Veronika Jordan's Blog, page 44

Winter Light by Martha Engber Out Now

Fifteen-year-old Mary Donahue of suburban Chicago is a kid on the cusp of failure during the brutal blizzard winter of 1978-79, the end of a hard luck, hard rock era sunk in the cynical aftermath of the Vietnam War.

Though a smart, beautiful kid, she’s a motherless girl raised by an uneducated, alcoholic father within an extended family of alcoholics and addicts. Aware that she’s sinking, she’s desperate to save herself and so reaches out to an unlikely source, Kathleen, a nice, normal kid from English class.

Genre: YA – Coming of age

But when the real storm hits, the full force of a harsh adult world almost buries Mary. Only then does she learn that the only difference between life and death is knowing when to grasp an extended hand.

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From The Library With Love Podcast Tour by Kate Thompson

“It’s Kate Thompson here, author of The Little Wartime Library and upcoming Wartime Book
Club.

“Wonderful, transformative things happen when you set foot in a library. In 2019 I uncovered the true story of a forgotten Underground library, built along the tracks of Bethnal Green Tube tunnel during the Blitz. As stories go, it was irresistible and the result was, The Little Wartime Library, my seventh novel.

“Bethnal Green Public Library, where the novel is set, was 100 years old in October 2022, and to celebrate the centenary of this grand old lady, funded by library philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, I set myself the challenge of interviewing 100 library workers. Speaking with one library worker for every year this library has been serving its community seemed a good way to mark this auspicious occasion. Because who better to explain the worth of a hundred-year- old library, than librarians themselves!”

“I wanted to explore the enduring value of libraries and reading. I quickly realised that librarians have the best stories.

“My research led me to librarians with over fifty years of experience, to the impressive women who manage libraries in prisons and schools, to those in remote Scottish islands. From poetry libraries overlooking the wide sweep of the Thames, to the 16th century Shakespeare’s Library in Stratford, via the small but mighty Leadhills Miners’ Library.

“This podcast was born out of those eye-opening conversations, because as Denise from Tower Hamlets Library told me: ‘If you want to see the world, don’t join the Army, become a librarian!’

“I’ll also be talking to international bestselling authors and some remarkable wartime women. This is my way of celebrating and documenting the remarkable stories I have found whilst researching my books.”

“Here is the link to my podcast site: 
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/from-the-library-with-love/id1705546837“

This is the one I have chosen to listen to and talk about:

I was born in a Nazi concentration camp

A powerful interview with 78-year-old Eva Clarke, who told me ‘You don’t know what you can withstand until you are put to the test.’

The strikingly handsome couple looked like they’d stepped straight out of a Hollywood motion picture from the glamorous golden era. The reality was somewhat different. Anka and Bernd met in Nazi occupied Prague, in 1940 and it was love at first sight across a crowded nightclub. Like it was for so many young couples in wartime a whirlwind courtship ensued followed by a wedding.

In December 1941, Anka and Bernd were amongst the first transports sent to Terezin, the first camp in Czechoslovakia where they remained for three years.

During their time at Terezin, and despite the sexes being segregated, Anka became pregnant with a son. When the Nazis discovered this they were forced to sign a document stating that when the baby was born, it would have to be handed over to the Gestapo to be murdered. In the event, her baby son died of pneumonia two months after his birth.

Anka fell pregnant again and this time tried her hardest to keep her pregnancy a secret, knowing full well what would happen should her SS captors discover it.

Soon after she fell pregnant, Bernd was deported to Auschwitz in Sept 1944. Heartbreakingly Anka followed him. She was the eternal optimist and thought that as they had survived that long nothing could get any worse…

Anka was at Auschwitz for ten days, a time she described as being like ‘Dante’s Inferno, hell on earth.’ Being young and fit, she was sent to work in a factory near Dresden as slave labour, never to see her husband again.

By the spring of 1945 the Germans were retreating and evacuating concentration and slave labour camps. Anka, by now looking like, in her words, ‘a scarcely living pregnant skeleton’ was transported on a filthy open coal wagon to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, a horrendous journey that took seventeen days. She weighed 5 stone. So horrified was she to see that she had arrived at yet another concentration camp she immediately went into labour.

It’s hard to conceive of the following scene. Anka, surrounded by the dead and dying, giving birth in the squalor of a coal wagon. An SS guard walked past and noticed. ‘Carry on screaming,’ he told her. Baby Eva came into a cruel world weighing just 3 pounds. Anka attributed her and her baby daughter’s survival to luck and timing.

The day before she gave birth the Nazis ran out of Zyklon B gas. The day after she gave birth Hitler committed suicide. Soon after Mauthausen was liberated by the Americans.

Returning to Prague with her tiny newborn baby girl, Anka stayed with relatives who had also survived the Holocaust. To her devastation she discovered her husband, parents, and two sisters had been murdered at Auschwitz.  Bernd was shot dead near Auschwitz in January 1945, just one week before the camp was liberated. He never knew his wife had fallen pregnant again.

Anka met Karel Bergman, a Czech who had fought with the RAF during the war, and moved to Cardiff in 1948 to start a new life.

78 years on, Eva shares her astonishing story. Please be warned, there are some distressing scenes described in this episode.

How I wish I’d met Eva’s extraordinary mother Anka who lived to 96 years old and never tired of telling her daughter ‘You don’t know what you can withstand until you are put to the test.”

My thoughts

I’m calling this my ‘thoughts’ rather than my review, because I’m basically listening and contemplating the terrible, horrific conditions under which Eva was born. It’s hard to believe that this happened, maybe not in my lifetime, but in my parents. My mother and grandmother lived in Vienna during the thirties and being Jewish, had to leave. Apart from being tear-gassed in a theatre, they managed to escape unharmed. They were lucky.

I can’t begin to imagine what it must have been like for those who did not escape. Many were shot or gassed. Those who survived were half-starved and beaten. Eva’s mother Anka spent 17 days on a train journeying to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. It was open to the elements. Anka went into labour on the coal wagon amongst the filth, the dead and the dying. You wonder how anyone at all survived. Hundreds did not.

Kate says that, “This is one of the most emotional interviews I’ve done. It reveals not only the depth of the atrocities committed in some of the foulest spots on earth,  but also that life hung on chance, degrees of fate, turn left, turn right, a flick of the whip. Buried within this story are also tiny fragments of humanity that have the power to change a life.”

Who would not be moved by this extraordinary story of hope and resilience in the face of the horror of war and the holocaust.

Eva and Kate discuss the importance of ‘I wish I’d asked’. Once the last of the survivors have passed away, there will be no-one else left to ask. However, many survivors of the war (not just the holocaust – my father was a prisoner-of-war in Siberia) don’t want to talk about it and we have to respect that. They also discuss how we must learn the lessons to prevent racism, prejudice, anti-semitism, hatred, genocide and more. I don’t think we have.

For more on this story read Born Survivors by Wendy Holden available to buy on Amazon.

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours

About Kate Thompson

Kate Thompson an award-winning journalist, ghostwriter and novelist who has spent the past two decades in the UK mass market and book publishing industry. Over the past eight years Kate has written eleven fiction and non-fiction titles, three of which have made the Sunday Times top ten bestseller list.

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Pariah’s Lament by Richie Billing Out Now

When an attempt is made on the life of Ashara, Keeper of Yurr, his young, hapless advisor Edvar must uncover and stop those behind it.

With enemies in the capital city and the belligerent Tesh, Keeper of neighbouring nation Karrabar stirring trouble in the Borderlands, can Edvar hold together Ashara’s brittle reign?

The troubles ripple throughout Yurr, affecting an ancient race of people known as the Amast, who in their time of utmost need, turn to pariah Isy for salvation. Rejected by society, kith and kin, can Isy guide the Amast to safety during the greatest turmoil Yurr has known since the War of the Damned?

Genre: Epic Fantasy
Pages: 423
Publisher: Of Metal and Magic Publishing

Pariah’s Lament will take you on a rollercoaster of an adventure ‘that will keep you spellbound as you traverse the world alongside Isy and Edvar’ (Books Behind The Title). And along the way you’ll experience ‘intense fighting scenes, a little romance and flawed characters’ (Sarah Lillian Books).

If you love to explore fantasy worlds, this book won’t disappoint. Part of a shared universe populated by other authors, the setting in Pariah’s Lament has proven a huge hit with readers, with some praising the ‘insane level of detail’ (The Book Suite) and vividness of its descriptions.

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The Summer and the May by Lucinda Hart Out Now

“The time of the angels may have passed for now, but they will return.” 

The Archangel Michael defeated the Devil in Helston and cast him into Hell forever. This legend is retold every spring at Helston’s Flora Day. But the legend is about to become a reality. 

Underground in the rocks and sea-caves of Cornwall, Lucifer is stirring. Soon he will wake and break free. And this time he will prevail against his old adversary Michael.

Genre: Literary/local folklore
Pages: 277
Publisher: Vulpine Press

Verity is entranced by a beautiful stranger she meets on the cliffs. The young man cannot tell her who he is or where he is from. Unbeknown to her, Lucifer is bringing her under his spell. Verity’s friends fall away from her, frightened by her obsession, and she finds herself alone when a cosmic battle is fought in the skies of Cornwall. 

The future of all mankind is at stake. 

About the Author

Lucinda Hart grew up in Cornwall and has been writing fiction since the age of three. She has a BA in Fine Art and Creative Writing and an MA in Creative Writing, both from Bath Spa University. The themes in Lucinda’s books are often of great relevance to her. Place is also important; she uses her favourite locations in novels and hopes they will interest the reader as much as they have inspired her. She lives in Cornwall with her two daughters. 

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The Half Burnt House by Alex North narrated by Rosalie Craig

Katie always looked after her beloved younger brother Chris – until she left him alone for one selfish afternoon, and their picture-perfect family fell apart.

Although Chris survived the attack, the scars ran deeper than the ones left across his face. Now they’re adults, and they haven’t spoken in years. Then she gets a call, from Detective Laurence Page.

Page is facing an unusually disturbing crime scene. Alan Hobbes, a distinguished and wealthy philosophy professor, has been brutally murdered. Hobbes was living in a sprawling mansion – but one that remains half-ruined by a decades-old fire, wind and rain howling through the gaping, creaking roof.

Page only has one suspect: Chris, caught on CCTV at the house. But he has plenty of questions. What could cause a man as wealthy as Hobbes not to repair his home? Why did he seem to know his death was coming, yet do nothing to stop it? And why was he obsessed with a legendary local serial killer?

But Katie only has one thing on her mind. She knows this is her last, best chance to finally save her brother, and make up for her negligence all those years ago.

But she can’t possibly imagine just how much danger he’s in…

My Review

I wondered if the reason I got so muddled reading this was because I tend to lose focus when listening to a book on Audible. In fact I listened to the last hour twice. But then I read other reviews and realised it’s not just me. It is a bit complicated and I couldn’t initially work out the relationships between Katie and her brother Chris, Edward Leland and Alan Hobbes, serial killer Jack Locke and Chris’s attacker Michael Hyde. I needed some kind of family tree or plan. But then that would have spoiled the ending. Because ‘everything is connected under the surface’, and that’s the whole premise of the book.

However, The Whisper Man is probably one of my all time favourite crime novels, so I persevered. As well as the connections, something else that is important is the concept of determinism – “the doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes regarded as external to the will. Some philosophers have taken determinism to imply that individual human beings have no free will and cannot be held morally responsible for their actions.”

That is what drove serial killer Jack Locke to kill a number of children, making them into angels (hence the alternative book title The Angel Maker). He believed it was his destiny, as determined by God, and that he had to carry out the horrors foisted on him. He taught his sons to follow him, but while one did, the other rebelled, causing a massive split between the brothers.

In the meantime, Katie Shaw has to look after her brother, always walking him home from school. But Chris is fifteen. Why does he need a chaperone? So one day Katie decides to go home with her boyfriend instead and it’s on that very day that Chris is attacked and severely wounded, leaving him with facial scars. While he recovers physically, the psychological scars go much deeper. And Katie can never stop feeling guilty.

I’m not going to rewrite the synopsis as it tells you all you need to know, suffice to say that it is full of mystery and intrigue. We follow the separate threads of Katie and her family, Leland, Hobbes and Chris, wondering how it will all come together in the end, which it does, as this is a very clever writer and there are no loose ends. Once it does come together, it all seems relatively simple!

I’m still not sure whether to give it 4 or 5 stars and had I read it on Kindle I think it would have made a huge difference. It would have been much easier to go back an re-read the parts that I missed.

About the Author

Alex North was born in Leeds, where he now lives with his wife and son. The Whisper Man was inspired by North’s own little boy, who mentioned one day that he was playing with ‘the boy in the floor’. Alex North is a British crime writer who has previously published under another name.

When Love Comes by Penny Zeller Out Now

Can love be found amidst broken hearts and unexpected loss?

Determined to heal her broken heart, Charlotte Eliason visits her aunts in Prune Creek, Wyoming. What should be a time of peace and calm becomes one of chaos and unwelcome surprises when she discovers her longtime foe, Tobias Hallman, is the new blacksmith. To make matters worse, her two meddlesome aunts are constantly inviting him to supper and encouraging friendship between the two sworn enemies.

Genre: Christian Historical Romance
Publisher: Maplebrook Publishing

Tobias Hallman has always wanted to be a blacksmith, so when an opportunity arises to own his own shop in Prune Creek, he seizes it. However, he doesn’t expect to cross paths with his childhood nemesis, the annoying Charlotte Eliason.

When tragedy strikes, close proximity soon forces two reluctant hearts to become allies in a quest to rescue Tobias’s orphaned niece. Can Charlotte and Tobias put aside their preconceived disdain for each other and find love in the midst of challenging circumstances? Does God have a plan for them and for a young girl grieving the untimely loss of her parents?

A woman with a broken heart. A man struggling with the loss of his brother and the subsequent care of his young niece. And two silly aunts who discover it’s never too late for true love.

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About the Author

Penny Zeller is known for her heartfelt stories of faith and her passion to impact lives for Christ through fiction. While she has had a love for writing since childhood, she began her adult writing career penning articles for national and regional publications on a wide variety of topics. Today Penny is the author of nearly two dozen books. She is also a homeschool mom and a group fitness instructor. Her desire is to assist and nurture women into a closer relationship with Christ.

When Penny is not dreaming up new characters, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters and camping, hiking, canoeing, bicycling/cycling, reading, running, gardening, and playing volleyball.

She is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency and loves to hear from her readers at her website,  blog, and on Facebook. 

Subscribe to Penny’s newsletter for writing updates, news about freebies and giveaways, and other fun morsels.
Author’s Website: https://pennyzeller.com

Out of Oblivion by Cathy Nortey Release Day Blitz

Are you struggling to feel a deep connection with God amidst the busyness of your life? Even though you know God is always present and all-knowing, do you find it difficult to feel His presence when you need it the most? If you have ever experienced these feelings, “Out of Oblivion” is the book for you.

In this book, author Cathy shares her personal journey of feeling lost and disconnected from God. She discusses the obstacles she faced and the lessons she learned about the importance of recognising and addressing the barriers that can prevent us from having an intimate relationship with God.

Genre: Inspirational Spirituality | Non-fiction

Out of Oblivion is an easy-to-read and practical book that offers a transformative path towards discovering the power of intimacy with God and the freedom and authority that comes through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The book includes various Bible translations, reflection questions, and practical exercises to help you connect with God and experience His presence intimately. 

No matter where you are in life, you can experience a fulfilling and enriching journey with God. How? God is aware of every aspect of your life and invites you to step Out of Oblivion and embrace a profound Awareness of the Abiding Presence of God in Your Everyday! 

About the Author

Cathy Nortey believes pursuing intimacy with God is the key to fulfilment. I have a positive outlook and love speaking positivity into people’s lives. She is passionate about seeing God’s children free from sin and experiencing breakthroughs. She is currently a part of GCSSM, an online school that shaped her identity and sparked a passion for animation and writing. Her prayer is for every child of God to experience His grace, love, joy, and peace. She is married to Ebenezer Nortey, and they use their spiritual gifts to bless others. Their three children have witnessed the work of God in our lives.

Author’s Website: https://www.sevenflamingtorches.com/

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Making Sacrifices by BC Harris

To the world she is Vida.

To Isaac Saddler she epitomises only fear, the stuff of his nightmares, willed into existence through art and writing.

Transformed from victim to warrior, she became Vida, Queen of the Vidian Empire. But Vida doesn’t just exist between the pages of a book.

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High on Exmoor archaeologists think they’ve found ancient remains, but the body proves to be evidence of a modern murder. A facial reconstruction publicised by the police quickly goes viral.

Now Isaac must find out why the woman of his nightmares ended up in a bog pool close to his childhood home.

A lifetime of secrets that threaten to undermine his entire existence.

My Review

Isaac Saddler is a young man at university who becomes involved in drugs and dealing until he collapses and goes into a coma. He actually died for seven minutes, and now he has terrifying nightmares and visions. Mostly about a woman he sees being abused but can’t help.

Isaac’s older brother John left their home on Exmoor when his mother couldn’t accept that he was gay. He never went back until her funeral. He is in a relationship with Cally, the owner of a very smart hairdressers and beauty salon in Edinburgh. Isaac has followed John there. They have always been inseparable. Cally has a daughter called Daisy.

In the meantime, a body is discovered in a bog pool on Exmoor, close to the Saddlers’ home. Archaeologists hoped it was ancient remains, but forensics show that it’s been there for around 30 years. And it looks like murder. Clever reconstruction methods produce a face that goes viral on social media. But not because it’s someone real – it looks just like a character called Vida from a book. And the book – Vidian – just happens to have been written and illustrated by Isaac Saddler. Except his identity is a secret. He goes by the pen name ‘Sabine’.

But how can this be? How can the body in the bog pool be a fictional character? It’s certainly a mystery and one that will take a lot of working out. The police however, having given the evidence a cursory glance, have lost interest, apart from 55 year old DI Bryden Bryant, part of the Major Investigations Team based in Taunton. She’s not letting this one go. Partner DS Harmony ‘Dirty Harry’ Callaghan, is ambitious, and is happy to help, but only when it isn’t going to affect her promotion chances.

Bryant and Callaghan are also involved in other cases, which may or may not bear any relevance to the ‘Lady in the Lake’ as the body in the bog is now called. One in particular is the murder of a woman by her estranged, violent, drunken husband. I thought I was pretty tough when it came to grisly murders, but this one killing is on a par with THAT scene in Spooks where main character Helen Flynn is killed by ducking her head into the deep fat fryer. That was over 20 years ago but some things never leave you. Be warned.

It’s an interesting story with an unusual premise that should keep you gripped from start to finish. And then of course, who doesn’t love a book where one of the main characters is a ginger terrier called Jeff? Just saying…

Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the Author

B C Harris lives on the west coast of Scotland with her husband and their two dogs. Surrounded by hills, forests and beautiful beaches, she has plenty of space for walking and thinking about characters. Her first book, Conspiracy of Cats, was published in 2021 and received wonderful reader reviews. Making Sacrifices is her second book and she hopes readers will enjoy it every bit as much.

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Bliss Road by Martha Engber Out Now

BLISS ROAD is the story of a neurotypical daughter of an undiagnosed Autism Spectrum Disorder parent.

Sometimes funny, often devastating, Martha Engber’s honest and moving memoir illuminates the parent-child challenge presented by a neurological condition that affects over 75 million people worldwide.

A hybrid of poetry and essays, Ms. Engber uses personal anecdotes, coupled with historical research and current statistics, to explain the emergence of autism over the last hundred years. She includes the birth of Asperger’s, or high-functioning autism, as a formal diagnosis in 1994, the year her young nephew’s condition was determined.

After describing the psychological, emotional and social challenges she faced as a child, then as an adult and parent, she explains the method by which she changed her thinking and behavior to both celebrate her parents and heal. She ends by encouraging others to chase down the source of their family angst to reach a more blissful future.

A fascinating and encouraging journey of discovering the seemingly undiscoverable, Bliss Road combines the intimacy and warmth of Tuesday With Morrie and the empowerment demonstrated by Shonda Rhimes in Year of Yes!

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Vermilion Sunrise by Lydia P Brownlow Out Now

Same galaxy, different view.

Seventeen-year-old Leigh awakens from cryosleep to discover she’s part of the first human colony in another solar system. The cryosleep is flawed. It kills adults and causes partial amnesia. As a result, the nations of Earth have launched into space an unlikely group—teenagers with no memory of volunteering for the mission.

Ten light-years from home, they land on a planet largely covered by water. The good news: some water is drinkable. The bad news: none of their technology works. As the colonists struggle to survive, strange debris washes ashore, and a surprising discovery challenges everything they thought they knew. With a makeshift raft and meager supplies, Leigh and a small band of explorers venture across the open ocean in search of answers.

But the truth may be more than they bargained for, especially for Leigh, who’s been lying to everyone since she arrived . . .

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