Month: July 2017

My Week in Books

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MyWeekinBooks

New arrivals

At last a quiet week for new arrivals so I can concentrate on reducing my TBR pile, not adding to it…

UnderanAmberSkyUnder an Amber Sky by Rose Alexander (ebook, review copy courtesy of the author)

When Sophie Taylor’s life falls apart, there is only one thing to do: escape and find a new one. Dragged to Montenegro by her best friend Anna, Sophie begins to see the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. But when she stumbles into an old, run-down house on the Bay of Kotor she surprises even herself when she buys it. Surrounded by old furniture, left behind by the former inhabitants, Sophie becomes obsessed by a young Balkan couple when she discovers a bundle of letters from the 1940s in a broken roll-top desk. Letters that speak of great love, hope and a mystery Sophie can’t help but get drawn into. Days in Montenegro are nothing like she expected and as Sophie’s home begins to fill with a motley crew of lodgers the house by the bay begins to breathe again. And for Sophie, life seems to be restarting. But letting go of the past is easier said than done…

RusticlesRusticles by Rebecca Gransden (ebook, review copy courtesy of the author)

In Hilligoss, a tired man searches for a son, a flamingo enthrals the night, and fireworks light up the lost. In these stories and more, Rusticles offers a meandering tour through backroads bathed in half light, where shadows play along the verges and whispers of the past assault daydreams of the present. Walk the worn pathways of Hilligoss.

BrewingUpMurderBrewing Up Murder by Neila Young (ebook, review copy courtesy of the author)

As the owner of Mystery Cup Café in Wilton, Missouri, a town made famous by a string of long-ago murders, Blake Harper is used to the mysterious. When her barista is found strangled in a mound of coffee beans, Blake vows to find the killer, even though her sister, the town’s lead police detective, tells her to stay out of it. Blake finds plenty of suspects, like the owners of a rival coffee shop and the handsome new bookstore owner. But when new threats are made, she soon realizes the danger is centered around Mystery Cup and someone is targeting her personally. Will Blake be able to solve the murder, find a new barista, and perfect her recipe for espresso brownies before she becomes the next victim?

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Book Reviews & Blog Tours

On Tuesday I shared my review of The Girl in the Glass Tower by Elizabeth Fremantle, a really enjoyable historical fiction novel about Tudor noblewoman, Arbella Stuart. Wednesday saw a Q&A with Annette Oppenlander as part of the blog tour for her novel set in WW2 Germany, Surviving the Fatherland.  On Thursday I shared my review of a fantastic novel by Nigerian writer Odafe Atogun, Wake Me When I’m Gone and took part in the blog tour for Tremarnock Summer by publishing a fascinating Q&A with its author, Emma Burstall. The following day I shared my review of The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde, a fantastically atmospheric dual time novel by Eve Chase. On Saturday, I was delighted to feature a Q&A with Sarah Franklin, author of Shelter. It’s a book I absolutely adored when I read it a few months ago and I’m sure it’s going to be a bit hit when it’s published next week.   My second feature that day was a guest post by Nicole Dieker about her two-volume series, The Biographies of Ordinary People. Nicole talked about her inspiration for the book and I was delighted to feature an extract from Volume 1 as well. Finally, on Sunday I was thrilled to kick off the blog tour for The Dark Isle by Clare Carson, the final instalment in her Sam Coyle trilogy set on Orkney. Clare contributed a fantastic guest post about how she goes about creating a sense of time and place in her writing. So a busy week on the blog!

Other posts

I kicked off the week with a post about the right response when coming across excessive typos and editing issues in books (a pet hate). Some interesting discussion ensued with contributions from both authors and readers. Find out what the consensus was here. On Tuesday I did some spring cleaning (I know, a bit late as it’s summer here in the UK) of my To-Read shelf on Goodreads by taking part in the Down the TBR Hole meme. Wednesday is WWW Wednesday, where I and other book bloggers share what we’ve been reading, are currently reading and plan to read next. And Thursday has become Throwback Thursday  for which I shared another review from the early days of my blog – a short story collection by Katherine Mansfield, In A German Pension.

Challenge updates

  • Goodreads 2017 Reading Challenge – 87 out of 78 books read, 2 more than last week. I still need to set that new target….
  • Classics Club Challenge– 4 out of 50 books reviewed (same as last week)
  • NetGalley/Edelweiss Reading Challenge 2017 (Gold) – 41 ARCs reviewed out of 50 (3 more than last week)
  • From Page to Screen 2017– 7 book/film comparisons out of 12 completed (same as last week)
  • The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction Shortlist 2017 – Completed

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Book Review: The Virgin of the Wind Rose by Glen Craney
  • Meme: Down the TBR Hole #2
  • Q&A: Scott Kauffman, author of Revenants: The Odyssey Home
  • Meme: WWW Wednesday
  • Meme: Throwback Thursday
  • Book Review: The Room by the Lake by Emma Dibdin
  • Book Review: The Watch House by Bernie McGill
  • Blog Tour/Review: It Was Only Ever You by Kate Kerrigan

Reviews to be added to NetGalley

  • None just at the moment!

Blog Tour/Guest Post: The Dark Isle by Clare Carson

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TheDarkIsleBanner

I’m delighted to host today’s stop on the blog tour for The Dark Isle by Clare Carson, the thrilling conclusion to the Sam Coyle trilogy. And I’m thrilled to say Clare has written a fascinating article about how she goes about communicating a sense of time and place in her writing.

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TheDarkIsle2About the Book

Sam grew up in the shadow of the secret state. Her father was an undercover agent, full of tall stories about tradecraft and traitors. Then he died, killed in the line of duty. Now Sam has travelled to Hoy, in Orkney, to piece together the puzzle of his past. What she finds is a tiny island of dramatic skies, swooping birds, rugged sea stacks and just four hundred people. An island remote enough to shelter someone who doesn’t want to be found. An island small enough to keep a secret…

Format: Hardcover Publisher: Head of Zeus Pages: 416
Publication: 1st June 2017 (UK) Genre: Thriller    

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ Amazon.com ǀ
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Dark Isle on Goodreads

Guest Post: ‘The Dark Isle: Finding a Sense of Time and Place’ by Clare Carson

The Dark Isle is set in Orkney and London in 1976 and 1989. The sense of place and time is integral to the story – I try to bring landscapes to life by portraying them through the eyes of the characters I’m writing about. In The Dark Isle, places are described as seen through the eyes of Sam, the protagonist, both as a child and as a young woman.

I learned to see landscapes in different ways when I was researching women’s health in rural Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is a country of extremes; it has beautiful, lush green valleys and cool mountains, but these are often places that were once owned by white Rhodesians. Most poor black women were pushed by the colonial government into the arid lowlands where barely anything grows.

I wanted to talk to these women, so I ended up staying for a year in a sun-scorched village, ringed by thorn bushes. I hated it for the first few weeks. I could barely move in the heat and the giant crickets and millipedes that roamed the sandy paths made me recoil. But after a while, as I talked to more women, I started to see the village differently. There was a human geography and history – the chief’s house, sacred grounds and trees, the traditional healer’s hut, the bushlands where the guerrillas hid and camped during the war of independence. There was even some greenery in the small gardens carefully tended by women growing a few vegetables to add to their meagre diet.

Later, I returned to the area after a few weeks away; the evening sun was dropping over the sand, the vast baobabs were silhouetted black against the crimson sky and the lovingly painted yellow and pink walls of the mud huts glowed magically in the dusk. The landscape was stunning and moving, it had just taken me a while to see it.

That experience has stayed with me. I know that landscapes are like people – first impressions can be misleading. And I also know that people bring landscapes to life – a sense of place comes from the stories that are buried in the rocks and trees, and from the way that different characters view the environments in which they live or find themselves.

In The Dark Isle, it is Sam’s view of Orkney and London which gives the book its sense of time and place. The way these landscapes are portrayed change and take on a different colour as Sam ages and faces up to the legacy of her father and her emotional battles with her past.

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ClareCarsonAbout the Author

Clare Carson is an anthropologist and works in international development, specialising in human rights. Her father was an undercover policeman in the 1970s.   She drew on her own experiences to create the character of Sam, a rebellious eighteen year old who is nevertheless determined to make her father proud.

You can find out more about Clare’s experience growing up as the daughter of an undercover policeman here

Connect with Clare

Twitter ǀ Goodreads