A Room Full of Chocolate - Jane Elson

'I've realised that sometimes family isn't the one you are born into but the people and pigs you collect along the way.'

Ten-year-old Grace Wilson lives with her mum and dad in London, but after her mum discovers a lump, and her dad proves to be unreliable and uncaring, she is sent to live with her Grandad on his farm in Yorkshire. Grace’s mum and Grandad have been estranged for many years; Grace has never even met him before. She is desperate to stay at home and look after her mum after her surgery. Arriving reluctantly at her Grandad’s place, she meets a girl dressed in many colours, who she immediately thinks of as the ‘rainbow-girl’. This is Megan, and the little friend who precedes her into the yard is Claude the pig! Megan makes Grace feel 'a tiny ray of curious sunshine push through my grey lonely fog.' They immediately become firm friends. When Grace meets Megan’s kind mum, Allie, she discovers more about her own mum and the past too.

Grace has lots to cope with, as well as trying to understand what her mum is going through – though her family has tried to shield her from this with good intentions but perhaps misguidedly, she has done her own bit of research on the Internet and found out worrying things – she also has to adjust to a new school. Megan is there, although she is in Year six and Grace in Year five, so they are not together all the time, and there are some very unkind pupils who start to bully Grace in person as well as via nasty text messages. Grace misses her mum terribly, and finds it difficult at first living with her Grandad, who himself has to reconsider if he has been a good judge of character or not, and decide whether he can  overcome his fears and change his ways. Grace writes in her 'Special Blue Book', recording her innermost thoughts, sections of which are shared with the reader throughout the story

This is a wonderful story written with warmth and humour, with sensitive and honest handling of difficult, serious topics, namely bullying and serious illness. Grace is a great central character, innocent and kind, curious and fun, as she tries to cope with a lot of change in her life. The character development is really good with Grace seeing that there is more than one side to her Grandad, and the strong bonds of friendship between Megan and Grace are beautifully written. There is friendship and adventure, illness and sadness, humour and love, plus a couple of magical moments. There are some delightful animal characters included in the story; as well as Claude the simply fabulous, hilarious pig with his starring role, there is affectionate Lara the Golden Retriever and Martha the cat. 

I read this quickly and enjoyed it very much, the story had my attention throughout and I was keen to see how it ended. I think young readers will find much to enjoy and ponder in this lovely children's fiction debut.

Thank you to amazon vine for a review copy of this novel. 

Author links - twitter @JJELSON35 |

Published by Hodder

The Son-in-Law - Charity Norman

This is the second novel I have read by Charity Norman; I was very impressed by After the Fall, and though that remains my favourite of the two, there is much to admire in this, her latest offering, The Son-in-Law.  (You can read my thoughts on After the Fall here. Freeing Grace is on my to be read asap pile).

The Son-in-Law opens with an explosive short section – one of the exhibits in a criminal case at Leeds Crown Court - the transcript of a telephone call made to the emergency services by a ten-year-old girl named Scarlett, recounting what has just happened to her mother Zoe; Scarlett’s father Joseph hit her. 

Then the main narrative begins, we move forward a few years, and we discover the aftermath of what happened, and we learn what the present and future might hold for all those affected by Zoe’s death. (Her death is no secret; it is revealed in the synopsis to the novel that she was killed.)

Three voices tell us the tale: we hear about the lives of Scarlett and of Hannah, Zoe’s mother, in their own intimate first-person accounts, and then Joseph Scott, Zoe’s husband and Scarlett’s father, whose side is told at a slight distance through a third-person narrator. 

Hannah's holds her son-in-law Joseph fully responsible for Zoe's death. Hannah is riddled with grief, bereft that her only child is gone from the world. Together with her husband, she has cared for the three children left behind when Zoe passed away and Joseph went to prison. Scarlett is Zoe's daughter and her eldest child; there are two brothers as well. Scarlett is now in her teenage years. Joseph is emerging from prison in Leeds having served his sentence. He has lost his wife, his career as a teacher, and his three children. He feels that Hannah never liked him and that he wasn't good enough for Zoe. Now he wants his children back, something Hannah can't even contemplate.

The family is so torn, filled with pain and hurt, wanting to do the right thing for the children. The anguish and loss is strongly felt by the reader; it’s an emotional read, and one that makes you think, it causes the reader to debate internally and consider the outcomes and where the children might be best suited, who they ought to be with, and it’s certainly a tricky one, despite what your gut reaction might be. I had to think twice about what I thought the best outcome was.

The novel deals with another difficult subject, that of mental health. I didn't realise this when I started reading, and I found it a bit upsetting when I discovered this. I felt strongly that Zoe ought to have had more help and support and I would have liked this area to have been explored in a bit more detail; this was the main weakness of the story for me. 

I do enjoy this author's writing style very much. She writes convincingly in different voices, from that of a girl to a grandmother, building rounded characters, and revealing character cleverly. The interactions between the characters feel believable, with credible dialogue used very effectively. The touching relationship between Hannah and her ageing, wonderful husband Frederick, whose health starts to fail, is tenderly portrayed. We are drawn into this family's life, and there is light and shade in these characters, as with real life, no one is perfect, they have redeeming features and they have weaknesses, and there is no easy answer to what they face; far from it. 

I also enjoyed the Yorkshire setting, the mentions of the city of York, and the use of authentic expressions. (Between this and After the Fall, Charity Norman has used two of my favourite places in the world, Yorkshire and New Zealand, as her settings, which I've really enjoyed.) The author's background as a barrister added authenticity to the sections dealing with legal procedure, and the dealings with the family court advisor Lester Hardy felt plausible; I liked how his character was brought into the tale, someone who looked at both sides and offered an unbiased interpretation of the situation. 

This is a painful, emotionally raw story that examines the deep wounds left behind after the tragic death of a beloved daughter, mother and wife. It was heartbreaking and at times upsetting, and Charity Norman doesn't avoid the sad realities of this difficult situation for all concerned, but the story also offers hope and looks at people's ability to forgive and build bridges even when it feels impossible. This author isn't afraid of tacking life-changing themes, and she is a must-read for me now.

Published by Allen and Unwin

Thanks to the publisher for kindly sending me a copy of this novel to read and give an honest review.

You can find the author on twitter @CharityNorman1 

The Tail of the Tiger, the Birds, and the Book - Lin Treadgold - Author guest post

I am pleased to welcome author Lin Treadgold to my blog today as part of her blog tour for Goodbye, Henrietta Street!

The Tail of the Tiger, the Birds, and the Book.  

A guest blog from author Lin Treadgold

I first visited the Isles of Scilly in 1969 and have visited a dozen or more times since then. I became involved with nature conservation in the early 1980’s. Like Pippa in my book Goodbye, Henrietta Street, I wanted to learn about the birds and became enthusiastic about conservation, global warming, and wanted to do more to make a difference.

1986 seemed to be a popular time for birdwatching and nature conservation and as Scilly is such a small place, I didn’t want it to be cliché. I decided the era was ideal for going back in time and reminding everyone how it used to be. Children were encouraged to go pond dipping and nature groups were set up with the Wildlife Trusts and RSPB Young Ornithologists’ Club.

As a driving instructor in those days, I had just finished a mock test for a student and we were having an ice cream to celebrate her success. We sat in the car on the side of the road close to the beach. I happened to glance down the shoreline when I noticed a bird in trouble. It was a guillemot struggling to survive the bites of dog, let loose by its owner. 

‘Excuse me a moment, Carol,’ I said as I looked out of the window. (She knew of my interest in birds) ‘See that bird down there?’

I took off my shoes and dashed down the beach. Much to Carol’s amusement she watched as her driving instructor skipped down the beach in her tights and skirt after the guillemot, which was covered in oil.

I managed to catch the bird and brought it back to the car. I had a box in the boot and we took the bird home to try to clean it. It was from this incident that my life changed. Glad to say Carol passed her driving test the next day. 

I cleaned the guillemot and looked after it for about three months until the feathers had become waterproof again. I took it back to sea and launched it from a cliff back into the water. The feelings I had about this rescue were so wonderful, I eventually began to rescue more birds and became the leader of the Teesside branch of the YOC with thirty children as members. The evenings were spent looking for tawny owls with the children on their backs on the forest floor listening to the sounds of the night. Even now, that story sends a shiver down my spine. We were guests on The Really Wild Show with Chris Packham and had our own spot in another programme where the sound man fell in a ditch during filming! Oh boy! Those were the days. 

Later in the eighties, I spent yet another holiday on Scilly. David Hunt, the resident ornithologist had been attacked by a tiger on one of his tour guiding trips in India. We could hardly believe it when we heard the announcer on Radio 4 that morning. We knew David; his knowledge of birds had inspired us. Sad to say, David was no more. Apparently the last picture he took was of the tiger’s mouth around the camera lense!

The people of Scilly are very special to me. When Will Wagstaff took over from David as resident tour guide for birders, we became friends and my experiences on Scilly and with the birdlife made me want to give something back to the residents for their kindness and hospitality. In recent years the tourist industry has been hit by the global recession and now the helicopter is no longer in service from Penzance to St Mary’s, it is even more important that Scilly remains on the map not only for the reasons of tourism, but because the islands are so fragile and need all the support they can get. I thought my book might help keep the islands in mind and make visitors want to keep visiting.  

I started writing Goodbye, Henrietta Street, to see if I could do it. My characters reflect a time of uncertainty, lack of awareness on sexuality issues and two lonely people who cannot be sure if they will see each other again. The story worked for Safkhet Publishing in their Soul genre as a holiday read and will be launched on 1^st July 2013. The book is available soon in download version and in paperback with a preorder on Amazon, in time for the launch in summer.

I look forward to summer and should you happen to be in Cornwall from 1^st July I will be signing my novel at The Edge of the World bookshop in Penzance on 2^nd July and for three weeks all over the five islands on Scilly until 27 July.  Hope to see you there.  Please call at the Scilly tourist office for further information. 

About the novel

Pippa Lambton's life has fallen apart and husband Rob is ready to give up their marriage. Three years before, their son Daniel passed away; he was the glue that held them together. Now, Pippa's left home for the beautiful Isles of Scilly, for a chance to rediscover herself. She meets handsome Norwegian nature warden, Sven Jorgensen, who teaches her about the island wildlife.

Pippa finds herself laughing again. She is aware of Rob's dilemma over his childhood adoption and their turbulent relationship, but after an awkward kiss with Sven, she is torn about how to proceed. There is much to resolve, and leaving Rob could prove a disaster. Is her affair with Sven a holiday fling? How can she walk away from Rob after losing Daniel? Should she leave her home in Yorkshire for Sven and his island paradise? Find out more in Goodbye, Henrietta Street.

About the author

Lin Treadgold is a new author and enthusiastic writer.  She changed her vocation as a driving instructor and tutors of instructors in 2001 and moved with her husband’s job to The Netherlands. To learn more about Lin go to www.itslinhere.wordpress.com
or  http://www.safkhetpublishing.com/authors/Lin_Treadgold.htm

Lin is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Society of Authors.