Hold My Hand by Serena Mackesy

I could very easily write a great deal about Hold My Hand, but I mustn’t. It’s the kind of book that would be spoiled if you knew too much in advance.

So what can I tell you?

Well, there’s the house. Rospetroc is an old manor house on the moors of north of Cornwall. It’s been passed down through the Blakemore family, but the present owner doesn’t live there – he’s turned it into a holiday let. He has a problem though. The locals don’t like the place and won’t go there, and everyone that he has employed to manage it for him has swiftly moved on.

But Bridget thinks that Rospetroc could be the answer to her prayers. She’s broke and she is desperate to get Yasmin, her six year-old daughter away from her violent ex.

The story of what happens to Bridget and Yasmin at Rospetro is entwined with the story of what happened to Lily Rickets during the war.

Lily was a nine-year old child evacuated to Cornwall. She had a bad start in life and was grubby, roughly spoken and prepared to kick, bite and scratch to fight her corner. The Blakemores didn’t want her, resented her and ill-treated her.

The twin storylines unravel in clear, lucid prose, and they are both chilling and completely involving.

Made so by what I think is Serena Mackesy’s greatest strength – her characters. They are all wonderfully real, and their relationships and conversations are utterly believable.

Bridget’s bond with her friend Carole, her gradual integration into the village community, her relationship with her daughter – all spot on. As is Lily’s very different relationship with the Blakemores in a very different age.

And so I was hooked – and stayed up much later than I should on a work night to find out what happen to the characters that I really felt I knew.

My only slight disappointment was with the ending. After a dramatic build-up it was a little downbeat. Not wrong, but an “ooh” when I had been expecting a “wow”.

That doesn’t detract though, this really is a very well executed novel – if only all mainstream, contemporary fiction was this good!

Teaser Tuesdays / It’s Tuesday, where are you ?

I’m in Cornwall, out on Bodmin Moor. I’ve just driven down from London for a job interview – live in caretaker at a big manor house. I need a new start, for me and my daughter. The house is about to be repossessed and I have to get away from my ex – he’s trouble.

It’s Tuesday, where are you? is hosted by raidergirl3.

Just quote a couple of spoiler-free sentences the book you’re reading to tempt other readers.

Here is mine:-

“They’ve had the lot under this roof, and none has lasted: not even the couples. Writers, artists, dispossessed Zimbabwean farmers, hippies, people with ambitions in the tourist trade, downsizing city folks, history freaks, retired school caretakers, Eatern Europeans to whom five-hundred-a-month-plus-accommodation-and-bills must have looked like a fortune: each in turn has handed in their notice, packed bags and headed for civilization.”

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB.

This all comes courtesy of Hold My Hand by Serena Mackesy

Chunkster Challenge – Done and Dusted!

I committed to 6 books of 450 or more pages for The 2009 Chunkster Challenge and I’ve done it!

Here’s the list:

• South Riding by Winifred Holtby (502 pages)
• The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson (569 pages)
• Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens (1088 pages)
• The Alchemy of Murder by Carol McCleary (576 pages)
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (672 pages)
• The Best of Men by Claire Letemendia (704 pages)

Not a dud among them, but I would pick South Riding out as the star!

The Best of Men by Claire Letemendia

A lot of historical novels fall into particular types. There’s the story of an adventurous hero, full of action and excitement. And there’s the family saga. Tales of royalty and real life historical figures abound. There are stories of plots and intrigues. And, of course, there are historical romances.

Some books cross over from one area to another, but The Best of Men covers the lot!

First there’s the hero.

In 1636 Laurence Beaumont wanted to escape the responsibilities of his role as heir to his father’s estate. And so he escaped to Europe. Over the following six years he has been a soldier, a spy and a cardsharp, and he has seen the best and the worst of human nature.

Stories of his adventures unfold through the book and go some way to explaining the man he became. He is a fascinating hero. A handsome and charming man, fundamentally good but with a dark side and some fairly fundamental flaws.

In 1942 he returns to England.

And so to the family story.

Laurence’s father is keen for his son to resume his responsibilities, and his mother is equally keen to find him a suitable bride. His sister is soon to marry and welcomes him. But Robert, his younger brother, does not. He resents his older brother – a classic case of the prodigal son. All of the characters and relationships are well drawn – particular the troubled relationship between the two brothers.

There’s more than enough already to sustain a story, but that’s only the beginning.

There is still royaly and much intrigue to come.

The relationship between the King Charles I and parliament has broken down, The situation seems irretrievably, and England is on the brink of civil war.

Laurence comes into possession of a cache of coded letters outlining a plot to assassinate the king. Soon the conspirators – one of whom is among the most powerful men in the kingdom – are on his trail, and he needs to make his case aginst them before they catch up with him. The Secretary of State’s ruthless spymaster looms, and laurence finds himself walking a fine line, with the prospect of imprisonment, torture or worse if he makes a single wrong step.

The story twists and turns, encompassing a large and diverse cast of characters.

And there is romance along the way too.

Laurence faces the prospect of matrimony, becomes entangled with a notable lady who may or may not help his cause, and a number of other ladies fall at his feet along the way.

If there is a weak link this is it. There’s just a little more detail than necessary, and the occasional lapse into cliche.

But, as a whole, The Best of Men works extremely well.

The many strands, characters and settings are expertly woven together. The pages are packed with vivid detail, dialogue and action. It all adds up to a wonderful story, and it is very well told.

A first novel ten years in the writing, Claire Letemendia has clearly put in a great deal of time researching and planning her first novel. It was time well spent!

Incoming!

I have an put embargo on book buying – at least until the new Persephones are published – after spending a lot of money on sorting out my computer last week.

But here are the books that arrived before that embargo kicked in:

The Sailors’ Return & Beany-Eye by David Garnett

Two novellas. The cover doesn’t give much away, but as I fell in love with David Garnett’s Lady Into Fox I had to pick this one up when I found it in a second-hand book shop.

The Bachelors by Muriel Spark

“Perhaps you know Patrick Seton? He’s that dear little, sinister little medium one meets at spiritualist seances. Well, they’ve accused him of forgery: he’s coming up for trial. And all the bachelors of Chelsea, Kensington and Hampstead are in a VHF of a flutter.”

I love Muriel Spark and I love old orange Penguins, so this one had to come home too.

The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu

“Edinburgh, 1874. On the coldest night the world has ever seen, Little Jack is born with a frozen heart and immediately undergoes a life-saving operation. But Dr Madeleine is no conventional medic and surgically implants a cuckoo-clock into his chest. Little Jack grows up different to other children: every day begins with a daily wind-up. At school he is bullied for his ‘ticking’, but Dr Madeleine reminds him he must resist strong emotion: anger is far too dangerous for his cuckoo-clock heart. So when the beautiful young street-singer, Miss Acacia, appears – pursued by Joe, the school bully – Jack is in danger of more than just falling in love…he is putting his life on the line.”

I don’t often rush out to buy a newly published book, but I fell in love with this one at first sight!

The Captain’s Wife and Dew on the Grass by Eiluned Lewis

I fell in love with The Captain’s Wife when I borrowed it from the library and I knew I had to have a copy to keep. The Dew on the Grass looked just as wonderful so it came home too. I have definitely begun to collect Honno Classics – if you like Virago and Persephone it is definitely worth taking a look at their catalogue.

Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker

“When, on the spur of a moment, Norman Huntley and his friend Henry invent an eighty-three year-old woman called Miss Hargreaves, they are inspired to post a letter to their new fictional friend. It is only meant to be a silly, harmless game – until Miss Hargreaves arrives on their doorstep, complete with her cockatoo, her harp and – last but not least – her bath. She is, to Norman’s utter disbelief, exactly as he had imagined her: enchanting, eccentric and endlessly astounding. He hadn’t imagined, however, how much havoc an imaginary octogenarian could wreak in his sleepy Buckinghamshire home town, Cornford. Norman has some explaining to do, but how will he begin to explain to his friends, family and girlfriend where Miss Hargreaves came from when he hasn’t the faintest clue himself? Will his once-ordinary, once-peaceful life ever be the same again? And, what’s more, does he want it to?”

A competition win from Simon at Stuck-in-a-Book. It looks wonderful, and The Bloomsbury Group has become another must-collect series.

Late Victorian Gothic Tales

In this case I think the title is self-explanatory – a wonderful anthology from the Oxford University Press!

Death’s Other Kingdom by Gamel Woolsey

The only book I brought home from the library book sale. I have collected Virago Modern Classics for a long time and recently i have started to dabble in Virago Travellers too. This one is a memoir by a wonderful American woman author of life in Spain before and during the civil war.

Tales of Terror from the Black Ship and Tales of Terror from the Tunnel’s Mouth by Chris Priestley

I was very taken with Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror, which I wrote about here, and so I was delighted to be offered the next two books in the series. I have just read my first story from the Black Ship, and it was wonderful.

Chasing Shakespeares by Sarah Smith

“Discovering a letter that appears to have been penned by William Shakespeare, two Harvard graduate students begin to suspect that he may not have been the author of his plays, a find that offers promise to the career of one and challenges the other to prove the letter is a forgery.”

Sarah Smith seems to lack a UK publisher, which is a great pity. So this went onto my wishlist and eventually I found a very kind Bookmoocher willing to send this copy over the Atlantic.

Angel With Two Faces by Nicola Upson

I hestitated over Nicola Upson’s first novel, An Expert In Murder, for a long time in the library.

The cover was eye-catching. The premise was intriguing. Writer Josephine Tey travels to London for the premiere of her play, only to witness a muder in London’ theatre-land. The murder is investigated by her friend (and the man on whom she based her own detective, Alan Grant) Archie Penrose.

My concern was over whether it was right to use a relatively recent real person as a fictional character.

In the end I did bring the book home, and I was glad I did. The plot was clever, the setting was well evoked and the blend of fact and fiction was well done.

I looked forward to the next entry in the series, even more so when I discovered the setting was my native West Cornwall.

Inspector Archie Penrose has invited Josephine Tey to stay at his diapidated family estate on the Cornish coast. She has been struggling with her new novel, and hopes to find inspiration in her new surroundings.

She finds rather more than that!

Her arrival coincides with the funeral of a young estate worker, killed in a strange riding accident at a lake said to claim a life every seven years.

Then a local boy disappears.

And then there is an audacious murder at the Minack Theatre – an open-air auditorium carved out of the cliffs.

Drama indeed! Archie is obliged to investigate and finds his loyalties split between his friends and neighbours on one hand and his professional obligations on the other.

The plot twists and turns. A wide range of characters and locations are vividly evoked. The twist at the end is startling. There is much to praise, but I didn’t enjoy this book as much as An Expert in Murder.

The problems? There was much too much going on in one small village community, and the Tey-Penrose team didn’t work as well as it did before, and didn’t quite seem to belong.

The story was engaging, but it felt a little bit stagey, a little bit contrived.

Could be though that I just know the locations too well!  But just look at the Minack Theatre.

The Minack Theatre

Isn’t it wonderful?! It could have been the scene for a great mystery, but I’m afraid Angel With Two Faces doesn’t quite make the grade.

It’s only fair to say though that Nicola Upson can write, construct a mystery, create great characters and evoke settings. I’d love to see what she could do without the constraints of a series.

Gathering The Water by Robert Erdic

The cover drew me in first. The colour is at the perfect point between blue and grey and the drawing is lovely. Who is the man and what is he looking down at?

I hadn’t read anything by Robert Erdic before, but I was aware that he was a respected author, and so I picked up the book to find out a little more, The premise was intriguing, and so home it came.

In 1847, after the death of his fianceé, Charles Weightman is sent to Yorkshire to supervise the flooding of a valley.

It’s an element of history that I don’t recall finding in a novel before. Springs and wells that have supplied communities with water cannot cope with new demands and population growth, and so valleys are turned into reservoirs.

He expected to find unpopulated countryside, but instead he finds homes still occupied and people who are reluctantly having to leave the only homes they have ever known. And so, of course, Charles meets with suspicion, resentment and downright hostility.

Mary Latimer is a widow. She moved back to her home in the valley so that she could bring her sister home from the asylum, but mow she faces the prospect of losing her home and being forced to send her sister back to the asylum.

There is a mutual recognition between Mary and Charles.  acknowlege each other as people who have borne losses, who are isolated, who are trying to do the right thing in difficult situations.

There is no relationship – this isn’t that sort of book – just two lives being swept away as the tide rises.

A great deal is unsaid, and many questions go unanswered, while the rising tide dominates everything. In unskilled hands that might be a problem, but here it somehow works. Indeed, it feels right.

The story is, inevitably, serious and, of course, there can be no happy ending. But it is both moving and gripping as it unravels in perfect, sparse prose, and all of the elements work together beautifully.

Definitely a book that will stay with me, and an author to investigate further,

Back in Business with the ABC of Me

Here we are again – everything seems to be working! I never knew how much I would miss my internet connection until it failed.

I have  a big backlog in my reader and a pile of books to write about, but for now some questions and answers:

Available or Married? Neither – engaged

Best Friend? My fiancé

Cake or Pie? Tricky, but I’d have to go for cake. Saffron cake and chocolate cake would be my first choices.

Drink of Choice? Water – with an occasional splash of strawberry cider!

Essential item for everyday use? A laptop with an internet connection – I’ve been having terrible withdrawal symptoms over the last few days!

Favorite color? Sea blues and greens.

Google? Absolutely.

Hometown? Penzance, in Cornwall. I lived in London for a number of years, but the sea pulled me back here a few years ago.

Indulgences? Books and yarn.

January or February? February – the evenings are lighter, the garden is that little bit further along, and my birthday is just around the corner.

Life is incomplete without…..  Communication.

Marriage date? We will, hopefully, set a date before too long.

Number of siblings? I had one younger brother, with Down’s syndrome, who died ten years ago.

Oranges or Apples? Apples…apple and blackberry crumble would be lovely, but we’ve had a very poor season for blackberries.

Phobias and Fears? Slugs and snakes.

Quote of the day?  “Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.” 

Reason to smile? Lots- but I haven’t mentioned Briar yet.

Season? Autumn. There’s something about the quality of the light and the air. And of course the colours, and the joy of kicking fallen leaves.

Tag 3 people? Consider yourself tagged!

Unknown fact about me? I’m a chartered accountant!!

Vegetable you hate? Runner beans.

Worst habit? Procrastination, impatience, lack of concentration …

X-rays you’ve had? None that I can remember

Your favorite food? Fresh fish – and fresh raspberries to follow.

Zodiac sign? Pisces

Waiting for the Postman …

Briar speaks:

“Jane has gone to work and I am looking out for the postman. The computer broke and he is bringing a new bit to fix it. That is why we haven’t been able to do any blogging or commenting for a few days. I hope he comes soon …”

A Quotation for Friday: Silence

“I can always tell when you’re reading in the house,” my mother used to say. “There’s a speial silence, a reading silence.” I never heard it, this extra degree of hush that somehow travelled through walls and ceilings to announce that my seven-year old self had become about as absent as a present person could be.

From The Child That Books Built by Francis Spufford