The Dutch House by Ann Pratchett #Review #TheDutchHouse #AnnPatchett

A STORY OF TWO SIBLINGS, THEIR CHILDHOOD HOME, AND A PAST THAT THEY CAN’T LET GO.

Like swallows, like salmon, we were the helpless captives of our migratory patterns. We pretended that what we had lost was the house, not our mother, not our father. We pretended that what we had lost had been taken from us by the person who still lived inside.

Review

I have been lucky to read some wonderful books this year and I seem to be forever saying, I think I have found my new favourite read of the year so far.  Well I am about to say it again. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett is stunning, the writing so exquisite, the story so splendid, that it will join the likes of The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and Tin Man by Sarah Winman as one of my all time favourite reads! I have to send my heartfelt thanks out to the my fellow members of the Cardiff Waterstones reading group for selecting this book as our July read, because otherwise I might not have picked it up off the shelf.

It’s a story about family, loss, love, sacrifice and the places that play a formative part in our lives.  The moments that root us to a spot we can’t move on from, forever attached to a place that is a symbol of both love and pain. The story is about a brother and sister whose life was once centred around The Dutch House, but even when forced by events to leave, they remained tied to it. Their lives move on, but they always seem drawn back to their childhood home. It’s not a story that features epic drama, though drama there is, because it is all more muted, for it’s their feelings and personal struggles that are at the centre of this tale. The drama is quiet, refined and always centred around everyday events and the moving relationship between the siblings.  It is their bond and their sometimes suffocating connection to The Dutch House that is the strongest part of this book, along with the beauty of a simple tale, told with style and an intrinsic understanding of human emotion and the need to belong.

I felt an almost instant connection with both the writing and the story. A yearning to spend as much time as possible with the characters and a quiet sense of grief as I read the last pages, because it meant the journey with them was over. I felt an affinity to every single aspect of this book and that is rare. There are many books I have loved and adored, many I have enjoyed and others that I felt little connection to. The Dutch House is that rarest of reads, it is one I will treasure forever and which will linger in my minds eye for ever more.

You can purchase this novel from Amazon and Waterstones. You can also buy it from your local independent bookshop, many of whom need us more than ever.

About the author 

Ann Patchett is the author of six novels, including Bel Canto, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction. She writes for the New York Times Magazine, Elle, GQ, the Financial Times, the Paris Review and Vogue. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Gloria The Summer Fun Bus by Sue Wickstead. #GloriaTheSummerFunBus #ChildrensFiction

Gloria the Summer Fun Bus
Gloria is a special Playbus.
She is painted with bright colours that makes her stand out. Now she is ready for a summer of fun, but will Max enjoy the adventure.
Why don’t you join in the fun, too?

Review

I am a long time fan of Sue Wickstead’s books all of which are beautifully written. They tell welcoming stories for children that can be read by parents to young children and by those learning to read independently.

That remains true for Gloria The Summer Fun Bus, is a story about the power of play and imagination in the lives of young children.

From the first page to the last Gloria The Summer Fun Bus is bright and fun to read.  It is the story not just of Gloria, but a young boy called Max, who goes on a journey from an angry child to one who learns to enjoy play and have fun.  So many children grow up too fast and lose the love of playing and interacting with other children and this book reminds young readers what a wonderous experience it is!

The bright and fun illustrations attract the readers attention and bring the story to life. For many children words and pictures combined are part of the reading journey and to see them combined so well in this book is fabulous, because it makes it feel immersive. They can see Max going from angry to fun loving and see him enjoying dressing up with the other children, building a spaceship from blocks to they can fly to the moon and imagine doing it themselves.

Sue Wickstead’s writing and storytelling is all about creating a fun and informative experience for young readers. She takes them on a journey by combining great writing and illustrations that are bright and attractive. Gloria The Summer Fun Bus has all the elements of classic children’s book, great story telling, a wonderful understanding of what sparks a child’s imagination and a character that will become another firm favourite of children everywhere.

You can purchase Gloria The Summer Fun Bus from the author’s author’s shop, Waterstones and Amazon

About the author

Sue Wickstead is a teacher and an author and writes children’s picture books with a bus theme. She has also written a photographic history book about the real bus, which is where her story writing began.
Sue once worked with a playbus charity based in Crawley. This led her to write the photographic history book about the project. The ‘Bewbush Playbus’ book was published in 2012.
Sue then began to write a fictional tale about the bus. ‘Jay-Jay the Supersonic Bus’, his number plate JJK261 gave him his name and has now been followed by more picture books which all indeed have a bus connection as well as links to her teaching journey.
Gloria is the most recent book and is based on the summer play-schemes which operated during the school holidays providing a safe place for children to meet and to play.
Award winning author

You can follow the author on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

 

 

 

 

Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce. #Review #BlogTour #MissBensonsBeetle

It is 1950. In a devastating moment of clarity, Margery Benson abandons her dead-end job and advertises for an assistant to accompany her on an expedition. She is going to travel to the other side of the world to search for a beetle that may or may not exist.
Enid Pretty, in her unlikely pink travel suit, is not the companion Margery had in mind. And yet together they will be drawn into an adventure that will exceed every expectation. They will risk everything, break all the rules, and at the top of a red mountain, discover their best selves.

This is a story that is less about what can be found than the belief it might be found; it is an intoxicating adventure story but it is also about what it means to be a woman and a tender exploration of a friendship that defies all boundaries.

Review

I have been incredibly lucky this year to have been offered some wonderful books to review and this gorgeous novel is one of them.  When I started Miss Benson’s Beetle, I had just read two wonderful books in a row and was worried I would suffer a book reading hangover! What actually happened was that I fell head over heels in love with this novel, with Margery and Enid and the world they inhabited. Turning the last pages actually hurt, because I didn’t want it to end.

Why? So many reasons! The story is simple and yet profoundly moving, elegantly written, managing to make me cry tears of both joy and sadness. On the surface it’s an adventure story, one about an unlikely friendship between two very different women, but it’s this and much more. Rachel Joyce has delivered a tale about redemption and the potential in us all to live our dreams, if we have a friend to say, don’t give up.

Margery and Enid are both in their own ways lost souls, lonely, ignored and subject to ridicule, bring them together and though the journey is not straightforward, it is a funny, sad, life affirming tale of two truly wonderful characters. I don’t think I have laughed with, cried with any two characters such as these, in what seems like forever! Margery and Enid, one shy, intellectual and sheltered, the other flighty, charming and ever so crazy, wormed their way into my reading soul and they will forever stay snuggled there. Each goes on a journey that sometimes resembles an Ealing Comedy, but has the emotional depth and sensitivity of Sarah Winman’s Tin Man and I loved that book beyond reason, so it shows how wonderful I found Miss Benson’s Beetle to be.

Rachel Joyce’s observation’s about friendship are both powerful and understated and Miss Benson’s Beetle reads with gentle ease.  She made me care, she gave me characters I fell in love with, she delivered hope and wonder all tied up in a novel about two wonderful women. No need here for a alpha hero, no need for them to be recused, they have each other and I will never forget them.

You can purchase this novel from Amazon and Waterstones

Why not also consider ordering it from your local Indie bookshop, many of whom desperately need our support.

About the author 

Rachel Joyce is the author of the Sunday Times and international bestsellers The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Perfect, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, The Music Shop and a collection of interlinked short stories, A Snow Garden & Other Stories. Her books have been translated into thirty -six languages and two are in development for film.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was short listed for the Commonwealth Book prize and long listed for the Man Booker Prize. Rachel was awarded the Specsavers National Book Awards ‘New Writer of the Year’ in December 201 2 and shortlisted for the ‘UK Author of the Year’201 4. Rachel was a Costa prize judge and University Big Read author in 2019.
She has also written over twenty original afternoon plays and adaptations of the classics for BBC Radio 4, including all the Bronte novels. She moved to writing after a long career as an actor, performing leading roles for the RSC, the National Theatre and Cheek by Jowl. She lives with her family in Gloucestershire.

Fleishman Is In Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner #Review #BlogTour #FleishmanIsInTrouble #TaffyBrodesserAkner

Finally free from his nightmare marriage, Toby Fleishman is ready for a life of online dating and weekend-only parental duties. But as he optimistically looks to a future that is wildly different from the one he imagined, his life turns upside-down as his ex-wife, Rachel, suddenly disappears.

While Toby tries to find out what happened – juggling work, kids and his new, app-assisted sexual popularity – his tidy narrative of a spurned husband is his sole consolation. But if he ever wants to really understand where Rachel went and what really happened to his marriage, he is going to have to consider that he might not have seen it all that clearly in the first place . . .

Review

I thought Fleishman Is In Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner was a fascinating look into the breakdown of a marriage and the emotional connections we have with friends.

More than this, it was a look at the flawed individuals within that marriage and how they seemed destined to part, because they never reallyk new the person they were married to. Apportioning blame is easy in these situations, our friendships often force us to take sides when splits take place, but is that because we wear blinkers, or because our loyalties are subject to our own natural byis to our friends? Taffy Brodesser-Akner asks us to look past our initial perceptions of both Toby and Rachael  and does so in a way that will flip the readers initial assumptions upside down.

I have seen mixed reviews for Fleishman Is In Trouble and I can understand why! The characters are not always likeable, but for me that is what makes the story work, your not necessarily going to like Toby or Rachel, your feelings like mine might fluctuate as you read the novel, but for me they were equal parts fascinating, annoying, loveable and that is why I found them compelling.  They never bored me, I enjoyed finding each one equal parts selfish, entertaining, heartbreakingly wounded by events and yet loving and kind. They embodied a multitude of characteristics, making them rounded and human. Toby was capable of unconditional love for his children, yet often found it hard to be so within his adult relationships! Within each was encapsulated the variety and wonder of the human condition in all its marvellous variety. Each character the writer created within Fleishman Is In Trouble could be someone you or I know.  Toby and his friends have a capacity to create chaos from seemingly simple acts and they often seem unable to consider other’s needs. So self-involved that they misread the intentions of others, but their capacity for love and ability to change, makes them feel heartachingly real and that is why they will remain within my imagination for years to come.

The writing is biting, witty and perceptive. Savage in its portrayal of modern life, the need for a perfect marriage, the unflinching pursuit of career and money as a mark of social standing. It’s unremitting in how it shows Rachel’s almost painful need for acceptance within her children’s parental social circle, as a way of eliminating any possibility they would be perceived as different from their friends. Yet is it her own insecurities that are driving this insatiable hunger for acceptance, at the price of her own well being? Is she the bitch Toby paints her as, or a women forced to fracture her own life, to be acceptable in the ‘male’ world she wants to be a part of and treated as an equal within. The way this leaves her unmoored from the role of mother and wife is painful to read, because Fleishman Is In Trouble asks, why can’t she be both? In 2020 why are women still required to be superwomen, to have both career, social life and family?

Fleishman Is In Trouble is clever simply because it works on so many levels, it seems on the surface to be all about Toby’s midlife crisis, his angst at his own lack of career progression! Following his marriages decent into a series of  shambolic missteps, he embarks on a miniature and very Toby centric sexual revolution, but this is where the writer plays her trump card and flipped all my perceptions on their head.  As it is a perceptive look at the initiation of marriage and the subversive role many women are still judged by, even by those of their own gender. It asks who actually caused the breakdown of the marriage, Rachel or Toby?  Is he as perceptive and supportive as he sees himself, is she the angry demanding shrew he paints her as.  Or is Toby too wrapped up in his own personal crisis to be able to see his own role in the trouble they find their marriage in. Is either view to simplistic to explain how they now see each other?

My feelings about both, their friends and endless sense of crisis changed from page to page, because the writers sassy take on a modern marriage needed me to be willingly to adjust my mindset throughout. I had to reach below the surface and find the pain, the humour and the fragility that was an integral part of who they were and their lives.

Fleishman is In Trouble for me surely has to be one the books of the year! For me it was intoxicating and challenging depiction of modern lives, women and marriage. Best of all it is reads like an emotional rollercoaster and that has to be good in my mind.

You can purchase this book on line from Amazon and Waterstones.

But why not give you local indie a ring and order it from them. They need us to support them more than ever currently.

About the author 

Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine. She has also written for GQ, ESPN the Magazine, and many other publications. Fleishman Is in Trouble is her first novel.

You can follow the author on Twitter @taffyakner

 

Mystery Island by Jim Ody #Review #Thriller #Mystery #Adventure #MysteryIsland #JimOdy

The Island of dark secrets lies close to Maui. Few have ventured there, fewer have returned.

With a map in hand, extreme-sports enthusiasts, Kyle and Donna, descend to the depths of the Pacific Ocean in search of treasure. Will they find it? And will they survive?

Peering eyes are everywhere, lurking and in wait, ready to take back what’s theirs.

Some things are better left buried.

Review

Mystery Island is an enjoyable tale of adventure in Hawaii, where Kyle and Donna set out to hunt down lost treasure and save their relationship.

It has all the elements your looking for, feisty flawed characters, humour, danger and baddies galore. It has bucket loads of action, excitement and deathly adversity from a gang of rather brutal criminals.  You are propelled from Britain to an island where good and bad battle to secure the islands secrets.  Poor Kyle and his girlfriend get caught up in it all, propelled by their own greed and a naked need for thrills.

If you like your reads full of sex, violence, adventure and laughs then this is the book for you. It is done by a writer than understands that fun needs to be mixed up with the fight for survival, characters than make you laugh and others that you’d rather avoid because they are right out of a film like Die Hard. It’s a good mixture and creates a fun filled, fast paced read. I read it in two sittings and found it a entertaining distraction from current events, quite an achievement at the moment. My favourite character was Jez who though secondary to Kyle, actually created humour in an otherwise thrill driven tale and he is not as gormless as he first seems. In fact he is a talented IT wizard, who balances out the rather serious, tormented hero of the plot, Kyle. I know all stories, especially books filled with fast paced adventure need tortured, troubled characters and he certainly is, but I had a soft spot for the rather  Kyle and the light hearted Cass.

Mystery Island is fun and despite sometimes violent scenes, with a dark theme underscoring the action, it captures the best elements of this action filled genre.

You can purchase this novel from Amazon

About the author

Jim writes dark psychological/thrillers that have endings you won’t see coming, and favours stories packed with wit. He has written ten novels and well over a dozen short-stories spanning many genres.

Jim has a very strange sense of humour and is often considered a little odd.  When not writing he will be found playing the drums, watching football and eating chocolate. He lives with his long-suffering wife, three beautiful children and two indignant cats in Swindon, Wiltshire UK.

You can follow the author on twitter @Jim_Ody_Author

 

My Favourite British Classical Novels ~ Part 2 #FavouriteBritishClassicalNovels

I don’t claim to be a massive reader of the classics, but I have over the years read many that I have loved. I love Jane Austen, I adore George Elliott. But I also consider books such as The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy as classics!

I wonder what books from the current cohort of writers will go on to be considered as classics, or if this title has been replaced by the modern phrase ‘must read”?

Here is part two of my favourite reads.

1 Lark Rise To Candleford by Flora Thompson 

2 Hard Times by Charles Dickens 

3 Middlemarch by George Elliott 

4 The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

5 The Lord of The Flies by William Golding 

6 Animal Farm by George Orwell 

7 1994 by George Orwell 

8 Robinson and Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

9 Great Expectation by Charles Dickens

10 The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe by C S Lewis 

All of these books can of course by bought from Amazon and Waterstones, but why not consider ordering books you want to read from your local Indie bookshop.

 

The Paper Bracelet by Rachel English #Review #BlofTour #ThePaperBracelet #RachelEnglish #HatchetteBooksIreland #ContemporayFiction

For almost fifty years, Katie has kept a box of secrets.
It dates from her time working as a nurse in a west of Ireland mother and baby home, and contains a notebook with details of the babies and young women she met there. It also holds many of the babies’ identity bracelets.
Following the death of her husband, Katie makes a decision she has long kept at bay. She posts a message on an internet forum, knowing that the information she possesses could help reunite adopted people with their birth mothers.
Soon, the replies are rolling in, and Katie encounters success, failure, heartache and joy as she finds herself in the role of part-detective, part-counsellor – chasing down leads, piecing together stories, and returning many of the bracelets to their original owners.
But there is one bracelet in the box that holds the key to a story that may never be told …
The Paper Bracelet is a gripping and moving story of secrets, lies and a love that never dies.

Review

The Paper Bracelet by Rachel English is something special, a moving story told in a gentle way about a dark period in Irish history and is based on true historical events. The story weaves back and forth from a home for unwed mothers in Ireland and the present day: where Katie, a one time nurse in the home, is seeking to reunite the identity bracelets of babies taken from their mothers, with the children and the mothers themselves.

I loved the way the story was told in two parts, weaving the past and present together. We see events in the home for unwed mothers in flashback and then Katie’s present life and how she’s trying to reunite children and their mothers, forced apart by the brutal regime within the homes. There is heartache and pain a plenty, but the writer balances that with hope and happiness and it makes the story ultimately uplifting.  Rachel English takes us through Katie’s story as she seeks to redress the past and also into the individual lives of the children looking for their parents.

Such a simple delicate item, the identity bracelet, is used to lead us and them on a very emotional and moving journey. I was thrown from the heart breaking lows of events in the home, where young mothers were treated almost like slaves, some never recovering from the loss of their children, to the joy and hope characters like Ailish are given from just the chance of finding their missing mother.

It’s a deeply vivid tale made all the more affecting for me, by characters that are easy to love, believe in and whom I desperately wanted to find happiness.  I know well-being can never be found for all, but Rachel English made me love Katie, Ailish, Brandon and Gary so much, I wanted each to find resolution and my heart actually ached for them. It is important in a book like this, that the heart break is not too intense or it becomes unbearable to read, or too light because it then fails to do justice the story and characters. In The Paper Bracelet Rachel English delivers the balance perfectly, She gives them all moments of hope to balance out the pain and it endears each of the stories in a way constant grief never could. I walked a path with all of them and at the end, I felt a lightness of being from knowing that even though not everyone is destined to find the answers to the mystery of their birth, the journey they take, is one I was lucky to take with them.

The Paper Bracelet is a wonderful read. Emotional, but also very pleasurable to be a part of.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and blog tour organiser, for the ARC in return for an honest review. 

You can purchase The Paper Bracelet from Amazon and Waterstones .

About the author 

Rachael English is a bestselling novelist and presenter on Ireland’s most popular radio show, Morning Ireland. During more than twenty years as a journalist, she has worked on most of RTÉ Radio’s leading current affairs programmes, covering a huge range of national and international stories.

 

Space Academy by Hannah Hopkins. Question & Answer with author. #YA #Sci-fi #SpaceAcademy #Interview

It’s the year 2100. Earth is dying. A young woman, Elsie, has risked everything to get her newborn son, Will, aboard ‘The Mayflower’ – a spaceship that will transport a select number of people to a new planet they can call home. Elsie’s luck takes a turn when she discovers the captain of ‘The Mayflower’ is an old friend. He allows her to board with her son, giving them a place on the luxurious Floor One, where they live amongst the most honoured of ‘The Mayflower’s’ passengers.
Thirteen years later, and Will is ready to start school at Space Academy, an institute specialising in subjects such as Alien Studies, Technology, and Rocket Control. While a pupil there, Will starts to uncover secrets about his father’s death, becoming wrapped in a mystery that he and his friends must solve if they are to have any hope of saving humanity from the threat that lies in wait.
Lose yourself in this brilliantly addictive novel as it takes you on a journey through the stars. But be warned – you might be surprised by what you find.

Today I’m delighted to welcome author Hannah Hopkins to Booksaremycwtches as part of the blog tour for her novel Space Academy.

What does literary success look like to you?
To me, literary success would be solely writing for a living. I also think a healthy following of readers who look forward to your next book is a great mark of success! You know you’ve done your job well when someone asks you when the sequel is coming.

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How many hours a day do you write?
On average, probably 2-3 hours a day. When I get the opportunity, I write on and off all day. My brain definitely needs breaks in between, but as long as I have the right music on and some good snacks, I can lose myself in a fictional world for hours.

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Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly?
Obviously, a lot of writing comes from emotion, and I believe a very high proportion of creativity comes specifically from pain. However, I believe in the ‘write what you know’ idiom, and so if someone doesn’t feel strongly, they could possibly write a very interesting novel about a character who also doesn’t ‘feel’ as much as other people.

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What does your family think of your writing?
My family have always been supportive of my writing. I think they thought it was going to be a hobby, and were quite surprised when I revealed I’d written a book and was trying to get it published. My grandma, however, has always told me I would be a writer one day. She was there when I wrote my first story about a beetle in her garden, and she still helps me now with my work.

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Which character in your novel do you feel the strongest connection to?
This is a tricky question! I feel a strong connection to Elsie as the single mother who was willing to do anything for her son. However, I am also attached to Finley for the way he overcomes adversity and betters his circumstances. The oppression he experiences as a lower-class citizen on The Mayflower is reminiscent of the socio-economic inequality that currently exists in the world, and I find myself rooting for Finley to succeed.

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What makes your novel unique/stand out in its genre?
What makes ‘Space Academy’ unique is that, although it is set in the future and in space, I wouldn’t describe it as being a hard sci-fi. The book is very character focussed, and the issues the characters experience, including bullying, parental abandonment, and dysfunctional families, are relatable and relevant, despite the novel being set in the year 2113. I would describe the book as a being a strong YA novel, with a futuristic and exciting setting!

You can purchase Space Academy from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

About the author

In 2017, Hannah Hopkins released a self-published novel entitled ‘The Split’; the story of four teenagers navigating life after Earth as they journey through space to a new planet. Two years later, the book was picked up by ‘The Conrad Press’ and re-vamped as ‘Space Academy,’ with a new cover, new title and new additions to the story. ‘Space Academy’ was released in 2020, kickstarting Hannah’s career as a writer.
Hannah is currently busy writing a historical fiction novel with a feminist twist. She spends the rest of her time working at a University and caring for her two young children in the UK.

You can follow the author on Facebook and Instagram

 

 

My Favourite Female Authors ~ Jessie Burton #MyFavouriteFemaleAuthors #JessieBurton

There are so many wonderfully talented female authors out there and I wanted to feature some of my favourites on booksaremycwtches.

From the moment I read the The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton I knew I had found a new favourite author. This novel was dark, full of mystery and incredibly imaginative and I fell head over heels in love with it and the writing.  A tale about love, obsession and loss, it was an incredible debut.

I opened up her second book The Muse with some trepidation wondering if I would love it as much as The Miniaturist and I did. Jessie Burton simply writes incredible novels full of perfectly formed characters and stories of rich intricate detail and stories that stay with me years after I have read them.

I need to find time to read the The Confession next!

There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed . . .
On an autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman knocks at the door of a grand house in the wealthiest quarter of Amsterdam. She has come from the country to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt, but instead she is met by his sharp-tongued sister, Marin. Only later does Johannes appear and present her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. It is to be furnished by an elusive miniaturist, whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in unexpected ways . . .
Nella is at first mystified by the closed world of the Brandt household, but as she uncovers its secrets she realizes the escalating dangers that await them all. Does the miniaturist hold their fate in her hands? And will she be the key to their salvation or the architect of their downfall?

On a hot July day in 1967, Odelle Bastien climbs the stone steps of the Skelton gallery in London, knowing that her life is about to change forever. Having struggled to find her place in the city since she arrived from Trinidad five years ago, she has been offered a job as a typist under the tutelage of the glamorous and enigmatic Marjorie Quick. But though Quick takes Odelle into her confidence, and unlocks a potential she didn’t know she had, she remains a mystery – no more so than when a lost masterpiece with a secret history is delivered to the gallery.
The truth about the painting lies in 1936 and a large house in rural Spain, where Olive Schloss, the daughter of a renowned art dealer, is harbouring ambitions of her own. Into this fragile paradise come artist and revolutionary Isaac Robles and his half-sister Teresa, who immediately insinuate themselves into the Schloss family, with explosive and devastating consequences . . .

One winter’s afternoon on Hampstead Heath in 1980, Elise Morceau meets Constance Holden and quickly falls under her spell. Connie is bold and alluring, a successful writer whose novel is being turned into a major Hollywood film. Elise follows Connie to LA, a city of strange dreams and swimming pools and late-night gatherings of glamorous people. But whilst Connie thrives on the heat and electricity of this new world where everyone is reaching for the stars and no one is telling the truth, Elise finds herself floundering. When she overhears a conversation at a party that turns everything on its head, Elise makes an impulsive decision that will change her life forever.
Three decades later, Rose Simmons is seeking answers about her mother, who disappeared when she was a baby. Having learned that the last person to see her was Constance Holden, a reclusive novelist who withdrew from public life at the peak of her fame, Rose is drawn to the door of Connie’s imposing house in search of a confession . . .

There are many places that you can purchase these wonderful books from, such as Amazon and Waterstones.
But why not consider ordering from your local indie bookshop, many of whom have kept us all supplied with books during this difficult time. So why not get in contact with yours and order one of Jessie Burton’s fabulous books.

About the author

Jessie Burton is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling novels The Miniaturist, The Muse, and The Confession, and of the children’s book The Restless Girls. Her novels have been translated into 38 languages, and she is a regular essay writer for newspapers and magazines.

The Miniaturist was a Sunday Times number 1 bestseller in both hardback and paperback, and a New York Times bestseller. It sold over a million copies in its first year of publication, and was awarded the Waterstones Book of the Year, and Book of the Year at the National Book Awards. In 2017 it was adapted into a major TV series for BBC One.

The Muse was a Sunday Times number 1 bestseller in both hardback and paperback, and has sold more than 500,000 copies.

The Confession is Jessie’s third novel, and became an immediate Sunday Times bestseller.

 

 

 

 

My Wonderful Reading Year 2020 ~ My Favourites So Far. #MyFavouriteReads

It’s hard to believe we are already half way through the year already! My reading has so far survived the stresses that have overtaken us all, though there have been ups and downs. To celebrate my reading from January to June, I decided to look back at some of my favourite reads so far. 

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charlie Mackesy 

The Museum Of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman 

Diary Of A Bookseller by Shaun Bythell 

Firewatching by Russ Thomas 

Little by Edward Carey 

Cow Girl by Kirsty Eyre 

The Salt Path by Raynor Winn 

Over The Top My Story by Jonathon Van Ness

I Am I Am I Am by Maggie O’Farrell 

The Soul Killer by Ross Greenwood 

Containment by Vanda Symon 

You Will Be Safe here by Damian Barr 

The Binding by Bridget Collins

I Am Dust by Louise Beech 

When We Fall by Carolyn Kirby 

To Catch A Mole by marc Hamer 

The Creak On The Stairs by Eva Bjorg Aegistottir 

Ash Mountain by Helen Fitzgerald 

Beast by Matt Wesolowski 

The second half of the reading year has already started off well, I am currently reading The Dutch House by Ann Patchett and it is exquisite.