Author: whatcathyreadnext

#BlogTour #BookReview The Boy With Blue Trousers by Carol Jones @HoZ_Books

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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The Boy With Blue Trousers by Carol Jones, published on 14th November in paperback but also available in hardback and as an ebook. Thanks to Lauren at Head of Zeus for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my review copy via NetGalley. Do head over to Instagram to check out my co-host, Kirsty at paperheartsink

cover176261-mediumAbout the Book

On the goldfields of 19th-century Australia, two very different girls are trying to escape their past.

1856, China. In the mulberry groves of the Pearl River Delta, eighteen-year-old Little Cat carries a terrible secret. And so, in disguise as a boy in blue trousers, she makes the long and difficult passage to Australia, a faraway land of untold riches where it is said the rivers run with gold.

1857, Australia. Violet Hartley has arrived off the boat from England, fleeing scandal back home. Like the Chinese immigrants seeking their fortunes on the goldfields, Violet is seduced by the promise of a new frontier. Then she meets Little Cat, a woman who, like her, is trying to escape her past.

As their fates inextricably, devastatingly entwine, their story becomes one of freedom, violence, love and vengeance, echoing across the landscapes of two great continents.

Format: Paperback (320 pages)                Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 14th November 2019 Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase links*
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com| Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Boy With Blue Trousers on Goodreads 

My Review

I really enjoyed Carol Jones’s previous novel, The Concubine’s Child, set partly in 1930s Malaysia. What I particularly admired about the book was the rich cultural detail. The same is true of The Boy With Blue Trousers, especially in the early sections set in the Pearl River Delta where the reader is immersed in daily life in a small village – its inhabitants’ social customs, spiritual beliefs and traditions. Not to mention the fascinating information about the farming of silkworms!

Unlike The Concubine’s Child there is no modern day story running alongside the historical narrative, instead The Boy With Blue Trousers switches two or three chapters at a time between the stories of Little Cat and Violet Hartley. Both women have reason to flee their past and the constraints of social expectations. For me, the story of Little Cat was the most powerful and compelling because she faced the greater adversity and jeopardy. I couldn’t engage quite as fully with Violet’s story although I liked her independence of spirit. Her sense of realism about her position as a single woman and what might be necessary to enhance it was, if not admirable, at least refreshingly honest.

From the beginning, the reader is aware the two storylines will converge but not how. The intriguing prologue provides an extra layer of anticipation and the author skilfully manages the coming together of the two stories in order to keep the reader turning the pages.

The Boy With Blue Trousers will delight fans of historical fiction with its compelling story of love, duty, sacrifice and vengeance, and its wealth of cultural detail.

In three words: Dramatic, compelling, engaging

Try something similar: The Concubine’s Child by Carol Jones (read my review here)

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Autosave-File vom d-lab2/3 der AgfaPhoto GmbHAbout the Author

Born in Brisbane, Australia, Carol Jones taught English and Drama at secondary schools before working as an editor of children’s magazines. She is the author of several young adult novels as well as children’s non-fiction.

Website | Instagram | Goodreads

 

#WWWWednesdays 4th December ‘19

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WWWWednesdays

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Wordsand then go blog hopping!

Currently reading

Cold, Cold HeartCold, Cold Heart (Katie Flanagan #2) by Christine Poulson (ebook, courtesy of the author)

Midwinter in Antarctica. Six months of darkness are about to begin. Scientist Katie Flanagan has an undeserved reputation as a trouble-maker and her career has foundered. When an accident creates an opening on a remote Antarctic research base she seizes it, flying in on the last plane before the subzero temperatures make it impossible to leave.

Meanwhile patent lawyer Daniel Marchmont has been asked to undertake due diligence on a breakthrough cancer cure. But the key scientist is strangely elusive and Daniel uncovers a dark secret that leads to Antarctica.

Out on the ice a storm is gathering. As the crew lock down the station they discover a body and realise that they are trapped with a killer…

AugustusBuchanAugustus by John Buchan (hardcover)

In 27 BC, out of the carnage of two civil wars, one man emerged to rule absolutely the Roman world. This man was Octavian, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, and he was perhaps the least likely candidate to return stability to the Republic.

But by AD 14 Octavian had established peace over an empire that stretched from the shores of Britain to Anatolia. Power, prosperity and propaganda had seen him renamed as Augustus, ‘The Divinely Favoured One.’ He had become a God, and had changed the face of the Republic forever.

Recently finished

The Woman With WingsThe Woman With Wings by James MacManus (eARC, courtesy of Endeavour Quill)

Alison Spedding is a loner; no real friends, no boyfriend and a job in which she goes unnoticed. At thirty-two, her only passion is birdwatching.

One afternoon, high on a Scottish mountain, earnestly waiting for the rarest of sights – a white tailed eagle returning to its nest – she slips, falling silently. In shock, her fellow twitchers return to the hostel to raise the alarm, heavy with the realisation that she must be dead. What they find shocks them even more. Alison is already there, alive and unscathed…

Further similar episodes cause Alison’s grip on reality to slip, her mind spiralling towards breaking point. In her dreams she sees a huge shadow on the ground, as if there was a creature above her, a creature with huge wings…

Her infatuated colleague Jed is concerned. Can he intervene before Alison finally loses control?

cover176261-mediumThe Boy With Blue Trousers by Carol Jones (ebook, courtesy of Head of Zeus)

On the goldfields of 19th-century Australia, two very different girls are trying to escape their past.

1856, China. In the mulberry groves of the Pearl River Delta, eighteen-year-old Little Cat carries a terrible secret. And so, in disguise as a boy in blue trousers, she makes the long and difficult passage to Australia, a faraway land of untold riches where it is said the rivers run with gold.

1857, Australia. Violet Hartley has arrived off the boat from England, fleeing scandal back home. Like the Chinese immigrants seeking their fortunes on the goldfields, Violet is seduced by the promise of a new frontier. Then she meets Little Cat, a woman who, like her, is trying to escape her past.

As their fates inextricably, devastatingly entwine, their story becomes one of freedom, violence, love and vengeance, echoing across the landscapes of two great continents. (Review to follow as part of blog tour)

What Cathy (will) Read Next

Joan SmokesJoan Smokes by Angela Meyer (paperback, advance review copy courtesy of Saraband Books)

She used to be someone else, but now she’s arrived in Vegas, where she can start again. It won’t do to let the past leak in. It’s the Sixties now. She’s going to become … Joan. She makes a list: Buy a new dress (fitted, floral). Dye her hair (dark). Curl it. Buy red lipstick. Buy cigarettes and a lighter, too: Joan, she decides, is a smoker. There’s no need to dwell on why she’s here, what went before. She is just moving forward, one foot in front of the other, becoming that new person. Joan. This city of flashing neon, casinos and shows is full of distractions. Finding a job will be quick and easy. Things to do. New people to meet. A clean sheet. She’s certainly not thinking about Jack, or … No. Not anymore. Her new life starts right here, right now.