Story You Don't Want To Read, About People You Don't Want To Meet by Aleksandra Osman #BookReview #StoryYouDontWantToRead #PeopleYouDontWantToMeet #AleksandraOsman

 

No one dreams of becoming a refugee. I know – I was one, a child fleeing war-torn Sarajevo. Though the Bosnian War has faded from global attention, for those it displaced, the struggle persists. Being a refugee is not a one-time event, but a lifelong series of petty humiliations as you chase the elusive prize of acceptance in a new homeland.

This collection shares raw stories from refugees like me who now call Canada home. On paper, Canada welcomes diversity; in reality, immigrants often face a glass ceiling that excludes us from full participation. With irony, in this multicultural nation we are made to feel like uncomfortable outcasts burdened by our pasts.

You may not want to hear our stories because they highlight bitter truths - that even in an open-armed country, refugees endure judgement and distance. But acknowledging these stories is the first step toward positive change. By reading about our intersecting struggles you become part of the solution helping to shift perspectives and bring us in from the margins. Our histories make some uncomfortable, but are essential to share if we hope to build a more inclusive society.

Story You Don't Want To Read, About People You Don't Want To Meet by Aleksandra Osman was published on 26 April 2024 by Austin Maccauley. My thanks to the author who sent my copy for review. 

When I was contacted by author Aleksandra Osman and she told me about her book, I was intrigued and agreed to read and review a copy. It is a slim book, with 115 pages in the paperback edition, but it really packs such a punch to the heart. 

We live in a time when the plight of so many refugees is all around us. On the news, on social media, in the newspapers. So many people have to flee their homes, many of these are women and children, and many of them will never return to their original countries. 

In the UK, it appears to me that just the word 'refugee' is enough to spark such heated debate, and often such hate and anger spills out in these discussions. Politicians use refugees as part of their campaigning and all too often, people assume that all refugees are illegal. Casting them into one category, without stopping to think about the fact that first and foremost, these are human beings. People who have an education, jobs, families. People who are loved and do love. Just as we are. 

Aleksandra Osman's book is a collection of stories from refugees who fled Bosnia, mainly Sarejevo, during and after the Bosnian War. All of the people in the book have settled in Canada, and all of them have heart breaking tales to tell. We like to think of the countries that offer safety to refugees as free places, where people can try to build their lives again. Where they will be offered opportunities and treated as equals.

Sadly, the tales told by the people in this book tell a different story. All so often, they have come across exclusion and difficulties in their new homeland. Some of them wanted to return to Bosnia because they just couldn't bear their treatment. 

Aleksandra has chosen the perfect title for this collection. On the whole, we shy away from these stories, we want to believe that when refugees finally reach 'safe' places that things will be better for them. The author wants us to acknowledge these facts and these stories, told by children, by men, by women are all testament to this. It may be difficult to read, but I feel it is essential, and maybe, one day, we can become really inclusive. 

A book that I will keep and return to and one that has left such an impression. 

Aleksandra Osman left native Bosnia in the midst of civil war and settled in Canada. 

With a university degree in Comparative Literature, Aleksandra is the author of several published works that pertain to human rights.

One Grand Summer by Ewald Arenz BLOG TOUR #OneGrandSummer @EwaldArenz t. @FwdTranslations @OrendaBooks #BookReview

Sixteen-year-old Frieder’s plans for the summer are shattered when he fails two subjects. In order to move up to the next school year in the Autumn, he must resit his exams. So, instead of going on holiday with his family, he now faces the daunting and boring prospect of staying at his grandparents’ house, studying with his strict and formal step-grandfather.

 On the bright side, he’ll spend time with his grandmother Nana, his sister Alma and his best friend Johann. And he meets Beate, the girl in the beautiful green swimsuit…

 The next few weeks will bring friendship, fear and first love – one grand summer that will change and shape his entire life.

 Heartbreaking, poignant and warmly funny, One Grand Summer is an unforgettable, tender novel that captures those exquisite and painful moments that make us who we are.

 For readers who loved Sarah Winman’s When God Was a Rabbit

One Grand Summer by Ewald Arenz was published on 18 July 2024 by Orenda Books and is translated by Rachel Ward. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this Blog Tour 

Back in June 2022 I read and reviewed Tasting Sunlight by Ewald Arenz, the first of his novels published in English by Orenda. I adored that book so much and have been eagerly awaiting publication of One Grand Summer. I can confirm that it is another beautifully written story that totally captured my heart. This author excels in creating relationships between his characters that are so realistic. 

It's the early 1980s in a small town in Germany. Teenage Frieder is the lead character, a boy who is not doing well at school. In fact, he's done so badly that it is decided that he will not join his family on their summer holiday in Rio. Instead, Frieder is destined to stay with his Grandmother (Nana) and her husband; the Professor. Over the summer, he must study hard, so that he can stay on at school. Frieder's Grandfather is a man who doesn't accept any foolishness, and Frieder looks ahead to the summer with some trepidation. The saving grace for him is that he will get to spend time with his younger sister Alma who is training to be a nurse, his best friend Johann, and most exciting of all, he can get to know Beate better. He and Beate met briefly at the swimming pool and it is the memory of her in her green swimming costume that spurs him on. 

It is most certainly a 'grand summer' for these four young people. They are at the age where they are no longer children, hidden from consequences of real life, but not quite adults, and still dealing with the discovery that life is not all fun and games, and sunshine and laughter. 

Arenz's ability to draw wonderfully colourful characters, and create such intricate relationships is so very special. As Frieder finds himself in some sticky situations, he also discovers so much more about the Grandfather who always appeared aloof and distant. Both of his grandparents are wise, without preaching, they allow Frieder to make his own mistakes, they do not cover up for him, but teach him how to deal with punishments, and also with pain. 

Frider causes pain, and also feels pain. There are choices that he makes that he will come to regret, he will hurt those closest to him, yet he will always learn. 

It's a coming of age novel that deals with some deeply emotional subject, yet it is often filled with humour and light too. The pacing of the novel and the fine balance between the dark and the light it expertly done. Rachel Ward's translation from German into English is superbly done, the narrative flows without fault at all. 

Compassion, hope, joy and a long hot summer ..... a wonderful read that I highly recommend. 

Ewald Arenz was born in Nuremberg in 1965, studied English, American literature and
history, and now works as a teacher at a grammar school. 

His novels and plays have received numerous awards. 

Tasting Sunlight was longlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize, shortlisted for the German Booksellers Best Novel Award, and featured on the Spiegel bestseller lists in both hardback and paperback for months. 

One Grand Summer won the German Booksellers Prize in 2021, and was a number-one bestseller in Germany. 

Ewald lives with his family near Fürth.

X @EwaldArenz

In Bloom by Eva Verde BLOG TOUR #InBloom @Evakinder @simonschusterUK @TeamBATC #BookReview

 

Delph has kept herself small and quiet as a form of self-protection, ever since the love of her life Sol’s untimely death left her pregnant and alone at the age of twenty-four. Theirs was such a once-in-a-lifetime love, that the loss of her soulmate broke her heart ‒ and almost broke her, too.

Years on, Delph’s protective bubble bursts when her daughter Roche moves out of the flat Delph shares with her partner Itsy and in with her estranged nan, Moon. Now that it’s just the two of them, the cracks in Delph and Itsy’s relationship begin to grow. Feeling on the outside of the bond between her fierce-yet-flaky tarot-reading mother and volatile martial-arts-champion daughter, Delph begins questioning her own freedom.

Is her life with Itsy all it seems? And has keeping small and safe truly been her choice all these years…?

In Bloom by Eva Verde is published in paperback by Simon and Schuster on 1 August 2024. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this Blog Tour 

I was totally entranced by In Bloom by Eva Verde. It's a novel written with compassion and heart that features three completely different female characters who are bound together by family ties. 

Delph is woman who has struggled with life. Left pregnant at a young age when her partner died, she's spent most of her life dedicated to others. Delph's daughter Roche is feisty and ready to take on anything, for her, life is just beginning and she intends to grasp it with both hands. Moon is Delph's mother and Roche's grandmother; an unconventional woman in many ways. When Roche decides that she's going to move in with Moon, Delph is shocked and feels unwanted. 

The author cleverly moves back and forward through the years, we learn about Moon and Delph's earlier lives, and how their experiences have made them the women that they are today. When Roche delves deeper into her grandmother's past, issues are revealed that change perceptions. 

This is a beautifully written exploration of female family relationships. The characters are solidly created, all unique and all totally believable. The themes of guilt, regret and ultimately forgiveness are so well developed, there's a real beauty to this writing, it totally snares the reader and keeps them invested in the lives of these three women. 

The author does not shy away from some deeply emotional issues, but her ability to handle these with such care is outstanding. 

Different voices, different issues and different times, but all so intricately woven together. A really heartwarming read. Recommended by me 

Eva Verde is a writer from East London. 

Identity, class and female rage are recurring themes throughout her work and her debut novel Lives Like Mine, is published by Simon and Schuster. 

Eva's love song to libraries, I Am Not Your Tituba forms part of Kit De Waal's Common People: An Anthology of Working-Class Writers. 

Her words have featured in Marie Claire, Grazia, Elle and The Big Issue, also penning the new foreword for the international bestselling author Jackie Collins Goddess of Vengeance. 

Eva lives in Essex with her husband, children and dog.  

Twitter @Evakinder Instagram @evakinderwrites

The Darkness of Colours by Martin Blasco BLOG TOUR #TheDarknessofColours #MartinBlasco t @ClaireStorey16 @hoperoadpublish @RandomTTours #Win #Competition #Giveaway #Prize

 

The Darkness of Colours is a historical thriller narrated from two different perspectives, in two eras.

The main event, around which the novel revolves, is the kidnapping of five children during the night of 5th of April 1885.

This is the start of the experiment into the idea of nature vs nurture.

What happens if these children are given different upbringing?

Twenty-five years after the kidnapping, the children now grown up, suddenly reappear on the doorsteps of their biological parents. Confused by his daughter’s memory loss, one parent hires a journalist to investigate.

Will he discover what has happened to his daughter and the other children? And why have they suddenly reappeared after all this time?

The Darkness of Colours by Martin Blasco was published on 18 July 2024 by Hope Road Publishing and is translated by Claire Storey

As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour, I am delighted to have one copy to give away today. Entry is simple, just fill out the competition widget in this post. UK entries only please. 

GOOD LUCK! 

One copy of The Darkness of Colours by Martin Blasco

Martín Blasco is an Argentinian author. He studied Film Direction at the CIEVYC
Cinema and Audio-Visual College in Buenos Aires. His first book for young readers was published in 2007 and since then he has published thirteen books for children and young adults. Two of his previous novels have been included in the international White Ravens recommendations. He is winner of the ColibrÍ Medal awarded by IBBY Chile for his YA novel Los extrañamientos. The Darkness of Colours is his best-selling book to date.

The French translation of The Darkness of Colours was awarded the Prix Farniente in Belgium, the winners of which chosen by adolescent readers.

The Tyranny of Flies by Elaine Vilar Madruga t. Kevin Gerry Dunn BLOG TOUR #TheTryrannyofFlies @evilarmadruga @KevinGerryDunn @Harper360UK @RandomTTours #BookExtract

 

Growing up on a Cuba-esque Caribbean island, Casandra, Calia, and Caleb endure life under two tyrannies: that of their parents, and the Island’s authoritarian dictator, Pop-Pop Mustache. Papa was the dictator's former right-hand man. Now, he’s a political pariah and an ugly parody of a tyrant, treating his home as a nation which he rules with an iron fist. As for Mom, his wife and hateful second in command, she rules from the mind. Obsessed with armchair psychoanalysis, she spends her days reading self-help books and seeks to diagnose the kids, and perhaps even herself.

But within these walls, a rebellion is fomenting. Casandra, a cynical, self-important teenager with the most unlikely of attractions, recruits Caleb, meek yet gifted with a deadly touch, to join her in an insurrection against their father’s arbitrary totalitarianism. Meanwhile, Calia, the silent, youngest sibling who just wants to be left alone to draw animals, may be in league with the flies—whose swarm in and around the house grows larger as Papa’s violence increases.

Equal parts Greek tragedy and horror, with a touch of J.D. Salinger and Luis Buñuel, The Tyranny of Flies is a biting and wholly original subversive masterpiece that examines the inherent violence of authority and the frightening and indelible links between patriarchy, military, and family.

Translated from the Spanish by Kevin Gerry Dunn

The Tyranny of Flies by Elaine Vilar Madruga was published by HarperVia on 18 July 2024 and is translated by Kevin Gerry Dunn

As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour I am delighted to share an extract from the book with you today 

Extract from Tyranny of the Flies by Elaine Vilar Madruga

translated by Kevin Gerry Dunn 

The flies talk to us, okay? This is fly country. Flies fly all around us, a nation of ideas buzzity buzz buzzing above Calia’s head. She’s unfazed, as usual, focused on her drawing of an elephant. The drawing, anatomically precise, isn’t just the product of boredom and the summer heat. Calia never even looks up. One of the fattest flies lands on her fore- head and wends its way over the pores and hairs and sweat droplets, flaps its wings, cleans them, what a lovely spot it’s chosen to watch the action, to contemplate the elephant draw- ing, to admire and extemporize upon Calia’s artistry and offer a thoughtful critique of her work. For example, the fly might remark that the elephant in the drawing is more than just a realist rendering of the original pachyderm, it might observe that the elephant is actually flawless, so perfect it’s practically alive, and the fly might wonder if, any moment now, an invis- ible curtain will drop down Calia’s sheet of paper, a closing flourish in the miraculous process by which the elephant draws breath and takes solid form. The fly dreams of landing atop the elephant’s hulking gray mass. A beautiful mass. Notes of dung. 

The fly waits on Calia’s forehead. 

An exercise in patience.

Do the flies dream of her drawings? 

We do. 

Just three years old. No, not the flies. The flies are much younger than my sister. 

No one remembers when Calia started drawing. At this point, we just assume she was born with a paintbrush in hand and made her first watercolor with strokes of blood, amniotic fluid, and the mucus plug. I guess some anatomical masterpiece must’ve emerged from her experience in the birth canal; in any case, she never stopped, and the drawings keep multiplying like ants. 

Her oeuvre can be studied, like any other genius’s, according to her obsessions. Calia only draws animals. Like I said (and the flies are clearly also interested), her drawings aren’t clumsy doodles like you’d expect from a kid her age, the page sinking under the weight of so much colored wax; they’re fucking perfection. 

She started with insects. Ants were her favorite. And spiders. I’d say that was her darkest period. Drawings of predatory ants and spiders at the exact moment they dismembered their prey, a victim that was no longer animal but merely an object of the hunt, caught in a state of limbo between the jaws of death and the remote possibility of escape. 

Then came the birds. Mostly sparrows. It’s easy to understand the rationale behind that pictorial decision. The only birds Calia has ever seen are the few emaciated sparrows that still fly in this country, fenced in by hunger and heat, sparrows with hearts as small as the pad of your little finger, sparrows that go into cardiac arrest and expire in people’s gardens. After that, Calia moved on to monkeys. Monkeys with big fat asses. Veiny and bulbous, swaths of reds and purples. Those monkey butts brought an explosion of color to Calia’s formerly sober pages. 

And that brings us to today. Her elephant period. Thankfully, Calia hasn’t yet considered what the genitals of an elephant in heat look like. She’s just focused on their hooves, the shades of gray in their wrinkles and scars, the spindly hairs on their trunks. 

Elaine Vilar Madruga is a playwright, poet, and one of the foremost young novelists in
Cuba. 

She has a degree in Playwriting from the Higher Institute of Art (ISA), has published over thirty books, and her work has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies around the globe. 

The Tyranny of Flies is her first work to receive widespread attention throughout the wider Spanish-speaking world, winning Spain's Cálamo Prize for "Book of the Year.” 

She lives in Havana.

X @evilarmadruga

IG @elainevilamadrugalibros

Kevin Gerry Dunn is a Spanish/English translator whose projects include
COUNTERSEXUAL MANIFESTO by Paul B. Preciado and EASY READING by Cristina Morales (for which he received a PEN/Heim Grant, a PEN Translates Award and a residency at the Banff International Literary Translation Centre), as well as works by Daniela Tarazona, Ousman Umar and Cristian Perfumo. His shorter translations have appeared in Granta, Financial Times, Michigan Quarterly Review, Latin American Literature Today and Asymptote.

He also heads the FTrMP Project, an effort to make Spanish translations of vital migration paperwork available for free online. He holds an M.A. in Hispanic Language and Literature and a B.A. in Spanish and English, both from Boston University.

Twitter/IG: @KevinGerryDunn

Website: www.kevingerrydunn.com

The Drownings by Hazel Barkworth #TheDrownings @BarkworthHazel @headlinepg #BookReview

 

These waters became wild centuries before this university was dreamed of. Leysham has always been a dangerous place for women . .

Serena arrives on campus reeling from the injury that destroyed her champion swimming career. She is lost until she meets Jane, an enigmatic tutor obsessed with the historic witch trials that took place in Leysham's freezing waters.

When several young women are assaulted, the university's shadowy legacy becomes inescapable. Those in power turn a blind eye, but Jane urges Serena and her friends to rise up. As their anger builds into an inferno of female rage, Serena takes matters into her own hands.

Leysham has reawakened something within her, a dark, impossible power. In the waters, she can see what must be done - and the sacrifice it will demand.

From the author of Heatstroke, an intoxicatingly atmospheric new novel about competition, obsession and influence - for readers of The Things We Do to Our Friends, Weyward and Promising Young Woman.

The Drownings by Hazel Barkworth is published on 1 August 2024 by Headline. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review. 

This is one hell of a read. Hazel Barkworth has created a story that concentrates on the power of the rage of women; the consequences of events from many years ago; the way that social media can whip up a storm, and then turn in the opposite direction; and how oppression can lead to danger. 

Serena is a first year student at Leysham university - the campus is made up of dark, foreboding buildings, not far from the coast, with a river running through it. That river is the focus of Serena's first days. She's always been drawn to water, having been a top swimmer, bound for the Olympics in 2024. However, injury has forced her out of the sport that has been her complete life up until now. Her shattered knee has just been released from the plaster cast, and as she sits by the river she sees a girl stumble and fall. Despite her agony, Serena cannot sit by and watch. It is during this incident that she meets Jane. An older, composed woman, a lecturer at the University and who will become central to Serena's experiences there. 

This river has had many victims over the years. It's dark and dangerous, and also surrounded by myths. There's talk of the drowning of witches in years gone by, and this theme is predominant throughout the story.

Also at the University is Serena's younger cousin Zara. Serena's success in the swimming pool has always overshadowed anything that Zara could achieve. However, the tables have now turned and Zara is a well known influencer, with hundreds of thousands of followers. She celebrates her body shape, her ripples, her dimples, her body positive image encourages women and girls just like her. 

This is a complex, finely tuned and well paced novel that delivered something a little bit different for me. The characters are utterly flawed, damaged and carry a lot of baggage. There are hidden secrets, about the main players and also about the history of the university that are shocking and carefully revealed. 

As Serena and her group of friends get louder and louder, campaigning against their treatment by the most elite and entitled members of the community, the danger increases. There are mishaps and events that may or may not be accidental, culminating in a tragedy that nobody will foresee. 

This is a stylish, atmospheric read that is totally gripping. Packed with modern up-to-date issues combined with historical detail that has contributed so much to societal faults of today. 

Evocative and beautifully written. Highly recommended by me. 

Hazel grew up in Stirlingshire and North Yorkshire before studying English at Oxford. 

She then moved to London where she spent her days working as a cultural consultant, and her nights dancing in a pop band at glam rock clubs. 

Hazel is a graduate of both the Oxford University MSt in Creative Writing and the Curtis Brown Creative Novel-Writing course. 

She now works in Oxford, where she lives with her partner

X @BarkworthHazel

IG @hazelbarkworth

Our Daily War by Andrey Kurkov BLOG TOUR #BookSpotlight @AKurkov @OrendaBooks

 

Ten years on from the annexation of Crimea, two years on from Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian people continue to fight back. In the second volume of his war diaries, Andrey Kurkov gives a fresh perspective on a people for whom resistance and solidarity have become a matter of survival.

 Our Daily War is a chronological record of the heterogeneous mix that comprises Ukrainian life and thought in the teeth of Russian aggression, from the constant stress of air raids, the deportation of citizens from the occupied regions and the whispers of governmental corruption to Christmas celebrations, crowdfunding and the recipe for a “trench candle”.

 Kurkov’s human’s-eye view on the war in Ukraine is by turns bitingly satirical, tragic, humorous and heartfelt. It is also, in the manner of Pepys, an invaluable insight into the history, politics and culture of Ukraine. Our Daily War is the ideal primer for anyone who would like to know what life is like in that country today.

Our Daily War by Andrey Kurkov was published by Open Borders Press, an imprint of Orenda Books on 18 July 2024

I'm shining a spotlight on the book today, as part of the Blog Tour 

“A vivid, moving and sometimes funny account of the reality of life during Russia's invasion,” Marc Bennetts, The Times

“Uplifting and utterly defiant,” Matt Nixson, Daily Express

“No-one with the slightest interest in this war, or the nation on which it is being waged, should fail to read Andrey Kurkov,” Dominic Lawson, Daily Mail

“Andrey Kurkov [is] one of the most articulate ambassadors to the West for the situation in his homeland,” Sam Leith, Spectator

“Immediate and important … From the grim incredulity at Russians massing on the border to the displacement of millions of people, this is an insider's account of how an ordinary life became extraordinary. It is also about survival, hope and humanity,” Helen Davies, The Times

“Ukraine’s greatest novelist is fighting for his country,” Giles Harvey, New York Times

 

“The author's on-the-ground account is packed with surprising details about the human effects of the Russian assault ... His voice is genial but also impassioned, never more so than when deploring Putin's efforts to erase Ukrainian culture and history. Ukraine, he says, "will either be free, independent and European, or it will not exist at all". That's why the war has to be fought, with no concession of territory. And he remains quietly hopeful that it will be won,” Blake Morrison, Guardian

Andrey Kurkov was born near Leningrad in 1961, and graduated from Kyiv Pedagogical
Academy of Foreign Languages in 1983. 

After working as a prison guard in Odesa and as a journalist, he self-published his writing and found renown as a novelist. 

His most recent novel, Grey Bees, tells the story of a lone beekeeper as he navigates the conflict in Eastern Ukraine after the Russian annexation of Crimea. 

His novel Death and the Penguin, his first in English translation, is an international bestseller translated into more than thirty languages, and has been in print since its publication in 2001. 

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the author has issued unrivalled reports from his war-torn country in newspapers and magazines all over the world. 

Not only has he been a regular presence on radio and television, including BBC Radio 4's Letter from Ukraine, but he has travelled far and wide to lecture on the perilous state of his country. 

He has, in the process, become a crucial voice the people of Ukraine. 

His work of reportage, Ukraine Diaries: Dispatches from Kiev, was published in 2014, followed by Diary of an Invasion in 2022.

X @AKurkov

Saving Elora by Jackie Watson BLOG TOUR #SavingElora @JackiewWrites @RandomTTours #BookExtract

 

Anna has it all, or so it would seem. Fiercely protective of her daughter and husband, the secrets from her past and ten-year marriage remain hidden. But is that all about to change?

Basking in a tropical paradise, a con artist tires of easily seducing gullible females. He craves a challenge, and the greatest one presents itself. To descend on a quaint Greek fishing village and betray his ex-wife for a second time.

Meanwhile, the mistress of a mafia don gives birth to a daughter. But the baby isn’t his, and it forces a childless wife and her adulterous husband to flee with Elora. And so begins a deadly game of cat and mouse. With all trust in her marriage gone and longed for motherhood thrust upon her, can Dominique protect her new family? Or will her hate, fear and guilt seal their fate?

Hairline cracks are appearing in Anna’s idyllic Greek island life. Somebody is no longer willing to endure the happily-ever-after family façade. And when unwanted and unexpected visitors arrive on her doorstep it can mean only one thing. Anna’s carefully constructed world begins to crumble with devastating results.

Get ready for an emotional and explosive action-packed sequel. In Saving Elora, discover what sacrifices people are willing to make for love, the power of forgiveness and the possibility of second chances.

For fans of gripping suspense and powerful drama, Saving Elora is a must-read. Don’t miss out on this thrilling instalment in the Apokeri Bay series.

Saving Elora by Jackie Watson was published on 2 May 2024 by Hawthorn Wren and is the second instalment in the Apokeri Bay series. As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour today I am delighted to share an extract from the book with you. 

Extract from Saving Elora 

by Jackie Watson

The exclusive eco-tourist resort nestled jewel-like in an ancient

Thai rainforest, but for the only resident languishing in the bar,

the opulent lifestyle was losing its sheen. The man stretched out

his six-foot-three frame on a comfy rattan sofa and obligingly

flashed the quietly spoken receptionist his best smile. A smile that

melted hearts. A smile that loosened knicker-elastic and emptied

bank accounts.

He casually signalled for another drink and yawned. God, he

was bored. It would be so easy to seduce the pretty Thai

employee. She was smitten and believed him to be the cash-

strapped and downtrodden partner of an uber-rich, uber-bitch

who held the purse strings tighter than Ebenezer Scrooge. And

the best bit, his fiancée unwittingly helped in the charade as she

sneered down her privately educated and privileged nose at the

whole world.

Yes, bedding the hired help might be fun but he just couldn’t

be arsed. His fiancée should have been a winning lottery ticket –

easy on the eye, adventurous between the sheets (and everywhere

else) and more than happy to rattle through daddy’s money. The

banking tycoon was delighted his daughter was off globetrotting

(undoubtedly glad to be shot of her). The man had barely raised

an eyebrow at their engagement after three months. It made

Javier wonder if her father gave a toss. He certainly wouldn’t be

so calm if his only child announced plans to marry a seemingly

penniless stranger double her age. In his experience, those that

saw themselves as a cut above were often the easiest to deceive.

And in a grungy Bangkok hostel, Suzy had been the easiest of

them all. He’d immediately clocked her and, over a drink, she’d

spouted claims of being a hard-up American traveller, forced to

work menial jobs to get by. Heaven knows how anyone fell for

that claptrap. Everything about her screamed wealth. And in turn,

he spun his fictitious tale of woe, hesitantly confiding how it was

such a comfort to find somebody so understanding and easy to

talk to. As the drinks continued to flow, he’d fearfully taken her

hand and, with guilty embarrassment, admitted to being

confused. He felt such a strong connection (surely, she did too?),

which made his broken heart sing. But how could it be right so

soon after the tragic death of his wife? He’d abruptly pulled away

and hurriedly requested that she allow him to go. He should leave,

he’d said too much. She’d expected a pleasant evening and not to

be burdened by his hardships when hers were far worse.

She’d implored him to stay, persuaded him to put aside guilt

and accept that fate had brought them together. And through his

honesty, she wanted to do likewise and tearfully admitted to the

(obvious) truth of being an heiress. She’d wanted to be liked for

herself, not her father’s vast wealth. He enveloped her in his arms,

sympathised and soothed away her apologies before they tenderly

kissed and returned to the backpackers long enough to gather

their belongings. He then watched as she flounced up to the

reception desk of the city’s most luxurious hotel and demanded

the best suite – where they feasted on room service for a week.

After that, it was five-star living all the way as each place became

more luxurious than the last, and they crammed their days with

once-in-a-lifetime experiences. It would and should have been

easy to carry on, but the novelty had worn off. And for the simple

reason – it had become far too easy. Suzy was the culmination of

three years swindling a never-ending line of naïve women All he

needed to do was turn on the charm, say what they wanted to

hear, and bingo. In an attempt to refocus, he withdrew a

crumpled handwritten note from his wallet.

Gone to fry me the biggest fish ever! No hard feelings. It was

good while it lasted. Thanks for the memories. Cx

Jackie writes uplifting and thought-provoking fiction set on the Greek island of Lefkada.
She is based in North East England and lives in the Tyne Valley with her partner and their extremely cute and characterful Miniature Schnauzer. If not working or writing you will find her striding around the countryside, pottering in their allotment, running or occasionally cycling. There have been many travelling adventures to far-flung destinations, touring the UK and Ireland in a motorhome or camping in the Lake District.

The Apokeri Bay trilogy was born from a recurring dream about a feisty female protagonist who unexpectedly falls in love with a quaint Greek seaside village. With a unique style, Jackie weaves into her storytelling what we all love about great fiction – the chance to step into the world of somebody else and share in their life. But she certainly doesn’t give her characters an easy life. They might discover life-changing friendships, love and hope but need to overcome family friction, dark secrets, guilt and betrayal. Ultimately, they must learn how to embrace and overcome everything life throws at them.

Keep in touch with Jackie at www.jackiewatsonwrites.com, 

at facebook.com/jackiewatsonwrites, on Instagram @jackiewatsonwrites, on Twitter @JackiewWrites and TikTok @jackiewatsonwrites