Another Place by Matthew Crow @mizzlecrizzle @AtomBooks @BrooDoherty

A small town. A missing schoolgirl. A terrible secret. And one girl's fight to survive.

Sixteen-year-old Claudette Flint is coming home from hospital after an escalating depression left her unable to cope. She may seem unchanged on the outside; but everything's different. The same could be said about her seaside hometown.

A local teenager, Sarah, has disappeared. Sarah had a bad reputation round town; but now she's vanished the close-knit community seems to be unspooling.

As the police investigate and the press digs around for dirt, small town scandals start to surface. What nobody knows yet is that Claudette and Sarah had a secret friendship. And that the last secret Sarah shared may be the key to the truth.

After weeks of focusing solely on herself, Claudette realizes she is not the only part of the world that needs fixing - and that if she can piece together the fragments of Sarah's story, then maybe she can piece herself back together too.

Another Place is a novel about lost girls, recovered life - and the meaning of home.

Another Place by Matthew Crow was published in paperback on 3 August 2017 by Atom.

Another Place is a book targeted at a Young Adult market. I am not a Young Adult. I haven't been a Young Adult for many many years. However, I am a huge fan of Matthew Crow. His last YA book, In Bloom remains one of my all time favourite books, I read and reviewed it here on Random Things back in 2013. 

The sign, for me, of a great book, one that I have loved and enjoyed, is the number of folded back page corners in my copy. I fold back pages that contain beautiful phrases, wonderful description and writing that makes my heart sing. My copy of Another Place has lots of folded corners. There are too many marked parts to put into this review, if I included them all, you wouldn't really need to buy the book!

Another Place is Claudette's story. She's seventeen and lives in the North East of England, in a town that was once thriving, but is now dark and grey, with closed down shop fronts and an undercurrent of drug culture, and the violence and menace that goes with it. Claudette begins her story as she leaves hospital. She was there because she had a breakdown that involved broken glass and injured teachers. Claudette and her father live alone, her mother left years ago. She and her Dad have a fabulous relationship, he loves her and supports her. He is her tiger when she needs one. He also struggles to understand the scars on her arms and the moods.

Claudette is a strong and streetwise seventeen year old. No stranger to drink, or sex and not shy to confront anyone. It is the inner demons that she finds the hardest to confront, and the author's description of how she deals with the regular panic attacks is wonderfully blunt:

"It's fine, I have asthma, I said quickly, rather than the truth. ........... Asthma was a safer bet. Nobody ever wanted to talk about asthma. It was like saying you had stew for dinner. People accepted it and moved on."

Claudette is astute, and kind and determined. The town is buzzing because a young girl, Sarah, has disappeared. Claudette and Sarah had a strange relationship; a friendship that only they knew about. They confided in each other, they told the truth that was hidden from others, and Claudette is determined to find out just what has happened to Sarah.

Whilst the mystery of Sarah's disappearance is the centre of the story, the real detail is in the characters and the relationships between them. Matthew Crow has a magic touch when creating these. The blossoming friendship between Sarah and the elderly Mr Fitzpatrick is beautifully imagined, growing gently and exposing more truths that painfully bind them together.

The characters in Another Place are lively and so well rounded. Claudette's friend Donna is an absolute joy, her brother Adam is quieter but no less well defined, and then there is Paula. Paula is Claudette's Dad's partner and is probably my favourite of them all. So exquisitely detailed, I read this and I saw her:

"Paula was low-hanging fruit. She wore fleeces with Alsatians on them that she bought at the indoor market. She hand-made most of the presents she gave. She clipped a pedometer to the elastic of her jogging bottoms every morning without fail. She walked ten thousand steps a day and still ended up back in the same place she started." 

Another Place is a wonderful book. It is heartwarming, yet gritty and down to earth. It is full of humour and sometimes is overwhelming in its sadness. It is an insightful and clever observation of the world of teenage mental health, grimy towns and people who will hurt others to protect themselves.

A truly beautiful story. Poignant, gripping and witty and deserves to become a classic.

Matthew Crow was born in 1987 and raised in Newcastle.  Having worked as a freelance journalist since his teens he has contributed to a number of publications including the Independent on Sunday and the Observer.  

He has written two novels for adults. The second, My Dearest Jonah, was nominated for the Dylan Thomas Prize.  

Follow Matthew on Twitter @mizzlecrizzle

Maria In The Moon by Louise Beech @LouiseWriter @OrendaBooks

Thirty-two-year-old Catherine Hope has a great memory. But she can't remember everything. She can't remember her ninth year. She can't remember when her insomnia started. And she can't remember why everyone stopped calling her Catherine-Maria.

With a promiscuous past, and licking her wounds after a painful breakup, Catherine wonders why she resists anything approaching real love. But when she loses her home to the devastating deluge of 2007 and volunteers at Flood Crisis, a devastating memory emerges... and changes everything.

Dark, poignant and deeply moving, Maria in the Moon is an examination of the nature of memory and truth, and the defences we build to protect ourselves, when we can no longer hide...

Maria in the Moon by Louise Beech is published by Orenda Books as an ebook on 15 August and in paperback on 30 September 2017 and is the author's third novel. I've read and reviewed her previous novels; How To Be Brave (September 2015) and The Mountain in My Shoe (October 2106).

Maria in the Moon is the third book by Louise Beech to be published by Orenda Books, and just like her first two, this is a beautifully tender novel that will touch the heart and soul of every reader.

Set just after the floods that devastated parts of the city of Hull in 2007, this is Catherine’s story. It’s the story of her now and her then, it’s a story with slowly emerging parts that are gently revealed to change memories and alter perceptions.

Catherine’s life seems directionless; her boyfriend is gone; her home is uninhabitable due to the flood water that invaded it and her family life is difficult. Her relationships are unsteady, it’s almost as though Catherine is afraid to love, or be loved. After all, one of her most-used phrases is, ‘it’s not love unless it hurts.’ Aunty Mary has been the one constant in her life; always there in the background with her hairy chin and her abundance of love. She was there when Catherine’s Mum died and when her Dad re-married, and then again when, aged eight, her beloved Dad died too.

Aunty Mary’s recent diagnosis, coupled with the floods and her decision to take on a role as a volunteer at the Flood Crisis centre seem to have had a defining effect on Catherine.  Hidden memories creep into the corners or her mind, and into her dreams; haunting her and taunting her like a relentless pain that can’t be soothed.

Louise Beech’s writing is so very powerful, she evokes every emotion in her readers. Yet, despite the heart-break and damage that Catherine and her family suffer, this author injects her own style of true Northern grit and humour which is subtly and cleverly interwoven throughout the story. Catherine is not a whimsical, fanciful character; she’s modern, down-to-earth and, as we say here in the North, a bit of a mardy mare. Her relationship and interactions with her Mother are a joy to read; strangely familiar to me, and I guess, to many others.

Catherine’s experiences as a volunteer at the Flood Crisis centre are stunningly realistic and it is clear that the author draws on experience as she describes the banter that covers up the tension of waiting to answer the next call.

As Catherine’s long-repressed memories begin to re-appear, Louise Beech has very cleverly compared and contrasted the immense effects that both man-made terror and the horrors of nature can wreak on people, relationships and whole communities.

Maria In The Moon deals with dark issues that are uncomfortable, but necessary. This is superb writing; a story that will stay with me for a long time and is extraordinarily written and presented. There are moments of unexpected beauty from richly complicated characters. It really is quite spellbinding. 

Louise Beech remembers sitting in her father's cross-legged lap while he tried to show her his guitar's chords. He's a musician. Her small fingers stumbled and gave up. She was three. His music sheets fascinated her - such strange language that translated into music. Her mother teaches languages, French and English, so her fluency with words fired Louise's interest. She knew from being small that she wanted to write, to create, to make magic. 

She loves all forms of writing. Her short stories have won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition, as well as shortlisting twice for the Bridport Prize and being published in a variety of UK magazines. Her first play, Afloat, was performed at Hull Truck Theatre in 2012. She also wrote a ten-year newspaper column for the Hull Daily Mail about being a parent, garnering love/hate criticism. Her debut novel was a Guardian Readers' pick for 2015. 

She is inspired by life, history, survival and love, and always has a story in her head. Her debut novel, How to be Brave, came from truth - when Louise's daughter got Type 1 Diabetes she helped her cope by sharing her grandad's real life sea survival story. Her second novel, The Mountain in my Shoe, will be released in September 2016 and was inspired by her time working with children in the care system.

When she was fifteen Louise bet her mother ten pounds she'd be published by the time she was thirty. She missed this self-set deadline by two months. Her mother is still waiting for the money.

Find out more at - http://louisebeech.co.uk/

Follow on Twitter at @LouiseWriter

Orenda Books website - www.orendabooks.co.uk

Follow Orenda on Twitter @OrendaBooks

My Life in Books ~ talking to author Abi Silver @abisilver16 #MyLifeInBooks

My Life in Books is an occasional feature on Random Things Through My Letterbox

I've asked authors and people in publishing to share with us a list of the books that are important to them and have made a lasting impression on their life

It's my pleasure to welcome Abi Silver to Random Things today. I recently read and reviewed Abi's debut novel; The Pinocchio Brief for the Blog Tour.

Here's a snippet from my review:

"There is a refreshing authenticity to this story, and it is clear that the author's legal background adds depth to the story.

Extremely well written, this keeps the reader on their toes and is a fine debut. I look forward to reading more from this author."

Find out more about Abi Silver and The Pinocchio Brief

Website  www.abisilver.co.uk

Follow on Twitter @abisilver16

Abi Silver Author page on Facebook

The Pinocchio Brief: published July 2017 by Lightning Books.

http://eye-books.com/books/the-pinocchio-brief

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pinnochio-Brief-Abigail-Silver/dp/178563044X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1496648183&sr=1-1&keywords=the+pinocchio+brief

My Life In Books ~ Abi Silver

Fantastic Mr Fox – I devoured all of Roald Dahl’s books but this one has to be my favourite, with the ebullient fox who pits his wits against “Boggis, Bunce & Bean, one short one fat one lean!” and comes out on top.  A story of victory, against all the odds and in the face of adversity. 

The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes – I was given a hefty volume of these stories at around the age of 10 and was constantly caught out reading it under the bedclothes late at night.  Apart from The Hound of the Baskervilles, which will never leave me, Holmes’ pronouncement, in The Red-headed league, that “as a rule…the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be” has stuck with me to this day.

The Mill on the Floss – This tale of the feisty Maggie has tons of drama and is full of moral dilemmas; Maggie, stifled by her poor provincial life, desperately trying (but failing) to please her stubborn brother, befriending and then falling in love with the son of her father’s mortal enemy and being lured away by a selfish suitor, ultimately leading to tragedy. Wow!  As an adolescent, I devoured it and loved every minute.

Midnight’s Children – I still have the severely dog-eared version which accompanied me on my student-days travelling around India; clothing was lobbed out of my rucksack at every opportunity but this book remained, steadfast.  I had never read anything like this before; this story of two boys switched at birth, born on the stroke of midnight on the day India declared independence.  Boys with supernatural powers; in Saleem, the narrator, it’s telepathy. But it was the language which amazed me; coarse words, repetition and jarring sounds to create the backdrop of the new country heading into chaos and confrontation. What a read!

Girl with a Pearl Earring– we had a family holiday to Holland in 1977 (Silver Jubilee year – I insisted on wearing a Union Jack t-shirt wherever we went – probably not something I would repeat now post-Brexit) and took in various museums and galleries and my sister bought a tiny reproduction of this vibrant painting by Vermeer, which she kept on her desk in her room.  The fictional account of how the painting came to be was one of the first books I read after the arrival of my first child, snatching rare moments of pleasure in between all those exhausting activities which accompany the early days of motherhood.

Jeffrey Archer:Stranger than Fiction – in the early noughties, when I remained at home with young children, I read a number of biographies of famous people.  My interest in this book, clearly, was Mr Archer’s well-documented fall from grace and the underlying tragic story of the woman, Monica Coughlan, whose evidence he challenged in court.  So, this book had a legal edge to it too, but it sparked off for me an interest in other books written by investigative journalists and what they were able to uncover, with a little patience and dogged determination.

Atonement – I didn’t read this till everyone was talking about the film and I was busy preparing myself to return to the world of legal work.  I have read and enjoyed most of Ian McEwan’s books but I particularly like this story because it’s the misunderstanding of a 13-year-old girl (with whom I could relate) which causes so much misery.   And the emphasis on how the events of one moment can have such dramatic and lasting consequences.

Started Early, Tookmy Dog – I loved Behind the Scenes at the Museum but I was drawn to this detective story partly because of its Leeds (my home town) setting (it’s also a great read and funny too, despite the serious issues covered).  I read it on holiday in Corsica in 2011, cover to cover in a day, the first holiday post-children in which I had the opportunity to read uninterrupted - they were attempting to master wind surfing and sailing at the time.  The opening chapter was a revelation for me because it mentioned so many aspects of my youth and there was a sudden realisation that all those things (the fear of the Yorkshire Ripper, never having eaten an avocado, watching Mike Yarwood) have shaped me, my view of the world and the things I write about now.

Abi Silver - August 2017 

Dead Writers in Rehab by Paul Bassett Davies @thewritertype @unbounders

When literary reprobate Foster James wakes up in a strange country house, he assumes he's been consigned to rehab (yet again) by his dwindling band of friends and growing collection of ex-wives. 

But he soon realises there's something a bit different about this place after he gets punched in the face by Ernest Hemingway.

Is Foster dead? Has his less-than-saintly existence finally caught up with him? After an acrimonious group therapy session with Hunter S Thompson, Colette, William Burroughs, and Coleridge, it seems pretty likely. But he still feels alive, especially after an up-close and personal one-on-one session with Dorothy Parker.

When he discovers that the two enigmatic doctors who run the institution are being torn apart by a thwarted love affair, he and the other writers must work together to save something that, for once, is bigger than their own gigantic egos.

This is a love story. It's for anyone who loves writing and writers. It's also a story about the strange and terrible love affair between creativity and addiction, told by a charming, selfish bastard who finally confronts his demons in a place that's part Priory, part Purgatory, and where the wildest fiction can tell the soberest truth.

Dead Writers in Rehab by Paul Bassett Davies was published by Unbound on 4 May 2017


So, here's a book that defies any form of categorisation, in fact it would just sit on a shelf all of its own in the bookshop, probably labelled 'one of a kind'.

I like strange, and I like different and I have a sense of humour that my friends describe as weird, in fact some of my friends describe it as sick.  I like humour that makes me think and is clever. I don't like slapstick, I like The League of Gentlemen, and I really really like this book!

It's a mash-up of many voices; all of them very familiar to any book lover. We have Dorothy Parker alongside Ernest Hemingway amongst others, and these are all glued together by the author's own distinctive, and very insightful own voice.

Foster James wakes up in rehab. He's something of a lush, with a history of hard living that is now his downfall. However, this is no ordinary rehab clinic, this placed is populated by some of the greatest living authors of all times. Yes, they're dead, but so what?  This author has taken each one of them and imagined their therapy journey, step by step. The humour is incessant, but there's also a whole lot of serious stuff woven into this story and at its heart, it's a story of people, and love and joy.

Dead Writers in Rehab kept me company whilst travelling and was the perfect anecdote to being stuck on a rainy A1 behind queues of lorries whilst the bloke tapped impatiently on the steering wheel muttering profanities!  If you like quirky, and strangely funny and excellent writing, you will adore this one.

Writer, director and actor Paul Bassett Davies founded Crystal Theatre whose pioneering multimedia work was acclaimed in Britain and Europe. He then created a series of one-man shows, two of which were Comedy Award finalists at the Edinburgh Festival fringe, while others were innovative theatrical events.
 
In television and radio Paul's credits include Alas Smith and Jones; Spitting Image; Rory Bremner; Jasper Carrot and many more. He created a BBC radio sitcom with Jeremy Hardy, and produced the Sony Award winning show Do Go On, with Griff Rhys Jones and Graeme Garden. His radio plays have starred Bill Nighy, David Hemmings, and Alison Steadman. He has written music videos for Kate Bush and Ken Russell. He once worked with Spike Milligan, twice.
 
He wrote the screenplay for the feature animation film The Magic Roundabout (starring Joanna Lumley and Sir Ian McKellen), and has been working on a film about counter-culture comic book heroes The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, with their creator, comic legend Gilbert Shelton. He has also written and directed award-winning short films.
 
Paul's first novel Utter Folly ("A very funny novel" – Jack Dee) spent many weeks at the top of Amazon's Humorous Fiction chart when it was published in 2012, and was optioned for television. 

Several of Paul’s short stories have been published and met with critical acclaim. His story The Spots was shortlisted for The Stephen King competition launched by Hodder in October 2015.
 
In April 2011 he was Creative Director of the London Comedy Writers Festival. He is also a director of Euroscript Ltd and runs workshops with the company.
 
His sitcom Reception was broadcast by BBC Radio 4 in September/October 2013.
 
Paul has also been a minicab driver, a DJ in a strip club and a welder's mate. He was the vocalist in the punk band Shoes for Industry (John Peel favourites).

His new novel, Dead Writers in Rehab, was published by Unbound in May 2017.
 
www.thewritertype.com
 
@thewritertype

This Beautiful Life by Katie Marsh #BlogTour @marshisms @HodderBooks

What happens when you get the second chance you never expected?

Abi is living her happy ending. She's in remission and is ready to make the most of her second chance at life. But during Abi's illness her family has fallen apart. Her husband John has made decisions that are about to come back to haunt him, while her teenage son Seb is battling with a secret of his own.

Set to the songs on Abi's survival playlist, this is the story of what happens next as Abi tries to rebuild her family. Can she bring the people she loves most in the world back together again... before it's too late?

This Beautiful Life is a deeply moving and poignant novel which reminds us why life, and love, are worth fighting for.

This Beautiful Life by Katie Marsh was published in paperback by Hodder on 27 July 2017 and is the author's third novel.

I was delighted to be asked to host the Blog Tour for This Beautiful Life as I have read and loved both of Katie Marsh's previous novels. I've reviewed them both here on Random Things:  My Everything (August 2015) and A Life Without You (July 2016).


Abi is in remission. She's had the chemotherapy and the nausea and the terrifying moments when she thought she wouldn't see her son Seb leave school, make his way in life. She's not yet forty and had experienced the worst disease, but she's officially over it, and now she wants to forge ahead with her life.

However, life seems to have a strange way of kicking you when you are not only down, but also when you are picking yourself back up again. Things have changed in her family, there is a strange tension between her and her husband John, and her darling Seb seems to have lost his way in life too.

With music tracks that are special to Abi as a backdrop, Katie Marsh cleverly and compassionately reveals a story that is both heartfelt and painful at times. This author creates characters that are so realistic that I really did think that I actually knew Abi, in real life .... I'm sure I do! I recognise someone who looks back through music, who can remember where they were and what they were wearing when they first happened upon a track that will become so important in their life. Not only do I recognise Abi, I think that she is a bit of me. The wonderfully developed relationship that Katie Marsh has created between Abi and her mother is oh so familiar. The illicit smoking out of the bedroom window, the DMs, the music festivals .... the arrogance of youth; thinking you've pulled the wool over your parents eyes, and then being told, as an adult, that they knew exactly what you'd been up to!

Just as in her two previous novels, Katie Marsh takes ordinary people leading fairly ordinary lives and examines the impact of life-changing events on them. These characters could be any of us, the events could happen to all of us. Her extraordinary writing is full of warmth and honesty, she examines the power of love in great depth; showing that whilst the power is great, it is also so very fragile and has to be nurtured to survive.

This Beautiful Life is wonderful. I devoured every page, and whilst I admit that her first book; My Everything remains my favourite, this is absolutely superb read. Highly recommended, an utter delight.

My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review and invited me to take part in the Blog Tour.

Katie lives in south-west London with her family. Before being published she worked in healthcare, and her novels are inspired by the bravery of the people she met in hospitals and clinics across the country. Her first novel 'My Everything' was picked by the Evening Standard as one of the hottest summer debuts of 2015, and her second 'A life without you' was a huge e-book bestseller. Her third novel 'This Beautiful Life' is out now in e-book and audio, and the paperback is published on July 27th. 

She loves strong coffee, the feel of a blank page and stealing her husband's toast. When not writing, she spends her time in local parks pretending she's as fast as her daughter's scooter. 

You can contact Katie on Twitter (@marshisms) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/katiemarshauthor), or via her website (www.katie-marsh.com).

Gone Astray by Michelle Davies @M_Davieswrites @panmacmillan #Review

When a Lesley Kinnock buys a lottery ticket on a whim, it changes her life more than she could have imagined . . .

Lesley and her husband Mack are the sudden winners of a £15 million EuroMillions jackpot. They move with their 15-year-old daughter Rosie to an exclusive gated estate in Buckinghamshire, leaving behind their ordinary lives - and friends - as they are catapulted into wealth beyond their wildest dreams.

But it soon turns into their darkest nightmare when, one beautiful spring afternoon, Lesley returns to their house to find it empty: their daughter Rosie is gone.

DC Maggie Neville is assigned to be Family Liaison Officer to Lesley and Mack, supporting them while quietly trying to investigate the family. And she has a crisis threatening her own life - a secret from the past that could shatter everything she's worked so hard to build.

As Lesley and Maggie desperately try to find Rosie, their fates hurtle together on a collision course that threatens to end in tragedy . . .

Money can't buy you happiness.
The truth could hurt more than a lie.
One moment really can change your life forever.

Gone Astray by Michelle Davies was published by Pan Macmillan in paperback on 20 October 2016 and is the author's debut novel, and the first in the DC Maggie Neville series.

Gone Astray had been sitting on my shelf for around six months before I took it away to Corfu with me in June as one of my holiday reads. Book shops seem to be overflowing with books with dark covers, red title print and featuring missing children. It's very easy to become tired of this trend, but the blurb from Gone Astray is very inviting, and the story inside is a clever take on the subject.

The main difference between Gone Astray and so many of the other books of its type is the main character; Maggie Neville. Although she is a serving police officer, her role within this story is that of a Family Liaison Officer; very different to the tired, stereotypical police officers we often come across in fiction.

Lesley and Mack Kinnock, and their fifteen-year-old daughter Rosie won £15m on the Lottery and it has changed their lives. Their new home is in an exclusive estate in Buckinghamshire, their new neighbours are wealthy; so very different to their previous ordinary lives. Whilst Mack embraces their new life and the trappings of wealth, Lesley is uneasy. She doesn't feel comfortable and misses their old life and house.

Maggie Neville meets the Kinnocks when she is assigned as their Family Liaison Officer after the disappearance of Rosie who vanished from the garden, with no clues left, except for some small smatterings of blood.

Maggie is a complex and very well created character. I enjoyed getting to know her, and her role, and also picking up hints about her background. Her relationship with her boss DCI Umpire is both intriguing and compelling and lays the path for more in this series.

The plot can sometimes edge towards the unbelievable but the story is so well put together that I can certainly forgive the author, and this is a fine debut novel that certainly kept me entertained for a couple of days in the Greek sunshine.

Secrets, lies and unanswered questions abound in this fast-moving and very readable domestic thriller.

Michelle Davies was born in Middlesex in 1972, raised in Buckinghamshire and now lives in north London.

Her debut crime novel, Gone Astray, was published in Hardback in March 2016 and features Family Liaison Officer DC Maggie Neville as its central police character. The paperback version was published on 20th October 2016. Gone Astray was part of a two-book deal with Pan Macmillan and the follow-up, Wrong Place, also featuring DC Neville, was released on 27th February 2017.

When she's not turning her hand to crime, Michelle writes as a freelance journalist for women's magazines including Marie Claire, Essentials, YOU and Stylist. Her last staff job before going freelance was as Editor-at-Large at Grazia and she was previously Features Editor at heat. She began her career straight from school at 18, working as a trainee reporter on her home-town newspaper, the Bucks Free Press.

More information can be found at www.michelledavieswriter.com
Find her Author page on Facebook
Follow her on Twitter @M_Davieswrites

Paris Mon Amour by Isabel Costello @isabelcostello @theprimewriters

The first time I caused terrible harm to the people I love it was an accident. The second is the reason I'm here.

When Alexandra discovers that her husband Philippe is having an affair, she can't believe he'd risk losing the love that has transformed their lives. 

Still in shock, she finds herself powerfully attracted to a much younger man. Jean-Luc is twenty-three, intense and magnetic. He's also the son of Philippe's best friend. 

With every passionate encounter, Alexandra is pulled deeper into a situation that threatens everyone she holds dear.


















Paris Mon Amour by Isabel Costello was published in paperback on 22 May 2017 by Literary Sofa and is the author's debut novel.

This novel is beautifully presented, the cover is delicate and very inviting, and the blurb is intriguing. I was especially taken by the first line: "The first time I caused terrible harm to the people I love it was an accident. The second is the reason I'm here." This is a bewitching opener and the beginning of a story that is beautifully written, with care and feeling.

Alexandra is an English woman, living in Paris with her husband Philippe. They have a busy, fairly glamorous life and when Alexandra's waspish Mother slyly implies that Philippe is having an affair, Alexandra reacts in an unusual way. 
It is Jean-Luc, seventeen years younger than her, and the son of Philippe's best friend who becomes her answer and she embarks on a sensuous and compulsive affair with him.

Isabel Costello's writing is stylish and accomplished. Paris Mon Amour is not just the story of an affair, it is a detailed examination of complicated and tense family relationships, all set against a wonderfully imagined Paris. I especially enjoyed the examination of the female relationships; Alexandra and her mother, and then later in the novel between her and her stepdaughter Vanessa.

Paris Mon Amour is an insightful story, deftly written and filled with characters who complement the setting perfectly. I enjoyed it very much and look forward to reading more from Isabel Costello.

With thanks to Literary Sofa who sent my copy for review.

Isabel Costello is a writer and avid reader of contemporary fiction, a keen traveller and a lifelong francophile.

Originally from Wiltshire, after studying modern languages she moved to London where she lives with her husband and teenage sons. Five years ago she started the Literary Sofa blog.

Her other interests include art, photography, theatre, cooking and wine. Isabel is also a great believer in the restorative powers of a long swim and a long bath.

You can follow Isabel on Twitter, find out more on her blog and visit her on Facebook.