Tag: contemporary fiction

#BookReview Ghosts of Spring by Luis Carrasco @epoque_press

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Ghosts of Spring Final Cover ImageAbout the Book

A young girl, anonymous and ignored, sits through a cold, hard west-country winter, begging for change and searching for a warm place to sleep.

Ghosts of Spring explores one girl’s desire to transcend the limits of her environment and forge a new life against all the odds.

Format: Paperback (192 pages)       Publisher: époque press
Publication date: 24th March 2022 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Find Ghosts of Spring on Goodreads

Pre-order/Purchase links
Bookshop.org
Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

Publisher | Hive | Amazon UK
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My Review

When a book is described by Claire Fuller, author of the Costa Award winning Unsettled Ground, as a ‘carefully observed and deeply moving story’ and its author is described as ‘a wonderful writer’ by Sharon Duggal, author of Should We Fall Behind, you know you’re in for something special.

At first sight, Ghosts of Spring is very different from the author’s previous novel, El Hacho. It’s a story about urban homelessness and the day-to-day challenges of living on the streets told from the point of view of one young woman. We never learn her name or what precisely has occurred in her life to bring her to the point where she is alone and homeless. What we do know is it’s cold, bleak and winter is coming with a vengeance. We live alongside her as she struggles through each day, rummaging through charity bags for clothing to help withstand the cold or begging for change so she can buy a cup of tea, all the time guarding her meagre possessions from being stolen. The level of detail is extraordinary even down to the practicalities of dealing with menstruation.

The book is unflinching in its depiction of the plight of those forced to live on the streets, how they become seemingly invisible to the rest of society. ‘Hidden in plain sight amongst them, in nooks and doorways and sitting with heads hanging against cold stone walls are huddled shapes, blanketed and inert… Ghosts of flesh, they are here and everywhere and nobody sees a thing’.  Just as the girl is nameless so are the other street dwellers she encounters, known only by the monikers she has given them – ‘Tiger-Beard’, ‘Shouts-A-Lot’ or ‘Lives-In-A-Tent’.

The girl’s experiences have forced her to develop ‘gnarly protective instincts’ and to trust no-one.  The exception is Suni, a woman in a similarly vulnerable position but who is at least able to offer the girl a meal from time to time. When a series of events occur that starkly illustrate the dangers of life on the streets, for women in particular, the girl leaves the city without much idea of her destination. She arrives in the picture postcard village of Burford, thinking there may be rich pickings from the tourists who flock there.

Initially, the girl finds herself just as invisible as she did in the city until a random act of kindness changes everything. She is introduced to the beauty of the natural world exploring a very different landscape to the grim one she left behind.  ‘She looks up over the fields to a fleet of sculpted white clouds running across the swathe of blue sky.’ We learn that generosity does exist in the world and there is the possibility of a different future.

I was one of the legion of fans of Luis Carrasco’s first novel El Hacho. It’s a skill to be able to pack so much into a relatively short book but, in Ghosts of Spring, he has managed it again. The book pulls no punches in its depiction of the daily experience of homelessness but it is, ultimately, a story of hope and the resilience of the human spirit.

My thanks to Sean at époque press for my review copy.

In three words: Tender, thought-provoking, eloquent

Try something similar: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

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Luis Carrasco PhotoAbout the Author

Luis Carrasco lives and writes in Gloucestershire. His debut novel El Hacho was published by époque press in 2018.

Ghosts of Spring is his second novel.

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#BlogTour #BookReview The One by Claire Frost @TeamBATC

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The One - blog tour graphic (002)Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The One by Claire Frost which will be published on 3rd March. My thanks to Sara-Jade Virtue at Simon & Schuster for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my review copy.

The OneAbout the Book

What happens when you lose the love of your life just three months after you meet him?

Lottie Brown has finally found The One. Leo is everything she’s ever wanted – he’s handsome, kind, funny and totally gets her. Three months into their relationship, Lottie is in love and happier than ever before.

But then Leo tragically dies, and Lottie is left floundering.

As she struggles to stop her life falling apart, Lottie learns more about the man she thought she knew, and starts to question whether Leo really was as perfect as he seemed…

Format: Paperback (368 pages)     Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: 3rd March 2022 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Find The One on Goodreads

Pre-order/Purchase links
Bookshop.org
Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

The news of Leo’s death arrives suddenly and completely without warning, just at the point where Lottie has come to believe their relationship has blossomed into something permanent. So much so, that she’s reached the important point of introducing him to her sisters. As Lottie struggles to cope with her grief, the reader learns about how Lottie and Leo first met and the sweet way in which their relationship developed built on a shared sense of humour, love of the music of Elton John, a easygoing sense of companionship but also that important spark of passion.  After the particularly disastrous end to her previous relationship, for the first time in many years, Lottie feels loved and supported in a partnership built on trust.

It’s no surprise therefore that when Lottie discovers that Leo had kept things from her, it only adds to her sense of despair at his death.  Why did he not tell her? Why did none of his family disclose such a vital piece of information? She spends long hours alone pondering on the things she and Leo had planned to do that now will never happen – travelling around the world, even starting a family. ‘Then, in the blink of an eye, all those dreams, all the expectation, all that happiness had been ripped away from her.’ One of the most affecting scenes for me was when Lottie finds herself alone at Leo’s funeral and on the periphery, having never been introduced to any of his family except his cousin Ross.

Usually close to her sisters, Em and Annie, Lottie’s grief makes her push them away, rebuffing all offers of help and advice. After all, how can they with their seemingly perfect lives understand what she’s going through? For a time she retreats into an imaginary world in which Leo is not dead.   But, as we learn, Lottie’s a strong person and when she finally accepts the support of her sisters, she finds the courage to embrace new opportunities.

The One is a tender and emotional story of coming to terms with loss, the importance of family through difficult times and the resilience of the human spirit.

In three words: Engaging, bittersweet, tender

Try something similar: Before We Grow Old by Clare Swatman

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Claire FrostAbout the Author

Claire Frost grew up in Manchester, the middle of three sisters. She always wanted to do a job that involved writing, so after studying Classics at Bristol University she started working in magazines. For the last twelve years she’s been at the Sun on Sunday’s Fabulous magazine, where she is Assistant Editor and also responsible for the title’s book reviews. She can mostly be found at her desk buried under a teetering TBR pile.

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