Book after Book

Welcome to the blog tour for The Library Girls of the East End by Patricia McBride! More about the book… 1940, London. When Cordelia accepts the post of head librarian in Silver Town Library, her mother is more than a little disapproving. The East End has high levels of poverty and illiteracy, and her mother says it’s no place for a woman of her status. But Cordelia is determined to make a difference in these times of strife, and along with her colleagues, Jane and Mavis, she begins to help the local community, making sure everyone knows what the library can offer them. And maybe even a romance will blossom, giving Cordelia the strength to make it through the chaos and destruction that constantly threatens their livelihood. Against a background of war, air raids and rationing, it becomes clear the library is more than a building filled with books - it is the beating heart of a community refusing to be torn apart. More about the author… Patricia McBride is the author of the very popula...

Welcome to the blog tour for Murder in the Bookshop by Anita Davison! More about the book… 1915, London: Working in the dusty bookshop that her Aunt Violet mysteriously inherited, Hannah Merrill is accustomed to finding twists in every tale. But discovering her beloved best friend Lily-Anne – with a paperknife through her heart – in the middle of the bookshop, is not a plotline she saw coming. The case is anything but textbook. With the discovery of a coded German message, and Hannah’s instinct that Lily-Anne’s husband is keeping secrets, she determines to get to the bottom of it. She can’t do it alone though. To crack this case, Hannah will need the enlist the help of her outrageous, opinionated, only-occasionally-objectionable Aunt Violet. They think they’re making progress until one of their chief suspects is found dead. And Hannah realises that she is herself now in the murderer’s sights. Will the final chapter be the ending of a killer… or j...

Welcome to the blog tour for The Air Raid Book Club by Annie Lyons! More about the book… As the bombs began to fall, the book club kept their hopes alive... London, 1938. Bookseller Gertie Bingham is facing difficult times, having just lost her beloved husband, Harry, and with a lingering sadness at never having been able to have a child of her own. Struggling to face running the bookshop she and Harry opened together, Gertie is preparing to sell up and move away when she is asked if she would be willing to take in a young Jewish refugee from Germany. Gertie is unsure and when sullen teenager Hedy Fischer arrives, Gertie fears she has nothing left to give the troubled girl. But when the German bombers come and the lights go out over London, Gertie and Hedy realise that joining forces will make them stronger, and that books have the power to bring young and old together and unite a community in need in its darkest hour... More about the author… After a career in booksellin...

Welcome to the blog tour for Fall by West Camel! More about the book… Twins Aaron and Clive have been estranged for forty years. Aaron still lives in the empty, crumbling tower block on the riverside in Deptford where they grew up. Clive is a successful property developer, determined to turn the tower into luxury flats. But Aaron is blocking the plan and their petty squabble becomes something much greater when two ghosts from the past – twins Annette and Christine – appear in the tower. At once, the desolate estate becomes a stage on which the events of one scorching summer are relived – a summer that changed their lives forever. Evocative, thought-provoking and exquisitely written, Fall is an unforgettable story of friendship and family – of perception, fear and prejudice, the events that punctuate our journeys into adulthood, and the indelible scars they leave… More about the author… Born and bred in south London – and not the Somerset village with which he shares a name – West Camel...

By Juliet West Published by Mantle Synopsis: July 1935. In the village of Aldwick on the Sussex coast, sixteen-year-old Hazel faces a long, dull summer with just her self-centred mother Francine for company. But then Francine decamps to London with her lover Charles, Oswald Mosley's blackshirts arrive in Aldwick, and Hazel's summer suddenly becomes more interesting. She finds herself befriended by two very different people: Lucia, an upper-class blackshirt, passionate about the cause; and Tom, a young working-class boy, increasingly scornful of Mosley's rhetoric. In the end, though, it is Tom who wins Hazel's heart - and Hazel who breaks his. Autumn 1936. Now living in London, Hazel has grown up fast over the past year. But an encounter with Tom sends her into freefall. He must never know why she cut off all contact last summer, betraying the promises they’d made. Yet Hazel isn't the only one with secrets. Nor is she the only one with reason to keep the two ...

By Emily Barr Published by Headline Synopsis: You wake up in a strange room, with no idea how you got there. You are abroad, in a city you have never visited before. You have no money, no passport, no phone. And there is no sign of your baby. What do you do? How did this book end up in my hands? I borrowed this book from the library and it lived for a few weeks on my nightstand waiting for the right time. Was it a page-turner? Yes, the story gripped my attention from the very opening and made me want to turn the pages at lightning speed. Having read the synopsis, did the book meet my expectations? Yes, and it was just what I needed. Did I like the ending? I did – even though perhaps I would have liked a final confrontation between the two parents. Did the book leave me with unanswered questions? No, it's a perfectly formed story in less than 100 pages. Three words to describe it. Intriguing. Fast-paced. Sad. Do I like the cover? Yes, it definit...

By Jessica J. Lee Published by Virago Press Synopsis: At the age of twenty-eight, Jessica Lee, who grew up in Canada and lived in London, finds herself in Berlin. Alone. Lonely, with lowered spirits thanks to some family history and a broken heart, she is there, ostensibly, to write a thesis. And though that is what she does daily, what increasingly occupies her is swimming. So she makes a decision that she believes will win her back her confidence and independence: she will swim fifty-two of the lakes around Berlin, no matter what the weather or season. She is aware that this particular landscape is not without its own ghosts and history. This is the story of a beautiful obsession: of the thrill of a still, turquoise lake, of cracking the ice before submerging, of floating under blue skies, of tangled weeds and murkiness, of cool, fresh, spring swimming - of facing past fears of near drowning and of breaking free. When she completes her year of swimming Jessica finds she has...

Dulwich Picture Gallery is currently hosting – for the first in the UK – a major exhibition of one of Canada’s greatest modern painters, David Milne (1882-1953). Never heard of him before? Neither had I – and that’s why, on my latest visit to this beautiful south London art gallery, I decided that I would visit the permanent collection only. This is an exquisitely rich collection of European Baroque paintings and British portraits from Tudor times to the 19 th century, which – with its ornate, golden frames - perfectly complements the elegance of the building. The Gallery was busier than I expected it to be on a Wednesday morning and I got a glimpse of the reason as the door leading to the David Milne exhibition area was briefly opened to let more visitors in. I knew then, in that quick glance, that I would go back to reception to have my ticket upgraded. I am not an art critic so I won’t launch myself into a detailed analysis of Milne’s work. I am simply someone who en...

The bold actions of the Suffragettes and the history of London are strongly linked to one another and it is therefore only natural that the Museum of London should dedicate an exhibition to these brave women. I visited Votes for Women a few weeks ago and I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in this movement and a few hours to spend in London. The exhibition itself is not that extensive but the displays are located in different areas of the museum and you won't be able to resist browsing other collections too. Back to the Suffragettes though! From badges and banners to the chains used during protests and the medals earned with prison sentences, the items on display are of a varied nature and help create a complete picture of the times. My favourite part of the exhibition was a short video running along an entire wall, which combined interviews with women talking today about their predecessors and historical footage. Informative and emotional at the same time...

Books open up the doors to new worlds but we need energy to step through them and start exploring. We get energy from food and this is how I justify this new series of reviews for bookish foodies! The Oriental Canteen in London is my favourite Chinese eatery in the UK. Located just around the corner from South Kensington tube station, it is easily identifiable by its red awning and hanging lanterns outside. I came across this place back in 2005, when I lived in London, and I try to go back at least once a year. A no-frills service is paired with a speedy turnaround. This is not a place where you can leisurely spend a few hours chatting with friends over food. You arrive, you order, you eat, you pay and you leave. Sometimes you even have to share a table with strangers but that's the beauty of it! The Oriental Canteen is an unassuming small restaurant that serves delicious food at decent prices, especially when you compare it to its more expensive neighbours. The faded poste...

Bookshop crawl: as I sat there planning a fun day out in London, I didn’t even know that such a thing existed. All I knew is that I was meeting one of my very few friends who enjoys talking about and looking at books as much as I do and I was going to take full advantage of it! That’s how I came to organise my first ‘bookshop crawl’ – the first of many to come, I’m sure! Want to know more? Keep reading! Below is the itinerary we followed. It originally included two further bookshops at the end but we soon realised that we would never have enough time to tour them all unless we rushed. We never intended this to be a marathon though so we were happy to take our time and have a great excuse to repeat the experience and finish what we started! Before we even started our itinerary, the bus from central London deposited us steps away from Peckham library. I had seen photos of it online and the building itself had caught my attention so that’s where we started! On the 4 th floor o...

By Mike Phillips Published by Harper Collins Synopsis: Daniel grew up without a father. His mother told him that his father died the year he was born, and he had no reason to doubt her … until now. Daniel’s getting married next week. He’s got his future all worked out. It’s his past that’s the problem. Daniel never knew his father. All his mother would say was that his dad had been a Nigerian who died the year Daniel was born. He didn’t even know what his dad looked like, until an old neighbour showed him a picture. But the man in photo is still alive…and now Daniel will stop at nothing to find him. This book belongs to the Quick Reads collection, designed to get adults into reading. While I believe that this initiative is worthy of praise, I have found this short novel disappointing. The starting point is good – a young man on the eve of marriage and fatherhood wanting to know more about his past in order to better understand himself. There is nothing wrong with that but ...

By Stella Duffy Published by Serpent’s Tail Synopsis: Saz has been hired by a mystery employer, the Wavewalker, to investigate the activities of Dr Maxwell North, an internationally acclaimed therapist, healer and guru. She starts by experiencing ‘The Process’ at a meeting in London, then insinuates herself into North’s life and home, not realising the extent to which North will go to protect the dark secrets of his past. Starting in ‘70s San Francisco, then crashing into her own ‘90s London life, the investigation propels Saz into dangerous territory and a highly combustible conclusion. How did this book end up in my hands? I bought this book many years ago. I’m ashamed to say I can’t even remember when I bought it but long enough ago to have followed me through many house moves. Was it a page-turner? Yes, every twist in the plot was completely unexpected – right to the very end. Having read the synopsis, did the book meet my expectations? Yes. The story was well develope...

The ARK BOOKTOWER designed by Rintala Eggertsson Architects for the V&A Summer Exhibition 2010, called 1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces . You can imagine how fast I started to walk when I glimpsed the wooden structure through one of the museum's arches!

The lens, this time, isn't actually mine! This picture was taken by my friend Jeane one fine morning as she was enjoying S. G. Browne's Fated and a cup of tea in Stratford, London. The bright colours, all those straight lines and the book catching the viewer's eye made for a great composition that I just had to share with all of you!