Category: Blog Tour

#BlogTour #BookReview Young Women by Jessica Moor @RandomTTours

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Young Women BT PosterWelcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Young Women by Jessica Moor. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Zaffre for my digital review copy via NetGalley.  Do check out the post by my tour buddy for today, Amanda at The Butler Did It.

YM Graphic 3About the Book

Everyone’s got that history, I guess. Everyone’s got a story.

When Emily meets the enigmatic and dazzling actress Tamsin, her life changes. Drawn into Tamsin’s world of Soho living, boozy dinners, and cocktails at impossibly expensive bars, Emily’s life shifts from black and white to technicolour and the two women become inseparable.

Tamsin is the friend Emily has always longed for; beautiful, fun, intelligent and mysterious and soon Emily is neglecting her previous life – her work assisting vulnerable women, her old friend Lucy – to bask in her glow.  But when a bombshell news article about a decades-old sexual assault case breaks, Emily realises that Tamsin has been hiding a secret about her own past. Something that threatens to unravel everything…

Format: Hardback (320 pages)      Publisher: Manilla Press
Publication date: 26th May 2022  Genre: Contemporary Fiction

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My Review

For the first portion of Young Women I thought I knew exactly where the book was going. Tamsin is the manipulative young woman who wheedles her way into Emily’s life, adjusting her behaviour to be exactly what she thinks Emily needs; a life that’s much more exciting and daring than the one Emily is currently living – a diet of meal deals and a flatmate she hardly ever speaks to. And Tamsin’s an actress so she’ll have no problem putting on a performance and pulling the wool over Emily’s eyes until her true motives are revealed. Except it’s not as simple as that.

Everything changes in the second part of the book when the story becomes much more nuanced, as do the characters.  Gradually we learn that Tamsin and Emily, and Emily’s friend Lucy, have experiences in common none of which have resulted in action being taken against the perpetrators. (It may be a concidence but in each case where they’ve reported what they’ve suffered it was to a woman yet no action was taken.)  A neat counterpoint to this is Renee, Emily’s boss at the Women’s Advocacy Group, who is relentless in her support of women who have suffered sexual violence.

In a turnaround, it’s Emily who sees herself taking the dominant role in her relationship with Tamsin. Here’s her chance to demonstrate her activism by supporting Tamsin in calling out the actions of a powerful and influential figure in the film industry. Emily pictures the two of them being seen as a ‘force to be reckoned with’ taking part in joint interviews as the story reaches the press. She even fantasises about quitting her job to make time for it all. (Ironically, Emily’s has been careless in her handling of an actual case she’s been assigned at work.)  Emily is sure she knows exactly how Tamsin will respond, congratulating herself on ‘getting good at writing her’ so she’s disappointed at Tamsin’s reaction. She’s even more shocked at Tamsin’s subsequent actions, although her own are not exactly laudable. What happens next explores issues of consent and the extent to which there is a responsibility to speak out. Does failing to do so somehow make you complicit?

Although I had some reservations about Emily’s risk-taking behaviour towards the end of the book, Young Women raises some interesting moral questions, bringing to mind cases that have made the headlines in recent years.

In three words: Thought-provoking, intimate, intense

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Jessica Moor Author PicAbout the Author

Jessica Moor studied English at Cambridge before completing a Creative Writing MA at Manchester University. Her debut novel Keeper was published in 2020 to rave reviews and critical acclaim. Jessica Moor was selected as one of the Observer‘s debut novelists of 2020, and Keeper was chosen by the Sunday Times, Independent and Cosmopolitan as one of their top debuts of the year. Keeper was nominated for the Desmond Elliott Prize and an Edgar Award. Young Women is her second novel.

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#BlogTour #BookReview Twenty-Eight Pounds Ten Shillings by Tony Fairweather @RandomTTours

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Twenty Eight Pounds BT PosterWelcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Twenty-Eight Pounds Ten Shillings by Tony Fairweather. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to HopeRoad Publishing for my digital review copy. Do check out the Instagram post by my tour buddy for today, Lisa at numberslady_reads.

Twenty Eight Pounds Final CoverAbout the Book

It is 1948, and post-war Britain is on her knees. The call has gone out to the British Empire for volunteers to help rebuild the ‘Mother Country,’ and young men and women from across the Caribbean have been quick to respond, paying the considerable sum of £28 10s to board HMT Empire Windrush – the ‘ship of dreams’ that will take them to their new lives.

Meet Mavis, a 22-year-old Trinidadian nurse who just wants to see the world. Chef, the best cook on the island, desperate to get to London and his wounded soldier son. Norma, who wants to teach the British how to teach, and her funny best friend Lucretia, who is sure that every man wants her, and that English food is very… English.

Their epic journey took two weeks, but for some it was a lifetime. Friendships were made and broken. There were love affairs and fights; dancing and dominoes; gambling and racism. Many of the young people on board that ship had never left their parents or their parishes, let alone their islands. Their lives would never be the same again.

Format: Hardback (320 pages)      Publisher: HopeRoad Publishing
Publication date: 26th May 2022  Genre: Historical Fiction

Find Twenty-Eight Pounds Ten Shillings on Goodreads

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Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

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My Review

Set largely aboard the HMT Empire Windrush, what the book does particularly well is demonstrate that those who travelled from the Caribbean were not a homogenous group. They come from different islands each of which have their own unique culture. The passengers also have a variety of reasons for deciding to travel to England. For some it’s out of necessity or to be reunited with family. For others it’s a desire for a new life or a way to make some money before returning home. Many of the passengers are – rightly, as it turns out – wary of the reaction that will greet them upon their arrival in England.

Although the Second World War is over, its legacy is still felt. For example, amongst the passengers is a group of recently demobbed West Indian soldiers who feel their contribution to the war effort has been overlooked, even belittled by the authorities and by the British soldiers they fought alongside. The most stark reminder of the longlasting impact of war is the character of Mickey.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of and I found myself having to create a list of who was who, who was travelling with whom and, latterly, who was pairing up with whom. Personally, I wasn’t a fan of the frequent switching between different characters within a single chapter (with no identifiable breaks, at least in my digital copy). At times this became rather confusing. Longer sections from the point of view of a smaller number of characters would have made me feel I’d got to know them better. Having said that, my favourite characters were probably Mavis and Chef, along with the Captain of the HMT Empire Windrush who we discover has reasons of his own to fear discrimination.

Much of the dialogue is rendered in the patois of Jamaica and Trinidad, and although this gives a wonderful sense of authenticity I occasionally found myself having to reread a sentence. There is however a useful glossary at the end of the book. For those who are sensitive to such things, there is frequent use of strong language and some descriptions of sexual intimacy.

I enjoyed the moments of humour in the book, such as the Caribbean passengers’ univerally negative opinion of the food served up by the British chefs. Given most of the passengers are young, there’s plenty of dancing, drinking and eyeing up of the opposite sex. There are moments of melodrama and some serious topics are covered ranging from racist abuse to sexual assault and even murder.

I would liken Twenty-Eight Pounds Ten Shillings to a Caribbean cocktail, perhaps a rum punch.  It has some fruity elements, an authentic flavour and a generous slug of stronger stuff.

In three words: Authentic, dramatic, characterful

Try something similar: The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon

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Tony Fairweather Author PicAbout the Author

Tony Fairweather was born in Clapham, the son of Jamaican parents. He opened one of the first Black bookshops in the UK, before going on to work for the Voice newspaper, where he managed the Voice
book club. In 1989, Tony founded ‘The Write Thing’, an events company established to promote Black authors, which led to his working with a veritable who’s who of the Black literary world, including Bernardine Evaristo, Dr Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Terry McMillan, and many more. Tony is also the founder and curator of the Windrush Collection, a touring exhibition of artefacts associated with the Windrush generation. He lives in South London.

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