Tag: giveaway

Blog Tour/Book Review: A Light of Her Own by Carrie Callaghan

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I’m delighted to be hosting today’s stop on the blog tour for A Light of Her Own by Carrie Callaghan.  My grateful thanks to Amy at Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for inviting me to participate in the tour.

Visit the tour page to see the other great book bloggers taking part in the tour and links to their reviews and Q&As with the author. For residents of the US, there’s a giveaway with a chance to win one of two signed hardcover copies of A Light of Her Own.  Enter via the tour page where you can also find the terms and conditions of the giveaway.

A Light of Her OwnAbout the Book

In Holland 1633, a woman’s ambition has no place.

Judith is a painter, dodging the law and whispers of murder to try to become the first woman admitted to the Haarlem painters guild. Maria is a Catholic in a country where the faith is banned, hoping to absolve her sins by recovering a lost saint’s relic.

Both women’s destinies will be shaped by their ambitions, running counter to the city’s most powerful men, whose own plans spell disaster. A vivid portrait of a remarkable artist, A Light of Her Own is a richly-woven story of grit against the backdrop of Rembrandt and an uncompromising religion.

Format: Hardcover (320 pp.)    Publisher: Amberjack Publishing
Published: 13th November 2018   Genre: Historical Fiction

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

Find A Light of Her Own on Goodreads

My Review

I came to this book expecting it to focus mainly on the story of Judith and her struggle to be accepted by the male-dominated Guilds who governed the art world of the time.   I certainly got this and found her quest for independence and her determination to make the most of her artistic talent quite inspiring.  The book also gave me a fascinating insight into the operation of the art market at the time: the power of the Guilds to control the activities of artists, such as setting up a workshop, employing apprentices and even selling completed works.

The reader is left in no doubt how central the act of creating art is to Judith’s existence: ‘Every time she painted, she fell a little in love with her subject, snared by the crevices and shadows and twitches that made the person. Painting meant focusing on the details, much like love.  So each of her paintings became, in a way, an act of adoration.’  I really liked the way the author managed to convey Judith’s painterly eye for detail and composition, even as she goes about her daily tasks.  To Judith, everything and everyone is a potential subject. ‘Judith looked over at Freija Woutersooz. […] As she spoke, her mouth was tremendously expressive, twitching and curling, but the rest of her expression was calm.  There was something about the dichotomy that made Judith shiver.  She had no idea how she would paint that woman.’   Judith even manages to diffuse a potentially hostile situation at one point through artistic means!

Alongside Judith’s story, the reader witnesses the experiences of her friend, Maria (although it’s speculation on the author’s part that they ever met in real life).  Maria is also a talented painter but she is consumed by a sense of guilt about what she feels is her own sinful nature.  It is this, rather than prejudice, that prevents Maria from making the most of her talent and in fact leads her to take a course of action which will endanger herself and, ultimately, present her friend Judith with a difficult moral choice.   In addition, the author chooses to introduce a mystery element to the narrative, involving a sinister character and suggestions of corruption in high places…and maybe something worse.

Personally, I found Judith’s story sufficiently interesting without the need for the other story lines.    I also believe a glossary (there wasn’t one in my advance reading copy) would be a useful addition to the book in order to explain some of the Dutch words used such as references to currency and measurements.

A Light of Her Own is an engaging story based on the life of a remarkable woman, Judith Leyster, who sought to challenge the social norms and prejudices of the time in order to fulfil her talent for painting.  As the author admits in the Historical Notes section, there is limited contemporary documentation about Judith’s life so much of the book is necessarily a work of  imagination on her part.  I’ll admit that I had never heard of Judith Leyster before reading this book however, thanks to the author, I now know of Judith’s existence and her achievements. A Light of Her Own helps ensure that Judith’s life is no longer hidden in the darkness.

I received a advance reading copy courtesy of publishers, Amberjack Publishing, NetGalley and Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours.

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In three words: Fascinating, detailed, illuminating

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03_Carrie CallaghanAbout the Author

Carrie Callaghan is a writer living in Maryland with her spouse, two young children, and two ridiculous cats. Her short fiction has appeared in Weave Magazine, The MacGuffin, Silk Road, Floodwall, and elsewhere. Carrie is also an editor and contributor with the Washington Independent Review of Books. She has a Master’s of Arts in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Blog Tour/Book Review: None So Blind by Alis Hawkins

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None So Blind Blog Tour Poster

I’m delighted to be hosting today’s stop on the blog tour for None So Blind by Alis Hawkins.  None So Blind is the first in a new historical crime series, ‘The Teifi Valley Coroner’, set in the west Wales countryside of the 1800s. You can read my review below.

WinI’m pleased to say there’s also a giveaway (UK and Republic of Ireland only) with the opportunity for one lucky person to win their own paperback copy of None So Blind.  To enter the giveaway, click here.

Giveaway terms and conditions:

  1. Giveaway ends on 29th November 2018 at 12.00am GMT.
  2. Open to residents of the UK and Republic of Ireland only.
  3. The winner will be selected at random and notified using the email address they have provided. The winner will have 48 hours to respond with the postal address to which the prize should be sent. Prizes cannot be shipped to a PO box.
  4. If no response is received, a new winner will be selected.
  5. Please note What Cathy Read Next is not responsible for despatch of the prize but only for notifying the publisher of the winner’s details.
  6. The information you provide in the entry form made available to me by Rafflecopter will be used by me only for the purposes set out above. You can read Rafflecopter’s Privacy Policy here.

Many thanks to Emily at The Dome Press for inviting me to participate in the tour and for my review copy of None So Blind.  David Headley and the team at The Dome Press have a real knack for spotting great books and None So Blind is no exception.  Some of the other titles published by The Dome Press I’ve enjoyed recently are listed below (click on the title to read my review).

Smart Moves by Adrian Magson
Juliet & Romeo by David Hewson
The Last Day by Claire Dyer
Beautiful Star & Other Stories by Andrew Swanston

none-so-blindAbout the Book

West Wales, 1850. When an old tree root is dug up, the remains of a young woman are found. Harry Probert-Lloyd, a young barrister forced home from London by encroaching blindness, has been dreading this discovery.

He knows exactly whose bones they are.

Working with his clerk, John Davies, Harry is determined to expose the guilty, but the investigation turns up more questions than answers.  The search for the truth will prove costly.

Will Harry and John be the ones to pay the highest price?

Praise for None So Blind

‘Beautifully written, cunningly plotted, with one of the most interesting characters in crime literature.’ (E. S. Thomson,  author of Dark Asylum)

‘Individual and lively.’ (Barry Forshaw, writer and journalist)

‘The most interesting historical crime creation of the year.’ (Phil Rickman, author of The Wine of Angels)

Format: Paperback, ebook (457 pp.)    Publisher: The Dome Press
Published: 15th November 2018   Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime, Mystery

Purchase Links*
Publisher (30% off cover price) | 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 None So Blind on Goodreads

My Review

‘There’s none so blind as those who will not see.’

When the reader is first introduced to Harry Probert-Lloyd, they probably share his opinion that his sight loss (which at first he tries hard to conceal) is an insurmountable obstacle to his career as a barrister. ‘But if I could not read, or see a person’s face, or scrutinise an object, was I not blind?’  His condition has forced Harry to return home to his father’s estate and a future as a country squire in which he has little interest and which goes against his own egalitarian instincts. And if he can no longer pursue a career as a barrister, what hope does he have of successfully carrying out the investigation of a possible crime?

However, Harry has several things in his favour, such as his familiarity with the local people, his knowledge of the Welsh language and his heightened other senses.  As Harry confides to the reader, ‘Though I could not see their expressions, sometimes I was able to infer what people might be feeling from discernible movements or changes in posture’. And he retains his barrister’s skill in eliciting testimony from witnesses and instinct for weighing the truthfulness of their evidence.   He also has solicitor’s clerk, John Davies, to steer him in the right direction.  But does that only mean helping Harry avoid physical obstacles or notice things Harry can’t? Could John have other more personal  reasons in guiding Harry through the investigation?

Determined to get to the truth when all around him seem to want to keep the past firmly buried, Harry’s investigation brings him into conflict with both his father and risks making dangerous enemies – enemies who are not used to having their power and influence challenged.

In the fourth section of the book, in which Harry and John find themselves in unfamiliar territory, the revelations come thick and fast, proving that often people only see what they want or expect to see.  It just goes to show, we can all be blind to some things…  However, as his investigation progresses, Harry starts to ask himself whether there are some things better left in darkness and never brought into the light.   For others, it’s the exact opposite.

None So Blind is a cleverly constructed historical crime mystery that skilfully sustains the reader’s interest right to the end, partly thanks to the two narrator structure.  Throughout the book, I found myself constantly questioning what I was being told… and wondering what I wasn’t being told.  I’d liken it to a crossword puzzle where you think you’re making progress but then discover one wrong answer means you need to rethink all the clues you think you’ve solved so far.

The so-called ‘Rebecca Riots’ make an intriguing backdrop to the story and I found the author’s Historical Note at the end of the book absolutely fascinating, especially the contemporary parallels it brought to mind.  Oh, and readers wondering about the relevance of the series’ title ‘The Teifi Valley Coroner’ will find the answer at the end of the book.  They’ll also be dealt a few teasers by the author to be followed up, it is hoped, in future books in the series.  I’m definitely hooked.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of publishers, The Dome Press.

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In three words: Atmospheric, compelling, suspenseful

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Alis HawkinsAbout the Author

Alis Hawkins grew up in Cardiganshire, read English at Cambridge University and works with speech and language for the National Autistic Society.  Her first novel, Testament, was published by Macmillan.  She lives with her partner in the Forest of Dean near Monmouth. (Photo credit: Goodreads author page)

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