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Welcome to the blog tour for The Sleeping Beauties  by Lucy Ashe! More about the book… May 1945 and at long last, Rosamund Caradon is feeling optimistic. As she returns the last few evacuees to London from her Devonshire manor, she vows to protect dance-obsessed daughter Jasmine from further peril. But a chance meeting with a Sadler’s Wells ballet dancer changes everything. When the beautiful, elusive Briar Woods bursts into Rosamund’s train carriage, it’s clear her sights are set on the immediately captivated Jasmine. And Rosamund cannot shake the eerie feeling this accidental encounter is not what it seems. For Briar may be far away from the pointe shoes and greasepaint of the Sleeping Beauty ballet that is so much a part of her, but her performance for Rosamund might just be her most successful yet. This, Briar feels, is a show for a mother and daughter. A dance that could turn deadly… More about the author… After training at the Royal Ballet School for eight years, Lucy Ashe decide

Blog tour: Point Zero

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Welcome to the blog tour for Point Zero  by SeichƵ Matsumoto, translated from the Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai! More about the book… Tokyo, 1958. Teiko marries Kenichi Uhara, ten years her senior, an advertising man recommended by a go-between. After a four-day honeymoon, Kenichi vanishes. Teiko travels to the coastal and snow-bound city of Kanazawa, where Kenichi was last seen, to investigate his disappearance. When Kenichi’s brother comes to help her, he is murdered, poisoned in his hotel room. Soon, Teiko discovers that her husband’s disappearance is tied up with the so-called “pan-pan girls”, women who worked as prostitutes catering to American GIs after the war. Now, ten years later, as the country is recovering, there are those who are willing to take extreme measures to hide that past. More about the author… Seicho Matsumoto (1909-1982) was Japan's most successful mystery writer. His first detective novel,  Points and Lines , sold over a million copies in Japan. Vessel of S

Blog tour: Mongrel

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Welcome to the blog tour for Mongrel by Hanako Footman! More about the book… Mei loses her Japanese mother at age six. Growing up in suburban Surrey, she yearns to fit in, suppressing not only her heritage but her growing desire for her best friend Fran. Yuki leaves the Japanese countryside to pursue her dream of becoming a concert violinist in London. Far from home and in an unfamiliar city, she finds herself caught up in the charms of her older teacher. Haruka attempts to navigate Tokyo's nightlife and all of its many vices, working as a hostess in the city's sex district. She grieves a mother who hid so many secrets from her, until finally one of those secrets comes to light... Shifting between three intertwining narratives,  Mongrel  reveals a tangled web of desire, isolation, belonging and ultimately, hope. More about the author… Hanako Footman is a British-Japanese actor and author living in London. Mongrel  is her debut novel. My impressions… My, oh my, what a treasure o