Tag: contemporary fiction

Blog Tour/Book Review: Joseph Barnaby by Susan Roebuck

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Joseph Barnaby

I’m delighted to be co-hosting today’s stop on the blog tour for Joseph Barnaby by Susan Roebuck.  You can read my review below and don’t forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win one of the following prizes:

1st prize an Amazon book token (£10)
2nd prize – 2 x signed paperbacks of Joseph Barnaby
3rd prize – 2 x ebooks of Joseph Barnaby

Giveaway Terms and Conditions – Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter link. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then the giveaway organiser reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time the data will be deleted.   The giveaway organiser is responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

Joseph BarnabyAbout the Book

Stand by your beliefs – even if it means going to the end of the Earth.

By standing up for his principles to save the life of a prize racehorse, farrier Joseph Barnaby loses everything. Now, a personal vendetta has become too deep to fight and he escapes to the island of Madeira where he finds work on a small farm at the foot of a cliff, only accessible by boat. The balmy climate and never-ending supply of exotic fruit, vegetables and honey make it sound like paradise but, for Joseph, it’s the ideal place to hide from the world.

Can the inhabitants of Quinta da Esperança, who have more grit in them than the pebbled beach that fronts the property, help Joseph find his self-worth again? And can he escape the danger that draws ever nearer?

Format: Ebook (343 pp.)                 Publisher: Crooked Cat Books
Published: 5th October 2018          Genre: Fiction, Romance

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Joseph Barnaby on Goodreads

My Review

The book alternates between two timelines before and after the event that caused Joseph to seek refuge from his unhappy memories and the overwhelming sense of guilt that haunts him.  The island of Madeira is the location of that refuge although, as he admits himself, it could have been anywhere as long it was away from England and the trauma of his recent experiences.  As it happens, Madeira and more particularly the Quinta owned by Fernando turns out to be the perfect haven for Joseph.  Its remote location, accessible only by boat or a precipitous path, means he can hide himself away from the outside and the discovery he fears.  Fernando’s wife, Maria, and niece, Sofia, are the only other inhabitants of the farm… if you don’t count Joseph’s new friend, Ed the donkey.

Madeira 2The smattering of Portuguese phrases and references to local dishes really help to conjure up the atmosphere of the beautiful island of Madeira.  I was lucky enough to holiday there a few years ago and the scenery is as dramatic and stunning as the book describes, especially if you venture on a bus ride around the coast.  The bus drivers really do deserve a medal for bravery!  Hint: if you suffer from vertigo, best not sit by the window.

What was interesting was that, although set in the present, I found myself being surprised by references to modern things such as solar panels.  I think this was because the way of life depicted on the Quinta seems unchanged for generations and steeped in tradition. Given the Quinta’s basic amenities (composting toilet, no thank you) it really felt the story could have been set at any time over the past fifty years.  While I was enjoying the story I also learnt a little about grape harvesting, wine-making, bee-keeping, knot tying and the role performed by a farrier.

I found that some of the characters were more subtly drawn and believable than others.  I liked the way the author depicted the relationship between Maria and Fernando, Sofia’s aunt and uncle, as a mature couple who still display the mutual affection (and passion) of their younger days.  It was great as well to have such a sensitive and positive treatment of a character with a disability and for that character to play such a central role in the story.

MadeiraIn Joseph Barnaby, the author skilfully melds a tender romance with the gradual reveal of the mystery of Joseph’s past, all set against the stunning backdrop of the island of Madeira.  Personally, I wasn’t sure it needed the mystical element introduced via one of the characters.   What’s not in doubt is that the book is a great advertisement for the island of Madeira!

I received a review copy courtesy of publishers, Crooked Cat Books, and Rachel’s Random Resources.

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In three words: Romantic, atmospheric, tender

Try something similar… Forest Dancer by Susan Roebuck

About the Author

Susan writes: I was born and educated in the UK (I am British!) but now live in Portugal. I’ve been an English teacher for many years with the British Council and also the Portuguese civil service where I developed e-learning courses. My first love is, of course, my husband, my second writing, and my third painting. And now I have time to be able to indulge in all three.

My debut novel, Perfect Score was published by Mundania Press in September 2010 and the paperback launched in May 2011.  It was a finalist in the 2012 EPIC e-book Awards in the Mainstream Category.  My second novel was a dark thriller/fantasy, Hewhay Hall. It won an EPPIE award in the 2013 EPIC (Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition) e-Book Awards in the Horror Category.  Next came Rising Tide, published in 2015. Published by Mundania Press, it is set in a tiny fishing village that the world, and most of Portugal, has forgotten. Read about the wonders of the ocean and see if Piper from Norfolk UK and Leo from Alaska, USA, can find what they’re searching for in the little village of Luminosa.

Forest Dancer was published on 20th February 2018 by CrookedCat Books. This is novel number two set in Portugal but this time in the forests outside Lisbon. Instead of the sea (as in Rising Tide), now find out about the wonders of the forest and whether classical ballerina, Flora, can find what she’s searching for in the small village of Aurora.

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Book Review: The Secrets of Primrose Square by Claudia Carroll

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The Secrets of Primrose SquareAbout the Book

There are so many stories hidden behind closed doors . . .

It’s late at night and the rain is pouring down on the Dublin city streets. A mother is grieving for her dead child. She stands silently outside the home of the teenage boy she believes responsible. She watches…

In a kitchen on the same square, a girl waits anxiously for her mum to come home. She knows exactly where she is, but she knows she cannot reach her.

A few doors down, and a widow sits alone in her room. She has just delivered a bombshell to her family during dinner and her life is about to change forever.

And an aspiring theatre director has just moved in to a flat across the street. Her landlord is absent, but there are already things about him that don’t quite add up…

Welcome to Primrose Square.

Format: Hardcover (416 pp.)    Publisher: Zaffre
Published: 26th July 2018   Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Secrets of Primrose Square on Goodreads

My Review

I’ll let you into a secret.  The Secrets of Primrose Square is not the sort of book to which I’d normally be attracted.  I assumed it would be ‘chick lit’ (although I really don’t like that term) which is not a genre I generally read.   I know, a prejudice on my part potentially preventing me from reading some great books.  However, luckily, I read an extract from the opening chapters of The Secrets of Primrose Square on the Readers First website and found myself immediately drawn to the stories of Susan and Melissa.  In return for providing my ‘first impressions’, I was entered into their weekly prize draw and was fortunate enough to win a copy of the book.

Now let me tell you some secrets about the book itself…

You’re going to find Melissa tugging at your heart strings, both because of the situation in which she finds herself and the way she responds to it.  You’re going to wish you had a neighbour just like Jayne and that when you get to her age you have the courage to do what she does.  You’re also going to sympathise with her intensely once you meet her son, Jason, and daughter-in-law, Irene.   You’re going to hope you or anyone close to you never has to go through what Susan is going through.  You’re going to make some assumptions about some of the other characters that will probably turn out to be wrong.  Most of all, by the end of the book, you’re more than likely going to feel like you know Primrose Square as if you lived there yourself.

Some of the many things I enjoyed about the book are the way the author creates a distinctive narrative voice for each character, complete with Irish colloquialisms in many cases.   I also loved some of the humour.  For example, Jason’s initial encounter with Jayne’s new friend or the catty comments that fly to and fro between the actresses playing Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Mrs Bennett in the theatre production of Pride and Prejudice that aspiring theatre director, Nancy, is working on.  (It reminded me of the great scene in The Importance of Being Earnest where Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax swap insults disguised as polite chitchat and Cecily deliberately gives Gwendolen sugar in her tea when she didn’t want sugar, and cake when she expressly asked for bread and butter.)

I’ll confess that I didn’t engage quite as much with the character of Nancy, although the behind the scenes detail of the work involved in a theatre production were fascinating and clearly informed by the author’s own experience.  The secret that Nancy is trying to leave behind in London by moving to Dublin I found a little underwhelming when finally revealed.  However, I loved the relationship she forms with Melissa.  If you’re anything like me though, it is the central story of Susan and the life-changing event her family have experienced that will keep you turning the pages.

The Secrets of Primrose Square is a story of finding a way through grief, the importance of a sense of community, having the courage to make a new start and the precious gift of female solidarity.  By turns it is heartbreaking and heart-warming.  I would say it’s the perfect feel-good read.

I received a review copy courtesy of publishers, Zaffre, and Readers First, in return for an honest and unbiased review.

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In three words: Heart-warming, emotional, hopeful

Try something similar…These Dividing Walls by Fran Cooper (read my review here)

Claudia CarrollAbout the Author

Claudia was born in Dublin, where she still lives and works as an author and actress.  She is a graduate of UCD, the College of Music and of the Gaiety School of Acting. Since then she has worked extensively as an actress on the Irish stage, but is probably best known for her role as TV’s Nicola Prendergast in the long running Dublin soap opera, ‘Fair City.’

She’s a Sunday Times top ten bestselling author in the UK and a number one bestselling author in Ireland, selling more than a half a million copies in paperback alone.  To date Claudia has published fourteen novels, four of which have been optioned, two for movies and two for TV.  She’s currently hassling producers for a walk-on role, and is hoping they might even let her keep the costumes for free.

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