Tag: Reading Challenges

#BlogTour #BookReview The White Hare by Jane Johnson

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FINAL White Hare BT PosterWelcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The White Hare by Jane Johnson. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Head of Zeus for my digital review copy via NetGalley. Do check out the reviews by my tour buddies for today Atomic Books 1976 over on Instagram and Jo at JaffaReadsToo.

WHITE HARE GRAPHIC 2About the Book

In the far west of Cornwall lies the White Valley, which cuts deeply through bluebell woods down to the sea at White Cove. The valley has a long and bloody history, laced with folklore, and in it sits a house above the beach that has lain neglected since the war. It comes with a reputation and a strange atmosphere, which is why mother and daughter Magdalena and Mila manage to acquire it so cheaply in the fateful summer of 1954.

Magda has grand plans to restore the house to its former glory as a venue for glittering parties, where the rich and celebrated gathered for cocktails and for bracing walks along the coast. Her grown daughter, Mila, just wants to escape the scandal in her past and make a safe and happy home for her little girl, Janey, a solitary, precocious child blessed with a vivid imagination, much of which she pours into stories about her magical plush toy, Rabbit.

The White Valley comes with a long, eventful and often bloody history, laced with tall tales and local legends. Locals say that a white hare may be seen running through the woods there. Some say it is a phantasm, or superstitious nonsense; others say the hare is as real as you or me. It may be a sign of ill omen; or a blessing. Feeling fragile and broken-hearted, cast out of her old life, Mila is in great need of a new start and all the luck she can get.

Format: Hardback (448 pages)     Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 23rd June 2022 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find The White Hare on Goodreads

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Hive | Amazon UK
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My Review

If you think of historical fiction as being like a cake then The White Hare has all the ingredients necessary to make something appetizing: a remote location, a house with a mysterious history, elements of the supernatural, the scars of a country emerging from war, troubled relationships, oh, and a handsome stranger.

There is a timeless quality to the book with only a few references to the Second World War pointing to it being set in 1954. The remoteness of White Cove and the nearby village gives a sense of a place somewhat detached from modern life. ‘The old ways run deep in this part of the county. It’s a place full of ancient mysteries and a great deal of superstition.’ In this respect Cornwall with its rich history of legends and its ancient monuments makes an ideal setting for the story. It’s believable that the supernatural is not far from the surface in this part of the world and that life is lived very much to the rhythm of nature. It also goes some way to explaining the villagers initial hostility towards the new arrivals. ‘The valley doesn’t welcome outsiders.’

Mila’s mother, Magdalena (sometimes referred to in the book as Magda or Mother) is a rather unlikeable character. She’s self-obsessed, prone to fits of anger and seems determined to ‘punish’ her daughter for the failure of a relationship in which Mila was the innocent party, despite the fact it has provided the funds for the purchase and refurbishment of White Cove. Even when the details of Magdalena’s past are revealed, I found it hard to forgive her treatment of her daughter and granddaughter. I did like though the fact the story involves (for the times) an unconventional relationship although, rather contradictorily, the possibility of the disclosure of a similar relationship is shown to have a very different outcome.

Although for me the book moved at a sedate pace, the constant sense of unease the author created helped maintain my interest. There are a number of odd occurrences from ‘mishaps and minor accidents’ to strange visions, many associated with Mila’s daughter, Janey. Some of these defy rational explanation whilst others prove to have more conventional causes. I enjoyed how many of the strange events tied in with the history of the area and that they were given expression through women. The prologue and epilogue neatly reflect this.

Towards the end of the book the pace picked up as, one after another, secrets are revealed, animosity is replaced by acceptance and unexpected good fortune signals a different future for many of the characters.

In three words: Atmospheric, intriguing, enjoyable

Try something similar: The Marsh House by Zoe Somerville

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JANE JOHNSONAbout the Author

Jane Johnson is a British novelist and publisher. She is the UK editor for George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb and Dean Koontz and was for many years publisher of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Married to a Berber chef she met while researching The Tenth Gift, she lives in Mousehole in Cornwall and Morocco.

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White Hare Graphic 1

#BlogTour #BookReview Katastrophe by Graham Hurley

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BLOG TOUR BANNER_Katastrophe4Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Katastrophe by Graham Hurley. My thanks to Sophie at Ransom PR for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Head of Zeus for my review copy. Do check out the review by my tour buddy for today, Elizabeth at Libcreads.

KatastropheAbout the Book

Confidant of Goebbels. Instrument of Stalin. What’s the worst that could happen?

January 1945. Wherever you look on the map, the Thousand Year Reich is shrinking. Even Goebbels has run out of lies to sweeten the reckoning to come. An Allied victory is inevitable, but who will reap the spoils of war?

Two years ago, Werner Nehmann’s war came to an abrupt end in Stalingrad. With the city in ruins, the remains of General Paulus’ Sixth Army surrendered to the Soviets, and Nehmann was taken captive. But now he’s riding on the back of one of Marshal Zhukov’s T-34 tanks, heading home with a message for the man who consigned him to the Stalingrad Cauldron.

With the Red Army about to fall on Berlin, Stalin fears his sometime allies are conspiring to deny him his prize. He needs to speak to Goebbels – and who better to broker the contact than Nehmann, Goebbels’ one-time confidant?

Having swapped the ruins of Stalingrad for the wreckage of Berlin, the influence of Goebbels for the machinations of Stalin, and Gulag rags for a Red Army uniform, Nehmann’s war has taken a turn for the worse. The Germans have a word for it:

Katastrophe.

Format: Hardback (448 pages)  Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 7th July 2022 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find Katastrophe on Goodreads

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Hive | Amazon UK
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My Review

Katastrophe, the latest book in the author’s ‘Spoils of War’ series, is set in the final months of the Second World War. There’s a real sense of finality about the book as we witness the ruin of people and places. The terrible and lasting impact of war – physical and psychological – is reflected in the experiences of the four main characters – British MI5 operatives, Tam Moncrieff and Ursula Barton, journalist and propagandist, Werner Nehmann, and German intelligence officer, Wilhelm Schultz – some of whom make return appearances from the author’s previous two novels, Last Flight to Stalingrad and Kyiv.

There are some intense, dark and harrowing scenes involving Nehmann and Schultz, both survivors of the siege of Stalingrad, but now respectively subjected to the horror of a Soviet labour camp and brutal interrogation. Subsequently they find themselves pawns in a wider political game.  For Moncrieff and Barton, their experience is one of overwhelming disillusionment and a sense of betrayal. It’s something that has left Barton ‘a frail, tormented figure’ and Moncrieff with unanswered questions about the fate of someone close to him.

The title of the series – Spoils of War – is particularly apt because in Katastophe the reader sees played out the manoeuvring even amongst supposed allies for control of territory occupied during the conflict. The co-operation that existed between Western nations and the Soviet Union in order to defeat Hitler is crumbling, replaced by suspicion, secrecy and underhand tactics.  Stalin emerges as a ruthless and malevolent player in this attempted power grab. As Ursula Barton observes at one point, ‘The war’s coming to an end. Everyone knows that. The question is how, and when, and who controls which bits of our poor bloody continent when it’s over’. We also witness those formerly high up in the Third Reich, now in shattered pieces, struggling to come to terms with defeat or even in their delusion refusing to accept it.

Behind all the political manouvering the suffering inflicted on civilians on both sides is laid bare: the bombing of cities, the displacement of people, the ravages of hunger or the ruthlessness of invading forces.  It’s brought vividly to life in a way that can’t help make you think of the current situation in Ukraine. Indeed, I found myself thinking of that poor country repeatedly whilst reading the book, leaving me with an overwhelming sense of sadness that we seemed to have learned nothing. As a character observes, ‘No one was ready for Hitler, not because he hadn’t warned them what was coming, but because they hadn’t listened.’ For Hitler, substitute Putin?

Katastrophe is a brilliant blend of fact and fiction that even in its darkest moments remains utterly compelling. It takes a fair degree of skill to create a sense of tension in a series of events where the outcome is already known, but the author definitely achieves it.  I felt totally immersed in the lives of the characters and eager to learn their fate. None of them emerge unscathed but there are one or two glimmers of hope that demonstrate perhaps war hasn’t robbed them all of everything. If Katastrophe does mark the conclusion of the series, it’s definitely ended on a high note.

In three words: Gripping, immersive, masterful

Try something similar: Vienna Spies by Alex Gerlis

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Graham HurleyAbout the Author

Graham Hurley is an award-winning TV documentary maker and the author of the acclaimed Faraday and Winter crime novels, two of which have been shortlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Award for Best Crime Novel. His Second World War thriller Finisterre, part of the critically acclaimed Spoils of War collection was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize. (Photo: Goodreads author page)

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