Category: HF Reading Challenge

Book Review – Julia Sleeps by Zoe Caryl @ZoeCarylTrakks2

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About the Book

Glasgow 1936. In the very heart of the city, Evie Jameson, the child of a poor tenement family is determined to follow her dreams of becoming a singer, but must persuade her loving family of where her vocation truly lies.

Her path is paved with triumphs and setbacks. ‘The world is bigger than Glasgow – do you want to see it?’ her agent challenges her, sparking excitement in her heart. ‘Yes! Yes, I do!’ she says, and her resolve only deepens when war breaks out and she is called on to serve her country.

The conflict thrusts Evie into dangers and adventures she could never have imagined, but amid the chaos, will she also find love?

From London in the Blitz to magical, mysterious India her courage and integrity are put to the test and she must draw on the strength forged by her proud Scottish heritage.

Format: ebook (354 pages) Publisher:
Publication date: 10th June 2025 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

As I discovered when I chatted to Zoe in October last year (read the full Q&A here) the inspiration for the book’s main character, Evie Jameson, is Zoe’s own mother Celia. Sadly Celia did not live to see her fascinating life depicted in fictional form.

The book opens in 1936 and takes the reader through Evie’s eventful life up to the point where she makes an important decision which I’m going to say no more about except to say it may leave you slightly tearful. (Evie’s story will continue in the sequel to Julia Sleeps, entitled Julia Wakes.)

We first encounter eleven-year-old Evie Jameson living with her family in a Glasgow tenement. The Jamesons are a large family – Evie has six siblings – but her mother Maggie and father Johnny somehow manage to put food on the table even though it’s a struggle at times. Often Johnny is out of work and the family have to go through the demeaning process of claiming the dole. There’s brilliant detail about daily life for a family like Evie’s in the 1930s everything from the rota for cleaning the close (the tiled entrance to the tenement building) and the shared toilet, to trips to the ‘steamy’ to do the laundry.

From her youngest days Evie has been determined to become a singer and to share her beautiful singing voice with a wider audience than just her family. I really loved the relationship between Evie and her father who, despite the family’s financial struggles, is always eager to support her ambitions. Following success at a local ‘Go As You Please’ singing competition, Evie attracts the attention of theatrical agents. Soon she’s singing with dance bands, entering – and winning – regional competitions, appearing in variety shows and radio broadcasts. The book really captures the atmosphere of the theatres, cinemas and dance halls where Evie performs. Blossoming into a beautiful young woman, Evie attracts plenty of admirers but she’s focused on her career. Friendship, yes, but nothing more . . . for now.

The path to stardom seems clear until the war intervenes. Evie knows she needs to play her part in the war effort, especially as two of her brothers have joined up. Fortunately she’s accepted into ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) travelling the country as part of a company entertaining the troops. It’s not a glamorous lifestyle, living in one set of digs after another, but for Evie the thrill she feels when she steps on stage never goes away. However this is wartime and you can’t expect everyone to come through it unscathed.

My favourite part of the book was the final section in which Evie, keen to spread her wings even further, travels to India as part of ENSA. There are wonderful descriptions of her travels around the country as part of a small company putting on shows in a variety of venues. As you might expect though, it’s not all plain sailing, ‘Because here was this strange thing called life, turning on the edge of a coin.’

Julia Sleeps is an engaging coming-of-age story full of colourful detail and vividly drawn characters.

Listen to Zoe reading an excerpt from Julia Sleeps here.

In three words: Heartwarming, authentic, fascinating

About the Author

Zoe writes: I’m a stage school educated girl from West London, UK and have sung professionally all my life. I have been fortunate enough to work in TV, film, radio and musical theatre, playing the title role in the musical Annie in the West End of London as a young girl, amongst other credits. After appearing in Starlight Express for five years I became a solo singer, following in my parents’ footsteps in taking engagements all over the world. In 2014 my husband Kenny and I moved to France where we continue to play concerts.

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Book Review – Benbecula by Graeme Macrae Burnet

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About the Book

On 9 July 1857, Angus MacPhee, a labourer from Liniclate on the island of Benbecula, murdered his father, mother and aunt. At trial in Inverness he was found to be criminally insane and confined in the Criminal Lunatic Department of Perth Prison.

Some years later, Angus’s older brother Malcolm recounts the events leading up to the murders while trying to keep a grip on his own sanity. Malcolm is living in isolation, ostracised by the community and haunted by this gruesome episode in his past.

Format: Hardcover (170 pages) Publisher: Polygon
Publication date: 2nd October 2025 Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime

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My Review

Benbecula, part of the Darkland Tales series, is based on the true story of a gruesome triple murder carried out in July 1857 on a small island in the Outer Hebrides. The author fills in the gaps in the available documentary evidence about the case to explore the events leading up to the murder.

Our narrator is Malcom MacPhee, the elder brother of Angus, the man responsible for the murder who was committed to the Criminal Lunatic Department of Perth Prison following his trial. It’s many years after the murder and Malcolm is living alone in the family home. He lives in a state of squalor, rarely bathing or venturing outside. His days are spent reflecting on his role in past events, especially the increasingly erratic behaviour of Angus, and pondering on his own mental state. Perhaps it’s true, he thinks, his family is ‘a poisoned lineage’.

Shunned by most of the villagers, Malcom’s only visitors are the local priest and a Mrs MacLeod who, seemingly of her own volition, turns up periodically to clean the house, force him to bathe and cut his hair; the latter he finds strangely erotic.

As he looks back on the past, Malcolm paints a picture of a very strange family who scrape a meagre living from tending a small strip of land (a ‘rig’) and collecting kelp from the shoreline. The most, possibly only, sensible person in the household in his sister Marion but the island has nothing to offer her except years more of the same backbreaking mundane tasks. Malcolm’s father is mostly inebriated and his mother spends her days obsessively tending the fire, sitting in front of it with her legs splayed.

Uncontrollable sexual urges and a capacity for violence lurk just under the surface. In the case of Angus these emerge from time to time in manic episodes. Angus’s violent outbursts and strange behaviour are an increasing burden on the family. They cannot afford to have him confined to an institution so they must be constantly vigilant. In practice this task falls to Malcom and Marion.

But how much can we trust Malcolm’s account of events? After all, we learn Malcolm shares some of the same violent and sexual impulses as Angus. For example, he interprets a cat tormenting a half-dead mouse as an entertainment put on for his benefit. And although he manages to control – just – most of his impulses, instead acting them out in his imagination, there is one very chilling act he carries out in reality. Through these and Malcom’s own insights into his unstable mind, the author provides just enough ambiguity to leave us wondering if there’s more to events than meets the eye.

This is not a book in which the crime itself dominates. In fact, the description of the murders doesn’t come until late in the book. Instead it’s much more an exploration of notions of hereditary insanity and attitudes towards mental illness prevalent at the time. The afterword provides details of source documents but also of the cruelty endured by Angus during his long incarceration. If this all sounds pretty depressing, rest assured there are moments of absurdity and dark humour.

In three words: Unsettling, sinister, atmospheric
Try something similar: A Granite Silence by Nina Allan

About the Author

Graeme Macrae Burnet is the author of five novels: the Booker-shortlisted His Bloody Project, which has been published in over twenty languages; the Booker-longlisted Case Study (named as one of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2022); and the Georges Gorski trilogy, comprising The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau, The Accident on the A35 and A Case of Matricide. Graeme was born in Kilmarnock and now lives in Glasgow.

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