Tag: advance review copy

#BookReview The Metal Heart by Caroline Lea @MichaelJBooks

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The Metal HeartAbout the Book

Orkney, 1940. On a remote island, a prisoner-of-war camp is constructed to house five hundred Italian soldiers. Upon arrival, a freezing Orkney winter and divided community greets them.

Orphaned sisters Dorothy and Constance volunteer to nurse the men. Dot is immediately drawn to Cesare, a young man fighting on the wrong side and broken by war and destruction.

The soldiers spend their days building a secret barricade between the islands. By night, however, they construct a reminder of their native land – an exquisite chapel.

As tensions between the islanders and outsiders grow, the sisters’ loyalty is tested. Will Dot choose love, or family?

Format: Hardcover (400 pages)    Publisher: Michael Joseph
Publication date: 29th April 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction, WW2

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My Review

I loved Caroline Lea’s first book, The Glass Woman, so I was delighted when I learned she had a new novel on the way. Set in the Orkney islands during World War 2, The Metal Heart is inspired by the true story of how Italian soldiers constructed a chapel on the island of Lamb Holm (Selkie Holm in the book) during the period it was used as a prisoner-of-war camp. You can find photographs of the chapel, the island and the surrounding landscape on Caroline’s Instagram feed.

Alongside the building of the chapel, the author has created a wonderful story involving twin sisters, Dorothy (known as Dot) and Constance (known as Con). Although identical in appearance, as the reader learns from the sections written from each sister’s point of view, they possess a very different outlook on life. For Constance, haunted by an experience that has made her distrustful of others, the dilapidated bothy on Selkie Holm which has become the sisters’ home is a refuge, a place she can feel safe. So the arrival of hundreds of male prisoners along with the often brutal men who guard them, reawakens disturbing memories.  These, and feelings of guilt about her role in the fate of their father and mother, makes Con determined to protect her sister from experiencing anything like the trauma she has undergone. In contrast, for Dorothy, bolder in spirit than her sister, the arrival of the prisoners to the island opens up the possibility of a different future. 

The arrival of the prisoners is initially greeted with suspicion by the Orcadians, the inhabitants of the Orkney islands. Fiercely independent, for them ‘mainland’ does not refer to Scotland but to the largest island in the group and the location of the centre of the community, Kirkwall.   Their reservations partly ease when some of the prisoners are deployed as much-needed labour on local farms. The rest of the prisoners remain employed on Selkie Holm quarrying rocks in order to build barriers that will prevent German U-boats attacking the British fleet anchored in Scapa Flow.  In one of the many interesting contradictions the book explores, the barriers eventually form causeways, making access between some of the islands easier than before for the local people.

I loved the way the author exposed the natural beauty of what could be viewed as a harsh, even bleak environment in  some wonderful descriptive writing. ‘The sky is clear, star-stamped and silvered by the waxing gibbous moon.’  The signs  of earlier inhabitants of the island – barrows and caves – combined with the myths associated with the island create a wonderful atmosphere.  (While reading The Metal Heart, I was reminded of Amy Liptrot’s book The Outrun also set on Orkney and was delighted to see it mentioned in the author’s bibliography.)  

The sections of the book describing the construction of the Catholic chapel are absolutely fascinating, with the prisoners making ingenious use of everyday objects and materials reclaimed from the damaged hulks of ships that surround the island.  For the prisoners, and Cesare in particular, the building of the chapel is both a connection with home and a way of distracting themselves from the daily hardships of life in the camp: the gruelling, dangerous work; the brutality of the guards; the cold; the sickness that sweeps through the prisoners. ‘He is, for a moment, no longer a prisoner. His muscles do not ache, his stomach does not gripe. He is a free man, standing in a church in his own country. War and death are things that happen to other people, in other places. The chapel will be a place of peace.’

The chapel may be a place of peace but there is danger on other fronts, forcing each sister to make a heartbreaking choice and risk everything to do what they believe is right. A fascinating blend of fact and fiction, The Metal Heart is a touching love story and a message of hope that beauty can emerge from unexpected places, even in time of war.  

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Michael Joseph via NetGalley.

In three words: Emotional, atmospheric, haunting

Try something similar: The Lost Lights of St Kilda by Elisabeth Gifford or Shelter by Sarah Franklin

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Caroline LeaAbout the Author

Caroline Lea grew up in Jersey and gained a First in English Literature and Creative Writing from Warwick University, where she now teaches writing. Her fiction and poetry have been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, and The Glass Woman was shortlisted for the HWA Debut Crown. (Photo credit: Twitter profile)

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#BookReview Don’t Turn Around by Jessica Barry @VintageBooks

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Don't Turn AroundAbout the Book

Two strangers, Cait and Rebecca, are driving across America.

Cait’s job is to transport women to safety. Out of respect, she never asks any questions. Like most of the women, Rebecca is trying to escape something.

But what if Rebecca’s secrets put them both in danger? There’s a reason Cait chooses to keep on the road, helping strangers. She has a past of her own, and knows what it’s like to be followed.

And there is someone right behind them, watching their every move…

Format: Paperback (320 pages)     Publisher: Vintage
Publication date: 15th April 2021 Genre: Thriller, Crime, Mystery

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My Review

I don’t read thrillers all that often but when I do it’s because I’m looking for a palate cleanser from my usual diet of historical fiction and I’m pleased to say Don’t Turn Around fitted the bill perfectly. If you’ve been following the blog tour, you’ll have seen book bloggers sharing extracts from the book along with their reviews. Even if you haven’t, there’s still time to check out their posts (see poster below).

The author deploys all the weapons of the thriller writer – short chapters, compelling final sentences, multiple timelines and narrators, as well as red herrings galore. I developed several theories about what was going on and who was behind it, all of which ended up being dumped in the literary equivalent of a roadside garbage bin.

However, the plot also incorporates more serious topics such as women’s rights and the impact of social media. In the case of the latter, it’s bang up-to-date with its references to anonymous site 4chan. Misogyny and violence against women is a key issue addressed. As Rebecca observes, “Wasn’t living under the constant threat of danger just a part of being a woman in this world?” In fact, my one reservation about the book was whether its cast of unlikable male characters and the way events play out doesn’t in fact reinforce this notion.

I liked the way the author explored the dynamics of the relationship between the two women. Although only ten years apart in age, they start off believing they have little in common. Cait’s journalistic ambitions have come to nothing, seeing her working as a bartender and relying on tips to meet her rent bill. Whereas, from Cait’s point of view, Rebecca is someone whose privileged life has been ‘one long red carpet rolling out in front of her, ready to be stepped on’. Of course, first impressions can be deceptive.

Gradually, the barriers between the two women start to break down to the extent that Cait even wonders if she and Rebecca might have been friends in other circumstances. However, she quickly dismisses the idea, reminding herself that she’s there to do a job and nothing else. As it turns out, they’ll need to rely on each other’s ingenuity and courage more than they could ever have imagined.

The book paints an interesting picture of small town America with its roadside restaurants, motels and bars. The chapter headings listing the places the two women travel through (the majority of which I suspect few people have ever heard) acquire a sort of poetic quality: Clovis, Melrose, Yeso, Vaughn, Pastura, Taiban, Tolar. The enumeration of the miles left to travel to their destination acts like a countdown clock, increasing the tension but also giving the story a real-time feel. In another clever touch, as the story switches between their journey and recent events in the lives of the two women, the intervals reduce from months, to weeks, and finally to days until the timelines finally converge.

The two women have several tense and bruising encounters as they drive through Texas and New Mexico, a landscape described as ‘nothing but scrubland and the long flat ribbon of road and the vast black sky’. Oh, and there’s no phone signal either.

Don’t Turn Around is the kind of book I categorize as a trains, planes and automobiles read by which I mean it would be the ideal choice to pass the time on a long journey – although perhaps not if travelling as a passenger in a car on a lonely road! The book is clearly the work of a skilled writer who knows how to grab the attention of the reader – well, this one at least – and ensure it never wanders until the final page is turned.

My thanks to Graeme Williams for letting me know about the book and for organising my review copy.

In three words: Compelling, intense, suspenseful

Try something similar: Duel by Richard Matheson (or the 1971 TV film version starring Dennis Weaver and directed by one Steven Spielberg)

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Jess BarryAbout the Author

Jessica Barry is a pseudonym for an American author who grew up in a small town in Massachusetts and was raised on a steady diet of library books and PBS. She attended Boston University, where she majored in English and Art History, before moving to London in 2004 to pursue an MA from University College London. She lives with her husband, Simon, and their two cats, Roger Livesey and BoJack Horseman. (Photo credit: Twitter profile)

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