We Never Said Goodbye by Helene Fermont @helenefermont @midaspr @alice_geary1 #BlogTour

When Louise is dumped by Mike on their twentieth wedding anniversary, she faces the daunting task of picking up the pieces of her life. She can either choose to persevere in her adopted hometown of London, bolstered by dear friends and the fashion business she loves, or return to her native Sweden alone. Can she find happiness with an old flame in a city she avoided for two decades? Or will her ex’s violent, criminal past haunt her forever? 

As Mike become increasingly unhinged, the choices Louise makes could prove fatal. Will she ever be able to say goodbye to the past and start afresh?

We Never Said Goodbye by Helene Fermont was published in paperback and ebook by Fridhem Publishing on 6 April 2017 . I'm really pleased to host the Blog Tour today and to welcome Helene to Random Things. She's talking about My Life in Books.

My Life in Books ~ Helene Fermont

I read a variety of authors, native Swedish and international. The books below are just a few and to an extent symbolic of my genre and writing style. My parents and friends gave me some of them, others were gifts or books I purchased for myself.

Small Town Girl by LaVyrle Spencer

I love this book because it describes feelings of love perfectly. It's a novel I return to regularly as the main character feels authentic and relatable. The author is very inspirational but unfortunately, retired from writing some time ago.

Moments Of Reprieve by Primo Levi

An Italian Jewish chemist, writer and Holocaust survivor whose books my mother loved.

The content is hard to read, with strong descriptions of people the author met in Auschwitz concentration camp.

Women And Apple Trees by Moa Martinsson

A Swedish journalist and novelist whose novel centres around two young women in the 20th century who are victims of sexual abuse. The novel captures what it was like to be a working-class woman denied human rights and opportunities. My parents introduced me to her novels when I was in my teens and they are very special to me.

On Cats by Doris Lessing

This is a collection of charming and celebratory stories of cats. The author received the Nobel Prize for literature and I've read most of her books but this is my favourite as I love cats!

The Red Angora Dress by Jilly Cooper

It's hilariously funny and the author describes the leading characters in each story so well.

The situations are timeless. I read Jilly's books when I spent two years in London working as au pair in the 80s and her early books are the ones I enjoy the most.

Complete Poems by the Swedish poet and novelist Karin Boye
I read her poems every chance I get and this book was a gift from my late parents and holds a special place in my heart. My personal favourite poems are ‘Yes, Of Course It Hurts’ and ‘The Best’. I read her poems in Swedish but they've been translated into English quite well by in particular David McDuff.

The Serious Game by Hjalmar Söderberg

The book is set around 1900 and features timeless themes of love and disillusion. The characters are just as relevant now as when it first was published.

The Spring by Kerstin Ekman

The novel centres around three women with wonderful characterisations. The author is very popular in Sweden and abroad.

Let Me Sing You Gentle Songs by Linda Olsson
The main focus is on two women whose lives are intertwined. One is young, the other is nearing the end of their life and have much in common irrelevant of age.

Simon And The Oaks by Marianne Fredriksson

The story is told through the eyes and experiences of two boys and was made into a film. It's a book with many different layers, all of which I thoroughly enjoy and empathise with.

I'm particularly inspired by authors who write strong characterisations and relatable themes and all these books stayed with me long after I initially read them. Some are more personal than others as they represent different times of my life and remind me of special moments.

Helene Fermont ~ April 2017 

Hélene Fermont is an Anglo-Swedish author of contemporary women’s fiction with a psychological twist. We Never Said Goodbye is Hélene’s second novel, following on from her 2016 debut novel Because Of You.

Hélene’s works feature a Scandinavian-British narrative and in-depth psychological characterisations inspired by her experience as a psychologist working with victims of abuse. 
Hélene lives both in Middlesex, UK and Malmö, Sweden. 

Twitter   @helenefermont 
www.helenefermont.com

Paris for One and Other Stories by Jojo Moyes @jojomoyes @MichaelJBooks

A collection of 11 unmissable short stories from the Number One internationally bestselling author of Me Before You and After You

'Lots to cheer about in Moyes' first collection of short stories. If you want romance, the title story and its hapless heroine Nell will give it to you in spades' Red

'Moyes somehow manages to break your heart before restoring your faith in love' Sunday Express

Nell is twenty-six and has never been to Paris. She's never even been on a romantic weekend away - to anywhere - before. Travelling abroad isn't really her thing. But when Nell's boyfriend fails to show up, she has the chance to prove to everyone - including herself - that she can be independent and intrepid. Alone in Paris, Nell finds a version of herself she never knew existed . . .

In the ten other stories, Jojo Moyes introduces us to a cast of strong, relatable women in the midst of their everyday lives. In Honeymoon in Paris, featuring characters from her bestselling novel, The Girl You Left Behind, Liv and Sophie - though decades apart - both find that marriage is only the beginning of their love stories. In Crocodile Shoes, a businesswoman's blossoming confidence emerges from a fateful changing-room mix-up. And in both Love in the Afternoon and A Bird in the Hand, two couples dance around the trickiness of long-time marriage. In this irresistible collection, readers will be whisked from elegant perfume shops to taxis to five-star hotel rooms and more.

Paris For One and Other Stories by Jojo Moyes was published in hardback by Michael Joseph Books on 9 February 2017 and is the author's first collection of short stories.

It's no secret that I am a huge fan of Jojo Moyes. I've been reading her novels for fifteen years, ever since I discovered her debut; Sheltering Rain. I have never been disappointed by any of her stories, and I especially love how different each novel is.

Since the huge success of her novel Me Before You, which was made into a Hollywood film, she's become more and more popular, regularly topping the best seller lists. I was delighted to discover that Penguin were publishing a collection of her short stories, Paris For One, is that collection.

I usually read a few short story collections each year and I nearly always find that there are a couple of them that I don't really enjoy. Not so with Paris For One; I enjoyed every single one of them. They are warm, well written and a pure delight.

Paris For One and Other Stories is made up of eleven stories, beginning with the title story which is also the longest at 135 pages; more of a novella really. The other longer story is Honeymoon in Paris at just over 80 pages, the rest of the collection really are very short, but each and every one of them is a complete joy to read.

It is a very talented author who can engage their reader so well in a story that covers as little as ten pages, but Jojo Moyes manages it with ease. I think it must be really difficult to condense a plot into something so quick and so small, yet this author manages it with ease. Her characters are vibrant, her storylines are punchy, emotional, witty and utterly charming.

An excellent collection, I enjoyed these stories so much. I really hope that she publishes another collection.

My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review.

Jojo Moyes is a novelist and a journalist. Her novels include the bestsellers The Girl You Left Behind, The One Plus One, Me Before You and After You. Her novels have been translated into over forty-four languages, have hit the number one spot in twelve countries and have sold over twenty million copies worldwide.

Me Before You has now sold over 8 million copies worldwide and was adapted into a major film starring Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games) and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones).

Jojo lives in Essex with her husband and their three children.

For more information visit www.jojomoyes.com
Follow her on Twitter @jojomoyes

The Cutaway by Christina Kovac #BlogTour @christina_kovac @serpentstail #TheCutaway

It begins with someone else's story. The story of a woman who leaves a busy restaurant and disappears completely into the chilly spring night. Evelyn Carney is missing - but where did she go? Who was she meeting? And why did she take a weapon with her when she went?

When brilliant TV producer Virginia Knightley finds Evelyn's missing person report on her desk, she becomes obsessed with finding out what happened that night. But her pursuit of the truth draws her deep into the power struggles and lies of Washington DC's elite - to face old demons and new enemies.

A slick, gripping thriller that moves at the pace of breaking news, The Cutaway will keep your heart hammering until the final page.

The Cutaway by Christina Kovac is published in harback by Serpent's Tail on 6 April 2017 and is the author's debut novel.

Set in the world of television news in Washington DC; The Cutaway is a novel of intrigue, suspense and corruption. With an opening chapter that hooks the reader by the throat, it is a compelling and utterly satisfying read. I spent my weekend frantically turning the pages, eager to find out just what would happen next.

Lead character, Virginia Knightley is a fabulous creation. She's sassy and bright, clever and curious and when she's determined to get to the bottom of something, she is a force to be reckoned with. When a missing person report lands on her desk, it's nothing out of the ordinary, people go missing in the City all the time. However, Virginia has a feeling about this case, and her further investigations get her nowhere. People clam up when she asks questions, and there are warning bells sounding in her head. The missing woman, Evelyn Carney, is a successful lawyer, she left a local restaurant after a minor disagreement with her husband. She hasn't been seen since.

As Virginia suspected, there is far more to this case than just another missing person. She's soon immersed in things she couldn't foresee and it becomes clear that Evelyn Carney was also at the centre of a series of complicated secrets and lies.

Christina Kovac's years of experience as a television journalist add authenticity to this fast-moving and exciting mystery story. Having a female reporter as the main character is refreshing and brings a different perspective to the plot, and whilst the police investigation does figure, it is Virginia's own sleuthing that is central.

The Cutaway is an enjoyable, well-written and very entertaining mystery story. The often complex storyline is well balanced and the characters are credible and well created. I enjoyed this one and would recommend it.

I'm delighted to welcome author Christina Kovac to Random Things today as part of the Blog Tour, She's kindly taken the time to answer these questions;

How did you get started in TV news and why did you leave?

I studied journalism at the University of Maryland, got an internship at a television station in Washington, DC, and the station hired me after graduation.  I loved it—the sights and smells of the newsroom (dirty though they are), the heat of the lights, the constant squabbling, the excitement of breaking news.  I would have never left if I hadn’t had children.  My husband and I both worked long hours, and after I was late picking up my children from day care one too many times, we decided one of us had to get out of news.  I thought I might be able to write a novel, so it made sense that I would leave. 

What’s it like trying to keep up with a story in the world of 24 hour news?

Frantic.  Exhausting.  Thrilling when you beat everyone.  Exactly how it is in THE CUTAWAY.  The pace was the hardest thing about writing the novel—I had to keep everything moving very fast to keep it real.  When a big story breaks, there’s no time for eating or sleeping, certainly no time for love.  There is only chasing the story, and the terror that it might get away from you.

The news producer in The Cutaway puts herself in serious danger to bag her story – is this what it’s like when you’re trying to deliver in TV news?

Luckily not.  I’ve only had a gun pulled on me once.  But journalism can be very dangerous.  I think of my colleague, David Bloom, who died in Iraq.  Or what happened to Daniel Pearl, a brilliant, experienced WSJ reporter.  Any journalist worth their salt would have gotten into that car. It could have happened to anyone. 

How interwoven are the worlds of Washington politics, law enforcement and journalism?

Those worlds all rely on each other—law enforcement and politics use television to reach an audience, journalists keep an eye on politicians and police and prosecutors.  Having relationships with each other are important, trust matters, but power struggles happen when someone tries to use the media for public relations.  It’s not their job to make the government look good.  The government should do good things, and then it’ll be reported.  

The book features some interesting scenes where the woman is being sidelined and it’s reasoned away as being a necessary part of a cost-cutting exercise. Do you think women have it tougher in the workplace? 

Women have it tougher.  The novel details some of those realities.  But Virginia Knightly is a white woman.  What the novel failed to get into: no one has it harder than women of color or minority religions or women in the LGBTQ community—especially transgender women.  It’s appalling how these women are treated.  And not just in the workplace.

Is the Washington of TV shows like House of Cards or The West Wing one that you recognise? 

I wish Washington was like The West Wing.  I fear it is more House of Cards than the show itself.

You met the Obamas – what do you think their legacy will be?

I believe history will judge President Obama as one of our greatest presidents, and for eight years, America chose well.  He and the First Lady were the best America had to offer:  well-educated, brilliant people who came from humble beginnings and made their way in the world to the height of power.  They used that power to help people.  Vice President Biden has that same down-to-earth goodness and warmth.  I produced an interview with him when he was the senator from my home state, and mentioned how my grandma loved him, and he was as nice as you please.  When I saw him months later in the hallway at the Senate Office building, he pointed to me—a person he’d only met once—and said, “say hi to grandma for me, okay?”  That’s the kind of feeling you got from the Obama-Biden White House.  I was a person doing a job they respected, and they were kind.  The current administration vilifies the press corps.Ch

How damaging do you think the ‘fake news’ scandal is to real political debate and comment? 

It’s very damaging, but look.  Political debate in the US has been a hot mess for a long time with a certain cable news shows and websites like Breitbart.  The United States Congress created an us-against-them mentality with its treatment of President Obama.  It is a game-changer that a foreign adversary got involved, sure.  Congress must do something about that—or bring in independent investigators, if they can’t do it. 

At the same time, subscriptions to the New York Times and Washington Post are up, and activism is high, so I have hope for us. 

Christina Kovac worked for seventeen years managing Washington, DC newsrooms and producing crime and political stories in the District.
Her career as a television journalist began with Fox 5's Ten O'Clock News, and after that, the ABC affiliate in Washington.
For the last nine years she was at NBC News, where she worked for Tim Russert and provided news coverage for Meet the Press, the Today show, Nightly News, and others.
Christina Kovac lives with her family outside Washington, DC.
The Cutaway is her first novel.

Find out more at www.christinakovac.com
Find her Author page on Facebook
Follow her on Twitter @christina_kovac

The Contract by J M Gulvin #BlogTour @jmgulvin @FaberBooks #MyLifeInBooks #TheContract

In New Orleans, Texas Ranger John Q is out of his jurisdiction, and possibly out of his depth. It seems everyone in Louisiana wants to send him home, and every time he asks questions there's trouble: from the pharmacist to the detective running scared to the pimp who turned to him as a last resort. Before John Q knows it, he looks the only link between a series of murders.

So who could be trying to set him up, and why, and who can he turn to in a city where Southern tradition and family ties rule?

Infused with the rhythms of its iconic setting, The Contract is a thriller to keep even the most seasoned crime readers gripped and guessing all the way to its endgame.

The Contract by J M Gulvin is published in paperback on 6 April 2017 by Faber & Faber and is the second in the John Q series.
I featured the first in the series, The Long Count here on Random Things in March last year.

I'm delighted to welcome the author here today as part of the Blog Tour, he's talking about the books that have inspired him and left a lasting impression on his life, for My Life In Books.

My Life In Books ~ J M Gulvin

I love this kind of feature - where people like me get to reminisce about the books that have shaped the kind of writers we’ve become. For me it started way back when I was a child growing up in Edinburgh: nervous, no confidence, no belief in my ability to do anything at all. I attended “Gillespie’s Boys” and hated every moment of school life from then on.

I loved to read though, and the first book I remember was a child’s version of THE SONG OF HIAWATHA by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, it sucked me in and held me and so started a lifelong love affair with the American West.

That was followed by SQUANTO FRIEND OF THE PILGRIMS, a tale I thought was fiction about a young native American from the Iroquois confederacy taken to London on a boat only to return to his village to find it decimated by smallpox. Later, when I’d read “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee”, I’d discover that Squanto was real.

From the age of 11 to 18 I read THE LORD OF THE RINGS once a year. I devoured it, could not get enough and when my grown-up children visit now – we have a fest on the Peter Jackson movies. It got to the point where I could recite the book almost line by line. “I am Aragorn son of Arathorn, if, by my life or death I can save you, I will”.

As I moved into my twenties I knew I was a pretty good storyteller but I was uneducated and needed to hone my skills as a craftsman. From that day on I only read top drawer writers who were way better than I’d ever be. I started with Graham Greene, all his work, and THE QUIET AMERICAN is one of the most amazing and prophetic novels I’ve ever read. Written in the days of France and Indo-Chine, it foretold the catastrophic American involvement in Vietnam.

After Greene, it was Hemingway with THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA being my favourite. There was something about that old guy in the boat and the marlin he catches being taken by sharks…it summed up the challenges of life as a writer for me.

As I said above, I read about Squanto then years later I picked up a copy of BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE. Written by Dee Brown, it’s a native history of the American West: Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Geronimo and Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, to this day I’d suggest it as a study document for anyone who really wants to know how the America I write about with John Q was actually settled. The book affected me so greatly I made a pilgrimage to Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota where the remnants of Custer’s 7^th Cavalry massacred those involved in the last, peaceful resistance against domination from the east.

People comment about the relationships I’m creating in the John Q novels and the elements of racism that occur given the 1960’s setting. I think that was born of James Baldwin and ANOTHER COUNTRY. Set in New York it influenced part of what I’m doing at least, in Texas. There’s a scene near the beginning when the predicament of a young, black jazz drummer creates a sense of despair and poverty that’s as tough and poignant as anything I can remember.

Now, we’re getting to the heart of the matter (to borrow a title from Graham Greene). In 1992 I picked up the book that would change my life forever. It’s not actually my favourite McCarthy novel, but ALL THE PRETTY HORSES was like nothing I had read before. I was on vacation on the Norfolk Broads in England, and all I could think about each day was getting my daughters to bed so I could grab that book and go back to Mexico. In my opinion there’s no finer writer alive right now than Cormac McCarthy. I owe him everything. If I hadn’t read that book there would be no John Q today.

Since then I’ve continued to read those who are so much better than I’ll ever be. I don’t read much crime for fear of inadvertently pinching something from someone and it’s been these literary figures who have assisted my writing life to date.

Briefly, I want to mention two Jeffrey Lent novels IN THE FALL & LOST NATION that are so beautifully put together it blows you away. And lastly, THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD written by one of America’s real unsung heroes of literature - Ron Hansen. They made a fabulous movie with Brad Britt and the brilliant Casey Affleck that stuck to the novel verbatim. Read it. See the film. They’re fantastic.

J M Gulvin ~ April 2017

J M Gulvin divides his time between Wales and the western United States. He is the author of many previous novels, as well as Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's bestselling travel book Long Way Down.

The Contract is his second John Q mystery, following The Long Count (May 2016).

Follow him on Twitter @jmgulvin

Greatest Hits by Laura Barnett @laura_jbarnett @wnbooks @RebeccaGray

Cass Wheeler - a British singer-songwriter, hugely successful since the early 70s, whose sudden disappearance from the music has been the subject of intense speculation among her fans - is in the studio that adjoins her home, taking a journey back into her past. Her task is to choose sixteen songs from among the hundreds she has written since her early teens, for a uniquely personal Greatest Hits record, describing the arc of her life through song.

It has been over a decade since Cass last put out an album; ten years since a tragedy catapulted her into a breakdown. In the course of this one day - both ordinary and extraordinary - each song Cass plays sets off a chain of memories, leading us deep into her past, and into the creative impulse that has underpinned her work.

This is the story of a life - of highs and lows, love and separation, success and failure. Of what it is to live a fulfilled life, and how to make peace with our mistakes.

Greatest Hits by Laura Barnett is published in hardback by W&N on 15 June 2017, and is the author's second novel. I read and reviewed her first, The Versions of Us, here on Random Things in in July 2015.

Greatest Hits is clever, intriguing, so original and absolutely beautifully written. I do believe that I have found one of my Top Reads of 2017. This is a wonderful novel that feels so personal, so intimate and so familiar.

The story takes a circular journey, beginning early one morning as Cass Wheeler prepares for a party at her house. Cass has known fame and glory, accompanied by tragedy and sorrow throughout her life. For the past few years she's hidden herself away from the world. She's been vulnerable and scarred by life events, but today is a turning point.

Acclaimed singer and song writer Cass had the world at her feet in the heady days of the late 60s and 1970s. She was Britain's answer to Janis Joplin and Joan Baez, topping the charts with her own songs, accompanied by her partner Ivor. For the past ten years she's been silent, but finally, she has agreed to release a Greatest Hits album, with newly written songs recorded alongside the old favourites.

As Cass listens to each of the sixteen old tracks, her memories are awakened and the reader becomes a passenger on her life journey. Laura Barnett has recaptured the glamour of the music business in the 60s and 70s, but does not shy away from detailing the seedy, darker side that shadow Cass's memories. The research that has gone into Greatest Hits is outstanding, with the fashions, the music and the popular culture of the time described in vivid detail.

The novel's journey ends on the evening of the day that it started, yet it covers fifty years of Cass's life in incredible details, Filled with characters who burst from the page, dealing with almost unbearable sorrows and incredible highs, Greatest Hits is an absolute triumph. I loved every single page, and could quite happily have read another 400 pages.

Elegant and sophisticated, Greatest Hits is another sure-fire winner from this incredibly talented young author. I will be buying copies to thrust into the hands of my friends.

My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review.




A UNIQUE PARTNERSHIP:  Laura Barnett is working with acclaimed singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams on a very exciting collaboration for Greatest Hits. Together they have written the lyrics and Kathryn has written the music for the songs featured in Greatest Hits, which Kathryn will release as a studio album to coincide with the book's publication in June 2017 through her record label One Little Indian.
Kathryn, whose recent studio album Hypoxia was based on Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, began her career in 1999 and has been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and has recorded twelve studio albums.

Laura and Kathryn will embark on a tour of events to promote both book and album.

Find out how their collaboration came about and listen to the first song on the album at:
bit.ly/LauraandKathryn

Laura Barnett was born in 1982 in south London, where she now lives with her husband. She studied Spanish and Italian at Cambridge University, and newspaper journalism at City University, London.
Her bestselling debut novel, The Versions of Us, was published in May 2015 and has been translated into 23 languages. TV rights have been optioned by Trademark Films.
As a freelance arts journalist, features writer and theatre critic, Laura has worked for the Guardian, the Observer, the Daily Telegraph and other national newspapers and magazines.
Her first non-fiction book, Advice from the Players - a compendium of advice for actors - was published in 2014 by Nick Hern Books.

Find out more at 
www.laura-barnett.co.uk
www.versionsofus.com

Follow her on Twitter @laura_jbarnett