Tag: historical fiction

#BookReview The Offing by Benjamin Myers @BloomsburyBooks

whatcathyreadnext9 Comments

The OffingAbout the Book

One summer following the Second World War, Robert Appleyard sets out on foot from his Durham village. Sixteen and the son of a coal miner, he makes his way across the northern countryside until he reaches the former smuggling village of Robin Hood’s Bay. There he meets Dulcie, an eccentric, worldly, older woman who lives in a ramshackle cottage facing out to sea.

Staying with Dulcie, Robert’s life opens into one of rich food, sea-swimming, sunburn and poetry. The two come from different worlds, yet as the summer months pass, they form an unlikely friendship that will profoundly alter their futures.

Format: Audiobook (5h 34m)               Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication date: 16th October 2019 Genre: Historical fiction

Find The Offing on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Amazon UK | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

The Offing is quite different in style from the author’s Walter Scott Prize-winning The Gallows Pole which I read the year it was shortlisted. It is much gentler in tone but still quietly powerful. For anyone who’s wondering about the title, the offing is the name for the distant stretch of sea where sky and water merge.

The Offing involves a chance encounter between young Robert Appleyard, who has set off to explore the country beyond his home in a small mining village near Durham, and Dulcie, an older woman living in a cottage on the outskirts of Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire. It leads to a friendship that also becomes an education for Robert. Dulcie introduces him to unfamiliar foods such as lobster, to wine and to her favourite nettle tea. But she also feeds his mind, lending him books of poetry by John Clare and novels by D H Lawrence and others.

For Robert, what starts as a temporary stay turns into a summer in which his mind and his horizons are widened by Dulcie’s unique take on the world. In return for her hospitality he works on clearing the meadow threatening to overwhelm her cottage and on restoring a nearby shack fallen into disuse. What he finds there unlocks memories of the past for Dulcie as well as setting Robert on a new path in life, one he never thought would be open to someone with a background like his.

I loved the descriptions of the natural world and the glorious meals Dulcie prepares for Robert. More than anything, I loved Dulcie – for her generosity, wit, independent spirit, wisdom and determination to live life by her own rules. As she says, “After all, there are only a few things truly worth fighting for: freedom, of course, and all that it brings with it. Poetry, perhaps, and a good glass of wine. A nice meal. Nature. Love, if you’re lucky.” Dulcie sees the potential in Robert that he can’t see himself and is intent on nurturing it as she once nurtured the talent of someone else.

I listened to the audiobook version narrated by Ralph Ineson. His deep, husky voice and northern accent were a good match for the slow unwinding of the story and its rich descriptive passages.

As well as being a compelling story of an unlikely friendship, The Offing is a love letter to the natural world, to poetry and to living life to the full. Highly recommended.

In three words: Lyrical, intimate, powerful

Try something similar: All Among the Barley by Melissa Harrison

Follow this blog via Bloglovin

About the Author

Benjamin Myers was born in Durham in 1976. His novel The Gallows Pole received a Roger Deakin Award and won the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction. Beastings won the Portico Prize for Literature and Pig Iron won the Gordon Burn Prize, while Richard was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. He has also published poetry, crime novels and short fiction, while his journalism has appeared in publications including, among others, the Guardian, New Statesman, Caught by the River and New Scientist.
He lives in the Upper Calder Valley, West Yorkshire. (Bio credit: Publisher author page)

Connect with Benjamin
Website | Twitter

 

The English Wife by Adrienne Chinn #BookReview #BlogTour @0neMoreChapter_ @rararesources

whatcathyreadnext5 Comments

The English WifeWelcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The English Wife by Adrienne Chinn. And what a stop it is with so many fabulous book bloggers joining in! Do check out their reviews using the Twitter hashtag #TheEnglishWife.

My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to take part in the tour and to One More Chapter for my review copy via NetGalley.

The English WifeAbout the Book

Two women, a world apart. A secret waiting to be discovered…

VE Day 1945. As victory bells ring out across the country, war bride Ellie Burgess’ happiness is overshadowed by grief. Her charismatic Newfoundlander husband Thomas is still missing in action. Until a letter arrives explaining Thomas is back at home on the other side of the Atlantic recovering from his injuries. Travelling to a distant country to live with a man she barely knows is the bravest thing Ellie has ever had to do. But nothing can prepare her for the harsh realities of her new home…

September 11th 2001. Sophie Parry is on a plane to New York on the most tragic day in the city’s history. While the world watches the news in horror, Sophie’s flight is rerouted to a tiny town in Newfoundland and she is forced to seek refuge with her estranged aunt Ellie. Determined to discover what it was that forced her family apart all those years ago, newfound secrets may change her life forever…

Format: Paperback (400 pages)     Publisher: One More Chapter
Publication date: 23rd June 2020 Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance

Find The English Wife on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Amazon UK | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

What sounds from the book description like a dual timeline story is actually a triple, if not quadruple, timeline story although most of the first part of the book takes place either in WW2 Norwich or in Newfoundland in 2001.  Some concentration is needed to keep track of the different storylines as the chapters switch frequently back and forth in time. However, it’s well worth the effort as you’re soon drawn into what is an increasingly multi-layered story.

In essence, all roads lead to the quaintly named Tippy’s Tickle in Newfoundland. Coincidence or fate? Ellen arrived there in 1946 as a war bride to join her husband, Thomas, and Sophie, Ellen’s niece, finds herself there when the plane in which she’s travelling to New York is rerouted to Newfoundland due to the 9/11 terror attacks. As to how Sophie ends up in Tippy’s Tickle, well, that’s less “of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine” from Casablanca as “of all the tea queues in all the world he ends up in mine”.

In dual time stories I sometimes find myself more invested in the story set in the past than in the present. This wasn’t the case with The English Wife. Not that the events that see young Ellen travelling across the world from her home in Norwich aren’t compelling, it’s just that the reader pretty much knows the trajectory of her story from the book description. Although, having said that, there are secrets to be discovered even there and the author keeps the reader waiting quite a while until these are revealed.

Sophie’s unplanned – and unwanted – stopover in Newfoundland in 2001 is an obstacle in her otherwise organised-to-the-last-detail life. (Her determination to get to New York for an interview reminded me of the wonderful 1945 film I Know Where I’m Going, in which Joan Webster, played by Wendy Hiller, is prevented by bad weather from making the crossing to the island of Kiloran.) Sophie soon falls under the spell of Tippy’s Tickle and who could blame her because there’s a lovely sense of community about the place and it is surrounded by beautiful, rugged landscape. Although outsiders are known as “Come-From-Aways”, its inhabitants are welcoming and hospitable as well as accepting of difference. It was good to see diverse characters playing such a part in the story. As it happens, Tippy’s Tickle isn’t the only thing to cast a spell on Sophie during her stay. However, sometimes things don’t work out the way you want.

Ten years later – to the day – Sophie is travelling back to Tippy’s Tickle on an assignment for the architectural practice for which she works. They are planning a lavish leisure development – hotel, golf course, the works. If you know the film Local Hero [Ed: that’s enough of the film references], you’ll have an idea that the plans may not be greeted with universal enthusiasm, especially as it affects people to whom Sophie has grown close. For some, it threatens their sense of security and a way of life that is all they have ever known; something they will do anything to prevent. How will Sophie negotiate this dilemma? You’ll need to read the book to find out.

I can’t finish this review without commenting on the fabulous insight into Newfoundland culture the book provides, including colloquialisms such as being “gut-foundered” (hungry).

The English Wife is a skilfully-crafted, multi-layered story about family secrets, missed opportunities, second chances and finding out what’s really important in life.

In three words: Sweeping, dramatic, emotional

Try something similar: The Sea Gate by Jane Johnson

Follow this blog via Bloglovin

The English Wife Author PhotoAbout the Author

Adrienne Chinn was born in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, grew up in Quebec, and eventually made her way to London, England after a career as a journalist. In England she worked as a TV and film researcher before embarking on a career as an interior designer, lecturer, and writer.

When not up a ladder or at the computer, she can usually be found rummaging through flea markets or haggling in the Marrakech souk. Her second novel, The English Wife – a timeslip story set in World War II England and contemporary Newfoundland – is published in June 2020. Her debut novel, The Lost Letter from Morocco, was published by Avon Books UK in 2019. She is currently writing her third novel, The Photographer’s Daughters, the first of a 3-book series, to be published in 2021.

Connect with Adrienne
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

The English Wife Full Tour Banner