Author: whatcathyreadnext

#BookReview With Face Aflame by A. E. Walnofer @zooloo2008

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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for With Face Aflame by A. E. Walnofer. My thanks to Zoé at Zooloo’s Book Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my digital review copy.

With Face AflameAbout the Book

Born with a red mark emblazoned across her face, seventeen-year-old Madge is lonely as she spends her days serving guests and cleaning rooms in the inn her father keeps.

One day, she meets an unusual minstrel in the marketplace. Moved by the beauty of his song and the odd shape of his body, she realizes she has made her first friend. But he must go on to the next town, leaving her behind. Soon after, while she herself is singing in the woods, she is startled by a chance meeting with a stranger there. Though the encounter leaves her horribly embarrassed, it proves she need not remain unnoticed and alone forever.

However, this new hope is shattered when she overhears a few quiet words that weren’t intended for her ears. Heartbroken and confused, she flees her home to join the minstrel and his companion, a crass juggler. As they travel earning their daily bread, Madge secretly seeks to rid herself of the mark upon her cheek, convinced that nothing else can heal her heart.

Format: ebook (290 pages)           Publisher: N/A
Publication date: 13th April 2018 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find With Face Aflame on Goodreads

Purchase links
Amazon UK
Link provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

Although set in England in 1681, wider historical events reside largely in the background with only brief references to religious differences of the time woven into the story, such as chance encounters during which Madge learns about the imprisonment of Quakers and the flight to England from France of men and women facing persecution for their beliefs. In fact, I would have welcomed more content about the history of the period and why the author had chosen this precise period to set the book. I think this might have been particularly useful for those unfamiliar with this time in English history.

The prejudice faced by those who are seen to be “different” is a theme of the book. The most obvious example is Madge’s facial birthmark that she feels the need to hide from guests at her widowed father’s inn, the Gander’s Wing, but on her travels Madge encounters others deemed to be different. Another theme is the importance of not judging by appearances. For example, Brom the juggler is handsome but a rather uncouth character, whereas Keaton the minstrel has a slight physical deformity but possesses prodigious musical talent and shows kindness towards Madge, encouraging her to overcome her reluctance to sing in public.

I felt sympathy for Madge who, overhearing a chance remark, mistakenly believes herself unloved because of her physical appearance and underestimates the qualities she possesses: not just her beautiful singing voice but her intelligence and kindness to others. Through her internal dialogue, the reader witnesses her frequent dilemmas about whether she is doing the right thing and whether she should disclose the true reason for her journey to Keaton.  What happens when Madge eventually returns home was less of a surprise to this reader than to Madge herself.

With Face Aflame is an engaging coming of age story about a young girl seeking the confidence to overcome prejudice in a world often lacking in tolerance.

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A E WalnoferAbout the Author

A. E. Walnofer spends weekdays mobilizing the soft tissue and synovial joints of patients, and weekends typing out stories that are incessantly brewing inside her head. There are lots of these tales and she hopes to share many more of them with you in the future.

Connect with Aimee
Website | Twitter | Instagram

My Week in Books – 25th July 2021

whatcathyreadnext

MyWeekinBooks

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Blog posts

Monday – I published my review of The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams.

Tuesday –  This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books I Read In One Sitting. 

Wednesday – WWW Wednesday is the opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to have a good nose around what others are reading. 

Thursday – I published my review of Vanish in an Instant by Margaret Millar.

Friday – I shared my review of Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor.

Saturday – I picked out a few events that have caught my eye in the programme for Henley Literary Festival which takes place in October. 

As always, thanks to everyone who has liked, commented on or shared my blog posts on social media.

New arrivals

The Beekeeper of Aleppo and Cartes PostalesCartes Postale from Greece by Victoria Hislop

Week after week, the postcards arrive, addressed to someone Ellie does not know, each signed with an initial: A.

These alluring cartes postales of Greece brighten her life and cast a spell on her. She decides she must see this country for herself.

On the morning Ellie leaves for Athens, a notebook arrives. Its pages tell the story of a man’s odyssey through Greece. Moving, surprising and sometimes dark, A‘s tale unfolds with the discovery not only of a culture, but also of a desire to live life to the full once more.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri

Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo – until the unthinkable happens. When all they care for is destroyed by war, they are forced to escape. But what Afra has seen is so terrible she has gone blind, and so they must embark on a perilous journey through Turkey and Greece towards an uncertain future in Britain. On the way, Nuri is sustained by the knowledge that waiting for them is Mustafa, his cousin and business partner, who has started an apiary and is teaching fellow refugees in Yorkshire to keep bees.

As Nuri and Afra travel through a broken world, they must confront not only the pain of their own unspeakable loss, but dangers that would overwhelm the bravest of souls. Above all – and perhaps this is the hardest thing they face – they must journey to find each other again.

Planet of ClayPlanet of Clay by Samar Yazbek, translated by Leri Price (ARC, courtesy of World Editions)

Rima is a young girl in war-torn Damascus. Her feet seem to work independently, she says. Is this an affluction? Or is she just an inquisitive, adventurous young child? Her exhausted mother keeps her tied with a rope around her wrist to stop her wandering off.

As a young girl, Rima also loses the ability to speak, although she can recite sutras of Qur’an. And she can use her voice to scream – which, tragically, happens more as the story progresses.

Hidden in the library of the school where her mother works as a cleaner, she finds refuge in a fantasy world full of coloured crayons, secret planets, and The Little Prince, reciting passages of the Qur’an like a mantra as everything and everyone around her is blown to bits.

Since Rima hardly ever speaks, people think she’s crazy, but she is no fool – the madness is in the battered city around her. One day while taking a bus through Damascus, a soldier opens fire and her mother is killed. Rima, wounded, is taken to a military hospital before her brother leads her to the besieged area of Ghouta – where, between bombings, she writes her story.

In Planet of Clay, Samar Yazbek offers a surreal depiction of the horrors taking place in Syria, in vivid and poetic language and with a sharp eye for detail and beauty.

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Blog Tour/Book Review: With Face Aflame by A. E. Walnofer
  • Top Ten Tuesday
  • WWW Wednesday
  • Blog Tour/Book Review: One August Night by Victoria Hislop