Imogen Clark books

Post Cards from a Stranger is the latest book I've read by Imogen Clark.  

The story shifts from perspectives in 1969, 1976, 1987 and then 2017 within three generations.

In 1969 the Kemp sisters Annie and Ursula are trying to stay out of their father's way when he returns home from work.  Anything can set him off and he becomes violent.  When he isn't angry he is condescending and demeaning.  They dream of the day they are old enough to leave and make a life for themselves far away. Why their mother endures being slapped and mocked is beyond their understanding.

When Annie is old enough to work she mets attractive and fast-talking Joe Ferensby.  She is charmed and accepts his marriage proposal, escaping her hellish homelife and thinks she hit the jackpot.

Joe doesn't hit Annie but his true nature comes out after marriage.  He's passive aggressive and talks down to her.  He isolates her from friends and keeps a tight wallet so she must ask for everything.  Once their two children Cara and Michael are born she knows she'll never leave. Lots more regarding the Feresby household but it's inserted in backstory throughout.

In 1987 we get a glimpse of single father Joe dealing with 2 year old Cara and 7 year old Michael. The children are uprooted from their London home and move to the Moors in Yorkshire.  Cara cries for her mother for weeks and Michael comforts her.  She misses her dead mother but in fact, young Michael is keeping huge secrets from his sister in an effort to protect her.

In 2017  Cara and her brother Michael as adults. Cara is caring for their father who has Alzheimers and her life is difficult.  Cara is still living on the moors while Michael is a barrister in London.  He is married with twin daughters and wants nothing to do with his father. There was a huge falling out when Michael was old enough to discover his father's secrets.

Now, Joe has Alzheimers. When things get bad Cara calls Michael for some input and he he says he knows it's difficult and would help more but..."you know how it is." He has no idea how difficult it is to be there and deal with an Alzheimers patient 24/7 and the rift between him and his father means he certainly won't head north and physically help. You'll discover the secrets much later in the book.

Cara is a wedding dress designer and has a studio where she crafts magnificent original designs. One day she is looking in the attic, a place forbidden by their father when Cara and Michael were children, and she finds a box of postcards.  Right there - her life is upended.

This wasn't my favorite book by Imogen Clark but I wasn't tempted to put it down. It certainly covers quite a bit of territory.  I was weirdly both sympathetic and impatient with Cara as she works her way the secrets her father kept. Imagine finding something you need to confront your parent with but their mind is gone so your opportunity is forever lost. 

Previous books I’ve enjoyed by the author are as follows:

Where the Story Starts

Reluctantly Home 

 On my former book blog Novel Meals I wrote about The Last Piece . I love the cover!

 I am awaiting the author's latest book Impossible to Forget.

Sharing with 

Marg at The Intrepid Reader for the  2022 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 

 Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.

Perfect Remains and Perfect Prey by Helen Fields {Books 1 and 2 of the DI Luc Callanach series}

Perfect Remains is the first book in the D.I. Callanach series. You are introduced to DI Luc Callanach, a French-Scottish detective newly arrived at the police department in Scotland.  His counterpart is DI Ava Turner who has been with the agency for a long time.  I love both characters and it will be interesting for me to see relationships develop from the beginning of the series.

On a remote Highland mountain is the body of a woman burning.  The killer is crafty, intelligent and mentally deranged.  If you are faint of heart be warned this is not a cozy mystery.  Edinburg experiences the abductions of more women and the race is on to find them alive.

How I discovered this author: I started with book seven titled One for Sorrow and I liked the action and character interactions. Had I noticed it was #7 in a series I might not have requested the book from Netgalley...but I'm glad I did.

Perfect Prey is book two in the series. Callanach and Turner continue to investigate murders and the support team of officers get more page time.  I like how the characters are described and I found myself hoping to learn more about officers Tripp, Lively and Salter. The author makes the characters come alive, makes them quite real for the reader.

This series of murders targets people who work in a health care setting or a position to assist those less fortunate.  There is a librarian, a pallative care nurse, a primary school teacher and a worker from the homeless shelter. The murders are well planned and quite gruesome; as I said about the first book, not for the faint of heart.  Think more of the Hannibal serial killer scenarios. It's as DI Alan Banks series meets Galbraith's ruthless killers.  

It's not all police work though - the personal lives of the detectives come into play as well.   Well written and if you like police procedurals you'll like this series.  The setting is Edinburgh Scotland.

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

 

I'm not sure I get the reference to the title but I did like the book.  The driving part of the plot starts when Joy Delaney  disappears and her adult children report her missing to the police.

Joy is 69 years old and never out of touch with her family.  She and her husband Stan have a wonderful marriage and are always outwardly affectionate and happy.  So why doesn't Stan report his wife missing after an argument they had? 

Their adult children Troy, Amy, Logan and Brooke meet up have very differing opinions about what they should do about their missing mother.  The character development is well done.  The differences in the children are like night and day and I enjoyed getting to know each of them.

If your mother was missing and her phone was found at home, your father had scratches on his face and it was known they had an fight - what would you do? What would you think?  There is another factor added into the story which complicates things - a young woman named Savannah shows up at the Delaney home late one night.  She has an injury to her face and says her boyfriend hurt her. She stopped and knocked on their door at random, seeking help. As she becomes part of the Delaney's life prior to Joy disappearing, you will wonder if Savannah is more than she seems.

This story has many layers and each unfolds, you glean a better understanding of every characters' fears and hopes.

I still don't understand the apples and the abandoned bicycle or the random man who picked up the bike.  Doesn't matter in the long run but it was puzzling to start the book this way.

Where the Story Starts by Imogen Clark

 

So far all the novels I've read by Imogen Clark have been wonderful.  While I generally go for mysteries or police procedurals, this women's fiction genre is exactly what I needed now.  The story is told in present time with a few switches to the past allowing the reader to see three different points of view.

Our narrators are Grace, Leah and Clio.  All are well developed characters.  Love, friendship and betrayal are the major themes.

Leah is a woman in her thirties with two children.  She is a single mum and doing the best she can juggling work, finances and being a good parent for her children.  In the first chapter Leah is struggling to get her kids ready to leave the house when there is a knock on the door.  Clio is standing there and introduces herself to Leah.  She said she'd been to the house before on a holiday with her father and wondered if she could come in.

Eventually Leah and Clio become good friends despite their very different upbringing. While Leah is clipping coupons and living on a tight budget, Clio is rich. I mean  extremely rich living on an estate which could well be a National Trust home.  These women have more in common than they initially thought.

The author had inspiration from a true story. The setting is England near Newcastle.  I liked this book and read it in two days.  

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.

The Dynamite Room by Jason Hewitt

 The book description in the jacket caught my attention right off. Lately I have been reading novels set in England during the WW II era. This fictional narrative fell right into those categories. This is also the first book I’ve read by Jason Hewitt and I can safely say, it won’t be my last. 

The story line takes place over a six day period with our two main characters slipping into frequent recollections to times past. You have the multiple narratives from 11-year old Lydia and a German soldier who hides out in her family’s home. Lydia is a young English girl who has just arrived in her hometown after running away from Wales. She was sent to Wales as an evacuee and hated it. In the very beginning of the story Lydia is walking the deserted streets of her village, wondering where everyone got off to. Finally she reaches her home, a large residence called Greyfriars, only to find it vacant and musty. Where is her mother? Where are her neighbors and merchants from the village? All of the livestock appears to have disappeared with the people.

Lydia holes up in her home trying to figure out what to do next when she hears someone moving about downstairs. It’s an injured German soldier, just as astonished to see a young girl in front of him as Lydia is to see him. He raises his gun toward her but doesn’t shoot, warning her to obey his rules or he will kill her. From then on you have altering perspectives and learn about Lydia’s life before the war. Same thing with the soldier called Heiden.

In the six days they spend together you learn about Heiden’s love for a woman named Eva. You get the flashbacks of his service in the German military, his education in England prior to the war and the perilous mission in Norway where life altering decisions are made. He shares very little with Lydia but through his memories you get to know him well.

As for Lydia you will come to know a brave little girl who paid attention to what her mother taught her about survival. She is diligent in her efforts to hide things from Heiden as she won’t outwardly help an enemy of England. As they spend more time together, cooped up in a house shuttered with blackout curtains and boards, they form a tentative alliance. They need each other…for the time being.

This story captured my attention straight away, hard to put down. I am looking forward to Hewitt’s next novel Devastation Road.

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday. and Marg at The Intrepid Reader for the 2022 Historical Fiction Challenge.

Go Tell the Bees That I am Gone by Diana Gabaldon

Once I had finished this 902 page book I went to Goodreads to update progress and checked on how many friends had read the book as well. I am pleased to see a mixed bit of reviews and realize I am not the only one who felt this book meandered on way too long.  I also noticed a bit of hate flung at reviewers who thought the same.  People!  We all have different opinions! That said, I’m glad I checked this out of the library instead of purchasing. 

I was happy with the story line about Jamie and Claire and liked reading more about Brianna and Roger. Gabaldon has always been a descriptive writer but honestly I thought some of the details were overboard. The book could have been shorter by quite a bit in my opinion.

The ending left me hanging, as it's meant to, so I am eager to find out what happens next.  This book took 7 years to come to publication and frankly I think Gabaldon could have wrapped it all up with this one.  There were times when I was reading and I thought, hasn't she rehashed this before - several times. 

Those of us who have read the book series starting with Outlander have watched these characters grow, have children and get old. It will be nice to see a conclusion with these characters.  Recently I read that Gabaldon was thinking of writing a prequel series featuring Jamie's parents Brian and Ellen.  I would be inteested to check that out once this series is concluded.

Sharing with Marg at The Intrepid Reader for the 2022 Histirical Fiction Challenge.

Changing Roles by Dr. Vivien Newman

 

Dr. Vivien Newman delves into the lives of British woman and their place in the workforce after WW I.  They assumed the workload and roles traditionally held by men.  All the men were off to war but life went on and these stories tell how the females shouldered the load.

When the war was over the women were expected to fade back into their traditional roles but many said the hell with that!  These women were pioneers in the early movement for equal rights.

I enjoyed the stories about Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie and Gertrude Bell very much. They made a difference.

Publication date is October 30, 2021 by Pen and Sword. Genre: History and Nonfiction.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book.  I was not compensated for the review, all opinions are mine.

Sharing with

 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out for the 2022 Nonfiction Reading Challenge. (Category: Social History)

Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday

Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci

 As soon as I started reading this book I was hooked.  Tucci had a way of describing his childhood which evoked so many memories of my own.  The benefits of growing up in an Italian neighborhood were immense and I loved every bit of it.

This book is humorous, engaging and sad in parts. Some of my book friends listened to this on audiobook and I can imagine it was very good hearing some of his stories in his own voice.

There are recipes included in this book and i can say you will be hungry as you read about his foodie experiences as well the recipes.

I have enjoyed movies where Tucci had a starring role, particularly Big Night.  I just bought a copy of Big Night after reading this memoir because I wanted to see to again. 5 stars for this book.

Sharing with Shelleyrae at Book'd Out for the 2022 Nonfiction Reading Challenge. (Category: Celebrity)

The Silence by Susan Allott

 

You will experience the severe stifling heat of Australia and a bit of damp, cloudy England in this novel.

The characters are very real, the dialogue rings true with marital problems, tensions of a horrible job, unrealistic expectations and secrets.  Sounds like a bummer but you will love and hate on the characters and want to know what happened in their lives.

The story shifts from 1967 to 1997, back and forth.  The main narrator is Isla Green.  She is 6 years old in 1967 and loves living in her Australian home.  She adores her father. She thought everyone had a house with a backyard stretching to the ocean. Her parents are Joe and Louisa Green, both English but have moved to Australia to start a new life.  Trouble is,  Louisa doesn’t love it.  She misses England and hates the heat but I suspect her biggest problem is an alcoholic husband.

Next door are Mandy and Steve Mallory.  Isla spends quite a bit of time with Mandy and loves her.  Steve wants Mandy to get pregnant but both parties have different ideas about their future together. Steve has a horrible job as a policeman who removes aboriginal children from their families, placing them at The Home where they will be fostered and eventully learn a trade.

In 1967 women didn’t have joint accounts at the bank and have access to their husband’s  earnings. It was a different world and this makes it harder for Louisa and Mandy to make life altering decisions.

The genre is mystery, thriller, suspense and crime drama. Please read the author’s note at the end of the book. She details how the novel came about as well as her educational reading about Britain’s relationship with Australia and the colonial past.

Thinking of Steve Mallory’s police duties I would suggest watching the film Rabbit Proof Fence. It’s worthwhile.  It details a dark time when Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families to be trained and educated, placed in horific foster care and made servants.  But in Rabbit Proof Fence two sisters escape.

Be prepared to read this one straight through. Would I buy more by this author?  Oh, absolutely.  This is Allott’s first novel and I will preorder her next publication as soon as it’s an option.

Susan Allott is an English author who has lived in London and Australia. To read more about the author click HERE .

Sharing with

Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.

Marg at The Intrepid Reader for the 2022 Historical Fiction Challenge.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

This is a tragic story, full of twists and revelations, made all the more sad as the story’s inspiration comes from historical records. In the 1930s era women could be locked in an insane asylum just for wandering off on long walks, or for keeping their hair long. Your liberty was at the whim of your parents or husband.

The story starts in Scotland when two sisters are sitting at a dance. It’s but a glimpse of two important characters. Then the detailed background story begins in India where these same two sisters are young; you are allowed a look into their early lives and how they interact with their parents. There is a baby brother born, Hugo, and Esme loves to play with him. While Kitty is the more serious of the two and minds the rules, Esme is the polar opposite. She makes excuses to leave her tutoring session and wanders off to visit her little brother. She walks barefooted to the horror of her prim and proper mother, she won’t be molded into the quiet citizen her mother desires her to be. I like her.

The story flashes between the girl’s childhood in India, then their move to Scotland and then advances to present day with Kitty’s granddaughter Iris.

Iris is a single young woman who owns a vintage clothing shop. She is quite possibly in love with her step brother Alex. It’s not as creepy as it sounds when you read their back story. Her life turns on end when a phone call reveals there is an elderly aunt who has been housed at an asylum for over 60 years, and Iris is the family contact. She’s never heard of Esme Lennox. Iris visits her Alzheimer afflicted grandmother, Kitty Lockhart, who is in and out of hazy thought but does confirm Esme is her sister. So what does Iris do now? Move a possibly crazed old woman, a stranger, into her flat? More importantly, why was Esme’s existence kept a secret all these years.

Now we flashback to Kitty and Esme Lennox as teenagers who are being introduced to the social circle. Kitty is the older sister and all about propriety and appearance. Esme is not confined to conventional social mores and continues to upset her parents. Surprisingly, the young man they hoped would be interested in Kitty is actually besotted with Esme. Later events will change everything in Esme’s life.

 I am upset for Esme that her life was stolen from her. For no good reason she is swept out of her parents’ home at the age of 16 and then left to rot in an asylum. She is asked at one point how long it was since she had last seen her sister. Her reply: “Sixty-one years, five months and 6 days” and fact is, if the hospital had not been closing down, she would have ended her days there.

This is the second book I have read by this author and I like this one as much as the first. It’s sad and it leaves you with much to think about. I like having some things unresolved where you think about potential outcomes. Excellent writing. Well done Ms. O’Farrell.

A quote that sums up the lives of the patients…and when you ponder it, the everyday rituals we all move through.

“It is always the meaningless tasks that endure: the washing, the cooking, the clearing, the cleaning. Never anything majestic or significant, just the tiny rituals that hold together the seams of life.”

This is another paragraph I like. Esme is reflecting on Iris sitting on the beach. It’s perfect – as someone who enjoys genealogy this last part really spoke to me, thinking about my ancestors.

“From all her family – her and Kitty and Hugo and all the other babies and her parents – from all of them, there is only this girl. She is the only one left. They have all narrowed down to this black-haired girl sitting on the sand, who has no idea that her hands and her eyes and the tilt of her head and the fall of her hair belong to Esme’s mother.

We are all, Esme decides, just vessels through which identities are pass: we are lent features, gestures, habits then we hand them on. Nothing is our own. We begin the world as anagrams of our ancestors.” I think that was a marvelous bit of prose.

Sharing with

Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.

Marg at The Intrepid Reader for the 2022 Historical Fiction Challenge.

Paul McCartney - The Lyrics

If you are a Beatles and Paul McCartney fan and want to know some background on their songs and history THIS is the book.  When I picked this up from the library I couldn't believe the size of these two volumes.  I am reading it much faster than I had thought I might.

The volumes cover 1956 to the present and organized alphabetically by song. Each song title has the lyrics and a story written by McCartney explaining the inspiration or an antedote from his life growing up.

There are also many photos of the Beatles, individual ones of John, Ringo and George and so many of Paul's family with Linda.

This is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it for fans.  The Rocky Raccoon story is especially amusing explaining how Paul had a cut lip from  a motorbike accident.  The doctor who arrived at his cousin's home was drunk and you could smell the gin. He did such messed up job of stitching the lip that Paul grew a mustache to cover the bump.

Sharing with:

Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday

ShelleyRae at Book'd Out for the 2022 Nonfiction Reader Challenge (category: reference)