Category Archives: Books

Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks Book Review

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How to review Sebastian Faulks’ new novel? That is the question. Sebastian Faulk is one of the best novelists writing today and his books are eagerly awaited. Snow County is a sublime novel. Full of poetry and intelligence. I found myself re-reading pages and paragraphs as I fell in love with the book. Snow Country is the novel that Sebastian has wanted to write for ten years and I am glad he has. It is an epic, wistful,  love story, full of yearning and gorgeous atmosphere. I really felt that I was transported to 1910/20s Vienna.

Sebastian Faulk is a master storyteller and this is the perfect book to curl up with this Autumn. It is definitely one of my favourite books. Snow Country is the second book in a planned trilogy. The first was Human Traces. It can be read as a standalone novel. Get your hands on a copy now.  I will definitely be reading this again.

snow country, sebastian faulks, book review, catherine balavage

1914: Young Anton Heideck has arrived in Vienna, eager to make his name as a journalist. While working part-time as a private tutor, he encounters Delphine, a woman who mixes startling candour with deep reserve. Entranced by the light of first love, Anton feels himself blessed. Until his country declares war on hers.

 

1927: For Lena, life with a drunken mother in a small town has been impoverished and cold. She is convinced she can amount to nothing until a young lawyer, Rudolf Plischke, spirits her away to Vienna. But the capital proves unforgiving. Lena leaves her metropolitan dream behind to take a menial job at the snow-bound sanatorium, the Schloss Seeblick.

 

1933: Still struggling to come terms with the loss of so many friends on the Eastern Front, Anton, now an established writer, is commissioned by a magazine to visit the mysterious Schloss Seeblick. In this place of healing, on the banks of a silvery lake, where the depths of human suffering and the chances of redemption are explored, two people will see each other as if for the first time.

 

Sweeping across Europe as it recovers from one war and hides its face from the coming of another, SNOW COUNTRY is a landmark novel of exquisite yearnings, dreams of youth and the sanctity of hope. In elegant, shimmering prose, SebastianFaulks has produced a work of timeless resonance.

Snow Country is available here.

Just Haven’t Met You Yet By Sophie Cousens Book Review

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Sophie Cousens’s debut novel This Time Next Year was one of 2020’s standout novels. It was a well-deserved runaway success and gave Sophie Cousens her rightful place as a writer to watch. Yes, she has done it again with Just Haven’t Met You Yet. Another blinder of a novel, it tells the story of romance-obsessed Laura and her quest to meet The One. I saw one reviewer call it “rom-com perfection” and it is hard to think of a more fitting description.

Just Haven’t Met You Yet is another corker from Cousens, you will love the characters just as much as I did. I love the Jersey setting, you really get immersed in the island. I learned so much and want to go now. Just Haven’t Met You Yet is a wonderful, clever novel. You will read it with a smile on your face. Brilliant.

just haven't met you yet, sophie cousens

Tell me the story of how you two met…

Laura has built a career out of interviewing people about their epic real life love stories.

When she picks up the wrong suitcase at the airport, Laura wonders if this could be the start of something that’s written in the stars.

From piano sheet-music to a battered copy of her favourite book, Laura finds in the bag evidence of everything she could hope for in a partner.

If Laura’s job has taught her anything it’s that when it comes to love, you can’t let opportunity pass you by. Now Laura is determined to track down the owner of the suitcase, and her own happy ending.

But what if fate has other ideas?
Just Haven’t Met You Yet is available here.

WELSH WRITING WEDNESDAYS: INTRODUCING INDEPENDENT AUTHOR ALIENORA BROWNING

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Writing is, for me, like breathing: I feel oxygen-starved without it, and it has the same natural rhythms, dips and soaring highs. It is also my dominant ‘voice’ since I tend to be a listener, rather than a talker, in many situations.

I do not remember learning to write per se, but I do recall a wonderful ‘Aha!’ moment, when I was five or six, when I suddenly made the connection between the five letters which made up my nickname, its sound and the fact that it was part of me!

I wrote a play when I was eleven – and have it still, neatly written in a little blue exercise book. This was during the summer of 1969, just after my class watched the Moon Landing – and as I waited to start grammar school, having passed the 11+.

I can see that younger self, sitting in the hammock in the back garden, pen in hand, sun shining down on my hunched back, scribbling away – and feel the wave of creative excitement which lifted me up and suspended me, briefly, above the everyday world.

My now-nearly-fifty-year journal-writing habit started by accident (in the sense that I had never thought of such a way of expressing myself until then) in early January 1972.

Two days before my fourteenth birthday, a group of us from my school went to Glasbury, in Wales, for a fortnight of physical activity: climbing, canoeing, camping, gorge-walking and so forth. As part of the course, we were each given a pale green notebook – and asked to keep a diary account of our experiences.

I fell in love with this means of expression immediately – and, while most of the girls loathed having to do it every day, I relished the exercise and very much felt as if I had found my voice, as a girl and as a writer; in fact, so enamoured of it did I become that I ended up filling two green books!

I now have over a hundred volumes of the journal, currently stashed away in a safe space – and use it almost every day (though there are, inevitably, gaps over the years and decades), even writing in it whilst in labour and on the day my son was born!

The novel-writing came upon me towards the end of my time at Aberystwyth University – and early drafts of books won me an honourable mention, a third prize and a first prize in local South West Arts Writers in Progress awards.

Motherhood, marriage and full time teaching very much put the novel-writing side of things on the back burner – and it was only when I took early retirement in 2011 that I was able to complete previous books and write more.

I now have seven books published via Amazon and KDP (all available as both e-books and paperbacks) – and ideas for an eighth are bubbling excitedly away in my creative cauldron.

The truth is very simple: I absolutely love writing – and that intimate, joyous connection between mind, hand, pen and paper never fails to delight and inspire me.

 

 

CARIADS’ CHOICE: AUGUST BOOK REVIEWS

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Eva Glyn’s The Missing Pieces of Us, reviewed by Jan Baynham

I enjoyed ‘The Missing Pieces of Us’ immensely. Eva Glyn takes us on an emotional journey with the two main characters, Izzie and Robin. I liked the way the themes of love, grief, loss, and memory are explored from each of their POVs. The story slowly reveals how things that happened twenty years before have impacted on the two characters and made them the people they are today. The character of Claire is also developed well so that she plays a pivotal role in the journey. Central to the story is the fairy tree where people can come to make wishes and leave gifts. For me, that added element of folk-lore and magic makes the novel a little bit different.

 

Sandy Barker’s The Dating Game, reviewed by Kitty Wilson

I loved this perfect, feelgood summer read. The Dating Game is a gorgeous slow-burn romance with whip-smart humour threaded through every page.

Abby has been coerced into taking part on a dating show in Sydney to help inform her as she writes snarky reviews of each episode as her hilarious alter-ego, Anastasia. Whilst there, her relationship builds with the handsome producer, Jack, and I was rooting for them to get together all the way through.

This book isn’t a simple romance though, it is also a book that testifies to the strength of female friendship even when these women are pitted against each other.

Sandy Baker writes with such wit and warmth that it’s impossible not to get totally invested in this story and I frequently laughed out loud as we followed Abby and the other Does from one hideous Stag date to another. Wonderful, feelgood romcom escapism and highly recommended.

 

Philip Gwynne Jones’ The Venetian Game, reviewed by Evonne Wareham

If the lure of “Venice” in the title and the sumptuous cover tempt you into this book – you won’t be disappointed. Philip Gwynne Jones is Welsh, but now lives in Venice and it shows. This is the first in a series – now up to five – featuring Honorary British Consul Nathan Sutherland who has a talent for getting involved in unusual crimes that are rooted in the life of the city and which offer a real opportunity for some authentic armchair travel. Other than his consular work Nathan lives a more or less blameless life translating lawn mower manuals, frequenting the local bar and pandering to his ungrateful cat Gramsci. In this first in the series his consular role sees him reluctantly taking charge of a mysterious package which leads him into a tangled trail of forgery, theft and violence – an art scandal embedded in a deadly and longstanding feud between a pair of brothers.

 

Deborah Carr’s An Island at War, reviewed by Jane Cable

The fact Deborah Carr was born and bred in Jersey shines through in this novel, which is impeccably researched, apparently with the aid of family records.

The story is one of the German occupation and starts just a few days before the troops arrived and ends as they leave. I loved the fact that the passage of time and the events in the characters’ lives seemed so natural and it allowed Estelle’s story to unfold at just the right pace. The characters are wonderful too, and I came to really care about what happened to them, particularly enjoying the sensitive portrayal of how war can change everything, even the things we think are written in stone, about ourselves and about other people.

The one thing I was unsure about was the ending, but all the same I applaud the author for it. To say anything more would spoil the book and I wouldn’t want to do that, because it’s one you should read for yourself.

 

 

 

EVA GLYN ON THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE OLIVE GROVE

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Sometimes an idea for a book creeps into your heart and stays there. That was how The Olive Grove started for me, with a story told by our tour guide when we were on holiday in Croatia.

We were on a small-boat cruise that began in Dubrovnik and after visiting the main islands off the Dalmatian coast and some interesting places on the mainland, ended up in Trogir. And when we were on board travelling there were talks we could listen to and to make our experience complete we wanted to lap up every one.

The war in Yugoslavia was perhaps not a particularly enticing topic when the alternative was to sit on deck, watching the glistening sea ripple alongside the boat while soaking up some sun, but I remembered hearing about the war on the news at the time and was keen to know more. And then, somewhere between the dates, whys and wherefores, our guide Darko began to tell an incredible story. His own.

I suppose I had assumed Darko was Croatian, but he is in fact Bosnian and grew up in Mostar, one of the towns that was to be worst hit by the fighting. His father was a soldier in the Yugoslav army, but when everything fractured and splintered he followed his ethnicity and joined the Croatian side, having to leave his Serbian wife (and Serbia was now the enemy) at home with their sons.

I will never forget the silence in the room at the horror of what we were told. No electricity, no water, bombs raining down, queuing for food at the community organisation – life as we would all recognise it wiped out over the course of a few days in a war that would last for years. Darko’s life moved underground to the shelters, because they were the only safe place. And he was one of the lucky ones, because living in the army housing meant the shelters were purpose-built, deep and strong.

There were moments to awful to contemplate. Darko’s mother actually disappeared, as many people did during ethnic cleansing, but he was one of the few lucky ones because she actually came back. But there were moments of light too; finding a food parcel dropped by the UN and hoping it was one with chocolate inside.

These incidents and more form the kernel of The Olive Grove, but viewed through the prism of time by my proud Croatian character Damir. Orphaned during the war he was brought up by his aunt on the beautiful island of Korcula (which we visited during our trip); brought up to forget everything about his life before he came to the island. But when she dies, the past creeps back to find him.

While Darko wears his wartime past with relative ease (which is often the case when everyone around the child is having the same experiences, when the awfulness becomes a sort of normal), fictional Damir no longer can. And help comes from a surprising quarter. A middle aged English woman called Antonia who feels she has messed up her life so badly she takes a job on the island to take stock and to heal.

And that’s what The Olive Grove is really about. It’s about healing and friendship. Like Darko’s childhood memories there is sunshine and shade. And unlike them there is the most incredibly beautiful setting.

With Darko’s help over countless Zoom meetings during lockdown I have been able to create authentic Croatian characters and culture, so as well as the initial inspiration, there are many other reasons why The Olive Grove could not have been written without him. And what’s even better, we have become friends across the miles too.

CARIADS’ CHOICE: BANK HOLIDAY REVIEW SPECIAL

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Kitty Wilson’s Every Day in December, reviewed by Jane Cable

I always feel August is a little early to read a Christmas book, but so evocative were the descriptions of sledging on tin trays and making snow angels I actually felt cold!

Christmas, however, is just the backdrop to this heart-warming story and the characters are just wonderful. If I felt for Belle, and wanted to scream at her awful parents in anguish, I seriously fell in love with Rory; he too has heavy baggage to carry but it doesn’t follow him around like a thundercloud and you know from the start he is still capable of love and lightness.

Being Kitty Wilson, this is a funny book and will make you laugh out loud… Chardonnay and her pilot… Belle’s unusual ally when she has to play Christmas fairy… all beautifully crafted moments. But the love story takes centre stage; believable, real and flawed. I absolutely loved it.

 

Natalie Normann’s Summer Island, reviewed by Jessie Cahalin

A gorgeous, joyful novel that made me want to ‘enjoy the silence and the wind – the smell of the {Nordic} island and take a deep breath.’ Perfect.

‘There’s more to life than a broken heart’, declares Ninni. At the end of a relationship with a pilot, she escapes to the family holiday home on a Norwegian island. Of her former lover, she mused, ‘if he were here, she would simply push him into the sea.’ And when you get to know Ninni, you really believe this would be possible.

There are sparks between Jack, the Englishman and Ninni, but you need to read to find out more. It was so much fun to experience Jack’s perspective as he learnt the Norwegian way of life on the island and dealt with the close knit, nosy community.

Gentle humour bubbles throughout the novel and it is a perfect escape.

 

Shelley Parker-Chan’s She Who Became The Sun, reviewed by Kitty Wilson

This story was a reimagining of the rise of a young girl from a famine-stricken village in Fourteenth Century China; described as a cross between Mulan and the Song Of Achilles, it certainly lives up to this high praise. It is a truly epic tale, filled with love, loss, and betrayal and I absolutely loved it. We see Zhu rise from almost certain death as she decides to take on the fate ascribed to her brother and escapes her village to a nearby monastery by hiding the gender assigned to her at birth and training to become a monk. The story follows her life as she moves from monk to warrior, using her keen intelligence to rise to prominence. The world building is intricate and beautifully done, the characters are flawed and real and the story itself is utterly absorbing. It manages to combine tender moments with brutal ones and weaves themes of war, love, duty and identity throughout.

 

Anna and Jacqui Burns’ Love at Cafe Lompar, reviewed by Jill Barry

This debut novel written from individual viewpoints, by mother and daughter team Jacqui and Anna, is a total delight. Coming to terms with the death of a husband and father is difficult in itself. But when Dan Lompar’s widow unlocks Pandora’s Box, the lives of family members are changed for ever. Reading the novel’s sparkling descriptions of both scenery and local food delicacies left me feeling I wanted to hop on the next flight to Dubrovnik. But it’s the characters who held me most of all. And the fallout from what must have been an intensely difficult secret to keep for many years. Whether the action takes place in and around Bath or the Bay of Kotor, the emotional impact is huge, especially as Grace and Kat learn more about beautiful, dignified Croatia. They find their attitudes changing as they follow in Dan’s footsteps and embrace the changing patterns of family life.

 

 

 

 

 

WELSH WRITING WEDNESDAYS: JAN BAYNHAM ON CONTEMPORARY NOVELIST CAROL LOVEKIN

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I first met author, Carol Lovekin at Tenby Book Fair in 2015. We’d been following each other on Twitter and it was so good to meet in person. It was just six months before her wonderful debut novel, Ghostbird, was published by Honno, the Welsh Women’s Press. A feminist writer based in west Wales, Carol writes contemporary fiction exploring family relationships and secrets, but for me it’s the fact that her writing is interwoven with myth, fairytale, ghosts, and mystery that makes her novels so special.

‘My stories touch on the Welsh Gothic & its most powerful motif: the ghost. They concern the nature of magic & how it threads through the fabric of our lives. I explore possibilities: the fine line between the everyday & the time-shifting world of enchantment. My books are also firmly rooted in reality. I write about family relationships: how people, women in particular, respond to loss & how they survive. I set my stories in Wales, where I’ve lived for several decades: a place whose legends & landscapes inform my writing.’

Carol’s own words sum up the very essence of her writing. When reading her novels, there is no doubt as to where they are set and she takes you into the innermost thoughts of her characters. I love the poetic nature of the prose and its figurative language that does not in any way detract from the plot and pace of the novels.

Carol’s next novel will be published by Honno in 2022. Entitled Only May, she describes it as her ‘lockdown novel’ when she said writing kept her sane. ‘With no distractions, I listened for the word birds, cracked on and wrote it.’ It’s written in the first person present and involves a girl who could tell when people lied to her. If, when they looked her directly in the eye and told lies, she knew.

‘I’m the girl who sees beyond the glint in your eye, around your over-confidence and through to the truth and I can hear the earth hum, the way the bees do. Ever since I was a tiny baby and they started talking to me, it’s seemed rude not to take notice.
Bees don’t lie.’

 

Published works:

Ghostbird (2016)

Described as ‘Charming, quirky, magical’ ~ Joanne Harris, the book was chosen as Waterstones Wales and Welsh Independent Bookshops ‘Book Of The Month’ for April 2016. It was longlisted for the Guardian ‘Not the Booker’ prize 2016 and nominated for the Guardian Readers’ Book of the Year 2016.

Snowsisters (2017)

Author, Louise Beech, said of this novel, ‘Lovekin’s words soar like the birds, who see everything’. It was selected by Books Council of Wales as their October 2017 Book of the Month.

Wild Spinning Girls (2020)

‘A timeless tale of grief and belonging… haunting and hopeful.’ ~ Mags Phelan Stones. This third novel was selected as Books Council of Wales Book Of The Month for March 2020 and was shortlisted for Literature Wales Book of the Year/ Rhys Davies Fiction Award 2021. This was a huge accolade for not only for Carol and her fellow Honno author, Judith Barrow who was also shortlisted alongside her but for Honno itself. Congratulations!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris Book Review

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Joanne Harris is one of our greatest novelists. It is hard for anyone to argue with this statement and A Narrow Door asserts her place once again.  Such is the richness of her language, and the mastery of her skills as a storyteller, that I could not put this book down. It is such a rich story of suspense and betrayal.  

You will never see the twists coming and they will take your breathe away. This is a stunning and clever book. I suggest you grab a copy as soon as you can, it is sure to be the hit of the summer. This is definitely one of my favourite books of the year. 

From the Sunday Times and internationally bestselling, multi prize-winning author Joanne Harris, comes A NARROW DOOR – an explosive psychological thriller about one woman who, having carved out her own path to power, is now intent on tearing apart the elite world that tried to hold her back . . . piece by piece.

A Narrow Door, Joanne Harris, Book, book review

 

Now I’m in charge, the gates are my gates. The rules are my rules. 
It’s an incendiary moment for St Oswald’s school. For the first time in its history, a headmistress is in power, the gates opening to girls.

Rebecca Buckfast has spilled blood to reach this position. Barely forty, she is just starting to reap the harvest of her ambition. As the new regime takes on the old guard, the ground shifts. And with it, the remains of a body are discovered.

But Rebecca is here to make her mark. She’ll bury the past so deep it will evade even her own memory, just like she has done before. After all…

You can’t keep a good woman down.

Available to pre-order now!

A Narrow Door is available here.