Tag: magical realism

#BlogTour #BookReview The Woman With Wings by James MacManus @EndeavourQuill

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TWWW bannerWelcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The Woman With Wings by James MacManus. Thanks to Hannah at Endeavour Media for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my review copy via NetGalley.

The Woman With WingsAbout the Book

Alison Spedding is a loner; no real friends, no boyfriend and a job in which she goes unnoticed. At thirty-two, her only passion is birdwatching.

One afternoon, high on a Scottish mountain, earnestly waiting for the rarest of sights – a white tailed eagle returning to its nest – she slips, falling silently. In shock, her fellow twitchers return to the hostel to raise the alarm, heavy with the realisation that she must be dead. What they find shocks them even more. Alison is already there, alive and unscathed…

Further similar episodes cause Alison’s grip on reality to slip, her mind spiralling towards breaking point. In her dreams she sees a huge shadow on the ground, as if there was a creature above her, a creature with huge wings…

Her infatuated colleague Jed is concerned. Can he intervene before Alison finally loses control?

This is an extraordinary novel, exploring one woman’s identity whilst posing universal questions: Who is she? Where does she belong? And must she accept her fate, or can she spread her wings and be free at last?

Format: ebook, paperback (280 pages) Publisher: Endeavour Quill
Publication date: 7th November 2019 Genre: Contemporary fiction

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

Find The Woman with Wings on Goodreads

My Review

I really enjoyed Ike and Kay, the author’s previous book (read my review here) so was keen to read his latest novel. I have to say The Woman With Wings could not be more different from Ike and Kay which I think goes to demonstrate the author’s creativity and versatility.

How Alison reacts to the seemingly improbable realisation that she possesses the ability to fly can be read as an allegory of her journey to empowerment and independence or as a genuine questioning of accepted reality. After all, there are many things in this world and in the universe we cannot explain.

Alongside the main storyline is a forensic dissection of corporate culture, ‘the executive game’ where the the personal and the professional often collide, and the advertising industry in particular. This is personified in Kennedy ‘Call me Ken’ Doxat, the idiosyncratic Creative Director of Foxglove, the advertising agency in whose IT department Alison works. Doxat, described as ‘a purveyor of dreams to gullible clients and creator of his own fantastic image’ becomes strangely drawn to Alison whether out of fascination, genuine affection or his controlling instincts.

Given Alison’s love of birds, I liked how certain characters are the subject of avian comparisons. For example, Alison’s IT colleague Jed is described at one point as a magpie because he’s always on the lookout for shiny nuggets of information about fellow employees. Later he’s compared to a gull, although his scavenging is through ‘digital data dumps’ rather than seaside rubbish bins.

As well as fascinating insights into the nesting and migratory habits of birds, woven into the story are subjects such as the evolutionary process (‘To fly was to survive’) and theories about the possibility of time travel. Is Alison’s belief she can fly merely a flight of fancy or is it evidence that things we think are impossible may actually not be? The reader is left to decide.

The Woman With Wings is an unusual, intriguing character driven novel with elements of magical realism which also incorporates a curious but ultimately heart-warming love story.

In three words: Strange, magical, thought-provoking

Try something similar: The Crows of Beara by Julie Christine Johnson (read my review here)

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MacManusAbout the Author

James MacManus is the managing director of The Times Literary Supplement. After studying at St Andrews University he began his career in journalism at the Daily Express in Manchester. Joining The Guardian in 1972, he later became Paris, and then Africa and Middle East Correspondent. He is the author of several novels including On the Broken Shore, Black Venus, Sleep in Peace Tonight and Midnight in Berlin. James MacManus has three children and lives in Dulwich, London.

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Blog Tour: A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars by Yaba Badoe

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AJigsawofFireandStarsBlog tour banner

I’m thrilled to host today’s stop on the blog tour for A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars by Yaba Badoe. Yaba is an award-winning Ghanaian-British filmmaker and her novel is described as a ‘powerful, haunting, contemporary debut that steps seamlessly from the horrors of people-trafficking to the magic of African folklore’.  The gorgeous cover is the work of illustrator, Leo Nickolls.

I’m delighted to say you can find an extract from this magical book below.

Plus, I can offer two lucky people the chance to own a SIGNED copy of A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars:

1) How to enter: Like and leave the comment “A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars”’ on the pinned post on What Cathy Read Next’s Facebook page – click here for link.
2) Winners: Two winners will be chosen at random and contacted via Facebook to provide name and address details. Prizes will be despatched direct from the publisher.
3) Eligibility: UK & Republic of Ireland postal addresses only.
4) Closing date: Entries must be submitted by 11.59pm GMT on 18th September.

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Badoe_A JIGSAW OF FIRE AND STARS_illus Leo NickollsAbout the Book

Sante was a baby when she was washed ashore in a sea-chest laden with treasure. It seems she is the sole survivor of the tragic sinking of a ship carrying migrants and refugees. Her people. Fourteen years on she’s a member of Mama Rose’s unique and dazzling circus. But, from their watery grave, the unquiet dead are calling Sante to avenge them: A bamboo flute. A golden bangle. A ripening mango which must not fall . . . if Sante is to tell their story and her own. Rich in the rhythms and colours of Africa and glittering circus days. Unflinching in its dark revelations about life. Yaba Badoe’s novel is beautiful and cruel and will linger long in the memory.

Praise for A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars:

‘The dark magic of African folklore meets the horror of modern-day people-trafficking in a powerful YA debut told in dazzling style with rich, seductive language.’ (Fiona Noble, The Bookseller)

Format: Hardback (278 pp.)        Publisher: Zephyr     Published: 7th September 2017
Genre: YA, Fantasy

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

Find A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars on Goodreads

Extract: A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars by Yaba Badoe

There’s only one thing makes any sense when I wake from my dream. I’m a stranger and shouldn’t be here. Should my luck run out, a black-booted someone could step on me and crush me, as if I’m worth less than an ant. This I know for a fact. And yet once or twice a week, the dream seizes me and shakes me about:

‘Kill ’em! Kill ’em! Take their treasure!’ The order goes out and a dilapidated trawler in a stormy sea shudders. An iron-grey vessel, lights blazing, rams it a second time. The iron monster backs away, then with engines at full throttle, lunges again.

Faces contort. Old ones, young ones, men and women, brown and black faces. Screams punch through the air. Fishing nets tangle, spill over. A fuel tank explodes and the sea glows, roiling with blood and oil.

Below deck, a stench like an over-ripe mango oozes from a crouched woman. She shrieks: ‘My baby! My baby! Save my baby!’

A tall man responds with a command: ‘The sea-chest. Fetch our treasure. Quickly. For the child’s sake. Move.’

A figure tumbles into the sea. Then an old man, a girl in his arms, leaps. A deafening jumble of sound and sea swallows the cries of the drowning. The slip-slip-patter of bare feet on galley stairs ascend. Anxious eyes flit in faces bright with fear in the flame-light. The hand of the tall man pummels a pillow of yellow dust, then a footrest filled with glittering stones for the baby’s feet. Someone folds a cloth, a fine tapestry of blue and green, into a blanket.

‘Give her this,’ says a burly, bald-headed man. ‘My dagger to help her in battle. May the child be a princess, a true warrior, valiant in the face of danger yet merciful to those she defeats.’

‘May your spear arm be strong, my daughter,’ the tall man adds. ‘Your legs swift as a gazelle’s, and your heart the mighty heart of a lioness protecting her cubs.’

The petrified woman scribbles a note and hides it beneath the pillow, whispering a prayer. ‘May our ancestors watch over you, my child. May the creator of all life guide you and make you wily in the ways of the world we are sending you to.’      

The grey vessel, a trail of carnage in its wake, surges forwards with a splutter of gunfire. Bullets splinter the deck, tearing it open, and the trawler erupts in flames.

The tall man grabs the baby and bundles her into the chest. He holds it aloft and flings it into the sea. It lurches and almost capsizes. The baby gurgles, entranced by the rough play of water as a wave steadies her boat. She smiles, a jigsaw of fire and stars reflected in her eyes, and she stretches a dimpled hand to touch the moon.

Burning timber from the trawler’s bow crashes and splashes the baby’s face. Enchanted by flying embers, she coos. But when the sobs of the dying reach her, and waves stifle their gasps, she begins to whimper.

And, flung to and fro, bobs up and down, crying in the night.

Yaba Badoe photoAbout the Author

Yaba Badoe is an award-winning Ghanaian-British documentary filmmaker and writer. In 2014 Yaba was nominated for the Distinguished Woman of African Cinema award. She lives in London.

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