The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley - Adventure all the way!

The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley, by Sean Lusk is a novel that starts in London in 1754 where Zachary Cloudesley is being raised by his father Abel, who makes clockwork creations that dazzle all who see them. Although Zachary's mother died in childbirth, he is a happy boy, but has a strange gift that no-one really understands - at the touch of a hand, he can see into the heart and mind of a person. But when Zachary has an accident in the workshop that almost blinds him, his father decides that perhaps it would be best if his son was raised by his Aunt Francis - an eccentric lady who surrounds herself with a menagerie of animals. When Abel is offered a chance to use his skills to serve his country in Constantinople, he decides to do it, but things go horribly wrong and he is made a prisoner. After many years, Zachary sets out to try and find out what happened to his father, even though Zachary feels that his father struggled to love him and still blamed him for the death of his mother. It is during this epic journey that Zachary finds out about the world beyond his Aunt's house and his place in it. This is an enjoyable tale of unusual gifts, inventions, politics, intrigue, tragedy and sexual awakening. Yes, pretty much all bases are covered. There's almost something for everyone between the covers of this tale. Zachary is a likeable character - wise but innocent, brave but foolhardy too ... How he is not killed during his expedition to find his father is somewhat miraculous, but hey, let's go with it. Luckily, he is surrounded by great supporting characters - such as his wet-nurse who takes no nonsense, his Aunt who believes she knows what's best for everyone, and his father's most skilled worker who holds a secret. Definitely a story that takes you on an adventure from start to finish and with many twists and turns. A thoroughly enjoyable way to spend your time.

My STAR rating: FIVE.

Length: 368 print pages.

Price I paid: £4.00.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

Trespasses - heartbreaking romance across the divide

Trespasses, by Louise Kennedy, is set in Belfast at the height of "The Troubles". Cushla is a Catholic primary school teacher who also works the odd shift in the family pub, and also tries to keep her alcoholic mother safe when she goes on a bender. When Michael, a much older, married and Protestant barrister walks into the bar one day and rescues her from the attention of some boisterous soldiers, she is instantly drawn to him. They begin a love affair in secret against the back drop of sectarian violence. But this state of happiness cannot last, especially when things get even more complicated by Cushla befriending the family of one of her pupils - a family who are persecuted purely because the mother and father are from different religions. What, at first, feels like a good thing, leads to devastating events that Cushla could never have predicted. This is a great story with interesting characters who are complicated, flawed and not always likeable. However, it's a book that I found hard to put down - it is heartbreaking, irritating, disturbing and funny too. Just like life! For a debut book - amazing! Definitely an author to look out for.

My STAR rating: FIVE.

Length: 320 print pages.

Price I paid: £2.98.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook. 

The Familiars - which witch is which?

The Familiars, by Stacy Halls is set in and around Pendle, Lancashire in the early 17th Century and is based on real people, some of whom were caught up in the infamous Pendle Witch Trial of 1612. Our main protagonist is Fleetwood Shuttleworth, the mistress of Gawthorpe Hall, who is 17 years old, happily married and pregnant ... for the fourth time! Despite suffering terrible morning sickness, she hopes that it will be fourth time lucky and that she'll finally produce an heir for her husband, Richard. But when she finds a letter addressed to him from their doctor saying that his wife will not survive another pregnancy, she is crushed - not only by the news, but also as to why Richard hasn't said anything to her about it. But when she has a chance meeting with Alice Gray, a young midwife who promises to help Fleetwood give birth to a healthy baby, she takes her on. At first, Alice prescribes various herbs and tonics, and Fleetwood's health improves, but then Alice is accused of witchcraft (like a lot of "wise" women at that time) and Fleetwood sets out to try to help her, no matter the cost to herself and her baby. I really liked Fleetwood, what a great character - full of determination and heart, and willing to challenge the status quo at a time where women had very little say in what happened to them during their whole lives. Full of vivid characters and imagery, plus a good dose of historical details, this is a well rounded story where you can learn something about the past without really trying. Engaging plot and dialogue, this is an excellent read. I can highly recommend it, despite some of the more grisly and disturbing aspects - welcome to the 17th Century folks! This is definitely an author I will be seeking out again.

My STAR rating: FIVE

Length: 448 print pages.

Price I paid: £3.99.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, audio CD, ebook.

Bitter Orange - lies upon lies

Bitter Orange, by Clare Fuller, follows the musings and reminiscences of Frances Jellico who is near death. Visited by a man who calls himself the vicar, she harks back to the summer of 1969 when Frances, then aged 39, gets a job surveying the garden architecture of a large country house (Lyntons). Up to that point, she had been looking after her recently deceased mother, and Frances takes the job on a whim,  ready to experience the world. Upon arrival, she discovers that there are two others also working at the house - Cara and Peter, an exotic couple with a tortuous past. Frances soon becomes infatuated with them both, and cannot resist spying on them through a hole in the floor in her bedroom. They seem to become firm friends, but all is not as it seems and tall tales are told over long, lavish dinners drinking wine from the long abandoned cellars of Lyntons. When they also discover a stash of furniture and household items, they take to borrowing them ... or even selling them. The jobs they should be doing take second place to what has become a bohemian lifestyle and Frances falls deeply in love with Peter ... but where might that leave Cara? And as time goes on, she cannot be sure that anything they have told her is actually true. Told in a series of flashbacks, this is a story with many ebbs and flows and one that heads deeper and deeper into tragedy. Whilst I had sympathy for the naive Frances, I found it difficult to like Cara and Peter and I just wanted Frances to get out of the situation before it was too late. The volatility of the couple was just too much drama for me and I would have left them to it. I certainly didn't fall for them, but found them rather self absorbed and irritating most of the time. I did like the descriptions of the house and gardens and would have liked more of that, as well as the relationship between Frances and the local vicar ... if only she'd listened to him! There were also hints of a ghostly presence at times, which felt a bit out of place and totally unnecessary. So, a bit of a mixed bag, and I mostly enjoyed it while I was reading it, but I don't think it's a book that will stay with me for very long.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 268 print pages.

Price I paid: £2.98

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, MP3CD, ebook.

Headlong - art history mixed with farce

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Headlong, by Michael Frayn is an art history farce. Martin Clay is asked to assess a few paintings owned by Tony Churt, his buffoonish neighbour, during which, he catches a glimpse of another painting that he believes could be a lost masterpiece by Peter Breugel the Elder. Martin is convinced that if he could "discover" this painting and bring it to the attention of the art world, it would make his reputation (as well as a lot of money!). But in order to do that, he needs to get the painting away from Tony. And so he begins to plot ... first to find out whether the painting is what he believes it to be, and if it is, how to extricate it from the current owner without them twigging. Tony sets out to purchase it in a very convoluted and not exactly moral manner which, potentially, could bankrupt him - something his wife is not exactly keen to do considering they have only just had their first child. We follow Martin on his exploits, going down many a rabbit hole of research about the painting, and getting sucked into the unhappy marriage of Mr and Mrs Churt. It's not long before everything starts to spiral out of control and there seems to be no way back. This is an entertaining book - partly because of the humour and partly because of the history lesson - I learned a lot about Peter Breugel and how paintings can disappear and reappear through the centuries because of politics, war and luck. Martin Clay is a likeable, yet irritating character, and I wanted to give him a good shake and shout WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Especially when the relationship between himself and the wife of his "target" became something other than professional! I felt most strongly for Martin's long suffering wife who had to put up with the wanton recklessness of her husband, although, to be fair, it may well have been the symptoms of a breakdown. She managed to support him and maintain a calmness that I'm not sure many in real life could have managed. If you like a bit of silliness mixed with art, then this is the book for you.

My STAR rating: 4 STARS.

Length: 395 print pages.

Price I paid: free, borrowed from my husband.

Formats available: print, audio CD, ebook.

The Signature of All Things - Botany Rules!

In The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert, our main protagonist is Alma Whittaker, the daughter of Henry, a botanical explorer who came from incredibly humble beginnings in London in the shadow of his own father, who worked at Kew Gardens. With guile, sheer determination and little light theft, Henry became rich and married a Dutch lady, Beatrix, whom he lived with in Philadelphia. Then we see Alma, their precocious child, growing up and becoming a botanist in her own right, despite it being the nineteenth century and not really "the done thing" for a woman. After being the centre of her parents' attention for so long, life changes when they adopt a local girl who is beautiful beyond words. This causes tension throughout the rest of her life. Foiled in love at a young age, Alma throws herself into her botanical research and discovers the joys of moss (yes, moss) and becomes a published author. Many years later, she persuades her father to employ a botanical illustrator to help document the plants he has collected, at which point she falls for this much younger man. They marry, but each party's idea of what a marriage should consist of differ hugely (Alma is desperate for passion and sexual gratification, but her husband is only interested in her mind). Her new husband is sent away to Tahiti to locate some particular plants for Henry, but dies shortly after, and all that is returned is a trunk containing a few illustrations of plants, but mostly, sketches of "The Boy" (which helped to explain a few things). After her own trip to Tahiti, Alma continues her work and starts to delve into the mysteries of evolution. This book is a bit of an epic journey and an insight into all things botanical during the nineteenth century. I found those elements the most interesting and satisfying. I liked Alma for the most part and it was heartbreaking when she thought that she had found love, but was disappointed yet again. There were good supporting characters, with the possible exception of a childhood friend who attached herself to Alma and her sister, then married Alma's first love out of the blue and finally ended up in an asylum. To me this felt bolted on and unrealistic, as did Alma's obsession with her own body and what she got up to with it in the privacy of the "bindery room". Again, this almost appeared out of nowhere and the scene was repeated, and repeated many times. Unnecessary, in my opinion and detracted from the story. I loved the narration by Juliet Stephenson (one of the main reasons for me picking this book in the first place), and, on the whole, an interesting read.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 592 print pages.

Price I paid: £2.98.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

Goldfinger - AGAIN!

In search of a quick and light holiday read, I reached for Goldfinger, by Ian Fleming. But it wasn't long before I started to think that the story was incredibly familiar. Initially, I put it down to my having seen the film, but then suddenly realised that I'd actually read it as an ebook back in 2017! However, this time I was indulging in the audio edition, superbly narrated by Hugh Bonneville, and decided I was too far down the road to stop. I thought it would be interesting to look at the blogpost I did at the time and see if I felt the same way about it as I did then ... and I have to tell you, dear reader, not quite! In this, the seventh outing for the spy with incredible longevity, the action starts with James Bond being a little disgruntled. He is finding it increasingly difficult to live up to his 007 billing and is wondering about his future - does he really want to continue killing people? While on an enforced stopover in the USA, he is asked to help someone who is convinced that the man he has been playing cards with is cheating. Bond takes on the challenge and proves this to be the case, running off with the beautiful girl who had been an unwilling accomplice to the fraud. Back in London, Bond is called in to investigate the smuggling of gold out of the country by none other than Auric Goldfinger - the card cheat himself! This sets Bond on a collision course with one of the richest men in the world, with death and destruction coming along for the ride. The action sweeps across Europe and then to the USA, where Bond is forced to help plan, and execute, the biggest heist in history - with the gold reserves at Fort Knox being the target. Goldfinger and his henchman, Oddjob, are completely despicable, and for once, Bond's attempts at romance are, for the most part, thwarted by the inclusion of lesbian characters ... although, sadly, the author didn't seem to have the balls (no pun intended) to carry this through to the end. And this is where I felt distinctly uncomfortable with the language used regarding the female characters in this book, the attitudes expressed towards women and the ridiculous ending where Pussy Galore (oh my, what can I say about this name!) succumbs to Bond's charms. This grated on me somewhat and definitely dates this book. Despite this, there are some superb passages, where the author demonstrates his usual eye for detail with the joyful descriptions of food, cars and people. And like last time, my favourite scenes feature the tense and thrilling round of golf between Bond and Goldfinger ... in fact, I would go as far as saying that it's worth reading the book just for this! (Indeed, maybe, just read that bit!!!)

My STAR rating: THREE (one less than last time).

Length: 320 print pages.
Price I paid: £2.98.
Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, unabridged audio CD, ebook.