The Judas Scar - Amanda Jennings - Guest Book Review

Published by Cutting Edge Press 

Guest review by Leah Moyse

About the novel:

Will and Harmony's seemingly idyllic marriage is left shattered after she loses a baby she didn't realise she wanted. While at a friend's party, she raises the subject of trying again, and Will's reaction leaves her hurt and confused.

Removing herself from the crowd, she encounters an enigmatic stranger whose advances she rejects, only to later discover that the handsome man is Will's childhood friend from boarding school, Luke.

When Will, struggling to confront the culture of bullying that marred his childhood, reveals a secret too painful for her to bear, Harmony is left caught between the husband she loves and the promises made by an obsessive stranger...

Leah's thoughts:

I would like to start by saying I am a huge fan of the publisher Cutting Edge Press. They really push the boundaries and provide engrossing fiction that can be gritty, dark and intelligent.

This is a story of a marriage and difficult childhoods. An interesting look at how the events of our childhood can shape our futures, sometimes for the better but sometimes leaving us damaged and permanently scarred. In addition how emotional damage can actually affect our future relationships, decisions we make or don't make and how really some things can haunt us forever.

I must admit to not particularly warming to the characters, but for me this added to the feeling of wondering what they are really capable of and how far they would go. I really loathed Luke with a passion, such a seemingly unfeeling man who would stop at nothing to get what he wants. What really happened all those years ago at boarding school, to make him this way?

In places shocking, I was thinking to myself did that really just happen. Equally however I found it to be an ultimately sad story in that we can never have our childhood back and have a different start in life.

I thought this book was dark, brooding and the tension amongst the pages was palpable. I feel as if I have been on a roller coaster of emotions and didn't know until the final pages where the destination was. A relatively short novel at under 300 pages, but so much happens and so many issues are tackled. Amanda Jennings is a very good writer indeed, one not to miss and I will certainly be getting a copy of her first book, Sworn Secret.

About the Author:

Amanda Jennings studied at Cambridge and has worked at the BBC. She is married with three children and lives in Berkshire. Her website is: www.amandajennings.co.uk

Many thanks to Leah for reading and reviewing this novel for The Little Reader Library! Leah blogs at Reflections of a Reader, do visit and read her fab blog too!

Songs of Willow Frost - Jamie Ford

I loved Jamie Ford’s debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and so was very much looking forward to reading his new novel, and I found it another very special story, with a fascinating setting and period, and a very engaging pair of main characters in William Eng and Liu Song, or Willow Frost.  They both have a lot to overcome in their lives, are subject to poverty and prejudices, and suffer many losses.

It’s 1934, in Seattle, when we meet twelve-year-old William at Sacred Heart Orphanage, run by nuns for orphans or children who have been left there temporarily, some parents do return eventually, others do not. William is American, of Chinese descent. He has a couple of good friends there, Charlotte, and Sunny. It is Charlotte, a blind girl, with whom he shares the closest friendship, and they plot together to leave the home one day; after a previous trip to the city when William saw a movie featuring Willow Frost, he believes she is actually his mother, and determines to find her.

The story takes us back to 1921 and introduces us to Liu Song, a young woman whose mother is very ill and weak, and her mother’s unkind second husband, known as Uncle Leo. Liu Song’s own late father, and her mother, were once actors, loving to perform, and she realises she wants to follow in their footsteps. But there are so many barriers, such cruelty, she suffers sadness and pain in her life. We learn of what she has been through, so that when new happiness seems to be possible, when she meets a kind man, she is scared to believe in it: 'She hesitated to hope and dream, unsure if she could take another loss - even a rejection seemed far beyond her capacity to endure.'

For both William and Liu Song, there are highs and lows as they struggle through their lives. Being able to perform brings some happiness to Liu Song but she feels so alone much of the time. There are occasional happy moments at the orphanage, none more exciting and magical for William and the other children than when they are told that a bookmobile is visiting:

'William's excitement grew as the line shortened and smiling, delighted children began wandering off, books in hand, finding places to sit and read. William had been to the public library only once before, on a field trip, and even though he wasn't allowed to check out anything, he never forgot how it felt to wander in and see books on shelves as high as the ceiling. The library is like a candy store where everything is free.'

Songs of Willow Frost offers a moving and vivid portrayal of 1920s and 1930s Seattle, the effects of the Great Depression are to be seen as characters pass through the streets and see those who are destitute. The growing popularity of cinema as entertainment and escape is also brought to life. 

William is a courageous boy, determined to believe his mother wants him back. Willow strives to do the best she can for her son and to protect them both from those who would interfere or separate them. I found myself hoping for a better future for both William and Willow, I admired them and felt they both had an instinct for survival despite the often heavy odds being against them. I believed in both of them, and felt moved by their experiences, wanting them to break through the sad times and troubles, and find happier days ahead. 

As in his debut novel, Jamie Ford uses the dual time-frame narrative again here really well,  I liked having several chapters focussing on William's life first, and then several that took us back to discover what had happened to Liu Song, and then forwards again. The author draws on his own childhood in Seattle's Chinatown to create an authentic and evocative background canvas of the city in which the story takes place. I was engrossed in the author's depiction of the times. There were memorable well-drawn minor characters too, like Mr Butterfield at the sheet-music shop where Willow sings, and Sister Briganti at the orphanage. I was only disappointed at how things were resolved between two of the characters towards the end but I won't say who because it would be a bit of a spoiler.

I loved having the map at the front of the book and referred to it several times to follow where William or Willow were in the city at certain points in the story, it brought it to life even more for me. 

This is an absorbing, atmospheric and well-paced read of family and friendship, love and loss, tradition and culture, pain and hope. Though at times it is joyful, there is much that is so heartbreaking; despite this I very much enjoyed reading it, in particular because of the strong characterisation and the vivid, captivating depiction of the setting and the period. 

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

Published by Allison and Busby

My review of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Tuesday Intros: The Blue Suitcase by Marianne Wheelaghan

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea - every Tuesday, sharing the first paragraph (or a few) of a book you are currently reading or thinking about reading soon. Visit the blog here to join in.

I'm reading The Blue Suitcase by Marianne Wheelaghan.

First paragraph

'Mum was eighty-two when she died. I discovered the suitcase three months later. Her flat was to be sold. I was waiting for the agent to come and view it. Except for a feather duster forgotten in the airing cupboard, a kitchen chair and the big mahogany wardrobe, the place was empty.'

~~~~~

What do you think, and would you keep reading?

I've nearly finished this book and have found it a very interesting historical read with a compelling voice, namely Antonia's personal diary entries.

~~~~~

Synopsis

It is 1932, Silesia, Germany, and the eve of Antonia's 12th birthday. Hitler's Brownshirts and Red Front Marxists are fighting each other in the streets. Antonia doesn't care about the political unrest but it's all her family argue about. Then Hitler is made Chancellor and order is restored across the country, but not in Antonia's family. The longer the National Socialists stay in power, the more divided the family becomes with devastating consequences. Unpleasant truths are revealed and terrible lies uncovered. Antonia thinks life can't get much worse - and then it does.

Partly based on a true-life story, Antonia's gripping diary takes the reader inside the head of an ordinary teenage girl growing up. Her journey into adulthood, however, is anything but ordinary.

Kellie at Come-alive Cottage - Wendy Unsworth

This delightful and fun children's book by Wendy Unsworth tells the story of Kellie Culpepper, who comes from a long line of explorers, with her parents being 'the greatest explorers of them all!' They are preparing to set out on their latest adventure, and Kellie cannot go with them this time. Instead she is due to stay with one of her Aunts, who has a very fitting name. However, this particular Aunt has a propensity to be a little bit silly, and things don't go as planned, so Kellie instead discovers she has an Aunt named Kitty, who is 'unusual and very, very interesting'. Aunt Kitty lives at Come-alive Cottage, a lovely house in the countryside. Kitty is unlike any Aunt you might have met before; she is quite magical in fact, as is her special home, where strange, unexpected and wonderful things happen. Kellie is in for quite an adventure at Come-alive Cottage!

Told in eight short chapters, this is a really enjoyable book, a sweet story that would be ideal to read aloud; the author has used some lovely phrases to build her story, and I was excited every time another 'whoosh!' occurred! I loved the affectionate names Kellie's father had for her, such as his 'Little Butternut Squash.'

The illustrations by Frances Lee West are great fun too and fit so nicely alongside the text; it feels as though some care and thought has gone into the placement of the illustrations, and they really embellish the story very nicely, and include some clever plays on words.

A lovely book that is great fun to read, telling a magical, well written tale with great illustrations.

Source - author review copy in exchange for an honest review
Self-published - available in paperback and as an e-book
The second book in this series, Danger at Come-alive Cottage, is available now too.

The Secret Lake - Karen Inglis

'A boat!' Stella whispered repeatedly. 'How on earth could it have got there? And why was Harry soaked to the skin?'

Eleven year old Stella and her eight year old brother Tom have moved from Hong Kong to a new home in London, where they enjoy exploring in the gardens around their house. Harry, the little dog belonging to Mrs Moon, one of their neighbours, arouses their interest as he keeps disappearing, and when he reappears he is wet. During their summer holidays, the two children investigate the gardens further and find a buried boat, and a tunnel which leads to a secret lake. Here they meet a young boy rowing, and looking scared. Their subsequent adventures take them on a journey back to the past, making new friends and discovering their home as it was nearly a hundred years previously.

This was a lovely read of just over a hundred pages with short chapters, and the author builds the suspense well over the course of the story. It's a magical and imaginative children’s tale, filled with plenty of excitement, discovery and adventure, time-travel, and some rather special moles! The interactions between the children and with those they met were well written and the author conveys their real excitement and intrigue about the mysteries they uncover and the discoveries they make. The realistic details of their lives in the present  - such as their clothing and Stella listening to her iPhone and connecting with old friends from Hong Kong on Facebook - both adds substance and also contrasts well with the different appearances, speech and behaviour they find in the people they meet in the past. The attractive, intriguing setting is well evoked, and this is also nicely illustrated in the colourful, appealing cover design of the book jacket which matched the story nicely. 

The Secret Lake is aimed primarily at readers aged around 8 to 11 years old, and I think readers of that age bracket (girls and boys) would enjoy this one very much, though I myself certainly enjoyed escaping into it and joining them on their adventures through the time tunnel too! It's a recently rediscovered delight to pick up a children's story from time to time.

Source - author review copy in exchange for an honest review

Self-published - available in paperback and ebook editions

Visit the author's website here and visit the book's website here

Find the story on twitter @secretlake_book

Heading Out To Wonderful - Robert Goolrick

Charlie Beale arrives in Brownsburg, Virginia one day in 1948. We know very little about him, where he came from or his life before now; all we know is that he brings with him two suitcases, one full of his possessions including a set of butchers knives and another full of money. He begins working for Will Haislett the town butcher and befriends him, his wife Alma and their young son Sam. Sam spends a lot of time with Charlie and events that he inadvertently witnesses will change his character and impact permanently on his life; we see these events from his past as he recalls them.

This a beautifully written novel, with such a tangible sense of place and time; the setting is a small town where everyone gets on with their business, attends church, and rarely ventures any further than towns borders; it's a place where you are born, live and die. There is no crime to speak of and everyone has their place within the community. Charlie finds peace in this place, but then one day Charlie sees Sylvan Glass and he is enchanted, his peace is shattered and life is destined to change for all involved. Sylvan dreams of places, people and lives far beyond her lowly origins and means, she copies the voices she hears on the radio, and dreams of the movie stars in the magazines, but at what cost?

Heading Out To Wonderful boasts a compelling narrative voice and delivers a captivating story that drew me further in as the tension built. It encompasses so many ideas and themes; childhood innocence lost, friendship, passionate, destructive and fragile love, hope and longing, matters of race, fantasy and dreams, dangerous jealousy and terrible sadness; 'a world of heartbreak.' 

At the heart of the novel is an all-consuming love affair that made me hold my breath wondering what would develop; I felt so involved in the story and therefore so terrified about the potential dangers ahead as a result of Charlie and Sylvan's actions, fearing how others would react. There are some notable characters, in particular the mysterious Claudie and loathesome Boaty. There are mysteries that remain unsolved, that left me pondering at the end of this beguiling and devastating novel that provoked feelings of both joy and sadness within me.

Published by Hutchinson

Reviewed for We Love This Book

Thanks to We Love This Book and the publisher for providing a proof copy of this novel to read and review. 

In the Shadow of the Banyan - Vaddey Ratner

‘We are all echoes of one another, Raami.’

Author Vaddey Ratner has revisited her life-changing childhood experiences growing up in Cambodia to create this fictionalized tale that incorporates much of what actually happened to her.

The story is narrated throughout by a young girl named Raami, who is seven-years-old when we first meet her. She enjoys a happy, priviledged life with her wealthy, well-connected family, her mother and father, little sister, and other relations and servants of the family. Then one day her father comes home with the news that in the capital, Phnom Penh, civil war has begun. Suddenly life changes for the family, fleeing their home and forced into the countryside with thousands of others, with no idea of where they are being taken, or what will happen to them. The family endures an enormous amount of hardship, sadness, separation and loss over the next four years.

I found this tale very moving, and I learned about a place and a period in history that I knew very little about. Seeing these events and experiencing them through the eyes of a child gives a very particular perspective on things. Raami is an insightful observer, but at times it is beyond her to comprehend this world. As one of relatives tells her: ‘The problem with being seven – I remember myself at that age – is that you’re aware of so much, and yet you understand so little. So you imagine the worst.’

Raami is forced to grow up fast as a result of what she endures. Worked almost to death in the fields, scrabbling desperately for any food that is available, clinging to the few loved ones that remain around her, she lives through a heartbreaking, horrific time and witnesses so much cruelty and pain for one so young.

Nature reflects the condition of the people’s lives, toiling day after day, clearing the earth, under the constant guard of the Revolutionary soldiers. The language conveys the affliction felt by them all: ‘It was a sick sky. A sky burning with welts. Angry and red. The colors of rotting flesh, of dying and death, of one heaving last breath.’

Throughout all of this, Raami thinks often of her beloved father, a gentle man, a prince and a poet, and of the stories he used to tell her. He taught her of the power of words to transcend and transform even the worst situations: ‘Words, you see,’ he said, looking at me again, ‘allow us to make permanent what is essentially transient. Turn a world filled with injustice and hurt into a place that is beautiful and lyrical. Even if only on paper.’

They meant so much to her, and now, as she faces the lowest points of her short life so far, these stories, legends from the past, are what she recalls to bring her through the darkest moments.

A beautiful and captivating debut novel from a first-hand witness of the times. 

Reviewed by Lindsay Healy

Published by Simon & Schuster
reviewed as part of the amazon vine programme

The Land of Decoration - Grace McCleen

Judith is a ten-year-old girl who has embellished her bedroom with all manner of everyday items to transform it into 'The Land of Decoration.' She makes use of whatever she can find, turning ordinary bits and bobs that are essentially rubbish, into people, buildings, landscapes; whatever she imagines, she conjures it up somehow, and this is the place she retreats to. She lives with her father, her mother having passed away, and they have a fairly simple existence. They are fervently religious, regularly attending their meeting house every Sunday, believing that the End is on its way, and taking their message door-to-door. With only her father for company, eventually Judith beings to converse directly with God. One day Judith transforms the land she has created to look as if it has snowed, and wishes for it to snow the next day in the real world. When this actually happens, Judith believes she has performed a miracle, and that further miracles are possible. At school she is bullied for being different, by one boy in particular, and she begins to wonder if she can influence this too, with another miracle thought out in the Land of Decoration. Meanwhile her father has troubles of his own, as a strike at the factory where he works threatens to bring further problems to the family. 

This is a delightfully inventive and unusual story, and I loved Judith’s voice, at times sad, but always honest. There is such an innocence to her at times, yet the fatalistic beliefs that she has grown-up with via her father and their faith give her thoughts a much darker edge too, especially later in the book. Her father evidently also carries a deep sadness, despite his beliefs, and it is moving to see if, and how, their relationship will change. Whilst not intending to compare the two, or suggest they are the same, it reminded me a little of 'Room' by Emma Donoghue, in the way that the child narrator is key to the story. What happens to Judith affects everything, and it's through her insights into the confusing world around her that we experience her world. The chapters are for the most part very short and it's easy to get pulled into Judith's story. I was a little hesitant after reading some reviews and discovering the extent of the religious content, but actually this didn't affect the experience for me. In fact, there is a wonderful passage as she describes how she first hears God respond, and likens it to a long-distance telephone call. This novel may not answer all the questions it asks, and definitely leaves the reader wondering about certain elements of the story. It's a fresh, unconventional debut novel, and I found it an enjoyable, effortless and interesting reading experience. 

Published in the UK by Chatto & Windus on 1st March 2012. Hardcover edition.