Non-fiction Spotlight!

Welcome to a brand new, occasional series on the blog, entitled 'Non-fiction Spotlight', featuring non-fiction books that I have been reading. Although much of my reading time is spent in the company of novels, I do very much enjoy reading a variety of non-fiction books too and I have reviewed one or two in the past here on my blog. I thought that when I do review or want to highlight a non-fiction book in the future it could be part of a sporadic feature, hence this post. 

From time to time I read biography, history, travel, health, wildlife, and other non-fiction books. I'm not sure what this feature will incorporate yet, or how often it will appear, but I have a couple of books in mind to get it started: I've recently read Welcome to Biscuit Land by Jessica Thom, so that one will be featuring next, and I hope to read Death in the Baltic by Cathryn J. Prince and The Spy who Loved by Clare Mulley soon. I have lots of other non-fiction books I've bought sitting on my to read pile that I hope to look at going forwards and mention here too.  

I'd be interested to know how much non-fiction others who primarily read fiction get through, and whether you think about it differently in terms of whether you would ever feature it on your book blog. I hope you enjoy these occasional reviews.

Non-fiction reviews

Welcome to Biscuit Land by Jessica Thom

The Perfume Garden - Kate Lord Brown

'Some people's memories lie in images or songs, but for Emma it was always fragrance.'

Emma Temple is coming to terms with the fact that she is expecting a baby with her long-time love Joe, yet they are no longer together. Joe has been having an affair with Delilah, a friend from his past who is also the third partner in the highly successful perfumery business they all run together, which was established by Emma's beloved late mother, Liberty Temple. Emma is introduced to us in autumn of 2001, alongside her close relatives; Grandmother Freya and her Great-Uncle Charles. Emma is trying to accept that things seem to be over with Joe, yet she must tell him about the baby. He is away on business in New York with Delilah. In another strand to the narrative, it is 1936 and Charles, along with his friend Hugo, has arrived in Spain leaving behind their studies in Cambridge to photograph, report on and support the struggles of the International Brigades in Spain, fighting Franco's forces in the bitter civil war. We are also introduced to a young Spanish couple, Jordi and Rosa, and to a certain photographer by the name of Robert Capa.

I am always interested in fiction that deals with the Spanish Civil War, and soon after starting to read, I found myself getting carried off into this story, first entranced by the young photographer capturing a famous image of a falling soldier, then swept into the passion and pain of the struggle of the people supporting what they believed in and fighting as their country was torn apart. The young English nurse, facing the terrible tragedies playing out every day, in such close proximity to death, and her brother, capturing the images of war.

The modern day story involving Emma parallels the historical narrative; it is one of pain and loss, too, and of her trying to find a way forward and a new start. As Emma takes steps towards a new future for herself, heading to Valencia with the key that was left to her amongst her mothers letters, she finds an old, neglected villa, and a new freedom in her life, breaking out of the recent difficult times: 'In Spain, Emma felt like she was coming out of hibernation.' At the same time she opens up the door to the past within her family, uncovering secrets from the time her grandmother Freya spent in Spain during the civil war as a nurse. For Freya, and for her brother Charles, the painful memories from their days spent in Spain are difficult to deal with to this day, and as Emma learns more about Freya's past, she begins to understand why. 

I found the storyline gripping, with short chapters taking us back and forth in time from Emma's days in modern-day Spain to the depths of the tragic civil war. I was easily tempted to read just one more chapter to discover what had happened in the other strand of the story and I was absorbed by this depiction of a family who, through the generations, had found and lost love. 

The descriptions of Spain, the sights and sounds, the people and traditions, are very evocative and vivid, enabling me to picture the scenes, to imagine the aromas. I feel that Kate Lord Brown writes with an evident passion about her subjects here, and this enthusiasm and convincing depiction of events drew me further into the lives of the characters and their stories, and I cared about them and their romantic relationships and friendships. 

This is a beautiful novel about love and separation, war and idealism, secrets and memories, about the terrible tragedies of wartime that leave mental scars and the hope and optimism that a new start and a new home can bring. Fragrance is a key theme in the story, the idea of it evoking memories. The storytelling in this novel has been compared to that of Kate Morton and I feel that this is an accurate comparison; a dual time frame story that is handled well, with themes of love, family history and secrets; this all combines to make The Perfume Garden a very involving, vivid, romantic and moving read to lose yourself in. 

Published by Corvus, an imprint of Atlantic Books

Thank you to the author, the publisher and to Amy at Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

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Visit my blog again tomorrow to read a lovely guest post by author Kate Lord Brown!
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Exciting news! 

Kate Lord Brown has written a short prequel to The Perfume Garden, THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER, and you can download it for free from today for a limited time, as a taster for The Perfume Garden - here are the links:  

amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

About the author

Kate grew up in the wild and beautiful Devon countryside. After studying philosophy at Durham University and art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, she worked as an international art consultant, curating collections for embassies and palaces in Europe and the Middle East. She is married to a pilot, and lives with her family in Qatar. Her debut novel ‘The Beauty Chorus’ was inspired by the many hours she spent on airfields in the UK, and the experiences of pilots in her family during WW2. Her second novel about the Spanish Civil War, ‘The Perfume Garden’, draws upon the years she lived in Spain, and will be published in paperback in April 2013 by Atlantic.

For more information please visit Kate’s website and blog. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. You can also check out the Facebook and Pinterest page for The Perfume Garden.

Where the Devil can't go - Anya Lipska

'He was engulfed by an extraordinary sensation, as if his body were physically unravelling from the back of his throat down to the pit of his stomach, while his mind floated up and watched the scene from above, a disinterested observer.'

Janusz Kiszka has lived in London for over twenty years, and is a 'fixer', a man who can investigate matters for you, he is 'one of the best-connected people in London's Polonia', and several people amongst the Polish community in the East End of London have asked him to help them out. A waitress has gone missing, and Janusz’s priest asks him to help find her. His romantic life is far from straightforward, enamoured as he is by Kasia, an educated married woman working as a stripper; Janusz cares deeply about her and wishes her life were better. When Janusz starts looking into the waitress’s disappearance, he discovers a lot more than he bargained for. As he tries to uncover the truth, he returns to Poland, which further reawakens painful old memories for him. The impending presidential election back in Poland is an undercurrent to the main story. 

Meanwhile, young, keen female Detective Constable Natalie Kershaw is trying to discover the identity of the body that has been recovered from the Thames, with a heart-shaped tattoo the only identifying feature on the girl’s body. Then another young woman is found dead in a hotel room.

The narrative alternates in focus from Janusz to DC Kershaw and back as the storyline develops. I found Janusz believable and likeable. He is a strong but kind man, 'a private detective, not some murdering thug.' There is a sadness and regret about his past. His faith is long-held, and despite questioning some aspects of it, he has never forgotton how Father Piotr Pietruzki helped him when he was young man, and to him 'the Church felt like the last remaining pillar of the old Poland, a place where respect and honour were valued above all else.' Through Janusz we have a view of how England seems to have changed over the last twenty years or so, from an immigrant's perspective. His friend Oskar is an entertaining and mischievous character. 

I also liked DC Kershaw, and admired her dogged determination to find the truth in the underbelly of London's Polish, and tough it out despite the way some of her colleagues spoke to her. 'Giving - and taking - good banter was about bonding, fitting in, being part of a unit. If you couldn't take friendly abuse from fellow cops you were finished, game over.' Her boss, DS 'Streaky' Bacon, is very much of the outdated old school method of policing, but Kershaw realises that 'you needed a thick skin to be in the job' and 'she'd rather keep her mouth shut and get on with it.' Additionally he isn't all bad, she thinks: 'Streaky might be a dinosaur in a bad suit, but occasionally he showed signs of being a good cop.' Eventually Janusz and Natalie meet, initially because to her he is a suspect. Her first impressions of him give us a further insight into his complex character. It becomes evident that the knowledge held by Janusz and the facts DC Kershaw has at her disposal could be combined and that if they were to begin to share what they know with each other, they might just get to the heart of these killings. 

This is a compelling thriller with an intricate plotline that kept me hooked throughout, with twists, genuine tension, some nerve-wracking action scenes and other surprises. It is a murder mystery story that also involves political intrigue, making for an intelligent and involving read that kept me turning the pages, with several strands to the story that are all cleverly weaved together by the author. The depiction of the contrasting areas of London, the gritty, seedy world we don't all see, rings true. I learned about the beauty of Poland, and about recent history there, and there is a scattering of Polish language throughout which adds to the authenticity. This book is well-written and researched, and well thought out for a debut. If you are looking for an involving, fresh murder mystery story, do give this one a read. I hope it will be picked up by a UK publisher. I would love to read another mystery featuring these characters. 

Self-published novel in the UK, available in ebook format. 
To be published by Random House Germany in December 2012.

You can follow the author on twitter @anyalipska and visit the website for the book here

Thank you to the author for kindly providing an ebook of this novel to read and give an honest review.


4.5/5