Tag: shortstories

Blog Tour/Book Review: Manipulated Lives by H. A. Leuschel

whatcathyreadnext1 Comment

Manipulated Lives

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Manipulated Lives by H. A. Leuschel. Thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to take part in the tour and to the author for my review copy.

WinTo enter the giveaway (open internationally) for a chance to win a paperback copy of Manipulated Lives click here

Giveaway Terms and Conditions:

  • Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Worldwide entries welcome.
  • The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then an alternative winner will be selected.
  • Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time the data will be deleted.
  •  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

ManipulatedLivesAbout the Book

Five compelling true-to-life stories each highlighting a narcissist’s manipulative mind games

Narcissists are everywhere. They can be witty, charming and highly charismatic. Anyone can be their target.

At first their devious, calculating mind games can be hard to spot because they are masters of disguise, but then they revert to their true self of being controlling and angry in private. Their main aim: to dominate and use others to satisfy their needs, with a complete lack of compassion and empathy for their victim.

All the stories highlight to what extent narcissistic abuse can distort lives and threaten our self-worth yet ultimately, also send a positive message that once the narcissist is unmasked, the victims can at last break free.

Format: ebook (273 pp.)     Publisher:
Published: 8th June 2016    Genre: Short Stories, Contemporary Fiction

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

Find Manipulated Lives on Goodreads

My Review

In this collection of compelling short stories, the author puts the reader inside the minds of five people who have either suffered psychological manipulation at the hands of another or been responsible for it.  The book persuasively illustrates that anyone – young or old, male or female – can fall prey to manipulation.  For instance, in the story ‘Tess and Tattoos’, we meet Tess, a charming, kind old lady, who was unlucky enough to form a relationship with someone who abused her physically and psychologically.  Incidentally, I was so glad that Tess found a friend to provide comfort to her as she unburdens herself of her traumatic memories.

In all the stories, the reader is witness to the internal dialogue of the characters as they reflect on their experiences and try to make sense of how they were manipulated or, in one case, to justify (unsuccessfully to my mind) their actions. The bleak nature of their experiences can make difficult reading at time.  By the time I got to the story of ‘The Narcissist’ I felt myself in sympathy with the thoughts of his psychiatrist: ‘It is tiring, exhausting, and in cases like this, downright gruelling to observe the human mind at its worst.’

The author clearly has a gift for creating memorable characters, believable situations and stories that often have a surprising sting in the tail.  Readers with an interest in psychology or who like to inhabit the minds of characters (and don’t mind if some of these are unlikeable) will find Manipulated Lives a fascinating and compelling read.   I also think the book might be helpful for anyone trying to understand the experiences of someone who has been subject to coercive control or manipulation.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

In three words: Dark, intense, thought-provoking

H A LeuschelAbout the Author

Helene Andrea Leuschel grew up in Belgium where she gained a Licentiate in Journalism & Communication, which led to a career in radio and television in Brussels, London and Edinburgh. She now lives with her husband and two children in Portugal and recently acquired a Master of Philosophy with the OU, deepening her passion for the study of the mind. When she is not writing, Helene works as a freelance journalist and teaches Yoga.

Connect with Helene

Website ǀ  Facebook ǀ  Twitter  ǀ Pinterest | Goodreads

Maniupluated Lives Full Tour Banner

 

 

 

Buchan of the Month/Book Review: The Runagates Club by John Buchan

whatcathyreadnext

buchan of the month 2019 poster

20190708_133755About the Book

These twelve stories are told by the old soldiers of the Runagates Club as they reminisce.

Richard Hannay, hero of The Thirty-Nine Steps, reappears recounting a trek into the bush in ‘The Green Wildebeest’. In ‘Dr Lartius’, John Palliser-Yeates describes an ingenious Secret Service operation during the First World War and a German code is finally broken in ‘The Loathly Opposite’.

My Review

The Runagates Club is the seventh book in my John Buchan reading project, Buchan of the Month 2019. You can find out more about the project and my reading list for 2019 here and read my (spoiler-free) introduction to The Runagates Club here.  It’s also an excuse to show off my two copies of the book: a Hodder & Stoughton edition from July 1929 and an undated Nelson edition (pictured above).

The Runagates Club, a collection of stories told around the dining table by members of the fictional private club of the title, was the last short story collection to be published in John Buchan’s lifetime. The stories can be roughly divided into groups:

  • Those with a supernatural theme: ‘The Green Wildebeeste’, ‘Skule Skerry’, ‘Fullcircle’ or ‘The Wind in the Portico’ (the latter reminiscent of one of the ghost stories of M.R. James)
  • Stories of ‘sheer romance’ (‘strangeness flowering from the commonplace’ as Buchan defines it), involving adventure in unexpected places, chance meetings, disguises and cases of mistaken identity: ‘The Frying Pan and the Fire’, ‘Divus Johnston’ and ‘Sing A Song of Sixpence’ (the latter set in London and featuring Sir Edward Leithen in scenes reminiscent of Buchan’s novel The Power-House)
  • Tales exploring moral or psychological themes that will be familiar to readers of Buchan, such as courage, fortitude, duty or finding one’s cause or ‘creed’: ‘Ship to Tarshish’ and ‘Tendebant Manus’
  • Buchan also has a bit of fun at the expense of the press in ‘The Last Crusade’ in which a small article in a provincial newspaper takes on a life of its own. It has to be said though the story is spoilt somewhat by the presence of what would be regarded today as unsavoury conspiracy theories and tropes
  • Finally, my two favourite (and I think the two best) stories in the collection – ‘Dr. Lartius’ and ‘ The Loathly Opposite’  – which reflect Buchan’s role in propaganda and intelligence during the First World War, as recounted in Ursula Buchan’s recent biography of her grandfather, Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan.

All the stories in The Runagates Club are told in Buchan’s customary flowing, seemingly effortless and concise prose with a real sense of place evident in many of them. ‘Skule Skerry’ and ‘Fullcircle’ are good examples. The only jarring note is some distasteful racial stereotyping and use of terms that will be unacceptable to modern readers in a couple of the stories, for example ‘The Green Wildebeeste’.

Next month’s Buchan of the Month is The Courts of the Morning.

Find The Runagates Club on Goodreads

John BuchanAbout the Author

John Buchan (1875 – 1940) was an author, poet, lawyer, publisher, journalist, war correspondent, Member of Parliament, University Chancellor, keen angler and family man.  He was ennobled and, as Lord Tweedsmuir, became Governor-General of Canada.  In this role, he signed Canada’s entry into the Second World War.   Nowadays he is probably best known – maybe only known – as the author of The Thirty-Nine Steps.  However, in his lifetime he published over 100 books: fiction, poetry, short stories, biographies, memoirs and history.

You can find out more about John Buchan, his life and literary output by visiting The John Buchan Society website.

buchan of the month 2019