Theresa Smith's Blog, page 54
May 17, 2021
Book Review: All We Dream by Pamela Cook
Revised Edition of Essie’s Way
A forgotten necklace. A family secret. Two women hiding from the truth.
When successful Sydney lawyer Miranda McIntyre searches for something old to go with her wedding dress, she remembers an antique necklace from her childhood. Her mother’s denial of its existence only deepens Miranda’s curiosity but the discovery of a faded wedding photo and an old newspaper clipping reveal long-buried family secrets.
Who is the woman in the photo? And why are these keepsakes hidden in her mother’s closet?
Miranda’s quest for the truth takes her on a road trip south to the idyllic seaside village of Pelican Point where she stumbles upon a secluded cliff-top cottage and the reclusive Esther Wilson. As Miranda begins to unravel the mystery, a tale of daring rescue, forbidden love and shocking betrayal unfolds.
Meeting enigmatic horse trainer Vincent Kennedy forces Miranda to question the life she has worked so hard to create, throwing into turmoil everything she thought she knew about the past and about herself.
A multi-generational story of family, hope and following your heart.
My Thoughts:I really enjoyed this novel, All We Dream, and I think it would make a terrific book club choice. There’s a lot to unpack, both about the characters and the themes, that would provide ample fodder for a robust discussion. I enjoyed the stories of both of the main characters, but I was particularly moved by Esther’s backstory. The injustice that Esther was subjected to, whilst in the grips of unsupported grief, was abhorrent. It chills me to think that wives were at the mercy of their husbands so completely, that they could be rendered mute in such a fashion; and not all that far in the past, either.
Miranda’s journey, both the physical and the metaphorical, was one I enjoyed embarking on. There was much I could relate to here and I found myself deeply invested in her happiness. Pamela Cook knows how to craft her stories well, optimising the suspense and maximising the emotional impact. Her strong feminist themes of owning your own life and living on your own terms appeal to me greatly, as does the way in which she weaves important issues unique to women into her narrative.
With its engaging characters, compelling family mystery, and emotionally charged storyline that seamlessly blends the past with the present, All We Dream is a novel to treasure from an author who offers the best when it comes to Australian storytelling.
Thanks is extended to the author for providing me with a copy of All We Dream for review.
Connect with Pamela Cook:
www.pamelacook.com.au
www.facebook.com/PamelaCookAuthor
www.writes4women.com
Twitter @PamelaCookAU
Instagram @pamelacookwrites and @w4wpodcast
May 15, 2021
The Week That Was…
The weather has turned towards the end of this week and we’ve now had a couple of proper chilly evenings and mornings with the days remaining fresh. Coincidence then that just this morning as I write this, I can hear a random scrabbling in my ceiling…someone thinking they can move in for the winter? I’ll be phoning the pest control first thing tomorrow. Things that scrabble are not something I tolerate or feel equipped at dealing with myself.
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Joke of the week:
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Making me happy this week:
These gorgeous earrings made by my cousin, Christine Amanda Art. You can check out her art here. She sells earrings, pins, prints, cards and tea towels, all themed to Australian birds and native flowers.
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What I’ve been watching:
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What I’ve been reading:
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What I’m reading right now…
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Until next week… 
May 14, 2021
Book Review: No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE 2021
A woman known for her viral social media posts travels the world speaking to her adoring fans, her entire existence overwhelmed by the internet – or what she terms ‘the portal’. Are we in hell? the people of the portal ask themselves. Are we all just going to keep doing this until we die?
Suddenly, two texts from her mother pierce the fray: ‘Something has gone wrong,’ and ‘How soon can you get here?’ As real life and its stakes collide with the increasing absurdity of the portal, the woman confronts a world that seems to contain both an abundance of proof that there is goodness, empathy and justice in the universe, and a deluge of evidence to the contrary.
Irreverent and sincere, poignant and delightfully profane, No One Is Talking About This is at once a love letter to the infinite scroll and a meditation on love, language and human connection from one of the most original voices of our time.
My Thoughts:Patricia Lockwood is an American poet and writer, described by some as the ‘poet laureate of Twitter’. No One Is Talking About This is her debut novel, much awaited by her fans, particularly those who enjoyed her 2017 memoir, Priestdaddy. Stylistically, it’s an interesting novel, written using the narrative technique of stream of consciousness writing. At only 200 pages and split into two parts, it’s not a particularly long read, but it certainly makes its impact.
The protagonist, who remains unnamed, as do all of the characters, is some sort of online personality, famous for nothing other than a witty tweet that went viral. In some fantasy world that does not resemble the world I live in, she’s now flown all over the world to speak on…well, I don’t really know what she speaks on. This is a woman who spent three days photographing her period in motion over some brown pipe cleaners so she could post it. There’s nothing at all about her that I can relate to. Her life is spent online, she doesn’t have a job, she simply posts, scrolls, posts again, keeps on scrolling.
The narrative in the first part of the novel reads like a Twitter feed. There’s a whole lot of Twitterverse language and inside jokes that went right over my head; my Twitter feed is carefully curated to the bookish universe and I simply don’t spend enough time on there to get sucked into anything else. I didn’t particularly enjoy this first part, but I do see what the author was intending, and I can appreciate the way in which she has achieved this. As a poet, the writing is at times very, well, poetic. There is no doubting that Patricia Lockwood writes beautifully, but for me, this infusing of poetry into the narrative of this particular novel, didn’t really work for me. It confused the intent, I felt, and put me in a situation where I had to admit that I honestly had no idea what she was even talking about most of the time. In this first part, I felt the novel was too much, it tried too hard with the irony, the comedy, and the shock value, rendering it tiresome. I almost gave up.
The narrative in part two has a distinct shift in tone and intent. Still written in the same style, but the protagonist is no longer online, she has a family crisis, she abandons her former daily existence in preference to being present for her sister, who is experiencing an extremely heartbreaking situation. I liked the stream of consciousness technique in this part far more than the preceding one, the urgency of the situation was enhanced through the use of this narrative style. The author acknowledgement at the end of the novel reveals that No One Is Talking About This is not just fiction, but autobiographical fiction, an exorcism of grief perhaps, and written during the pandemic which to me, would have seemingly heightened the urgency within the author to purge, get it all out, and then see what rhythm the heart beats to after it’s all done.
What exactly is the thing that no one is talking about? I think there were quite a few things, none of them to do with how much time we spend online. We’re already always talking about how much time we all spend online whilst continuing to spend time online. What we’re not talking about is what happens in the second part of this novel. And that’s something urgent that we really should be talking about.
Thanks is extended to Bloomsbury for providing me with a copy of No One Is Talking About This for review.
No One Is Talking About This
Published by Bloomsbury Australia
Released 6th April 2021
May 12, 2021
Book Review: The Borgias by Paul Strathern
The sensational story of the rise and fall of one of the most notorious families in history, by the author of The Medici.
The Borgia family have become a byword for evil. Corruption, incest, ruthless megalomania, avarice and vicious cruelty – all have been associated with their name. But the story of this remarkable family is far more than a tale of sensational depravities, it also marks a decisive stage in European history.
During this crucial period when the Renaissance was coming into its own, it was the rise and fall of the Borgia dynasty which held centre stage. These were leading players at the very moment when our modern world was creating itself. By relating this influential family to their time, together with the world which enabled them to flourish, Paul Strathern tells the story of this great dynasty as never before.
My Thoughts:I’m quite fascinated by 15th and 16th century history, I always have been. I find that the further back I go, the more inclined I am to read non-fiction about the era. Paul Strathern writes with such evocation; this truly was a compelling read. This book is not written in the style of narrative non-fiction; there’s no imagined dialogue or recreated scenes of drama. The Borgias is a history book, written in chronological order, charting the rise and fall of the Borgias family. On the surface, this may seem like a dense (boring) read, but far from it. Paul Strathern recounts the history of this family within the context of the history of Europe at the time. This is what sets this book apart and gives it that readable quality; honestly, it was as engrossing as a novel.
The Borgias were indeed corrupt and depraved, villainous and ambitious. I was quite shocked at times, the lengths that were gone to in order to achieve power; even more so when it came to maintaining it. They stole from the Catholic church, used its power structure for their own gain; the corruption was rife. A Pope with eight children, one of which was born during his papal reign; Cardinals who weren’t even ordained as priests; sex scandals; thievery; blackmail; murder. One can’t help but think that this was the starting point for the state of affairs the Catholic church still finds itself dealing with today. As well as a history of the Borgia family, this is also a history of the church to a certain degree; at least, within this time frame with a focus on the papal hierarchy and reigns in the decades either side of that of Pope Alexander VI, aka Rodrigo Borgia. I was gripped whilst reading, both with fascination and horror.
This family was not sowing the seeds of their evil in isolation though. They were in fact enabled. The depravity and corruption throughout the ruling families, not just in Italy, but beyond, in France and Spain, was not above reproach. There were some really insane people in power during the 15th century – inbreeding to preserve the bloodlines really coming through in more ways than one. Megalomaniacs on a mission to retain their own powerbase were only all too willing to trade favours with the Borgias; everything was for sale, morality a mere hindrance.
I’m definitely going to be reading more from Paul Strathern. His writing style is very much to my taste and the way in which he demonstrates historical context takes his work beyond the biographical. I didn’t just learn about the Borgias from this book, I learnt about Italy, Spain and France during this era, the volatility of their relations, the Catholic church and papal reigns, the Renaissance, military campaigns, and even the Pope’s influence on early exploration and colonisation of the New World. It was fascinating, shocking, but above all, entertaining. The most readable non-fiction I’ve read in a long time.
Thanks is extended to Allen & Unwin for providing me with a copy of The Borgias for review.
About the Author:Paul Strathern studied philosophy at Trinity College, Dublin. He is a Somerset Maugham Award-winning novelist; author of two series of books – Philosophers in 90 Minutes and The Big Idea: Scientists who Changed the World – and several works of non-fiction, including The Medici, The Artist, the Philosopher and the Warrior, Spirit of Venice and Death in Florence.
[image error]The Borgias
Published by Atlantic
Released July 2019
May 11, 2021
Books to look out for
I’ve been reading some early arcs of late, hence the lack of reviews coming through the blog. I don’t usually read so far ahead of release but a couple of highly anticipated titles came through and I just couldn’t resist. I thought I’d share two here with you as they were both five star reads. I’ll have full reviews for each up on the blog here in line with release dates, but these are my initial thoughts.
The Other Side of Beautiful by Kim Lock
Published by HQ Fiction AU
Released 7th July 2021
Meet Mercy Blain, whose house has just burnt down. Unfortunately for Mercy, this goes beyond the disaster it would be for most people: she hasn’t been outside that house for two years now.
Flung out into the world she’s been studiously ignoring, Mercy goes to the only place she can. Her not-quite-ex-husband Eugene’s house. But it turns out she can’t stay there, either.
And so begins Mercy’s unwilling journey. After the chance purchase of a cult classic campervan (read tiny, old and smelly), with the company of her sausage dog, Wasabi, and a mysterious box of cremated remains, Mercy heads north from Adelaide to Darwin.
On the road, through badly timed breakdowns, gregarious troupes of grey nomads, and run-ins with a rogue adversary, Mercy’s carefully constructed walls start crumbling. But what was Mercy hiding from in her house? And why is Eugene desperate to have her back in the city? They say you can’t run forever…
The Riviera House by Natasha Lester
Published by Hachette Australia
Released 1st September 2021
Paris, 1939: While working at the Louvre, Eliane Dufort falls for talented painter Xavier. But when the Nazis occupy the city, Xavier leaves for England and Eliane must send her sisters to the country. Broken-hearted, she finds herself working with the mysterious Rose Valland on a dangerous secret mission for the French Resistance: to record all the priceless national treasures the Germans are stealing.
Present Day: Desperate to escape her grief, Remy Lang arrives at a stunning private estate on the French Riviera. While working on her vintage fashion business, she discovers a catalogue of artworks stolen during World War II and is shocked to see a painting that hung on her childhood bedroom wall in Sydney. Who is her family, really? And does the Riviera house hold more secrets than Remy is ready to face?
Lush, engrossing and deeply moving, this is the story of the brave women who worked against the Nazis, told by the international bestselling author of The Paris Secret and The French Photographer.
May 4, 2021
Book Review: The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer
Inspired by the real-life heroine who smuggled thousands of Jewish children to safety during WWII, the powerful new novel by the New York Times bestselling author.
In the spring of 1942, young Elzbieta Rabinek is aware of the swiftly growing discord just beyond the courtyard of her comfortable Warsaw home. But she has no idea what goes on behind the walls of the Jewish Ghetto nearby until she makes a discovery that propels her into a dangerous world of deception and heroism.
Elzbieta comes face to face with the plight of the Gorka family who must give up their newborn daughter – or watch her starve. For Roman Gorka, this final injustice stirs in him a rebellion not even his newfound love for Elzbieta can suppress. His recklessness puts their families in harm’s way until one violent act threatens to destroy their chance at freedom forever.
Kelly Rimmer, bestselling Australian author of Truths I Never Told You and The Things We Cannot Say, has penned her most meticulously researched and emotionally compelling novel to date.
My Thoughts:‘In my mother’s face, I saw courage and a selflessness I could barely fathom. I wanted to record the image of her like that in my memory forever. She had never seemed more beautiful to me.’
Occasionally I will read a novel that is so devastating in its authenticity and so sensitively written that I am pretty much left speechless. Kelly Rimmer has written a brilliant work of fiction based upon the occupation of Warsaw throughout WWII and beyond. For Poland, freedom did not come with the end of WWII. They just moved into a different form of occupation. The post-war Eastern Bloc countries have long been of reading interest to me, so I appreciated the way in which Kelly did not end her story there, but rather, took her readers beyond, into that period of transition from one occupation into another, demonstrating the toll this took on a population already ground down and defeated. This is not romanticised holocaust porn with a sprinkle of suffering and a saturation of hope. Rather, it is a gritty and realistic historical account that is grounded in truth and respectfully recounted. At times, it was not an easy read, but it was a deeply affecting one that will stay with me.
‘Bystanders have allowed themselves to be convinced that the Jews are not like us, and as soon as you convince someone that a group of people is not human, they will allow you to treat them as badly as you wish.’
The Warsaw Orphan is a follow-up to The Things We Cannot Say, but not a sequel. You don’t need to read one to appreciate the other. This is a stand-out novel, one that will be appreciated by many and recommended widely. I thought it was absolutely brilliant. A firm favourite for the year so far.
Thanks is extended to Hachette Australia for providing me with a copy of The Warsaw Orphan for review.
About the Author:Kelly Rimmer is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of ten novels, including The Secret Daughter and The Things We Cannot Say. She’s sold more than one million books, and her novels have been translated into more than 20 languages. Kelly lives in rural Australia with her family and fantastically naughty dogs, Sully and Basil.
The Warsaw Orphan
Published by Hachette Australia
Released 28th April 2021
May 3, 2021
Book Review: The Dressmaker by Posie Graeme-Evans
Set in 1850s London, at the height of Victoria’s reign, Posie Graeme-Evans’ glorious fourth historical novel tells of a woman ahead of her time. Ellen Gowan is a famous dress designer for ladies of high society and one of the very few women in England who owns her own business. But her life wasn’t always one of such privilege.
The only surviving daughter of a Cambridge scholar-turned village minister and a beautiful woman who was disowned by her family for marrying for love, Ellen had a childhood plentiful in affection, if not in currency and dresses made of fine silks. Tragedy strikes on her thirteenth birthday, when her father dies suddenly, leaving Ellen and her mother penniless and dependent upon the kindness of her mother’s estranged family.
Life takes Ellen down various roads of opulence and depravity until she lands in the arms of the devilishly handsome Raoul de Valentin, whom she marries. Just when Ellen realizes that she is with child, Raoul abandons her. Determined to survive, she begins her long climb to success, first by toiling at a dress factory, then opening up her own salon in the fashionable Battle Square.
The Dressmaker is a romantic odyssey that takes readers into the most luxurious of ballrooms and the most squalid of brothels. It is the sweeping story of a true heroine and her quest to live life fully-to find success, to find love, in an era when such ideas were unheard of for a woman. Brimming with romance, social intrigue and rich, detailed illustrations of Victorian London and its varied inhabitants.
My Thoughts:When I was in my late teens and early twenties (so, a long time ago), I used to read a lot of Catherine Cookson and Josephine Cox novels. Historical fiction, they almost always told a story of hardship overcome with a romantic happily ever after. I liked that in my late teens and early twenties but I expect a lot more from my historical fiction nowadays. The predictability of this storyline was tiresome within the context of its length. It’s a story I feel I’ve read many times over. I was engaged enough to keep reading but really only preserved because it is the book selected for a buddy read within my book club. We selected it based on the commonality of a few of us having it lingering on our to-be-read shelves. As far as buddy reads go, it probably doesn’t offer a whole lot in terms of conversation. Fans of historical romance who prefer their stories undemanding will most enjoy this.
Posie Graeme-Evans is the author of four novels, including The Dressmaker. She has worked in the Australian media industry for the last thirty years and was named one of Variety magazine’s twenty significant women in film and television. She lives in Tasmania with her husband. Find out more at www.posiegraemeevans.com
The Dressmaker
Published by Simon & Schuster
Available only in ebook
May 2, 2021
A Month of Reading: April
Total books read in April: 9Until next month…
May 1, 2021
The Week That Was…
This week has been all about the books. All the shelves arrived and all the books are now in their homes throughout the lounge, my bedroom, and my study. It’s wonderful to be surrounded by my books.
And the crown jewel, my display cabinet for my special edition books and teasets.
My youngest son has been moaning that he now lives in a library. He should be so lucky!
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Joke of the week:
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What I’ve been watching:
Quite by accident I discovered a third season of Medici on SBS. Still partially in shock at the thought I may have never known!
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What I’ve been reading:
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What I’m reading right now:
This one is for a buddy read with my Facebook book club group.
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Until next week…
April 29, 2021
Book Review: Alchemy and Rose by Sarah Maine
A beautiful and sweeping historical novel that takes the reader from the west coast of New Zealand, to Scotland and Melbourne in the 1870s.
Will Stewart is one of many who have left their old lives behind to seek their fortunes in New Zealand’s last great gold rush. The conditions are hostile and the outlook bleak, but he must push on in his uncertain search for the elusive buried treasure.
Rose is about to arrive on the shores of South Island when a storm hits and her ship is wrecked. Just when all seems lost, she is snatched from the jaws of death by Will, who risks his life to save her. Drawn together by circumstance, they stay together by choice and for a while it seems that their stars have finally aligned.
But after a terrible misunderstanding they are cruelly separated, and their new-found happiness is shattered. As Will chases Rose across oceans and continents, he must come to terms with the possibility that he might never see her again. And if he does, he will have to face the man who took her.
My Thoughts:Sarah Maine writes with a particular attention to detail when it comes to evocatively recreating life within an historical era and setting. A true sense of time and place could be felt whilst reading this novel, everything from the biting cold of a South Island New Zealand winter to the cloying damp of Scotland.
The powerlessness of women is explored in depth through Rose’s story. I found it honestly so bleak to contemplate her situation, the manner in which she could so easily be held against her will, society believing her captor’s stories about hysteria, as opposed to the truth she spoke. The vulnerability of women in the colonies was particularly startling. A poor man had the ability to have more agency over his own life than a woman with money.
I really enjoyed the way in which photography played such a part in the story. Fraser’s passion for capturing the darker side of life, the un-staged everyday occurrences, the grief and tragedy, the startling contrast between wealth and poverty; this was conveyed with such vivid realisation, I felt as though I could really see his photos. Without early photography pioneers, how much history would we not be able to see? The suspicion surrounding photography was interesting, so hard to imagine now that such a thing could ever be suspect, but back then, when photography was in its infancy, I suppose it must have seemed fantastical and, on another level, indulgent, even voyeuristic perhaps.
It was terrific to read a novel of historical fiction set in New Zealand. I hadn’t read anything about the New Zealand gold rush previously and it was fascinating to contemplate it in comparison to Australia. The weather would have certainly offered greater challenges but in many ways, it also seemed like the same type of people living in the same sort of squalid conditions all chasing the same dream, yet never really achieving it.
Alchemy and Rose was an entirely enjoyable read and one that I would highly recommend to fans of adventurous historical fiction.
Thanks is extended to Hachette Australia for providing me with a copy of Alchemy and Rose for review.
About the Author:Sarah Maine was born in England but grew up partly in Canada before returning to England for university. She studied archaeology and for many years worked in the profession but is now a freelance writer and researcher.
Alchemy and Rose
Published by Hodder & Stoughton
Released 7th January 2021
