The Glittering Art of Falling Apart by Ilana Fox Review by Jan Speedie

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Margaret Graham

A story of jealousy, secrets, heartbreak and love – read and enjoy.

Beaufont Hall, ancestral home of the Tempest family, lies empty, crumbling and the family feel cursed. Will the future glitter for the younger members of the family as their lives take very different paths?

Eliza is bored with life in small council flat in Tottenham and school. Fuelled by thoughts of glamorous parties, night clubs, late nights and freedom Eliza heads for the electric pull of Soho in the 1980s. Eliza feels the world is at her feet, fame and fortune are within her grasp – can she grab it?

Cassie fascinated by her family history and Beaufont Hall and jumps at the chance to explore the abandoned Hall. Cassie finds Eliza’s diaries in the library and from them discovers the hidden truth about her family’s past.

Ilana Fox has woven a fascinating story about Eliza and Cassie who are separated by a generation but linked by the diaries. She paints an evocative picture of life in Soho in the 1980s and Cassie’s determination to find the truth about the past.

*************

Ilana Fox lives in East Dulwich and is a supporter of Save Soho whose aim is to preserve iconic music venues in Soho from developers. This is Ilana 4^th novel and before turning to writing fiction she worked as a journalist for several leading newspapers.

Published by Orion Fiction

In Paperback on 18^th February 2016 – £7.99 – eBook £4.99 Available from Amazon.co.uk

Over the Sea to Skerries By Wendy Breckon

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Over the Irish Sea, but not too far away is the delightful coastal town of Skerries (Na Sceiri), 30 km north of Dublin Port. Today on my journey over, fellow travellers cling tightly to each other on the boat, as the choppy waves make it difficult to stand up or move. People naturally, are determined to avoid the perils of the upside down position… myself included. A brave few with money to burn, are trying to meander a safe passage to the bright, enticing lights of the duty free shop.

On disembarking … the car chugs along gently, through the Dublin Tunnel, on its now familiar journey to one of my favourite places. The long street with vibrant shops either side, including a charming little bookshop, is bustling with friendly people of all ages, scurrying here and there, clutching flowers or fresh bread.

Skerries is a captivating spot to rest a while and enjoy. Like a good book though, you will never want to reach the last page.

A visit to Olive the bakery and deli is irresistible. This popular hotspot in the middle of the town is buzzing with animated people, couples and young families laughing and sharing stories… blending together perfectly. Outside in the covered section, at the front, I enjoy their excellent coffee and homemade scones. Sssh… please don’t tell anyone I’ve just had my third cup.

Afterwards, we stroll along The Strand to the brightly coloured, bobbing boats in the harbour. The January waves scatter and shake their spray on our path to the beach. Aah… the sea, skip down by the edge to the curling waves, place your feet on the sand, and take a deep breath or two. Enjoy the calm… practise mindfulness… it’s free.

Just beyond the little town, lies the picturesque Skerries Mill with the duck pond, wet lands, and the old mill, its sails rising above the earth. Inside the door to the exhibition centre and cafe is a large, heavy old bell, which mischievous children love to ring.

Upstairs, if you haven’t eaten too many scones at Olive, a light lunch can be savoured over your latest novel. Mine is The South by Colm Toibin, the well known Irish novelist. Afterwards, sneak out to the award winning gift shop for a piece of Celtic treasure or a book of my favourite Irish poetry, W B Yates the perfect choice.

Outside, the site commands a wonderful view of the coast and the offshore Islands of St. Patricks; Shenick and Colt. In the early sixteenth century, where the seagulls and ducks roam now, the land once belonged to an Augustinian Monastic Foundation.

Today might be cold and wintry, but the simple beauty of Skerries is, that whatever the weather, it’s a magical… take in slowly… kind of place. Maybe when you are over in Ireland next you might want to visit and explore.

My Bangkok Life – The Elephant Parade Words and images by Alex Bannard

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Margaret Graham

My Bangkok Life – The Elephant Parade

Words and images by Alex Bannard

Alex Bannard,Frost Magazines’ Bangkok correspondent, explored Lumpini Park to see the Elephant Parade. She found that this uplifting and colourful morning provided an insight into a worth cause.

We moved to Bangkok at the beginning of August 2015, following in the footsteps of the hubby, Mr P who had arrived at the beginning of March to start his new job. We loved it immediately: the food, the culture, the people, the weather. We’ve made some really wonderful friends, settled in & it feels like home already. Now it’s time to start exploring.

The Elephant Parade has been visiting Bangkok during December & January so we headed off to Lumpini Park keen to see it. I had suggested we take the water taxi, quicker, more fun for the kids but Mr P said the traffic would be fine on a Sunday. An hour later & much whining & pressing of each other’s & my buttons from the back seat & we finally arrived.

We put the lead on the puppy & headed off to find the parade. Only to be stopped by security, no dogs allowed in the park. Seriously? For a moment my love affair with this amazing city faltered. But being a selfless character, I handed the lead to Mr P & said, ‘Well I’m going, you can stay here with the dog.’ He went for a snooze in the a/c’d car, win win all round.

Aside from passing lots of Soi (street) dogs as we walked through the park & the sweltering heat, the parade was delightful. My daughter bumped into one of her ballet-class-cohorts & posed mercilessly by almost every elephant, having recently been taught the art my one of her friend’s mothers whilst my son was chief photographer.

The Elephant Parade is the brain-child of Marc Spits who visited The Friends of Asian Elephant Hospital in Thailand with his son, Mike & meet Mosha a baby elephant who had lost a foot at 7 months old thanks to a landmine accident. She has a new prosthetic leg fitted every year & every year has to learn to re-walk again. The Parade was set up to raise awareness & money for the plight of Asian elephants, many of which no longer have work & are forced to beg for food with their mahouts thorough the busy Thai streets.

The Parade, which started in 2006 has visited many European & Asian cities including Milan, Copenhagen, London, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Singapore & California. It is the largest exhibition of decorated life-sized elephant statues painted by celebrities & artists including Katy Perry, Sir Richard Branson, Paul Smith, Goldie Hawn, & here in Bangkok people like Nancy Chandler who makes wonderful maps & cards of Bangkok & local actors & artists.

The elephants are auctioned afterwards to raise money – I went on line desperate to obtain my favourite Elephant but rather staggered at the average bid being around 250,000bht, more then £4,500. It is an auction only for the hi-so of Bangkok, not your average expat. But miniature replicas are available on line & you can buy packs to paint your own if you are a budding artist.

The charity pledges to provide at least £50,000 in donations each year to support 25 elephants rescued from domestication or the streets, supporting the mahouts & their families with English lessons, education & even a livelihood for the wives in building their own silk worm farms. A great cause, some fabulous designs, definitely worth checking out.

A remarkable hands on charity: Forces Support by Margaret Graham

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Margaret Graham was a Royal Naval service wife, back in the days of the Gulf War, and during that time was disturbed to learn of a girl on her service ‘patch’ whose husband was killed in the conflict. This young widow and mother of young children had to relinquish her service quarter in short order, and move into other accommodation when she was least emotionally and physically in a position to do so.

The council house she was offered was in shabby condition and the garden a jungle. It was the last thing this widow, and her children needed to face. If only Forces Support had been in existence then.

Frost Magazine decided to find out more about this inspiring charity and the work it does.

Forces Support is the only UK charity that provides a unique type of practical support to families bereaved throughout the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

The charity was established in 2010 by Bill McCance. Bill had searched relentlessly for a charity to provide practical assistance for the wife of a serviceman killed in Afghanistan and was amazed that this type of support wasn’t available anywhere. Strongly believing that practical maintenance work around the home and garden was vital and should be readily available Bill’s only option was to set up Forces Support.

Since then the charity has already carried out over 300 support projects for bereaved military families including for nearly 70 of the 453 families who lost a loved one in Afghanistan. Forces Support carries out projects for partners, children and the parents of the bereaved.

Initially the jobs were relatively small, decorating a room, putting up shelves or tidying the garden, jobs that the lost hero might have done themselves. As word spread the projects have grown in size as the needs of the families became more apparent.

Much of the charity’s work these days is carrying out garden improvements. A number of the families lose all interest in their garden and they become overgrown, neglected and a reminder to them of how they aren’t coping with their loss.

Forces Support team go in and makeover the garden for them, relaying patios, replacing broken fencing, laying turf and creating flower borders. The transformation can be quite spectacular. For many of the families Forces Support create a remembrance area with an arbour so that the families have a quiet special place in which they can sit and remember the person they have lost.

“We are so proud of the work we do for these families who have lost not just a member of their family but a hero too. The feedback we receive is so heart-warming and encourages us to keep going and growing. Many of the families report that the work we do goes way beyond just the practical nature of the work … but how it has significant benefits in helping them cope with their loss and aid their healing”, says CEO Bill McCance.

A study carried out by eminent specialists in bereavement study recognised the significance of Forces Support role in this field and identified their work as fulfilling a need and created a new form of bereavement care called Restorative Coping Bereavement Care.

Already the charity has carried out work for the families of Lee Rigby, the young fusilier who was brutally murdered in broad daylight in London in 2013, for the parents of LCpl James Ashworth VCone of only 14 to receive the Victoria Cross since WW2 and for the family of Lance Corporal Liam Tasker, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2011. His dog Theo died on the same day following a seizure.

Rob Fellows, Head of Major Gifts, commented “Readers can follow the progress of the projects on our active Forces Support Charity Facebook page, where we have 112,000 followers. Already we have aided many bereaved military families but there is still much for us to do and we always have a waiting list of families to help. We welcome donations, large or small, from anyone who’d like to support us helping more bereaved military families.”

www.forcessupport.org.uk

rob.fellows@forcessupport.uk

www.facebook.com/ForcesSupportCharity

Dr Kathleen Thompson shares some excerpts from her enormously helpful book, From Both Ends of the Stethoscope

Posted on February 5, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Frost asked Dr Kathleen Thompson if she felt like sharing some excerpts from her enormously helpful book, From Both Ends of the Stethoscope.

Here is the first in a series of excerpts, and an invaluable read for everyone. Who knows, after all, when we will need to support someone with cancer, or even face a diagnosis ourselves. I can remember standing outside Ascot races one day last year with Kathleen, rattling collecting tins for three cancer charities. Many people stopped, and gave, because they had relatives with the disease or indeed, were, or had been sufferers themselves.

Since her brush with the disease Kathleen has lived life to the full, and perhaps with even greater gusto before. She has climbed Kilimanjaro, cycled for charity in southern India, and taken up ballroom dancing with a vengeance, (she has recently qualified for Blackpool – be still my beating heart. I intend to try and go to cheer her on). All this as well as continuing in her profession in medical research, writing a regular medical column for Frost, and best of all, writing about her own journey with cancer – From Both Ends of the Stethoscope which is full of sensible advice. The woman is a powerhouse, an inspiration, and the most amazing fun.

However did this happen to me? by Dr Kathleen Thompson

The nurse asked me to lie on the couch by the ultrasound machine.

‘The doctor will be here soon.’

A tall man with white hair walked through the door and smiled. He sat down next to the machine.

Looking straight into my eyes, he spoke. ‘The problem is, we’ve seen a lump on your mammogram. So I need to look at it with this ultrasound.’

Very gently, he pulled down my blue gown and exposed my breasts. I flinched as he squirted a blob of cold gel onto my skin. He pressed the ultrasound probe onto the blob, and moved it slowly over my right breast for a few minutes. He pointed to the fuzzy image on the small screen.

‘This is the lump — it’s about 2cm wide.’ His voice was quiet but firm. ‘Do you see the irregular shape, and these little bright flecks? These are worrying.’

He looked at me as he said this. His blue eyes offered sympathy and strength.

The screen looked like an ancient TV with a lousy reception. I couldn’t make out any lump—but I understood ‘irregular shape’ and ‘worrying’ well enough.

‘I see you’re a doctor. Where do you practice?’ he continued.

‘I was a paediatrician, but now I work in drug research.’

‘Oh? Interesting.’ His smile morphed into a serious expression, ‘I need to take a biopsy of this lump. We have these neat little things now.’ He held a small black box between his finger and thumb.

‘I’m going to press this box over the lump, then push this button, and a needle will shoot out and take the sample. It’ll make a loud click, but it won’t hurt, because I’m going to numb you first.’

I lay on the couch in the semi-darkness, watching him fill a small syringe with local anaesthetic. The cold wall, pressing against my left arm, forced me to concentrate. Everything was unreal — surreal. What was I doing here? I’d only come in for a check. My left hand gripped the coarse material of the hospital gown as if it was a survival rope. My right hand was visible to him and the nurse, so I forced it to relax.

Lifting the small syringe towards me, he injected the anaesthetic into my breast. It stung, but I hid the pain with a smile. ‘No, it doesn’t hurt. It’s fine. It’s a lovely day outside. I don’t expect you’ll have much chance to enjoy it, stuck in here.’

Somehow I controlled my voice — but tears were streaming down my face. I hoped the darkened room would hide them.

Then, a loud click shattered the quiet. He’d taken the biopsy, and he was right, it hadn’t hurt.

‘Well done. All finished. Nurse will pop a dressing on for you. Then she’ll take you to see the breast surgeon. Good luck with your research work.’ And he was gone.

On an otherwise unremarkable spring day, my life had just changed forever.

Excerpt from:

From Both Ends of the Stethoscope by Dr Kathleen Thompson

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9935083-0-1

E book ISBN: 978-0-9935083-1-8

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q

Take A Trip To Serendip By Wendy Breckon

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Margaret Graham

If I wasn’t spinning my latest yarn or chasing the words across a page of A4, I’d love to be scurrying behind the counter, in a cosy Indie bookshop. Peeping into the latest best seller or admiring the rows of vibrant coloured children’s books with quirky titles and sometimes cheeky rhymes. Aah… if only!

The wonderful Serendip on Broad Street in Lyme Regis, is in a prime, perfect location down on the right, above the peeping sea. With flapping seagulls overhead and the crashing of the stormy, January waves I amble down to one of my favourite places.

The huge window is bursting with books! All shapes and sizes, from best sellers, to the offerings of local authors, and reflects the different seasons and celebrations. Whether it’s Christmas or Easter, Mother or Father’s Day or the popular Fossil Festival, Serendip offers every reader something and one or two surprises.

One of the biggest sellers of 2015 was the unusual book called ‘Norwegian Wood’ by Lars Mytting.

Another popular buy, were the little Penguin books for adults, with titles such as the ‘The Husband’ ‘The Wife’ and the ‘Hangover’.

Meeting Chris Painton, the owner of Serendip with his wife Bee, and Angela, who enjoys working in their book shop three days a week, was a delight. Our engaging conversation, a welcome eye opener into the fascinating world of books.

Chris enjoys general fiction, although he doesn’t tend to read books by the same author all the time, his preference being mainly for biography and history. On his wish list to meet would be Paddy Ashdown, the writer of ‘Cockleshell Heroes’, an intriguing story of a life before politics, and the fascinating David Starkey the eminent historian.

Bee’s preference is for biographies of interesting people such as Gertrude Bell. Angela is drawn to creative nonfiction rather than novels. She read ‘The A303: Highway To The Sun’ by Tom Fort and subsequently planned her own trip with her husband, to visit some of the places. She enjoys reading about real life journeys and adventures, and how they came about, wanting to experience what the authors have, for herself.

The children’s book section on the right at the back is stunning. Favourites such as the Gruffalo or other stories by Julia Donaldson, Judith Kerr’s the ‘Tiger Who Came To Tea’ and Michael Murpurgo tales fly off the shelves. Here I buy books for my grandson Finn, before I sail over to Ireland.

Chris and Bee are so dedicated and passionate about the world of books, that they only close one day a year… Christmas Day. They offer a brilliant hand sell service… something Indi bookshops do so well. Everyone who works there is bursting with suggestions and ideas if you need any help with choosing a title. As Chris says, ‘good service is always the key’.

Serendip has been in their ownership for over five years. The couple changed the interior in 2010 because they wanted to brighten it up. Before then, the original gold lettering and black signs of the shop facade were created in 1980 for the film ‘The French Lieutenants’ Woman’. The arches above the shop that appeared in the film were kept. The much loved name Serendip was the original name for Sri Lanka and translates as ‘a treasure trove’, which of course it is, from the moment you walk in through the door. As someone who loves to potter inside, that is the perfect description for this delightful bookshop, just up from the sea.

The Secret of the Cathars by Michael Hillier Review by Frances Colville

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Margaret Graham

This book is an intriguing mix of fact and fiction. Based on the history of the Cathars, a religious heresy of the medieval period in France, and with references to the Knights Templar, there is enough information to whet the appetite of those interested in such things without turning into overkill for those who just want a good story and don’t care too much about the setting. After a rather slow start and a lengthy list of characters to get to grips with, the story moves along at a good pace with some interesting twists and turns on route. A sort of archaeological treasure hunt with competitors ranging from a TV presenter through a religious group to members of the mafia. Some of the characters are stereotypical and didn’t really come to life for me, but others – including the two main – were more convincing. I was initially somewhat disappointed by the ending which didn’t seem to tie up all the loose ends, but then I realised that this book is intended as the first of a trilogy and all became clear. And the over-long list of characters was also explained. All in all a good enough read to make me look out for the next instalment at some stage, but not one which completely wowed me.

The Secret of the Cathars is published by Matador and available in paperback and as an e-book.

Sweet Memories of You by Ellie Dean Reviewed by Jan Speedie

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Ellie Deane has produced another heartwarming story in her Beach View Boarding House Series.

Sweet Memories of You is set in 1943 in Cliffhaven, a small town on the south coast of Britain. Peggy Reilly runs the Beach View Boarding House and is determined to give her lodgers and evacuees a homely, happy place to live.

Peggy’s husband, Jim, is away with the Army in India and she is reliant on his regular airgraphs to know he is safe. Doreen, Peggy’s younger sister, has at last found happiness after her divorce from her adulterous husband but fate changes this.

Doreen returns to Cliffhaven to the love and comfort of her family but her past cannot stay away.

There is however a protector in Ron Reilly and his faithful brindle lurcher, Harvey. Ron watches over everyone at Beach Villa and with his Irish charm, mischievous ways and network of friends, keeps trouble at bay.

Read and enjoy this charming story of ordinary people coping with the hardships of air raids, rationing and the heartaches of a war which feels as though will never end.

Ellie Dean has lived in a village in the heart of the South Downs for many years. She has raised 3 children and this is her tenth novel in a successful writing career.

Published by Arrow in paperback: Price £5.99.

Also available as an ebook.

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