"Things we have in Common" Tasha Kavanagh

I was recommended this book by author Cass Green ("The Woman Next Door") although after borrowing from my local library, I realised I had downloaded it on my kindle a long time ago following other recommendations on Twitter. Either way, I'm glad I got around to finally reading it. It's quite unlike any of the other thrillers on my shelf at the moment but oh so very compelling!

The first time I saw you, you were standing at the far end of the playing field. You were looking down at your brown straggly dog, your mouth going slack as your eyes clocked her. Alice Taylor.

I was no different. I’d catch myself gazing at the back of her head in class, at her thick fair hair swaying between her shoulder blades.

If you’d glanced just once across the field, you’d have seen me standing in the middle on my own looking straight at you, and you’d have gone back through the trees to the path quick, tugging your dog after you. You’d have known you’d given yourself away, even if only to me.

But you didn’t. You only had eyes for Alice. 

Yasmin would give anything to have a friend… And do anything to keep them.

Kavanagh does several things that I adore in psychological thrillers. Firstly she has created an original narrative voice, secondly our narrator is totally unreliable, and finally the narrator refers to the suspect as "you" the entire way through the novel which is highly effective in creating an atmosphere of menace - with both the narrator and the suspect.

Yasmin is 15, her father has died; her and her mother now live with her mother's new partner, Gary Thorton - or "Gary Thorn-in-my-bum" - who "wasn't there", so can't fully understand the trauma the mother and daughter have survived. He regularly frustrates both women with his constant reprisal towards Yasmin to confront her worryingly obese figure. Yasmin is a loner. She is a social outcast at school, teased, bullied, ignored with a desperately low self esteem as she repeatedly refers to herself as fat and freakish.

Yasmin's voice is very authentic. Her flippancy, jealousy, moodiness, spite and then conversely, obsession, love, naivety all remind us that she is a teenager - one that is still grieving and whose mother seems relatively ineffective in any significant guidance or support. However, what I really liked is that I was never entirely sure how I felt towards her. Pity? Sympathy? Fear? Horror? Is this a girl who simply gets caught up in her own imaginings or is there something more malicious and underhand at play? Is Kavanagh showing how events can spiral out of control from one or two words shouted in the heat of the moment or has she indeed created a more psychopathic creature?

I can't forget about Yasmin. She has made a deep impression on me. There was something very bleak in her story. Her obsession over Alice is perhaps not abnormal as far as teenage crushes go - particularly for a child who longs to be recognised and accepted. But what is unsettling is the level of delusion and how confused she sometimes become between what is real and what is imagined. Some of the passages were painful to read; either because Yasmin's actions made me cringe or because I wanted to reach out and rescue her. Although Kavanagh skilfully steers us away from becoming too emotionally involved with Yas - she does not want us to feel maternal sympathy towards her. She wants us to be terrified by her thoughts and actions and fear for where things will lead. Yasmin is often very unemotional and unresponsive towards things that she shouldn't be. Her obsessions and ideas are always several stages too far and too worryingly inappropriate. I could not read the pages fast enough I so wanted to see how things would turn out.

Yasmin's voice is punchy. She can be sarcastic. She can be brutal. And then she can swing to the opposite end of the scale and be loving, overly trusting, desperate for assurance and validation. But there is so much displacement and fantasy in her mind, it is sad as well as deeply concerning. It is no surprise that Yasmin compares herself to Snow White and pretends to exist in fairy tales at the beginning of the novel - or how filmic her fantasies are. I was moved by how much all the adults let Yasmin down. There could be some really interesting discussions about responsibility within this book.

"You" is a brilliant character. There is so little real description of this person, who also gives little away through dialogue, we have only what Yasmin tells us to go on which is highly unreliable and also ever changing. Enigmatic and allusive, the mystery around "you" taunts us throughout the whole novel and I was forever changing my opinion and theories.

It's only 260 pages long. Kavanagh writing is simple, fluent, engaging and absorbing. I don't think I can use the words gripping, chilling and thrilling in the conventional sense but as far as reads go, it is a thriller; it will chill you. This is utterly compulsive and very compelling.

I recommend it!

"Things we have in Common" was published by Canongate in 2015.

"Saving Sophie" Sam Carrington

Her eyes are wide and swollen, wet with fresh tears- her face stained with old ones. She opens her mouth, just a little, daring to utter the words screaming inside her head: Please don't kill me. He notices the slight movement of her lips and immediately presses his fingers against them, suppressing the words before they can be formed. Only her breath manages to leak through the gaps of his soft fingers; a stifled exhalation. Her last. 

A teenage girl is missing. Is your daughter involved, or is she next?

Your daughter is in danger. But can you trust her?

Every parent's worst nightmare. Your 17 year old daughter is brought home one night by the police. Drunk and without any memory of what happened that evening. The next morning her friend Amy is missing. Then a body is found. 

What happened? Can Sophie really not remember anything or is she actually hiding something? 

There is a lot about breathing in this book. Not doing it, doing it too quickly, having it taken from you...... The main perpetrator of this crime against regular breath is the author Carrington herself. In fact, if you have remembered to breathe even by the end of the short prologue then you will stand a better chance than I did of surviving this novel! 

Carrington's prose is relentlessly gripping. It is an absolute page turner of a thriller with all the perfect ingredients of a gripping and psychologically chilling book. Carrington is a great story teller and I really enjoyed this -her debut novel. It had everything I could ask for from a contemporary, mainstream, one-sitting-read and I'm sure it will fly off the shelves when it is published in paperback in December. 

It opens typically with a prologue -an anonymous voice, a captured girl. A gag which falls to the floor with "an innocent sound, incongruent with the function it has just served." We then plunge headlong into the main body of the story, the short chapters barely leaving you enough time to release that lungful of held air before you prepare yourself for the next twist. 

The chapters are told alternately from the point of view of Sophie and her mother, Karen. I liked this as the book is as much about Karen, her past, her secrets and her huge psychological issues as it is of Sophie. By having two main protagonists, not only does Carrington have two sets of secrets and buried pasts to uncover but she also has more relationships to explore and develop; friendship - both between Sophie's peer group and Karen's friendship with Rachel, relationships between mothers and daughters, teenager's relationships and marriage. This generates more tension and more subplots. At first I was a little confused by the amount of focus on Karen and her response to the missing girl rather than Sophie, who is seemingly more embroiled with danger and crime, but Carrington has meticulously planned for all this and nothing has been written without a purpose which will gradually become clear to the reader. 

Even when we're not hyperventilating at the scenes about Sophie, Amy, the anonymous voice and the police investigation, we are still not allowed to let our breathing relax or feel any sense of calm as we share with Karen as she fights her own illness; her own debilitating demons, her own psychological nightmare as she tries to survive with advanced agoraphobia.

"Karen clawed at the top buttons of her cotton shirt, popping a few as she attempted to reduce the restriction around her neck. Her breathing was out of control already.....she was going to choke. Her lips tingled as the carbon dioxide in her blood reduced. She had to act now or she'd faint."

Initially I was a little frustrated by Karen as she does feel a bit of a victim. Her relationships with both her husband and daughter are fragile or even dysfunctional. Her husband is exasperated by her condition and sometimes too blunt with her. However, as the novel progressed, I developed more sympathy for her and the extra attention to her suffering and anxiety is a key part of the plot and the character's journey. Her constant thoughts about breathing, chocking, suffocation, panicking, tightness are all used to exaggerate the tension and whip the reader up into an equal state of panic. Karen's sense of hopelessness is palpable and I had sympathy for her as she tried to manage the conflict inside her - she knows her family is in a deeply precarious place but she really can't seem to overcome her inner demons and free herself from them. But if she doesn't.....

Social media and the internet are also key in this book. I love the way the web has affected crime writing - not only in making criminals more powerful or menacing, the work of the police more complex, but also in the amount of research that individuals can carry out independent from the police. Karen may be confined to the four walls of her house but she is able to use the computer to help explore her intuition. Whether this is for the best or not.....And it's amazing how deeply unnerving an email can sound in amongst a narrative and how much of someone's character it can betray. 

This is also novel about secrets. Expect to be blown away with the revelations, surprises, twists and turns that rival any whirlwind or tropical storm. I loved this passage:

"The clock on the wall beside them ticked loudly, like a steady heartbeat: tick...tick...tick.
Once spoken aloud, the words were out there. A secret no longer. Tick.....tick....tick." 

But, honestly, I don't think I can take much more from Carrington! The ending was brilliant and the epilogue...... well...... my breathing is yet to return to something more "regular"! 

Carrington's writing is straightforward, accessible, full of pace, full of fluent dialogue and full of drama. It's a perfect one sitting read for Friday nights or a weekend. 

And as the brilliant and witty Kaisha Holloway from thewritinggarnet wrote in her review - "perhaps Avon should package every copy of "Saving Sophie" with a paper bag because you need it. Every time Karen went to use hers to regulate her own breathing, I wanted to shout share it!"

The kindle version of "Saving Sophie" is available on 12th August 2016 and the paperback will be available from 15th Decemeber 2016 from Avon Publishers. 

For more recommendations and reviews follow me on Twitter @KatherineSunde3 or via my website bibliomaniacuk.co.uk

"Hillstation" Robin Mukherjee

Dreaming of escape from his remote village in the Himalayan foothills, Rabindra entreats the gods to send him an English bride. When a saucy English dance troupe arrives on the run from a Bombay crime boss, Rabindra believes that his prayers have been answered. Except that they have no interest in marrying anyone. As the village begins to unravel in the presence of these scandalous foreigners, surprising secrets emerge from the depths of its past. 

"Hillstation is a love poem to a glorious, intriguing and sometimes frustrating culture still alive in the far corners of a great continent but slowly fading to the onslaught of the technological age." 

I'm just going to come straight out and say it. I thoroughly enjoyed this chaotic, hilarious, colourful and charming book. The prose rattles along at such a rate that it is impossible to take a breath, let alone put it down. Rabindra's narrative flows like a burst pipe, streaming endlessly capturing his enthusiasm, naivety, innocence and simplistic belief in all that is good. It is a comedy, a love story; a novel about family, religion, culture, coming of age and belonging.

I didn't really know what to expect when I began this novel and indeed I gave myself a shock when I found myself snorting loudly only 5 pages in. By then I was completely under Mukherjee's spell.

Rabindra (also Rabin) is delightful. I loved his rapid speech with such frequent repetition of long phrases defining each character like his older brother, Dev, "son number one who went to England and became a Doctor." Dev, who went to England and became a Doctor, is revered by the whole family - if not community - for his travel and education. In Rabin's home town - an non specific village buried deep in the Himalayan foothills where the rest of the world doesn't even realise there is anything in existence, Dev's tales of England are modern folklore and he is almost equal alongside their gods.

"His room was a shrine to all things English with posters of red buses, policemen with blue temples on their heads and the secret underground city, connected with coloured tunnels....sometimes I'd pick through his display of Limited Edition Kings and Queens of England Egg Cups or his Isle of Sheppy Summer Festival Souvenir Mugs."

"'Tell me again,' I'd plead, 'about the University of Oxford Street and the River Thames on foggy mornings, of Sherlock Holmes who knew a Lemon Tree when he saw one...and the rhyming slang you learnt from an orphaned pick-pocket in the back alleys of a rat-infested slum.'"

The family are eccentric. Rabin's father is obsessed with rules, class and propriety: "What is this 'sort-of'? Is it a word? A phrase? Does it have anything to do with even the minimum standards of linguistic dignity expected in this household?" And his mother, well, she "doesn't say anything because she is dead." But if she did.....Rabin imagines she would advise him not to marry some "insufferable idiot who farts at night."

Then one day, following Rabin and his faithful, loyal friend Pol's prayers for English brides, some visitors arrive in their humble village.

"A man was standing by the steps with a face like nothing I'd seen before. It had two eyes, obviously, and a mouth common to most human beings and animals too I suppose, but there the similarity ended. His hair neither black, henna nor any recognisable colour, but an indistinct shade of stale chapatti."

And that is nothing compared to the women who climb out of the vehicle behind him:

"her shoes were an ethereal matrix of white straps with, I noticed thrillingly, sticks on the underside.."

This book is absolutely full of highly original and entertaining imagery. The descriptions are so imaginative, wry and desperately effective. I was without a pen when I read this book and I have committed a terrible crime of folding down the corners of pages where Mukherjee made me laugh and smile. The book is ruined. There are more pages folded than straight. Mukherjee is masterful at evoking excitement, fascination, sympathy and capturing the conflict between the young and the old, the new technology and old rituals. Each character leaps of the page and the vivid, fluent dialogue adds pace and colour. The voices and relationships real and lively. Each character is easy to visualise and it is screaming out for adaption to the big screen.

Rabin assists his brother at the clinic. His medical interviews and subsequent diagnosis are extremely entertaining. When one of the western girl's goes to see him about "the runs", Rabin flicks to the "R" section of the medical dictionary and starts to search for "runs" with assured authority. In her desperation to explain herself, her use of the word "squits" leads to confusion about squints and squids. It is like something out of Monty Python or Fawlty Towers but more endearing and heartwarming. I loved Rabin's response to her answer about the dosage of the tablets he has coincidently managed to prescribe:

"in the box you will find a neatly folded piece of paper with extremely tiny writing..."

Never once does his lack of experience, understanding, education or awareness of how many of his actions are the result of luck or bluff, bother or restrain him. This was the most appealing part of his character and he very much reminded me of the owner of "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" or the protagonist of "Slumdog Millionaire".

Despite their apparent "backwardness" and lack of technology, the characters are never prepared to lose face. Malek and Hendrix's conversation about coasters - sorry, CDs- was lovely:

"I have seen them before, obviously. they are clever devices for making music."
"But not by themselves,"
"Of course not, do you think I am simple?" 

The western characters are also treated with the same affectionate humour. Cindy ties herself in knots trying to explain Christian celebrations, particularly the differences between Santa, Father Christmas and Jesus - "the goodiest bloke ever".

And then there is seriousness and poignancy. Rabin's sudden realisation of the wider world is described with one of the most effective metaphors in the whole book:

"the world seemed so very large, suddenly, with so many rooms and corners and corridors and stairs that you could turn up or down, or not, or stop, or not, or never take, or take looking down or up..."

The backdrop of the Himalayan mountains influence and shape these people's beliefs and lives:

"Sometimes they welcomed me like a cherished friend and sometimes they crushed the soaring feathers of my fragile dreams against the brute fortress of their implacability....but never so much as a twitch in the mossy hollows of its bleak indifference...."

This review is in danger of becoming like a film trailer that gives away too much of the good bits! Obviously I would recommend this book - particularly to fans of "Slumdog Millionaire", "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", "The White Tiger" and "The Inheritance of Loss". It was rather different from the other books I have been reviewing recently and therefore its freshness and originality more pronounced, but I think many readers will enjoy its gentle, heartwarming story and its boundless energy and humour.

"Hillstation" is published in paperback on 28th July 2016 by Old Castle Books.

My thanks to Old Castle Books for the free copy of this novel in return for an honest review.

ROBIN MUKHERJEE has written extensively for television and radio and won the Audience Prize for his first feature film. His CBBC series was nominated for a BAFTA and his most recent film "Lore" has won numerous awards worldwide.

For more information on this novel please visit OldcastleBooks


For more recommendations and reviews follow me on Twitter @KatherineSunde3 or via my website bibliomaniacuk.co.uk

"Willnot" James Sallis

"You live with someone year after year, you think you've heard all the stories....but you never have." 

This is a new author to me although I have since realised that Sallis has a huge back catalogue and no less that 16 novels to his name! He is also the author of short stories, essays and poems. He has reviewed books for the LA Times, New York Times and Washington Post and is the winner of several literary prizes. The praise for this book is impressive and he is clearly highly regarded within the world of crime fiction.

Synopsis:
In the woods outside the town of Willnot, the remains of several people have suddenly been discovered, unnerving the community and unsettling Hale, the town's all-purpose general practitioner, surgeon, and town conscience. At the same time, Bobby Lowndes--his military records disappeared, being followed by the FBI--mysteriously reappears in his hometown, at Hale's door. Over the ensuing months, the daily dramas Hale faces as he tends to his town and to his partner, Richard, collide with the inexplicable vagaries of life in Willnot. And when a gunshot aimed at Lowndes critically wounds Richard, Hale's world is truly upended.

Firstly, I am not sure exactly how to categorise this novel. For me the blurb was a little misleading as although there is indeed shooting, crime, mystery and dead bodies, this is not really a "crime thriller" in the traditional or presumed sense.

This is a book about a small, introvert town in America. It is a book driven by characters rather than plot- snapshots of ordinary people making sense of the their world. It is a slim volume of a mere 192 pages but memorable and resonating. This isn't really the sort of thing I would usually read, but isn't this the way you discover those stunning hidden gems which stay with you? The effect it had on me was rather like the effect of John Edward Williams' "Stoner"- albeit a much more witty and eccentric kind of story, but I felt I was reading something of an American "classic".

Dr Lama Hale is our central protagonist - general practitioner, surgeon and town conscience. He is intelligent, empathetic, insightful and his narrative combines the suspense, action and intrigue of the plot as he recounts his involvement with the lives of the other townsfolk, the endless calls made upon him and his personal relationships, alongside poetic and lyrical observations of nature and the human condition. The language is taut, stripped down, exacting and immensely powerful.

"Out my west window an orange sun held on, flattening itself crablike against the horizon to gain a few more moments."

There is great contrast in the book. Life in Willnot continues as attempts are made to make sense of the remains discovered and the return of Bobby Lowndes while the news from the rest of America filters through almost unnoticed and definitely unaffecting - "Yesterday in the school cafeteria of a nondescript town in Ohio, a 16 year old pulled a gun from his Fender Champ lunchbox and began firing........In Willnot, Richard and I sat over a late breakfast of biscuits ....the day stretched out ahead of us..." There is something more shocking in this understated commentary and such juxtaposition creates a dark affecting tension.

"Nobody talked about the bodies anymore, or the shooting, but these were tucked away at the back of our minds and hung, if not palpably then patently, in the air we breathed. Willnot was a lake into which rocks had been thrown; mud still swirled."

This is a literary gem. This is the work of a talented author with an absolute gift for language and brevity. For me, I would recommend this book to people who like "Stoner" or Hemingway as well as readers of crime fiction and American Literature.

My thanks to @NoExitPress for a copy of this book in return for an honest review - I'm so pleased to have discovered a new author who to my embarrassment I had not ever come across before, and to have enjoyed something outside my usual selection.

"Willnot"was published by No Exit Press in June 2016 and for more information please go to no exit.co.uk/willnot or follow on Twitter @NoExitPress

For more recommendations and reviews from me, you can find me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk) or sign up to receive future posts via email.

"Now You See Me" Sharon Bolton

A dead woman was leaning against my car.

And so begins the first in a series of crime novels about DC Lacey Flint from Sharon Bolton (also publishes as S J Bolton). This book starts with a shocking murder, discovered by Lacey Flint for whom this is her first murder case. So haunted is she by her failed attempts to save the girl's life, she makes it her mission to catch the criminal responsible for the girl's death. As further murders and revelations spill from the pages, it appears that the police have a copy cat Jack the Ripper killer on the loose. Flint is willing to make any sacrifice in order to uncover the truth, even when she appears to be the next target.....

Bolton's writing is so engrossing that it hard not to get caught up in the story immediately. The chapters are short which ensures a sharp pace and a temptation to read "just one more"..... Lacey, our protagonist, narrates the story which means we are privy to the emotions and thoughts of quite a complex character. Lacey can be awkward, perhaps a little standoffish and sometimes makes wrong footings with the other detectives but her intelligence, wit and sarcasm make her likeable and authentic. Bolton has created an intriguing female lead to start her series of thrilling titles of with a bang.

The use of the Jack the Ripper murders was very compelling. The mix of historical detail and references was chilling and added more horror to the storyline. Lacey's knowledge of the famous crimes and her ability to make connections so quickly is impressive and really drives the story along, the reader equally satisfied by her ability to show off her skills in front of the rest of the rather cynical and doubtful detectives. The use of real life historical murders makes the plot more captivating and aspects of the book were as unsettling as the TV show "Whitechapel'.

There are several different voices alongside Lacey's narrative to keep the reader guessing which continually plants more clues, creating further suspicion, terror and suspense. One anonymous voice is particularly menacing and predatory; even more so when we realise Lacey is becoming the target.

The story hops between 1888, modern day and 11 years previously but all the threads are managed and handled with the assured confidence of a talented crime writer. Bolton's writing style is highly readable and I was surprised how quickly I became absorbed and how much I had read without even realising. Bolton is clearly an expert and accomplished writer in her genre and if you enjoy great crime writing this is the book for you. And even better, if you like it, there are another 4 books in the series and a whole other back catalogue of titles to choose from also by Bolton!

"Now You See Me" was published by Transworld Publishers in 2011. To find out more about the author you can visit her website at www.sharonbolton.com

I received my copy of the book from the Herts Advertiser in return for a fair and honest review.

For more recommendations and reviews you can follow me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk)

"Jacques" Tanya Ravenswater

It is only when we matter, when we are seen and truly loved, that we know what it means to fully live.

This is the story of Jacques Lafitte, a young French boy who finds himself orphaned and torn away from everything he knows. Forced to move to England to live with his guardian – the pompous and distant Oliver – Jacques finds himself in a strange country and a strange world. 

As years pass Jacques becomes part of the Clark family. But then his feelings for Oliver’s daughter Rebecca begin to surpass mere sibling affection. A development that has the power to bring them together, or tear the family apart . . . 

Lesley Allen described this book as "seductively lyrical" and I have to agree with her. It is a simple story but what makes it special is Ravenswater's writing style and mesmerising poetic use of language. My pages are littered with highlights from where I found numerous phrases of exquisite prose and absorbing imagery.

It is a slow, measured read. It is about character, relationships, coming of age and love. Despite being so contemporary and set in the late 1980s, it had the feel of a more classical novel, maybe even a little like Dickens or a darker Laurie Lee, but certainly reminiscent of Forster and L P Hartley.

Jacques life starts sadly. Prepared for his parent's death by his Papa's methodical ordering of paperwork and finances following the loss of his mother, Jacques is then faced with "what Papa had described as the 'unlikely event 's his own untimely death. I had to accept that so-called 'unlikely events' were destined to be among the likely facts of my life." What is most striking about the two deaths is the way Ravenswater handles Jacques' realisation that his world will never be the same again. He was privileged to be held so dear by his parents that his "whole world had been built on what I trusted would be the unshakeable ground of their presence, my daily life framed by proof of how much I was cherished." She conveys such a loving, deep relationship that almost feels exclusive and separate from the rest of the world. Jacques- mature, intelligent, articulate and sensitive -explains how "discussion and storytelling had been central to my life with Maman and Papa....they had treated me as an equal in conversation". He is a character you cannot help but be drawn too and feel empathy towards. The reader is caught up in his engaging narrative and wants to read on and share his journey with him.

Jacques then finds himself shipped off to England to his "Aunt" and "Uncle", an event which Ravenswater's simple, observational statement conveys a profound sadness as deep as the channel Jacques has had to cross to get there:

"...my king and queen were dead, I was just a helpless little boy, stripped of everything, even his mother tongue.."

His new family couldn't be more contrasting to the one Jacques has lost. The house itself captures the personality of the parents with it's overwhelming atmosphere of oppression, imprisonment and reserve - a contrast from the creative, equal, discursive home his parents had embodied.

"..inside the house had 4 storeys and a steep, carpeted central staircase with white, thickly glossed bannisters. The rooms were high ceilinged, papered mainly in deep reds and browns, furnished with heavy, hard wearing fabrics, dark teak and mahogany....the floors were mostly bare, polished wooden boards with functional rugs and mats."

His Aunt is anxious, cold, and controlling. Jacques is intimidated by the first very formal meeting with her as she explains briskly "after I've taken you through our house rules, you will follow them to the best of your ability." His Uncle is more nonchalant and disinterested; a trait he displays to his own children not just Jacques. This is not the cherishing and nurturing environment Jacques experienced in France and sadly he recalls that his sense of not belonging anywhere or to anyone, alongside his grief, "forced me to evolve into a different person." Therefore their daughter, Rebecca, his "sibling" (although no blood relation) is a welcomed presence. She is more vital and colourful and enjoys telling Jacques all about her mother's job which is an abortionist. She talks frankly and bluntly - again, a contrast to Jacques naivety. But she also experiences a sense of isolation or difference from the harsh teasing at school where children regularly call out "here comes the murderer's daughter". They bond immediately and settle into a very intense relationship.

I liked Ravenswater's description. Her evocation of place and atmosphere was always so effective and always managed to effortlessly imply more about the character or events. For example, when Jacques talks about his new school he describes the "dark runners of its corridors, blackboards scored with monotonous lines.... I reduced myself to a scarcely noticeable grey dot."

There is a fantastic passage between Jacques and his aunt. Jacques is a talented piano player - a creative output for his emotions, but even this has to fall within strict rules and boundaries as his aunt is so terrified of anything she cannot control.

"treat my piano with respect ....or I will cancel lessons immediately ......You will wipe the keys after each use, and replace the cover and the stool"

It takes the joy away from anything and constantly reinstates a kind of fear. Jacques manages to penetrate her cold shell by suggesting she takes up lessons again and, revealingly, her reply is "....our hearts are no longer open and innocent. ....Our hands are irrevocably stained.... No amount of piano lessons will take that away".

There are many very moving passages. Jacques relationship with Stephen is particularly poignant, full of resonating intensity and sadness.

This is a very original read. It is one of those books which you read with ease and surprising speed but then find yourself contemplating for days after. Ravenswater's ability to capture the male voice of Jacques with such conviction and authenticity is highly impressive and it is hard to accept this is a debut novel.

Author GJ Minett recommended the book to me ages ago and he said "if you value precision and a wonderful control over the language allied to a sound instinct for exactly the right turn of phrase, then this is the one for you." It shouldn't have taken me so long to get around to reading!

I think this is definitely a writer to watch out for in the future.

The ebook of "Jacques" was published by Twenty7 (Bonnier Zaffre) on Dec 2015 and the paperback will be available on 8th Sept 2016.

If you would like to see more recommendations and reviews then you can follow me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk)

"Birdcage Walk" Kate Riordan

I'm so pleased to have discovered Kate Riordan. There's nothing better than finding a new author and then realising they have a back catalogue of titles to indulge in! If you haven't read one of her books yet, I highly recommend them. Riordan is an exquisite, intelligent and beautiful writer who can conjure up historical settings effortlessly and create characters with which you immediately engage become embroiled in their journey.

So what's "Birdcage Walk" about?

A London Murder Mystery Based on a True Historical Crime

George Woolfe is a young working class East London printmaker in the early 1900’s. Frustrated by the constraints of his class and station, he sees an opportunity to escape when he by chance meets Charles Booth, author of one of the most comprehensive social surveys of London ever undertaken. But this auspicious encounter has tragic consequences for George who, within six months, is charged with the murder of a young woman. But did he do it?

Set at the dawning of a new century, when the rigid class and gender boundaries of the Victorian age were soon to shift and realign, Birdcage Walk is a historical novel that vividly brings to life a real-life Edwardian murder and the possible miscarriage of justice that followed it.

First and foremost I must say how vividly Riordan is able to bring Edwardian London to life. I slipped into the era easily, completely transported there without even having to think about it, enjoying the attention to detail and her evocative descriptions, for example:

"Only in the darkest corners of the tenement street, where the sun never quite penetrated, did the silt of muck, canal slop and coal rake shine wetly between the uneven cobbles. Elsewhere all was as dry as dust, baked by a late summer sun that shone relentlessly.."

We meet George who lives with his father, a birdcage maker. I loved the description of the birdcages - I felt I could almost touch them from the beautiful images Riordan created. The sense of passion and love the owner felt for them immediately made them feel special and as significant as the characters in the book. Riordan conjures up the artistic skill and patience that creates something so arresting with phrases like "....gently as though it were wrought from glass, he lifted down the cage. Though unpainted, it was delicately crafted, with fine tendrils of metal wound into the likeness of roses at its tapering top and ivy leaves threaded around the base......he could manipulate and shape the bands of metal into miniature aviaries as if he was twisting ribbons... though the finished cages were as sturdy a they appeared delicate..." I was left hankering after one for myself!

This particular Birdcage was "the grandest cage he had ever made" which subtly implies the significance that it will have in the novel - not only is it special to George's father, it also becomes more symbolic. It is the sale of this birdcage to a wealthy gentleman which changes the course of George's life forever. George also uses it as a metaphor for marriage and to explain how he feels about the character of Charlotte. In fact, the more I reflect upon it, the more I realise just how significant the birdcage imagery (and then implicitly the connotations of birds, flight and freedom) is to many aspects of the novel's plot and characters.

George is an interesting character. I felt sympathy towards him. He is an honest, hardworking young man who hankers after a better life - it is not necessarily the wealth of Clemmie's family (the daughter for whom the gentleman bought the cage) that he envies but more the intellectual potential and promise that her life holds; the opportunities he cannot access. His interest and budding friendship with Clemmie is genuine and innocent. It is his integrity that actually becomes his downfall.

His sense of class and place is palpable and reminds us firmly of the era in which the story takes place and therefore the consequences this will have on the future for George when his character is called into question. I loved the Booth's maid whose distain for having to serve George - someone of her own class- is captured through the following description: "looking openly disgusted the maid withdrew and soon returned with a white enamelled plate and a large mug of stewed tea". She will put him firmly in his place even if the family won't. Similarly George's painful awareness of his position is agonisingly captured through the "strain to behave in the correct way, to not betray himself".

Similarly, Charlotte, George's best friend, and Cissy, his sister, are well drawn characters. Charlotte's vivaciousness compliments George's cautiousness and her jealousy is deftly portrayed. I love the way Riordan is able (in all her novels) to convey so much through such understated phrases, for example Charlotte's reaction to George's fondness for Clemmie is actually more significant as it unsettles all she thought she was sure of -"as if her knack of carelessness had been stolen when her back was turned". I guess this also shows how "dangerous" perhaps George's attempts to transcend class barriers are and the risks of imagining himself to be worthy of a place in Clemmie's parlour.

I also related to Cissy who at every turn just tries to do what she thinks is for the best even when unwittingly affecting the dramatic turn of events.

Riordan's novel is captivating and atmospheric. Her moments of thoughtful observation are as compelling as the events in the story itself. In his short life, George undergoes a huge journey of self discovery through his interaction with Charlotte. His revaluation of his father was particularly moving as he realised "the gentleness George had always loved and prized had warped into passivity; the quietness that once seemed like self assurance, now seemed to reveal itself as weakness."

I really do love Riordan's writing. It is atmospheric and haunting. Her use of George's letters to break up the chapters added real intrigue and gave the story some additional suspense. The historic detail is so well intwined that the book reads with an assured authenticity. The dialogue is convincing and the charters are all very three dimensional and well drawn. Each of them leaves a mark on the reader.

What is more captivating is that this is actually based on a true story. For me, this made the ending so much more poignant and powerful. I was gripped and I could have highlighted pages and pages of exquisite description and imagery that appealed to me.

With only one more of her books to go on my To Be Read pile, I am almost delaying reading it. A sense that I will be left rather bereft once I have finished it already puts me of starting it!!

If you like Katherine Webb, Kate Morton, Sarah Waters, Emily Organ, Kate Mosse or Kate Summerscale, then you should definitely give this book a go. And as it was published in 2012, it is available on Amazon for an exceptionally reasonable price!

If you'd like to read more of my recommendations and reviews then you can follow me on Twitter @katherinesunde3