WWW Wednesdays: 16th Aug ’17

WWWWednesdays

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too? Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!


Currently reading

TheHauntingofHillHouseThe Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (paperback)

Four seekers have arrived at the rambling old pile known as Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of psychic phenomena; Theodora, his lovely and light-hearted assistant; Luke, the adventurous future inheritor of the estate; and Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman with a dark past. As they begin to cope with chilling, even horrifying occurrences beyond their control or understanding, they cannot possibly know what lies ahead. For Hill House is gathering its powers – and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

TheWardrobeMistressThe Wardrobe Mistress by Patrick McGrath (eARC)

January 1947. London is in ruins, there’s nothing to eat, and it’s the coldest winter in living memory.

To make matters worse, Charlie Grice, one of the great stage actors of the day, has suddenly died. His widow Joan, the wardrobe mistress, is beside herself with grief.  Then one night she discovers Gricey’s secret.

Plunged into a dark new world, she realises that the war isn’t over after all.


Recently finished

TheWordisMurderThe Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz (eARC)

A wealthy woman strangled six hours after she’s arranged her own funeral. A very private detective uncovering secrets but hiding his own. A reluctant author drawn into a story he can’t control. What do they have in common?

Unexpected death, an unsolved mystery and a trail of bloody clues lie at the heart of Anthony Horowitz’s page-turning new thriller.

TheScribesDaughterThe Scribe’s Daughter by Stephanie Churchill (review copy courtesy of the author)

Kassia is a thief and a soon-to-be oath breaker. Armed with only a reckless wit and sheer bravado, seventeen-year-old Kassia barely scrapes out a life with her older sister in a back-alley of the market district of the Imperial city of Corium. When a stranger shows up at her market stall, offering her work for which she is utterly unqualified, Kassia cautiously takes him on. Very soon however, she finds herself embroiled in a mystery involving a usurped foreign throne and a vengeful nobleman. Most intriguing of all, she discovers a connection with the disappearance of her father three years prior. When Kassia is forced to flee her home, suffering extreme hardship, danger and personal trauma along the way, she feels powerless to control what happens around her. Rewarding revelations concerning the mysteries of her family’s past are tempered by the reality of a future she doesn’t want. In the end, Kassia discovers an unyielding inner strength and that, contrary to her prior beliefs, she is not defined by external things – she discovers that she is worthy to be loved.

PathofLucasPath of Lucas: The Journey He Endured by Susanne Bellefeuille (review copy courtesy of iRead Book Tours)

Lucas Clarkson is a simple man, a family man, and a hard working farmer’s son. From a small town in Eastern Ontario, the author, Susanne Bellefeuille, brings us on Lucas’s journey through the trials and tribulations of his life. Lucas’s path is not as simple as the man he’s portrayed to be. From the days spent working on his dad’s farm to becoming a successful mechanic, with a genuine heart and his incredible strength, Lucas faces many difficult decisions. The choices he makes may be the difference between realizing his dreams and keeping his family together.


What Cathy (will) Read Next

HoldingOnToHurtHolding on to Hurt by Charlotte Roth (review copy courtesy of Xpresso Tours)

‘I dread that every day I live, I’m one day further away from my life with Scottie’. Irene Hurt has always dreamed of having a large family with her adoring husband Bruce. That dream is shattered when her doctor performs a hysterectomy after the birth of her only son Scottie. Though heartbroken, Irene accepts the outcome and cherishes every moment with her son and her husband, until … the day she gets the call every mother dreads. Scottie is injured in a mass school shooting and is rushed to the ICU, where he’s put into a medically induced coma to wait out his fate. Devastated, Bruce pulls away and even tries to convince Irene to remove Scottie’s life support, to save his son from a life of lesser existence. But, Irene refuses to give up hope. On her journey through grief, denial, anger and finally, acceptance, Irene discovers more about the events of that tragic day, the boy who shot her son and then took his own life, and the husband she thought she knew and could trust. Will Scottie pull through and, once again, be the glue that keeps this family together? Or, will Irene accept that sometimes, the best thing a mother can do for her child is let go?

TakeCourageTake Courage: Anne Bronte and the Art of Life by Samantha Ellis (hardcover)

Anne Brontë is the forgotten Brontë sister, overshadowed by her older siblings — virtuous, successful Charlotte, free-spirited Emily and dissolute Branwell. Tragic, virginal, sweet, stoic, selfless, Anne. The less talented Brontë, the other Brontë. Or that’s what Samantha Ellis, a life-long Emily and Wuthering Heights devotee, had always thought. Until, that is, she started questioning that devotion and, in looking more closely at Emily and Charlotte, found herself confronted by Anne instead. Take Courage is Samantha’s personal, poignant and surprising journey into the life and work of a woman sidelined by history. A brave, strongly feminist writer well ahead of her time — and her more celebrated siblings — and who has much to teach us today about how to find our way in the world.

Blog Tour/Review: If the Creek Don’t Rise by Leah Weiss

I’m thrilled to host one of the stops on the blog tour for If The Creek Don’t Rise by Leah Weiss.  It’s a book I absolutely adored when I read it several months ago so I’m delighted to be able – finally – to share my review of this wonderful book. 

creekAbout the Book

 

In a North Carolina mountain town filled with moonshine and rotten husbands, Sadie Blue is only the latest girl to face a dead-end future at the mercy of a dangerous drunk. She’s been married to Roy Tupkin for fifteen days, and she knows now that she should have listened to the folks who said he was trouble. But when a stranger sweeps in and knocks the world off-kilter for everyone in town, Sadie begins to think there might be more to life than being Roy’s wife. As stark and magnificent as Appalachia itself, If the Creek Don’t Rise is a bold and beautifully layered debut about a dusty, desperate town finding the inner strength it needs to outrun its demons. The folks of Baines Creek will take you deep into the mountains with heart, honesty, and homegrown grit.

Book Facts

Format: ebook Publisher: Sourcebook Pages: 322
Publication: 22nd Aug 2017 Genre: Literary Fiction  

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

Find If The Creek Don’t Rise on Goodreads


My Review

This review is going to be a bit gushing because I was completely blown away by this book – I absolutely loved it. I’m split between finding it hard to believe that this is Leah Weiss’s first novel and shouting, Leah, why did you wait so long?   Did I mention that I adored this book?

There are a number of different narrative voices but they are each distinctive and convincing in terms of characterisation and tone.  The central character in the story is Sadie Blue. The reader is immediately drawn to her – not much more than a child herself, pregnant and saddled with a no-good husband who beats her up for the slightest reason:

‘Fifteen days has gone by since that piece of paper got signed. Roy beats on me pretty regular cause nobody stops him. I thought we got married for a mighty reason. I thought I was special to him. I musta made it all up, cause none of it’s true.’

Despite all she suffers, Sadie’s resilience is incredible as she looks for a way out – any way out – of the situation she finds herself in. Channelling the voice of her dead father and her singing idol, Loretta Lynn, she finds the strength to do this.

Sadie is just one of the incredible female characters the author has created. There’s Gladys, who also endured marriage to an abusive husband until his death in an accident, and finds herself alone and every day a struggle but still carries on because she knows no other way.

‘Life’s too shitty. For a old woman, it’s more shit that I can shovel. I can’t remember if I ever had a choice but to put one front of the other and walk the line on a rocky road to nowhere.’

Gladys has secrets that she thinks nobody knows but her friend, Marris, knows different. Marris, a widow, is a lovely warm character who looks out for the less fortunate in Baines Creek.

In case you’re thinking all the male characters are bad and the female characters good, the author redresses the balance with Eli Perkins, the preacher, and Prudence, his sister. Eli feels an immediate affinity with the new schoolteacher, Kate Shaw, an older woman who left her previous position under a cloud but whose passion for teaching shines through.

‘Kate is a magician, a pied piper who has absconded with our children’s hearts. Mine too.’

Eli recognises in her a kindred spirit, someone who is prepared to fight against the low expectations of the townspeople for their children, who can be ‘an ally to instil hope and possibility in my good people’.  However, as an outsider and single, independent woman, Kate attracts the malicious attention of Prudence, made resentful by her harsh upbringing in a family of several generations of preachers.

‘Everything I did was coated with the Lord’s slippery words. I almost drowned in verse. I learned to breathe underwater was what I did, being the daughter of an Eli.’

The close of the novel sees Sadie Blue’s story return to centre stage as she draws on all her strength of will to bring about a change in her situation.

This book will stay with me for a long time – even more so because of the devastating final line.  I’m not sure my review can do justice to this book but I’ll just say that if you love southern fiction, superlative writing, a compelling storyline and wonderful characterisation, please search out If the Creek Don’t Rise. I just hope Leah Wiess doesn’t wait as long to publish her next book.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of NetGalley and publishers, Sourcebook Landmark, in return for an honest review.

In three words: Moving, authentic, compelling

Try something similar…The Fortunate Brother by Donna Morrissey


Leah-WeissAbout the Author

Leah Weiss retired in 2015 from a twenty-four year career as Executive Assistant to the Headmaster at a private school in Lynchburg, Virginia, where she resides. She has written many short stories that have appeared in literary magazines. Leah enjoys speaking to book clubs. If the Creek Don’t Rise is her debut novel.

Connect with Leah

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