Theresa Smith's Blog, page 132

Book A Day: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Over on Facebook, I’m seeing a lot of ‘book a day’ posts whereby you post the cover of a book you have loved everyday for seven days.

I’ve been thinking recently about all the books I’ve loved but never reviewed and how I could share these. This seems like a good way to do it. I’ve read them so long ago, I’d have to read them again in order to review them, yet I loved them so much that they linger in my consciousness.

So, first book up is:

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Bought on a whim for less than $5 from the clearance table at Angus & Robertson about 15 years ago when they still had bricks and mortar stores. I love this book, so much, it affected me deeply and I’ve recommended it countless times over the years. In many ways it changed my reading habits, directing me towards more literary works of historical fiction.

 

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The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it — from garden seeds to Scripture — is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family’s tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

Have you read this? I’d love to hear your thoughts on it if you have.

New Release Book Review: The Last of the Bonegilla Girls by Victoria Purman

The Last of the Bonegilla Girls…
About the Book:

Their friendship transcends nationality and background, but can it overcome the horrors of the past? A post-Second World War story of strong female ties and family, secrets and lies, set in the multicultural Australia of the fifties.

 

Can the Bonegilla girls defeat their past? Or will it come to claim them?

 

1954: When sixteen–year–old Hungarian Elizabeta arrives in Australia with her family, she is hoping to escape the hopelessness of life as a refugee in post–war Germany.

 

Her first stop is the Bonegilla Migrant Camp on the banks of the Murray in rural Victoria, a temporary home for thousands of new arrivals, all looking for work and a better life. There, Elizabeta becomes firm friends with the feisty Greek Vasiliki; quiet Italian Iliana; and the adventurous Frances, the daughter of the camp’s director.

 

In this vibrant and growing country, the Bonegilla girls rush together towards a life that seems full of promise, even as they cope with the legacy of war, the oppressive nature of family tradition and ever–present sorrow. So when a ghost from the past reaches out for Elizabeta and threatens to pull her back into the shadows, there is nothing that her friends wouldn’t do to keep her safe.

 

But secrets have a way of making themselves known and lies have a way of changing everything they touch…

 

 

My Thoughts:

Social history is my greatest area of interest, so it stands to reason that any novel that explores this will be an instant hit with me. And so it is with The Last of the Bonegilla Girls, a novel about Australia’s immigration history at the time of the post WWII White Australia Policy of ‘populate or perish’. But as well as being of interest to me from an historical point of view, this story interested me on a personal level. My maternal family migrated to Australia from Belgium in 1961, when my mother was 4. They arrived into Victoria, and while I am uncertain on whether they first lived at Bonegilla (I am still currently undertaking searches on this but the immigration department moves rather slowly), their experiences as new Australians certainly mimicked many aspects of the lives of the young women within this story. I grew up in a bilingual household and attended a migrant catholic primary school. We learnt to speak Italian because it was the next most used language after English in that area. Flemish was spoken at home in a curious mix with English and we ate food that came from Dutch supermarkets in Melbourne and socialised frequently with other Belgian migrants, people who had ‘come over on the same boat’ as my grandfather used to say. My grandparents were new Australians, and being very ‘white’ in appearance and speaking English that was not tainted by a heavy accent, they passed themselves off fairly well, and yet, they still kept themselves Belgian at home; it was important to them, and subsequently, it became important to us. My experiences outlined here are not all that unusual. We are a nation of migrants, and so many of us don’t need to go many generations back to confirm this.

What I really loved about this novel, above all else, was how it is such a conversation starter about racism within this country. “Why can’t they just speak English?” “Job stealing reffos.” For German and Italian migrants, the inference that they were Nazis and Fascists was ever present. Australians like to think of themselves as egalitarian, yet we have an intergenerational culture of casual racism that seems to be hanging around us like a permanent stink – the inference that if a person is ‘other’ then they don’t belong here and should stop taking jobs from the ‘real Australians’ and go back to where they came from if they ‘don’t want to speak English’. Because yes, I’m so certain that the ‘real Australians’ were just busting to do the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs on the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme, just as the ‘real Australians’ were lining up two deep to cut cane by hand on the Queensland cane fields. On that note, a couple of years back, I visited the Snowy Mountains Hydro Discovery Centre and it was an absolute treasure trove of migrant history, I highly recommend checking it out if you are ever up that way. I loved reading the sections within this novel about Iliana’s family living and working there as I could picture it all so well.

One in twenty Australians have links to Bonegilla through migration of the post-war era. Between 1945 and 1975, more that three million refugees and migrants came to Australia, almost doubling Australia’s population. – Author notes

A lot of attention is given within this novel to the migrant experience on an individual level. The psychological effects of having lived through the horror of war and then the upheaval of displacement and relocation into a foreign, and sometimes hostile, new country. In particular, Elizabeta’s mother and her struggles with assimilation against a background of depression and anger. I really felt for her, she had endured so much and her situation was an excellent example of the ‘extra baggage’ migrants and refugees were forced to bring with them to their new country. Some migrants fared better than others and I do think that had a lot to so with their country of origin and the support networks they were able to build up around them. As demonstrated within this novel, Iliana and Vasiliki had vast family networks to surround them, being Italian and Greek, as opposed to Elizabeta, whose family was fairly isolated and often ostracised on account of being perceived as German (they were actually German speaking Hungarians). Following these women over such an extensive period of time was enlightening as we were able to see how ‘Australian’ they became and how their experiences influenced the lives of their children and grandchildren. With each generation, the cultural ties loosened.

The friendship element of this story was lovely, really positive and uplifting. These girls formed a relationship with each other based on being fellow human beings, irrespective of cultural origins. They found ways around their communication barriers and worked with what they had to form solid bonds. They are an example of what is possible when we see each other for who we are, not where we come from. Highest praise to Victoria Purman for putting this out there. There’s a lot of sadness within this story, a lot of truth, and a lot to love. I do enjoy novels that dust out the corners and really get you thinking hard about society. This will be one novel I recommend widely for a long time to come.

New Release Book Review: Mr Peacock’s Possessions by Lydia Syson

Mr Peacock’s Possessions…
About the Book:

An intimate, intense, beautifully realised novel of possession, power and loss of innocence, for fans of Mister Pip and The Poisonwood Bible.

 

Oceania 1879. A family of settlers from New Zealand are the sole inhabitants of a remote volcanic island.

For two years they have struggled with the harsh reality of trying to make this unforgiving place a paradise they can call their own. At last, a ship appears. The six Pacific Islanders on board have travelled eight hundred miles across the ocean in search of work and new horizons. Hopes are high for all, until a vulnerable boy vanishes. In their search for the lost child, settlers and newcomers together uncover far more than they were looking for. The island’s secrets force them all to question their deepest convictions.

 

 

My Thoughts:

Swiss Family Robinson meets The Island of Doctor Moreau in this exceptional novel of historical fiction set in 1879 on a remote Oceanic volcanic island.

“There’s a certain kind of shiver in Oceania that tilts you off balance before you know it. Your soles and stomach feel it both at once, and the air shimmers, and also your ears and eyes and nostrils. It’s inside you and outside you; sometimes to give notice that a pot will fall or a plate will break, sometimes that trees will move and the earth will gape. Even if it only lasts a second, even if its beginning is also its end, right at the heart of that very second balances the nauseating prospect that nothing might ever be the same again.”

It seems entirely unbelievable to the modern reader that a family could just claim a remote island and make it their own, yet within the context of a world not yet fully explored, as it was in the 1800s, it is entirely plausible. When we meet the Peacock family, they have ‘claimed’ a remote island, one of many in a chain of volcanic islands between New Zealand and Tonga (from what I could make out, forgive me if I turn out wrong on the actual location). The island is officially called Monday Island (based loosely on the actual Tuesday Island – there’s more about this and the origins of the story in the author notes) but is colloquially known as Blackbird Island, a name that will come to have grave meaning as you read your way through this stunning story.

 

Joseph Peacock is the Dr Moreau of this story, except of course he isn’t, this is just my own comparison. But I was struck from the beginning on how much he made me think of Dr Moreau and it was all in the level of arrogance, that ‘master of the island kingdom’ posturing that both of these characters possessed. Joseph frightened me, he was incredibly volatile, his family entirely at the mercy of his whims and moods, all while being stuck on an empty island with an active volcano surrounded by raging seas. He was utterly possessed with carving out his own kingdom, even going so far as to rename the island, ‘Peacock Island’. He was a hard man, cruel to his children, openly favouring some over others and encouraging hostility between them as they clamoured for his favour. He was somewhat devoted to his wife, and in this, she held a certain level of power to check his actions, yet this was not balanced on a whole and he was, for the most part, completely unrestrained. His third eldest child, teenaged Lizzie, is clearly his favourite. Tough and wily, it’s often said that she would have made the ‘perfect’ son, as opposed to her weak and fearful older brother, Albert. Lizzie adores her father, is completely blind to his faults, ‘blind and deaf’ as her older sister Ada is wont to say, and as the story progresses, her awakening to her father forms the backbone of the narrative.

“All this work has always been for Albert. It’s all Pa cared about. Not him, exactly. But his name. Securing the future for the Peacock family, a tiny empire nobody could ever take away because it belonged to no one, where nobody else could give orders. Peacock land for generations. But that meant the boys. Albert and Billy, and the sons they would one day have, and the sons those sons would produce in time. Perhaps Pa planned to bring them wives one day, to ship them in with the sheep and make them breed. Lizzie doesn’t know. She realises of course that she has been useful, tough and bold enough to have secured her father’s admiration, but now she recognises that she is also dispensable. This land never would or could be hers. It has taken Albert’s vanishing to make her understand.”

 

Lizzie was a fabulous character and she shares the story telling with Kalala, one of the six Pacific Islanders that have landed on Monday Island – Mr Peacock’s ‘Kanakas’. The dual perspective is also combined with a then and now narrative, and it all comes together masterfully, the tension building as each new aspect is revealed and the horror of what the island is concealing becomes apparent. Lizzie and Kalala form a friendship over time, bound by a mutual experience of being haunted by their dead. For some time, neither of them understand what plagues them while they sleep (for Lizzie) or visit certain parts of the island (for Kalala), but their discovery of these afflictions within each other proves to be a turning point in their relationship. I loved their connection, and the way Kalala viewed the world. There’s a particular scene where they both encounter each other at night while whale watching, and there’s a realisation that they are watching the same whale that passed by a year previous, despite being on different islands. This thought by Kalala was quite beautiful:

“A chain of whales has linked us through months and oceans when we knew nothing of each other.”

 

Alongside themes of patriarchy and family violence, there is an entrenched sense of white entitlement that runs through this story. History is rife with this, and Lydia Syson replicates this on her island to perfection. The island itself is hiding a horrific history that I don’t want to spoil here, but the revealing of it was profound and harrowing, in the way that learning about the horrors of the past often are. What humans are capable of doing to each other is often beyond my comprehension, but when it comes to slavery, I have a particular distaste that lasts long beyond the final page. I liked the confronting nature of this novel, the way that history wasn’t painted over and simply alluded to. These are my favourite sorts of novels, the ones that show our past the way it really was, without the window dressing and despite the collective shame associated with recollection and airing out.

 

The island itself is a living and breathing character within this novel, and I loved the way it accepted and repelled its interlopers in equal measure. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to have lived there, the inhospitable terrain and beign so open to the elements. Joseph Peacock made slaves out of his children and provided very little in return in terms of food and shelter. And yet, the island teemed with life, but it was very much a survival of the fittest scenario. Lydia Syson writes with such atmosphere, her setting is almost tangible in its realisation. I loved this novel, so completely, it was gripping and absorbing and thrilled me all the way through. Historical fiction rarely comes better than this.

“Lizzie stops trusting herself. She begins to doubt the island. Its noises have not changed but now she is alone in the forest Lizzie hears them freshly. Birds whose unremarkable cries have kept her company on hunting expeditions for nearly two years squawk like frightened children among the fleshy leaves of mouse-hole trees, whose branches meet high above her head. She catches something of Albert’s voice; misrecognition pierces her just below the ribs. The air itself feels violent, as though the island is gathering itself for something. She imagines it breathing, heaving, maybe shifting.”

New Release Book Review: The Kookaburra Creek Cafe by Sandie Docker

The Kookaburra Creek Cafe…
About the Book:

Welcome to the Kookaburra Creek Cafe.

THE PAST

For Hattie, the cafe has been her refuge for the last fifty years – her second chance at a happy ending after her dreams of being a star were shattered. But will the ghosts of her past succeed in destroying everything she’s worked so hard to build?

THE PRESENT

For Alice, the cafe is her livelihood. After Hattie took her in as a teenager, Alice has slowly forged a quiet life as the cafe’s manager (and chief cupcake baker). But with so many tragedies behind her, is it too late for Alice’s story to have a happy ending?

THE FUTURE

For Becca, a teenager in trouble, the cafe could be the new start she yearns for. That is, if she can be persuaded to stop running from her secrets. Can Becca find a way to believe in the kindness of strangers, and accept that this small town could be the place where she finally belongs?

One small town. Three lost women. And a lifetime of secrets.

 

 

My Thoughts:

My review for The Kookaburra Creek Cafe could have quite easily gone like this:

The Kookaburra Creek Cafe in two words: Utterly perfect.

What I liked about this novel: Everything

What I didn’t like about this novel: That it ended

Rating: 5 stars

But I’m not known for being brief, particularly when it comes to talking about the things that I like. The Kookaburra Creek Cafe was utterly perfect and there was not a single thing about it that I didn’t like and I could have happily remained within its pages for so much longer. But there has to be more to it than that. This novel has honestly caught me by surprise and was so much better than I had expected.

“Funny how ‘home’ could sneak up on you like that, a place where you never meant to stay, with people you never meant to love.”

This is one of those stories that sneaks up on you with its winding plot full of unexpected twists and breathtaking moments of heartache. I read the last 80 pages through a film of tears, and that’s pretty rare for me. I’ll often cry at particular scenes within a story, or sometimes at the end of an emotionally fraught book, but not usually continuously for such a big chunk of reading time. But this story had so much reach; it was just incredibly affecting and so life affirming.

The Kookaburra Creek Cafe is a story about the decisions we make when life throws out its worst. It’s such an authentic story and so very Australian in its setting and quirky incidentals. The camaraderie between the characters and the strong community spirit evident throughout the novel created a warm atmosphere that invited the reader in, hence my feeling of not wanting the story to end. There was such a strong sense of place, a feeling of belonging that was almost tangible.

Alice’s story was so sad, for so many reasons. She was a true warrior, the way she kept picking herself up and moving forward, and from such a young age too. Louise was probably one of the worst best friends I’ve come across in a story. I was so disappointed in her, and surprised, that her history with Alice meant so little to her once high school was finished. She knew what Alice’s life was like, yet she wiped her and then set out to steal the life Alice could have had. Alice might not have hated her at the end but I kind of did.

From such abandonment, on multiple fronts, Alice really did rise out of her adversity. Which made her later losses so much more profound. Yet, I don’t believe Sandie Docker has put too much tragedy onto the shoulders of her main character. She deals her a rough hand, more than once, but this is what life is like. Tragedy and heartache isn’t an evenly allocated deal. Some of us sometimes get more than others, more even than what we perceive we can actually handle. But through Alice, Sandie examines how malleable we are as humans, and the different ways we can be pulled taut, yet remain unsnapped. She shows the possibility of loving again, even though sometimes, it just takes a really long time to be brave enough to risk it. I was sad that Alice’s life veered off its intended course at a such a young age, but I believe she ended up in the right place with the right people.

I enjoyed the arrangement of this novel, the neat intertwining of back story throughout. It was set up in a way to reveal key moments in a timely fashion. Nothing was drawn out too long just as nothing was rushed to its climax. Everything fell neatly into place exactly as it was meant to. I loved how nothing was truly as I expected, it was so refreshing to have that element of predictability removed from a story. Sandie never deliberately mislead her readers, yet she artfully led us around the garden path a few times, showing great skill as a writer in the process. I’ve focused more on Alice within this review because for me, it was her story that had the most impact. Becca and Hattie each had their own backstories that were highly engaging, but Alice was the glue binding the trio together. I did love the second chance that Becca’s arrival provided for Alice, just as years before that, Alice’s arrival had provided Hattie with her second chance. There was a beautiful symmetry to this aspect of the story.

I’m looking forward to talking about this novel with my book club (it was our selection this month for the face to face one, not the online one). There’s a lot to take away from this novel, much to ponder on and to talk about. The inclusion of the cupcake recipes in the back of the book was a surprisingly nice touch. Although, they are rather gourmet, so it remains to be seen if I take a chance on recreating any of them. The cover also deserves a special mention, it’s just so quaint and gorgeous and in this case, you can safely judge a book by its cover – The Kookaburra Creek Cafe will not disappoint.

Bingo! The Wasp and The Orchid by Danielle Clode

It’s bingo Saturday once again – that rolled around fast! The square I’ve filled for this entry is:

A memoir

 

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In this case, it’s a biography and partial memoir, but it fits the bill nicely for me! This was a particularly lovely read as it shone a spotlight onto one of our forgotten Australian women writers, fitting in perfectly with my #aww2018 challenge.

Part biographical, part speculation, and part social history, The Wasp and The Orchid is also the story of how Danielle pieced together the puzzle that was Edith Coleman’s life. The biographer has a strong presence within this account, and in many instances, she writes of herself within the context of Edith’s story and experiences. It’s a technique that allows the reader to feel as though they are on this journey with the biographer, a team uncovering facts and filling in gaps.

Anyone with an interest in Australian women writers from the past will enjoy this book, as will nature enthusiasts. I will admit to being captivated by Edith’s discovery linking wasps with orchids. The book itself is a be-ribboned hardback beauty with extensive images throughout in both colour and black and white. It resembles a keepsake and would make a lovely gift to those who love gardens and reading.

Read my review here.

This year I’m playing book bingo with Mrs B’s Book Reviews. On the first and third Saturday of each month, we’ll post our latest entry. We’re not telling each other in advance what we’re currently reading or what square we’ll be filling next; any coincidences are exactly that – and just add to the fun!

Follow our card below if you’d like to join in, and please let us know if you do so we can check out what you’re reading.

Now I’m off to check out what square Mrs B has marked off for this round. See you over there!

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My Reading Life: #aww2018 Challenge Checkpoint 3

[image error]I’ve read 52 books for my Australian Women Writers Challenge so far this year, 15 since my last #aww2018 checkpoint post at the end of April. There are just so many exciting new releases, week to week, by our Australian women so my totals are soaring and it’s only just half way through the year. If I continue this way, I will definitely surpass my #aww2018 target of 80 books. Each of the books listed below are linked to my original review here on this blog.

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland

The Jade Lily by Kirsty Manning

The Yellow Villa by Amanda Hampson

The Wasp and The Orchid by Danielle Clode

The Beast’s Heart by Leife Shallcross

Someone Like You by Karly Lane

The Yellow House by Emily O’Grady

Into the Night by Sarah Bailey

The Juliet Code by Christine Wells

Burning Fields by Alli Sinclair

Retribution by Diane Demetre

Hive by A.J. Betts (review to come)

Eleanor’s Secret by Caroline Beecham

Bluebottle by Belinda Castles

True Blue by Sasha Wasley

 

 

 

New Release Book Review: True Blue by Sasha Wasley

True Blue…
About the Book:

Love is random. Accidental. You just live your life and then one day it’ll hit you with the right person.

Wandering soul Freya ‘Free’ Paterson has finally come back home. Idealistic and trusting, she’s landed the job of her dreams working on an art project with the local school, but she hadn’t planned on meeting the man of her dreams as well.

With his irresistible Irish accent, Constable Finn Kelly is everything Free wants – genuine, kind . . . and handsome as hell. He’s also everything Free isn’t – stable and dependable. Yet despite the passion simmering between them, he just wants to be friends. What is he trying to hide?

As Free throws herself into the challenges of her new job, fending off the unwelcome advances of a colleague and helping to save her beloved Herne River, Finn won’t stay out of her way, or out of her heart.

But just when she needs him the most, will Finn reveal his true colours?

 

 

My Thoughts:

True Blue is the follow up to the very lovely Dear Banjo, which I reviewed last year. I quite enjoyed this story, and while it failed to reach the heights of its predecessor (for me), there were many moments of great connection between the characters and a swag of relevant issues knitting the story together. It was also lovely to see Willow and Tom get their happy ever after.

True Blue is Free’s story, Willow’s youngest sister. I wasn’t able to really connect with Free, and I think this was my ‘blocker’ with this story, that ‘thing’ that bothers you so much it almost affects your overall enjoyment. Her airy fairy artsy manner was more irritating than endearing, but I will absolutely accept full responsibility for that: I have little patience for sketchy people, and boy, was Free sketchy. Driving around with her handbag on her car roof, never having any food in her house, unable to keep track of her own affairs, not shutting her garage door because she was too tired (I was glad there was a consequence for that!); she seemed like a child, to be honest, incompetent at life and so naive. She said whatever was on her mind, whether it was appropriate or not and there were often times when her attention would wander mid-conversation in the most bizarre manner. Yes, she was a lovely person, no denying that, but I was so grateful to Beth for the wakeup call she sent Free’s way because in the lead up to that, I was well and truly over her entirely.

However, and there is a really big however, I still thoroughly enjoyed this novel and would recommend it in a heartbeat. It’s a great story with so much warmth and community spirit infused throughout. Every part of the novel to do with art was wonderful and at these times, I could really see where Sasha was taking Free as a character and I could appreciate that journey. There are a myraid of other issues explored throughout the narrative, all of them relevant to small town Australia and all of them articulated with finesse. There was so much personality injected into this story, it was very Australian, in the very best of ways. And that cat! What a cheeky double agent! I can’t go past an animal character who holds their own in a scene.

It’s testimony to Sasha’s talent as a writer that I can enjoy a story without really liking the main character – that takes skill! I’m looking forward to Beth’s story, out next year, as I have a bit of a soft spot for her. True Blue moves along at a nice pace, with plenty of romance, madness and mayhem, as well as insightful observations on remote small community issues. I did like how Sasha set Free up as such a positive role model for teens, and likewise, I appreciated how Sasha crafted her teenagers as intelligent and creative young adults as opposed to troubled delinquents. True Blue pulsed with positivity and hopeful highlights. It’s a warmheated and quintessentially Australian story with a powerful message about love and acceptance at its core.

Thanks is extended to Penguin Random House Australia for providing me with a copy of True Blue for review.

About the Author:

[image error]Sasha Wasley was born and raised in Perth, Western Australia. She lives in the Swan Valley wine region with her two daughters. She writes commercial fiction, crossover new adult/YA mysteries and paranormal. Sasha Wasley’s debut novel, The Seventh, was published in January 2015. Her first new adult paranormal romance series, The Incorruptibles, debuted in 2016. Dear Banjo, the first in the Paterson Sisters series, was published in 2017.

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Trade Paperback – 9780143784548; Michael Joseph

EBook- 9780143784555; Penguin eBooks

 

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#TrueBlueNovel

 

Behind the Pen with Tim Hawken

Last week I read and reviewed an incredible novel titled If Kisses Cured Cancer. Today I’m so pleased to be able to welcome the author, T.S. Hawken, whose actual name is Tim, to Behind the Pen. Over to you Tim…

 

[image error]When did you start writing and what was the catalyst?

I started writing seriously in my early to mid twenties, while studying literature and journalism. Inspired by a writing assignment I’d been set to ‘create a contemporary Satan’, I dove into research and wrote easily the best thing I’d done to that point. It earned the best mark I ever received at uni by a mile. That instant, positive feedback started the ball rolling into novels, short stories and more.

How many novels have you written and published?

This latest novel (If Kisses Cured Cancer) will mark the 4th I’ve had published. There are a few terrible ones in my drawer that will never see the light of day, plus a few screenplays and TV pilots.

How long on average does it take you to write a novel?

Normally from start to finish, including the editing process, it’s about 12 months. This latest one was closer to 5 years! The main reason for that was that during the process my wife was undergoing cancer therapy. Plus, we’d just had a couple of kids, so you could say things were fairly disruptive.

[image error]Do you have any particular qualifications that relate to the subject matter covered in this novel?

My wife battling cancer was definitely a big inspiration for this novel. Putting in those emotions and unusual things you go through as a couple helped me write something that was realistic and heartfelt, while at the same time allowing me to process everything that was happening.

How far has your writing career evolved from when you first began to write to what it is today? Is this in line with your initial expectations?

It’s changed drastically. I started writing as a student. My first novel followed me through my career in sales and marketing. Now, I write full time, but a lot of that is copywriting for different brands, as well as the creative stuff. That mix helps with cash flow, supporting a family, mortgage and the occasional holiday. That’s not what I expected in my twenties. Naively at that age you expect to be a writing superstar that pumps out bestseller after bestseller while drinking whisky and attending parties in your tailored corduroy jacket with leather elbow patches.

[image error]Do you read your book reviews? Do you appreciate reader feedback and take it on board, even if it is negative? How do you deal with negative feedback after spending so much time writing your book?

I do read reviews of my books, especially when they’re fresh off the press. 5 star reviews are a great little boost to the ego, and very welcome, although I find most of the really valuable feedback comes from 3 or 4 star reviews. They’re generally the ones where people get critical, without panning things just to be a jerk. I’ve definitely changed my writing for the better based on things people have said in reviews. Blogs, Amazon, Goodreads, or newspapers – take good advice where and when you can get it. Shut out the haters and bask in the great feeling when someone feels your work is good enough to rate 5 stars.

Are you more of a print, e-book, or audio book fan?

I’ll take good books anyway I can get them. Nothing quite beats being snuggled up in bed with a good print book, but I’m often on the road and it’s not practical to take a stack of novels with me. My Kindle is my constant travel companion. I absolutely LOVE Audible too. Driving, doing the dishes, hanging up the washing – it’s amazing being able to stimulate your mind while doing otherwise mindless tasks.

[image error]What attributes do you think you need to remain sane as a writer? Are there any particular things you routinely do for yourself to maintain your own headspace?

Just loving writing. You need to want to do it whether you’re getting paid for it or not, praised for it or not. If you’re chasing your tail because you think that next article, blog post, short story or novel is going to make you a star, you’re in for a very humbling experience. A thick skin is handy too, but not so thick that you don’t listen to constructive feedback when it’s being offered.

If you could sit down for an afternoon with an iconic person from history, who would you choose to spend that time with?

I’d love to set up a mixer with Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Moses, Zoroaster, Ramakrishna and Confucius. Then, I’d sit in the corner with Hunter S Thompson and Ernest Hemmingway to document the fallout.

In lieu of that, a few glasses of milk with Nietzsche would be pretty interesting.

If you were in a fight to the death, what would be your weapon of choice?

A mortal tickle fight with feather dusters would be my pick. We’d live a lot longer and do plenty of laughing before we finally carked it.

If Kisses Cured Cancer

Matt Pearce is depressed, working an uninspiring job and lacking any prospect of dragging his life out of mediocrity. That is until he meets Joy: a cancer survivor who lives beyond the rules of normal people.

As the pair go on a series of unusual dates – from hijacking fish n chip orders, to ‘extreme people watching’ at the airport – their love for each other grows. But Joy’s past is about to catch up with her, and a hidden secret could tear the two apart forever.

If Kisses Cured Cancer is a quirky look at finding love in unlikely places. It is about the importance of connecting with those around you, enjoying every moment and not being afraid to go skinny dipping in the forest. It will have you in tears of joy, tears of sorrow and tears of laughter.

[image error] Connect with Tim at his website

Buy your copy of If Kisses Cured Cancer here

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New Release Book Review: Bluebottle by Belinda Castles

Blue Bottle…
About the Book:

With sea-salt authenticity, Belinda Castles sets the Bright family in the sprawling paradise of Bilgola Beach. But darkness is found both in the iconic setting as well as in the disturbing behaviour of one of the family.

 

As he tilted the blinds she saw her mother in her tennis whites, standing at the kitchen bench, staring out into the dark bushland that bordered their houses. That was what Tricia did these days, looked into the bush as though it would attack one of them.

 

On a sweltering day in a cliff-top beach shack, Jack and Lou Bright grow suspicious about the behaviour of their charismatic, unpredictable father, Charlie. A girl they know has disappeared, and as the day unfolds, Jack’s eruptions of panic, Lou’s sultry rebellions and their little sister Phoebe’s attention-seeking push the family towards revelation. Twenty years later, the Bright children have remained close to the cliff edges, russet sand and moody ocean of their childhood. Behind the beautiful surfaces of their daily lives lies the difficult landscape of their past, always threatening to break through. And then, one night in late summer, they return to the house on the cliff… Gripping and evocative, Bluebottle is a story of a family bound by an inescapable past, from the award-winning author of The River Baptists and Hannah and Emil.

 

 

My Thoughts:

It’s probably best if I just state up front that I loved Bluebottle. That way you’ll be prepared for all of the praise I’m about to heap on it and the quotes that I absolutely have to include because they demonstrate the utter perfection of this novel. Belinda Castles is a word master, she just has that magic ability to string words together in a way that results in a symphony of narration that is precise and intuitive.

“She raised a hand when she said hello, even if she was right in front of you. A big unguarded smile and then she dipped her gaze, left you with that little wave, like an apology for being too much, as though she knew when people looked at him for too long he felt a hundred tiny punctures in the skin along his shoulders and he didn’t know what would come next.”

 

Bluebottle is a story about siblings. It’s a reminder of how within any family, each sibling will have an individual response to their parents. No one person, even within the same family, shares the exact same childhood, and each sibling will have different memories, even about the same event.

“If she wanted to know something, or just to speak, just to remember, one of them would steer her gently and the gruffly away, as though she were a child drawn repeatedly to the dark path, where the den lies, with its needles and its scraps of clothing.”

Bluebottle is a dual timeframe narrative, split between the present and Boxing Day twenty years previous. Perspectives are offered from each of the three Bright siblings, Lou, Jack, and Phoebe, within both eras. Each of them are in their thirties within the present day and they all still live in the beach area that their father relocated the family to twenty years ago. When the last house they lived in as a family comes up for sale, Lou sees this as an opportunity to revisit the past. We are then taken back to that fateful Boxing Day that changed so much for each of them.

 

I still haven’t put my finger on whether or not Charlie Bright was a narcissist or just a dickhead. He was probably a combination of both. Moody, strange, intensely exuberant, self-absorbed, and harshly critical – the list could go on. It all adds up to the same thing though: a toxic person, and his family had perfected the art of walking on eggshells around him.

“What wears me out, he thought, is having to check he’s okay every time you enter a room. It’s the way the air crackles around him and you don’t know whether to keep a lookout of hide. And really, it makes no difference, because whatever’s going to happen is going to happen anyway, and the worry makes it worse, like it can be seen, a colour in the room that he seeks out.”

I felt such immense sympathy for each of the siblings as well as their mother, although Jack tugged on my heartstrings the hardest. Lou judged her mother quite severely for ‘putting up with him’, but with an adult’s hindsight, I could see that it was not so straightforward and reading between the lines highlighted just how much of his toxicity Tricia absorbed as a means of deflecting it from her children. And yet, her apparent passivity fostered an ‘us against them’ mentality that often left her children floundering. Charlie was a man who could be dangerous if you crossed him. He needed careful management, that much was apparent. He was the type of person who could either bring the good times or bring the bad, with nothing in between. He was like an undetonated bomb and the tension he brought to his family leaped up off the page. He is the burden that some children bear, the toxic parent that can’t be contained. There will no doubt be many readers who will be able to relate on some level to the fine line the Bright children needed to walk each day.

 

The relationship between the siblings was authentically rendered. Despite getting on each other’s nerves a hundred times a day, there was a reliance on each other that aided in absorbing and deflecting each of Charlie’s barbs. Lou was the favourite, so her experience was tempered by Charlie’s adoration. Jack was the son who didn’t quite measure up, so his experience of Charlie was vastly different to Lou’s. Phoebe was the baby of the family, and possibly the one who experienced the most upheaval from Charlie, because depending on his mood, he could take her or leave her, so she never really knew if she was up or down. While each of them grappled and competed for what they needed most, be it affirmation from Charlie or to simply not be noticed at all, they still read the signs as one and protected each other as best as they could.

“Warm fingers take hold of his arms, there is a hand on each one, pulling him upwards. He finds the sky, the cliff, the beach, and that his sisters are here, on either side of him, lifting him up, setting him on his feet, where he is able to let the water out of him and breathe the good, clear air above the wash.”

 

The tension wrought throughout Bluebottle is mirrored by the conditions of the Boxing Day that is front and centre within this novel. A day that begins with a blazing heat that simmers and burns until it all builds into a storm that unleashes its fury seemingly from out of nowhere. Charlie’s imprint is left firmly upon each of his children, but the lasting impression differs between them. I loved that this was a story predominantly about siblings, a relationship that is often explored within novels as a secondary story rather than the primary. Belinda Castles has given us a novel that demonstrates perfect pacing and the art of knowing when less is more. The beauty of her narration secures her place as one of my favourite Australian authors.

“That’s what he had absorbed for her, enough time dragging this awful weight behind him for her to be able to love him still.”

New Release Book Review: Eleanor’s Secret by Caroline Beecham

Eleanor’s Secret…
About the Book:

London, 1942

When art school graduate, Eleanor Roy, is recruited by the War Artists Advisory Committee, she comes one step closer to realising her dream of becoming one of the few female war artists. But breaking into the art establishment proves difficult until Eleanor meets painter, Jack Valante, only to be separated by his sudden posting overseas.

Melbourne, 2010

Although reluctant to leave her family at home, Kathryn can’t refuse her grandmother Eleanor’s request to travel to London to help her return a precious painting to its artist. But when the search uncovers a long-held family secret, Kathryn has to make a choice to return home or risk her family’s future, as Eleanor shows her that safeguarding the future is sometimes worth more than protecting the past.

Eleanor’s Secret is at once a surprising mystery and compelling love story.

 

 

My Thoughts:

There has been a lot of historical fiction set during the WWII era released over the last 12 to 18 months. Those of you who have been tuning in here regularly for reviews will know that this is my ‘thing’. My preferred subject. My literary obsession. Next year in September, it will be 80 years since that terrible war was officially declared in Europe. It was called a world war for a reason and it’s reach was extensive, as is the scope for stories pulled out of that time. There are a lot of stories to still be told, I do believe that, but with so many novels set within this era released so frequently, my expectations of these stories are getting higher with each new novel I pick up. Because essentially, they are all about the same thing, just viewed through a different lense and set on a different stage. When I sit down to read a WWII novel these days, I have two essential requirements:

That the story is distinctly unique, enlightening me about an aspect of the war that has not been written about before.
That I am deeply affected by what I read, and to be deeply affected, I need to connect to the characters and be convinced of the authenticity of their suffering and/or journey.

 

Eleanor’s Secret fulfilled my first requirement but completely missed the mark on my second. I’ve not read much in the past about war artists, more about photography and journalism on the battlefield, so the subject matter was certainly uniquely engaging. I liked the idea of artistic interpretation being recorded, as opposed to a photograph. I would love to see some of these war pieces one day, to examine the emotion and perspective that must surely be unique to each artist.

 

While I appreciated the author’s intent with regards to highlighting the inequality that was present between male and female artists and their accessibility to the war itself, I didn’t particularly feel Eleanor’s injustice. Within the era, women were not permitted on the battlefield. It seemed incredulous that Eleanor perceived that this was at all possible. Not only was she an unknown artist, she was also very young and naively ignorant of the true horrors of war. Jack was spot on when he read Eleanor’s horrified reaction to his war tales and translated that reaction into a clarification that the battlefield was no place for her to be. It would have destroyed a part of her, just as it had destroyed a part of Jack. To be an artist is to be attuned to emotions and within the theatre of war, with so much suffering on display; my admiration for these war artists knows no bounds. I couldn’t help but put myself into this scenario, and I know, with absoloute certainty, that I could not have put myself into that situation without bearing significant psychological consequences. However, I also know that men and women interpret situations differently, so there would have been significant value in also having women artistically recording the war. Eleanor’s Secret has many thought provoking scenarios and I enjoyed that about this story, the exploration of ideas and the challenge of social conventions. Jack’s respect for Eleanor as an artist was one of the things I enjoyed most about their relationship. Out of the two, he was my favourite, but there were many things left unsaid about him and his war efforts, which was a real shame. As a character, he had more dimension than Eleanor and his sections were by far more engaging.

 

The present day (2010) sections of this novel were a struggle for me. I honestly feel I would have enjoyed this novel so much more if it had been a straight historical, set in 1942-43 and perhaps even extending beyond this somewhat. This would have allowed for a more detailed exploration of Eleanor’s artistic motivations as well as allowing for more depth and time with Jack. Dual timelines are tricky, striking that balance between the two eras to ensure a seamless transition and fluid engagement. I felt pulled out of the story each time I reached a 2010 section. Some of this was pacing, but much of it was to do with the chracters themselves and the fact that not very much was happening at all. I felt sorry for Kathleen, who spent days rushing from here to there in an attempt to solve a mystery that wouldn’t have even been a mystery if not for the fact that every one seemed intent on lying to her and leading her astray. I find storylines that revolve around people misleading others by withholding the truth disappointing more than intriguing. That drip feeding of information from one character to another just doesn’t work for me. I certainly felt Kathleen’s frustrations, so in that, I definitely connected to her more than I had to Eleanor, in either section. I was a little unconvinced about Eleanor’s and Jack’s separation when considered within the context of their ‘great love’. But times were different then, I suppose, and the chaos of war would have influenced the way things panned out. It was sad really, to think of the loss of the life they could have had together. We are indeed lucky to live in different times.

 

I feel like I’m really yanking at the seams with this novel, and in some ways, that’s a sign that it was a good one. There was plenty that worked for me, and so much that gave me reason to pause and reflect, but the above mentioned points greatly hampered my engagement with the 2010 story, which impacted on my overall enjoyment of the novel as a complete work. Shelving the 2010 sections would have allowed for greater exploration of Eleanor and Jack during the war, particularly their love story, which was bittersweet but all too brief. The writing within Eleanor’s Secret was often beautiful, vivid in its imagery, quiet and present, almost veering across the line into literary fiction while still remaining dressed as popular fiction. The research was immense and woven into the story seamlessly. I discovered so much about war artists and even everyday life within London during the war. Social history is endlessly fascinating to me, so on this front, Eleanor’s Secret came through for me. This is a good novel, and less nitpicky readers will probably think it’s an excellent one. It’s an ideal selection for bookclubs with its themes of inequality and the domestic drama present throughout. I appreciate Caroline Beecham’s writing style, so my issues with this novel will not prevent me from reading more of her work.