On My Aunt’s Shallow Grave White Roses Have Already Bloomed by Maria Mitsora

On My Aunt’s Shallow Grave White Roses Have Already Bloomed by Maria Mitsora
English language translation by Jacob Moe published by Yale University Press on the 18th September 2018.

Featured in Cover Characteristics: Eyes

How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository
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	Amazon US / Amazon UK

A collection of short stories by an acclaimed contemporary Greek writer, reminiscent of Lydia Davis and Jenny Offill

This collection assembles sixteen of Maria Mitsora’s short stories in what adds up to be a retrospective of the author’s work, spanning forty years. Moving across the urban netherworld of Athens to imagined Latin American towns and science-fiction dystopias, Mitsora animates the alternatingly dark and revelatory aspects of the human psyche, depicting a world in which her protagonists are caught between reality and myth, predestination and chance, rationality and twisted dreams.

Mitsora led a generation of writers whose work articulated major transitions in the Greek literary scene, from 1970s historical and political sensibilities shaped in response to the military Junta to a contemporary focus on a fragmented, multicultural world. Her consistent experimentation with the short story form—a dominant genre in Greek prose writing since the nineteenth century—ranges from psychologically dark, surrealist work to more recent reflective and poetic writings.

Unfortunately this short story collection was a DNF for me. I read the first three of the sixteen stories and found them to be just too experimental for my tastes. Mitsora does create some amazing images and snapshots of scenes, and I did like her turns of phrase, but I generally had no idea what was going on in each story. The narratives seem to go off at so much of a tangent that I couldn't keep up.


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A Laughing Matter of Pain by Cynthia Hilston

A Laughing Matter of Pain by Cynthia Hilston
Self published in America today, the 29th September 2018.

Featured in Cover Characteristics: Windows

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository
	Wordery (unavailable)
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	Amazon US / Amazon UK

Add A Laughing Matter of Pain to your Goodreads

Harry Rechthart always knew how to laugh, but laughter can hide a lot of pain that’s drowned by the bottle and good times. He grew up the joker in the early 1900s in Cleveland, Ohio, but as he enters adulthood, conflict splits him. His once close relationship with his brother, Erik, breaks as they come into their own and Erik goes off to college. No longer under Erik’s shadow, Harry feels he might finally shine and make others see him as someone to be proud of. Harry finds an unlikely comrade who understands how he feels–his younger sister, Hannah. Once free of high school, Harry and Hannah double date sister and brother, Kat and Will Jones, attending wild, extravagant parties during the years of Prohibition. Harry thinks he’s won at life–he’s found love in Kat, in a good time, and in the bottle. But all the light goes out fast when Harry’s alcoholism leads to disastrous consequences for him and Kat.

Harry thinks the joke’s on him now that he’s sunk lower than ever. He’s in jail. He’s pushed away his family. He’s a broken man, but in the darkest depths of a prison cell, there is hope. Can Harry rebuild his life and learn that true laughter comes from knowing true joy, or will he bury himself once and for all in this laughing matter of pain?

I was attracted to this quirkily titled novel by its unusual cover image. The story is set mainly across the first four decades of the 20th century and is essentially a coming-of-age tale narrated engagingly in the first person by Harry Rechthart. I didn't actually like Harry very much although I did appreciate reading this story. As a young man he has a massive chip on his shoulder caused by his elder brother's apparent success. Harry spends a lot of the book telling us as readers, and most of the other characters, how hard he is trying to be a good person, but repeatedly seeing him choose to whine and drink instead of heeding his own claims did get quite infuriating! He is fond of blaming others for his own mistakes too.

A Laughing Matter Of Pain moves as a fast pace though Harry's life with occasional jumps of several years meaning significant events happen offpage as often as on. Hilston focuses on conversations between her characters so I felt I got to know most of the people fairly well although not in great depth. I would have liked a lot more in the way of historical detail as well. I didn't feel as though I got a strong sense of Prohibition-era America which was a shame as this is such an interesting period. For readers who prefer lighter issues driven fiction, A Laughing Matter Of Pain would be a good choice. The narrative doesn't get too dark, but does generally feel real.

Meet the author

Cynthia Hilston is a thirty-something-year-old stay at home mom of three young kids, happily married. Writing has always been like another child to her. After twenty years of waltzing in the world of fan fiction, she finally stepped away to do her debut dance with original works of fiction. Hannah's Rainbow: Every Color Beautiful is her first original novel. She's currently working on more books. Visit her website for more information.

In her spare time - what spare time? - she devours books, watches Doctor Who and Game of Thrones, pets her orange kitty, looks at the stars, and dreams of what other stories she wishes to tell.

Author links: 
Website ~ Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Instagram

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Books by Cynthia Hilston / Women's fiction / Books from America

The Groundsmen by Lynn Buckle

The Groundsmen by Lynn Buckle
Published by Epoque Press tomorrow, the 28th September 2018.

How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the publisher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository
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	Amazon US / Amazon UK

The Groundsmen delves into the fractured lives of a family blemished by a darkly disturbing past. The secrets kept hidden over multiple generations taint them all and as events spiral out of control in a cycle of violence, none of them will escape. The narrative is told from the perspective of five individual family members:
Louis is trapped under the dark shadow of his past with Toby.
Cally retreats to a world of myth and seeks a salvation that eludes her.
Andi is caught in a degenerate relationship of dependency and control.
Cassie is turning into a dog and burying the wreckage of all their lives in the garden.
Over them all looms the dark presence of the Groundsman’s hut.

The Groundsmen is a gorgeously written, yet very dark novel which explores issues of sexual abuse in a disturbingly dysfunctional family. It is told through first person narration with the point of view switching between five family members: Cally and her husband Louis, their daughters Andi and Cassie, and Louis' brother Toby. Each character speaks in a stream-of-consciousness style so, as readers, we are party to their innermost thoughts while also witnessing conversations and actions. A warning to potential readers: these thoughts, especially those of the male characters, are frequently chauvinistically repulsive and I found both Louis and Toby to be extremely offensive! I appreciated each family member having a distinctive voice so it was always easy for me to remember whose point of view I was reading.

Lynn Buckle has a wonderfully poetic style of writing which I felt worked well here. I couldn't always be sure exactly what was going on because actions and events are more often alluded to than explicitly described. This is completely in keeping with The Groundsmen's theme of secrecy and hidden lives so is cleverly effective although frustrating at times. My sympathies initially lay most clearly with young Cassie and her older sister Andi. Andi often comes across as the only adult in the family as she has to shoulder much of the responsibility for her sister. Cally was more difficult for me to understand as her reclusive behaviour made me question some of my own ideas.

The Groundsmen is a saddening novel. It has a depressing authenticity especially in its presentation of repeated cycles of abusive behaviour and how difficult both abused and abusing characters find it to break away from what has gone before. I found the book challenging both emotionally and technically. This deep and thoughtful story won't have mainstream bestseller appeal, but is certainly a rewarding read.


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Books by Lynn Buckle / Contemporary fiction / Books from England

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
First published by Riverhead Books in May 2007.

How I got this book:
Gift from my sister

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository
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	Amazon US / Amazon UK

Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed. Nearly two decades later, a friendship grows between Mariam and a local teenager, Laila, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. When the Taliban take over, life becomes a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear. Yet love can move a person to act in unexpected ways, and lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism.

I first read A Thousand Splendid Suns just over a decade ago (according to Goodreads). I remember reading it in a Scottish holiday chalet, having borrowed it from their library, and being happy that it is such a fast read because I needed to finish before it was time to leave! I loved the story then, as I did this time around, however I notice that I have matured as a reader over the past ten years because I wasn't as blindly impressed.

Following in the wake of Hosseini's lauded novel The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns focuses on the female experience in Afghanistan. I don't think it has anywhere near the same depth though. The story zips along at a good pace and, don't get me wrong, this is a very readable novel. I easily got caught up in Mariam and Laila's lives, feeling sorrowful or angry on their behalf as they are pulled from pillar to post seemingly without being allowed to make any decisions for themselves. Mariam and Laila suffer greatly through their lives yet always seem to remain dignified and almost noble, and I felt the male characters stayed rather flat. Rasheed in basically brutish and Tariq is nice. Hosseini has obviously written with a Western audience in mind so, disappointingly, I didn't feel I got much detail of Afghan culture other than those aspects depicting female oppression and I wanted more. I would describe A Thousand Splendid Suns as the fast food of Middle Eastern literature. It's great while I was reading, but turned out ultimately to be unsatisfying.


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Books by Khaled Hosseini / Contemporary fiction / Books from Afghanistan

Dead Men Do Come Back by Steven C Levi + Guest Post

Dead Men Do Come Back by Steven C Levi
Published by Crime Wave Press in May 2016.

Literary Flits Spotlight Giveaway Winner

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository
	Wordery
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Add Dead Men Do Come Back to your Goodreads

Why would someone kill a miner, freeze his body solid on a glacier and then drop it alongside the Juneau wharf, the one place where United States Marshal Gordon Whitford would be sure to find it?
Does it have anything to do with the 250 pounds of gold that have just been extracted from the Alaska Gastineau Mine? And how were both the frozen body and the gold able to disappear off a steamship that made no stops between Juneau and Seattle?
Now there is another shipment of 250 pounds of gold bound for Seattle - along with the miner's frozen body that has been recovered - again - floating just south of Juneau.
Will Marshal Whitford be able to solve the murder and the robbery before the next shipment of gold vanishes into thin air?

Meet The Author

Steven C Levi is a freelance historian and commercial writer who lives in Anchorage, Alaska, his home for the past 40 years. He has a BA in European History and MA in American history from the University of California Davis and San Jose State. Steven has published more than 80 books and specializes in history. His books on the Alaska Gold Rush include Boom and Bust in the Alaska Gold Fields; Cowboys of the Sky, the Human Face of the Alaska Gold Rush and a forensic analysis of Alaska's ghost ship, the Clara Nevada, which sank in 1898 and came back up in 1908 - minus 100,000 ounces of gold.

Connect with Steven
Crime Wave Press ~ Amazon ~ Goodreads

Steven C Levi guest post

DEAD MEN DO COME BACK is an unusual book for a number of reasons. In addition to the fact it includes real Alaska Gold Rush personalities, it presents the murder as a means of confusing the reader rather than being for focus of the book. The murder – and subsequent reappearance of the body twice – is simply the cover for two robberies of 250 pounds of gold from a mine in Juneau. Further, so little is known of the Alaska Gold Rush that most Americans think the Klondike Strike in the Yukon Territory of Canada – made famous by Jack London and Robert Service –IS the Alaska Gold Rush. Thus DEAD MEN DO COME BACK is unique as it offers the reader an on-the-ground look at the Alaska Gold Rush in Southeast Alaska where 250 pounds of gold was simply one-week’s shipment from one mine.


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The Locked Room by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

The Locked Room by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
First published in Swedish as Det slutna rummet in Sweden in 1972. English language translation by Joan Tate published in the UK by Pantheon in 1973.

My 1970s read for my 2018-19 Decade Challenge

How I got this book:
Bought at a charity book fair

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository
	Wordery
	Waterstones
	Amazon US / Amazon UK

The eighth classic instalment in this genre-changing series of novels starring Detective Inspector Martin Beck. This new edition has an introduction by Michael Connolly.

In one part of town, a woman robs a bank. In another, a corpse is found shot through the heart in a room locked from within, with no firearm in sight. Although the two incidents appear unrelated, Detective Inspector Martin Beck believes otherwise, and solving the mystery acquires the utmost importance. Haunted by a near-fatal bullet wound and trying to recover from the break-up of his unhappy marriage, Beck throws himself into the case to escape from the prison that his own life has come to resemble.

Written in the 1960s and 1970s, these masterpieces are the work of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo – a husband and wife team from Sweden. The ten novels follow the fortunes of the detective Martin Beck, whose enigmatic, taciturn character has inspired countless other policemen in crime fiction. The novels can be read separately, but do follow a chronological order, so the reader can become familiar with the characters and develop a loyalty to the series. Each book will have a new introduction in order to help bring these books to a new audience.

I've now read nine of the ten Martin Beck police mysteries and have only Cop Killer left unread, although I will happily reread the earlier unreviewed ones again when I get a gap in my hectic reading schedule! I think that The Locked Room is probably my favourite so far and I loved this take on the classic detective setup. Sjowall and Wahloo intertwine two apparently unrelated crimes and their ultimate connection of the dual narratives is simply brilliant!

What sets this series apart for me though is Sjowall and Wahloo's depiction of Swedish society as it was in the 1960s and 1970s. They openly criticise aspects of the Swedish state and the behaviours of their fellow Swedes, but also show the positives of Swedish life at times. Their characters interactions are a masterclass in how to present a large cast within the confines of a novel. In The Locked Room, Martin Beck actually takes a bit of a back seat so we get to spend more time with his colleagues, each of which are fully rounded characters in their own right. Even brief cameo appearances are easily imagined as are the Stockholm locations.

The Martin Beck series to my mind is easily still the best when it comes to police procedural novels and it's fun sometimes to spot Sjowall and Wahloo's influence in many of the works that have been published since. Thoughtful and inventive, these books aren't perhaps ideal for action fans, but I highly recommend them to mystery solvers.


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Books by Sjowall and Wahloo / Crime fiction / Books from Sweden

Gentlemen Of The Road by Michael Chabon

Gentlemen Of The Road by Michael Chabon
First published in America in 2007.

Featured in Cover Characteristics: Flying Birds

How I got this book:
Swapped for at a campsite book exchange

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository
	Wordery
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	Amazon US / Amazon UK

In the Caucasus Mountains around AD 950, two wandering adventurers and unlikely soul mates live as they please and survive as they can – as blades and thieves for hire and practised bamboozlers. Until, following a bloody coup in the Jewish empire of the Khazars, they get dragooned into the service of a fugitive prince, who burns to reclaim his throne.

Summoning the spirit of The Arabian Nights and The Three Musketeers, this is a novel brimming with action, raucous humour, cliff-hanging suspense, and a cast of colourful characters worthy of Scheherazade's most tantalising tales.

I hadn't read any Michael Chabon novels before and chose this one purely for its historical setting as I hoped it would fit nicely alongside a couple of other recent reads: Ibn Fadlan's travel memoirs of Western Asia in the Viking era and Edouardo Albert's humorous Conrad Monk And The Great Heathen Army adventure tale. Gentlemen Of The Road is closer to Conrad Monk in style, although not as funny, however it does feel based in a solid historical reality and I could appreciate that Chabon had certainly done his research.

The story is a classic adventure tale which gallops across medieval Khazaria at such a pace that I did sometimes find myself left behind. At its heart is a wonderful friendship between two men, apparently as different in physical appearance and temperament as it is possible to be, yet perfectly suited to each other and utterly loyal. They get themselves into ever more dire predicaments, yet somehow always manage to scramble clear of total disaster. Gentlemen Of The Road is a fairly short novel, but a very entertaining one. Perhaps its overall arc is a little too predictable, however the twists and turns are great fun to follow and I enjoyed the inventiveness of the plots. The humour is tempered with a spot of philosophy here and there and it was interesting to learn more about the unique kingdom of Khazaria.


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Books by Michael Chabon / Adventure fiction / Books from America

Sitting At The Kitchen Table With God by Sandi Smith + #Giveaway

Sitting at the Kitchen Table with God by Sandi Smith

Category: Adult Fiction, 192 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction, Christian Fiction
Publisher: Mindstir Media
Release date: May 10, 2017
Tour dates: Sept 3 to 21, 2018
Content Rating: PG-13

Where to buy this book:

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Add Sitting At The Kitchen Table With God to your Goodreads

Book Description:

MARIANNE HAD PLENTY OF TIME ON HER HANDS TO DO NOTHING, so she decided to clean the placemats that she had collected over the past fifty years. Fifty years of a wonderful life together with her husband and best friend, Andrew. Fifty years that should have turned into sixty, but would not even turn into fifty-one.

Her wonderful Andrew was dead. Andrew…her friend and caretaker of her soul and mind and being. Loneliness, darkness, and guilt extended their hungry fingers out for Marianne, desperately trying to pull her even further into their world…a world with no escape. How could she live without her Andrew? She had been so sure that she would be the first one to die in this relationship. But now there was a stronger component to her loneliness and darkness that was starting to make its presence known to Marianne. Anger.

Anger had been a companion of Marianne’s for a very long time, but usually she had the ability to quiet its demand to be set free. This time, though, Marianne was not sure she would be able to control this anger. It was different somehow…stronger. She was afraid and weak. She had lost her faith in God, and she was so angry with Andrew for leaving her behind. Leaving her all alone in this dark, insane world. A world that was in such a hurry to go nowhere. A world that was in such a hurry to destroy everything in its path. Marianne was in its path, but this time she was alone. Sitting at the kitchen table, Marianne closed her eyes, and then she prayed that, today, she would die.

Meet the Author:

Sandi Smith spent her time as a young girl combing the shelves of the public library. She has always enjoyed the magic that books have to offer and was inspired by her high school English teacher, Mr. Coolidge to embrace the arts. The author found her calling as a writer early one morning as her first story came to her in the form of a poem. Since then she has written more than 15 children’s books, with her most popular series about the adventures of an adorable spider in the A.R. Achnid series.

Sandi is happily married to her inspiration and husband of 40 years, John. She continues to write for her two precious grandchildren. When she’s not penning a new story, Sandi and John like to camp, kayak and to enjoy the simple life in their home in Pembroke, NH.

Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Pinterest

Enter the Giveaway!

Win an ebook copy of Sitting at the Kitchen Table with God (open to USA and Canada - 1 winner)
Ends Sept 29, 2018

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway listed @ Stephanie Jane!

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Books by Sandi Smith / Contemporary fiction / Books from America

The Labyrinth Of The Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Labyrinth Of The Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
First published in Spain in Spanish as El Laberinto de los Espiritus by Planeta in 2016. English language translation by Lucia Graves published in the UK by Weidenfeld and Nicolson today, the 18th September 2018.

Featured in Cover Characteristics: Stairs and my Book Of The Month for September 2018

How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


As a child, Daniel Sempere discovered among the passageways of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books an extraordinary novel that would change the course of his life. Now a young man in the Barcelona of the late 1950s, Daniel runs the Sempere & Sons bookshop and enjoys a seemingly fulfilling life with his loving wife and son. Yet the mystery surrounding the death of his mother continues to plague his soul despite the moving efforts of his wife Bea and his faithful friend Fermín to save him.

Just when Daniel believes he is close to solving this enigma, a conspiracy more sinister than he could have imagined spreads its tentacles from the hellish regime. That is when Alicia Gris appears, a soul born out of the nightmare of the war. She is the one who will lead Daniel to the edge of the abyss and reveal the secret history of his family, although at a terrifying price.

The Labyrinth of the Spirits is an electrifying tale of passion, intrigue and adventure. Within its haunting pages Carlos Ruiz Zafón masterfully weaves together plots and subplots in an intricate and intensely imagined homage to books, the art of storytelling and that magical bridge between literature and our lives.

I remember that I absolutely loved Zafon's first Cemetery Of Forgotten Books, Shadow Of The Wind, when I read it way back in 2011 (according to my Goodreads!). That was before I began blogging and, as a consequence, reviewing everything I read and I have found that if I don't write my own thoughts about a book, I struggle to recall much about it later on. Despite my enthusiasm for Shadow Of The Wind, I got bookishly distracted and so haven't yet read either of the middle two instalments. However, I spotted Labyrinth Of The Spirits on NetGalley last month and excitedly requested it, especially because I spotted Zafon's explaining that this series is not necessarily intended to be read in strict order. Instead readers can approach the cycle like a labyrinth, choosing their entrances and exits at random. Now that's my kind of series! Regular Literary Flits visitors will know that I am almost incapable of reading a series in order and here I am actually encouraged not to!

The Labyrinth Of The Spirits is a gorgeously immersive novel and, having finished it on Saturday, I am now experiencing a serious book hangover. I want to be back in Zafon's 1960s Barcelona sipping a cortado in a tiny cafe or rushing through dark alleyways in pursuit of Alicia and Vargas. Alicia is a brilliant character, a darkly flawed borderline-alcoholic with an amazing brain and I loved her wardrobe too. Labyrinth is a far longer novel than I usually read so Zafon has plenty of space to develop his superb characters and to place them in deliciously evocative locations. The story is violent, frequently disturbingly gruesome and mind-bogglingly convoluted - and I absolutely loved every page. I cannot begin to imagine how Zafon kept all those narrative threads straight in his own mind. This book is truly a masterpiece. Now I MUST get a hold of those middle two novels and I think I might treat myself to a Shadow reread as well.


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Books by Carlos Ruiz Zafon / Mystery fiction / Books from Spain

Princess Bari by Hwang Sok-Yong

Princess Bari by Hwang Sok-Yong
First published in South Korea in Korean in 2007. English language translation by Sora Kim-Russell published in the UK by Periscope in 2015.

My 2000s read for my 2018-19 Decade Challenge and featured in WorldReads: South Korea

How I got this book:
Bought the ebook from Amazon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository
	Wordery (unavailable)
	Waterstones (unavailable)
	Amazon US / Amazon UK

In a drab North Korean city, a seventh daughter is born to a couple longing for a son. Abandoned hours after her birth, she is eventually rescued by her grandmother. The old woman names the child Bari, after a legend telling of a forsaken princess who undertakes a quest for an elixir that will bring peace to the souls of the dead. As a young woman, frail, brave Bari escapes North Korea and takes refuge in China before embarking on a journey across the ocean in the hold of a cargo ship, seeking a better life. She lands in London, where she finds work as a masseuse. Paid to soothe her clients' aching bodies, she discovers that she can ease their more subtle agonies as well, having inherited her beloved grandmother's uncanny ability to read the pain and fears of others. Bari makes her home amongst other immigrants living clandestinely. She finds love in unlikely places, but also suffers a series of misfortunes that push her to the limits of sanity. Yet she has come too far to give in to despair.

Princess Bari is a captivating novel that leavens the grey reality of cities and slums with the splendour of fable. Hwang Sok-yong has transfigured an age-old legend and made it vividly relevant to our own times.

Princess Bari is a beautifully written novel which blends elements of fairytale and mythological stories which modern-day migrant experiences. In common with The Beast Of Kukuyo which I reviewed a few days ago, this is another book that I chose almost on a whim for its author's nationality, and which turned out to be a very rewarding read! I loved Hwang's use magical realism (Daniela at Bookiverse, this is absolutely a book for you!) which frequently transports both the reader and Bari from the horrific situations in which she finds herself. The claustrophobic cargo ship journey is one example and I found this all the more upsetting for knowing that, although this novel is fiction, these scenes are essentially true to real life. I felt the timelessness of Hwang's writing style in his retelling of this ancient legend reminded me that Bari's experience (and the experiences of thousands like her) are by no means only a modern phenomenon.

Hwang's use of contrast makes aspects of Princess Bari particularly memorable, but also serves to illustrate that certain situations share greater similarities than we might care to admit. Bari's life in China isn't so far removed from her London experiences. The types of people she encounters on her journeys tend to repeat patterns too. A person's moral compass certainly isn't determined by whereabouts in the world their family originated! Hwang's characters share more, perhaps, with traditional story stereotypes, but the novel in no way suffers for this. I understood that although several characters are depicted as Good or Bad, there is also a wide middle ground of grey: people who could make a tremendous difference through relatively small actions on their part, fail to do so whether through ignorance or simple misunderstandings. As with all great fairytales and legends, Princess Bari can be read at its simplest level as just a story, or can be dissected for deeper meaning and symbolism. A fascinating novel which would, I think, make for energetic book club discussions.


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Books by Hwang Sok-Yong / Contemporary fiction / Books from South Korea

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel + #Giveaway

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel
First published in America by Crown Publishers in March 2017.

My 2010s read for my 2018-19 Decade Challenge

How I got this book:
Received from my sister

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository
	Wordery
	Waterstones
	Amazon US / Amazon UK

EVERYONE WANTS TO BE A ROANOKE GIRL. BUT YOU WON'T WHEN YOU KNOW THE TRUTH.

The girls of the Roanoke family - beautiful, rich, mysterious - seem to have it all. But there's a dark truth about them that's never spoken. Either the girls run away... or they die.

Lane is one of the lucky ones. When she was fifteen, over one long, hot summer at her grandparents' estate in rural Kansas, she found out what it really means to be a Roanoke girl. Lane ran, far and fast. Until eleven years later, when her cousin Allegra goes missing - and Lane has no choice but to go back.

She is a Roanoke girl. 
Is she strong enough to escape a second time?

I really liked Lane as the narrator of The Roanoke Girls. She is often rude and completely lacking in empathy, but I could always understand why she behaved as she did and her attitude made a refreshing change from the more usual 'nice' or 'vulnerable' heroines. Lane's life and choices are determined by the bizarre family situation from which her mother escaped. As the novel progresses we learn more about the ramifications of her ancestry and are given glimpses of the women and girls before her who were consumed by Roanoke. These little vignettes are interesting diversions and I would have appreciated more depth and detail in these chapters.

I was concerned by Engel's writing style. The underlying plot is certainly adult in nature, but Lane and her cousin Allegra read as Young Adult characters and the overall style is young adult too. For me, this contrast didn't sit well and I frequently felt uncomfortable. I also expected a lot more in the way of tension and suspense. The secret of Roanoke is given away surprisingly early so, while the whole book is very readable and I zoomed through it almost without putting it down at all, this was more to discover Lane's ultimate decision rather than because I was gripped by the central mystery.

The Roanoke Girls seemed to be on everyone's reading shelf last year so I waited a while before picking it up myself and I am glad I did so. The novel is a good read in a darkly entertaining way, but I can't say that it warrants all the hype I remember.

And now it's time for the Giveaway!

The prize is my (very carefully read) Signed Hardback edition of The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel. Amy Engel's signature is on a Hodder and Stoughton bookplate on the title page
Open internationally until midnight (UK time) on the 30th September 2018.

Entry is by way of the Gleam widget below. This giveaway is entirely my own and is not affiliated with either the author or the publisher.
(GDPR: Gleam will ask for your email address so that I am able to contact the winner. I will then need the winner's postal address in order to send out the book.)

Signed HB The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel / Literary Flits giveaway

Giveaway listed @ Stephanie Jane!

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Books by Amy Engel / Thrillers / Books from America

The Beast Of Kukuyo by Kevin Jared Hosein

The Beast Of Kukuyo by Kevin Jared Hosein
First published in Jamaica by Blouse And Skirt Books today, the 15th September 2018.

How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository
	Wordery
	Waterstones (unavailable)
	Amazon US / Amazon UK

The Beast of Kukuyo is a gripping mystery told through the eyes of 15-year-old Rune Mathura and set in the 1990s. The gritty tale begins with the disappearance of Dumplin Heera, a fifteen year-old East Indian girl in the quiet rural village of Kukuyo. The murder happens while the town is plunged in darkness and the story unveils a deeper moral darkness festering beneath the surface. In part driven by her keen interest in crime fiction, particularly Murder She Wrote, Rune decides that she has seen too much tragedy without redress.

Having lost her mother in a senseless act of violence, Rune is unable to sit still when her classmate, Dumpling Heera, is found dead in their village. Rune, an incredibly resourceful young woman, sees this as her chance to make a difference and dives headfirst into a swirling mess of secrets buried in the heart of her village. She bucks against the ease with which villagers try to get back to normal and get over the atrocity. But this is no Nancy Drew novel. Rune soon learns that despite her best intentions her eagerness to right this wrong leaves her almost blind to the truth, and the nuances that colour justice.

The Beast of Kukuyo earned second place in the 2017 Burt Award for Caribbean Young Adult Literature. The novel also delves into issues of race, class and gender.

I chose The Beast Of Kukuyo from NetGalley because of Hosein's Trinidadian nationality (one for my WorldReads) and because of the novel's eyecatching cover design. I expected to read a murder mystery but, other than a young girl being discovered dead near the beginning of the story, this novel veers far away from that usual genre fare. Instead we are shown the darkness of life in Kukuyo village, a community blighted by senseless violence, alcoholism and, most strikingly, by a lack of hope. The people of Kukuyo aren't particularly different from people anywhere else, yet their poverty and the squalor of their surroundings dictate how little they can be expected to achieve in their lives. The eponymous Beast Of Kukuyo might be Dumpling Heera's murderer, but I felt it more strongly to be the metaphorical black cloud perpetually hanging over the village.

That paragraph makes The Beast Of Kukuyo sound a depressing novel when in fact it is anything but. Our narrator, Rune, is vivacious and determined, with a strong stubborn streak and I liked her a lot. Raised along with her delinquent brother by their grandfather, she is starkly aware of being excluded from the community because of her darker skin colour and at the beginning of the novel this is a painful truth for Rune to acknowledge. As she becomes ever more aware of other families' lives though, she begins to understand how their spite isn't directed exclusively her way, and that their bullying attitudes are more a way to hide their internal pain. Hosein's characters are all damaged to some extent. Violent parents, manipulative 'friends', prostitutes and fully-fledged gangsters leap vividly from these pages and I got scarily authentic images of this village and its inhabitants. The murder mystery storyline is usually Rune's focus, but flows as an undercurrent through the novel as other events take over leaving Dumpling apparently forgotten.

I didn't really realise that this is intended as a young adult novel until I came to be writing up this review. The story deals with adult issues, although without portraying anything in an overly graphic way, and, as a forty-something reader, I certainly appreciated the tale and Hosein's evocative prose. Perhaps the narrative line wasn't quite distinct enough in places for my taste and it took me a little while to get into the story, however once I was hooked, I didn't want to cease reading!


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Books by Kevin Jared Hosein / Young adult books / Books from Trinidad and Tobago

A Penny Lost by Aspen Bassett + #Giveaway

A Penny Lost by Aspen Bassett

Category: YA Fiction, 232 pages
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: World Castle Publishing
Release date: Jan 13, 2018
Tour dates: Sept 3 to 14, 2018
Content Rating: PG (There's a kiss and some mild violence)

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository
	Wordery
	Waterstones
	Amazon US / Amazon UK

Add A Penny Lost to your Goodreads

Penelope Grace, usually forgotten under the shadow of her twin sister's perfection, tries her hardest to hide her freakish ability to see into anyone's soul.

Until she senses an unusual energy like a human-shaped void in the universe. When Penny investigates the source, she gets tossed through a crack in time along with the cute boy next door. The Void follows them through history, increasing the dangers as if testing Penny. But what is it testing for? And why does it claim to know her better than even she knows herself? Even as Penny searches for answers, she must fight to survive the tragedies of both the past and future in order to get back home.
​

Meet the Author:

Aspen Bassett works at a library, telling stories and suggesting books. When she's not working, she's usually sipping hot cocoa and wondering what would happen if she had superpowers. She's been published in multiple anthologies including Oomph: A Little Super Goes a Long Way and Inaccurate Realities.

Aspen grew up learning about chakras and auras and the true power of imagination which slips into her writing whether she intend it to or not. In college, when she wasn't busy working on her degree in Creative Writing, Aspen also got her certificate in Women's Meditation (basically general energy work). Now, she's working toward a diploma in Integrated Healing Arts with a certificate in Hypnotherapy.

Connect with the Author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Instagram

Enter the Giveaway!

Win a paperback or ebook copy of A Penny Lost by Aspen Bassett.
Two winners will also get a $10 Amazon GC
(open to USA & Canada / 15 winners total)
Ends Sept 22, 2018

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway listed @ Stephanie Jane!

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Books by Aspen Bassett / Fantasy fiction / Books from America

I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith

I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith
First published in the UK by William Heinemann in 1948.

One of my Classics Club Challenge reads

How I got this book:
Bought from a charity shop

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain and her family live in not-so-genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle. Here she strives, over six turbulent months, to hone her writing skills. She fills three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries. Her journals candidly chronicle the great changes that take place within the castle’s walls, and her own first descent into love. By the time she pens her final entry, she has “captured the castle” –and the heart of the reader- in one of literature’s most enchanting entertainments.

For some unknown reason I had managed to get completely the wrong idea about I Capture The Castle. I'd avoided reading it for years because I expected a kind of boys own adventure for younger readers! When I spotted a cheap paperback in a Torquay charity shop earlier this year however, I actually read the synopsis and realised my mistake! I'm so glad I did because I love this novel!

A vivid coming of age story, the title I Capture The Castle refers to our heroine, Cassandra who is attempting to hone her writing skills by capturing in prose all the details of her somewhat eccentric family and their life of genteel poverty in a ruined castle. Despite the perpetual cold and lack of sufficient food, I was absolutely entranced by the castle! The history of the place and the idea of its varied rooms and towers totally captured my imagination. I think if I could have a fictional upbringing, something similar to Cassandra's environment would be amazing!

The narrative does focus on the need for women to marry well and we see Cassandra's sister, Rose, set her sights on the new Lord of the Manor, Simon. Smith doesn't take the predictable route though and I loved her character portrayals of everyone from shy Simon to abrasive Leda Fox-Cotton. Dialogue crackles off the page and I appreciated seeing how Cassandra matures from little more than a child at the beginning of her journals to very much a young woman by the end. A wonderful novel and a deserved classic.

Etsy Find!
	The Mortmains Kitchen  fragrance oil by Belle Book And Co in the UK Click pic to visit Etsy Shop

Search Literary Flits for more:
Books by Dodie Smith / Young adult books / Books from England

Waiting For Monsieur Bellivier by Britta Rostlund + #Giveaway

Waiting For Monsieur Bellivier by Britta Rostlund
First published in Swedish as Vid foten av Montmartre in Sweden by Norstedts in 2016. English language translation by Alice Menzies published by Weidenfeld And Nicolson in August 2017.

One of my August Authorfest reads

How I got this book:
Won in a publisher giveaway

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository (unavailable)
	Wordery
	Waterstones
	Amazon US / Amazon UK

'Are you waiting for Monsieur Bellivier, madame?'

Helena should of course say no. She doesn't know the man talking to her, she doesn't know Monsieur Bellivier, and she certainly isn't waiting for him. But, bored of life, and sparked by a whim, she says yes.

Mancebo, a Tunisian shopkeeper, lives a quiet life manning his grocery near the Sacré-Cœur. But one day he is approached by a woman asking whether he will spy on her boyfriend, who lives in the apartment across the street. To his surprise, Mancebo agrees.

As Helena and Mancebo's missions overlap, they realise that the City of Light harbours more secrets in its cafés and courtyards than its inhabitants and visitors could possibly suspect . . .

I had read a couple of less-than-enthusiastic reviews of Waiting For Monsieur Bellivier before I received my copy was part of a Weidenfeld and Nicolson prize giveaway. Consequently, I was delighted to find myself completely entranced by the novel! It is set in a wonderfully atmospheric Paris where simply 'sitting on a bench' is the best way to experience the authentic city. Rostlund gives us two distinct narratives which run alongside each other for most of the novel until they finally interlink in an intricately clever way. In one storyline we sit with Tunisian immigrant Mancebo, usually to be found perched on a stool in exactly the same spot outside his little grocers shop watching as his family and customers pass by him. The other storyline is that of freelance writer Helena who takes the brave - or possibly daft - step one day of saying yes to the eponymous question Are You Waiting For Monsieur Bellivier and finds herself given a lucrative but very bizarre new employment.

I was intrigued that Helena's full name, only briefly mentioned, is Helena Folasadu which is almost the real name of the great singer Sade. I'm not sure that this has any relevance to the story though. Is Helena Nigerian or perhaps Rostlund is just a big Sade fan? I certainly am!

I loved that both Helena and Mancebo are pretty isolated people until they begin to get swept up in the intrigues of this story. Mancebo spends lots of time vaguely gazing, but doesn't see what is often right in front of him. Helena works in cafes to have a semblance of human company, but rarely interacts with other people beyond ordering more coffee. I could imagine that such a large city could be lonely if one doesn't make an effort to make and perpetuate social connections. As our story progresses, these connections start to spring up and I appreciated Rostlund's vivid character sketches and porteayals. I really felt Paris come to life through these pages making me yearn to jump on a train and go walk these very streets! I love when novels are so inspiring!

One of the complaints I remember from those earlier reviews was that the reader didn't understand what was going on. I can certainly sympathise with this because, until the very end, the truth of the situation is cleverly veiled. As readers we only know what Mancebo and Helena know - which isn't much! - and so follow them as they grasp at straws for some meaning to the bizarre occurrences. I didn't find I minded this though. I was so completely drawn in to the atmosphere and these people's daily lives that I almost didn't want the mystery to be solved - and therefore the book to end. Waiting For Monsieur Bellivier definitely won't be a novel to appeal to everyone. It is quirky with unexpected diversions and events happen on a small scale. The main focus is on characters getting to know themselves and the truths of the lives around them. However Rostlund has a light touch with inspired humour. I absolutely loved this story.

And now it's time for the Giveaway!

The prize is my (very carefully read) paperback edition of Waiting For Monsieur Bellivier by Britta Rostlund.
Open internationally until midnight (UK time) on the 24th September 2018.

Entry is by way of the Gleam widget below. This giveaway is entirely my own and is not affiliated with either the author or the publisher
(GDPR: Gleam will ask for your email address so that I am able to contact the winner. I will then need the winner's postal address in order to send out the book.)

Waiting For Monsieur Bellivier / Literary Flits book giveaway

Giveaway listed @ Stephanie Jane!

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Books by Britta Rostlund / Mystery fiction / Books from Sweden

Sleeping Through War by Jackie Carreira

Sleeping Through War by Jackie Carreira
Published in the UK by Troubadour in February 2018.

One of my ReadingWomen selections and featured in Cover Characteristics: Hands

How I got this book:
Received a review copy via Rachel's Random Resources

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository
	Wordery
	Waterstones
	Amazon US / Amazon UK

Add Sleeping Through War to your Goodreads

It is May 1968. Students are rioting, civil rights are being fought and died for, nuclear bombs are being tested, and war is raging in Vietnam. For three ordinary women in Lisbon, London and Washington life must go on as usual. For them, just to survive is an act of courage. How much has really changed in 50 years?

When I first marked Sleeping Through War as finished on my Goodreads I rated it as four stars because I had enjoyed the read and appreciated Carreira's approach to portraying this monumental moment in history. That was a couple of days ago though and the more I have been mulling the book over for this review, the better I think it is! Consequently I've upped that star rating to a five.

Sleeping Through War has four narrative threads which are connected by their time period and subject matter, but don't actually link up. I did spend quite a bit of time wondering how the women would end up together, but that isn't how this novel works so don't distract yourself in the same way! Amalia is a single mother struggling to support herself and her young son in Lisbon; Rose is a West Indian care home nurse in London; Mrs Johnson is an American wife and mother whose son is fighting in Vietnam. These three fictional but completely real characters take turns to speak directly to the reader about their day-to-day lives and their chapters are interspersed with news reports of the violence which seemed to sweep the globe that year. I don't quite know how to explain, but it felt to me as though the news reports provided a male counterpoint to the womens stories and, although I know the reported events did happen, Amalia, Rose and Mrs Johnson's words seemed more believable. How so much aggression could have exploded within such a short space of time is incredible, yet for these women - and millions like them - the small details of their days are just as life-changing, in fact more so to these individuals, but not in such a way as to make headlines.

Meet the author:

Jackie Carreira is a writer, musician, designer, co-founder of QuirkHouse Theatre Company, and award-winning playwright. She mostly grew up and went to school in Hackney, East London, but spent part of her early childhood with grandparents in Lisbon's Old Quarter. Her colourful early life has greatly influenced this novel. Jackie now lives in leafy Suffolk with her actor husband, AJ Deane, two cats and too many books.

Author links: 
Website ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads

Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Jackie Carreira / Historical fiction / Books from England