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#BlogTour #BookReview Summer in Provence by Lucy Coleman @BoldwoodBooks @rararesources

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Summer in ProvenceWelcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Summer in Provence by Lucy Coleman. And doesn’t that sound good just at the moment? Thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Boldwood Books for my review copy via NetGalley. Do be sure to check out the posts by my tour buddies Adele at kraftireader and Lynne at Just4MyBooks.

Provence PrizeYou can read my review below but, before you do, why not enter the giveaway for a chance to win a signed paperback copy of A Springtime to Remember and a Boldwood Tote bag.

Enter via Rafflecopter here.

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cover185432-mediumAbout the Book

Is a change as good as a rest?

When married couple Fern and Aiden have a windfall, their reactions could not be more different. While Fern is content to pay off their mortgage and build a nest egg before starting a family, her husband is set on traveling the world.

Fern’s not much of a back-packer so, before she knows it, the idea of a ‘marriage gap year’ takes shape. And, as Aiden heads off to the wilds of Australia, Fern chooses the more restful Provence for her year out.
Set amidst the glorious French scenery, Château de Vernon offers a retreat from the hustle and bustle of normal life, and Fern agrees to help out in return for painting lessons from the owner – renowned, but rather troubled, painter Nico.

As their year unfolds in very different ways, will the time apart transform their marriage, or will it drive Fern and Aiden even further apart…

Format: e-book (352 pages)             Publisher: Boldwood Books
Publication date: 2nd April 2020  Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Romance

Find Summer in Provence on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

Although the book’s title is Summer in Provence, events take place over the course of a year (and beyond).  I really enjoyed how the author conjured up the effect of the changing seasons on the landscape around the Château and there are some particularly charming scenes as the team and their guests celebrate Christmas. Bûche de Noël, anyone?

Fern’s discovery of, and growing confidence in, her artistic talent is really heart-warming to follow. But maybe it’s not only her creativity that will be kindled? When you have a man described as having mesmerizing dark brown eyes, being instantly magnetic and being well cast as Mr Darcy and that person turns out to be Fern’s mentor and founder of the establishment, Nico Gallegos, surely we know what will happen? Throw in the fact he is a bit of a tortured soul and you have the perfect romantic hero. Ah, but in the skilled hands of the author I can assure you it’s not as simple as that.

I loved the way Fern’s innate empathy and intuitive instincts allowed her to bond with some of the guests at the retreat such as Kellie, a young woman with a troubled past. Like me, you may well give a little cheer at the course of a particular Skype call concerning Kellie’s future. Patricia was another lovely character who, as it turns out, holds the key to solving an important problem. As for Fern herself, she tends to underestimate her qualities resulting in one rather lovely moment involving a sheet of paper.

Aiden appears infrequently in person and, for that reason, initially I found it a little difficult to understand Fern’s continued devotion to him given the upheaval he has visited on their lives. His protestations of affection didn’t seem quite consistent with his behaviour and lack of communication during their time apart. Again, the author has some unexpected twists and turns up her sleeve to wrongfoot the reader’s expectations.

There are lovely little touches such as the apposite chapter headings and the author’s parting gift, as it were, giving the reader a glimpse of possible futures for the main characters in the book.  Does absence make the heart grow fonder for Fern and Aiden? I’m sure you don’t expect me to tell you! You’re just going to have to read the book to find out.

Summer in Provence, with its heart-warming story set in glorious scenery, is the ideal pick-me-up for the times we’re living through. “When good things happen to good people, it leaves such a warm feeling in your heart.” Amen.

In three words: Romantic, uplifting, engaging

Try something similar: The House That Alice Built by Chris Penhall

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Linn 2About the Author

From interior designer to author, Linn B. Halton – who also writes under the pen name of Lucy Coleman – says ‘it’s been a fantastic journey!’ Linn is the bestselling author of more than a dozen novels, including Summer on the Italian Lakes, Snowflakes over Holly Cove, The French Adventure and A Cottage in the Country. She is represented by Sara Keane of the Keane Kataria Literary Agency.

When she’s not writing, or spending time with the family, she’s either upcycling furniture, working in the garden, or practising Tai Chi. Living in Coed Duon in the Welsh Valleys with her ‘rock’, Lawrence, and gorgeous Bengal cat Ziggy, she is an eternal romantic. Linn is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Society of Authors and writes feel-good, uplifting novels about life, love and relationships.

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#BlogTour #BookReview The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay @MidasPR @groveatlantic @dylanthomprize #SUDTP20

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Blog-Tour-Begins

Welcome to today’s stop on the mega blog tour celebrating the authors on the longlist for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2020. I’m delighted to bring you my review of one of the longlisted books – The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay. My thanks to Martina at Midas PR for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my review copy.

Look out for the announcement of the shortlist on 7th April. Ensure you don’t miss a thing by following the hashtag #SUDTP20 on Twitter.

If you missed it, you can also read my review here of another of the longlisted books, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong.

Dylan Thomas Prize TimetableAbout the Dylan Thomas Prize

Launched in 2006, the annual Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prizeis one of the most prestigious awards for young writers, aimed at encouraging raw creative talent worldwide. It celebrates and nurtures international literary excellence.

The £30,000 Prize is awarded to the best published literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under.

The Far FieldAbout the Book

In the wake of her mother’s death, Shalini, a privileged and restless young woman from Bangalore, sets out for a remote Himalayan village in the troubled northern region of Kashmir. Certain that the loss of her mother is somehow connected to the decade-old disappearance of Bashir Ahmed, a charming Kashmiri salesman who frequented her childhood home, she is determined to confront him.

But upon her arrival, Shalini is brought face to face with Kashmir’s politics, as well as the tangled history of the local family that takes her in. And when life in the village turns volatile and old hatreds threaten to erupt into violence, Shalini finds herself forced to make a series of choices that could hold dangerous repercussions for the very people she has come to love.

Format: Paperback (464 pages)          Publisher: Grove Press
Publication date: 2nd January 2020 Genre: Literary Fiction

Find The Far Field on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com
*links provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

The book switches back and forth in time between Shalini’s memories of her childhood and the visits of Bashir Ahmed, and her journey to Kashmir to try to track him down following her mother’s death. It’s skilfully plotted so there’s always more to be revealed and there is a tantalising sense of tension throughout. I expect I’m not the only reader who had a disturbing sense of history potentially repeating itself at certain moments.

The author brilliantly conveys the tensions within Shalini’s family, in particular her mercurial mother who can change from charming to disdainful in a moment, what Shalini refers to as her mother’s ‘lightning switch from one self to another.’ It’s something her father finds difficult to handle.  With Bashir Ahmed and her mother, it’s a different matter. Shalini recalls, ‘Looking back, I can see that something powerful occurred in that moment and it still astonishes me all these years later: Bashir Ahmed understood in about five minutes what took my father decades‘.

Like some three dimensional chess game, Shalini recalls her younger self’s struggle to make sense of ‘these shifting, traitorous pieces – mother, visitor, father – trying to keep track of their masked sentences, their mutable moods, waiting for a clear sign of what my next move should be.’ The burden of keeping secrets is also evident. Shalini reflects, ‘I thought of all the secrets I had carried as far back into my childhood as I could remember. I felt them pile one on top of another, suffocating me.’ However, perhaps some secrets are best left buried.

The author’s acute observation of the way in which people interact is memorably displayed in a scene depicting what must surely be the most ill-judged dinner party in history.

I loved the descriptions of the small Kashmiri village where Bashir Ahmed’s family live and the details of everyday life. ‘…The houses were flung wide upon the mountainside, like a handful of brightly coloured toys tossed by a careless hand, separated by narrow rocky ridges and terraced cornfields.’ The generous hospitality offered to Shalini both by Bashir Ahmed’s family, and earlier by Abdul Latief and his wife, Zoya, shows how this is embedded in Indian culture. However, the tension between the different religious communities and the shadow of past events are always in the background, as Shalini will discover as she faces difficult decisions about her future and comes face to face with the realities of life in Kashmir. The contrasts are stark: ‘...this place, these people, this life, with its secrets and its violence, its hardness and its beauty.’

One of the question the book poses is whether the impulse to act is always the wisest option, even for the best of intentions. “Isn’t that the important thing, to do something?” Shalini insists at one point. On the other hand, is the price of not acting just as high? Shalini’s experiences lead her to conclude that, in her family at least, ‘Ours has always been a story of cowardice, of things left unsaid.’ The book also reveals the unintended consequences on others of our actions. In Shalini’s case, this is manifested in a quite devastating way.

The Far Field is the sort of book I love: great writing, a compelling story that immerses me in the lives of its characters, and that gives me an insight into the culture and history of an area of the world about which I knew little. I am grateful to the Dylan Thomas Prize and Midas PR for the opportunity to read a book I might not otherwise have come across. It certainly deserves its place on the longlist, I hope it makes the shortlist and I would love to see it win.

In three words: Assured, acutely-observed, compelling

Try something similar: The Storyteller by Pierre Jarawan

Madhuri-VijayAbout the Author

Madhuri Vijay was born and raised in Bangalore. She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, and her writing has appeared in Best American Non-Required Reading, Narrative Magazine, and Elle India, among other publications.

The Far Field is her first book. She currently lives in Hawaii. [Photo credit: Dylan Thomas Prize/Manvi Rao]

Connect with Madhuri
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