Category Archives: Culture

CARIADS’ CHOICE: MAY 2022 BOOK REVIEWS

Posted on by

K T Dady’s Lemon Drop Cottage reviewed by Carol Thomas

This is the first book by K T Dady that I have read and, therefore, my first visit to Pepper Bay. As each book in the series is standalone, this didn’t spoil my understanding of the story.

I enjoyed meeting Scott and Dolly and spending time in this close, friendly community as their feelings developed. Dolly’s son, Dexter, is a great character who shone through; it was nice to see a teenage boy represented in a positive, caring way. There is an interesting sub-plot with the local retirement home being under threat and a good cast of secondary characters – I liked Giles, who has a close link to Scott and his secretive past. Having visited the Isle of Wight, I enjoyed the setting. Overall, this is a warm-hearted novel full of kind, caring characters who will make you smile.

 

Vicki Beeby’s A New Start for the Wrens reviewed by Morton S Gray

Loved this book! I binge read it as I wanted to know what would happen. The three main female characters Iris, Mary and Sally are all so easy to relate to and care about, as is Rob. Love the glimpses of Orkney and the poignant history. Cottoned on to the baddie early on and kept shouting warnings at my Kindle lol. Loved Vicki Beeby’s Ops Room Girls series and was worried this might not be as good but it is! Can’t wait for the next instalment in this series.

 

Rosemary Noble’s Sadie’s Wars reviewed by Jessie Cahalin

I have been idle for two days and it is Rosemary Noble’s fault. I travelled from innocence to experience with her character, Sadie.  She had my ear as soon as I walked into this thrilling family saga.  This hard-hitting, realistic document of challenging times deals with: propaganda, inequality, domestic violence and loss. Insight into Australia and England placed me in the centre of the historical periods.

Strategic juxtaposition of Sadie’s life during World War One Australia and World War Two Grimsby is brilliant.  Noble explores how our experiences make us react in the future thus providing depth to Sadie’s character.  Wounded by past troubles, Sadie makes decisions that made me want to sit her down and give her advice.  Tempting questions hang artfully in each chapter of this novel. Noble shows the inequalities between men and woman at the turn of the century and contrasts it with changing attitudes in post Second World War Britain.  Historical events, attitudes and politics are artfully woven into the narrative fabric of the novel. Noble explores love so beautifully in the novel.

An intelligent, powerful and deeply moving novel from Rosemary Noble.

 

Caroline James’s The Spa Break reviewed by Jane Cable

How marvellous to have a book about four women in their sixties going away on a girls’ weekend. It happens in real life quite a lot (some young people would be amazed to hear), but rarely between the pages of a book, and frankly I’d like more of it.

Caroline James’ characters are brilliant; fully rounded, far from perfect and never, ever, falling into the trap of being stereotyped. Each of the four women has their own story to tell, their own future to grab hold of and change, and it seems that a spa break is the best place to do it.

This is a gorgeously warm, witty book and I would totally recommend it as a feelgood weekend or holiday read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUNDAY SCENE: CATHERINE KULLMANN ON HER FAVOURITE SCENE FROM PERCEPTION & ILLUSION

Posted on by

Burlington House, London, 1 July 1814

 We are guests at that famous masquerade given by the members of Watier’s club to the cream of the English nobility and demi-monde in honour of peace between Great Britain and France.

This is a favourite scene of mine for two reasons. First, it is a pivotal scene in my Perception & Illusion. Lallie’s and Hugo’s marriage is in difficulties. Here, they dance together, although he does not know who she is.

 

Lallie hastily inspected the surrounding gentlemen. There was Luke Fitzmaurice, dressed as Hamlet with a skull-mask on a stick—poor Yorick, she assumed. He would be a good choice, but before she could gather her courage and beckon him to her, a sister Muse called imperiously, “Prince Hamlet,” and he immediately obeyed the summons.

Others had also chosen their partners and, panicking a little, Lallie sought Hugo’s eye. She did not know whether to be pleased or annoyed when a coquettish glance paired with a seductive curve of her finger brought him to her side.

“Clio,” he bowed. “I am honoured.”

It was different dancing with him when she didn’t have to conceal her reactions. The Grecian gown permitted only the lightest of stays and she shivered when his hands clasped her waist and she had to mirror the position for the jetées of the valse sauteuse. She felt his every movement beneath her fingers and had to resist the temptation to pull him closer to her. To her relief the music slowed and they could move again into more open attitudes, revolving about one another in seductive harmony.

Who was she? Although the fast waltz did not permit much conversation, her voice was tantalisingly familiar but Hugo could not match it to any woman of that height. She danced very lightly and followed his lead so exquisitely that he conjectured she had come from the ballet. If only he could waltz like this with Lallie. Then he felt guilty for thinking of his wife with another woman in his arms. He didn’t know what impulse had made him obey the unspoken invitation. Perhaps it was because the Muses’ entrance had provided a welcome distraction from his cheerless thoughts. He was sick of London, sick and tired of the Season, but dreading the return to Tamm. How would he and Lallie fare once back in its cold halls? If it were not for that cursed duel, he might have had some hope, but she still held herself aloof. He had never thought he would miss that little sigh of hers.

“Ah, Clio,” he said as they took a turn about the room afterwards, “how fortunate we would be if you only recorded our victories, but sadly our defeats and lack of judgement must also be noted in your scrolls.”

“If I were to remember only his victories, man would look continuously to the past, seeking to repeat it. But he may learn from his mistakes, sir, and perhaps even earn forgiveness or, at least, a second chance.”

“To err is human?” he asked seriously.

“Indeed, sir and are we not all called upon to forgive? But see, my sister comes for me.” As she spoke, another Muse took her hand and pulled her from him to disappear into the crowd.

“The carriage is outside if you still wish to leave early,” Thalia whispered.

“I do. And you?”

“I think I’ll stay awhile.”

 

This brief exchange between Lallie and Thalia is the other reason I love this scene. I simply had to know what happened when Thalia returned to the party. This led to The Murmur of Masks. Although written after Perception & Illusion, it was published first as my debut novel.

 

www.catherinekullmann.com

The World’s Smallest Publisher Fair Is Coming to London This June

Posted on by

The Uncorrected Independent Publishers’ Fair

Peckham Pelican | Saturday 11 June, 11am-6pm | Free admission

Tangerine Press is delighted to announce the return of The Uncorrected Independent Publishers’ Fair (TUIPF), the world’s smallest publisher fair, showcasing a selected number of independent presses from across the UK. The fifth Uncorrected Independent Publishers’ Fair will take place on 11 June 2022 at Peckham Pelican, as part of the Camberwell Arts Festival.

Featuring seven of the most exciting and innovative indie publishers operating in the UK, the line-up features the following presses: flipped eye publishing (powerful poetry, fiction and prose in affordable volumes), Les Fugitives(contemporary literary fiction & non-fiction translated from the French), Prototype (fiction, poetry and interdisciplinary projects), Repeater Books (radical books for a wide readership), Rough Trade Books (sister to the pioneering independent record label), Strange Attractor (celebrating unpopular culture) and Tangerine Press.

 

Taking place at the café and art space the Peckham Pelican – an open, friendly bar serving good quality beers, ciders, wine, coffee and food available all day – TUIPF is free to attend and open to all. This unique literary feast caters for all genres and needs: prose, poetry, fiction and photography books will all be on sale, with special event prices on paperbacks, hardback limited editions, artist books, broadsides, screen-prints and letterpress gems.

 

 

 

In addition to book sales and general merriment, TUIPF is proud to present a line-up of indie entertainment: live readings by authors published by the seven indie publishers will start from 2pm, including Erica Van Horn (Les Fugitives), Astrid Alben (Prototype) and Arianna Reiche (Tangerine Press). From 4pm, the special guest Unexplained Podcast, the popular story-based podcast in which host and creator Richard MacLean Smith explores a different unexplained mystery each week, will perform a live reading of their episode “Hexham Heads”, examining strange events in 1970s Northumberland. From 4.30pm, there will be an acoustic set by the alternative indie UK-based band Lilies in by Brain.

 

Michael Curran, Founder of Tangerine Press, said: “It’s wonderful to be back at the Peckham Pelican with The Uncorrected Independent Publishers’ Fair for the first time since 2019. We have seven of the best indie presses in the country all under one roof in relaxed surroundings. It isn’t a stuffy hall! You can order a beer, chill out and listen the readings from authors and poets representing each of the publishers. Then perhaps sit up and be drawn into a rare live performance of the Unexplained podcast. Finally round it off with an acoustic set by promising indie newcomers Lilies in my Brain. All the while you can browse at your leisure through the stunning selection of books on sale, at special event prices. And it’s a free event!”

 

Find out more about The Uncorrected Independent Publishers’ Fair here, and for the latest updates follow #TUIPF22 and @TangerinePress

 

 

Event details:

 

The Uncorrected Independent Publishers’ Fair

 

Date:               Saturday 11 June, 11am – 6pm

Venue:             Peckham Pelican, 92 Peckham Rd SE15

Tickets:           Free

Social:             #TUIPF  |  TW: @TangerinePress  |  IG: @Tangerine_Press

Website:         https://thetangerinepress.com/TUIPF/

 

SUNDAY SCENE: VICTORIA SPRINGFIELD ON HER FAVOURITE SCENE FROM THE ITALIAN HOLIDAY

Posted on by

Choosing a favourite scene from my debut novel The Italian Holiday was rather like choosing a favourite pasta sauce or flavour of Italian gelati – impossible not to keep changing my mind!  My unlucky-in-love heroine, Bluebell has always wanted to visit Italy but taking her granny’s place on Loving and Knitting magazine’s trip isn’t quite what she had in mind.  When she realises she has picked up the wrong suitcase at Naples airport, Bluebell is horrified – until she discovers the colourful, confidence boosting dresses inside fit like a glove.

Bluebell and her unlikely new pals stay at the fictional Hotel Sea Breeze in Minori, a charming seaside town just along the coast from Amalfi.  I first visited Minori in 2015, and my then-boyfriend and I loved it so much we ‘eloped’ there to get married two years later.  Exploring the area whilst on honeymoon, I knew that it would make the perfect setting for a story of unusual friendships, finding love when you least expect it – and how the right dress can change your life.

My protagonists explore the gardens in Ravello, take a boat trip to Positano and visit unforgettable Capri but I have chosen a day trip to Sorrento, in the first part of the book, as my favourite scene.  The women are up early ‘despite their late night dancing on the seafront’ and assemble ‘by the reception desk, chatting away, clutching a mixture of sun hats and cardigans just in case the fine June day turned out to be too hot or too cold.’  Bluebell and her new friend, 72-year-old Miriam, holidaying abroad for the first time since her husband’s death, swap stories at the back of the coach whilst little Evie is busy with her ‘top-secret knitting project.’

When the guide they are due to meet in Sorrento is taken ill, down-to-earth Brenda comes to the rescue and leads the others on her own tour, exploring the via San Cesareo where ‘boxes of soft peaches and oversized knobbly lemons were piled up beneath canopies hung with waxy red chillies…Italian mothers bargained with stall holders and remonstrated with recalcitrant children.  Overhead, strings of colourful flags criss-crossed the narrow street.’  Down in the marina, they feast on ‘bruschette fragrant with oil and garlic, topped by the brightest chopped tomatoes with shredded basil…peppers and aubergines cooked until they were soft and velvety.’

The women, near strangers until now, begin to gel and the reader gets a hint of the adventures that lie ahead.  Spotting a wedding in the cloisters where the glamorous outfits are a far cry from ‘the sturdy pastel two-pieces worn at a typical English wedding for fear of upstaging the bride,’ Bluebell wonders if she is quite as cynical about love as she likes to think she is.  Meanwhile Miriam gets a ‘faraway look in her eyes’ perhaps thinking of handsome Tommaso who runs Minori’s Trattoria di Napoli where the women ate the previous night.

After their busy day in Sorrento, the ladies are looking forward to an early night except for Bluebell who has a date with ‘tight-trousered’ hotel waiter Andrea.  Bluebell plans to wear a special outfit from the mystery suitcase: ‘the prettiest dress of them all.’  Later that evening, the ‘orange, full-skirted number covered in big white poppies’ will attract the attention of an intriguing young man, sending Bluebell and Miriam on the trail of the mysterious girl in the poppy-print dress.

 

The Italian Holiday and A Farmhouse in Tuscany are published by Orion Dash.  Victoria’s new book, set in Lucca, The Italian Fiancé is out August 2022.

Twitter: @VictoriaSWrites

 

 

 

SUNDAY SCENE: MISA BUCKLEY ON HER FAVOURITE SCENE FROM ARCHANGEL

Posted on by

I love writing romance. Throwing two people who are often poles apart and watching the sparks fly. In my novella ARCHANGEL, my leads are as different as you can get. Gabriel is an ex-criminal who used to deliver questionable packages, while Abigail is a sculptor selling her art in a L.A. shop. Gabe is practical, level-headed man who doesn’t believe in much. Abigail is a medium and believes in heaven and hell, and all that entails.

So how do two such opposing people even meet? Well, ARCHANGEL is a paranormal romance. The antagonist has sold his soul to the devil for power, sealing the deal with a series of grisly murders – that Abigail “sees” happen. Gabriel is the guy sent to protect her… though it ends up being a lot more.

In the following scene, Gabe has taken Abigail for dinner, then a stroll around the hotel they’re staying at. At the pool side, they’ve gotten talking about his sketchy past, and Abigail decides to move things along. Not only is this their first kiss, but here we see her absolute belief that Gabe can be a better man.

 

“I trust you, Gabriel,” she said, her voice soft but earnest. “I know you think I’ve every reason not to, and perhaps you’re right. But I didn’t ask for good. I didn’t ask for perfect. I asked for someone to protect me, and you have. You will.”

“You need more than that.”

“You are more than that. You just don’t give yourself enough credit.”

I told hold of her wrists and pulled her hands from my face. “With good reason. You’ve no idea what’s going on in my head.”

Her laugh shocked me. It bounced off the tiled walls of the pool room, rich and pure. Still laughing, she tugged her wrists free and then wrapped her arms around my neck. Her floral scent filled my senses. Her body against mine shut my brain down.

“It’s probably similar to what I’m thinking,” she murmured, then her lips were on mine, firm yet sweet.

 The temptation to taste her overwhelmed me, and I gave in with very little resistance, if any. Her lips were fruity from the wine we’d drunk. I licked them and they parted, giving me access to her mouth. I slid my tongue in and her groan vibrated against my teeth, sending shocks of desires though my bones.

 My determination to keep things professional evaporated like dew in the desert. I carded the fingers of my right hand into the thick silk of her hair. My left hand found her hip. I pulled her close, and she moulded against me, her arms tightening.

 Warning bells rang. I told them to go to hell. For once I just wanted to lose myself in someone who wasn’t being paid to make me feel good. In someone who believed in me, even when I couldn’t.

 

What I really love about this scene is Gabe’s shift from cynical disbeliever, opening up – even if it’s just a little – to someone else and the possibility of being loved. I think most people deserve that in their lives.

 

 

 

 

PUBLICATION SPECIAL: SUMMER AT THE FRENCH CAFE BY SUE MOORCROFT

Posted on by

As the saying goes, this is the first Sue Moorcroft book I have read, but it won’t be the last. On the face of it, Summer at the French Café is a happy ever after holiday read, but actually the book is far more.

So, what makes it stand out? The sense of place, certainly, and I love that. As I read I could actually see every place the author described; Parc Lemmel, the bookshop café at the story’s heart, the local villages… and without a single sentence of overblown description. All I needed to know was dropped seamlessly into the narrative in an exceptionally skilful way.

But more than the quality of the writing, I love the fact there is a very serious issue at the heart of the book, one that isn’t squashed or skimmed over in the search for a happy ending, one that is dealt with in a sensitive and realistic manner. That issue is emotional control; how it can be used in relationships, the reasons people accept it, and the dangerous patterns that mean it can echo across generations and years.

I asked Sue Moorcroft why she decided to tackle this insidious form of coercion…

“I’m interested in human behaviour, so when I read about control within relationships, I wanted to write about it. It provided the perfect secret behind central character Noah giving up his life in Dordogne and moving across France to Alsace. I write love stories, so the mystery had to be nuanced rather than a simple jeopardy.

I remembered someone who, when she lost her husband, refurnished and redecorated her home. I’d never come across that reaction to widowhood. She explained, ‘He liked to be the one to choose. But now I can.’ To me, this put their relationship in a whole new light. When we’d invited her out and she’d said, ‘I’ll have to check,’ had she meant with her diary? Or with her husband? When we’d picked her up, he escorted her to the car and looked inside to say, ‘Good evening’. How old-fashioned and courtly, I’d thought. But was he checking she was going out with who she’d said she was? If so, did this behaviour make her feel cherished?

Or did she resent it and feel controlled?

She also once mentioned that she’d married young and that her (by then deceased) dad had been a similar man to her husband…

I’ll never know if I jumped to conclusions, but my suspicions informed the background I gave Noah’s ex, Florine. When Florine’s controlling father died, she felt adrift. Attentive Yohan came along, telling her what she looked best in what he liked so that she could like it too, and she felt secure again. But leaving Noah for Yohan pitched her into a very different relationship.

The interesting thing about control, and which provided the nuances I was after, is that it doesn’t have to involve a traditional bully. Yohan doesn’t hit Florine or her daughter Clémence – he loves them. In fact, he almost suffocates them with his love, wanting constant knowledge of where they are or to have them with him, using his anxieties over them to cut them off from others, so he can bask in their undivided attention. His behaviour stems from his own insecurity and immaturity. Mix in a little self-importance and selfishness, and you have a controlling man. Yohan isn’t a main character, which means that Summer at the French Café is not his story – but the plot around Noah won’t work without him.”

 

Jane Cable

 

 

 

 

 

SUNDAY SCENE: LEONIE MACK ON HER FAVOURITE SCENE FROM WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE VENICE

Posted on by

My latest book, We’ll Always Have Venice, is my second romantic comedy set in Venice and is a summer love story, following the winter adventure of A Match Made in Venice. Whereas the first book explored Murano and the ancient art of glassmaking, as well as the old city itself, the second book features the idyllic lagoon and the further islands, including Burano.

The main character, Norah, is a marine microbiologist exploring the lagoon to collect samples every weekend with her guide, rower and oarmaker Gianluca. Every weekend is an adventure, taking refuge in an island monastery during a storm, picnicking with flamingos and dodging cruise ships.

One of my favourite scenes is where they accidentally disturb some fishing nets and bump into the fisherman and his son. But they’re not catching fish. The nets contain a local delicacy only available in May. And with true Burano hospitality, they end up pleasantly tipsy on Prosecco with stomachs full of delicately fried crab.

 

Gianluca squinted at the net. ‘Moeche,’ he said, a grin breaking out. He dropped her hand and strode over to the fishermen. He beckoned to Norah with quick fingers. ‘It’s crabs. Look!’

At the word ‘crabs’, she shrank back. Crustaceans were her least favourite form of marine life, coming in after gelatinous zooplankton and ectoparasitic flukes. She shook her head fiercely at Gianluca.

‘These aren’t just any crabs,’ said Gianluca with enthusiasm.

‘These,’ explained the fisherman grandly, ‘are nude crabs. Or they will be in some days, I hope.’

‘Did he say “nude crabs”?’ Reluctantly curious, she approached and inspected the specimen in the palm of the older man’s hand. ‘That’s carcinus aestuarii, the common green crab. And it’s about to moult. Natural behaviour for this species in spring, I believe.’

‘But have you ever eaten it, fried lightly in oil?’ Gianluca said, his face lit up. He turned to the older man and spoke in rapid dialect. A moment later, they were shaking hands and clapping each other on the shoulder like long-lost friends.

Norah watched with a smile tugging on one side of her mouth. Her brain filled in the blanks of the conversation:

‘For your nòna, I will give you a good price – and because you can speak my dialect!’

‘I have always wanted to meet a nude crab fisherman!’

‘Lucky for you the crabs are nude and not the fisherman – bahahaha.’

They followed Emiliano and Daniele back to the island of Mazzorbo, where they sorted the crabs into submerged baskets according to the imminence of their moulting and retrieved the jelly-like specimens that had already shed their shells and were crawling around nude.

Norah’s stomach rumbled as Gianluca rowed up to Burano. Earlier that day, they’d stopped for lunch at an osteria on the eastern side of the island, but she hadn’t seen the main canal. The fondamenta was bustling with tourists visiting the lace ateliers or stopping at market stalls, and locals wandering to their favourite spots for their evening aperitivo. The brightly coloured houses – sky blue, hot pink and lime green – were a shock after the graduating greens, blues and browns of the lagoon. Flapping laundry hung from ropes under the upper windows. The buildings were only two or three storeys high, making the island feel like a village in comparison to its grand old sister to the south.

EVA GLYN’S PUBLICATION DAY REVIEW OF PRISCILLA MORRIS’S BLACK BUTTERFLIES

Posted on by

When the Netgalley notification came through of a novel set in Sarajevo during the conflict of the 1990s, I had to read it. My interest in the war had been sparked by a conversation with then tour guide, now friend, Darko Barisic, who as a child had lived through the same conflict in Mostar. I knew what he’d gone through and I greatly respected his resilience. I also knew I had to tell his story, which I did through the medium of The Olive Grove, my first women’s fiction title set in Croatia.

Black Butterflies is completely different to my own book, it’s literary fiction but reads almost like a memoir. It takes you to Sarajevo in 1992 real time through the eyes of Zora, an artist and tutor who along with her neighbours experiences the brunt of the siege. A siege that occurred when an army of Serbs surrounded what was a wonderful multi-ethic, highly cultured society. A society none expected would turn into a war zone.

The language the author uses is incredible in both its beauty and its harshness. It’s also immersive. I was in Sarajevo, and it is rare a book has so much power to transport me in such a multi-sensory way. The horror, the moments of lightness, the unremitting awfulness of losing almost everything… no work, no food, no power, no water… while being under fire. It all became absolutely real and that is an incredible talent.

I guessed early on that the author had access to first hand accounts and this proved to be the case. Although fictional, Black Butterflies is a melding of two family stories, and the experiences of a larger number of people, but skilfully woven together they make a unified whole.

A word of warning though; if you are particularly anxious about the situation in Ukraine, this isn’t the time to read this book. However if you would prefer to think on how conflicts do end, how people come out of the other side and go on to lead normal lives, then do.

 

Publisher’s blurb for Black Butterflies:

Sarajevo, spring 1992. Each night, nationalist gangs erect barricades, splitting the diverse city into ethnic enclaves; each morning, the residents – whether Muslim, Croat or Serb – push the makeshift barriers aside.

When violence finally spills over, Zora, an artist and teacher, sends her husband and elderly mother to safety with her daughter in England. Reluctant to believe that hostilities will last more than a handful of weeks, she stays behind while the city falls under siege. As the assault deepens and everything they love is laid to waste, black ashes floating over the rooftops, Zora and her friends are forced to rebuild themselves, over and over. Theirs is a breathtaking story of disintegration, resilience and hope.

Publisher’s blurb for The Olive Grove:

Antonia Butler is on the brink of a life-changing decision and a job advert looking for a multilingual housekeeper at a beautifully renovated Croatian farmhouse, Vila Maslina, is one she can’t ignore.

Arriving on the tiny picturesque island of Korčula, Antonia feels a spark of hope for the first time in a long time. This is a chance to leave the past behind.

But this island, and its inhabitants, have secrets of their own and a not-too-distant past steeped in tragedy and war. None more so than Vila Maslina’s enigmatic owner Damir Maric. A young man with nothing to lose but everything to gain…