Garlic and Gauloises

by Hemmie Martin

Alice Calwin finds herself without purpose in life after the death of her mother, whom she’d been caring for following a stroke. Theo Edwards, a literary journalist, has a sour outlook on life, bolstered by his ongoing divorce, and is feeling the pressure to revitalise his column in the newspaper.They encounter one another at a writers’ retreat in France, but Alice’s shameful past and Theo’s deceptive reasons for being there end up affecting them both in very different ways.When someone finally acknowledges their mistakes, is it ever too late to make amends?

207 pages, Paperback

Published December 11, 2015

About the author

I spent most of my professional life as a Community Nurse for people with learning disabilities and a Family Planning Nurse in London. I was also a Forensic Mental Health Nurse working with young offenders in Hertfordshire. I spent six years living in the south of France and now live on the Norfolk border. A rescue cat owns me, and I now write full-time.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Garlic and Gauloises is a very absorbing book focusing, as it does on the relationships between a group of people who would not usually mix. The main characters of Alice and Theo are superbly written, all the emotion, motives, and behaviour are laid out for the reader. I thought that this book would be quiet a light read, however, this is far from the case and while there is some humour there is very much light and shade to the story. Overall I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

[Beth (bibliobeth) · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, a big thank you to the lovely Faye Rogers for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour and to the author and publishers for providing me with a free copy of this novel in return for an honest review. Contemporary fiction is one of my favourite genres to read and on doing a bit of research on the author, I discovered she likes to write "crime and contemporary fiction with a dark edge," - well, perfect for me I thought! As I began reading, I did wonder where the dark aspect would reveal itself but soon enough, it certainly appears and I was engrossed from that point onwards.

Our main character is forty-something Alice Calwin who has recently experienced the terrible loss of her beloved mother and confidante. Her death wasn't exactly a shock, Alice had been her primary carer after a stroke but Alice misses her deeply and, being quite a nervous and shy individual, is not certain how to deal with the new hole in her life. One of her few joys in life is to write (usually in the romance genre) and when she sees an advertisement for a writing retreat in France, she thinks it might be the perfect way to get some writing done, get some advice about her writing and gradually open herself up to the possibility of socialising and meeting new people, perhaps even one day someone special of her own.

There are a whole host of interesting characters that join Alice on the retreat but the stand out person for her that she ends up becoming involved with is a man called Theo Edwards, who unfortunately for Alice, is there for darker reasons than being an author. He is a writer, of sorts, but a literary journalist who normally writes book reviews for a paper but has recently become disillusioned with his job. As he sees the same advertisement for the writing retreat, he hatches a plan with his editor that he will book himself onto the retreat undercover as a potential unpublished author but instead provide insider secrets and juicy gossip about the individuals that would go on this kind of adventure.

Theo finds some brilliant fodder for his columns in the personalities of the characters that go on the retreat - the two old ladies that love their cosy mysteries, Marlon the personal trainer who appears to harbour a guilty secret, Clive, the gay thriller writer who only has eyes for Marlon, Zoe, the young sexy erotica writer who also fancies Marlon (and almost anything else that is male with a pulse) and then Alice, herself who seems to intrigue Theo the most. He is certain that she has had some kind of personal tragedy in her life to make her the woman that she is and he uses all the charm at his disposal to get her to open up to him whilst writing his columns depicting all her flaws and how pathetic he feels she really is. Everything comes to a head one evening at the retreat when something terrible happens that rocks the worlds of all the characters at the house and exposes a few for who they really are. It is only after this incident and after the retreat is over that lies are exposed and some characters lives are changed forever as a result.

I have to admit, when I first began this novel, I thought I would be able to predict what would happen. However, the author completely floored me with certain things that occurred...(no spoilers here!) and I found myself pleasantly surprised and at the same time, quite horrified with the turn of events. The characters are all fascinating although at times I alternated between feeling slightly irritated and desperately sorry for Alice as she fell under the spell of dastardly Theo - by the way, such a brilliant character to hate! Nevertheless, the tables do turn and by the end of the novel, I had quite a different opinion of the villain of the piece, which was quite a feat considering how much I disliked him in the beginning! The ending was particularly bitter sweet and I find myself still thinking about Alice and worrying about her future (as you do with fictional characters who get under your skin?!). This was the first novel I've read by Hemmie Martin and after this effort, I would definitely consider reading another.

For my full review and many more, please visit my blog at http://www.bibliobeth.com

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

In all honesty it was the blurb that made me agree to review this book. The title and cover didn’t particularly grab my attention but I was given the opportunity to participate in the blog tour so delved in.

Alice immediately strikes one as a lost soul, she cared for her mother until her death and subsequently is now attempting to rebuild her life. She had one bad experience with a man years previously and due to her devotion to her caring role finds herself very much single and in her forties. She has one passion though and that is to write .. so when she sees a retreat advertised she decides to go along and hope her mojo returns.

This writer’s retreat is in France based at a lovely chateaux, ideal peaceful surroundings with a handful of other people also signed up. This is where the story really unfolds and one by one as we find out about the variety of characters the book begins to get under your skin.

Theo is a dastardly sort and so easy to dislike, he is written fabulously. It is Alice and Theo who keep the tension going, with great interjections from his ex wife and son. Zoe wound me up because she came across as so shallow, having said that she was a super balance to Alice.

I had no idea what to expect from this book so it was delightful to find myself engrossed I thought I had it all figured out to a predictable ending but it didn’t work quite like that!

Drama, tragedy, love, deceit it has it all and pulls all the qualities together for a tremendous read. I haven’t read anything by this author before but will certainly be willing to try another book by her.

Many thanks to Faye Rogers, Hemmie and the publishers for my copy.

[Nicholas Trandahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Garlic & Gauloises is the first book of Hemmie Martin's that I've had the pleasure of reading. What I found in this short novel of about 200 pages was a brand of literary fiction that I myself endeavor to write, literary fiction comprised of drama, humor, and romance. As with all good literary fiction the focus was on the characters and their lives, and Hemmie detailed the central characters exquisitely granting them flaws and boons like all real people.
In reading this novel, I felt increasingly fond of Alice Calwin and supportive of her in the emotional crisis that she is forced to go through. When it comes to Theo Edwards, I'm mixed. I initially connected with his sarcastic outlook and demeanor (hopefully that doesn't speak too ill of me), but grew to loathe him as his reasoning was bared before me as a reader. I was set on dispising him from the rest of the novel, but found myself, in later chapters, feeling remorse for him and empathy for his own plights. Again, well-written three dimensional characters.
As for Hemmie's prose, she's a very good writer with a fondness for light and scenery; for setting a scene. And I think that's very important in literary fiction. Also, Hemmie writes of delicious food and drink in such an incredible way that I found my mouth salivating repeatedly as she described delectable French cuisine and Bordeaux wines.
Hemmie Martin, I can tell, writes from her heart and from her own experiences that have etched themselves into her grand repertoire with words and fiction. Well done!

[Stacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first read from Hemmie Martin though I am familiar with the author after meeting her at a signing!

I am always intrigued to see how an author writing a book about an author pans out, and in fact there was more than just the one in this story!

Though the male protaganist (Theo) in this was a journalist posing as an author at a writer's retreat in France, and the main female was an actual author, Alice. Alice, along with five other authors, each had their own reasons for attending the retreat but the story focused mainly on Alice, whose mother has just died. Theo attends in order to get some 'juicy' content for the paper he writes book reviews for, and that he does!

The story in general felt quite jumpy and rushed, I would have liked to read more about the other characters at the retreat. The chapter format was just a bit confusing for me with it constantly jumping between different characters and no indication it was going to happen.

There was certainly a lot of emotion in the book and I found myself really feeling for Alice; she was really the only character I found myself connecting with though, other than Theo who I thought was an arrogant sod, until some life changing news made him rethink his actions. I didn't particularly feel a connection between any of the characters either.

The book deals with a number of themes and though I *did* find it jumpy, they all tied together well.

Overall, it was a book that I did read quickly as I wanted to know what happened to the main characters and Hemmie does give the reader closure.

3.5*

[Joey Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a delightful read, with the same level of talent and intrigue I have come to expect from Hemmie Martin. A lone journalist looking for a way to beef up his newspaper column, attends a writer's retreat where he meets a host of characters. One of them who is nervous and happy to sink into the background. As the story progresses, you're faced with the issues of Theo having to face up to what his life has become and what that means for him. It's an excellently engaging story and I loved every moment of it. I'm sad to say I only have one more book from this author to read before I have to wait for her to write another! Highly recommended!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm never usually interested in contemporary fiction but this book has changed my mind! The story was so interesting and the pace was kept throughout, which made it difficult to put down at times! There were characters to love and hate, and some that made you feel both. It had points throughout and at the end that did not go as I expected which made me enjoy reading it more than I already was. Definitely one I would recommend!