The Umbrian Thursday Night Supper Club By Marlena de Blasi

Posted on August 10, 2016 by Frostie

The Umbrian Thursday Night Supper Club By Marlena de Blasi

REVIEW BY JAN SPEEDIE

The true life stories of four Italian women – the food is delicious, the recipes closely guarded secrets, the friendships lifelong.

Marlena is an American author living and enjoying life in Italy with her Venetian husband Fernando. They have settled in the small town of Orvieto in Umbria where Marlena enjoys exploring the friendship of some local women and their love of cooking.

Marlena discovers that on a Thursday evening four local women meet in a derelict stone cottage to gossip, laugh and argue but mainly to cook. She is delighted when she is invited by Miranda, the group leader, to join them. Slowly she is accepted by the other women and invited to cook for them. Sitting in the candle lit room, following good food and local wine the women Miranda, Ninucua, Paolina and Gilda tell their intriguing individual life stories.

Glorious Italian food. If you are keen on simple authentic dishes Marlena’s book is for you. Remember no Italian meal is served without a simple pasta dish to start to assuage the appetite and here are recipes galore.

Marlena de Blasi has been a chef, journalist and restaurant critic; now an author of international best seller books with her memoirs and a novel. She has also published two cookbooks of Italian food. Marlena and her husband live in Orvieto in Umbria, Italy.

Published in Paperback by Windmill

Available from May 2016. Priced £8.99

Also available in ebook.

Polly’s Angels by Katie Flynn Review by Jan Speedie

Posted on August 9, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Katie Flynn first published Polly’s Angels in the year 2000; if you missed it then it is well worth a catch up. A classic saga of the O’Brady family .

In 1936 the O’Brady family’s circumstances change and they are forced to move into central Liverpool to find work. Life in Liverpool is very different from the countryside home they loved. Polly is a bright, popular 13 year old who does well at school and always follows the rules. Local bad boy Sunny Anderson is very taken with Polly and tries hard to lead her astray.

In 1939 as war looms, Sunny, for all his wayward ways, joins the navy and trains as a signaller. As soon as Polly is old enough she enrols into the WRNS. Polly’s childhood sweetheart Tad Donoghue, trains as an RAF pilot and hopes to reunite with his first love. Secrets about Polly’s past come to light – who does she really love Sunny or Tad?

Katie Flynn’s knowledge about wartime Liverpool is extensive, the bombings, food shortages and the strength of the citizens to endure all that is thrown at them.

Katie Flynn is a compulsive writer starting her career with short stories broadcast on Radio Merseyside. Her Liverpool series was inspired by hearing reminiscences of her family’s lives during the war.

Katie has lived for many years in the north-west.

Published by Arrow in June 2016

£6.99 in paperback

The Taste of Summer by Kate Lord Brown Review by Frances Colville

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Financial problems with a rambling castle in south west Ireland, a busy hotel and restaurant, the filming of a favourite cookery competition for TV, a tangled web of relationships both current and in the past, mother and daughter issues, childhood memories, alcoholism, food-blogging, cake baking, house building, a disturbed and manipulative main character, kidnapping, sabotage, a fire and possible murder all vie for position in this new novel from Kate Lord Brown. A bit much?
Yes, probably. But I did keep turning the pages to see how it was all going to work out and although some parts of the ending were clearly signposted I didn’t get everything sorted in my head. Not sure it’s quite a relaxing beach read given that you need to concentrate. Perhaps despite the title, it’s better suited to a long winter’s evening when you’re feeling in need of that taste of summer.

The Taste of Summer by Kate Lord Brown is published by Orion on 28 July 2016 in paperback priced at £7.99.

The Saffron Road by Christine Toomey

Posted on August 3, 2016 by Tracy Baines

A Journey with Buddha’s Daughters.

‘People think that Engaged Buddhism is only about social work and stopping war. But at the same time that you stop the war outside, you have to stop the war inside yourself.’ Sister Chân Không.

It took Christine Toomey two decades of covering wars around the world, looking outward rather than inward, for her to appreciate that any true understanding of conflict can only come from facing up to our own inner battles.

A chance meeting with a Buddhist nun in India made a deep impression on her. It sent her on a journey that lasted two years, in which time she covered over 60,000 miles, across continents, to discover more about the women who were embarking on the Buddhist spiritual path. She follows a trail across Asia, Europe and North America and thereby covers the history, past tradition and modern practice of women who become Buddhist nuns.

The book has three interwoven strands: the path of Buddhism from East to West, the individual paths taken by women to becoming nuns and the third her own personal path to healing the grief she felt on losing both her parents within a short time.

She converses with highly educated women who have had successful and stimulating careers but have found something lacking in their life that sent them searching for something more. Many have left marriages and older children behind on their journey of the spiritual path. Those she interviews include an acclaimed novelist, a princess, a former BBC journalist, a Washington political aid and a concert violinist.

There are many tales of great suffering, hardship, and violence that women have had to escape from, and overcome, to follow their calling. That they have endured and found inner peace is inspirational.

It is quite simply the most fascinating book I have read this year and I felt strangely calm whilst reading it. There is much to be found among the pages, of wisdom and of coming to terms with things you cannot change.

A foreign correspondent and feature writer for the Sunday Times for more than twenty years, Christine Toomey has reported extensively from Latin America, the Middle East and throughout Europe. Her journalism has been syndicated globally and she has twice won Amnesty International Awards for Magazine Story of the Year.

www.portobellobooks.com

The Santiago Sisters by Victoria Fox Book Review

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Margaret Graham

This is another glitzy extravaganza from Victoria Fox, just right for the summer.

Now, now, stop your fussing, we might just get one.

Not only is this a pacey and exciting read, but Fox’s writing romps away from the beginning. Let me quote:

She wondered, sometimes, if they had started off as one person. All things combined, until a silver blade entered their mother’s womb and curled them apart.

Isn’t that ‘curled’ sharp and well imagined. And so it goes on. Buy it, whether the sun is out or not.

So what is it about?

When Argentinian twin sisters Calida and Terisita Santiago are separated aged fifteen they think they will never see each other again. Wrenched from her poor but happy life on their family farm Terisita is adopted by world-famous British actress Simone Geddes, who plans to make her into a superstar actress and showers her with all that money can buy. Terisita, who has spent her childhood reading Mills & Boon novels, is in her element and on the road to becoming one of the world’s most loved movie stars.

Betrayed by her sister,, Calida vows that no matter how famous or successful her twin sister becomes, she will fight her way to the top and take on Terisita. So, have camera, will travel. And Calida does, through the ranks of the world of fashion photography.

The rest you will have to read for yourselves, but I reckon it could well be your cup of tea, or glass of champagne.

Harlequin Mira: July 28^th. Paperpack original £7.99

Tiny Prisoners by Maggie Hartley – Reviewed by Frances Colville

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Margaret Graham

I normally try to avoid books with this sort of strapline – Two siblings trapped in a world of abuse. One woman determined to free them – partly because the horrors unfolding make for very uncomfortable reading and partly because with the best will in the world there seems to be a tendency to veer towards sensationalism. With Tiny Prisoners by Maggie Hartley however, the latter is absolutely not the case. I think this is largely because the story is told from the point of view of Maggie herself, foster carer to Evie ( 2) and Elliot (3) who have witnessed extreme abuse and been neglected and isolated throughout their short lives. Maggie relates her story and theirs in a matter-of-fact and understated way which feels very honest and is therefore all the more compelling. So even if like me you wouldn’t usually pick up a book like this, I do recommend that you give it a go – you cannot fail to be moved, saddened, horrified and ultimately uplifted. And also like me, you won’t be able to help admiring Maggie hugely. What an incredible woman she must be.

Tiny Prisoners by Maggie Hartley is published by Trapeze on 28 July 2016 in paperback at £6.99 and eBook at £4.49

Day in the Life of Wendy Walker

Posted on July 25, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Sometimes I think my friends envision me sitting at a well-organized antique desk, nicely dressed, showered, hair blown dry, nails manicured and sipping a gourmet coffee while I effortlessly type page after page. It’s a very nice dream! The reality is that after seventeen years of juggling kids, a house, writing and my day job as a lawyer the last five of them, I find myself in a constant state of disheveled chaos, scavenging for time and still in my pajamas when my boys get home from school!

Here is how it unfolded.

After I had my first son eighteen years ago, I decided to stay home to raise my children until they were all in school. I felt lucky to be able to do that and so I took the job very seriously. But after about a year, I felt unfulfilled so I started to write whenever I had free time (which was not very often!). I had two more children in five years and all the while I kept writing. I even wrote in the back of my minivan while waiting for them at pre-school! I picked up the pace after I found an agent who thought she could sell my work. Of course, life is never that straight forward. It was a long road getting to the writing and publication of All Is Not Forgotten. During that time, I published other novels, edited, and eventually went back to work as a lawyer (after fourteen years away from the field).

But I never gave up the dream of making a career as a writer. I used to tell my boys that it was important to always have a dream, but to also be responsible. I did not stop working as a lawyer. Somehow, I also managed to keep writing. I signed with a new agent and she loved my concept of a psychological thriller based on memory science. I was a bit nervous about switching genres, but I had always enjoyed suspense and thrillers and I was very interested in this story concept. So I dusted it off and wrote All Is Not Forgotten. It was great advice and I am so glad that my children may get to see my dream come true.

Of course, “living the dream” for me, and so many other writers, is far from glamorous! I spend my days juggling promotional work with family obligations and staring down blank pages of the next novel that is dying to make its way out of my overcrowded head. I sometimes fantasize about the world coming to a halt for a day (maybe two) so I can catch up. But that is one dream that will never come true! Still, as I sit here in my pajamas writing this, a long list of things-to-do sitting beside me, I know I wouldn’t have it any other way.

All is not Forgotten by Wendy Walker. HQ £12.99

Learning to Speak American by Colette Dartford Reviewed by Frances Colville

Posted on July 20, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Learning to Speak American is Colette Dartford’s first novel and is based on her own experience of renovating and living in a derelict house in California’s Napa Valley.

Lola and Duncan Drummond are struggling to cope with life in their Somerset village home after the tragic death of their only child Clarissa. An attempt, initiated by Duncan, to improve the situation by taking a holiday in California results in a sudden decision to buy a holiday home there. The ramifications of this trip combined with the continued unraveling of their lives in the UK take them on an emotional and sometimes heartrending journey. But for the first time since Clarissa died, Lola feels able to let go off her depression and consider a future.

A moving story, sensitively handled, which draws you in and keeps you reading. It’s a little bit predictable, but sometimes you just want a book which doesn’t require too much thought or analysis, which you can enjoy for its engaging characters and beautiful setting. and which tells a story you can involve yourself in. This does the job well.

Learning to Speak American is published by Twenty7 – the new digital-first fiction imprint of Bonnier Publishing – and will be available as a Paperback Original, priced at £7.99, from July 14^th2016.

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