Tag: contemporary fiction

Throwback Thursday: The Hour of Daydreams by Renee Macalino Rutledge

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Screenshot_2020-11-24-15-33-13_kindlephoto-236712199This week I was kindly reminded by WordPress  that it’s four years since WhatCathyReadNext was launched into the blogosphere. I thought I’d mark the occasion by revisiting the first book review I ever published on my blog, updated to reflect the current format of my reviews.

The Hour of DaydreamsAbout the Book

Manolo Lualhati, a respected doctor in the Philippine countryside, believes his wife hides a secret. Prior to their marriage, he spied her wearing wings and flying to the stars with her sisters each evening. As Tala tries to keep her dangerous past from her new husband, Manolo begins questioning the gaps in her stories – and his suspicions push him even further from the truth.

The Hour of Daydreams, a contemporary reimagining of a Filipino folktale, weaves in the perspectives of Tala’s siblings, her new in-laws, and the all-seeing housekeeper while exploring trust, identity, and how myths can take root from the seeds of our most difficult truths.

Format: ebook (232 pages)                  Publisher: Forest Avenue Press
Publication date: 14th March 2017  Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Fantasy

Find The Hour of Daydreams on Goodreads

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Amazon UK
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My Review

The author weaves fantasy and fable into the story of Tala and Manolo’s meeting and marriage.  The writing has a lyrical, fairytale quality which at times is mesmerising – “He began walking along the lip of the water, where it saturated the sand with kisses” – and the author has some imaginative metaphors/similes – “They talked rapidly and their conversation was like a dance; as one took the lead, the others were eager to follow. It was a meandering dance, circling from place to place…“.

However, at other times, the language was surprisingly ‘clunky’. “Cigarette in hand, he assessed the scene in front of him with some degree of calm” or “Your mother’s anguish invoked you from sleep, and we combined our efforts to pacify your discomfort.”

There are well-observed descriptions of everyday life, at the market or on the quayside, but I found some of the author’s extended metaphors, as in pretty much the whole of Chapter 6, baffling. The supporting characters are well-drawn and the importance of food and sharing communal meals is lovingly described.  I enjoyed the story of the main characters but, for me, the fantasy element confused rather than enhanced the narrative.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Forest Avenue Press via NetGalley.

In three words: Lyrical, imaginative, fantasy

Renee M RutledgeAbout the Author

Renee Macalino Rutledge is the author of The Hour of Daydreams, a literary fiction novel that has been dubbed “essential reading” by Literary Mama, “one of 24 books to get excited for in 2017” by The Oregonian, and a “captivating story of love and loss unlike any other” by Foreword Reviews.

Renee’s work has also been published in The Margins, ColorLines, Mutha Magazine, Ford City Anthology, Oakland Magazine, Literary Hub, Red Earth Review, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Necessary Fiction, Women Writers Women’s Books, The Tishman Review, and others. She lives and writes in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she works as a nonfiction book editor and regularly explores the tidepools and redwoods with her family. (Photo/bio credit: Goodreads author profile)

Connect with Renee
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#BookReview Three Women and a Boat by Anne Youngson @DoubledayUK

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Three Women and a BoatAbout the Book

“Eve expected Sally to come festooned with suitcases and overnight bags packed with everything she owned, but she was wrong. She arrived on foot, with a rucksack and a carrier bag.
‘I just walked away,’ she said, climbing on to the boat. Eve knew what she meant.”

Meet Eve, who has departed from her thirty-year career to become a Free Spirit; Sally, who has waved goodbye to her indifferent husband and two grown-up children; and Anastasia, defiantly independent narrowboat-dweller, suddenly vulnerable as she awaits a life-saving operation. Inexperienced and ill-equipped, Sally and Eve embark upon a journey through the canals of England, guided by the remote and unsympathetic Anastasia.

As they glide gently – and not so gently – through the countryside, the eccentricities and challenges of canal boat life draw them inexorably together, and a tender and unforgettable story unfolds.

Format: Hardcover (336 pages)                Publisher: Doubleday
Publication date: 12th November 2020 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Find Three Women and a Boat on Goodreads

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Hive | Amazon UK
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My Review

I really enjoyed Anne Youngson’s debut novel, Meet Me at the Museum, and was delighted to have the opportunity to meet her and have her sign my copy at Henley Literary Festival in 2018. I’m happy to say, Three Women and a Boat was an equal delight.

I loved the varied nature of the people Eve and Sally encounter on their journey, made up of what are described as “the picturesque, the not-quite-normal and the colourful“. Individuals such as Arthur with his peripatetic lifestyle, or Trompette and Billy who live aboard the narrowboat Grimm and entertain audiences with stories about canal history (one of which reminded me of Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse novel, The Wench Is Dead) or occasional ghostly goings on. And I mustn’t forget Noah the dog, the catalyst for bringing the three women together.

There is a real sense of community amongst the canal folk. “Known to each other, even if meetings such as this were occasional and occurred by chance. It was a community rooted in geography that was defined by its distance end to end rather than by boundaries round a fixed centre“.

It was fascinating to witness how Sally and Eve change over the space of a few weeks, finding within themselves a sense of purpose or the ability to exist in the moment that they hadn’t before. As Eve says to Sally, “You are the person you’ve always been, but that person is only now rising to the surface.” For example, Sally finds herself adapting to “canal time, where nothing is accomplished quickly, and times of arrival may be agreed in terms of a given week rather a given hour.”

That feeling of peace, restfulness and the time to notice and appreciate things really comes across through what the author calls the ‘music’ of the canal. “All the whispers, gurgles, whistles, rustles, cries and songs of the water and the wildlife and the fringe of vegetation”. Of course, to begin with, it’s not all plain sailing (if you’ll forgive the pun) with Eve and Sally facing the challenge of navigating the Number One safely through flights of locks and long, narrow tunnels, not to mention retrieving items lost overboard.

Of course, none of these experiences would have been possible without Eve and Sally’s chance meeting with Anastasia. She is a wonderful character who, although appearing rather irascible to begin with, is revealed, as the book progresses, to be someone who has had a positive impact on the lives of countless others. “There was about Anastasia a certainty and honesty that stiffened you up, raised your standards, held you accountable. And without her, it might be impossible to maintain.” She brings the same steely determination and sense of independence to her own situation although even she is forced to accept the help of others eventually. I think Anastasia’s words of wisdom could justify a whole book to themselves but I particularly liked her observation that growing up is about “accepting we are all extraordinary in ordinary ways“.

The ending of the book is not so much a resolution of the story as much as a resolution by each character that different possibilities lie ahead for them. Three Women and a Boat is an enchanting story full of warmth and insight, perfect for those in need of an uplifting read or for fans of the TV series Great Canal Journeys.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Doubleday via NetGalley

In three words: Warm, insightful, uplifting

Try something similar: How To Belong by Sarah Franklin

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About the Author

Anne Youngson lives in Oxfordshire and is married with two children and three grandchildren. Meet Me at the Museum, her debut novel, was shortlisted for the Costa Best First Novel Award and won the inaugural Paul Torday Prize for debut fiction by writers over sixty. Her new novel is also about women finding new experiences and friendships when they least expect it. Her work is published around the world.