Tag: Reviews

#WWWWednesday – 6th January 2021

whatcathyreadnext8 Comments

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

Two books from my review pile…

The ProphetsThe Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr. (proof copy, courtesy of Quercus)

The Halifax plantation is known as Empty by the slaves who work it under the pitiless gaze of its overseers and its owner, Massa Paul. Two young enslaved men, Samuel and Isaiah dwell among the animals they keep in the barn, helping out in the fields when their day is done. But the barn is their haven, a space of radiance and love – away from the blistering sun and the cruelty of the toubabs – where they can be alone together.

But, Amos – a fellow slave – has begun to direct suspicion towards the two men and their refusal to bend. Their flickering glances, unspoken words and wilful intention, revealing a truth that threatens to rock the stability of the plantation. And preaching the words of Massa Paul’s gospel, he betrays them.

Artist Soldier Lover MuseArtist, Soldier, Lover, Muse by Arthur D. Hittner (ebook, courtesy of the author)

Freshly graduated from Yale in 1935, Henry J. Kapler parlays his talent, determination, and creative energy into a burgeoning art career in New York under the wing of artists such as Edward Hopper and Reginald Marsh.  The young artist first gains notoriety when his depiction of a symbolic, interracial handshake between ballplayers is attacked by a knife-wielding assailant at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington.  

Yet even as his art star rises, his personal life turns precarious – and perilous – when his love for Fiona, a young WPA muralist, collides with his growing attraction to the exquisitely beautiful Alice, an ex-chorus girl who becomes his model and muse.  Alice is the girlfriend of Fiona’s cousin, Jake Powell, the hotheaded, hard-drinking outfielder for the New York Yankees whose jealousy explodes into abuse and rage, endangering the lives of all three.  

While Henry wrestles with his complicated love life, he also struggles mightily to reconcile his pacifism with the rabid patriotism of his Jewish-Russian émigré father.  As war draws near, Henry faces two difficult choices, one of which could cost him his life.

Recently finished

Links from the titles will take you to my reviews

Elmet by Fiona Mozley

The Push by Ashley Audrain

Connectedness (Identity Detective #2) by Sandra Danby 

Justine’s art sells around the world, but does anyone truly know her? When her mother dies, she returns to her childhood home in Yorkshire where she decides to confront her past. She asks journalist Rose Haldane to find the baby she gave away when she was an art student, but only when Rose starts to ask difficult questions does Justine truly understand what she must face.

Is Justine strong enough to admit the secrets and lies of her past? To speak aloud the deeds she has hidden for 27 years, the real inspiration for her work that sells for millions of pounds. Could the truth trash her artistic reputation? Does Justine care more about her daughter, or her art? And what will she do if her daughter hates her? (Review to follow)

Last Flight to Stalingrad by Graham Hurley 

Berlin, 1942: For four years, the men in field grey have helped themselves to country after country across Western Europe. For Werner Nehmann, a journalist at the Promi – the Ministry of Propaganda – this dizzying series of victories has felt like a party without end. But now the Reich’s attention has turned towards the East, and as winter sets in, the mood is turning. Werner’s boss, Joseph Goebbels, can sense it. A small man with a powerful voice and coal-black eyes, Goebbels has a deep understanding the dark arts of manipulation. His words, his newsreels, have shaken Germany awake, propelling it towards its greater destiny and he won’t let – he can’t let – morale falter now. But the Minister of Propaganda is uneasy and in his discomfort has pulled Werner into his close confidence. And here, amid the power struggle between the Nazi Chieftains, Werner will make his mistake and begin his descent into the hell of Stalingrad. (Review to follow for blog tour)

What Cathy (will) Read Next

Children's FateChildren’s Fate (The Meonbridge Chronicles #4) by Carolyn Hughes (ebook, courtesy of the author)

How can a mother just stand by when her daughter is being cozened into sin?

It’s 1360, eleven years since the Black Death devastated all of England, and six years since Emma Ward fled Meonbridge with her children, to find a more prosperous life in Winchester. Long satisfied that she’d made the right decision, Emma is now terrified that she was wrong. For she’s convinced her daughter Bea is in grave danger, being exploited by her scheming and immoral mistress. Bea herself is confused: fearful and ashamed of her sudden descent into sin, but also thrilled by her wealthy and attentive client.

When Emma resolves to rescue Bea from ruin and tricks her into returning to Meonbridge, Bea doesn’t at first suspect her mother’s motives. She is happy to renew her former friendships but, yearning for her rich lover, Bea soon absconds back to the city. Yet, only months later, plague is stalking Winchester again and, in terror, Bea flees once more to Meonbridge. But, this time, she finds herself unwelcome, and fear, hostility and hatred threaten…

#BookReview Elmet by Fiona Mozley

whatcathyreadnext

ElmetAbout the Book

Daniel is heading north. He is looking for someone. The simplicity of his early life with Daddy and Cathy has turned sour and fearful. They lived apart in the house that Daddy built for them with his bare hands. They foraged and hunted. When they were younger, Daniel and Cathy had gone to school. But they were not like the other children then, and they were even less like them now. Sometimes Daddy disappeared, and would return with a rage in his eyes. But when he was at home he was at peace. He told them that the little copse in Elmet was theirs alone. But that wasn’t true. Local men, greedy and watchful, began to circle like vultures. All the while, the terrible violence in Daddy grew.

Format: ebook (320 pages)            Publisher: John Murray
Publication date: 27th July 2017 Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction

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My Review

Elmet is the story of two children – Daniel and Cathy – who live with their father in a house in a forest, largely apart from the rest of society.  It’s a strange, rather spartan life in which their father seeks to keep them separate from the world but also to protect them from some undisclosed danger. As fourteen-year-old Daniel, the book’s narrator, says, ‘Everything he did now was to toughen us up against something unseen. He wanted to strengthen us against the dark things in the world.’  Despite their very basic lifestyle and lack of creature comforts, the two children have a strong bond with their father.   ‘Cathy and I did not mind taking orders from Daddy. Sometimes we were more like an army than a family and he was not the type of leader to make you do anything for nothing.’

An interesting aspect of the children’s upbringing is the way it has blurred, even removed, gender distinctions.  As Daniel observes, ‘You have to appreciate that I never thought of myself as a man. I did not even think of myself as a boy… It is not as if I had ever actively rejected that designation. I just never thought about it. I lived with my sister and my father and they were my whole world. I did not think of Cathy as a girl nor a woman, I thought of her as Cathy. I did not think of Daddy as a man, though I knew that he was. I thought about him, likewise, as Daddy.’ 

Whilst an intense and, at times, disturbing read, I liked the way the author introduced themes such as concern for the environment.  In contrast to the local landowner, who regards the land merely as a source of profit, the children’s father carefully tends the forest and teaches his children the skills to do the same.  ‘In order to let new growth fight through, overhanging branches, crumbled bark and fallen trees must be cleared. Weeds in the undergrowth must be managed. The right shoots must be let through and the wrong ones discouraged.’  Much like indigenous people in other parts of the world, the children’s father cannot understand the concept of ownership of land. “It’s idea a person can write summat on a bit of paper about a piece of land that lives and breathes, and changes and quakes and floods and dries, and that that person can use it as he will, or not at all, and that he can keep others off it, all because of a piece of paper.”

When resistance grows to the landowners who wield power over the local community, the stakes are raised and events take a dark turn. As one of the leaders of the resistance, the children’s father becomes a target for retaliation of the most brutal kind and the children’s ability to respond to ‘the dark things in the world’ for which their father has prepared them is finally put to the test.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of John Murray via NetGalley.

In three words: Dark, chilling, unsettling

Try something similar: The Wanderers by Tim Pears

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Fiona Mozley authorAbout the Author

Fiona Mozley grew up in York and lives in Edinburgh. Her first novel, Elmet, won a Somerset Maugham Award and the Polari Prize. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, and longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Dublin Literary Award and the International Dylan Thomas Prize. In 2018 Fiona Mozley was shortlisted for the Sunday Times/PFD Young Writer of the Year Award. (Photo/bio credit: Publisher author page)

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