Tag: HF Reading Challenge

#BookReview Tomboy by Shelley Blanton-Stroud

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TomboyAbout the Book

It’s 1939. On the brink of World War II, Jane Benjamin wants to have it all. By day she hustles as a scruffy, tomboy cub reporter. By night she secretly struggles to raise her toddler sister, Elsie, and protect her from their mother. But Jane’s got a plan: she’ll become the San Francisco Prospect’s first gossip columnist and make enough money to care for Elsie.

Jane finagles her way to the women’s championship at Wimbledon, starring her hometown’s tennis phenom and cover girl Tommie O’Rourke. She plans to write her first column there. But then she witnesses Edith “Coach” Carlson, Tommie’s closest companion, drop dead in the stands of apparent heart attack, and her plan is thrown off track.

While sailing home on the RMS Queen Mary, Jane veers between competing instincts: Should she write a social bombshell column, personally damaging her new friend Tommie’s persona and career? Or should she work to uncover the truth of Coach’s death, which she now knows was a murder, and its connection to a larger conspiracy involving US participation in the coming war?

Putting away her menswear and donning first-class ballgowns, Jane discovers what upper-class status hides, protects, and destroys. Ultimately – like nations around the globe in 1939 – she must choose what she’ll give up in order to do what’s right.

Format:  Paperback (312 pages)   Publisher: She Writes Press
Publication date: 28th June 2022 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

Tomboy is the second in the author’s historical mystery series featuring cub reporter Jane Benjamin. I can reassure readers who, like me, haven’t read the first book in the series, Copy Boy, that Tomboy works perfectly well as a standalone. The references to events in the earlier book provide new readers with a tantalising glimpse of Jane’s colourful journey to date. I say colourful but much of that colour is of a pretty dark hue as the occasional flashbacks to her early life demonstrate. She’s had a tough upbringing, witnessing violence and neglect as part of a family with an itinerant lifestyle. It’s given her a strong survival instinct.

Jane is feisty, resourceful, ambitious and determined her gender shouldn’t be an obstacle to achieving her journalistic ambitions. She’s had to learn to rely on herself from an early age but now finds herself with responsibility for her baby sister, Elsie. It’s a responsibility she feels quite conflicted about; she loves her little sister but she also wants to advance her career and the two don’t mix well. Jane’s clear-eyed about her own shortcomings and honest enough to admit she often makes decisions that adversely affect other people.

I really enjoyed the lively writing style and how the author recreated the atmosphere aboard the ocean liner Queen Mary from the luxury suites to the celebrities hobnobbing in the exclusive Verandah Grill (such as Charles Boyer, Irene Dunne and Fred Astaire) and, at the other end of the scale, the crew members in the bowels of the ship making their own amusement in the ‘Pig ‘n’ Whistle’.  Thrust into an unfamiliar luxury lifestyle through her friendship with tennis star Tommie O’Rourke, Jane finds herself at sea, both literally and metaphorically. A bang on the head and a broken nose don’t help.

The mystery at the heart of the book is not quite of the ‘locked room’ variety as the suspicious death has already occurred before the Queen Mary sets sail, but all the people who might have been involved are amongst the passengers and as Jane delves deeper she uncovers some unexpected things, not always by legitimate methods. I thought things got a little jumbled up towards the end of the book (or perhaps that was just me) and Jane’s angst over whether she was doing the right thing seemed to overshadow the unravelling of the mystery. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my first encounter with Jane in whose company life is never going to be dull.

Tomboy is published today as an ebook and will be available in paperback on 11th August 2022. My thanks to Tabitha at She Writes Press for my digital review copy via NetGalley.

In three words: Lively, characterful, intriguing

Try something similar: The Consequences of Fear by Jacqueline Winspear

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Shelley Blanton-StroudAbout the Author

Shelley Blanton-Stroud grew up in California’s Central Valley, the daughter of Dust Bowl immigrants who made good on their ambition to get out of the field and into the city. She taught college writing for three decades and consults with writers in the energy industry. She co-directs Stories on Stage Sacramento, where actors perform the stories of established and emerging authors, and she serves on the advisory board of 916 Ink, an arts-based creative writing nonprofit for children. She has also served on the Writers’ Advisory Board for the Belize Writers’ Conference. Tomboy is the second book in her Jane Benjamin series. Her debut novel, Copy Boy, was the first. Shelley and her husband live in Sacramento with an aging beagle and many photos of their out-of-state sons.  (Photo: Goodreads author page)

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#BlogTour #BookReview Twenty-Eight Pounds Ten Shillings by Tony Fairweather @RandomTTours

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Twenty Eight Pounds BT PosterWelcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Twenty-Eight Pounds Ten Shillings by Tony Fairweather. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to HopeRoad Publishing for my digital review copy. Do check out the Instagram post by my tour buddy for today, Lisa at numberslady_reads.

Twenty Eight Pounds Final CoverAbout the Book

It is 1948, and post-war Britain is on her knees. The call has gone out to the British Empire for volunteers to help rebuild the ‘Mother Country,’ and young men and women from across the Caribbean have been quick to respond, paying the considerable sum of £28 10s to board HMT Empire Windrush – the ‘ship of dreams’ that will take them to their new lives.

Meet Mavis, a 22-year-old Trinidadian nurse who just wants to see the world. Chef, the best cook on the island, desperate to get to London and his wounded soldier son. Norma, who wants to teach the British how to teach, and her funny best friend Lucretia, who is sure that every man wants her, and that English food is very… English.

Their epic journey took two weeks, but for some it was a lifetime. Friendships were made and broken. There were love affairs and fights; dancing and dominoes; gambling and racism. Many of the young people on board that ship had never left their parents or their parishes, let alone their islands. Their lives would never be the same again.

Format: Hardback (320 pages)      Publisher: HopeRoad Publishing
Publication date: 26th May 2022  Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

Set largely aboard the HMT Empire Windrush, what the book does particularly well is demonstrate that those who travelled from the Caribbean were not a homogenous group. They come from different islands each of which have their own unique culture. The passengers also have a variety of reasons for deciding to travel to England. For some it’s out of necessity or to be reunited with family. For others it’s a desire for a new life or a way to make some money before returning home. Many of the passengers are – rightly, as it turns out – wary of the reaction that will greet them upon their arrival in England.

Although the Second World War is over, its legacy is still felt. For example, amongst the passengers is a group of recently demobbed West Indian soldiers who feel their contribution to the war effort has been overlooked, even belittled by the authorities and by the British soldiers they fought alongside. The most stark reminder of the longlasting impact of war is the character of Mickey.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of and I found myself having to create a list of who was who, who was travelling with whom and, latterly, who was pairing up with whom. Personally, I wasn’t a fan of the frequent switching between different characters within a single chapter (with no identifiable breaks, at least in my digital copy). At times this became rather confusing. Longer sections from the point of view of a smaller number of characters would have made me feel I’d got to know them better. Having said that, my favourite characters were probably Mavis and Chef, along with the Captain of the HMT Empire Windrush who we discover has reasons of his own to fear discrimination.

Much of the dialogue is rendered in the patois of Jamaica and Trinidad, and although this gives a wonderful sense of authenticity I occasionally found myself having to reread a sentence. There is however a useful glossary at the end of the book. For those who are sensitive to such things, there is frequent use of strong language and some descriptions of sexual intimacy.

I enjoyed the moments of humour in the book, such as the Caribbean passengers’ univerally negative opinion of the food served up by the British chefs. Given most of the passengers are young, there’s plenty of dancing, drinking and eyeing up of the opposite sex. There are moments of melodrama and some serious topics are covered ranging from racist abuse to sexual assault and even murder.

I would liken Twenty-Eight Pounds Ten Shillings to a Caribbean cocktail, perhaps a rum punch.  It has some fruity elements, an authentic flavour and a generous slug of stronger stuff.

In three words: Authentic, dramatic, characterful

Try something similar: The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon

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Tony Fairweather Author PicAbout the Author

Tony Fairweather was born in Clapham, the son of Jamaican parents. He opened one of the first Black bookshops in the UK, before going on to work for the Voice newspaper, where he managed the Voice
book club. In 1989, Tony founded ‘The Write Thing’, an events company established to promote Black authors, which led to his working with a veritable who’s who of the Black literary world, including Bernardine Evaristo, Dr Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Terry McMillan, and many more. Tony is also the founder and curator of the Windrush Collection, a touring exhibition of artefacts associated with the Windrush generation. He lives in South London.

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