The Innocents by Michael Crummey #Giveaway @MichaelCrummey @noexitpress @RandomTTours #Win #Competition #TheInnocents

In centuries past, a brother and sister are orphaned in an isolated outport cove on Newfoundland's northern coastline. Their home is a stretch of rocky shore governed by the feral ocean and a relentless pendulum of abundance and murderous scarcity. Still children with only the barest notion of the outside world, they have nothing but their family's boat and the little knowledge passed on haphazardly by their mother and father to help them survive.

Muddling through the severe round of the seasons, through years of meagre catches and storms and ravaging illness, it is their fierce loyalty to each other that motivates and sustains them. But as seasons pass and they wade deeper into the mystery of their own natures, even that loyalty will be tested.

The Innocents by Michael Crummey was published by No Exit Press in paperback on 20 August 2020. As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour I am delighted to offer one copy as a prize to one reader.
Entry is simple, just fill out the competition widget at the end of this blog post.

UK ENTRIES ONLY              GOOD LUCK! 

A copy of The Innocents by Michael Crummey



MICHAEL CRUMMEY was born in Buchans, a mining town in the interior of Newfoundland, growing up there and in western Labrador. 
After thirteen years in self-imposed exile in Ontario, he moved home to Newfoundland in 2000. 
He is the author of five books of poetry, a book of short stories, and four other celebrated novels, including the Giller prize-nominated River Thieves. 
He lives in St. John’s.

Twitter @MichaelCrummey

The Island by Ben McPherson @TheBenMcPherson #TheIsland @HarperCollinsUK @HarperFiction #BookReview

A shocking act of violence…
It should have been the safest place on earth. A summer camp for teens, on a beautiful island off the coast of Oslo. But what started out as a haven becomes hell on earth as two men start shooting.

A family torn apart…
With Norway in shock, the families gather, desperately hoping their children have survived. Some have their prayers answered. Some must confront their worst nightmare. But for one family, this is just the beginning…

A daughter gone missing…
Cal and Elsa’s daughter Licia was on the island that day. But the police can find no trace of her – dead or alive. Stuck in limbo, Cal and Elsa delve into their daughter’s life. The secrets they uncover are shocking. But they still don’t know – did Licia survive the shooting? Or is she gone forever?

The Island by Ben McPherson was published in hardback on 6 August 2020 by Harper Collins. It's published in the US under the title Love And Other Lies.
I bought my copy.

Way back in February 2015 I read and review Ben McPherson's first novel; A Line Of Blood . That was a novel that captivated me, it's been a long wait for this latest book, but it's worth it.

Elsa and Cal are a happily married couple with three children. They've been together for years, their relationship is strong and is built on truth. They don't lie to each other, and they don't expect their children to lie either. Cal is Scottish, Elsa is Norwegian and they've moved from Washington DC to live in Norway for six months. They are due to return to the States very soon with teenage daughters Licia and Vee and baby son Franklin.

However, a tragic and horrendous incident puts their plans on hold. Licia has recently gone off to summer camp celebrating International Future Females which is held on a small island just off Oslo.

News has just come in about an explosion at the official Government buildings in Oslo and whilst this is shocking and terrifying for the family, it isn't until they hear about a mass shooting on a small island that they realise just how close to home these atrocities are.

Licia is missing. Her body is not found. However, there is camera footage taken from a helicopter flying overhead that shows a girl answering her description in the water, alive. A small boy testifies that he was saved by this girl. Licia becomes the hero of the island, known throughout the country as the girl who selflessly saved others before herself.

Nobody can be unaware of the case of Anders Breivik, the far-right terrorist who committed the appalling acts in Norway in 2011. He planted a bomb in Oslo and then shot dead 69 people on the nearby island of Utoya. Whilst it is clear that Ben McPherson has been influenced by the Breivik case in The Island, this is not that story. This is a completely different story and whilst it has themes of terrorism and white supremacy, this is really a story of a family. Of their relationships and how these are altered by events, combined with a detailed and rich look at how the most ordinary of families can be picked apart by things outside of their control.

Cal and Elsa are extraordinarily well created. The contrast between Cal's warm Scottish nature, his way of using humour to deflect and his consuming love for his family and Elsa's Norwegian iciness is so very well done. Elsa is blunt and to the point, she has relationship rules that she expects others to adhere to, yet she hides so much ... the reader is never quite sure just where Elsa sits within this story.

This author incorporates Cal's ever growing feeling of being an outsider throughout the narrative. Everyone he meets, from the chief of Police to the local reporter comments on the fact that he is not Norwegian, they assume that he's English, and rather than continue to correct them, he just goes with it. Cal is often frustrated by the Norwegian police, he feels as though Licia is being let down, and despite the fact that he has a strong, personal relationship with the Chief of Police, his ever increasing frustration is apparent.

The Island is a chilling psychological thriller that kept me awake at night. The reality is that whilst this is a fictional story, it is taken from the truth, and the horrors of the rise of the white supremacist in Europe is explored in all of its hate-filled fury is laid bare. It's also a study in how young people can be groomed and influenced by this. How families with the best values at their core can be infected by the political ideology that totally goes against what they've always believed.

Ben McPherson is a master story teller. This brilliantly unnerving read leaves the reader in shock, with questions of their own. It is brilliantly and sensitively written. Certainly a contender for my Top Books of the Year list.




Ben McPherson was born in Glasgow and grew up in Edinburgh, but left Scotland when he was eighteen. He studied languages at Cambridge, then worked for many years in film and television in London.


In 1998, after working a forty-eight-hour shift, he went for a drink at the Coach and Horses in Soho and met the woman he would go on to marry. Similarities to the characters in A Line of Blood end there.


Ben now lives in Oslo with his wife and their two sons. He is a columnist for Aftenposten, Norway's leading quality daily newspaper.

Twitter @TheBenMcPherson
Author Page on Facebook 

The Covenant by Thorne Moore @ThorneMoore BLOG TOUR #Win @honno @RandomTTours #Giveaway #Competition #TheCovenant

[1919] The body is still caught fast. He eases the linen collar back from the swollen neck, sees something and leans forward to peer closer. Initials, embroidered in black. L O. 

35 years earlier, in 1833, a family is in crisis. Patriarch, Thomas Owen, tenant of Cwmderwen farmstead is devastated by the accidental death of his eldest son. This sets in train a feud that threatens all the family holds dear, most especially their God-given right to tenancy of the family farmstead of Cwmderwen. As Thomas' religious fervour deepens into obsession, the lives of his children and grandchildren get harder still.

Leah loses her chance of a favourable marriage and younger son, Frank, his dream of an education and emigration to the new world. Frank turns drunkard and Leah devotes herself to ensuring that Tad's legacy is handed on to his grandson, John.

But this legacy is a tainted chalice and along with the land comes the covenant with God that turns John's head. Ultimately, John would do anything rather than lose Cwmderwen and Leah finds herself torn between her duty to others and her duty to herself.

The Covenant by Thorne Moore is published by Honno Press today, 20 August 2020.

As part of the #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour, I am delighted to offer one paperback copy to a lucky winner. Also part of the prize is a beautiful sampler-type postcard, especially created for the book.

Entry is simple, just fill out the competition widget at the end of this post.

UK ENTRIES ONLY.         GOOD LUCK! 

Win a paperback copy of The Covenant along with a specially designed postcard

A copy of The Covenant by Thorne Moore and a special postcard




Thorne was born in Luton and graduated from Aberystwyth University (history) and from the Open University (Law). 
She set up a restaurant with her sister and made miniature furniture for collectors. 
She lives in Pembrokeshire, which forms a background for much of her writing, as does Luton. 

She writes psychological mysteries, or "domestic noir," exploring the reason for crimes and their consequences, rather than the details of the crimes themselves. and her first novel, "A Time For Silence," was published by Honno in 2012. "Motherlove" and "The Unravelling" followed, also published by Honno. "Shadows," published by Endeavour in 2017, is set in an old mansion in Pembrokeshire and is paired with "Long Shadows," also published by Endeavour in 2018, which explains the history and mysteries of the same old house. 


She's a member of Crime Cymru.

www.thornemoore.com
Twitter @ThorneMoore

The Search Party by Simon Lelic @Simon_Lelic @DeadGoodBooks @VikingBooksUK #TheSearchParty @PenguinUKBooks

16-year-old Sadie Saunders is missing.

Five friends set out into the woods to find her.

But they're not just friends...

THEY'RE SUSPECTS.

You see, this was never a search party.

It's a witch hunt.

And not everyone will make it home alive...

The Search Party by Simon Lelic is published on 20 August 2020 by Viking (Penguin). My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review, and who invited me to take part on this blog tour.

OK, it's admission time. This is the first of Simon Lelic's books that I've read. I have no idea how I've missed this author before, and on investigation, I find a couple of his earlier books hiding away on my bookshelf. There is no doubt at all, that I will be catching up on those books very soon!

Whilst the theme of a missing girl is by no means new, what I absolutely loved about The Search Party was the extremely clever way that the author tells his story. The first page prologue is the transcript from a frantic telephone call made to the emergency services. The reader doesn't know who made the call, or what has happened, but it's a terrific hook. There's no way you can read that page and not carry on. 

The story begins on day six of an investigation into a missing girl. Fifteen-year-old Sadie has vanished from the small town where she lives and is well known and well liked. DI Robin Fleet has something of a reputation within the police force; he's expert at finding those who have vanished, and so he finds himself heading up the investigation into Sadie's disappearance. However, for Fleet, this case brings back painful memories of his own. This is the town that he grew up in and left after a tragedy involving his sister. His mother still lives in the town, he hasn't seen her for many years. Dealing with his own issues and the constant pressure from those above him makes this a tricky and challenging case, he also has the added stress of a failing marriage and a landlady who seems particularly interested in him. 

The reader is told the story through the voices of Sadie's friends. Five young people who decide that Fleet and his team are not doing their job properly, who have listened to the local people who claim that Fleet is influenced by his own experiences.  Those five teenagers,  including Sadie's twin brother Luke decide that they know best and set off, determined to find out what happened to Sadie. However, they may not all return, and those who do, will be traumatised by their experience. 

I was totally gripped by The Search Party. The voices of the teenagers are incredibly well done; so realistic with their constantly changing stories and the way that they remain on the defensive throughout. Teenage voices are so hard to get right and this author has totally nailed it.

Fleet's own story is also intriguing and the reader learns so much about him, as a man and as a police officer; it is a stark contrast the the effusive and excitable narrative of the teen voices and complements the story so very well. 

This is an atmospheric and haunting story that works on so many levels. The sense of place is wonderfully created, with an increasing menacing feel as the teenagers go deeper into the woods, getting out of their depth; with their emotions veering from terror, to panic, to anger. 

The Search Party is an accomplished, polished psychological thriller with characters who are intricately created. Highly recommended.

Simon Lelic is the author of The Liar's Room, The House (a Radio 2 Book Club choice and Observer Thriller of the Month), Rupture (winner of a Betty Trask Award and shortlisted for the John Creasy New Blood Dagger, as well as the Galaxy Book Awards), The Facility and The Child Who (longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger and CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2012). The Haven, The Haven: Revolution and The Haven: Deadfall are his first books for young teenagers (11+). 

Simon is married, with three children, and lives in Brighton, England. Other than his family, reading is Simon's biggest passion. He also holds a black belt in karate, in which he trains daily.

You can follow him on Twitter @Simon_Lelic

www.simonlelic.com

The Bitch by Pilar Quintana BLOG TOUR Translated by Lisa Dillman #PilarQuintana @WorldEdBooks @RKbookpublicist @RandomTTours #TheBitch

Colombia's Pacific coast, where everyday life entails warding off the brutal forces of nature. In this constant struggle, nothing is taken for granted. Damaris lives with her fisherman husband in a shack on a bluff overlooking the sea. Childless and at that age 'when women dry up,' as her uncle puts it, she is eager to adopt an orphaned puppy. But this act may bring more than just affection into her home. 

The Bitch is written in a prose as terse as the villagers, with storms - both meteorological and emotional - lurking around each corner. Beauty and dread live side by side in this poignant exploration or the many meanings of motherhood and love.

The Bitch by Pilar Quintana was published by World Editions on 6 August 2020 and is translated from Spanish by Lisa Dillman.
As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour, in association with Ruth Killick PR I'm delighted to offer one paperback copy to one winner.
Entry is simple, just fill out the competition widget at the end of this blog post.

UK ENTRIES ONLY        GOOD LUCK! 

Praise for Pilar Quintana

'Quintana works wonders with her disillusioned, no-nonsense, powerful prose.' -- Juan Gabriel Vásquez

'The Bitch is a novel of true violence. Artist that she is, Pilar Quintana uncovers wounds we didn't know we had, shows us their beauty, and then throws a handful of salt into them.' -- Yuri Herrera 

'This is a novel full of mysteries about unfulfilled desire, guilt, and the places where love still exists.' -- Gabriela Alemn 

'The world of The Bitch is heartbreakingly true, it's there, closer than we think, and yet remains invisible.' -- El Pais

'Pilar Quintana has created a psychological tale that sweeps and drags us like the waves of the sea.'

---- El Tiempo

One Copy of The Bitch by Pilar Quintana

Pilar Quintana is a Colombian author. 

She debuted with Cosquillas en la lengua in 2003, and published Coleccionistas de polvos raros in 2007, the same year the Hay Festival selected her as one of the most promising young authors of Latin America. 

Her latest novel, The Bitch, won the prestigious Colombian Biblioteca de Narrativa Prize, and was selected for several Best Books of 2017 lists, as well as being chosen as one of the most valuable objects to preserve for future generations in a marble time capsule in Bogotá. 

The Bitch is the first of her works to be translated into English.

Photograph © Danilo Costa

My Last Supper by Jay Rayner @jayrayner1 #MyLastSupper #GuardianFaberPublishing #OneMealInALifetime

You're about to die. What would your final meal be?

This question has long troubled Jay Rayner. As a man more obsessed with his lunch than is strictly necessary, the idea of a showpiece last supper is a tantalising prospect. But wouldn't knowledge of your imminent demise ruin your appetite?

So, Jay decided to cheat death.

The plan was simple: he would embark on a journey through his life in food in pursuit of the meal to end all meals. It's a quest that takes him from necking oysters on the Louisiana shoreline to forking away the finest French pastries in Tokyo, and from his earliest memories of snails in garlic butter, through multiple pig-based banquets, to the unforgettable final meal itself.

My Last Supper is both a hugely entertaining account of a life built around mealtimes and a fascinating global exploration of our relationship with what we eat. It is the story of one hungry man, in eight courses.

My Last Supper - One Meal a Lifetime in the Making by Jay Rayner was published in hardback in September last year by Guardian Faber Publishing. The paperback will be released in September this year.

I am a huge huge fan of Jay Rayner and I this signed hard-back was a birthday present last October. It's taken me an age to get to it, but I have enjoyed every single word of it.

Jay Rayner and I would appear to have very little in common, although we are of a similar age. I grew up in a tiny village in rural Nottinghamshire, being fed meat paste on toast and lots of boiled potatoes. Jay Rayner grew up in London with bohemian, well-known parents and ate oysters!

However, the more I read about his food tastes, the more that I feel that we are almost the same person, and if only I had the opportunities to eat in such amazing places that he does. However, I do almost eat his review pages, marking those places in my little book ... in the hope, that one day, I too will get to eat that food.

One Last Supper is a simple idea. You are about to die, what would your final meal be? Jay Rayner has been asked this question so many times during live events and interviews that he decided, once and for all to answer it truthfully. However, he doesn't just list his final menu, he talks in great detail about the ingredients that would make up that meal, and just like his food reviews, he does with with humour and drool inducing language.

I found myself nodding in agreement so many times, and was delighted to agree with all of his thoughts about people who don't appreciate good butter, or decent sparkling water ... I no longer feel a bit odd when I express a preference for a certain brand of fizzy water!
There's a chapter about pig ... oh my goodness, I had to go out and buy the largest and thickest pork chops that I could get immediately after reading that one.

I'm not going to tell you what his final meal turned out to be, but you are in for a surprise when you get to it. I wish I'd been around that table, I really do.

A fabulously entertaining book from a witty and knowledgeable voice. I enjoyed it so much.

So, what would your final meal be?  After much internal debate, I've decided on mine ... for now

Bread - preferably sourdough, although a tiger loaf would do with VERY GOOD butter
Seared scallops with crispy bacon and pea puree

Roast chicken, with crispy salty skin, stuffed with lemon and garlic - with boiled Jersey new potatoes, cauliflower, broad beans and proper gravy.
Fresh strawberries and cherries, with Greek yoghurt and Greek honey

Sparkling water.

Jay Rayner is an award-winning writer, journalist and broadcaster with a fine collection of shirts. He has written on everything from crime and politics, through cinema and theatre to the visual arts, but is best known as the restaurant critic for the Observer. For a while he was a sex columnist for Cosmopolitan; he also once got himself completely waxed in the name of journalism. He only mentions this because it hurt.

Jay is a former Young Journalist of the Year, Critic of the Year and Restaurant Critic of the Year, though not all in the same year. In 2018 he was named Restaurant Writer of The Year in the Fortnum and Mason Food and Drink Awards. He performs live all over the country, both with his one man shows and as a pianist with his jazz ensemble, The Jay Rayner Quartet. He is a regular on British television, where he is familiar as a judge on MasterChef and, since 2012 has been the chair of BBC Radio 4’s food panel show The Kitchen Cabinet. He likes pig.

www.jayrayner.co.uk

Twitter @jayrayner1

Those Who Are Loved by Victoria Hislop @VicHislop AUDIO BLOG TOUR #ThoseWhoAreLoved @headlinepg @Emily_JP

After decades of political uncertainty, Greece is polarised between Right- and Left-wing views when the Germans invade.

Fifteen-year-old Themis comes from a family divided by these political differences. The Nazi occupation deepens the fault-lines between those she loves just as it reduces Greece to destitution. She watches friends die in the ensuing famine and is moved to commit acts of resistance.

In the civil war that follows the end of the occupation, Themis joins the Communist army, where she experiences the extremes of love and hatred and the paradoxes presented by a war in which Greek fights Greek.

Eventually imprisoned on the infamous islands of exile, Makronisos and then Trikeri, Themis encounters another prisoner whose life will entwine with her own in ways neither can foresee. And finds she must weigh her principles against her desire to escape and live.

As she looks back on her life, Themis realises how tightly the personal and political can become entangled. While some wounds heal, others deepen.

This gripping new novel from bestselling author Victoria Hislop sheds light on the complexity and trauma of Greece's past and weaves it into the epic tale of an ordinary woman compelled to live an extraordinary life.

Those Who Are Loved by Victoria Hislop was published in hardback by Headline Review on 30 May this year. I was part of the Blog Tour for the original publication and am delighted to re-share my original review.

As part of the Audio Blog Tour for the paperback publication, which is released on 20 August 2020, I am so pleased to share an audio clip of the book, read by Juliet Stevenson.
My thanks to Emily from Headline who invited me to take part on the Audio Blog Tour

Those Who Are Loved by Victoria Hislop - read by Juliet Stevenson

Headline Books · Those Who Are Loved by Victoria Hislop, read by Juliet Stevenson - Part 1

My review of Those Who Are Loved (originally published in the Daily Express

Athens in the present day, and Themis is celebrating another birthday. Surrounded by many members of her extended family; children and grandchildren, and by her side, as always, her beloved husband George. 

As the party ends, and the family drift away to their own homes, Themis is left alone with George and two of her favourite grown-up grandchildren. She begins to tell them of her earlier life. 

The reader is transported back to Athens in 1941. Themis and her siblings live with her Aunt in a flat in the city. Her brothers argue constantly about politics, whilst her sister is more concerned with clothes and glamour. Themis herself sympathises with the left and secretly supports the Communist movement. 

When the Nazis invade Athens, the population react with mixed feelings. Some welcome the German soldiers, some are wary and determined never to allow Greece to be taken by Germany. 

Athens is devastated by the invasion. Poverty, hunger and fear reign over the residents. Many long-standing families disappear, people die in the streets as the Nazis take all of the food. It is a struggle to survive.Despite the defeat of the Nazis, life for Greeks and especially those living in Athens does not improve. The internal fighting between the Government and the communists bring even more hardship and terror to the country. Themis who is still a passionate supporter of the Communist cause joins their fight and eventually is incarcerated at the infamous island of Makronisos. 

This is a searing and powerful story that is both passionate and fascinating. It’s the story of how one woman’s ideals and beliefs shape everything that she becomes. It is both a beautifully woven love story, and a spellbinding and heart breaking depiction of a country torn apart by hatred.

Inspired by a visit to Spinalonga, the abandoned Greek leprosy colony, Victoria Hislop wrote The Island in 2005. It became an international bestseller and a 26-part Greek TV series. She was named Newcomer of the Year at the British Book Awards and is now an ambassador for Lepra. The Island has sold over 1.2million copies in the UK and more than 5 million worldwide.

Her affection for the Mediterranean then took her to Spain, which inspired her second bestseller The Return, and she returned to Greece to tell the turbulent tale of Thessaloniki in The Thread, shortlisted for a British Book Award and confirming her reputation as an inspirational storyteller. It was followed by her much-admired Greece-set short story collection, The Last Dance and Other Stories. The Sunrise, a Sunday Times Number One bestseller about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, was published to widespread acclaim in 2014. Victoria's most recent book, Cartes Postales from Greece was a Sunday Times Number One bestseller and one of the Top Ten biggest selling paperbacks of 2017. Her novels have sold 10 million copies worldwide.

Twitter @VicHislop

www.victoriahislop.com

Praise for Victoria Hislop

'Nobody writes about Greece quite like Victoria Hislop', Red magazine

'She brings Greek history to compelling life.....there is deep historical research here, but it never bogs down her story', The Sunday Times

'A beautifully woven love story and a spellbinding, heart-breaking depiction of a country torn apart by hatred', Daily Express

'Hislop has done her research and handles the great sweep of complex Greek history with skill and confidence. She makes a touching family story out of violent and divisive times and her fans will lap this up', Daily Mail

'An eye-opening and moving read', The Mirror

'A moving read that sweeps you through time', S Mag

'A glorious Greek setting and rich historical detail form the backdrop of this captivating and poignant story', Woman & Home