Tag: contemporary fiction

Book Review – Secrets of the Bees by Jane Johnson @HoZ_Books

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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Secrets of the Bees by Jane Johnson especially given it’s publication day! My thanks to Eleanor and Sophie at Ransom PR for inviting me to join the tour and to Head of Zeus for my review copy via NetGalley. Do check out the review by my tour buddy today, bookstagrammer cosylittlereadingcorner.

About the Book

Time has forgotten this remote corner of West Cornwall, and left its many secrets undisturbed. Until now…

Ezra Curnow has lived in the little cottage on the Trengrose estate all his life. He was born there, as was his father, and his grandfather before that. It is his own little Cornish paradise.

Then the mistress of the estate, Eliza, dies without leaving a will, putting the cottage’s ownership into question. London financier Toby and his wife Minty are soon enticed by Trengrose’s charm and, worse still, see a lucrative rental opportunity in Ezra’s cottage.

But Ezra is prepared to battle to save his beloved home, and has a number of secret weapons in his armoury. What Ezra doesn’t know is that Eliza also took some secrets to her grave – and she doesn’t intend to rest quietly until they come to light…

Format: Hardcover (336 pages) Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 5th June 2025 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

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My Review

Ezra epitomises someone who is ‘in tune’ with nature in a way people once were but are sadly less so these days. He grows his own fruit and vegetables (and some other things as well), tends to the bees in their hive and uses herbal remedies. He doesn’t see humans as superior to animals. Although he has a cat companion, he doesn’t own him; Bucca comes and goes as he pleases. The same with the jackdaw who pecks mealworms from Ezra’s pocket.

Ezra has few material possessions and his cottage doesn’t have the things we might consider essential today, like electricity, a telephone line or an inside bathroom. But that doesn’t matter to him. He’s happy living in the cottage where he was born and the only way he intends to leave is, in his own words, feet first.

The sale of Trengrose House threatens to upend everything because its new owners, the Hardmans, see only its financial potential. They represent everything Ezra is not. They’re not interested in preserving the estate with its orchards and meadows. To them the Celtic cross in the lane is merely an obstacle not a sacred monument that’s stood there for centuries. And they’re definitely not interested that Ezra’s lived in the cottage all his life, they just want him out. Unfortunately they haven’t counted on Ezra’s determination, resourcefulness, and ingenuity. And his capacity for mischief making.

There’s quite a contrast between the more lighthearted moments and what we learn about Ezra’s experiences as a young man.

The landscape, culture and history of Cornwall is an essential element of the book, reflecting the author’s own attachment to the county. The story also incorporates some of the social and economic issues Cornish people face today, such as a lack of affordable housing, but in a way that never feels like a political tract. There is though a strong ecological message that runs throughout the book. ‘Everywhere humans go, they wreck it. Pillage the land for whatever profit they can make out of it, without giving a thought to the consequences for any other living thing.’

It seems to me all the characters learn something in the course of the book, leading them to a sense of fulfilment. With Ezra’s help, Mindy and Toby’s son Dominic learns to identify the local flora and fauna, whilst their daughter Miranda comes to appreciate the wild landscape around Trengrose with the help of Ezra’s great-nephew Sam. Mindy becomes absorbed in discovering the history of Trengrose House and its previous occupants, uncovering some long hidden secrets in the process. Toby? Well, the only thing he learns is that there are some things money can’t buy. (The description of him as an ‘encysted pustule’ is spot on.)

The reader learns quite a bit as well about Ezra, including some things I certainly didn’t see coming.

Secrets of the Bees is a heartwarming story that has woven into it a message about the risk we run if we lose our connection with nature and value things purely in monetary terms. ‘You can’t buy birdsong, or the sight of your bees visiting your own flowers, or the sun through the leaves of the apple trees, or the smell of ripe tomatoes you’ve grown from seed…’ Add a whiff of the supernatural, a touch of mystery and an element of melodrama and you have all the ingredients for an entertaining read.

In three words: Engaging, tender, intriguing

About the Author

Jane Johnson is a novelist, historican and publisher. She is the UK publisher of many bestselling authors, including George R.R. Martin. She has written for both adults and children, including the bestselling novels The Tenth Gift and The Salt Road. Jane is married to a Berber chef she met while climbing in Morocco. She divides her time between London, Cornwall and the Anti-Atlas Mountains.

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Book Review – The Night Swimmer by Simon J. Houlton @Pigritudous

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About the Book

Front cover of The Night Swimmer by Simon J. Houlton

William “Bill” Eckersley is an unemployed writer, a night swimmer, and a man drowning in alcohol and self-doubt. Trapped in a crumbling seaside town — and within his own mind — he spirals as he searches for creative inspiration and a way out of his own inertia.

His solitary existence begins to unravel, pulling him into an increasingly disorienting world shaped as much by memory and imagination as reality.

Format: ebook (159 pages) Publisher:
Publication date: 6th February 2025 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

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My Review

Bill’s story is an emotional rollercoaster with slow ascents as he seems to come close to achieving the future he imagines for himself only to be followed by dizzying drops when disappointment and disillusionment see him seek out the only thing that numbs the pain: alcohol. His other place of sanctuary is the sea. His night-time swims from the beach at Mugborough (standing in for Hastings in East Sussex) give him a sense of peace whilst at the same time providing the possibility of just letting the current take him where it will; to drift, just as he is in life.

Although the story is mostly Bill’s, there are occasional sections from the point of view of other characters. There’s Eileen, Bill’s lascivious landlady, and Preston, the barman of Bill’s favourite pub, who has a world weary but often astute view of the clientele.

Another is Linda, Bill’s nemesis at the local Job Centre, who takes a sadistic pleasure in pressing Bill to accept one soulless job after another with the threat of sanctions if he doesn’t. (I’m sure there are well-intentioned Job Centre employees out there in real life.) Bill’s experiences illustrate how an individual can be ground down by an uncaring system that cannot or will not recognise a person’s potential or their frailties.

It’s impossible not to feel sorry for Bill when he encounters situations where his anxiety becomes so overwhelming he can barely function and his only solution is to run away, usually to the pub. The fact someone so vulnerable should feel so alone and seem destined to be a perpetual outsider is heartbreaking.

At times, Bill seems to have a fragile hold on reality, and there were points in the book where I shared that feeling of not knowing quite what is real and what is in Bill’s imagination. The author actually uses this to great advantage as the story unfolds.

Personally I found the occasional shifts from past to present tense, and the presence of long sentences with commas where I would have expected full stops did impact the flow of the writing. However, the strength of the story outweighed these stylistic choices.

The Night Swimmer takes you to dark places and includes scenes that are difficult to read. But there is humour to provide occasional respite from the darkness. One of my favourites was the thankless and ultimately futile task Bill is given at the local refuse tip.

The epitome of a character-led book, The Night Swimmer is a hard-hitting story about loneliness and the struggle to overcome your demons.

I received a digital review copy courtesy of the author.

In three words: Dark, poignant, thought-provoking
Try something similar: A Place Without Pain by Simon Bourke

About the Author

Simon J. Houlton grew up in Hastings and has worked just about every dead-end job imaginable —pulling pints, driving taxis, and grinding through the last few decades doing whatever was necessary to get by. A product of a bang-average comprehensive school, he was told by teachers he’d never achieve much. Instead, he found his own path, picking up a pen and writing instinctively, inspired as a teenager by the raw energy of the UK punk scene and a do-it-yourself attitude. Having lived poor on two continents, he’s seen life from the ground up, and his stories reflect that grit, resilience, and unfiltered honesty. In 2025, Simon was featured in Sussex World for his literary debut, The Night Swimmer, a psychological novel set in Hastings Old Town.

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