The Apple Tart of Hope - Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

‘He wasn’t just my friend. He was kind of magic.’

I previously read and enjoyed Back to Blackbrick, Sarah Moore Fitzgerald’s debut novel, so when I saw she had written a second novel, I was keen to read it, and when I saw the lovely title and the beautiful cover design, I was even more attracted by it.

Oscar and Meg live next door to each other, and have done for years, and they chat to each other through their facing bedroom windows. The pair of them have developed a close friendship, and brighten up each other’s lives:

‘We got to sitting at our windows, late at night, at the end of every day. He was different from anyone I’d ever met, and when Oscar was my friend, nothing was annoying or complicated. Everything was simple and enjoyable and fun. Everything made sense.’

As the story opens, we learn that Oscar is missing, presumed dead by suicide, though Meg, as well as Oscar’s brother Stevie, wont believe it. Then we are taken back to several months before, and the story tells of Meg’s father taking his family to New Zealand with him for six months with work, with Meg bitterly opposed to going. Alternating chapters, ‘slices’ of an apple tart, are recounted from Meg’s, and then Oscar’s, perspective, and gradually reveal how Oscar and Meg’s friendship is changed when she does go. A new girl, Paloma, and her mother, move into Meg’s house temporarily. With regard to the book’s title, Oscar has a heightened sense of when something particular is in the air, and this is when he bakes one of his remarkable apple tarts which improved people’s feelings and helped with troubles.

I felt this story had real depth, and dealt honestly and compassionately with strong emotions and serious decisions. At times it was also rather magical which just added an extra element of sparkle to a great tale. I liked Meg and Oscar, and I was compelled to read on and discover what happened to them both, why had things changed, what had caused so much sadness? There are themes of love and friendship, the difficulty and sadness of separation and loss, as well as belief and honesty, manipulation and jealousy. The story shows how strong a connection we can feel for another person, and how nerve-wracking and all consuming it can be when we try to convey our feelings, and how devastating it is if we suspect our feelings aren’t reciprocated, and all this even more difficult to deal with as a teenager.

It’s a fairly quick read and is really well written with some lovely use of language; I liked this description of one of the character’s homes; ‘Barney’s house stood battered and gloomy, as if it was in a sulk from having gone to the elaborate trouble of being built and then having been neglected so badly that it looked as if nobody lived in it.’ Overall this is another very good young adult (and indeed adult) offering from this talented author.

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

Author links - twitter @SMooreFitz |

Published by Orion Children's Books

My review of Back to Blackbrick

The Julian Chapter - R. J. Palacio

My review of Wonder

'I know it can't be easy for him to look in the mirror every day, or walk down the street. But that's not my problem. My problem is that everything's different since he's been coming to my school. The kids are different. I'm different. And it sucks big-time.'

Just a quick little review of this one really. I was delighted to have the chance to read this when I heard about it, and I thought this little story was brilliant, such a great idea to write a story to show the other side of things and it adds more to the original tale for those readers who absolutely loved the novel, Wonder, (like me!).

It's a moving tale and I love how Julian's feelings were explored and shown so honestly, however unpleasant they were, and how he was able to finally confront his actions, and I liked how the past was brought into the story too.

Having read Wonder, we know Auggie's deepest feelings, now we can see what Julian was thinking and feeling, his behaviour is not excused but we can begin to understand.

Thank you to Lauren at the publisher for kindly sending me a review copy of this story.

Published in ebook format by Random House Children's Books

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

Meeting Lydia - Linda MacDonald - Book Tour - review and giveaway

'Memories were strange things: paper fragments, some black with jagged edges and some softly curving and brightly coloured.'

The year is 2001 and psychology teacher Marianne Hayward is thinking more and more about the past. Her daughter Holly has introduced her to Friends Reunited and she beings to spend time on the site looking through the names. This in turn causes her to reflect and it stirs up memories of her school days, of fellow pupils both kind and cruel. Now aged forty-six, Marianne feels she is at a turning point in her life; a change both physical and metaphorical seems to be underway, her husband Johnny has an attractive new colleague and seems suddenly more distant and her only child Holly is leaving for University. Pondering her memories, her life as it is now, and thinking about the difficult times she endured when she was bullied as a young girl, one of only a few girls attending a boys prep school called Brocklebank. She has stayed silent and not shared these memories, hiding them even from herself for most of her life:

'...the worst moments were still hidden in a locked box, too painful even for her own scrutiny. Sometimes she thought about opening the lid just a fraction and peeking through the tiniest gap to see if perhaps there was nothing alarming in there after all; that it was all a mistake; that she needn't have spent a lifetime of avoidance. But always she faltered, frightened of what she might find, and the box remained shut.'

Now, as she revisits those times in her mind, she remembers a boy who was never unkind to her, Edward Harvey, and searches Friends Reunited to see if he is there, wondering and intrigued as to what happened to him. The prologue to the novel introduces us to Lydia and Lucy in 1967 and I enjoyed discovering who these characters were and how the title of this novel comes about as I read on. 

I thought this was a really good premise for a story, and I was drawn in by the idea of Marianne looking back; I was interested in who she would find from her school days and how far she would go in terms of getting in touch with her former classmates from so many years before. This theme touches on something which many people will have toyed with, with the advent first of Friends Reunited, and then in more recent years facebook, both offering new ways back to the past. But is this always a safe path, an advisable one to take? We don't know what people will be like now. We may find happy nostalgia, but we may uncover sadness and hurt that has lain dormant. For Marianne, the one person she would be interested in hearing from is Edward, and the idea of finding him becomes somewhat of a preoccupation for her. Should she succeed in finding him, would getting in touch be the right thing to do?

Marianne is very prone to introspection; we are party to her thoughts and to the words she records in her journal as she analyses her days and thinks everything over. She is also prone to dwelling on the negative side with regard to events and recollections, and forgetting the more pleasant things that happened, something that is admittedly all too easy to do and which I identified with. 'She forgot the good times...and just remembered always feeling isolated, marginalised, bullied and downtrodden....The lesson was to learn perspective, but she hadn't learnt it yet.' Though I was willing her to no longer be blighted by past sadness, I understood that she was deeply scarred by it; events can haunt us even when, or perhaps because, we have kept them locked away, trying to protect ourselves. 

The novel looks at the enduring impact that bullying can have; Marianne tells us that 'the frightened girl is still within me. I hear her crying sometimes; I feel her pain when they call her names.' Despite a marriage that has been very happy and a lovely daughter, she is haunted by the damage inflicted during those early school days. 

I thought this was a thoughtful, emotional and moving novel of one woman's midlife journey through difficult times, self-criticism, past pain and confusion towards an understanding and acceptance of her past and a reassessment of her present; events are portrayed with sensitivity and perception by the author. This is a story about memories, hurt, emotional scars, love and life. 

Thanks to the author and the tour organiser for kindly sending me an ebook copy of this novel to read and review. 

Do visit the rest of the stops on the tour.

You can follow the author on twitter @LindaMac1 and also find her on Goodreads and on Facebook

Read about the story behind Meeting Lydia in this guest post by the author on Jera's Jamboree book blog.

About the Author

Linda MacDonald was born and brought up in Cockermouth, on the edge of the Lake District in Cumbria, England. She was educated at the local grammar school and later at Goldsmiths’, University of London where she studied for a BA in psychology and then a PGCE in biology and science. She taught secondary science and biology in Croydon for eleven years before taking some time out to write, paint and make jewellery. In 1990 she was lured back into teaching at a sixth form college in south-east London where she taught health and social care and psychology. For over twenty-five years she was also a visiting tutor in the psychology department at Goldsmiths’.

At the end of 2009, Linda broke her wrist very badly through tripping over a classroom chair. Reminded of the fragility of life and how time was passing with her writing dreams still unfulfilled, she decided to publish her first novel independently. Meeting Lydia was inspired by finding an ex classmate on Friends Reunited. The novel explores the effects of school bullying on later life, and the pros and cons of internet relationships from the perspective of a woman going through a midlife crisis. It was published in September 2011. The stand-alone sequel, A Meeting of a Different Kind, had already been drafted before Linda broke her wrist and was published in November last year. It continues the story from the perspectives of two different characters, looking at issues of friendship, loyalty and betrayal. Both books may be read independently and are being very well-received by a wide ranging readership of men as well as women. It is expected that there will be a third part to the series and this is a work in progress.

Health issues in 2011 prompted Linda to retire from teaching in order to concentrate on her writing career. She hopes that with this new focus she can bring her books to the notice of a larger audience.

Giveaway!

I am delighted to share with you a giveaway that is running with this whole book tour - the prize is two signed paperback copies of Meeting Lydia with further prizes of signed postcards and bookmarks.  To enter, please leave a comment on this post.  Please find a link to the rafflecopter entry form below. Two weeks after the tour ends, the author will select the winners from the comments on all blogs taking part in the tour. The giveaway is open internationally.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Myopia - Jeff Gardiner

Jerry is being bullied at school. Those who pick on him target the fact that he wears glasses, and he suffers their cruel taunts and physical attacks. However, Jerry also begins to experience some unusual effects as a result of his short-sightedness, sometimes giving him a different, special way of seeing his world. 

‘He couldn’t explain the weird phenomena caused by his myopia, but one thing did occur to him: perhaps short-sightedness was not a disability after all, but rather a way of seeing the world in a different way.’

This book deals honestly with bullying and friendship, with prejudice and coming to terms with difficult situations. Jerry sadly considers the way the bullies have treated him: ‘What goes through a person’s head to think it’s okay to make another human being feel so worthless and humiliated?’ I think the author dealt with these important themes extremely well within his novel; this is an insightful story. The bullies are realistic and the bullying harsh, but the bullies are real characters, not stereotypes. Importantly, whether seemingly good or bad, the story illustrates that there is always more to a person than meets the eye.

I liked several of the characters; in particular the marvellous, innovative and supportive school deputy head, Mr Quincy Finn. Whilst other teachers do little to support Jerry, Mr Finn takes pride in making the school a better, safer place, and in empowering Jerry himself to be a big part of that change.

The author takes the subject of short-sightedness and makes it feel positive for Jerry; when he has his eyesight checked and is told of his myopia, he compares the sound of the word to another word, utopia, and imagines myopia as a place that he can visit only because of his particular eyesight.

This young adult novel is an intelligent, skillful and well-written treatment of a serious subject that sadly affects all too many children and indeed adults, with an admirable main character and a little feeling of fantasy and magic at times. Despite the central topic, it is not without touches of humour and romance, and it is definitely enjoyable and rewarding as an adult read too. 

Published by Crooked Cat Publishing

Thanks very much to the author for kindly sending an ebook copy of this novel to read and review.

You can find the author on twitter @JeffGardiner1 and visit his blog here and his website here.