**BLOG TOUR** A Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart

      A BOY MADE OF BLOCKS BY KEITH STUART 

‘Funny, expertly plotted and written with enormous heart’ GRAEME SIMSION
‘Heartwarming, funny and special. I devoured this cracking book’ THE UNMUMSY MUM	‘Not just a great plot, but a rare sense of honesty and insight’ GUARDIAN
‘A wonderful novel that tugs at your heart’ DAILY MAIL	‘A heartwarming and wise story’ CATHY RENTZENBRINK
‘Tremendously moving’ HEAT	‘A wonderful read’ HUFFINGTON POST

         Published on 5^th January 2017 | Paperback and eBook price £7.99

A beautiful, funny and surprising story of family and love, perfect for fans of The Rosie Project, David Nicholls’ Us and Nick Hornby’s About a Boy.

MEET THIRTY SOMETHING DAD, ALEX… He loves his wife Jody, but has forgotten how to show it. He loves his son Sam, but doesn't understand him. Something has to change. And he needs to start with himself.

MEET EIGHT-YEAR-OLD SAM… To him the world is a puzzle he can't solve on his own.

When Sam starts to play Minecraft, it opens up a place where Alex and Sam begin to rediscover both themselves and each other… When life starts to tear one family apart, can they put themselves back together, one piece at a time?

A Boy Made of Blocks is a beautiful, funny and heartwarming story of family and love inspired by the author’s own experiences with his autistic son.

MY REVIEW FOR A BOY MADE OF BLOCKS: 

This is a tender novel, inspired by Stuart's own relationship with his son who has autism, about a father trying to rebuild his complicated relationship with his son and how they begin to bond over the computer game of Minecraft. It's an emotional read with moments of sadness, frustration and anger but yet full of humour, warmth and love. It reads very much like a Nick Hornby or David Nicholls book; accessible, fluid, easy and engaging- a good light read.

The book opens with Alex, the father, separating from his wife Jody as the pressure of raising a son whose condition is so consuming and demanding that it has sadly become too much for both of them. Alex gives an honest and frank admission of the effects of parenting a child with autism:

"We've basically spent out whole marriage worrying about Sam - his outbursts, his silence, the days he'd scream at us, the days he'd hide in his bed and shrink from any contact at all. Days and days, stretching out to months, trying to anticipate the next breakdown. And while we were coping with that, the things that Jody and I had together somehow faded away."

It's difficult enough to prioritise your relationship with small children anyway, so I can certainly understand Alex and Jody's situation - neither are to blame and neither are too angry but there is a sense of mental and emotional exhaustion which makes the effort of each other too much. However, Stuart's writing is humorous and the fact that the story comes from Alex's point of view rather than Jody's probably helps distance the reader from becoming overwhelmed by the emotional issues in the novel. I really enjoyed Stuart's wry comparisons about how Alex and Jody respond to their separation, for example, the women go out to lunch with that "effortless unguarded frankness that most men are incapable of. You know:'Have some of this lemon cake, it's lovely and also, tell me more about the emotionally apocalyptic disintegration of your nine-year marriage?'" The men have a conversation about football which includes a couple of very loose similes for Alex's situation. Other than that it is largely ignored and Alex finds himself camping on a flat airbed in his friends flat, seeking refuge in the pub or in a video game.

However, Alex is not shallow and he is not unaffected by the separation. He is a dedicated father who loves his son Sam deeply. He fights for Sam - "you learn the rules and exploit them..you fight for every test, every consultation, every specialist.." He just struggles with how to parent him at times. And this is not something he can be admonished for - in fact, it encourages more empathy - it is his care, love and responsibility for his son that has lead to his sense of failure and helplessness.

"Sam is the planet of concern and confusion that we have been orbiting for most of our relationship."

And he feels guilty that they have struggled so much when their diagnosis is that Sam is on the upper end of the autism spectrum - "the easy end. The shallow end....the underlying message being: you've got it easy compared to other parents." But as Alex states, "labels only get you so far." When Sam is screaming and shouting they can say "it's Autism" but "Autism is a sort of malevolent spirit, a poltergeist, a demon. Sometimes it really is like living in The Exorcist." Labels don't "help you sleep, stop you from getting angry and frustrated".

"Because of autism, there is no Jody and I, there is Jody, me and the problem of Sam. That's how it feels. But I can't say that. I can barely think it."

The novel also offers insight to the day to day struggle of living with autism. Stuart's convivial language easily conveys situations and provides pertinent, striking examples without sounding in any way educative or text book like. This is not a "guide to dealing with autism" or an autobiography but there are some descriptions which I thought really captured what parents with children who have autism must feel. As Alex tells us "Autistic children do not all have special powers.... To Sam, the world is a gigantic engine that needs to function in a certain way, with predictable actions, in order to ensure his safety...... everyone else is playing this huge game and he's got to try to figure it out as he goes along. It's exhausting ....we have to explain everything over and over...some rules will never make sense to him."

But such heart rendering explanations are often contrasted with comments that will raise a smile and reestablish the balance of this ultimately "feel good" read. I especially liked the things Sam has "shared" with people as he often says the first thing that comes into his head and with very little awareness of what's appropriate and what should not be repeated to people's faces, although excruciating for Alex and Jody, it did make me giggle! Or Alex's account of breakfast:

"CAREFULLY CUBED fruit. Have you ever cut apples into exact one-centimetre cubes at five in the morning? It's tough- especially when the recipient makes Gordon Ramsay look laid back and amenable."

Or during a very public tantrum:

"Jody had to restrain me from picking Sam up, handing him over to the concerned woman on the deckchair next to us and saying. "Here, honestly, you take him."

Although I think there is not a parent among us who has not had that feeling at some point!

Then there is a shift in the novel. Alex and Sam discover Minecraft. With three young children myself, this is a game I am very familiar with and to be honest, what attracted me to the book in the first place. For those not in the know, Minecraft is basically like lego but on screen. You create virtual worlds, build the most awesome structures, raise animals and it seems to have endless potential. I think it is a very imaginative and creative game which probably teaches engineering, planning, maths, architecture and story telling. For Sam, it gives him a world which he can control. A world in which the the rules can be ambiguous and ever changing but ultimately, a world in which he is in charge and he understands how to operate within.

To begin with, Alex and Sam simply find the gentle background music of the game "hypnotic" and then when Sam explains some aspects of the game to Alex he speaks the longest sentence Alex has ever heard; "It pours out unselfconsciously. No stutters, no breaks.....it feels revelatory." They then use the world of Minecraft to navigate the real world, using it as a distraction when they are out or making parallels and comparisons so that Sam is suddenly walking past dogs or things that usually act as a trigger obliviously, so deeply engaged in his virtual universe. And then they are able to use Minecraft to talk about autism.

"I am like a Creeper!"
"What because if people get close to you, you explode?"
"Yes!"

While finally managing to connect with Sam, Alex has a series of epiphany like moments about his relationship with Autism, with Sam, with Sam's education, with Jody and suddenly by seeing the world from a different perspective, he gains clarity and understanding. Alex almost "wakes up" after having travelled as a "passenger staring out the window at the rolling scenery" and now wanting to "drag the driver out, punch him in the face and steal the car." He wants to "reconnect with the world." By the end of the novel I was wondering who Minecraft really saved and who really was the character needing saving.

What is really engaging about this book is the down to earth tone of narrative and the very "up front" and honest voice of Alex. He is a very likeable character; he is ordinary, he is fallible, he mishandles things, he makes mistakes. He is a parent trying to do his best. This book is an emotional journey for him but it is written with a gentle warmth. It is not moralistic or patronising. Although a very valuable and interesting account of autism, it is as much about parenting, marriage and facing responsibilities and a great read for anyone with children. It didn't feel like a novel "about autism", it felt like watching Hugh Grant in an amiable Saturday afternoon movie. In fact, I hope it does make it to the screen as I think it would be an excellent BBC drama.

Stuart has added an afterword about the true story behind the book. He says:

"Video games get a bad rap; we often think of them as things we need to control and limit- by they can also be a permissive space where people learn and share and create, without judgement or confinement."

And I'd like to leave you with his final thoughts:

"Life puts up so many barriers to people who are different. Any tool that helps us to appreciate those people - whoever they are, however they differ from us- is a precious thing. This is what I learned and what this book is about."

In 2012 one of KEITH STUART's two sons was diagnosed on the autism spectrum. The ramifications felt huge. But then Keith and both boys started playing videogames together - especially Minecraft. Keith had always played games and, since 1995, has been writing about them, first for specialist magazines like Edge and PC Gamer then, for the last ten years, as games editor for the Guardian. The powerful creative sharing as a family and the blossoming of communication that followed informed his debut novel.

For further information please contact:

Kirsteen Astor, Publicity Director Kirsteen.astor@littlebrown.co.uk | 020 3122 6621

Clara Diaz, Press Officer, clara.diaz@littlebrown.co.uk | 020 3122 6565

www.boymadeofblocks.com | @keefstuart | #MadeofBlocks

For more reviews and recommendations from me please follow me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk)

**BLOGTOUR** RELATIVITY by Antonia Hayes

‘A true storyteller: her characters are alive’ Christos Tsiolkas, author of The Slap

‘Wonderful; a beautifully written, heart-breaking novel’

S J Watson, author of Before I Go to Sleep

‘Genuinely difficult to put down’ Greeme Simsion, author of The Rosie Project

‘I tore through it’ Courtney Collins, author of The Burial

ANTONIA HAYES

relativity

Published 17^th January 2017

Paperback | £8.99

‘An affecting, gripping debut novel about the nature of family and identity’

Mail on Sunday

Ethan is an exceptionally gifted young boy, obsessed with physics and astronomy.

His single mother Claire is fiercely protective of her brilliant, vulnerable son. But she can’t shield him forever from learning the truth about what happened to him when he was a baby; why Mark had to leave them all those years ago.

Now age twelve, Ethan is increasingly curious about his past, especially his father’s absence in his life.  When he intercepts a letter to Claire from Mark, he opens a lifetime of feelings that, like gravity, will pull the three together again.

Relativity is a tender and triumphant story about unbreakable bonds, irreversible acts, and testing the limits of love and forgiveness.

MY REVIEW OF RELATIVITY 

I first read about this book on social media but as Hayes is Australian I didn't think I'd be able to get hold of a copy so I was absolutely over the moon when I received one from Clara Diaz at Little, Brown. It must have been all that wishing upon a star and the forces of the cosmos working in my favour!

Who knew I would fall in love with a book about astrophysics and physics? Certainly not my forte ever, or something I've ever really been able to get to grips with but oh my, in this book Hayes makes science full of colour, shape, vitality and creativity. Her ability to write so lyrically and poetically about forces, meteorology, mathematics and the brain is impressive and makes this book unputdownable. In the way that Mark Haddon also achieved with his character with autism, Hayes has portrayed the mind of a young child -whose genius is also sometimes his disability -with authenticity and created a character that we immediately care about, engage with and become very fond of. This sensitive balance between Ethan's narrative, his issues, the story lines of Claire and Mark as they navigate their way through relationships, parenthood and their own emotional journeys and the delicate writing style has resulted in a book which I felt was fresh, original and very readable.

From the beginning we can see that Ethan is different. He sees things in a different way to everyone else. His obsession with stars and astronomy affects the way he perceives the world around him.

"The constellation of Ethan. Made up of his symptoms, his ancient stars: subdural haematoma, haemorrhages, cerebal oedema. They made a picture, told a story. His story." 

"He saw radar pulses and radio waves, spirals and loops unfurling into time and space......He saw the hydrogen and helium that make up incandescent stars, whirling distant pinwheel galaxies.....all the ripples of a universe, spinning in a galactic soup around him." 

Hayes imagery is thoughtful and highly imaginative. It continues to be throughout the entire novel. The use of colour also helps Hayes to convey Ethan's sense of the world and I thought his understanding of his diagnosis was simple, naive and innocent:

"sitting on the spectrum made Ethan think of a row of chairs running along a rainbow." 

And a good contrast to the rather dampening Doctor's definition that sometimes an extraordinary skill is "compensation for an extraordinary deficiency."

Ethan's love for his mother is clear and their relationship is captured from the way he first describes her:

"When Ethan looked at his mum, he saw another universe, a world intact, of soothing shapes and soft textures, of beautiful angles and the warmest light. His universe."

They have a very close bond and Claire is fiercely loyal about protecting Ethan. She understands the dangerous implications of being "gifted" and she too is carrying several deep secrets not only about Ethan's past and the estrangement with his father, but also complex issues about her own childhood and relationship with her parents. There were numerous lines that I highlighted while reading and Claire's more blunt and pragmatic observations strike a contrast against Ethan's happy oblivion. They also ensure a balance within the pace, structure and tone of the novel, but a subtle reference or inference to astrology is never far away.....

"Motherhood could easily annihilate whatever came before it........Parenting a shining star meant being overshadowed.....[she had] eclipsed her mother but her mother couldn't live without the light."

There are plenty of moments when you just want to hover over a line or sentence for a while and absorb the weight of the words and the gravity of the idea that Hayes is probing. This is a ponderous book but at the same time, moves on at a reasonable pace, propelled by the domestic drama and human interest provided by Claire and Mark.

Some of the themes and ideas I would love to spend more time reflecting on were the idea of dreams, memory, second chances, mistakes, the past and gravity. There are some beautiful conversations between the characters and Claire and Mark's understanding that although their relationship is troubled, they remain each other's constant. Hayes implies that there is a gravitational pull between people, a traumatic past can not be revisited or undone as time travel is a physical impossibility, but the past can become a stronger foundation for a more successful future.

"The most difficult steps in the choreography were always the most memorable of the dance."

Hayes did something for me which no teacher or scientist has managed before and that was to show physics as something beautiful and intriguing. As one of the characters points out, It isn't the certainty of physics that makes it interesting but the "discovery.....the beauty of the unknown." This novel is all about possibility, making the impossible happen, realignment, rediscovery, forgiveness and new beginnings. All things which happen in fiction and in science. Ethan uses science to help him look for a better future and to give him hope.

"Physics was full of paradoxes and duality."
"Theories were disproven all the time. There were no universal truths, just views of the world yet to be proven wrong."

It's too long to quote but there was some lovely passages about Gravity towards the end of the book. There were some great phrases about all it does, from making tears run down our faces to keeping our feet on the ground, from attraction to a bond that binds us together. 

The final thing to mention are the chapter headings. They are all key words from physics - time, space, momentum, acceleration, inertia, magnetism ....... This yet again reinforces the key metaphors and themes that Hayes explores within science, within fiction and within a family. I really enjoyed this story and really enjoyed the writing style. It is Hayes first novel and I am seriously excited about looking out for this writer in the future! 

If you enjoyed "A Boy Made of Blocks" then you will enjoy this book. I thought there were similarities between the father / son relationship in this novel.

Antonia Hayes, who grew up in Sydney and spent her twenties in Paris, currently lives in London with her husband and son. Relativity is her first novel.

For further information please contact Clara Diaz on

020 3122 6565 | clara.diaz@littlebrown.co.uk

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

Bibliomaniac's Book Club: Criminally Good Books

Today's post is of full of bibliomania for Criminally Good Books!



On Wednesday 18th January 2017, Bibliomaniac's Book Club will be hosting a live event featuring four crime writers. Here's everything you need to know about them and their books!

So, are you ready? It's time to get seriously thrilled, chilled and scared rigid by four criminally good authors!



FOLLOW ME by Angela Clarke

LIKE. SHARE. FOLLOW . . . DIE

The ‘Hashtag Murderer’ posts chilling cryptic clues online, pointing to their next target. Taunting the police. Enthralling the press. Capturing the public’s imagination.

But this is no virtual threat.

As the number of his followers rises, so does the body count.

Eight years ago two young girls did something unforgivable. Now ambitious police officer Nasreen and investigative journalist Freddie are thrown together again in a desperate struggle to catch this cunning, fame-crazed killer. But can they stay one step ahead of him? And can they escape their own past?

Time's running out. Everyone is following the #Murderer. But what if he is following you?

ONLINE, NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM. . .

Bibliomaniac's review of Follow Me


WATCH ME by Angela Clarke

YOU HAVE SIX SECONDS TO READ THIS MESSAGE…

The body of a 15-year-old is found hours after she sends a desperate message to her friends. It looks like suicide, until a second girl disappears.

This time, the message is sent directly to the Metropolitan Police – and an officer’s younger sister is missing.

DS Nasreen Cudmore and journalist Freddie Venton will stop at nothing to find her. But whoever’s behind the notes is playing a deadly game of hide and seek – and the clock is ticking.

YOU HAVE 24 HOURS TO SAVE THE GIRL’S LIFE.
MAKE THEM COUNT.

Bibliomaniac's review of Watch Me

Guest Post from Angela Clarke



THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR by Cass Green

Two suburban women. Two dark secrets. The almost perfect murder.

Everybody needs good neighbours…

Melissa and Hester have lived next door to each other for years. When Melissa’s daughter was younger, Hester was almost like a grandmother to her. But recently they haven’t been so close.

Hester has plans to change all that. It’s obvious to her that despite Melissa’s outwardly glamorous and successful life, she needs Hester’s help.

But taking help from Hester might not be such a good idea for a woman with as many secrets as Melissa…

Bibliomaniac's review of The Woman Next Door
Bibliomaniac's Q&A with Cass Green
Guest Post from Cass Green

  

BLACK WOOD by SJI Holliday

Something happened to Claire and Jo in Black Wood: something that left Claire paralysed and Jo with deep mental scars. 

But with Claire suffering memory loss and no evidence to be found, nobody believes Jo's story. Twenty-three years later, a familiar face walks into the bookshop where Jo works, dredging up painful memories and rekindling her desire for vengeance. And at the same time, Sergeant Davie Gray is investigating a balaclava-clad man who is attacking women on a disused railway, shocking the sleepy village of Banktoun. 

But what is the connection between Jo's visitor and the masked man? To catch the assailant, and to give Jo her long-awaited justice, Gray must unravel a tangled web of past secrets, broken friendship and tainted love. But can he crack the case before Jo finds herself with blood on her hands?

WILLOW WALK by SJI Holliday

When the past catches up, do you run and hide or stand and fight? 

When a woman is brutally attacked on a lonely country road by an escaped inmate from a nearby psychiatric hospital, Sergeant Davie Gray must track him down before he strikes again. But Gray is already facing a series of deaths connected to legal highs and a local fairground, as well as dealing with his girlfriend Marie's bizarre behaviour. As Gray investigates the crimes, he suspects a horrifying link between Marie and the man on the run - but how can he confront her when she's pushing him away? As a terrified Marie is pulled back into a violent past she thought she'd escaped, she makes an irrevocable decision. 

And when events come to a head at a house party on Willow Walk, can Gray piece together the puzzle in time to stop the sleepy town of Banktoun being rocked by tragedy once more?

Bibliomaniac's review of Willow Walk

THE DAMSELFLY by SJI Holliday

Katie Taylor is the perfect student. She’s bright and funny, she has a boyfriend who adores her and there are only a few months left of school before she can swap Banktoun for the bright lights of London. Life gets even better when she has an unexpected win on a scratch card. But then Katie’s luck runs out.

Her tragic death instead becomes the latest in a series of dark mysteries blighting the small town. The new school counsellor Polly McAllister, who has recently returned to Banktoun to make amends in her own personal life, is thrown in at the deep end as the pupils and staff come to terms with Katie’s death. And it’s not long before she uncovers a multitude of murky secrets. Did Katie have enemies? Is her boyfriend really so squeaky clean? And who is her brother’s mysterious friend?

With Banktoun’s insular community inflamed by gossip and a baying mob stirring itself into a frenzy on social media, DS Davie Gray and DC Louise Jennings must work out who really murdered Katie before someone takes matters into their own hands . . .

Bibliomaniac's review of The Damselfly 

Guest Blog Post from SJI Holliday  



JOURNEY TO DEATH by Leigh Russell

Lucy Hall arrives in the Seychelles determined to leave her worries behind. The tropical paradise looks sun-soaked and picture-perfect—but as Lucy soon discovers, appearances can be very deceptive. A deadly secret lurks in the island’s history, buried deep but not forgotten. And it is about to come to light.

As black clouds begin to gather over what promised to be a relaxing family break, Lucy realises that her father stands in the eye of the coming storm. A shadow from his past is threatening to destroy all that he holds dear—including the lives of his loved ones.

A dark truth is about to explode into their lives, and that truth is going to hit them right between the eyes.

MURDER RING (DI Geraldine Steel #8) by Leigh Russell

Hearing footsteps pounding along the street behind him he glanced back, fleetingly worried, then laughed because the street was deserted. All the same, he felt uneasy. Everything looked different in the dark. 

Then he heard more footsteps approaching, and a hoarse voice called out. Turning his head, he made out a figure hovering in the shadows and as it raised one arm, the barrel of a gun glinted in the moonlight… 

The dead body of unassuming David Lester is discovered in a dark side-street, and DI Geraldine Steel is plunged into another murder investigation. The clues mount up along with the suspects, but with the death of another man in inexplicable circumstances, the case becomes increasingly complex. As Geraldine investigates the seemingly unrelated crimes, she makes a shocking discovery about her birth mother.

Bibliomaniac's review of Murder Ring

COLD SACRIFICE by Leigh Russell

When three dead bodies are discovered in Detective Ian Peterson's hometown of Kent, it becomes clear that a vicious killer is on the loose. And without his trusted colleague, Detective Geraldine Steel, by his side, Ian's left to take the lead on a complex murder case with few clues.

The first victim is a middle-aged woman named Martha, brutally stabbed to death in the local park. Her husband, who did not report her missing, is the prime suspect until a young prostitute, Della, reveals his whereabouts the night Martha was murdered. But then she is strangled to death in her apartment. While the police are frantically gathering evidence and looking for a connection, a second prostitute is suffocated.

With nothing but the timing of the murders to tie the three women to one another, Ian and his new partner, Polly Mortimer, struggle to make sense of the case and find the elusive killer before he strikes again. But by the time Ian realizes the truth, it may be too late to save Polly.

DEADLY ALIBI by Leigh Russell 

A double murder investigation threatens not only Geraldine Steel's career, but her life...

'Unmissable' – Lee Child

Two murder victims and a suspect whose alibi appears open to doubt.... Geraldine Steel is plunged into a double murder investigation which threatens not only her career, but her life. And then her previously unknown twin Helena turns up, with problems which are about to make Geraldine's life turn toxic in more ways than one!

For fans of Rachel Abbott, Angela Marsons, Peter James and Robert Bryndza, Deadly Alibi is a gripping murder investigation that will keep you turning the pages late into the night 


Bibliomaniac's review of Deadly Alibi

Guest Post from Leigh Russell

To keep up to date with all Bibliomaniac's reviews, recommendations, author interviews and Bibliomaniac's Book Club information please follow on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk) or sign up to receive all future posts via email on this blogsite.

**AUTHOR POST** Cass Green

 I am absolutely thrilled to welcome Cass Green to my blog today! Cass is author of the chilling and unnerving novel "The Woman Next Door" as well as the author of several YA titles. She is appearing at my first live author event, Criminally Good Books, on Wednesday 18th January.

Today she tells us all about how her collection of Sindy dolls helped teach her how to tell a good story and her yearning for an Action Man!

Thanks so much Cass for popping along today and sharing your thoughts about how your flair for writing psychological thrillers was born!

CASS GREEN: STORYTELLING 

When I get asked how long I’ve been writing stories, I always mention my brilliant teacher from the final year of primary school. Mr Hyde used to set regular writing prompts, giving us words or images, which we had to descriptively about to a set word count.

I still remember the class outrage when the prompt was simply, ‘the colour grey,’ until we got stuck in, finding much to say about thunderstorms, gun barrels and the sea in wintertime. We were also encouraged to take part in a weekly wall display of stories and I used to spend a lot of time on this, fretting about how to get my characters into and out of trouble. (No change there then…)

But if you ask me how long I have been making up stories in my head, we have to go back even further than that, to when I was a mere slip of a lass.

Now, while I’ve always wished I could say I was the sort of girl who climbed trees and swung ropes over rivers, that would be a long way from the truth. I was fairly low maintenance and basically had three activities that made me happy: reading, drawing, and, most of all, playing with my dolls. None of these involved mud or risk. Or even being outside.

I had a motley collection of Sindys and Barbies, some with missing limbs, and often with ‘artfully’ drawn makeup - blue biro for the eyes, red for the lips. I longed to have my own Action Man for the boy parts in my stories, but never worked up the nerve to ask for one for Christmas. So the male roles were all played by an unappealing elf toy with a hard plastic face. It had a pointy blue hat (which was sewn on. Believe me, I tried to get that sucker off) and bells on its toes but it had a vaguely boyish face. Needs must and so Elf-boy was never short of roles. He was usually a complete bounder, forever cheating on whichever doll was his wife at the time.

I distinctly remember a murder plot, in which he Barbie planned to bump off poor Sindy (by this point a mere torso, a head and a single arm) so they could run away together with her fortune. She was a rich heiress with a fatal illness that somehow related to her lack of working limbs. (I think leprosy was part of the game at one point, my medical knowledge being limited.)

I didn’t have to go far for inspiration to fuel these stories. My mum was a huge fan of old Hollywood films, so my games were given a constant drip feed of drama and intrigue from the likes of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

 I often tell my writing students that conflict is the engine of storytelling and this was a lesson I think I learned from a young age, playing quietly in a corner of the sitting room, with a million different stories playing out on my own small stage and a black and white film flickering in the background.

You might say my career as a thriller writer was perhaps born right there.

But I still wish I’d plucked up the courage to ask for an Action Man.

Amazon link to The Woman Next Door

To read my review of The Woman Next Door please click here:

Bibliomaniac's Review of The Woman Next Door

Bibliomaniac's Q&A with Cass Green








Cass Green is the adult pen name of Caroline Green, an award -winning author of fiction for young people. Her first novel, Dark Ride won the RONA Young Adult Book of the Year and the Waverton Good Read Award. Cracks and Hold Your Breath garnered rave reviews and were shortlisted for eleven awards between them, including: The Amazing Book Award; The Catalyst Book Award The Leeds Book Award; The Hampshire Book Award; Sefton Super Reads, the Oldham Book Award and The Stockport Book Award. She is the Writer in Residence at East Barnet School and teaches Writing for Children at City University. Caroline has been a journalist for over twenty years and has written for many broadsheet newspapers and glossy magazines.

You can find out more about Cass by following her on Twitter or via her website:
@CassGreenWriter
cassgreen.co.uk

For more recommendations, reviews and Bibliomaniac's Book Club updates please follow me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk)

"Lillian Boxfish takes a Walk" by Kathleen Rooney

I need to keep a list of which blogger it is that recommends me which book - someone gave this novel a shout out, I fell in love with the cover and requested it straight away. I also fell in love with Lillian Boxfish too. So whoever it was who brought this book to my attention -thank you so much!

It’s the last day of 1984, and 85-year-old Lillian Boxfish is about to take a walk.

As she traverses a grittier Manhattan, a city anxious after an attack by a still-at-large subway vigilante, she encounters bartenders, bodega clerks, chauffeurs, security guards, bohemians, criminals, children, parents, and parents-to-be—in surprising moments of generosity and grace. While she strolls, Lillian recalls a long and eventful life that included a brief reign as the highest-paid advertising woman in America—a career cut short by marriage, motherhood, divorce, and a breakdown.

Lillian Boxfish is inspired in part by the life and work of the poet and ad woman Margaret Fishback- the real highest-paid female advertising copywriter in the world during the 1930s at R H Macy's. 

This is like "Mad Men for Women" - perhaps a parallel series when Peggy takes centre stage and gets to fully show off her talents- "Mad Men" crossed with a more upbeat, less serious Jane Eyre or Elizabeth Bennet. Lillian is wry, witty, sharp, intelligent and fascinating. This is a swift 290 page enjoyable read about a memorable character full of colour, flair and edginess. 

"There once was a girl named Phoebe Snow. She wore only white and held tight to a violet corsage, an emblem of modesty. She was not retiring though, and her life spun out as a series of journeys through mountain tunnels carved from poetry. .......No there wasn't. She was just an advertisement." 

And so opens the novel and the story of Lillian Boxfish. 

Lillian Boxfish who is led to Manhattan and poetry by Phoebe Snow, applying for jobs with a short rhyme which lands her a position at the department store R H Macy's and the start of a successful career in advertising and poetry writing. Determined not to live the life of her mother who married and left behind her education to run an efficient household where ironically, she became a women who was quickly affronted by "anyone not living a life that fit the mould of her own- wifedom, motherhood....." Lillian bravely defies conventions from the outset.

It is the last day of the year and our bold, confident protagonist starts her walk around the city telling us about her career, marriage, family life and other key events in her past. The writing is fluent and well paced so you happily keep up with Lillian, hardly noticing the number of steps you're clocking up as you pound the streets alongside her; listening intently to her amusing, frustrating and interesting anecdotes. Her experiences, both professionally and domestically, offer real insights to the role of women in the 50s. Rooney has created a very natural narrative voice that is engaging- humorous, honest and entertaining rather than  informative or educative. Although Rooney clearly did her research thoroughly, this does not feel in any way like a history lesson or an author showing off every shred of detail they have gathered. I would have loved to listen to this as an audio book or on the radio to emphasise the feeling that Lillian was sat in the room talking to me. 

Lillian is a really remarkable character. She is hilarious. She is stylish, individual and determined. She is dedicated and focussed. She can talk her way in to and out of any situation. She thinks of herself as fashionably strange. 

"If you love something, know that it will leave on a day you are far from ready. I apply my Helena Rubinstein Orange Fire lipstick from one of the tubes I stockpiled in the 1950s. When I heard it would be discontinued, I bought twenty five. That lipstick fascinated me then, it fascinates me still: its colour, its spiral stripes, its waxy fragrance and ineffable taste. No cosmetic has ever suited me better."

She can be fierce and she can be brutal in her assessment of others, but it is so amusingly told, with such a dry and droll voice that you cannot help but grin. 

"I tried to twist my anticipatory wince into grin. I had only given Olive that assignment to make her feel better and keep her busy, and I had to resist the urge to hold her attempt with two fingers at arm's length, like something disgusting. Stay gentle Boxfish, I chided myself. Today may be the day she finally figures it out." 

But, as all the best comics knows, you can never mistake comedy for happiness, or good cheer for joy.  For example, she recognises the inequalities in the workplace and the obstacles in the way of any progression up the career ladder. I really smiled at the way Lillian voices her opinions and how her choice of language always creates effect.

"'Nobody asked these fellows with salaries to reproduce themselves,' I said, 'And were I ever to have a family, you wouldn't let me keep working here. Ladies get the boot the instant they show signs of spawning. Not that that matters to me, since I'd sooner die than join the wife-and-mother brigade.'"

But, inevitably, she does. And the tone of the novel changes. 

Marriage and motherhood take Lillian on a traumatic detour, one which is written with searing honesty. Again we are shown the complexity of Lillian's character despite her outward appearance, and these sections about her life with husband Max and the birth of her son are gritty, real and sensitive. 

Throughout the novel, Lillian brings us back to 1984 and I found her comments and reflections about the changes in advertising and the art of persuasion really pertinent. She constantly reflects on the absurdity of what she did for a job and how the effect these opportunities at R H Macys and her passion for her job both enhanced and damaged her life. 

The book ends with a moment of contemplation. 

"We drift- all of us - farther from the fraught spasm of midnight, settling into the fog of another year."

And perhaps one final inspirational quote from Ms Boxfish:

"My true religion is actually civility" 

"Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk" publishes on the 17th January.

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