Category: Blog Tour

Blog Tour/Review: The Black Earth by Philip Kazan

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I’m delighted and honoured to be kicking off the blog tour for The Black Earth by Philip Kazan ahead of its publication on Thursday 19th April.  You can read my review of this wonderful novel set in wartime Greece below.

Do check out the tour schedule at the bottom of this post to see the other great book bloggers taking part in the tour over the next ten days.

The Black Earth CoverAbout the Book

1922: When the Turkish Army occupies Smyrna, Zoë Haggitiris escapes with her family, only to lose everything. Alone in a sea of desperate strangers, her life is touched, for a moment, by a young English boy, Tom Collyer, also lost, before the compassion of a stranger leads her into a new life.

Years later when war breaks out, Tom finds himself in Greece and in the chaos of the British retreat, fate will lead him back to Zoë. But he will discover that the war will not end so easily for either of them.

Format: ebook, hardcover (350 pp.)       Publisher: Allison & Busby
Published: 19th April 2018                        Genre: Historical Fiction

Pre-order/Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ  Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Black Earth on Goodreads

My Review

The theme of chance encounters, connections and convergence has featured in quite a few books I’ve read recently.  Whether that’s the working of fate, such as in From a Low and Quiet Sea by Donal Ryan, or the concept of quantum entanglement – the idea that entangled particles remain connected and that actions performed on one affect the other even when separated by great distances – as in Oliver Loving by Stefan Merrill Block and Entanglement by Katy Mahood.  (Three great books, by the way.)

Following their first brief, chance encounter as young children in the chaos of Piraeus harbour, the reader follows the lives of Zoë and Tom through childhood until fate or destiny throws them together again in another chance meeting.  They will each in turn act as rescuer of the other but face separation, loss and traumatic experiences.   The connection they feel will help them make sense of the chaos around them, finding in it something pure and true amongst the horrors of war.

The Black Earth convincingly portrays the chaos and breakdown of society in time of war.   Particularly memorable is the depiction of the terrible suffering of the people of Athens, including near starvation, during the occupation by the Nazis during World War 2, and in the aftermath when the area descends into civil war.  I know the author drew on his own family history as inspiration for many of the events and some of the characters in the book which no doubt accounts for its sense of authenticity.

Amongst all the horror, however, the book shows that there are still opportunities for random acts of kindness, even in time of war, including the one that will change the course of Zoë’s life.  I was particularly moved by part three of the book in which the story is told partly through Tom’s letters describing his experiences and hopes for the future.  Reflecting what must have been the experience of many in wartime, the letters are written and sent more in hope than expectation of being received by the intended recipient; the correspondent not knowing, even, if the recipient is still alive to read them.

I absolutely loved this book, even though it put me through the emotional wringer.  The author kept me hoping and fearing, fearing and hoping right up until the last page.  I’m not ashamed to admit I shed a little tear at the end.   The Black Earth is highly recommended for fans of historical fiction who love a strong story based around real life events with engaging and believable characters.   I’m so glad to have been introduced to the writing of Philip Kazan and I can safely say The Black Earth won’t be the last book of his I read.

My sincere thanks to publishers, Allison & Busby, Emma Finnigan and Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for my uncorrected proof copy in return for an honest and unbiased review.

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In three words: Powerful, emotional, heart-breaking

Try something similar…The Good Doctor of Warsaw by Elisabeth Gifford (click here to read my review)

Philip KazanAbout the Author

Philip Kazan was born in London and grew-up on Dartmoor in south west England. He is the author of two previous novels set in fifteenth-century Florence: Appetite, about the adventures of an early celebrity chef and The Painter of Souls, an imagining of the early career of the artist Fra Filippo Lippi.  As Pip Vaughan-Hughes, he also wrote the Petroc series – Relics, Vault of Bones, Painted in Blood and The Fools’ Crusade – following a thirteenth-century adventurer.

After living in New York and Vermont, Philip is back on the edge of Dartmoor with his wife and three children.

Connect with Philip

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Blog Tour/Review: Lady Helena Investigates by Jane Steen

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I’m delighted to be co-hosting today’s stop on the blog tour for Lady Helena Investigates by Jane Steen and to share my review of this engaging historical mystery.  Lady Helena Investigates is the first in a new series, the suitably aristocratic sounding Scott-De Quincey Mysteries.  The author describes the series as blending family saga and mystery-driven action with a slow-burn romance.  Ticks a lot of boxes for me there!

WinVisit the tour page to view the other great bloggers taking part in the tour and, for US residents only, to enter the giveaway for a chance to win one of two ecopies of Lady Helena Investigates.  Don’t hang about though as the giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on 13th April 2018.

Lady Helena InvestigatesAbout the Book

1881, Sussex. Lady Helena Scott-De Quincy’s marriage to Sir Justin Whitcombe, three years before, gave new purpose to a life almost destroyed by the death of Lady Helena’s first love. After all, shouldn’t the preoccupations of a wife and hostess be sufficient to fulfil any aristocratic female’s dreams? Such a shame their union wasn’t blessed by children…but Lady Helena is content with her quiet country life until Sir Justin is found dead in the river overlooked by their grand baroque mansion.

The intrusion of attractive, mysterious French physician Armand Fortier, with his meddling theory of murder, into Lady Helena’s first weeks of mourning is bad enough. But with her initial ineffective efforts at investigation and her attempts to revive her long-abandoned interest in herbalism comes the realization that she may have been mistaken about her own family’s past. Every family has its secrets – but the Scott-De Quincy family has more than most.

Can Lady Helena survive bereavement the second time around? Can she stand up to her six siblings’ assumption of the right to control her new life as a widow? And what role will Fortier – who, as a physician, is a most unsuitable companion for an earl’s daughter – play in her investigations?

Format: ebook (359 pp.)                Publisher: Aspidistra Press
Published: 14th March 2018          Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery

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

Find Lady Helena Investigates on Goodreads

My Review

“I wonder – do we ever really know other people?  Even those you see daily can have hidden lives.”

The book’s opening chapters provide helpful scene setting as recent tragic events in Lady Helena’s life are revealed and the reader is introduced to her extensive family.   The death of her husband has turned Lady Helena’s life upside down.  As well as the loss of a dearly-loved companion, as a widow her horizons are now severely constrained by the expectations of society.  Not just expected to wear sombre mourning clothes for a year and a day but to remain in seclusion from society.  To make matters worse, her brother is trying to persuade her to let him take control of the management of her estate and pressing her to consider marrying again as soon as the period of mourning is done. Still struggling to deal with her grief, Lady Helena also knows that to marry again, given the current law of the land, will have momentous consequences for her. ‘For the day I put my hand into a man’s – out of love, out of loneliness, or simply to please my family – the property that had once been Justin’s and was now mine, and the lives of those who had worked for us, would pass into the keeping of my new husband.’  

Lady Helena’s interest in herbalism, inherited from her mother the Dowager Countess, now sadly losing her wits, is looked on with disdain by her brother and some of her sisters.  For a woman in Lady Helena’s position, a husband, house and children is expected to be enough.   However, Lady Helena’s studies play a part in revealing the true circumstances of her husband’s death.  As events unfold, it transpires that the mystery of Sir Justin’s death is as nothing compared with the secrets within Lady Helena’s own family history.

French physician, Armand Fortier makes an engaging and amiable partner for Lady Helena in her investigations – very amiable, in fact. Not that he doesn’t have his own secrets it appears.  However, it has to be said that external events and chance play a significant role in the resolution of the mystery, as Lady Helena is honest enough to admit.  “Do you realize,” I said after a long stretch of silence, “that the truth has come to light with very little investigative effort on my part? This isn’t how it happens in novels.” [Love that the author allows herself that little joke.]

The enactment of an inconsequential sounding but actually quite significant piece of legislation offers Lady Helena the prospect of more control over her own future, allowing the author to adeptly set up events for the next book in the series.

I really enjoyed Lady Helena Investigates – a lovely example of a light, entertaining historical mystery.  I received a review copy courtesy of the author and Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours in return for an honest and unbiased review.

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In three words: Lively, engaging, mystery

Try something similar…Duels and Deception by Cindy Anstey (click here to read my review)

Jane SteenAbout the Author

Jane Steen was born in England and, despite having spent more years out of the British Isles than in, still has a British accent according to just about every American she meets.  Her long and undistinguished career has included a three-year stint as the English version of a Belgian aerospace magazine, an interesting interlude as an editor in a very large law firm, and several hectic years in real estate marketing at the height of the property boom. This tendency to switch directions every few years did nothing for her resume but gave her ample opportunity to sharpen her writing skills and develop an entrepreneurial spirit.

Around the edges of her professional occupations and raising children, she stuck her nose in a book at every available opportunity and at one time seemed on course to become the proverbial eternal student. Common sense prevailed, though, and eventually she had the bright idea of putting her passion for books together with her love of business and writing to become a self-published author.

Jane has lived in three countries and is currently to be found in the Chicago suburbs with her long-suffering husband and two adult daughters.

Connect with Jane

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