Book after Book

By Gordon Kerr Published by Muswell Press   Synopsis: The death of his wife has left Michael Keats bereft, the subsequent discovery of her adultery devastates him. Michael resolves to discover the identity of her lover. That journey leads him to northern Italy where he becomes embroiled in a story of passion and treachery amongst the Partisans and villagers during the darkest days of World War II. As Michael gets closer to the truth he realizes that some secrets should never be told. How did this book end up in my hands? I read this book ahead of its publication date thanks to a serialisation via The Pigeonhole app. I also participated in the blog tour here . Was it a page-turner? There were some strands of the narrative that interested me more than others but, all in all, I would definitely say that the words of this book were like cherries and I couldn’t stop reading until I had reached the end of each instalment in one sitting. Did the book meet my expectations? ...

By Liz Lawler Published by Bonnier Zaffre Synopsis: Alex Taylor wakes up tied to an operating table. The man who stands over her isn't a doctor. The choice he forces her to make is utterly unspeakable.   But when Alex re-awakens, she's unharmed - and no one believes her horrifying story. Ostracised by her colleagues, her family and her partner, she begins to wonder if she really is losing her mind. And then she meets the next victim. How did this book end up in my hands? I won a copy of this book via The Pigeonhole app after sharing my feedback about the author’s second novel, I’ll Find You , on Twitter. Was it a page-turner? Yes, which I was expecting based on the author’s other novel. This is a ‘one sitting’ kind of book! Did the book meet my expectations? I had read a couple of reviews mentioning that Liz Lawler’s books shared some similarities (hospital setting, location, unreliable character…) so I was a little apprehensive but I shouldn’t have worried...

Welcome to my date on the blog tour for The Partisan Heart , which I was recently lucky to read ahead of publication day. I will share my review at the end of the week and today I have a treat for you: an interview with author Gordon Kerr ! Hi Gordon! First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the publication of The Partisan Heart ! Can you please briefly tell us what it is about? A: Thank you. The book is a thriller, set in two different time frames, mostly in North Italy. The first is during the Italian Civil War which was fought between 1943 and 1945, partisans and communists fighting against fascist forces and the occupying Nazis. A young partisan falls in love with the wife of his commander and no good comes of it. Interlaced with this is a story set in 1999 when a journalist, Michael Keats, loses his wife in a hit-and-run incident. He discovers that she has been having an affair and in trying to find the identity of her lover and investigate the kidnapping of the d...

Hi Kate ! First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the publication of In at the Deep End ! Can you please briefly tell us what it is about? A: Thank you! In at the Deep End is a funny, frank novel about a 26-year-old Londoner who realizes she hasn’t had sex for three years and sets out to change that. After the worst one-night stand in the history of sex, with a man who accuses her of ‘breaking his penis’ – she meets a charismatic artist on a night out, who happens to be a woman, and realizes she’s a lesbian. She thinks, ‘Hooray! Now I’ll have a truly equal relationship and lots of feminist sex!’ But she soon finds herself in the least equal relationship of her life. I wanted to write a novel that was honest about lesbian sex in the way that Girls and Fleabag were honest about heterosexual sex, something funny and true at the same time. Did you have the plot entirely figured out when you started writing the book or did it take an unexpected turn as the characters grew ...

By Kate Davies Published by The Borough Press Synopsis: Until recently, Julia hadn’t had sex in three years. But now: • a one-night stand is accusing her of breaking his penis; • a sexually confident lesbian is making eyes at her over confrontational modern art; • and she’s wondering whether trimming her pubes makes her a bad feminist. Julia’s about to learn that she’s been looking for love – and satisfaction – in all the wrong places… How did this book end up in my hands? I read a digital version of this book thanks to a serialisation via The Pigeonhole app. Was it a page-turner? Once I got going, the only breaks I took were to wipe away the tears from my eyes after too much laughing! Did the book meet my expectations? I will give you the same answer I recently gave author Michael J. Ritchie when he asked me: Can you tell me about a book that made you laugh? So here it goes: In at the Deep End by Kate Davies. It is quite certainly the funniest boo...

By Amy Lord Published by Unbound Digital   Synopsis: What if reading the wrong book could get you arrested? In a decaying city controlled by the First General and his army, expressing the wrong opinion can have terrible consequences. Clara Winter knows this better than anyone. When she was a child, her father was taken by the Authorisation Bureau for the crime of teaching banned books to his students. She is still haunted by his disappearance. Now Clara teaches at the same university, determined to rebel against the regime that cost her family so much – and her weapons are the banned books her father left behind. But she has started something dangerous, something that brings her to the attention of the Authorisation Bureau and its most feared interrogator, Major Jackson. The same man who arrested Clara’s father.  With her rights stripped away, in a country where democracy has been replaced with something more sinister, will she be the next one to disappear? How d...

Hi Emily ! First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the publication of The Girl Who Came Out of the Woods ! Can you please briefly tell us what it is about? A: Thank you so much! It’s about a girl who has grown up in a tiny remote community in India, who knows nothing of the modern world at all. When disaster strikes her village she has to step out into a life she’s never experienced before, and to try to navigate her way around it. It’s set in India and Britain.  Did you have the plot entirely figured out when you started writing the book or did it take an unexpected turn as the characters grew on the page? A: I thought I had the plot worked out, but it turned out that I didn’t at all! It changed a lot as I was writing it. In fact, near the end I was writing a scene in which Arty walks into a room and is surprised to discover who is waiting for her (if you’ve read the book you’ll know the one). I was as surprised as she was — I had expected someone different to b...

By Tiziano Terzani Synopsis: Warned by a fortune-teller not to risk flying, the author – a seasoned correspondent – took to travelling by rail, road and sea. Consulting fortune-tellers and shamans wherever he went, he learnt to understand and respect older ways of life and beliefs now threatened by the crasser forms of Western modernity. How did this book end up in my hands? I read this book on my Kindle in its original Italian version ( Un indovino mi disse ) after having spoken about it with a friend who loved it. Was it a page-turner? It wasn’t for me, no. In fact, I struggled to get into it and I even had to start reading it twice from the beginning after having put it aside for a good few months. Having read the synopsis, did the book meet my expectations? Unfortunately not. I maybe expected less politics and more fortune-telling but got way too much politics for my liking between a fortune-teller and the other. I also thought that Terzani wasn’t as open to the...

Hi Jane ! First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the publication of Cruel Acts ! Can you please briefly tell us what it is about? A: Cruel Acts is about a convicted killer named Leo Stone, who has been found guilty of the murder of two women. Unfortunately, during his trial the jurors searched for his name on the internet and discovered parts of his criminal history that they weren’t supposed to know. He is released pending a retrial, and Detective Sergeant Maeve Kerrigan is one of the police officers tasked with finding new evidence to make sure he isn’t set free for good. Did you have the plot entirely figured out when you started writing the book or did it take an unexpected turn as the characters grew on the page? A: I thought I had the plot completely worked out but it became much twistier as I was writing. There was one paragraph where the characters were supposed to find a single body, but I found myself typing that they had found four. It sounds flippant, bu...

By Louisa May Alcott Synopsis: Meg is the eldest and on the brink of love. Then there’s tomboy Jo who longs to be a writer. Sweet-natured Beth always puts others first, and finally there’s Amy, the youngest and most precocious. Together they are the March sisters. Even though money is short, times are tough and their father is away at war, their infectious sense of fun sweeps everyone up in their adventures — including Laurie, the boy next door. And through sisterly squabbles, their happy times and sad ones too, the sisters discover that growing up is sometimes very hard to do. Based on Louisa May Alcott’s childhood, this lively portrait of nineteenth-century family life possesses a lasting vitality that has endeared it to generations of readers. How did this book end up in my hands? I have read the Italian translation of this classic in my teens. I had received it as parting gift from a beloved teacher on my last day at primary school. I have more recently read it in English f...

Hi Uzma ! First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the publication of Ayesha At Last ! Can you please briefly tell us what it is about? A : Thanks Silvia! My novel has been described as a Pride and Prejudice remix set in a close-knit Toronto Muslim, South Asian community. My Mr. Darcy character is Khalid Mirza, a straight-laced, conservative young Muslim man who dresses in long white robes and sports a full beard. He looks like a walking caricature, but he’s actually gentle and kind and looking for love. My Elizabeth Bennett is portrayed as a fiery spoken word artist turned substitute teacher, Ayesha Shamsi, the daughter of immigrants from India, who is navigating her role in her family, and in her city. There are also lots of funny side characters because I enjoy writing large ensemble casts, as well as plenty of Shakespearean plot points on top of the Austen references!  Did you have the plot entirely figured out when you started writing the book or did it take an...