Tag: ARCAugust

#BookReview The Bird in the Bamboo Cage by Hazel Gaynor @HarperFiction @RandomTTours

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Bird in Bamboo Cage BT PosterWelcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The Bird in the Bamboo Cage by Hazel Gaynor. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part and to HarperCollins for my digital review copy via NetGalley. Do check out the post by my tour buddy for today, Jane at Jane Hunt Writer.

9780008393632About the Book

When war imprisons them, only kindness will free them…

China, 1941. With Japan’s declaration of war on the Allies, Elspeth Kent’s future changes forever. When soldiers take control of the missionary school where she teaches, comfortable security is replaced by rationing, uncertainty and fear.

Ten-year-old Nancy Plummer has always felt safe at Chefoo School. Now the enemy, separated indefinitely from anxious parents, the children must turn to their teachers – to Miss Kent and her new Girl Guide patrol especially – for help. But worse is to come when the pupils and teachers are sent to a distant internment camp. Unimaginable hardship, impossible choices and danger lie ahead.

Inspired by true events, this is the unforgettable story of the life-changing bonds formed between a young girl and her teacher, in a remote corner of a terrible war.

Format: Hardcover (400 pages)         Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 20th August 2020 Genre: Historical fiction

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My Review

The story alternates between two first person narrators – Nancy Plummer and Elspeth Kent – providing the reader with different perspectives on the unfolding events. After all, the thoughts and feelings of a ten-year old girl are likely to be very different to that of an experienced teacher. What unites them is the value of friendship. I liked the way the friendship between Elspeth and fellow teacher, Minnie, grows, allowing them to share the past disappointments and tragedies in their lives. Similarly, Nancy’s friendship with Dorothy (‘Sprout’) and Joan (‘Mouse’) helps to ease the pain of separation from her parents.

When the teachers and children are forced to leave their beloved Chefoo School, Elspeth receives two parting gifts from their Chinese servants that will come to be a source of comfort in the years ahead. The first will help her to distance herself mentally from the traumatic experiences she will witness and endure. (It’s a theme picked up later in the book when a character observes, “Thinking is the real war, isn’t it? It’s our minds that will ultimately determine whether we win or lose; whether we survive.”) The second gift becomes not only a symbol of hope and resilience but a way to honour the memory of those who will not live to see freedom.

The reality of what in loco parentis really entails becomes clear as Elspeth, Minnie and the other teachers find themselves thrust into a role far beyond that of merely educators. As Elspeth muses, “I was here to step into the shoes of all the absent parents. I was here to watch over these temporary orphans of war.” Often, Elspeth underestimates just how important she is to the children’s mental and emotional strength. In a way, the need to look after and protect the children provides a distraction from the challenges each day brings – the unsanitary conditions, shortage of food, risk of disease and cruelty of the guards. As Elspeth remarks, “For the children I kept going.”

Routine and upholding the principles of the Girl Guides – loyalty, courage, hard work, and so on – are the strategies Elspeth and Minnie use to hold things together, distracting the children from the hardships of the internment camp. However, they cannot protect them from everything and none of the children will emerge from the experience unchanged.

As an admirer of John Buchan, I’m sure you can imagine my delight when one of his books turns up in the camp library set up by the redoubtable Mrs Trevellyan. (There’s also a mention of one of Buchan’s favourite books, The Pilgrim’s Progress, which, incidentally, is used to pass clandestine messages in his novel, Mr Standfast.) And I could only nod in agreement at Mrs T’s observation about the value of books: “This is our escape. Right here, in all these glorious words. Between these pages, we can be as free as the birds. We can go anywhere we please!”

The Bird in the Bamboo Cage brings to life the story of the children of Chefoo School in a way that immerses the reader in their experiences. I felt I was living every moment with them. Although there are things that are difficult to read about there are uplifting moments as well, including small acts of defiance and of unexpected kindness. I can only echo the words of the author when she notes in the Afterword, “No matter the time or distance from an historical event, the universal themes of love, grief, friendship, regret and resilience are what connect us all across the decades.”

In three words: Emotional, authentic, inspiring

Try something similar: The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng

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Hazel GaynorAbout the Author

Hazel Gaynor is an award-winning New York Times, USA Today, Irish Times, and international bestselling author of historical fiction, including her debut The Girl Who Came Home for which she received the 2015 RNA Historical Novel of the Year award. The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter was shortlisted for the 2019 HWA Gold Crown Award. She is published in thirteen languages and nineteen countries. Hazel is co-founder of creative writing events, The Inspiration Project, and currently lives in Ireland with
her family, though originally from Yorkshire.

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#BookReview The Scarlet Code by C. S. Quinn @CorvusBooks

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20200716_094106About the Book

England’s best spy. France’s deadliest conspirator.

Paris, 1789. The Bastille has fallen and Parisians pick souvenirs from the rubble. A killer stalks the lawless streets. His victims are female aristocrats. His executions use the most terrible methods of the ancient regime.

English spy Attica Morgan is laying low in Paris, helping nobles escape. When her next charge falls victim to the killer’s twisted machinations, Attica realises she alone can unmask him. But now it seems his deadly sights are set on her.

As the city prisons empty and a mob mobilises to storm Versailles, finding a dangerous criminal is never going to be easy. Attica’s only hope is to enlist her old ally, reformed pirate Jemmy Avery, to track the killer though his revolutionary haunts. But even with a pirate and her fast knife, it seems Attica might not manage to stay alive.

Format: Hardcover (400 pages)       Publisher: Corvus
Publication date: 6th August 2020 Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery

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My Review

The Scarlet Code is the second book in C. S. Quinn’s Revolutionary Spy series featuring female spy and trained assassin, Attica Morgan. It was published as an ebook on 4th June 2020 and is now also available in hardback. Although I wish I’d had time to read the first book in the series, The Bastille Spy, I’m pleased to say The Scarlet Code works perfectly well as a standalone read.

Attica Morgan makes a feisty and engaging heroine. She’s brave, smart, resourceful and is handy in a tight spot; not surprising when you’ve been trained as an assassin. And believe me, Attica gets herself into plenty of tight spots. Given her African heritage and keen sense of justice, Attica is passionately opposed to the slave trade and committed to doing whatever she can to end it. This includes rescuing abolitionists from the clutches of those whose wealth and power are threatened by the idea of equality for all. Despite her position in English society – she is, after all, Lady Morgan – Attica remains an outsider. “I do not fit anywhere. I am too dark to be English, too fair to be African.”

I really liked Attica’s friendship with dashing pirate Jemmy Avery, himself the product of “dockyard alliances and foreign flings“. It’s a partnership of equals based on mutual regard and fuelled by light-hearted banter with just a hint that something more than friendship could lie beneath the surface. He’s certainly the person who understands Attica best. “Some people are born to talk and flatter, others are bred for action.” No prizes for guessing which category Attica falls into.

Attica’s relationship with mentor and spy-master, Atherton, is equally intriguing. He’s a key figure in an organisation known as the Sealed Knot, “a partially legal hinterland of spies, crooks and thieves” which secretly pursues the interests of the British government at home and abroad. Atherton is an inventor of all sorts of gadgets useful for espionage; an 18th century version of ‘Q’ from Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, if you like.

Set against the backdrop of revolutionary France, Attica finds herself beset by enemies on every side. Not just ruthless killers on the streets of Paris and those opposed to the abolition of slavery but an old adversary, none other than Robespierre himself. The contrast between the wealth and excesses of the nobility and the poverty of the citizens of Paris is stark, making for exciting scenes as the populace rise in protest. Add to the mix an evil villain described as “A hunter… a man who stalks by night“, plenty of narrow escapes and some fantastic set pieces in locations such as the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles and you have all the ingredients for an exciting page-turner. Or perhaps, on reflection, a white water ride might be a better description, with dangerous undercurrents and treacherous obstacles hidden beneath the surface.

Can Attica turn the tables on those out to thwart her? She’d not be worth her salt if she can’t. Perhaps, though, there is one enemy who knows her weaknesses better than she does herself. The trap is set. Will she swallow the bait? It’s going to be a battle of wits.

From its dramatic opening chapter, The Scarlet Code moves along at a terrific pace. A glorious mixture of intrigue and swashbuckling action worthy of a golden age Hollywood movie starring Errol Flynn, it will delight readers who like their historical fiction to come with a generous helping of adventure. As for me… I may just have found a new series to fall in love with.

My thanks to Corvus and Readers First for my advance review copy.

In three words: Action-packed, thrilling, adventure

Try something similar: Traitor (Mercia Blakewood #3) by David Hingley

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-tjv5EVe_400x400About the Author

C. S. Quinn is a travel and lifestyle journalist for The Times, the Guardian and the Mirror, alongside many other magazines. Prior to this, Quinn’s background in historic research won prestigious postgraduate funding from the British Art Council. Quinn combined this with her first-hand experiences in far-flung places to create her bestselling The Thief Taker series. The Scarlet Code is the second novel in her new Revolutionary Spy series featuring Attica Morgan. (Photo credit: author Twitter profile)

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