Category: Blog Tour

#BookReview Beyond This Broken Sky by Siobhan Curham @Bookouture

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Beyond This Broken Sky - Blog Tour

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Beyond This Broken Sky by Siobhan Curham. My thanks to Sarah Hardy for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Bookouture for my digital review copy via NetGalley.

Beyond This Broken SkyAbout the Book

1940, London. As a volunteer for the ambulance service, Ruby has the dangerous task of driving along pitch-dark roads during the blackout. With each survivor she pulls from the rubble, she is helping to fight back against the enemy bombers, who leave nothing but destruction in their wake. Assigned to her crew is Joseph, who is unable to fight but will stop at nothing to save innocent lives. Because he is not in uniform, people treat him with suspicion and Ruby becomes determined to protect this brave, compassionate man who has rescued so many, and captured her heart. Even if it means making an unthinkable choice between saving her own life and risking everything for his…

2019, London. Recently divorced Edi feels lost and alone when she moves to London to start a new life. Until she makes a discovery, hidden beneath a loose floorboard in her attic, that reveals a secret about the people who lived there in the 1940s. As she gradually uncovers a wartime love story full of danger and betrayal, Edi becomes inspired by the heroism of one incredible woman and the legacy that can be left behind by a single act of courage…

Format: ebook (316 pages)           Publisher: Bookouture
Publication date: 20th April 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction, Dual Time

Find Beyond This Broken Sky on Goodreads

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

My Review

Beyond This Broken Sky alternates between two timelines – London in 1940 and 2019 – and is narrated from three points of view.

Set at the height of the Blitz on London in September 1940, the wartime storyline is shared between Ruby Glenville, owner of a large house converted into flats, and one of her tenants, Joseph O’Toole.

Ruby and Joseph’s initial reaction is one of mutual dislike, emulating the formula used so successfully by Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice. While acknowledging her beauty, Joseph disapproves of what he sees as Ruby’s privileged life and the séances she holds, believing her guilty of deceiving those who take part. Meanwhile, Ruby, whilst noting his resemblance to Clark Gable, finds it difficult to overcome her distaste for Joseph’s pacifism, especially because of the impact on her deceased father of his experiences in the First World War.

I have to say I had some sympathy with Joseph’s view to begin with. From the evidence, Ruby’s séances are theatrical enterprises utilising the ventriloquism skills learned from her grandfather and the performance techniques passed on to her by her actor father. Her attempts to convince herself that her motivation is merely a desire to bring comfort to others doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny. Add to that her willingness to endure dinner with a man she describes as ‘an insufferable bore’ simply because it involves a trip to the Savoy Grill, and treating the news of the bombing of Burlington Arcade as a ‘personal affront’ because of the many afternoons she had spent there  purchasing a new silk scarf or perfume.

I began to warm a little more to Ruby as her protective instincts towards her friend and tenant, the ‘timid as a mouse’ Kitty, became evident and I shared Ruby’s view of Kitty’s husband as a particularly horrid specimen of manhood. Her efforts to inject a little happiness into Kitty’s life were laudable if, as it transpires, misguided. And I had to acknowledge Ruby’s bravery when she volunteers to become a member of an ambulance crew, a particularly dangerous occupation driving through the dark, bomb-damaged, streets of London. Eventually, both Ruby and Joseph are forced to question their previous beliefs.

In the modern day storyline, Edi recently divorced from husband Marty, is now living in the top floor apartment of a house in an exclusive square. Narrated in the first person, this storyline was enlivened for me by Edi’s friendship with Pearl, her downstairs neighbour. The formidable and rather eccentric Pearl is the owner of an extensive library and also an author, most recently of mysteries but previously of a book set in wartime London. When Edi acquires a copy of the  latter the two storylines begin to merge. So much so that it becomes a touch metafictional as Edi reads in Pearl’s book the thoughts of its female protagonist that she had ‘lived her entire adult life as if she were the heroine in a story of her own creation.’

I confess the wartime storyline held the most interest for me, with the modern day story feeling as if it was merely a framing device. Like Edi as she reaches the final chapters of Pearl’s book, I found myself keen to get back to the wartime story and find out how it ends.  I thought the author did a great job of conveying the atmosphere of London during the Blitz, such as this dramatic description of what Ruby and Joseph experience one night whilst out on call in the ambulance. ‘The sky up ahead of them was now ablaze with searchlights, tracer bullets and parachute flares and, every so often, the blinding flash of white light as a bomb exploded.  It was like a surreal storm in a surreal nightmare that just wouldn’t end.’

The romance element of the book was touching and no doubt representative of many a snatched wartime relationship. I also liked the way the author took the opportunity to point out the differences between the experiences of the privileged and those less fortunate during the Blitz, such as the lack of provision of proper underground shelters in the poorer parts of London.  And I certainly wasn’t aware The Savoy had its own rather sumptuously fitted out shelter for the use of hotel guests or that, initially, people were forbidden from taking shelter in Underground stations during air raids.

Beyond This Broken Sky will appeal to fans of dual time stories that combine a wealth of period detail, an element of mystery, a touch of melodrama and a generous helping of romance.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Bookouture via NetGalley.

In three words: Romantic, atmospheric, engaging

Try something similar: The Night Train to Berlin by Melanie Hudson

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Siobhan Curham Author PhotoAbout the Author

Siobhan Curham is an award-winning author, ghost writer, editor and writing coach. She has also written for many newspapers, magazines and websites, including The Guardian, Breathe magazine, Cosmopolitan, Writers’ Forum, DatingAdvice.com, and Spirit & Destiny.

Siobhan has been a guest on various radio and TV shows, including Woman’s Hour, BBC News, GMTV and BBC Breakfast. And she has spoken at businesses, schools, universities and literary festivals around the world, including the BBC, Hay Festival, Cheltenham Festival, Bath Festival, Ilkley Festival, London Book Fair and Sharjah Reading Festival.

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#BookReview Lost Property by Helen Paris @RandomTTours @TransworldBooks

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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Lost Property by Helen Paris. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Hayley at Transworld for my digital review copy. Lost Property is available now as an ebook and will be published in hardback on 13th May 2021.

Lost PropertyAbout the Book

Everything that’s lost belongs somewhere. Dot Watson just needs to be found.

Dot Watson’s life is stuck. She wasn’t meant to be single at this point, or still working in a temporary job she started ten years ago. She was supposed to be in Paris, falling madly in love, building an exciting career. Instead, every day in Baker Street’s Lost Property office, she diligently catalogues hundreds of lost umbrellas, lone gloves and an alarming number of shoes.

There’s a comfort in her routine that Dot has become quite attached to. But then Mr Appleby arrives at her work asking for help to find his late wife’s purse.

Dot recognises his desperation and grief – and they stir something unexpected in her: determination. As she resolves to help Mr Appleby, what else might she find along the way?

Format: ebook (384 pages)           Publisher: Transworld
Publication date: 15th April 2021 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Find Lost Property on Goodreads

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

Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

Lost Property GraphicMy Review or Ten Things I Found In Lost Property

  1. The colourful characters who work in the Lost Property department: Anita, she of the capacious (but occasionally very useful) bag; Big Jim, denizen of the Pit where unclaimed items go to die; SmartChoice, the latest recruit from the temp agency; the awful Neil Burrows, boss of the department; and, of course, lovely, Dot Watson.
  2. The humour such as the glorious scene in which Dot is persuaded by Anita to accompany her to a line dancing club, ominously named Descent.
  3. Dot’s touching childhood memories of her beloved father, acting as (Dot) Watson to his Sherlock Holmes as they investigate mysteries such as The Case of the Imperious Sister.
  4. Dot’s instinctive understanding that the value of objects that pass through her hands is often more than just monetary. ‘Ordinary objects, extraordinary objects, objects that contain in their bodies a memory, a moment, a trace of a life lived, a person loved.’
  5. Dot’s deductions about the owners of lost items: their characters, habits or even the destinations they would enjoy visiting. ‘The other day, a man’s aubergine overcoat demanded Amsterdam so directly I was quite taken aback. It was evident in the belt, linked and worn from being pulled too tight, as if the poor chap was forever trying to bolster himself up… Strolling along the Herengracht canal eating a stroopwafel might just remind him of life’s possibilities.’
  6. The need for precision when it comes to recording the details of an item handed in – no, it’s not yellow, it’s golden syrup coloured.
  7. That there’s more than one type of ‘lost property’. For example, the declining memory of Dot’s mother, Gail; the imminent sale of the house Dot shared with her; the dreams and ambitions that go unfulfilled. ‘One can lose things in different ways. One can be out and about living one’s life, exploring exciting new pathways… and yes, perhaps one might lose a bag en route. On the other hand, one may stay put, everything safety-pinned securely in place, and risk losing so much more.’
  8. The sensitivity and insight with which topics such as bereavement, depression and dementia are introduced into the story so that, like a chocolate selection box, there is both light and dark in just the right proportions.
  9. Learning the London Underground at night ‘smells of fast food and repressed devastation’.
  10. The satisfaction that comes from doing a job well. As Dot observes, ‘Few things in my life grant me more pleasure than reuniting property with person, undoing a loss.’

Lost Property made me laugh, made me think and, at times, made me a little tearful. What more can you ask of a book? This is a novel you most certainly don’t want to leave behind on a train or bus; I’d say, make sure you hang on to it for dear life.

In three words: Heartfelt, bittersweet, insightful

Try something similar: Saving Missy by Beth Morrey or The Lost Letters of William Woolf by Helen Cullen

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Helen Paris

About the Author

Helen Paris worked in the performing arts for two decades, touring internationally with her London-based theatre company Curious. After several years living in San Francisco and working as a theatre professor at Stanford University, she returned to the UK to focus on writing fiction. As part of her research for a performance called ‘Lost & Found’, Paris shadowed employees in the Baker Street Lost Property office for a week, an experience that sparked her imagination and inspired this, her first novel. 

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Lost Property Graphic 2